Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 297 - Half-Demon (2)

Zanxing watched Gui Yansheng following the woman, and let out a heavy sigh.

“Why the sigh?” Gu Baiying glanced at her.

“Don’t you think that person just now spoke like the kind of kidnapper who snatches children from the village?” Zanxing said. “Gui Yansheng is now about sixteen or seventeen. How could he not see through this?”

Gu Baiying’s eyes flickered slightly, and he spoke softly, “For him, as long as he can find his father, he’s willing to try any dubious lies.”

Zanxing was taken aback and couldn’t help but glance at Gu Baiying. It seemed that Gu Baiying’s desire to find Fairy Qinghua was similar to Gui Yansheng’s current determination to find his father.

However, now that he had found Heishi City, did that mean he still hadn’t found Gui Diaotang?

Or did the woman do something to him? Zanxing’s gaze shifted to the woman.

Since returning to Heishi City, she had seen many demons, and even if she hadn’t seen them in person, there were portraits in the list Xiao Shuang had given her. This woman’s ethereal, goddess-like appearance would not have escaped her notice if she had met her before. It could only mean that this woman was no longer in Heishi City.

The woman led Gui Yansheng forward, taking him to a cave. Compared to other demon residences, this cave appeared quite ordinary. It was only decorated with some white curtains outside, lacking the colorful dishes or dazzling golden pillars of the other homes. Inside, the cave resembled a typical human dwelling, with well-crafted tables, chairs, and dressing tables.

Gui Yansheng followed inside and looked around.

The woman, however, found a soft couch and settled herself down.

Gui Yansheng stood still and looked at her. “Aren’t you supposed to take me to find my father?”

“Yes,” the woman answered with a beaming smile. Her tone was still gentle, but her gaze had changed dramatically. Though she looked exactly the same as before, her eyes now had a bewitching quality.

Gui Yansheng noticed the change as well. He took a step back and bumped into a dressing table behind him. The redwood dressing table was cluttered with the woman’s cosmetics and perfumes. His hand touched something soft, and when he turned to look, he saw a delicate handkerchief with exquisite eyes and brows painted on it. No, it wasn’t just a handkerchief, it was clearly a piece of beautiful human skin!

Despite the many experiences he had endured over the years and his mature mindset compared to others his age, Gui Yansheng couldn’t help but let out a cry of shock at that moment.

The woman seemed to find the situation incredibly amusing, laughing heartily. She reached up to touch her own face and said with a light laugh, “My face was injured for half a year, and I was punished with a ban on leaving the city. I didn’t expect you to come right to my door as my nourishment.” As she traced her fingertips across her face, a burn scar began to appear on her delicate, pale cheek. The scar spread from her cheek, resembling half a scorched handkerchief—half beautiful, half demonic—truly terrifying.

She stood up and walked gracefully towards Gui Yansheng. “Don’t worry. Once your skin is used on my face, we’ll be like one. I’ll use your face to help you find your father, and I won’t go back on my word.”

Gui Yansheng backed away step by step. He tried to grab something to defend himself, but there was nothing around. The cave entrance was blocked by an invisible barrier, leaving him nowhere to escape.

The youth continued to retreat, struggling to suppress the tremor in his voice as he looked at the approaching woman. “I’m a demon. You can’t kill me.”

“A demon?” The woman laughed loudly. “You’re so amusing, mortal. Just having golden eyes doesn’t make you a demon. You don’t have any demon essence or power in you, so how could you be a demon? You say you’re looking for your father, but you’ve come to the wrong place! This is Heishi City, a place where mortals don’t belong.”

Gui Yansheng was stunned.

He wasn’t a demon?

So who exactly was he? With golden eyes that villagers considered demonic, he couldn’t possibly be a mere mortal. He had hoped that arriving at Heishi City would lead to recognition by his kind. Yet this woman claimed he was not a demon.

The woman seemed to lose interest in talking to him. She grabbed his throat with a firm grip, her delicate fingers instantly transforming into sharp claws. Pressing her scorched face against Gui Yansheng’s, she eagerly took a deep breath. “The scent of a living person is truly delightful.”

A faint breath of life escaped from Gui Yansheng’s mouth, slipping into the woman’s lips. She consumed it greedily, like a voracious beast savoring a fine meal. One hand crawled up from Gui Yansheng’s face to his forehead. The woman laughed, “Let me tear off your skin and take your face for myself.”

Gui Yansheng struggled desperately, closing his eyes in despair.

But at that moment, a scream of agony suddenly pierced his ears.

He snapped his eyes open and saw the woman lying on the ground not far from him, her gaze filled with shock and fear, as if he were some kind of monster.

Black streaks faintly illuminated his forehead, gradually forming a black begonia on his brow.

“The Demon King’s Seal,” the woman said, looking at the mark on his forehead with a voice filled with astonishment. “How do you have the Demon King’s Seal?”

Gui Yansheng was abruptly released, stumbling backward and clutching his throat, coughing heavily. Despite his exhaustion, he looked at the woman and rasped, “What is the Demon King’s Seal?”

“You’re the Demon King’s child?” The woman stared at him in disbelief, her expression full of incredulity. It was unclear whether she was speaking to herself or to others. “Impossible, you can’t be the Demon King’s child. You’re clearly a mortal. Could you be a half-demon? There can’t be such a thing as a half-demon in this world!”

Her expression grew more deranged, and Gui Yansheng remained silent, clenching his teeth.

As the woman gradually calmed down, she seemed to finally accept a truth she had been reluctant to believe. She stood up again, her gaze towards Gui Yansheng now filled with an eerie and profound meaning. She said, “So, your father is the Demon King.”

“The Demon King?”

“Yes, he is the ruler of Heishi City and commands the entire Demon Realm. If you had revealed sooner that you are the Demon King’s child, you wouldn’t have suffered so much.”

The Demon King? He was the Demon King’s child? It sounded as if he were an emperor among mortals. If he was indeed the Demon King’s child, would he no longer have to wander and hide from place to place?

Gui Yansheng felt a flicker of secret joy rise within him. But before he could let this happiness turn into a smile, he saw the woman’s gaze turn pitying as she spoke, “It’s a pity.”

His heart tightened. “A pity for what?”

“A pity that the ruler of Heishi City, the Demon King Gui Diaotang, values bloodline purity above all else. Since he took power, he has issued an edict: anyone with a half-demon body is to be killed upon discovery.”

She looked at the young man with a gentle smile, but her words felt like the cruelest curse.

“You are a half-demon.”