Chapter 38: Mirror Demon: Xue Chen is a Freak

“Princess, this is the Cold Palace. No one will come here. You should rest for a while.”

Xue Chen brought Ning Shengsheng to a remote palace.

“What about you?” she looked up and asked.

“I’ll keep watch outside.”

He pointed to the door.

“Alright.”

So many things had happened today, and Ning Shengsheng was indeed tired. Before long, the girl’s faint snoring could be heard. Her curled lashes cast a shadow, and when they trembled slightly, they were like butterfly wings.

Xue Chen stared at her face for a while. After a long time, the empty grand hall echoed with the young man’s sigh.

“Ning Shengsheng, how many more secrets do you have?”

He placed the rabbit in his arms beside the girl and whispered a warning, “Protect her.”

The rabbit’s ears twitched, as if it understood what he said.

A faint smile touched the corners of Xue Chen’s lips, and he turned around decisively, his face devoid of its earlier smile.

A mere illusion, did it really think it could trap him?

He strode towards the Eastern Palace with a grim face.

He pushed open the gates of the Eastern Palace. That good brother of his, the Crown Prince of Heavenly Phoenix, was indulging in pleasure with five concubines.

“Xue Chen?”

“I didn’t come looking for trouble with you, and yet you’ve come to me.”

“You’re looking for death!”

Xue Chen’s expression was calm. He spoke to the concubines, “Get lost now, or die with him.”

The concubines exchanged a look and scrambled out, shouting for help as they fled.

Xue Chen couldn’t be bothered. A long sword appeared in his hand. Seeing Xue Heng form a hand seal to summon a demonic beast, he thrust his sword out without expression, easily severing his opponent’s tendons.

“Ah—”

“Xue Chen, you—”

“Someone! Protect me!!”

The concubines’ screams came from outside.

“So many dead people! Let’s not get involved, let’s just run!”

Xue Heng’s eyes were filled with rage. “You killed my Eastern Palace guards?”

“Are you talking about that group of good-for-nothings?”

Xue Chen’s foot came down hard on Xue Heng’s wrist, grinding it back and forth until the other was in so much pain he was about to faint. Only then did he lightly lift his foot. “Not just dead.”

Xue Chen grabbed Xue Heng by the collar and dragged him out of the grand hall. The group of guards who had bullied him were all hanging from the rafters, their eyes wide with disbelief.

“You!” Xue Heng’s eyes widened in horror. “You really are a bastard, the child of a demon! I should have killed you with my father! I shouldn’t have shown mercy to a beast like you.”

“Mercy?”

A strange curve appeared on Xue Chen’s lips, and a sharp laugh cut through the air. He couldn’t stop laughing, bending over with laughter, his dark eyes swirling with a crazed light.

“If you say…”

“that not giving me food is mercy, that finding people to torture me every day is mercy, that killing my contracted little beasts is mercy, that using me as a stake in the fighting pits is mercy…”

“then if I kill your guards and torture you—”

“—isn’t that also mercy?”

With that, he raised his sword and mercilessly lopped off his opponent’s arm. Xue Heng let out a piercing scream as his two arms flew off, blood gushing from the wounds.

“Xue… Chen, you dare—”

“Did you think that was all?”

A pure and innocent smile appeared on Xue Chen’s face. He raised his sword and hacked off Xue Heng’s feet. Finally, as he was barely breathing, he thrust his sword through his throat.

Xue Heng stared in horror at the young man he had always bullied and who had never fought back. So, a cornered rabbit will bite too. What’s more, the person before him was not a rabbit, but a demon!

Xue Heng was dead.

The illusion trembled. And in reality, far away in the Heavenly Phoenix Nation, Xue Heng, who had long since ascended the throne, awoke from a dream with a start. He had dreamed of that discarded son who had been sent to Great Ning. He had actually killed him!

How could this be? He didn’t believe it! He didn’t believe it!

***

The illusion broke.

Xue Chen was transported to a pure white space. With him came Ning Shengsheng. She must have been too tired, for she was still sleeping soundly and had not woken up.

