Chapter 0: Bad Seed
When Qin Gou found Qingyu and the others, he saw that the dignified Empress Ye Yaohong of Daliang had been forced to take off her majestic golden dragon robe and put on a blue eunuch uniform instead, with a whisk draped over her forearm, looking quite the part.
However, the expression on her pretty face was a complete “life is meaningless.” Her eyes were teary, and her lips were pursed so much that a teapot could probably hang from them.
“Master!”
“Master.”
Qin Gou nodded to the two of them and asked, “What happened to Ye Yaohong?”
Ao Banwei sheepishly scratched her little head and said, “Banwei isn’t too sure. But Fairy Sister and Jing Le said she’s completely given up now and definitely wouldn’t dare to be disrespectful to Master again. If she does, they’ll accompany her anytime.”
“You actually summoned Ao Ai and Jing Le to teach Ye Yaohong a lesson?” Qin Gou gasped. Never mind Ao Ai, that wench and Banwei were a match made in heaven, complementing each other perfectly. She was definitely good at teaching people a lesson. Jing Le had even treated his own Little Saint Monarch as a consumable once; she was a ruthless character through and through.
“Banwei just couldn’t stand it,” the Little White Dragon honestly nodded, admitting it quite frankly.
Qin Gou looked at Ye Yaohong with complex eyes and asked, “Did you sing while squatting in the corner?”
“I… I sang.” Ye Yaohong’s delicate body trembled, and she instinctively flinched. She seemed very surprised that Qin Gou could guess.
“Did your butt get spanked?”
“It’s already swollen.”
“Were you tied to a chair and then force-fed a whole bellyful of tea?”
“Yes!” Ye Yaohong, as if completely seen through, asked fearfully, “Why exactly do you know all this?”
“Depravity, such depravity.”
Of course, it was because both Ao Ai and Jing Le had acted recklessly when they first met Old Qin, and Qin Gou happened to be omnipotent in his dreams. In the end… those two wenches had really turned bad.
For a moment, Qin Gou stood with his hands behind his back, looking upon her with great pity. “Jing Le and Ao Ai were still too much. Ye Yaohong is a woman, after all. How could they treat her so roughly? If it were me, I wouldn’t have done that! One should cherish a woman’s beauty… Banwei, bring Master a saber.”
“W-what are you going to do? Don’t come any closer!”
Ye Yaohong’s pretty face instantly turned pale, and she retreated wildly as if avoiding snakes and scorpions. In her panic, she even fell to the ground.
She knew too well that if Jing Le and Ao Ai were devils, then Qin Gou was the Demon Lord!
Qin Gou, holding a short saber, squatted beside Ye Yaohong and smiled. “You made a mistake, but do you want to make amends?”
Ye Yaohong nodded, then shook her head, biting her teeth. “I admit defeat. But this only means I won’t plot against you again. It doesn’t mean I’ll recognize a thief as my father and help you.”
“You will,” Qin Gou said with a faint smile. “Because if you don’t agree, I’ll send you into a long slumber with a single stab.”
“Do you think I’m really afraid of death? Ridiculous. Who has the ability to truly destroy me now? When the Nine Saint Monarch revives, I will naturally be one of his attendants, living as long as heaven and earth,” Ye Yaohong seemed to dismiss Qin Gou’s threat with disdain.
“Then why aren’t you dead yet?”
However, Qin Gou suddenly pressed the dagger to Ye Yaohong’s throat and chuckled calmly. “Ye Yaohong, such posturing games might work on others, but why show off in front of me? You’ve already been taught such a harsh lesson by Ao Ai and Jing Le, yet you haven’t chosen to unite with Banwei like Wu Ti Yue. This only proves you’re not as fearless as you claim to be and still want to enjoy freedom.”
Ye Yaohong’s eyes trembled, and she slowly lowered her head.
“Think it over. Ending you right now would be completely burdenless for me.”
Qin Gou was lying.
