Chapter 0: Ren Ci
“Are you Jia Ren?”
“Jia Ren?” The demon girl repeated the unfamiliar word, her small face bewildered.
“Why feign ignorance? Such tricks won’t work on me,” Qin Gou narrowed his eyes and said, “You even claim several days have passed? From the moment you truly entered this place until I appeared, it has clearly been but a short while.”
As things stood, the situation that had befallen him and Demon Lord Jia Ren was nothing more than the negation of spiritual power and the rejuvenation of their bodies. However, since his current body had been in this state since its creation by the system, his appearance had not changed much.
This particular rule applied equally to him and Jia Ren. If he could still clearly recall everything, how could Jia Ren have lost her memory?
If that were truly the case, Jia Ren’s body, cultivation, and even her mind would be trapped at this vulnerable stage. Such a bizarre and potent rule left no room for escape.
Therefore, it was all just a play staged by that cunning demon woman, a trick that the wise Celestial Master had easily seen through at a glance!
The next second.
Qin Gou’s expression suddenly shifted. He blurted out with exasperation, “Bastard! That little rascal Mu Man’er, if I catch her, I’ll spank her little backside until it’s swollen… Strange, what cursed place is this? My spiritual power…”
“So, Big Brother doesn’t know where this is either?” The demon girl was taken aback. With her clear, watery eyes, she looked down at her hands full of wild fruits, becoming even more flustered.
Seeing this, Qin Gou, who clearly remembered preparing to depart from Arc-Moon Mountain just moments ago, asked with confusion, “Wench, who are you? And why are you alone in this desolate wilderness?”
In a daze, he didn’t even realize when he had become so proficient in the demon language.
“Is Big Brother asking for my name?” The demon girl lightly bit her tender lips, hesitated, and then said, “My name is Ren Ci. Miss and the adults usually call me Xiao Ci.”
“Ren Ci?” Qin Gou was silent for a moment, examining the demonic markings that flickered in the eyes of the little one before him. He mused, “Little one, since you are of demon race… have you heard the name Kong Ling?”
“No, Xiao Ci is from the ‘Lingbo Boat Master’ clan. As for Kong Ling… Xiao Ci is just a servant and doesn’t have much knowledge on that.”
The current Dominator of the Abyss Ren Clan, Demon Lord Jia Ren, was now the overly pure and weak little Ren Ci, honestly answering the questions of the strange swordsman before her.
“Then what’s with your attire? And that Nas ring?” Qin Gou continued to ask, puzzled.
Ren Ci shook her head like a rattle, her small face bewildered. “Xiao Ci woke up and I was already like this. For the past two days, apart from searching for wild fruits to eat, I’ve been trying to find my way back. Big Brother is the first person I’ve met.”
Seeing this, Qin Gou, faced with the ignorant little demon girl, directly inquired in his mind with his most trusted, albeit unreliable, companion, “Old Pal, what’s going on with me?”
“Ding. The host is currently trapped by a rule’s curse power, please be cautious in all matters.”
Qin Gou immediately understood. While appearing to be in thought, he continued to ask mentally, “Can this be understood as me being in a Secret Realm? My cultivation and consciousness have been affected to varying degrees… Is this little girl an enemy or a friend? And what was my original purpose for coming here?”
“She…”
Enemy? Friend? Jia Ren was both. Explaining it would be too lengthy.
Moreover, aside from when issuing tasks, the system still could not provide overly detailed descriptions. It could only respond as best as it could: “Ding. This person’s relationship with the host is very complex. The sole purpose for the host personally venturing into this place is to protect her safety.”
“Since that’s the case, this wench can certainly be considered my companion. Also, she looks so pitiable and frail, she couldn’t possibly be some wicked person.” Qin Gou nodded slightly. “As for protecting her, that wasn’t a task you assigned to me, was it?”
“Ding. No, no,” the system denied twice.
“As expected, this Qin always has a compassionate heart and acts righteously, no matter the time. This habit will likely never change in this lifetime!”
“Ding. Indeed. Even if the host turns to ash, he’ll still be like this.” The system’s tone even revealed a rare hint of helplessness.
“I’ll take that as a compliment!”
With that, Old Qin, immensely self-satisfied, hastily refocused his attention on Ren Ci, whom he had neglected for a long time.
“Ci’er, you said you’ve been around here for two days? Where did you live before?”
“What does Big Brother want to do?”
“Now that we are both trapped here, fellow sufferers of fate, we should work together, mutually benefit, and strive to leave this cursed place as soon as possible.” Qin Gou spoke in a gentle tone, with a pleasant expression. While he said this, what he truly wanted was to continue his ‘previous’ mission: to protect the fragile little one before him.
Hearing this, Ren Ci clenched the wild fruits in her arms with her small hands, and timidly asked in a soft voice, “Before that, can I ask which clan Big Brother comes from?”
“I am from… never mind, you wouldn’t understand if I said it. I am not from the Abyss, I am of the Human Race,” Qin Gou chuckled.
“Human, Human Race?!”
These simple two words struck Ren Ci like the most terrifying, bloodthirsty evil ghost in the world. Her face instantly turned pale, and she was so panicked that she dropped all the wild fruits in her hands. She turned and fled with her small feet, stumbling and scrambling away like a headless fly.
“Wench, why are you running?” Qin Gou chased after her, completely bewildered.
Although the Human and Demon races were still locked in a constant, covert struggle, it was no longer the open, frequent, and brutal warfare of the past. At least for ordinary civilians, they would probably never learn of the existence of other races in their lifetime. Had this little one, who claimed to have no worldly knowledge, been harmed by some humans?
Suddenly, things took a turn for the worse.
Two gaunt wolf cubs leaped out from the forest. Although they were small in size and young, they could not hide their ferocious nature. With ear-piercing howls, they lunged at Ren Ci, baring their fangs.
In an instant, Qin Gou’s figure flashed. His sword, the Myriad Derivations Sword, capable of cutting iron like mud, swiftly descended. At the critical moment, he cut down the two wolf cubs, leaving them in a pool of blood.
“Wench, are you alright…”
However, as Qin Gou, feeling thankful, turned around, he was astonished to find that even without his courageous charge, Ren Ci probably wouldn’t have been in any real danger.
Her small face pale, eyes tightly shut, her slender body trembled as she crouched on the ground. Outside her, a semicircular, blood-red barrier had somehow appeared. Its naturally flowing, powerful, and solidified aura was chilling. If those two small wolf cubs had hit it, they would have undoubtedly been killed.
“This is not spiritual power, this is… a Special Constitution? This little one is actually a rare gem.” Qin Gou sighed and, at the same time, asked suspiciously in his mind, “System, she couldn’t be my new disciple, could she?”
“Ding. That is not the case.”
“Then it seems this Celestial Master has suddenly clarified the crucial reason why I am willing to risk the law’s curse and throw myself into this dangerous place.”
Qin Gou looked at the extremely suitable little Ren Ci, who was as innocent as a lamb and ripe for meticulous sculpting and nurturing, with great satisfaction. He smiled amiably and said, “She can be!”
