Li Mengnan listened to Du Yu's explanation, her beautiful eyes sparkling like little stars inside them.

Watching Brother Mengnan turn into a little fangirl, Du Yu grinned. "That's pretty much the situation."

"Demon Tamer·Peak Stage gets to have a Demon Soul." Li Mengnan murmured under her breath, "Isn't this kind of...unprecedented?"

"It's all thanks to the Shadow Gu Tower." Du Yu didn't take credit for himself; the Shadow Gu Tower really had helped him out a ton.

As he spoke, Du Yu guided the Demon Soul toward the Fire Phoenix Tree. "Turn on the lights, would you?"

Why are we sitting in the dark? It's not like we can't afford the electric bill.

Fire Phoenix Tree: "Okay."

What the hell?

Hearing the Fire Phoenix Tree's voice, Du Yu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Even though the voice was androgynous and hard to tell, there was still something unique about it—four big words: gentle as jade!

For a moment, two images popped up in Du Yu's mind.

On the left: a perfect gentleman; on the right: a gentle beauty.

But no matter which image, it doesn't match "bad guy" at all.

Impossible!

My fire-tyrant at home shouldn't sound like this!

Click. The living room light snapped on, and Li Mengnan's bedraggled look came into Du Yu's view.

"Go wash up first." Du Yu struggled to shift his attention to the girl. "Oh right, do you have any clean clothes to change into?"

Li Mengnan's face flushed, a bit embarrassed. "A few days ago, Fire Phoenix found me one of your pajamas—think it's new, still sealed."

"No worries." Du Yu waved his hand, not a bit concerned over one piece of clothing. He just asked curiously, "How many days have you stayed at my place now? Where do you sleep at night?"

"The living room! Fire Phoenix lays out a bed and a blanket for me."

Saying this, Li Mengnan was full of envy, twirling the leaf at her side with her slender fingers. "You are really blessed, silly Du Yu.

Living at your place, aside from getting beaten up a little in training, everything else is pure enjoyment!

Food comes to your mouth, clothes come to your hand.

Every night after training, the clothes I take off will be washed squeaky clean by the next morning, dried, folded, and placed next to my pillow."

Du Yu: "..."

Seeing the look of envy on her face, Du Yu whispered, "Serving tea and water and stuff, that's Fire Phoenix helping you. But with laundry and cleaning shoes, that should be Golden Leaf's doing."

"Golden Leaf?" Li Mengnan blinked. She'd been looked after for nearly a week without knowing someone else had been behind the scenes all along.

Du Yu shrugged.

Loyal lapdogs end up with nothing...well, not exactly.

Golden Leaf doesn't need to suck up to Li Mengnan. Thinking about it, probably the fire-tyrant Fire Phoenix Tree just outsourced those jobs to Golden Leaf?

Sure enough, all the credit goes to the leader, while employees aren't even worthy of a name.

Du Yu stood up. "It's getting late; go wash up and get some sleep. Don't sleep on the floor tonight—let Fire Phoenix set up a bed for you in the guest room."

"No need—I'll sleep in the kids' room, there's a castle bed."

Du Yu just laughed, "Don't go collapsing Ghost Firefly's castle."

"Shoo." Li Mengnan spat at him, "My head's just a little big, not fat... Oh right! Almost forgot—I brought your ring back."

"Ring?"

Li Mengnan nodded. "On the third day after we got back, Thousand Blade Mountain's Library rang us about the ring.

The third sis and I looked everywhere for you but couldn't reach you, so we picked it up for you."

"Where is it?"

Li Mengnan got up and headed toward Little You Ying's room, which had a bathroom too. "On the desk in there."

Du Yu hurried to the study. "By the way, where's Shiwei?"

"Her dad came home and took her to train together." Li Mengnan, walking along, took the pajamas handed to her by a Firethorn Branch. "Their family of three rarely get together, so I felt like a third wheel and just came over."

"Haha!" From the study, Du Yu's schadenfreude-filled laughter rang out. "So you got dumped, huh?"

Li Mengnan pouted and slammed the kids' room door with a thud.

In the study, Du Yu picked up a little red box on the desk, opened it, and immediately felt dissatisfied.

Another Golden Ring?

I just climbed that damn Thousand Blade Mountain, shed a layer of skin or two, and this is all I get?

The Library's reward for Thousand Blade Mountain was clearly a Xuan Platinum Level task.

Our Yan Organization took down a Spirit Level Peak·Mountain Giant, then beat a Spirit Level Peak·Silver Lynx, and you...

Is it because this mission could be done in a team?

Come to think of it, the rings I got before were always for tasks harder than the Demon Spirit Realm's own stage level.

Looks like, if you want rings, you gotta join the events!

The two Golden Rings I got from Bottomless event and the finals were way easier than climbing Thousand Blade Mountain...

Du Yu shouted, "Hey, you and Third Sis got rings too, right?"

"Yeah!" Li Mengnan's voice floated from afar. "I took it home and gave it to my mom. She was super happy, hehe~"

Du Yu nodded in agreement—who wouldn't be happy? This is a badge of honor and power!

Teacher Li Hong is just an ordinary person, but she definitely knows how hard it is to get a Library Ring.

For real, with Li Hong's strict view of her daughter, if you told her her girl climbed a kilometer-high peak with bare hands, smashed up the Mountain Giant's upper body, made it through a ton of hardships, and finally got this ring...

Homeroom teacher would be crazy proud!

Du Yu mused inwardly, carrying the little box to the bookshelf.

Looking at the four neatly-arranged little red boxes, he added the new one to the collection. Still not entirely satisfied, he even opened each little box one by one.

