Where Sun and Moon Never Rest - Chapter 3

When no one was looking, I stole a pageboy’s clothes and changed into them.

Then I slipped out through the back gate.

It was a full-moon night.

Outside the estate, the world bore no resemblance to the peace behind its high walls.

A sickening demonic stench filled the night air over Jinling.

Frantic, I searched for Xuexin.

All I found was a vicious demon tearing her apart and swallowing her.

My blood froze.

Like a mad thing, I drew the demon-severing dagger I had stolen from Li Cheng and drove it into the demon’s belly.

I slashed it open. Howling in pain, it flung me down.

It pinned my limbs to the earth.

I lifted my head, more like a cornered beast than it was, and sank my teeth into its foul flesh.

As I tore at it, my teeth closed around something round.

I forced it down whole.

The demon collapsed with a wail.

Inside, I boiled as though roasting over a raging fire.

The pain was too fierce for me even to scream.

I heard the brittle crack of my bones reshaping themselves and felt demonic power flow through my blood into every part of my body.

A cold longsword lifted the beast off me.

“Dead?”

A boy in a jade headdress and brocade robes looked down at me.

With difficulty, I opened my eyes and looked back, proving I was still alive.

He raised a surprised eyebrow. His dark eyes were fathomless.

Dressed as a boy and holding a rather fine demon-severing dagger, I was taken for some young son of a demon-hunting clan who had sneaked out to play.

I said nothing, only clenched my teeth.

Privately, I realized that the demon core I had just swallowed was merging with me.

And my human blood allowed me to suppress its demonic aura so no one could detect it.

“Mute?”

He reached out with long, cold fingers and pinched my face.

But all I could think of was Xuexin.

I had survived.

Xuexin was dead.

My nose stung, and two trails of tears spilled down my cheeks.

The hot tears seemed to burn Mei Yanchun’s knuckles.

He snatched his hand back.

“All this fright over killing one little demon.”

“Useless.”

The boy with red lips and white teeth wiped his hand in disgust.

Then he tossed the handkerchief onto me.

In one corner, bordered with gold thread, was the finely embroidered character for his surname: Mei.

That was the first time I met Mei Yanchun.

The demon core freed me from illness.

Demonic power slowly remade my half-demon body, which had been so close to death.

Spiritual power grew at an inconceivable speed in my blood.

After Xuexin left, I was alone.

Inside the estate, I was quiet and obedient, still the neglected third daughter of the Li family.

Outside, on every full-moon night, I slaughtered demons.

At first I barely survived. In time, my movements became numb and precise.

Hunting scattered little demons was too slow.

I wanted more.

Moonlight covered the hillside like a thin frost.

The bright demon-severing dagger slid across my palm.

Warm blood fell.

One drop.

Two.

Splashes of bewitching red.

Countless green eyes lit up in the shadows.

A foul wind crept close along the ground.

My blade flashed like a ribbon of white silk.

I dug the burning demon cores out, one after another.

I wiped my cheek with bloodstained fingers.

I could no longer tell which blood belonged to the demons.

And which was mine.

In the distance came the delicate clink of jade pendants.

Boys and girls from the great demon-hunting clans clustered like stars around a moon: a boy with red lips and black eyes.

His expression was cold.

He ignored their fawning, his thin lips pressed tight with annoyance.

Someone cried out.

“Ah!”

“So many demon beasts!”

Mei Yanchun shot the speaker a disgusted glance. They promptly fell silent.

His gaze traveled over the mangled bodies strewn across the ground and settled on me.

I stood among the beasts, using my blood as bait and slaughtering them like a madwoman.

He watched with his arms folded. I did not know for how long.

One corner of his mouth twitched.

“Lunatic.”