After Running Away Pregnant, I Ended Up on the Wanted Lists of Both the Demon Venerable and the Immortal Venerable Chapter 23

A very light laugh carried contempt and disdain, yet it made the entire temple fall silent.

Jian Zhen, sitting on the ground, almost instantly knew who it was. Originally, he had only thought of calling Yu or the Immortal Venerable over, perhaps these people could still be spared their lives. Who would have thought that in the end, it would still be the Demon God who was contacted.

The scar-faced man and his underlings clearly had not realized the seriousness of the situation.

A lackey said, “Boss! He doesn’t seem to believe us!”

In front of his underlings, how could the scar-faced man afford to lose face? He immediately roared angrily, “If you don’t give this money, I can’t guarantee what’ll happen to your wife and child!”

As he spoke, he viciously glared at Jian Zhen in the corner.

Little grass: “……”

Why glare at it?

If someone’s ignoring you, go find them!

The scroll burned in midair, as if enduring immense pain. The subordinate responsible for supplying the scroll with demonic power already had a somewhat pale face.

Just as the atmosphere reached an extreme stalemate.

Ye Jisheng finally spoke lightly, “Let him speak to me.”

The scar-faced man’s temperament was arrogant and overbearing, and the Demon God’s words were not the least bit polite. By all logic, he should have been enraged. Yet words spoken by someone long accustomed to high authority carried, even without intention, an innate majesty that made people unconsciously want to obey.

Thus Jian Zhen saw the scar-faced man actually bring the scroll over from the air.

The scroll descended slightly.

Jian Zhen’s heart was in his throat, and only then did he hear a lazy yet authoritative voice fall: “Wife?”

Clearly a tender worldly form of address, yet when spoken from that person’s mouth, it seemed wrapped in layers of chilling coldness and mockery.

Little grass: “……”

A sudden ominous premonition arose.

But with the scar-faced man’s fierce appearance standing before him, a grass knew the times made the hero. Endure for a moment, and all would be calm.

Jian Zhen’s fair little face was smeared with a bit of mud and ash. His dark eyes blinked, and in a light, weak voice, he called out, “Hus… husband.”

The air seemed to fall silent in an instant.

Some forms of address, once you dare to push through and say them out loud, become easy to say.

Jian Zhen took a deep breath, tears welling in his eyes as he spoke, “Husband, hurry and come save me and the child. Just now that big brother said that if you don’t come, he’ll sell me!”

The scar-faced man said excitedly, “Who wants him to come? Just have him send the money!”

The scroll continued burning in midair.

The other side suddenly fell completely silent, a quiet so eerie it made people uneasy.

The scar-faced man noticed this too. Somewhat annoyed, he spoke toward the scroll, “Why is there no sound anymore?”

Yet the scroll abruptly burned up and was destroyed in midair, turning into a wisp of smoke that vanished without a trace. The lackey responsible for transmitting demonic power to the scroll suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire body turning pale as paper.

A subordinate cried out, “Second brother, what’s wrong with you?”

Seeing this, the scar-faced man thought only that he had been toyed with. Enraged, he drew his sword and pointed it at Jian Zhen, saying, “Are you playing me for a fool?!”

Jian Zhen said innocently and honestly, “No, I should truly be pregnant.”

The Immortal Venerable wouldn’t lie to him about such a thing.

The scar-faced man, having suffered losses of men and strength, was naturally furious with humiliation. He cursed loudly, “Then why is your husband so unconcerned about you? Could it be that you quarreled because what you’re carrying is some b*stard, so he won’t come?!”

Jian Zhen said, “He will come.”

The scar-faced man sneered and said, “What did you say, you…”

“Boom!”

A massive sound came from outside the temple. The guards stationed outside let out shrill screams. Wind howled in from beyond the temple, carrying rain droplets mixed with the stench of blood. Everything inside the temple began to collapse. Wind and frost sliced across people’s faces like knives, opening gashes of blood, yet they alone passed over the youth sitting on the ground in plain-colored robes. The overwhelming pressure belonging to the Demon God crashed down, making it nearly impossible for anyone to move.

The scar-faced man forced himself to turn around and saw a scene he would never forget in his lifetime.

