My Demon Friends-Chapter 625 - 597 Zhou Li is so naggy

The ancient bell in the courtyard stirred faintly.

First, a soft hum, then a fizzing sound, as if it wanted to ring but couldn't.

Eventually, it fell completely silent.

Zhou Li was puzzled. What's going on? Could they be back?

He stood up and took a few steps outside, then circled back to the ancient bell. He scrutinized it with a questioning gaze and tapped it with his hand.

A foot kicked it from the side; there was still no response.

"Most likely the battery is dead," Brother Nan said, retracting her foot.

Zhou Li turned his head, his expression serious. "This is an antique."

"Uh-huh!" Brother Nan affirmed.

"I'll go check outside," Zhou Li said.

He pushed the door open and went out. Through the gaps in the branches, he saw two vehicles parked on the small road at the foot of the mountain. The afternoon sun was abundant, spilling over the mountain pass.

A group of people was walking up the mountain.

Zhou Li looked closely. Mr. Jiang was leading the group, followed by Uncle Liu and Mr. Shi. Lou Qingqing, who had stayed at the foot of the snowy mountain last night to keep Yin Le company, trailed at the end. As expected, the provincial government personnel who had returned to Lijiang City with them hadn't come back; they were indeed sticking with Yin Le.

He watched them ascend the mountain.

"Master Zhou."

"Hi Zhou Li!"

"You're back?"

"We're back!" Lou Qingqing waved at him. "Did you have a wonderful night with your girlfriend last night?"

"Yesterday afternoon, Brother Nan ate poisonous wild mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms she'd picked from the roadside and trees, along with some leftovers from a few days ago." Zhou Li winced. "Anyway, her stomach was upset, and she stayed in the hospital overnight." He provided a plausible explanation for why he had rushed back from so far away overnight.

"No wonder you were in such a hurry to come back." Lou Qingqing smiled. "Good men like you are hard to find these days."

"You're right," Zhou Li agreed wholeheartedly.

"Where's Master Xuanqing? What does she plan to do in the future? Will she join me in wandering the world? I'll be in charge of making money from Demons, and she'll be in charge of earning through live streaming."

"She's still asleep."

"Oh, she does need to catch up on her sleep."

"Brother Nan and I are about to start making dinner."

"Thanks for your hard work."

"No problem."

There weren't many ingredients left in the Taoist temple, and with Huai Xu nowhere to be found, Zhou Li and Brother Nan had no choice but to slaughter another chicken.

You have to get up from where you fall—

Brother Nan was planning to cook another pot of chicken soup.

Just as they were about to start the fire, Master Xuanqing woke up. So, the chefs became Master Xuanqing and Brother Nan. Zhou Li took on his old role of tending the fire, while Lou Qingqing leaned against the doorway, watching and chatting with Master Xuanqing.

"What do you plan to do in the future?"

"I want to go out and explore," Master Xuanqing said. "I might come back to inherit the Taoist temple, or I might not."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know."

"So you have no destination in mind! Just like me! Let's team up!" Lou Qingqing brought up the same idea she had shared with Zhou Li earlier. "We'll start from Tengchong, pick a direction, and when we get to a city, we'll stay there for a while. You'll live stream playing the Erhu and Pipa, and I'll find Demons to make money from. When we've had enough, we'll move on to the next place. How about it?"

"How do you make money from finding Demons?" Zhou Li couldn't help but ask. "With the Celestial Master Department established, won't there be fewer and fewer of these jobs?"

"It's indeed getting harder to get cases related to Demons or commissions. My old clients back home have learned to call the police now, but I still have my ways."

"What ways?" Zhou Li eagerly asked for advice.

"You have to take the initiative!" Lou Qingqing said.

"I'm all ears!"

"First, you pick a place," Lou Qingqing explained step by step. "Then find a Demon—preferably one that doesn't obey the law and already has a record."

"I think I understand the logic," Zhou Li pondered, "but how exactly do you execute this plan?"

"No, don't get too detailed," Lou Qingqing gave him a 'you-don't-understand' look. "Next, you find out about the city's infamous swindlers and deadbeats. In my experience, you'll find plenty among real estate developers. If that fails, go for loan sharks, the ones who run online lending schemes."

"..."

"Get it?"

"Emmm..."

Zhou Li looked embarrassed.

What a coincidence. A Demon suggested this exact method to me two years ago, but I didn't take the advice back then. Now, it's even less likely I would. The Celestial Master Department has been established; doing such things would get me caught sooner or later. Oh, right. Lou Qingqing is a First-Generation Celestial Master. She has strong Spiritual Power, comes from a Heavenly Master Family, learned Spells from a young age, giving her a head start, and she fully inherited the great achievements of ancient Taoist magic. That's an advantage in terms of 'educational resources,' so presumably, not many people could defeat her. Guess it's fine then. Nothing to worry about.

Still, Zhou Li couldn't resist offering a word of caution. "Be careful, and don't get Master Xuanqing involved..."

"Relax!"

Lou Qingqing then asked Master Xuanqing, "What do you think? Have you decided?"

Master Xuanqing nodded—

"Yeah!"

This is quite good, actually, Zhou Li thought. The only issue is that they haven't known each other for long. I'm worried they might not get along due to impulsive youthful decisions, potentially leading to conflicts along the way, which would surely leave Master Xuanqing heartbroken.

