Attaining Immortality, Starting From Slaying Demons

Chapter 31 Lin Baiwei's Identity_1

The sky was gradually darkening.

Shen Yi, as usual, knocked on the door before pushing it open.

Lin Baiwei, as always, hid in the back courtyard and only poked her head out upon hearing his voice.

Unlike the drenched appearance of the previous day, she had changed into that white outfit today. The form-fitting long gown fluttered about her, giving her an ethereal air. If only she could control her craving for food a bit and stop swallowing saliva every now and then, she would truly resemble an otherworldly beauty.

"Hee, I smell the scent of meat."

"Did you get your salary?"

She reached out her hand to take the clay pot and the lotus leaf-wrapped package from Shen Yi's hands, and eagerly set them on the table to open.

Watching her silhouette, Shen Yi felt a touch of envy.

To be able to show the same happy face when eating simple bread or fine cuisine, if he had had such a disposition in his previous life, perhaps he wouldn't have had to live so strenuously.

"You're covered in bloodstains again, every day when you go out…"

Lin Baiwei teased him under the guise of nonchalance. However, as the lotus leaf and clay pot were uncovered, she slightly furrowed her brows and her expression grew colder.

Seeing the change in her expression, Shen Yi didn't know what had happened.

But he was too lazy to care. She could eat if she wanted.

He sat down at the table, reached for a goose leg, and as he bit into it, the crisp skin and juicy flavor burst forth on his tongue, masking the slightly bland drawbacks.

Lin Baiwei's nose twitched slightly. She decisively closed her eyes and hugged her arms tightly, "Fed up! I have no appetite at all."

Shen Yi glanced at her and took a swig directly from the spout of the pot of Huadiao wine.

Lin Baiwei's eyes opened a sliver, her eyelashes quivering. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, biting her red lip, "If you're not used to eating pancakes, buy some raw meat and soy sauce tomorrow, I'll cook for you. Why bother robbing others…"

"You can cook?"

Shen Yi looked up, surprised.

"If I couldn't cook, I would have starved to death a long time ago. There aren't restaurants everywhere... Are you even listening to me?"

Lin Baiwei fiddled with her fingers, "A pound of pork costs about twenty wen. If you save a little from your monthly salary and account for firewood, rice, oil, and salt, you can almost have meat every day. I can also sew; there's no need to replace torn clothes or shoes with new ones."

In the dimly lit room, Shen Yi watched her list household tips in silence and then thought about how Master Lin could casually produce eight hundred taels of silver.

"Are you really the daughter of Lin Family?"

"Are you deaf?" Lin Baiwei was frustrated. Why didn't he seem to understand?

A clear servant of the Imperial Court, fed on the state's salary, either mingled with demons or bullied ordinary people, thoroughly wasting his aptitude.

If it were the past, she would have surely pinched off the other person's ears.

The woman looked adorably cross, and Shen Yi shifted his gaze away, pulling out a few pieces of broken silver from his waist and throwing them onto the table, cutting off her endless chatter, "It's from your father."

With that said,

Lin Baiwei froze, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the silver and the bloodstains on Shen Yi's body.

"You went to see her?"

Before he could reply, she suddenly stood up, leaned forward, and brought her beautiful face close to the young man's, saying anxiously, "Do you realize how serious the problem is? They are not as simple as you think. The Fox Demon of the northern cliff had an elder swing by, who hasn't entered the city because it fears my identity! But if you truly attacked its kin, enraging it completely, no one can protect you!"

She clearly was genuinely worried.

Shen Yi, feeling the fragrance wafting towards him, remained calm, "So, what is your identity?"

At this, Lin Baiwei stopped short and after a long silence, she muttered sullenly, "You actually caught the important part of that."

Shen Yi also stood up, emotionless, and without hesitation, extinguished the flicker of unusual sentiment that had arisen in his heart.

This woman indeed still had secrets. The trouble surrounding her was much greater than he had imagined.

"Let's eat."

Shen Yi returned to his seat on the bed.

"Anyway, I am not a bad person," Lin Baiwei, sensing his distance, took her seat again and poked at the yellow croaker with her chopsticks.

She really had lost her appetite this time and it wasn't until much later that she spoke in a low voice, "My father is alright, isn't he?"

"For now."

Shen Yi probably understood the mood of the person in front of him. "The Fox Demon is not in your residence, but it has brought other demons into your house."

"Thank you."

The blood stains on the young man's body and the silver lying on the table had already said enough.

Lin Baiwei struggled to calm her trembling hands, nursing the earthen jar and sipping the fish soup in tiny sips.

She moderated her breathing, her emotions gradually stabilizing.

Shen Yi remembered what she had said before, she must live... It turns out that the more precise meaning was that even if the life and death of her parents were uncertain, she still needed to survive.

In Lin Baiwei's description, the so-called elder Fox Demon was also wary of entering the city because of her identity.

"I need more money."

"What?"

Under Lin Baiwei's astonished gaze, Shen Yi wiped the sheath carefully with a cloth, "I said, two martial arts manuals of the Initial Realm are not enough, I want those of the Jade Liquid Boundary. As before, two manuals, but I need one in advance as a retainer."

Since the identity had changed, naturally, the price would too.

Lin Baiwei stared at him silently, seemingly accepting this act of "profiting from a disaster," and picked up her chopsticks to resume eating the fish, "I can only remember one manual. You prepare paper and writing materials for me, I'll give it to you in three days."

The woman chewed on the fish meat forcibly, using it to mask the grievances surfacing in her eyes.

She wasn't used to showing weakness in front of anyone.

Suddenly, that indifferent and annoying voice reached her ears again.

"Does what you said just now still count?"

"What did I say." Lin Baiwei forcefully crammed the sweet, tender fish into her mouth, her cheeks bulging and lips smeared with grease, not wanting her voice to tremble to his ears.

"Cooking and preparing meals."

Shen Yi hung the freshly wiped sheath on the wall.

Even though the person was like a riddle, he had more or less sorted out his thoughts.

The Fox Demon, wary of her identity, didn't kill her but carelessly handed over a defenseless woman to his predecessor. No matter how powerful these foxes and their divine skills were, could they really guard day and night?

They simply wanted to use the hands of his predecessor to get rid of this woman.

What was so special about himself then?

After much thought, Shen Yi could only come up with the identity of a servant of the Demon-suppression Bureau, by which he could easily deduce the truth that Lin Baiwei was hesitantly trying to conceal.

Tsk, the Lin Family had sent their only daughter out to learn the arts, only to end up in the Demon-suppression Bureau, right?

What she feared the most wasn't some Fox Demon, but rather, clearly, himself.

If she suffered at the hands of an Imperial Court servant, the Fox Demons could easily extricate themselves from the matter at hand, shaking the blame off completely.

If he had had but a slight misjudgment initially,

he would have truly cut down this woman, personally killing someone from the Demon-suppression Bureau.

Shen Yi shivered just thinking about being wanted across the entire Great Qian Dynasty and internally cursed the predecessor who was easily swayed by lust.

You dare to touch any woman!

"..."

Lin Baiwei, unaware of Shen Yi's multitude of thoughts, swallowed the fish meat, sucked in a sharp breath through her slightly reddened delicate nose, her voice hoarse, "Alright, I'll do it!"

It's just cooking, after all – it'll be the death of you!

Her small hand creaked as it gripped the chopsticks. Once she got through this month, she would find a way to undo the seal.

Then, she'd definitely prepare a big basin of water for scrubbing pots and force it down his throat.

With this thought in mind, Lin Baiwei felt somewhat better and grabbed the wine jug, gulping it down in one go.