Countless broken walls and shattered tiles were flung up. Torrential rain poured down. Standing in the center of the small path was a man in black robes. His garments fluttered with the wind yet remained unstained by dust. His ink-black hair lifted lightly in the wind, his skin deathly pale. On his handsome face, a pair of red eyes inspired dread at a single glance. The corner of his lips curved into a smile, yet his gaze was icy. When he looked at them, it was with the contempt of one gazing down upon ants.

Step by step, he walked forward.

All the rainwater seemed to automatically veer away from him.

Only the sound of his footsteps rang out clearly, like the drumbeats of a soul-collecting Yama.

The scar-faced man’s lips trembled as he stammered, “D-Demon… Demon…”

Ye Jisheng’s gaze fell upon him, and a lazy voice descended: “Just now, who were you cursing?”

With just a single glance.

The scar-faced man dropped to his knees with a thud, his legs going weak, unable to stand. In a panic, he begged for mercy, “Demon God, spare my life! This lowly one was blind and didn’t know the recipient of the scroll was you!”

Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh, his gaze sweeping over the young man behind him as he said lightly, “Just now, this venerable one heard that you were going to sell my wife and child?”

At this moment, the scar-faced man wished he could bite off his own tongue. In panic, he said, “How would I dare? It’s all a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding…”

His words had barely fallen.

Not far away inside the temple, a subordinate who was attempting to flee for his life let out a miserable howl. In an instant, he was engulfed in soul fire, burned to ashes, and washed away by the rain.

The scar-faced man stared in shock as overwhelming terror swept over him. Regardless of anything else, he begged for mercy, “Lord Demon God, we are all people of the yao clan. Now that the yao clan assembly has invited you to attend, if you slaughter everyone here, it will surely cause panic among the people of the world…”

“Is that so?”

A cold, thin voice sounded.

The scar-faced man looked up at the Demon God, an existence whose very name alone would plunge all beings of the world into terror. His black robes seemed to meld into the darkness of the night. On his handsome face, the red eyes were like the blood of h*ll.

Ye Jisheng curled his lips into a smile, the smile extremely faint, contemptuous and hollow.

“So what?”

“Worldly people’s thoughts.”

Soul fire rose from the scar-faced man’s body, mingling with the wind and rain.

Ye Jisheng lowered his gaze, watching him turn into blood and be burned clean, and said indifferently, “What does that have to do with me.”

At the instant before he perished, the scar-faced man twisted as he cursed, “Ye Jisheng, you devil! You’re so brutal and inhumane, yet you actually have a wife and child, you won’t die well, you’ll never get…”

His curse dissipated into the air before he could finish speaking.

Ye Jisheng did not care in the slightest. His expression remained calm as he looked toward Jian Zhen, who was sitting beneath a pillar behind him.

Yet he found Jian Zhen’s fair face knit in a frown, staring at the place where the scar-faced man had vanished, his small face bearing a gravity it had never had before.

Ye Jisheng raised a brow and said, “Scared stupid?”

Jian Zhen gently shook his head. He wasn’t such a sheltered little grass anymore. In Ye Jisheng’s illusions in the past, he had seen far bloodier scenes. What’s more, these people had always wanted to kill him, did grass not need dignity? How could he be scared stupid just from this!

Ye Jisheng narrowed his eyes. “Then what is it?”

Jian Zhen pursed his lips and said softly, “He just cursed you…”

Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh. “There are plenty of people in this world who hate this venerable. Why care about such things.”

Seeing his disdainful brows and eyes, Jian Zhen muttered extremely softly, “You may not care, but hearing it makes me feel bad…”

Ye Jisheng’s smile slowly faded.

In the desolate, storm-battered temple, the tall, handsome man looked down at him. He happened to stand before him, blocking the wind and rain blowing in from outside, like a lofty, solid mountain.

The binding talisman seals on Jian Zhen cracked, and he instantly regained his freedom.

Ye Jisheng said, “How many months?”

Jian Zhen froze for a moment, then realized what he meant. Only afterward did he touch his lower abdomen and obediently say, “A little over two months, I think.”

Ye Jisheng reached out and pulled him up.

A cloak appeared over Jian Zhen’s shoulders. The broad cloak carried Ye Jisheng’s familiar scent, wrapping him within it as if isolating all the outside wind and rain.

