The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 74

“Chu Yuebai! Wake up!”
Wake?
If she woke, what would she have to face?
From childhood to adulthood, she had never thought of fighting anyone. She clearly only wanted a home, real family, and friends worth caring about, yet others always treated her as a rival.
After Chi Qiong learned her identity, he began guarding against her everywhere.
Chi Heng had once treated her well, but that kindness was not the kind she was willing to entrust her life to. It even hid a trace of purpose.
All of this shattered, bit by bit, the home she had imagined in her heart.
Chi Yuan was not her father after all.
Her surname was Chu. Her mother had been the previous chief of the green lizard clan.
She was an outsider. Even the title “Foster Father” could only be called quietly when no one else was around.
If an outsider received things she should not have received, should she not return them many times over?
In this world, aside from Chi Yuan, everyone respected and feared her. But no one loved her.
If there was anything still worth clinging to, perhaps it was only that person… that person who seemed forever fearless, who never lightly gave up even if she had to gamble her life for one thin hope.
She seemed reckless, yet she could always carve out her own patch of sky.
Perhaps only such a person deserved to have that silly girl from the heavenly realm risk her life for her during her tribulation.
How much Chu Yuebai had once envied the feelings between those two.
If only there were one person who could ignore life and death for her too.
That kind of feeling, heavier than life itself, had so easily touched her heart.
If not for that, she would not have been willing to damage a thousand years of cultivation and save that person without saying it aloud or asking for repayment.
But in her blurred memories, it seemed that under Chi Heng’s control, she had stabbed her sword toward that person’s heart meridian…
She had killed that person. She had killed the only person who wanted to come save her.
“Chu Yuebai!”
In her haze, she seemed to hear someone calling her name.
That voice was so familiar.
For some reason, in that instant, she suddenly felt that the despair sunk deep in her heart had been pulled out inch by inch from the bottomless abyss that had nearly drowned her.
“Pull yourself together!”
A voice was speaking to her.
“You should not sink into endless darkness like this!”
“You clearly did nothing wrong!”
That was right. She had done nothing wrong.
Chi Yuan was good to her, and she had also kept the green lizard clan’s promise of several thousand years. She had led her people and sworn loyalty to the red-eyed blood wolf clan unto death, had she not?
Why did Chi Qiong want to kill her? Why did Chi Heng want to control her completely?
This was not fair!
…
Outside the room, dozens of devils released great spiritual pressure together. It pressed Yun Su until bean-sized drops of sweat appeared on her forehead. For a moment, she felt almost unable to breathe.
“Little Black, hurry! I cannot hold on much longer!”
Qu Linyan’s brows were tightly furrowed. She was about to increase her strength when Ciyin, beside her and covered in sweat, shook her head and advised, “If you add any more poison, I will not be able to purify it!”
The current Ciyin was only an incarnation and truly did not carry much spiritual power.
Tear Mark was extremely poisonous. If it was not purified, it could very easily drag a person into a bottomless abyss.
Qu Linyan gritted her teeth and did not dare act rashly.
Just then, Chu Yuebai slowly opened her eyes inside the two streams of spiritual light.
Those eyes were confused and helpless, but they were no longer muddy and lightless like before.
“She is awake!” Ciyin cried in joy.
Qu Linyan had just withdrawn her spiritual power when she saw Chu Yuebai’s eyes redden. Chu Yuebai threw herself into Qu Linyan’s arms and hugged her deeply.
“It is you!” Chu Yuebai had never thought Qu Linyan would be willing to take such great danger and come here to save her.
She choked nonstop, her words full of lingering fear. “I am sorry, I am sorry… You are still alive. That is so good. So good, so good…”
Clearly, during the days she had been controlled by Chi Heng, she had kept some memory. Those memories of being unable to control herself had nearly broken down her will bit by bit, though it had never been weak.
“Uh…” Qu Linyan could not help feeling awkward and instinctively glanced at Yun Su.
Yun Su froze for a long while before shouting, “I cannot hold on!”
Qu Linyan took the chance to gently push Chu Yuebai away and went forward to transfer spiritual power to Yun Su.
Only then did Chu Yuebai see that there were others here. After a short daze, she slowly stepped forward and coldly shouted outside, “All of you, stop!”
In that instant, Yun Su clearly felt the spiritual pressure outside pause slightly.
Several seconds later, it all vanished.
Chu Yuebai pushed open the door and walked out. Looking at the respectful guards before her, she frowned. “Crown Prince Chi Heng used the evil art of puppetry to offend his superior and control the Devil Venerable. He also intended to make me into a living puppet and have me serve him from then on!”
After Chu Yuebai spoke, she used spiritual power to make the broken puppet strings on her body visible. Beneath the eyes of all the servants, she crushed them heavily between her fingers.