The mirror demon, having witnessed the bloody scene in the illusion, hugged its arms and backed away, stammering, “You, you, you can’t kill me! I’ve already acknowledged her as my master.”

It pointed at Ning Shengsheng.

“Acknowledged her as your master?”

“Yes… yes! It’s a rule of our mirror demon clan. Whoever breaks the illusion becomes our master.”

“Show me the fragments of her illusion.”

“That… that’s not a good idea…” the mirror demon hesitated.

The young man in the dark robe’s voice was chilling. “If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

“I’ll give them to you, I’ll give them to you, alright?!”

The mirror demon was about to cry, for real. How was this even scarier than the water prison in the Qingling Sect?

It silently apologized to Ning Shengsheng and quickly tossed out two illusion pearls.

Xue Chen watched in silence, his fingertips stroking the pearls as he muttered, “So this is your world.”

“What did you say?” the mirror demon asked.

Xue Chen looked up at its stupid face.

“Don’t tell her, or I’ll have your life.”

“Alright, alright, I promise I won’t tell.”

The mirror demon turned its back and squatted in a corner, feeling wronged. “How are you scarier than us demons?”

Suddenly, an icy chill came from the mirror demon’s neck. It swallowed and tilted its head slightly, only to see the tip of a sword pressed against it. It quickly swore an oath.

“I was wrong, I promise I won’t talk too much again.”

Xue Chen calmly sheathed his sword. “Send us out. Since you’ve acknowledged her as your master, you will listen to her from now on.”

“Mm, I know.”

The mirror demon, with a sad face, opened a gap. Xue Chen picked up Ning Shengsheng and flew out.

After Xue Chen had completely disappeared, the mirror demon patted its chest with lingering fear.

“To think that I, a great demon, would be ordered around by a junior. What a disgrace!”

“I should have never escaped from the water prison.”

The dejected mirror demon squatted on the ground, crying silently.

When Ning Shengsheng opened her eyes again, she was woken up by Songgao.

“Princess, His Majesty has asked this servant to help you with your makeup and clothes.”

“Oh, alright.”

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She recalled the events of yesterday in her mind. While Songgao was preparing hot water, she asked, “Mirror demon, are you there?”

A cloud of smoke gathered in front of her, forming a mirror.

“Master, what are your orders?”

“Eh?” Ning Shengsheng raised her eyebrows. “Why are you so polite all of a sudden?”

The mirror demon smacked its lips, aggrieved. “You are my esteemed master. It’s only natural for me to be polite.”

“Alright then. I want to ask you, how did Xue Chen break the illusion last night?”

The mirror demon, remembering the scene of carnage, felt a chill run down its spine. Then it recalled Xue Chen’s vicious threat. It said evasively, “His heart demon was gone, so he broke it.”

Ning Shengsheng wanted to ask more, but Songgao came in with a dress, and the mirror demon disappeared on the spot. She had no choice but to give up.

As she changed, she asked, “I’m dressing so formally. Does Older Brother have something for me?”

“That’s right. I heard the Qingling Sect has sent people, saying that a powerful demon has escaped and they have tracked it to Qionglin Garden, but it has disappeared! So they have come to see His Majesty, hoping they can search Qionglin Garden.”

Hiss! Could they be after this mirror demon fellow?

“Who did the Qingling Sect send?”

Ning Shengsheng finished changing and sat down at the dressing table.

“The eldest senior brother of the Qingling Sect, Ling Hegui!”

Zaoni came in with a smile. “This servant just heard from Eunuch Shuangxi.”

Clang—

The jade hairpin in her hand accidentally fell.

Well, well. She hadn’t met the original female lead, Yun Huaiyue, but she was about to meet the male lead, Ling Hegui.

“Princess, be careful not to hurt your hand.”

Songgao picked up the hairpin and held it up to her hair. “A jade hairpin is a little plain. Our princess is bright and lively—this pearl and begonia swaying hairpin suits the princess better!”

“No need. The white jade hairpin is fine.”

Ning Shengsheng knew what her brother was thinking. But she didn’t want to have anything to do with the original male lead.