9.2

They remained staring at each other in silence, a human and a demon with cell bars in between. But somehow they seemed to get along and did not feel the least bit awkward. Then Qu Xiaoxing came.

"Master Warden. Aiya, my protector, hey." Him rushing in made the jiaoren shift his gaze. Qu Xiaoxing took a step back, frightened by his ice blue stare. He quickly hid himself behind Ji Yunhe and lowered his voice to her ear,

"Miss Snow has been captured!"

"I know," Ji Yunhe replied calmly. Qu Xiaoxing was stunned.

"You know? Then why are you still standing here? How about doing something..." The corners of Ji Yunhe's lips tightened.

"The Valley Master gave the order for Lin Haoqing to interrogate her, what do you want me to do?" Qu Xiaoxing froze at once.

"You mean this was the Valley Master's idea? Interrogating Miss Snow during such an important competition, that means the Valley Master is against you..." That old man clearly had always been against her, but others did not know this. Ji Yunhe waved her hand.

"Go and find out who passed the secret letter to the Valley Master. Also, Li Shu and Snow March, are they being detained separately?"

"No, they are still on trial in the Hall of Discipline, no one is locked up yet."

Ji Yunhe frowned, "The trial is taking so long?"

"Yes, the young master of the valley has ordered Miss Snow to break off her bond with her slave, and to have the cat demon executed. Miss Snow refused, so they are still in a standoff..."

The bond between a demon slave and the demon master was actually more like a curse on the submissive demon. In becoming a slave, the demon would lose part of his demonic power, and forever be subjected to the master and her offsprings, even if she were to die. The only way to break the binding was for the master to willingly lift the curse.

So almost no demons were willing to agree to enslavement unless they were defeated in battle, forced or completely tamed. Or in Snow March's case... The demon fell in love with the demon master.

And the demon would also be protected by the bond. No other demon masters were allowed to hurt him. This had been a rule amongst demon masters since ancient times. Lin Haoqing naturally would need Snow March to break off the bond if he wanted to dispose of Li Shu.

It was just unexpected that she would have such a big reaction, considering the valley usually treated demons like livestock. Ji Yunhe actually did not know much about this cat demon collected by Snow March. Even though Snow March always said Li Shu was a tremendous help in her demon hunting, no one had really seen him in action.

But Ji Yunhe knew that the cat demon could not be weak. Even though she did not interact much with him, having dealt with thousands of demons, her intuition was rarely wrong.

Cat demon, Li Shu had never shown his true strength. He just watched when Snow March was captured and taken to the Hall of Discipline? Ji Yunhe felt like something was off. She could not help but think of the day many years ago, after she and Snow March first grew close to each other, when Li Shu was temporarily absent...

"Didn't you say you don't know how to tame demons? Where did you capture such a demon? It looks unapproachable and very powerful." She was very curious.

"How did you get him to submit to you?" Snow March looked smart, but she had no understanding of psychology. That was why she could never become a taming master like Ji Yunhe. She could only rely on her power to conquer. Snow March faced Ji Yunhe's questioned with a scratch on her head.

"I don't know... Met him when I was hunting another demon and accidentally trespassed into his territory. At the time I was a little injured, and thought I was dead when I bumped into him, but unexpectedly he saved me." Ji Yunhe was a bit confused.

"He? Saved you?" Although Ji Yunhe had very little contact with Li Shu, she could perceive very keenly that this cat demon did not like demon masters. Or rather, he did not like humans.

"Why did he save you?"

"I don't know. When I asked him, he only said the phrase 'Like a returning friend'," Snow March replied carelessly.

"Probably I look like someone he used to know."

"Oh? That's why he was willing to come back to the Demon Valley with you and be your slave? He had his own territory, that's not something any little demon could have achieved, right? And his temperament is so noble and austere, his previous identity couldn't have been simple..."

"Well, I also asked those questions," Snow March cut her short. Ji Yunhe could still remember Snow March's face to this day, the softness in her eyes.

"Li Shu said he likes me." It was the look of a little girl completely lovestruck. Perhaps that answer had been good enough for Snow March, but for Ji Yunhe, she never stopped pondering about it. Why? Why did this cat demon give up everything to become Snow March's slave?

Was it also because of "like a returning friend"? If it really was because Snow March looked like his old friend that he saved her, fell in love with her, and was even willing to become her slave, then what Li Shu really loved was just that old friend.

She could not say this to Snow March. And today, Snow March being escorted into the Hall of Discipline, the cat demon that had accompanied her for so many years just watched and did not do anything about it? Even the half dead jiaoren caused quite a stir in the dungeon yesterday, the perfectly healthy cat demon could not make a single noise?

Ji Yunhe thought deeply, then froze as the earth suddenly began shaking violently beneath her feet.

"Snow March has gone crazy!" Outside the dungeon abruptly came a loud voice, "Passing on the order of the Valley Master, Master Warden must immediately report to the Hall of Discipline!" The shouting voice became louder and louder, and kept coming toward the dungeon until the person arrived panting. He ran to Ji Yunhe, knelt down on one knee and clasped his hands together in a salute.

"Passing on the order of the Valley Master! Master Warden must immediately report to the Hall of Discipline!"

Ji Yunhe's eyes narrowed as she followed the messenger. Halfway out of the dungeon, Ji Yunhe looked back at the jiaoren. His face was frozen and expressionless, but his eyes quietly followed her.

"Bring down that chain, let him rest on the ground for a while." Ji Yunhe left these words to Qu Xiaoxing and hurried away.

The jiaoren watched her shadow disappear then closed his eyes again. He seemed to no longer care about anything. Not about Qu Xiaoxing's predicament, or about the surroundings, or even himself. He just completely zoned out…