“If anyone does not believe me, you may come with me to see the Devil Venerable and see whether these things are on him too!” As Chu Yuebai spoke, she frowned, turned, and gritted out, “If Qu Linyan had not come to save me, I fear I would have become a walking corpse!”
Once Chu Yuebai said this, the guards and maids around her were all shocked. They looked at one another and did not dare speak.
“Miss Shen… Miss Chu, my brother is still in the crown prince’s residence!” Yun Su anxiously reminded her. “He was the one who cut off the puppet strings. He may be in danger!”
Hearing this, Chu Yuebai did not delay for even a moment. She ordered, “You, come with me to the crown prince’s residence and demand him back!”
“Crown Princess, that is the crown prince…”
“He is nothing more than a rebel with crooked intentions!” After Chu Yuebai spoke, her cold gaze swept over every person present who showed hesitation. “Many times, a person has only one chance to choose in this life. Choose wrong, and there is no turning back.”
These words referred to Chi Heng, whom she was destined to face, and were also spoken to everyone hesitating without knowing how to choose.
That night, Chu Yuebai gathered many imperial palace guards who were still willing to obey her and surrounded the crown prince’s residence layer by layer.
In the crown prince’s residence, Chi Heng’s confidants led people to resist.
“Your Highness!” Langya stood outside the crown prince’s bedchamber, anxiously reporting the situation, yet he received no response for a long time.
It was likely Chi Heng had set a sound-blocking barrier inside the room to better enjoy this “spring night.”
“Your Highness? This cannot wait! If you still do not give orders, Langya will have to offend you!”
After speaking, Langya did not forget to order the other subordinates to stand farther away and cover their eyes and ears.
Then he gathered his courage and kicked the door open with all his strength.
He thought he would see an extremely sensual scene. But the moment he broke in, he felt a deep killing intent that instantly pressed him until cold sweat streamed down.
“Fu Zichu! What did you do!”
“Do you have no eyes? Can you not look yourself?”
The weak little demon he had cleaned up and sent into the crown prince’s room during the day now wore red beneath black gauze. There was no trace of weakness in his eyes. Though he was still beautiful beyond words, his gaze was so cold that no one dared approach him by even half a step.
“You…”
Fu Zhuochen did not wait for Langya to speak another useless half sentence. He swung his sleeve hard and threw Chi Heng, who had been lying on the bed, at Langya like tossing garbage.
“Crown Prince!” Langya caught Chi Heng in shock, only to see that his clothes barely covered him, his body was covered in blood, all ten fingers had been cut off, and even… even his breath was gone.
“You! You are seeking death!” Langya flew into rage. His whole body trembled as his reddened eyes glared at Fu Zhuochen. “I will tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces!”
As his voice fell, Langya’s body changed inch by inch, turning into a huge blood-red wolf.
The next second, two waves of spiritual power collided. A huge blast of air rushed into the night sky and tore the roof tiles from all around.
“Big Brother Fu!”
“Brother!”
In that instant, Qu Linyan felt both her arms gripped hard from left and right. Knowing the two little fairies were so anxious they were about to cry, she no longer delayed. She turned into a black flood dragon, broke through the protective barrier the guards had raised with force, and carried the two of them toward the place where the spiritual power had risen.
The guards led by Chu Yuebai also charged in, arresting all the crown prince’s personal guards who still resisted.
The moment Yun Su saw Fu Zhuochen, she leaped down from the black flood dragon.
“Brother! Are you all right?”
“I am fine.” As Fu Zhuochen spoke, he glanced at the blood-red giant wolf lying motionless beside Chi Heng.
The wolf’s body was covered in burns, extremely thin and deep, yet because of the scorching, there was no blood.
The fatal wound was the deep mark at its neck.
Beside the corpse, several red feather blades still hovered. They looked light and soft, but in truth they were incomparably sharp.
The guards nearby were all so frightened they did not dare step forward. Their eyes were full of fear.
“Big Brother Fu!” Ciyin also jumped down at that moment. As soon as she landed, the two corpses on the ground startled her.
She was a little fairy who planted flowers in heaven. How had she ever seen such a scene? She instinctively grabbed Fu Zhuochen’s sleeve and covered her eyes with it.
Fu Zhuochen: “…”
Qu Linyan changed back to human form and walked past Chi Heng. She kicked him lightly with her toe and asked casually, deliberately touching on the very thing one should not mention, “Hey, he did not do anything to you, right?”
“No!” Fu Zhuochen angrily denied it loudly. His body could not stop trembling again from nausea.
Hearing that his tone was a little too intense, Qu Linyan quickly closed her mouth.
Fu Zhuochen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he saw Yun Su and Ciyin looking at him strangely.
“Truly… no,” he said weakly.
Although it had almost happened… no meant no!