For some reason, he found he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The sharp knife in his hand could never move forward again, as if treating Ye Yaohong, the Little Saint Monarch, like this would cause him immense regret.
Perhaps it was because she looked so much like Banwei, or perhaps it was all stemming from the Nine Saint Monarch.
Ye Yaohong remained silent for a moment, then dejectedly, as if accepting her fate, said, “I’ll help you, Master of Arc-Moon Mountain.”
Qingyu suddenly applied what she had learned and said, “Then let’s remove the words ‘Arc-Moon Mountain’.”
Ye Yaohong’s body trembled. She clenched her small fists, struggling greatly. “Mas… Master…”
“That won’t be necessary,” Qin Gou looked at Qingyu and chuckled dumbly. “Don’t joke. I’ll only be Little Yu’s master. Ye Yaohong, you can call me by my name from now on. Since you’ve agreed to help, let’s cooperate fairly.”
“What exactly do you want me to do?” Ye Yaohong breathed a sigh of relief, even feeling a little grateful that Qin Gou had left her a shred of dignity.
Qin Gou blurted out, “Don’t rush. Let’s sleep first.”
“Ah?!” Ye Yaohong was dumbfounded, almost angered to death on the spot. “I wanted to be close to you back then, but you refused! Now you’re rushing to my side?!”
Qin Gou felt very ashamed. “You clearly wanted to be close to Little Zhao! Moreover, I just spoke too quickly. It’s just as I said, the literal meaning. You and I will sleep together, and then I can enter your dreamscape and formally meet that ‘Nu Ai’.”
Ye Yaohong then shook her head dejectedly. “I can’t sleep right now.”
“Leave it to me.” Qin Gou took out the Dizzying God Handkerchief from his Nas.
Seeing this, Ye Yaohong felt even more life-weary. She had fallen for this item’s trick last time. This time, she didn’t even need Qin Gou’s help. She immediately took the Dizzying God Handkerchief and covered her face with it skillfully. Within ten seconds, she lay on the ground.
Qin Gou gestured with his eyes for Qingyu and Banwei to help guard him, then grabbed Ye Yaohong’s arm and instantly entered her dream.
Ye Yaohong’s dream world was different from Ao Banwei’s. It was a paradise with a babbling brook and blooming flowers.
At this moment, Ye Yaohong and Nu Ai, who looked about Ao Ai’s age, were sitting by the stream, both looking like they were awaiting slaughter.
Qin Gou walked up, his tone calm and cultured, without a trace of arrogance. “Nu Ai, although we met once before, we never truly communicated. This time, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
“Speak.”
“Do you know me?”
“Of course, Master of Arc-Moon Mountain, Demon Seed Pavilion…”
“No, besides that, do you have any other impressions of me from the memories of the Nine Saint Monarch that you inherited?”
“No,” Nu Ai replied truthfully.
“Do you have a vague feeling that we might have met somewhere?”
“No.”
Qin Gou frowned. It seemed that Ao Ai and Nu Ai had no memory of him, yet Jing Le was different. Could the matter between him and the Nine Saint Monarch be something Jing Le had fabricated entirely?
“Do you know ‘Ban Qin Saber’?” Qin Gou asked his final question, transforming the blade into a scalpel as thin as a cicada’s wing.
“Of course.” Nu Ai immediately stood up and said, “Although I don’t remember where this Ban Qin Saber came from, in my memory, the Saint Monarch was almost always inseparable from this Ban Qin Saber, whether sleeping or bathing! Furthermore, the Saint Monarch would often mutter to this Ban Qin Saber, saying things that, within the scope of my memory, I couldn’t understand.”
“Oh?” Qin Gou quickly pressed. “What would the Nine Saint Monarch always say to the Ban Qin Saber?”
“She said…”
“‘As a disciple, you actually have designs on your Master Sister? Truly shameless, bad seed!'”
“And… I miss you so much.”
