Chapter 64

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Chapter 64: Book of Life and Death

Ji Yunhe thought Changyi was afraid of her causing more trouble, so he moved his official business over to keep an eye on her.

But when she saw a few men huff and puff a bed in, things began to feel more dire.

"He's not going to live here, is he?" Ji Yunhe caught the manager with some difficulty this time.

"If the lord says move over, that means move over." His attitude was very good and respectful. "Naturally, he will move here both during the day and at night."

Ji Yunhe was now completely stupefied.

"Isn't this just a small courtyard in the center of the lake? Isn't it very remote? What does he want to do here?"

"Miss, you are being funny. The center of business would naturally be wherever the lord is, there's no concept of remoteness."

Ji Yunhe looked at him and choked back her words. Changyi had really turned the most bitterly cold Demon Terrace into another power center in just a few years. His massive set of rules and regulations seemed more excessive than those of the imperial capital.

It was another day of busy servants and maids. When the sun went down, Ji Yunhe woke up from her bed and saw her room full of new things.

The place where she lived had been quite simple despite a lack of shortages. But now, the floor was padded with a soft carpet, the table was laid with woven cloth, and even the cups and tea pots had been upgraded.

When Changyi came, Ji Yunhe sat on the bed and pointed to the room full of luxury. "You fish, when did you learn to appreciate these things? The world is at war, yet as a leader, you wastefully live in such extravagance. I'm afraid you won't get to sit on this throne for long."

Changyi did not answer to her accusations. "Why do you care how long I sit on this throne?"

Ji Yunhe smiled. "Of course I do. If you get driven out, I'll be able to run away. I hope you can be more extravagant and wasteful."

His expression dimmed a bit, but before he had time to respond, a cold laugh came from outside the room. "Miss Ji is too optimistic. I have not seen him extravagant and wasteful anywhere else."

A monk walked in with his hands crossed and stood next to Changyi. He looked at her with arrogance and disgust.

He held a string of white Buddha beads and wore an eye catching black monk’s robe. Ji Yunhe took one look at the beads and confirmed his identity -- Kongming.

The Buddha beads were not made from precious wood, jade, or stones. They were made of bone.

Rumor had it that the monk despised evil, and vowed to cleanse the world of injustice. He would remove a piece of the skull from his victims to make beads.

Ji Yunhe had heard his name several times before from Luo Jinsang, but she did not expect to meet him one day without Luo Jinsang's introduction...

"Master Kongming, I've heard a lot about you," Ji Yunhe said.

Kongming snickered. "I'm afraid, it's Master Warden's name that has really been spoken often."

It had been a long time since anyone addressed her as Master Warden, Ji Yunhe felt a little unaccustomed to it. She looked at Kongming and asked, "We just met, why do you seem so angry with me?"

Kongming said bluntly, "I hate villains."

"In that case, you see me as a villain?"

"That's right."

If the monk could be here right now, his relationship with Changyi must be pretty close. He probably knew about what she had done to Changyi as Master Warden of the Demon Valley, so it made sense for him to hate her.

"I didn't ask you to come and chitchat." Changyi interrupted the conversation between the two and walked to the side of Ji Yunhe's bed. Kongming followed and reluctantly pulled a chair to sit down next to her.

"Give me your wrist," Kongming said.

Ji Yunhe did as he asked. "I have only heard of you being vengeful, I didn't know you also treat the sick and injured?"

"Six years ago, someone was seriously wounded and fell off a cliff into the rapids below. The rocks broke all his bones and nearly killed him. I saved him and healed him."

Ji Yunhe's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. While holding her pulse, Kongming's brow twitched slightly and he glanced at Ji Yunhe.

She held still and smiled at him. "In that case, your medical skills must be quite advanced?"

"No, can only save a dying demon." Then he pulled back his hand and stood up. "And you, I cannot save."

"What is wrong with her?" Changyi finally asked.

Kongming wiped at the hand that had touched Ji Yunhe's wrist with his robe, his voice rude and unkind. "A face full of cessation, she will probably last another month."

A month...

Ji Yunhe was surprised she still had a whole month left. It was more than she expected.

"Kongming!" Changyi frowned. "I wanted you to come heal her."

"I can heal demons, and I can heal humans." Kongming was still wiping his hand, as if the fingers that had touched her was soiled beyond repair. "But someone like her, neither human nor demon, I cannot heal."

Changyi's voice was firm. "That is not the answer I want to hear."

Only then did the monk turn his head and look at Changyi. "I’m only here because it's you asking me. If it were some other family of hers, I would have told them to take a hike."

"Arguing is pointless, I want the cure."

While the two aggressively faced off at each other, Ji Yunhe's muttering of "who is my family here..." was directly overshadowed by the voice of the monk.

He finally explained, "She was drugged and turned from a human into a demon with both the spiritual power of a demon master and the demonic power of a demon in her body. I thought her weakness was caused by a conflict between the two types of energy. If so, I would have a way to fix it. I've read ancient articles documenting a poisonous flower overseas that can neutralize these two powers, but seems she's already taken it. The demonic power and the spiritual power in her body now complement one another and do not reject each other."

Ji Yunhe nodded. "That's right, I vaguely remember being shot by an arrow tainted with that poison."

Changyi gave Ji Yunhe a look while she rubbed her chin and immersed in her past memories, not noticing his gaze.

Kongming then said, "The reason she is so weak is because her body's been consumed to its limit. She currently has the body of an eighty year old. If the King of Hell wants to take her life, no one can change his book of life and death."

Ji Yunhe nodded again. "Eighty years old. Even if you say I'm over a hundred, I'll still believe it."

She did not act like a patient who had just received bad news of a terminal illness, so Kongming gave her another look. Ji Yunhe smiled at him and said, "I heard that when you see evil people, you have to kill them. How about doing a good deed and ending this life of mine, it will also round up that hobby of yours... "

"Be quiet."

Kongming did not speak, but a pair of blue eyes stubbornly said, "This book of life and death, I want to change it."

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