Qu Linyan patted Fu Zhuochen on the shoulder with great gratitude and said solemnly, “You worked hard.”
Fu Zhuochen had thought Qu Linyan would tease him again. Since she did not mention it at all now, he could not help letting out a breath of relief and answered softly, “It is nothing…”
At the same time, Chu Yuebai arrived.
When she saw Chi Heng’s body, a trace of pity flashed through her eyes.
After a moment of hesitation, she finally said in a deep voice, “Carry him away and place him properly…”
“Chi Heng treated you like this, and you are not going to tear him apart?” Qu Linyan offered from the side.
Chu Yuebai was silent for a long time. “First, we go see the Devil Venerable.”
…
Devil Venerable Chi Yuan had been bedridden for a long time and had not improved in the slightest. Many people said he could not hold on much longer.
But no one knew that the current Chi Yuan had already been turned into a puppet by Chi Heng.
Chi Yuan was old and near the end of his life. Chi Heng had not even wanted to waste extra effort on him. He had saved himself the trouble of making a living puppet and directly shattered two souls and seven spirits inside his body, leaving only one life soul, Taiguang. With forbidden arts, he preserved the body and made it into a completely lifeless dead puppet.
Such a puppet, when no one controlled it, could only breathe. It could not be counted as a living person at all.
Chu Yuebai had never thought Chi Heng could be so ruthless.
She crouched by Chi Yuan’s bed and held his wrinkled hands, tears seeming to gather in her eyes.
“The red-eyed blood wolf clan wronged you,” Qu Linyan said. “Since they are all dead now, stop caring about them. If the devil realm wants chaos, let it fall into chaos. Take your people and live in seclusion. With your ability, you can always find a peaceful place to live.”
“He is my foster father. Before Chi Qiong died, he was the person who treated me best in this world,” Chu Yuebai said softly.
“Do you still want to use forbidden arts to repair his soul?” Qu Linyan frowned. “Even if only for self-protection, even if you did nothing, his two sons still died because of you. Even if he can wake up, he will not be able to treat you like before.”
“I know.” Chu Yuebai smiled sadly and lowered her eyes. “I will not torment him, and I will not torment myself. I only want… to take care of him through this last stretch.”
“And then?” Yun Su could not help asking.
“Then I will become the new Devil Venerable.” Chu Yuebai’s tone was full of firmness. “If I simply leave, the devil clan will surely fall into chaos. I must keep guarding the devil realm for him and guard the supreme position of the entire red-eyed blood wolf clan among the devils.”
Qu Linyan thought for a moment. “You once said you did not like these things. They make you unfree.”
Chu Yuebai smiled indifferently. “From childhood to now, all the freedom I had was given by him. I have to repay it.”
Her mother had wronged him, yet he had treated her like his own flesh and blood. How could she not repay that?
Qu Linyan: “…”
“Qu Linyan, thank you.” Chu Yuebai stood and glanced at Yun Su. Then she raised her eyes and smiled. “This is good. You found her again.”
Hearing this, Qu Linyan took Yun Su’s hand. Her gaze toward Yun Su was full of tenderness.
Yun Su bit her lip and lowered her head, a little embarrassed.
“As long as I am still alive, the promise from before still counts.” Chu Yuebai looked at Qu Linyan. “Although the flood dragon clan no longer exists, if you need anything one day, the devil realm will always stand behind you.”
“There is no need.” Qu Linyan curved her brows and smiled. “For me, Xiaoba can never return to heaven. I should also restrain my temper a little, should I not? In the future, I will take Xiaoba to travel to every corner of the world, and in the end, we will find a place we both like and spend the rest of our lives in peace.”
The smile on Chu Yuebai’s face paused slightly. Then she lowered her eyes. “That is good too.”
She raised her eyes and stared at Yun Su for a long time. “I truly envy you… both of you.”
The tone in that instant was too subtle. Yun Su did not know what to do for a moment, and the atmosphere in the room became unusually awkward. Even Fu Zhuochen, who had been silent for a long time outside the screen, could not help coughing softly.
Ciyin heard him and also cleared her throat.
Chu Yuebai smiled as if nothing had happened and curved her brows. “Qu Linyan, Fu Xiaoba, you must be well.”
Qu Linyan thought for a moment. “In the future, Xiaoba and I will come back to see you.”
“No need.” Chu Yuebai turned her back. “Yuntian City is not a good place. The world is so wide. What place is not better than here?”
“But you are here…” Yun Su said softly.
“I will not have the time to receive you in the future.” Chu Yuebai took a deep breath and asked quietly, “Will you stay here for a few more days? After I handle these troublesome matters, I will personally send you away.”
Qu Linyan and Yun Su looked at each other and saw the answer in each other’s eyes.
“All right,” they said at the same time.