Ye Jisheng said, “Go back.”

Jian Zhen turned his head to look at him. Even standing amid ruins, Ye Jisheng was still noble and eye-catching, as if no matter what happened or where he was, he would never look disheveled.

Looking at his calm face, Jian Zhen asked curiously, “Y-you didn’t even ask whether I was lying?”

Ye Jisheng glanced at him and said lightly, “No need to ask.”

Jian Zhen grew curious. “Why?”

Could it be because he knew he was an honest and reliable little grass?

Hehe.

Good judgment!

“Because,” Ye Jisheng’s gaze fell on him, and he chuckled lightly, “with your brain, even if you were kidnapped, you couldn’t possibly fabricate such a reason out of thin air to deceive this venerable.”

Jian Zhen: “……”

D*mn it, even if that really is the case.

Doesn’t he need dignity!!

The two chatted idly, back and forth, getting along quite harmoniously.

Until…

Another icy, frost-like spiritual aura descended. Ye Jisheng’s eyes turned cold almost instantly, even carrying killing intent for a brief moment.

Jian Zhen looked to the side.

Not far away on the small path appeared a snow-clad figure. Fu Changhuan stood outside the path holding his sword. Stepping inside, he looked at Jian Zhen with some concern and asked, “Are you hurt?”

He brought with him the frosty rain chill from outside as he entered.

Jian Zhen obediently shook his head and said, “I’m fine.”

“That’s good.” Fu Changhuan let out a sigh of relief, then shifted his gaze to the person beside Jian Zhen, his expression turning cold as well.

Seeing that the two were about to be at daggers drawn again.

Jian Zhen hurriedly changed the subject. “Immortal Lord, how did you find this place?”

Fu Changhuan’s eyes softened considerably when he looked at Jian Zhen. He said, “This venerable sensed fluctuations of demonic power here and worried that something might have happened to you, so I hurried over to check. Who knew… indeed.”

Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh, contemptuous to the extreme.

Jian Zhen hurriedly waved his hands and said, “No, no, it has nothing to do with the Demon Venerable. I was kidnapped, and Demon Venerable saved me.”

Hearing this, Fu Changhuan raised his eyes to glance at Ye Jisheng, then lifted his hand in salute. “If that is the case, many thanks to the Demon Venerable for your assistance.”

Ye Jisheng raised a brow. The tall man in black robes stood beside Jian Zhen, carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure. He said leisurely, “This venerable saving my demon clan’s people is only my duty. Why would I need you to thank me?”

Fu Changhuan’s cool brows and eyes did not change. “He is a twin immortal grass, having grown up between the Immortal and Demon realms. His identity between the Immortal and Demon clans has yet to be determined. For the Demon Venerable to draw such a conclusion so rashly may be premature.”

The surrounding atmosphere almost instantly plunged to the lowest point.

A fierce wind howled. The surrounding trees’ branches bent like pressed leaves, feeling the aura of two supreme experts.

At this critical moment.

A thin, delicate figure stepped between the two. Jian Zhen said, “What are you two talking about? Speak properly and don’t quarrel. Demon clan, Immortal clan, right now I’m an entry-selection disciple of the yao clan!”

Fu Changhuan’s and Ye Jisheng’s gazes both fell on him at once.

The pressure from two big shots’ stares made the little grass shrink back instantly, yet he still summoned the courage to say, “I still have to go buy spirit treasures and tools later. Tomorrow I have to participate in the second round of group selection.”

“No!”

Two voices rang out in unison.

Ye Jisheng and Fu Changhuan exchanged a glance, then both refocused their attention on Jian Zhen.

Fu Changhuan gently advised, “You’ve just been through an incident. You need to rest properly and recover your body.”

Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh and said, “The yao clan’s second round of selection won’t be against those few elders and senior brothers anymore. It’s competition among fellow disciples, real combat facing demons and monsters. How many lives do you have to throw away?!”

Jian Zhen hadn’t expected to be stopped by both of them at the same time.

Looking at the two powerful big shots before him, the little grass spoke weakly, yet his dark eyes were clear: “But I’ve already come this far. I can’t just give up without even trying, right? I also promised Yu we’d form a team together, how can I go back on my word!”

Fu Changhuan felt somewhat helpless upon hearing this, just about to continue stopping him.