Brother Nan's voice rang out from above. "If you guys make it to Chunming, remember to come and see us. And if you're in Yi Province during the summer or winter holidays, come visit us too. Zhou Li and I will cover your food and lodging. Anyway, Master Xuanqing, I'll keep watching your live streams, and let's stay in touch on WeChat."

"Yeah!"

「The morning of the 11th.」

Following Mr. Jiang, Uncle Liu, and Mr. Shi's successive departures from Changping Lookout, Zhou Li and Brother Nan were also leaving. Lou Qingqing stayed to help Master Xuanqing clean up the Taoist temple.

Brother Nan handed Zhou Li the backpack containing Tuanzi and a size 43 helmet. "Have you bought your plane tickets? I'll take you to the airport."

"Why don't you just ride me back?" Zhou Li said, reluctant to part.

"Can't do that."

"I don't mind the bumps."

"I told you, it won't work. I'm taking the expressway, and you can't carry passengers on the expressway," Brother Nan feigned irritation.

"The expressway?"

"What else?"

It was six to seven hundred kilometers back from here. If they didn't take the expressway, they'd be riding until evening. Motorcycles were allowed on the Caiyun Expressway, and it was almost toll-free; only a few tollbooths near Chunming might charge. Although Brother Nan was still in her probationary period, she never let fear stop her.

"How about we both fly back and ship the motorcycle?" Zhou Li suggested. "Safety first."

"What about your Little Trash Cat?"

"It's your Little Trash Cat."

"Hmm..."

"She can turn into Little Cat Girl and fly with us," Zhou Li said.

"Shut your mouth!"

"...Then be careful on the road."

"Got it! Get on!"

"Oh."

Zhou Li put Tuanzi on his back, wrapped his arms around Brother Nan's waist, and waved goodbye to Master Xuanqing and Lou Qingqing. He suddenly felt a bit awkward—

Judging by Lou Qingqing's expression, she probably already thinks of me as a clingy boyfriend, he thought.

Zhou Li was just worried about Brother Nan having an accident. Even though the chances of the Elm King's memories awakening are low, she now possesses Spiritual Power and, consequently, the vision of a Heavenly Master. Before she gets used to seeing Demons, it would be very easy for her to run into trouble, especially while riding a motorcycle at high speed.

So, upon arriving at the airport and handing Tuanzi to Brother Nan, he reminded her again and again, prompting Brother Nan to call him 'naggy' several times.

「...」

In the afternoon, Zhou Li arrived in Chunming.

He didn't rush back to school; instead, he went home first.

The curtains in the living room were drawn, blocking out the light and making the interior somewhat dark. The contrast was even starker since he had just come from the bright outdoors.

A figure sat quietly on the sofa.

Zhou Li's eyes adjusted to the dim light before he saw him. "When did you get back?"

"I've been home all along."

"I don't believe you."

Huai Xu sighed. "An hour ago."

"Where did you go?"

"How did you know I wasn't home?"

"It's obvious. If you had nothing to do, you would surely come to find me. Oh, or perhaps you wouldn't show up, just to indulge your voyeurism. But by evening at the latest, you'd definitely pick a moment when I wasn't paying attention to suddenly appear, just to let me know you'd been watching me all day. After all, if I never found out, your voyeurism would be pointless."

"..."

Huai Xu looked displeased. "I went to find something that would help me hide better. Then I hid in the Sealed Land, inside the wall next to that seal, planning to eavesdrop on what the arriving Demons would say."

"What did they say?"

"I hid for two days. Most of the time, it was just Demons and humans bickering back and forth—completely pointless. I finally managed to wait until those old monsters who could understand this Symbol Array arrived, and that's when I was discovered... By that ugly ghost named Zhisha!! So ugly!"

"I see..."

"I definitely wouldn't have been discovered if it wasn't for him!"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Huai Xu suddenly lifted his chin and snorted. "To use your own words, I was just 'satisfying my eavesdropping fetish'!"

Zhou Li smiled and said nothing.

Brother Nan didn't arrive at the apartment complex until evening.

Zhou Li and Huai Xu went to the entrance to meet her. After parking the motorcycle, they went to have rice noodles together.

Brother Nan said, "They took attendance today. Luckily, someone answered for us. Cotton Swab also did the homework assigned last week for both of us. It was just turned in today."

"We really should thank them," Zhou Li paused, "and thank you too, Brother Nan."

"Smart!"

"Going back to school tonight?"

"Of course! What do you have in mind?"

"I want to observe for a bit first, see if anything happens," Zhou Li whispered seriously. He glanced subtly at her and Huai Xu, then added, "It's better to be safe."

"Tsk tsk..."

Brother Nan looked at him sideways but didn't expose him.

Huai Xu focused on her rice noodles, seemingly not hearing.

SLURP!

She lifted the huge bowl of rice noodles, drank some soup, then went to get two more free servings of noodles and continued to eat heartily.

That night, they still didn't go back to school, but nothing happened.

Zhou Li and Brother Nan conducted some experiments. They confirmed that she could, like an ordinary Heavenly Master, wield the vast amount of Spiritual Power within her body. Furthermore, she had an extraordinary affinity for Spiritual Power, which is usually only seen in Demons.

As for Tuanzi, she was merely surprised that Brother Nan had suddenly become a Heavenly Master and expressed some curiosity, but her brain was too small to support any deeper investigation.