I turned and offered her a cigarette. She waved her hands, saying she preferred slim ones.
"Boss, what are you thinking about?" she asked, sitting beside me.
"Nothing much, just full after eating, came up for a break," I replied.
"I met Chu Qi downstairs earlier. My hands were itching, so we sparred a few moves. You know, she's human, with no magic, how can she be so formidable!" The fox demon touched her chest, likely from being struck by Chu Qi.
"Are you injured?" I asked, concerned. Chu Qi was incredibly fast, and the fox demon was no slouch either. When experts crossed paths, it was easy to lose control of the scale.
"Nothing serious, just a bit of chest tightness." The fox demon took slow, deep breaths, her brow furrowed slightly. It seemed she had injured her inner muscles, and it hurt.
I followed suit, explaining to the fox demon the theories behind internal and external energy, muscle reaction speed. The fox demon didn't seem to understand much, her eyes were quite bewildered. In the end, she just praised me, "Boss, you know so much!"
"Study hard, and you'll understand it too someday. After all, you have a long life ahead of you!" I chuckled.
Demons were immortal.
The fox demon pouted, "If you're unhappy, what's the point of living so long?"
"Who made you unhappy?" I asked.
"No one, I just said that. I've been quite happy lately anyway." The fox demon smiled, then winced as she stretched the injured muscle again. She hunched over, lifted her clothes, and blew air into it.
I didn't want to look, but two pale, alabaster orbs were right there in my field of vision. It would be rude not to look in the bright moonlight.
The fox demon noticed me looking and chuckled shyly, "What is it, boss? Any ideas?"
"No," I said, serious.
"It doesn't matter if you do. We're your private pets anyway, always at your service for… favors." The fox demon said.
"…Can you speak for all eight of you?" I asked.
"It's a consensus, okay? We are all servants of our leader Yao Yao. Whoever she belongs to, we naturally belong to. If we were to seek other men, wouldn't that be a betrayal of her?" the fox demon said earnestly.
What kind of logic was that? I didn't quite understand, but… I rather liked that logic!
If it weren't for a dark silhouette drifting in the air in the distance, I might have pinned the fox demon down on the rock right then.
The silhouette flew closer, first dropping a wild chicken, then landing and transforming into Ya Nan. Honestly, I had seen her transform the most times. At first, she was a bit embarrassed to transform directly, finding a rock to hide behind, or something similar. Later, as we grew more familiar, especially after sleeping together in Meihekou, she no longer hesitated and transformed right before my eyes.
"Thank you!" The fox demon chirped, the wild chicken being takeout for her.
But the eagle demon's face was not smiling; instead, she looked troubled.
"What's wrong?" I asked. "Not enough to eat?"
Impossible, her hunting efficiency was the highest.
"Boss, I've noticed some unrest in the surrounding mountains," Ya Nan said in a low voice.
"What do you mean?" I asked, activating my qi-reading technique. Now, my qi-reading could extend about five kilometers. However, I detected no abnormal auras, only ordinary animals, not a single person.
Ya Nan pointed into the distance, "Over there, many demons are gathered in the mountains."
"How many… people, demons?"
"Over twenty."
Ya Nan couldn't discern the aura levels of the demons, only that they were monsters.
"How far, approximately?"
"Ten kilometers," Ya Nan said. She had already learned to convert ancient units like 'li' and 'bu' into kilometers.
I stood up, looking north by the moonlight. I could only see rolling mountains, nothing else.
Checking my watch, it was already twelve o'clock.
"Shall I go take a look?" the fox demon offered.
"No, you're injured," I said. "Ya Nan, take me to see. We don't need to get too close. Find a mountain peak about three kilometers away from them, and I'll assess their levels first."
"Okay." Ya Nan transformed. I raised my hands, and Ya Nan circled back, using the momentum to lift me, and we flew north.
After flying a considerable distance, Ya Nan set me down on a small mountaintop. Wind whipped across my face. I touched my cheeks, feeling as cold as Wu Zhao's skin!