Chapter 3

Ye Lixiao lowered his hand, his deep voice breaking the silence. “You don’t want me to touch her?” His tone was calm, low, and magnetic, impossibly smooth to the ear.
“Meow!” Of course Xing Luo didn’t want him touching her body!
“Is that so.” Ye Lixiao’s face remained unreadable, though there was something in his gaze, something she couldn’t quite decipher.
Before she could think further, he suddenly lifted his hand. A swirl of dark energy surged outward, and the next instant, Xing Luo found herself sucked into his grasp.
In this body, she was nothing more than a kitten, barely two or three months old. His hand alone could completely envelop her.
“Meow! Meow!!” she protested, flailing in indignation. What the hell was this bastard doing?! Was he going to strangle her?
“Be good,” Ye Lixiao said coolly. “I won’t touch her. And I won’t harm you either.”
“Meow?” Really?
Xing Luo hesitated, then went still in his palm.
Ye Lixiao’s thumb brushed lightly over her small head.
What a curious little thing. So young, with barely any spiritual energy, yet she could understand human speech.
And more than that, she was fiercely protective of her.
It reminded him of Xing Luo herself, when she had still been alive. How she used to bare her fangs at him, furious and defiant every time they met.
Perhaps that was why he changed his mind.
He decided to take this little creature with him.
His eyes flicked once more toward the ice coffin.
“Quick, call someone! I heard something over by Her Highness’s side!” voices shouted from a distance, followed by hurried footsteps.
Ye Lixiao’s brows drew together. The sorrow in his eyes dimmed as he raised his sleeve. A talisman appeared between his fingers, igniting in a flash of eerie blue fire. The moment the flame devoured it, his figure vanished without a trace.
By the time the others arrived, there was nothing left to find.
Ye Lixiao reappeared inside the Demon Realm’s royal palace.
He dismissed all his attendants and walked straight into his private chambers. When the great doors closed behind him, the strength seemed to drain from his body. He leaned against the door and slowly slid down, sitting limply on the cold floor.
“Meow?” Xing Luo’s soft voice broke the stillness from within his palm.
What was this man planning to do with her now that he’d brought her here?
“You,” Ye Lixiao murmured, glancing down at her. “Little one. From now on, you’ll be my spirit pet. Your name. will be Luo’er.”
With that, he set her gently on the ground.
After releasing her, he paid her no more attention.
Xing Luo had always despised him, so naturally she had no desire to stay near him. She padded across the vast hall, found a quiet corner, curled up, and began to circulate the faint trace of demonic energy within her body, starting her cultivation anew.
As Demon King, Ye Lixiao’s palace was filled with an abundance of spiritual energy, making it the perfect place for training. The weaker one’s cultivation, the more they would benefit from its richness, an ideal environment for Xing Luo’s fragile new form.
She stayed that way, unmoving, for three full days and nights.
Thanks to her experience in her past life, her progress this time was swift and smooth. Coupled with the dense energy in the palace, in just three days she reached the very brink of transformation.
She was on the verge of taking human form again.
“Grrr.” At that moment, her tiny stomach gave a pitiful rumble. She hadn’t eaten a single thing in three days, completely absorbed in cultivation, and now she was starving.
Xing Luo hurried toward the door, determined to find food, only to freeze in place the moment she reached it.