"Sigh, you're following me, is it because you have nowhere to go?" Bai Ling suddenly felt that this demon was like a fledgling, probably because she fed him a peach, that's why he was following her like this. She had a stubborn temper that couldn't be swayed, but the only thing she couldn't stand was seeing others in a miserable state.

She discussed with Fifth Senior Brother, "Fifth Senior Brother, why don't we let him follow us for now, I don't think he seems like a bad guy."

Fifth Senior Brother couldn't sense how evil the aura on Lu Linsheng was. He just felt that since Junior Sister said so, she probably also needed to make demon friends, so he agreed.

But how could the old, shrewd seashell possibly agree to put such a dangerous and strange demon beside the little master. It wailed that it couldn't be allowed, but was directly ignored by Bai Ling. This old seashell gentleman would shout that anything she wanted to do couldn't be done, she was used to it.

Bai Ling invited Lu Linsheng to travel together with them, "We are going to find the hardest stone to make a whetstone. You can accompany us. If you ever want to leave, just let me know."

"Okay, I won't leave." Lu Linsheng said, smiling like a little white flower.

Bai Ling thought: This demon is so obedient!

After they set off, Fifth Senior Brother reminded Bai Ling: "Junior Sister, you took the wrong path again. To get to Mount Yuyan, we need to head east."

Bai Ling: "I know, we're not going to Mount Yuyan first, let's make a trip to Xu City first."

Xu City was the place they had previously promised to escort that group of people to.

Bai Ling explained with a reluctant face: "Since I already agreed, I can't just leave like this. Let's go ahead of them first. If we see any man-eating demons, we'll help deal with them. When they are close to arriving, we'll then go to Mount Yuyan, okay?"

Fifth Senior Brother: "Pfft."

"Okay, deal with the demons first, then go to Mount Yuyan." The smiling monster Lu Linsheng said, a simp who regarded Bai Ling as the light of his life and his eternal obsession.

They walked ahead of the large group. When encountering those that would actively attack, Bai Ling would initially swing her hammer herself. Later, she found that her hammer would easily smash them into a pulp, and Lu Linsheng would still eat them even in that state. Bai Ling felt she couldn't bear to watch.

"Once smashed into bits on the ground, just don't eat them." She said this to Lu Linsheng, who very obediently agreed and indeed did not touch those demon bits emitting strange murderous aura again. Bai Ling felt like a mother telling her child not to eat the grains of rice that fell on the ground.

This thought made her feel restless. The next time they encountered evil beings that needed to be dealt with, she didn't use her hammer and let Lu Linsheng eat them. Otherwise, she always felt she was wasting the child's food.

—Only she would treat Lu Linsheng as a child needing pity. Fifth Senior Brother watched with his own eyes as Lu Linsheng devoured demons along the way, and finally developed some wariness, because among those demons, there were even a few that he felt afraid just looking at them.

He speculated that even if Master was here, he might not necessarily be able to defeat them, but this Lu Linsheng swallowed them as casually as he did with the other small demons before. Why was such a powerful character so obedient to Junior Sister?

Seeing that Lu Linsheng got along very well with the little junior sister, Fifth Senior Brother didn't casually warn the little junior sister about anything, and just carefully observed Lu Linsheng himself and paid more attention. Then he discovered that this Lu Linsheng was really strange.

When facing the little junior sister, he was always smiling, as if he had no other expressions. And when the little junior sister was present, he basically didn't look at anything else. Even if he did, his gaze and expression were completely different.

Fifth Senior Brother couldn't quite describe it. He only knew that the way Lu Linsheng looked at him made people very uncomfortable, completely different from when he looked at the little junior sister.

Moreover, Lu Linsheng never left the little junior sister's side. No matter when he went to look at the two, he would find Lu Linsheng following behind the little junior sister, looking at her with that kind of... indescribable gaze.

Even Fifth Senior Brother, an outsider, was a little scared seeing this, but Bai Ling was completely unaware, at most discovering that Lu Linsheng was a bit clingy. Maybe he was a very young little demon, indeed having imprinting, she thought.

When Fifth Senior Brother finally couldn't help coming over to warn her, Bai Ling instead comforted Senior Brother, "It's fine, Lu Linsheng is just still young."

Fifth Senior Brother: "...?" What? Junior Sister, you yourself are still a young dragon! Judging from the way he devours demons, how could he possibly be 'still young'!

The Old Seashell was even more worried than Fifth Senior Brother. Every day, it was like a Queen Mother wanting to drive a wedge between lovers, wishing it could draw a Milky Way between the little master and Lu Linsheng. And it persistently nagged in the little master's ear: "Little master, you must be wary of this Lu Linsheng. Even I can't tell his original form. The way he usually acts must all be an act. Maybe he just wants to eat you!"

Always being told this by others, Bai Ling was also puzzled. She looked left and right at Lu Linsheng sitting beside her, only seeing trust written in his eyes and obedience printed on his face.

She casually plucked a flower and gave it to him. He could hold it in his hand until the flower withered, then swallowed it in one gulp.

"Don't you only eat demons? Why did you swallow this too?"

Bai Ling asked him curiously. He showed a delicate smile, "Can't bear to throw it away."

Bai Ling couldn't be blamed for not being vigilant. The key was that towards her, Lu Linsheng really never revealed even a bit of malice. She could only puzzle in her heart, wondering if it was because of the same gender repelling each other that Senior Brother and the Old Seashell had some prejudice against Lu Linsheng.

"Phew—we finally arrived at Xu City. Let's rest for a night. Tomorrow we'll head back to find the stone at Mount Yuyan." Bai Ling saw the large group of people safely settle inside the city and also breathed a sigh of relief.

They found a lakeside outside the city to rest. For Bai Ling's convenience to soak in the water, in the middle of the night, Lu Linsheng, who was leaning against a tree, silently stood up and disappeared into the darkness.

A slender and thin scholar's figure appeared on the quiet main street inside the city. Following the aura, he arrived at the entrance of the largest inn in the city and looked up at the second floor.

Dong Yuan sensed something amiss in the surrounding atmosphere and was startled awake from his meditation. He abruptly opened his eyes.

A delicate scholar's face was right in front of him. The wooden expression on the face, coupled with the extreme closeness, made it appear particularly frightening.

The candlelight suddenly flickered, and the room dimmed for a moment before quickly regaining its brightness. Of the two human shadows cast on the wall, one suddenly expanded. Moments later, only one shadow remained on the wall.

The wind blew open the window of the room, and there was no longer any trace of anyone inside.

Lu Linsheng returned to the lakeside and sat down beside Bai Ling. He gazed at her glistening white scales under the moonlight, his eyes filled with greed and a twisted yearning.

His instinct was to greedily devour flesh and blood. Flesh and blood imbued with spiritual energy had a natural attraction to him, but Bai Ling was different. Even if he starved to death, he couldn't bear to eat her.

Author's Note:

Bai Ling is a good child, currently the youngest among the three female leads in the short stories.

As for Lu Linsheng... no matter how you look at it, he can't possibly be a good person.