Chapter Seventy-Four: Your Master Will Help You Find a Wife

In all the days I had followed him, this was the first time I’d seen him angry, the first time I’d heard him speak to me with such sharpness and severity.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. Moments ago, the tears had only been swirling restlessly in my eyes, but now, they spilled over at once.

“Master, do you really not want me anymore?” I looked up, my face full of sorrow and grievance as I asked him.

Zilian, I escaped from the Demon Palace for you. You can’t just cast me aside. To get close to you, I’ve already sacrificed a thousand years of cultivation. If I return to the Demon Palace now, Chixiao will definitely punish me, locking me in the ice cave for a hundred years or more. So you can’t abandon me, you can’t leave me behind.

“You—”

He flung his sleeve in frustration, pacing back and forth in front of me. Suddenly, he paused to glance at me, then slowly stepped closer. Yet after just a few steps, a look of irritation crossed his face again. He flung his sleeve once more, turned, and resumed his restless pacing.

At first, I was crying in earnest, but upon seeing his anxious, bewildered state, I forgot my tears altogether. Raising my sleeve, I wiped the remnants of tears from my face, curiosity alight in my eyes as I watched him.

“Master, what’s wrong with you?” I asked, puzzled by his reaction.

Zilian finally stopped and strode over, pointing at me, a look of resignation on his face. “If you cry again, I really will leave you behind. I mean it. How can a—”

He suddenly broke off, lowering his head and giving me a thorough once-over before continuing, “How can a—young man of five feet, at the first sign of trouble, do nothing but wipe his eyes and sob? You’re making me lose face as your master.”

With that, he resumed pacing in agitation.

“All right, all right, the meal’s ready!”

Li Ruoshui’s voice rang out suddenly. I turned to look—she was approaching with a smile. “Let’s all head to the back courtyard for dinner. As for lecturing your disciple, Immortal Lord Zilian, perhaps that can wait until after we eat!”

She laughed as she reached out, apparently intending to take my hand. Unused to such intimacy from strangers, I was just about to dodge when, to my surprise, the Demon King moved even faster, pulling Li Ruoshui into his embrace.

“I can understand your sympathy for the boy’s plight, my dear. But Ruoruo, right in front of me, you dare to reach for another man’s hand? Aren’t you worried I’ll get jealous and have my feelings hurt?” he teased, and then shot me a glare tinged with annoyance.

The whole scene left me speechless. I’d lived over three thousand years and never imagined the day would come when I, Yu Ge, would become the imagined romantic rival of another man—especially when that man was none other than Xue, the Demon King famed throughout the Six Realms for his beauty.

“Oh, go on, get out of the way,” Li Ruoshui said, laughing as she pushed the Demon King aside. “What, do you think you’re Shanxi vinegar, for your jealousy is so overpowering it’s practically flooding the place. He’s just a child, after all. I simply couldn’t resist his cuteness.”

She turned to me, her eyes bright. “Such a handsome lad—when you grow up, you’ll surely be a heartthrob, just as handsome as my idol.”

“Idol?” I echoed, tilting my head curiously at this unfamiliar word. “What’s an idol?”

“Oh, idols!” She touched the back of her neck, a bit embarrassed. “That was over a hundred years ago. I’ve been here for more than a century now. I wonder if, in my world, my idol is still alive.”

“Where is your world?” I pressed, curiosity getting the better of me.

She looked barely twenty, and though her manners were a bit unusual for a mortal, there was nothing about her that was unpleasant.

She smiled. “Oh, if I really started telling you all about it, we’d never finish. Aren’t you hungry, Young Master Yu?”

“I am!” I nodded earnestly at her question.

“Then let’s get to the back courtyard and eat!” she said, and with that, she ran ahead, looping her arm through the Demon King’s. The two skipped off together, sharing a smile as they made their way toward the courtyard. From afar, their affection for each other was obvious, making them the envy of all who saw them.

“All right, disciple.”

At some point, Zilian had come to stand beside me. He now looked at me with genuine sympathy, took my hand gently, and said softly, “Yu, in a few years, when you’ve grown, I’ll help you find a beautiful immortal from the Celestial Realm to be your bride. As for the Demon King’s wife, you’d best give up that hope. Their bond is far too deep for you to stand a chance.”