Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 11 - Chapter 11 – An Inappropriate Request

After coming out from the waterfall, the little white tiger finally stopped running around. It seemed that the lotus flower had been the last spiritual herb it gave to Li Yu.

To repay its kindness, Li Yu caught three wild chickens and two rabbits. After roasting them, he offered them to the tiger, who devoured them ravenously, its belly soon bulging round and full.

A while later, on the grassy bank beside the stream, Li Yu held the little white tiger—whom he imagined to be a cat—in his arms. As he kneaded its soft body, he mulled over his next steps.

The incense burner imprint on his chest clearly held a great secret, but it was beyond his current ability to unravel.

Though the three priceless spiritual herbs had been completely drained by it, and Li Yu couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret, he hadn’t come away empty-handed. Others might’ve eaten the meat, but at least he’d gotten a few sips of the soup. If he wasn’t mistaken, his Wood and Water spiritual veins had now been awakened.

For a first-stage Qi Refining cultivator like him, his strength had essentially quadrupled.

Moreover, unlocking two new spiritual veins wasn’t just about gaining a few more energy storage points. It meant he could now practice two additional types of cultivation techniques—and in the future, even develop Lightning and Wind attributes.

However, for now, Li Yu only had a basic Fire-element technique—the one he’d received upon joining Baiyun Temple. Every new disciple was given a beginner technique suited to their spiritual attribute. He remembered Jiang Li had a Water attribute, while Senior Sister Zhou had a Wood attribute…

At Baiyun Temple, if you wanted to learn techniques outside your own element, you had to exchange spirit coins. Each technique cost dozens of coins. Though Li Yu could technically afford them, he saw no reason to waste money that way.

…

Night.

Baiyun Temple.

In a room somewhere within the temple, Zhou Zixuan had just finished bathing and was preparing to sleep when a knock suddenly sounded at her door.

Puzzled, she called out, “Who is it?”

A voice came from outside. “Senior Sister Zhou, it’s me.”

Moments later, the door opened from within. Zhou Zixuan looked curiously at Li Yu standing outside and asked, “It’s quite late—what brings you here, Junior Brother Li?”

She was only wearing a thin robe over her sleepwear, her hair loosely tied up. Because she had just bathed, some strands of her hair were still wet and clung to her temples, adding a touch of sultry charm to her already beautiful appearance.

Li Yu hadn’t expected to see Senior Sister Zhou like this, and was momentarily stunned.

Having lived two lives surrounded by men, he’d rarely interacted with women—let alone witnessed a scene like this. Instinctively, his gaze lingered a little longer.

Zhou Zixuan noticed his stare, unabashedly fixated on her, and tugged at her collar in slight embarrassment. In a soft voice, she asked, “Li… Junior Brother Li, did you need something?”

Snapping back to his senses, Li Yu remembered why he was here. He cleared his throat and said, “I came this late to see Senior Sister because… I have an inappropriate request to make.”

Zhou Zixuan smiled slightly and said, “What is it? Just tell me.”

Li Yu hesitated for a moment, then said, “This might be a bit presumptuous, so I hope Senior Sister won’t tell anyone else. Just… let it stay between heaven and earth—you and I only.”

Baiyun Temple had strict rules prohibiting the sharing of cultivation techniques. Anyone caught doing so could be expelled. While it wasn’t explicitly forbidden for disciples to exchange knowledge privately, it was best to be cautious to avoid giving others reason to gossip.

“Inappropriate…” “Heaven and earth know…” “You and I know only…”

Zhou Zixuan stared at Li Yu. After a brief daze, her expression changed slightly.

In the dead of night, just the two of them—a man and a woman—he suddenly shows up, says it’s presumptuous, asks her to keep it secret with lines like ‘heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know’. No matter how she interpreted it, it all sounded suspicious.

Then she looked at Li Yu again—disheveled clothes, messy hair…

Could it be that he…

Although she did have a bit of a crush on him—and he had saved her life—wasn’t this… a little too fast?