One Bronze, one Silver, three Gold.

"Nice!" Du Yu nodded in satisfaction, his collector's heart filled to the brim.

For Demon Spirit Realms below Level 3 in Ancient Pine Tower City, he'd basically done a full sweep.

One Bronze and one Silver—those were the representative Twin Tree Realm rings you could do as a Demon Tamer Prentice or Demon Tamer Journeyman.

As for those three Gold Rings—each one had a bigger background than the last!

Still, he was missing the Ten Thousand Plants Garden·Library Ring that should've been his; Du Yu kept glancing left and right, feeling a little regretful about it.

Should I find some time to go again and ask the Demon Fruit Tree Heart for some Nameless Fruit?

Du Yu stood there quietly for a moment, then finally headed back to the master bedroom.

So many good things lately, feeling on top of the world.

He slept especially well that night.

...

The night passed quietly. The next morning.

Du Yu woke up bright and early. After all that sleep at the Mountain Fire Saber Hotel, he was in tip-top shape.

He didn't get up right away though, but instead released his Demon Soul and started chatting with Golden Leaf.

Golden Leaf's voice was tiny and soft, weak and timid; it gave Du Yu a super humble feeling.

It had no sense of security at all, and tried really hard to please Du Yu on purpose.

Thinking about Golden Leaf's tragic past, Du Yu kind of understood why it was so careful.

People always say a child's tragic childhood needs a lifetime to heal.

Who knows how long Golden Leaf will need to feel truly safe at home—and heal those inner wounds.

Or maybe, the damage the Earth Bear caused to Golden Leaf's body and mind was just too much—its personality is already set and can never change?

"Thanks." Accepting the clothes from Golden Leaf, Du Yu patted the dark-gold-colored leaf.

Golden Leaf didn't show any reaction at all. Only when its master had taken the clothes did it quietly shrink back among its stems and leaves.

Then, like a dark-gold waterfall, the curtain cracked open a little.

Once Golden Leaf sensed that Du Yu wasn't against it, it felt safe enough to wrap itself in the curtain and pull it open to the sides.

Du Yu had no choice but to grin wryly, quickly getting dressed.

Since there was a guest at home, the master bedroom door was closed. Coming out, he found the kids' door wide open across the way.

Looks like Mengnan was already up.

Ever since he gained the Demon Soul, Du Yu's awareness of his surroundings had leveled up a lot.

But it should be said, it's only during the process of advancing a stage that Du Yu gets that 'connecting to heaven and earth' feeling.

Like Master Qing back then—she cleverly used her breakthrough moment to search for the lost Bell Bracelet.

Connecting to all creation is really a kind of perk.

After you level up, everything goes quiet again; Demon Tamers don't get to keep that terrifying god-view.

Du Yu, curious, walked into the kids' room for a look around.

He overheard footsteps behind him as Li Mengnan came rushing in, half annoyed, half laughing: "You really think I'll crush the castle bed?"

"No, no." Du Yu chuckled and turned to the girl. "I've just been away a while, figured I'd have a look around."

Li Mengnan shot Du Yu a glare and headed off. "Yeah, right, liar. Come eat!"

Du Yu hurried after her. "I'll buy you a bed later. There's an empty room anyway.

No idea when I'll contract my next Demon Pet—we can use that room as the guest room for now."

"That's true, you've got four Acupoint Homes. Once you advance to Great Demon Tamer, you'll have five homes, but you've only contracted three Demon Pets so far?"

Du Yu didn't answer. Three Demon Pets? He's got way more than that!

Besides Fire Fox, Chi Bear, and Ghostly Firefly Doll, he also has Bai Yujing and Little Golden Crow.

Strictly speaking, he already has five Demon Pets.

The two sat down at the table; breakfast was simple: hot milk, toast, and fried eggs.

Du Yu stuffed a fried egg into his mouth and mumbled, "Not bad."

Yeah...not much else to compliment, honestly.

But since the girl made him breakfast first thing in the morning, Du Yu figured he should say something nice.

Li Mengnan's cheeks turned pink. "Fire Phoenix did the frying."

Du Yu: "..."

Suddenly Li Mengnan looked up, sounding way tougher now: "But I bought the eggs!"

Du Yu instantly shot her a thumbs up. "Great pick, top quality!"

Li Mengnan muttered, "The boss picked them, it was delivered by takeout."

"Cough, cough, cough." Du Yu nearly choked. After a moment, he wiped his watery eyes and said, "No problem—the money's ours."

Li Mengnan instantly perked up, nodding quickly. "Right, right, right! I paid for it!"

Du Yu quickly changed the subject, "So what's your plan? Keep training here?"

Li Mengnan: "Sure thing! Fire Phoenix Tree tailored a whole training plan for me—it's super dedicated. You?"

"I'll train too, get more used to my Demon Pets and their Demon Skills." Du Yu thought a bit, then added, "In a couple days, I'll climb Thousand Blade Mountain again—go pet the cat."

Li Mengnan's eyes lit up. "You wanna bring that big cat home?"

Du Yu looked a bit troubled. "No idea when I'll be able to beat it into submission.

But I'll give it a try. Now that I have a Demon Soul I can even chat with it."

If he actually manages to bring the big cat home, then there's no need to buy a bed for the guest room.

That'd be a 100% natural beast-skin bed—two and a half meters long; even if Brother Mengnan's legs are super long, he could stretch out all the way!

And there's plenty of width, too.

Anyway, even if it's not wide enough, would Li Mengnan dare to roll over in her sleep on top of it?

Hilarious!

She wouldn't even dare move, right!

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