Ye Jisheng said, “You truly won’t withdraw from the competition?”

Jian Zhen met those red eyes and immediately wilted, but the Little Grass had his own persistence; he gently nodded.

Just as Fu Changhuan thought Ye Jisheng would also stop him, 

Ye Jisheng said calmly, “Since that’s the case, this venerable will accompany you to compete.”

Jian Zhen nodded: “Oh… wh, what?!”

Little Grass, eyes wide with shock, stared at Ye Jisheng in disbelief. He knew that some of his ideas could seem very willful to others, so he had thought that with Ye Jisheng’s self-centered personality, he would never agree. But he had not expected that when he acted recklessly, Ye Jisheng would only do something even more insane.

The supreme of the Three Realms, the body of a Demon God.

Accompany him to participate in the yao clan’s new disciple selection competition?

Jian Zhen stammered, “How are you going to participate, you’re not a new disciple?”

Ye Jisheng raised an eyebrow and said lightly, “Among the kidnappers killed earlier, there was one who was to be a new disciple tomorrow. This venerable can simply change form.”

Jian Zhen choked, never imagining things would turn out like this.

Fu Changhuan frowned slightly and said, “The yao clan selection is a major event, how can it be treated so frivolously?”

Ye Jisheng let out a cold laugh: “If the Immortal Lord has objections, you may leave.”

Just as the atmosphere was about to turn sword-drawn and tense again, 

From the forest outside, amid the wind and rain, a figure came running, and a familiar voice rang out: “Brother Jian!! Brother Jian……”

Jian Zhen looked outside and saw Yu braving the heavy rain as he ran over. His somewhat bedraggled figure revealed a look of relief the moment he saw Jian Zhen: “Brother Jian, you’re alright!”

As he hurried over, his excitement overflowed beyond words.

Jian Zhen said softly, “I’m fine. Yu, why are you here?”

Yu wiped the rain from his face and said, “I couldn’t find you anywhere and was worried. Just now I followed the commotion this way, and didn’t expect I’d really find you!”

Seeing how hard Yu had worked, Jian Zhen felt a bit moved and said, “I made you worry.”

Yu smiled lightly and shook his head. “It’s fine!”

As the words fell…

Yu’s attention was finally drawn to the two people beside him. He showed a puzzled expression and said, “Brother Jian… who are these two?”

Jian Zhen had just been about to wonder how Yu could not recognize these two people, when he turned his head and saw that beside him stood an Immortal Venerable dressed in white plain robes, with an elegant and refined countenance, holding a silver sword. Turning back again, beside him stood a Demon Venerable wearing black cloth garments, a bit shorter in height, arms crossed as he leaned against a pillar, with a disciple token hanging at his waist. The two of them had both changed forms without his knowing.

If Jian Zhen hadn’t known who had been here just now, even he himself wouldn’t have been able to recognize who these two demon race disciples were!!

Yu said, “Brother Jian, do you know them?”

Being stared at like this, Jian Zhen instantly felt his scalp go numb and said nervously, “I, I, um…”

Just as he opened his mouth, the gazes of the two people beside him both fell upon him, as if an invisible pressure descended in an instant. Though neither spoke, a grass seemed already plunged into dire straits.

Yu asked curiously, “What?”

“Th-they, they…” Jian Zhen recalled the earlier conversation and suddenly clapped his hands as if struck by inspiration. “They’re also disciples participating this time, partners who’ll be teaming up with us tomorrow!”

As he spoke, a little grass who felt himself exceptionally clever enthusiastically grabbed the arms of the two beside him, smiling brightly as he introduced them: “Look, this is Little White, and this is Little Black!”

As the words fell, Yu lifted his head to look at the two. The man in white had eyes cold as an ice mountain that never melts for ten thousand years, inspiring an involuntary sense of solemn awe. The man in black was lazy and indifferent, yet when one met his gaze there was a feeling of instantly being locked onto by a dangerous hunter. Those eyes were so detached as if life and death did not exist, making one’s heart tremble.

Jian Zhen seemed completely unaware, speaking softly and gently: “Don’t worry, Yu, they’re both very easy to get along with. Tomorrow’s trial, we’ll definitely all be able to handle it.”

Yu: “……”

Ha-handle… handle who?