As certain scenes played through her mind, Zhou Zixuan’s face flushed red. Her hands twisted nervously in front of her as she whispered, barely audible, “Th-this… might not be appropriate…”

Women’s words really can’t be trusted, Li Yu thought. Just yesterday she’d said that if he ever needed anything, she’d never refuse. And now he was only asking to borrow a basic cultivation manual—not her hand in marriage! Yet she was already acting all shy and hesitant before he’d even explained anything…

Li Yu could only reassure her: “Don’t worry, Senior Sister Zhou. I swear I won’t tell anyone you lent me a cultivation technique…”

“I—I just need a bit of time to prepare… I wasn’t ready yet…” Zhou Zixuan mumbled with her head down, face red. But then she froze mid-sentence, her body trembled, and she looked up sharply. “Wait… Cultivation technique?”

…

Moments later, Li Yu cheerfully tucked a small booklet into his robes. He waved to Zhou Zixuan and said, “Thanks, Senior Sister! I’ll return it soon!”

Zhou Zixuan stood dazed in the doorway, watching his figure disappear, unable to collect her thoughts for a long while.

Meanwhile, Li Yu had already returned to his room and opened the basic Wood-element cultivation technique he’d just received from her.

His current technique was called Red Flame Art, a basic Fire-element manual. It included a few simple fire spells and also briefly mentioned others—like Water Ball, Vine Whip, and Sand Gust.

Fire-type spiritual energy could be used to cast spells of other elements, but the effectiveness would be much weaker—around 50–60% of what the original element could achieve. The same applied vice versa.

Senior Sister Zhou’s technique was called Evergreen Art. It focused more on Wood-element spells, though it also touched upon other elements. The biggest difference between the two manuals was in how they charted the body’s spiritual meridians.

Red Flame Art only marked the 72 acupoints of the Fire spiritual vein, whereas Evergreen Art marked only the Wood vein. Li Yu had guessed correctly—just now, the green spiritual herb had opened the “Dadun acupoint,” the first node of the Wood vein.

That meant the lotus flower had opened a point on the Water vein.

As for Water-element techniques, Jiang Li had one. There was no need to be polite with Zhou Zixuan—and even less so with Jiang Li. Everyone in Baiyun Temple knew that Li Yu and Jiang Li were practically like two peas in a pod.

And Jiang Li’s room was right next door.

Li Yu stepped out and saw the light in Jiang Li’s room was still on. But when he got to the door, he found it was locked from the inside.

“Locked up this late? What’s he hiding…” Li Yu muttered. Channeling a wisp of his newly gained Wood-type spiritual energy, a thin vine sprouted on the door latch and quietly unhooked it.

Not the strongest for offense, but Wood-element energy is definitely top-tier for lockpicking, Li Yu thought

He pushed the door open easily and entered.

The room was filled with rising steam, making it hard to see far. Li Yu stepped inside and couldn’t help but say, “It’s the middle of the night—what the hell are you doing with all this mist—”

His gaze pierced the fog—and locked eyes with someone sitting in the bathtub.

Both of them froze.

All Li Yu could see was a blur of pale white skin. He immediately slapped a hand over his eyes and blurted out, “Sorry! Sorry, Senior Sister—I entered the wrong room!”

He spun around and rushed toward the door—but then his footsteps faltered.

That girl… While she couldn’t quite compare to Senior Sister Zhou in terms of… proportions… she did have something there. That had been Li Yu’s main clue that she was a woman. But he was sure he hadn’t gotten the room wrong.

His first thought: Damn, Jiang Li’s more cunning than I thought—already hooking up with a female disciple?

But… her face looked just like Jiang Li’s.

Wait—could it be that he saw wrong? Was Jiang Li secretly training his pecs to that level?!

Uncertain, Li Yu stole another glance—

—and immediately got pelted in the face by several Water Balls, along with an angry, flustered shout from a young woman: “Still looking!”