Shen Mu – Volume 3 Chapter 9

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Volume 3 Chapter 9: Demonic Maid

When the Little Princess and Dongfang Fenghuang returned overhead the City of Crime, they had their beasts descend directly into Shenfeng Institute.

When the city’s inhabitants noticed the Tiger King in the sky, they cried out in alarm.

“Look! The Great Flying Tiger Thief!”

“It’s her, all right! Not only did she steal my money, but she also had her flying tiger burn off my beard!”

“She has finally been captured by the people of Shenfeng Institute! Peace at last!’

…

From the skies, the princess looked down at Shenfeng Institute, seemingly not nervous at all. It really did seem like she had come to shed her injustice—there were no faults in her appearance.

“Fenghuang-jiejie, I’m too heartbroken. That bastard treated me so cruelly, so I’ve decided to pay no more attention to him. Can I stay with you at Shenfeng Institute to cultivate?”

Although Dongfang Fenghuang didn’t completely believe the princess, as they had returned to the city, her impression of her only improved leaps and bounds. In response to her question, she smiled and said, “Of course you can, except you must first pass a series of evaluations before you can join.”

“Oh.” At the moment, the princess truly appeared like a sincere girl.

Once their beasts landed on the ground, the princess leapt off of the Tiger King Xiao Yu’s back. With a wave of her hand, Xiao Yu transformed back into a small kitten and pounced into her bosom.

Dongfang Fenghuang was startled. She never would have believed that the Tiger King knew a transformation skill. Her Golden Roc was the descendant of a Great Godly Peng and was already considered an upper spiritual beast, but in comparison to Xiao Yu, even that seemed to be a bit lacking.

The duo’s arrival in Shenfeng Institute caused quite a sensation. Not only was the Little Princess the rumoured Great Flying Tiger Thief, but the two of them were also stunningly beautiful.

Dongfang Fenghuang led the princess through the crowd straight to the faculty’s buildings. The vice-president had already received the report of their arrival and had sent out people to lead the two of them to his study.

“How could someone like you with such gifted beauty suddenly become a bandit at your age? Luckily we caught you, or else the City of Crime would’ve had its head turned upside down.”

The princess looked at the vice-president in front of her. He was smiling with narrowed eyes. Sensing that this old man was not as simple as he appeared, she felt a chill run up her spine.

“Grandpa, I know my mistakes, but everything I did was because of that Chen Bei. He was the mastermind behind it all.”

The vice-president laughed out loud and said, “Hehe, young miss, you don’t have to keep lying. As for the truth of the matter, I already know all of it. That day when you came to our college to register, have you forgotten what you said to the man in charge of tuition?”

The princess was stunned. “Ah, it’s you…”

“Correct. I didn’t expect that just an hour after you left the college, I’d hear rumours of someone pillaging outside the eastern district. At that time, I had a student rush over only to see a youth appear to try to persuade you to stop. I believe that youth should be the aforementioned Chen Bei.”

“Your student must’ve made a mistake. It was I begging Chen Bei to stop.”

“Hehe, young miss, don’t argue anymore. If not for your flying tiger and your erratic movements, my student would have caught you a long time ago. He saw everything that you did with his own eyes. He wrote a report of the information for me, and supplemented with your words, I have already concluded that this matter has nothing to do with that Chen Bei.”

“Damn old man, smelly old man, bad old man… and that despicable student…” The princess secretly cursed those two people in her mind countlessly.

From the side, Dongfang Fenghuang glared at the princess and said, “Dumb girl, you truly are an expert at lying. Luckily, I wasn’t completely fooled by you.”

Seeing how her ‘great lie’ was exposed, she miserably said, “You can’t blame me for this. This smelly old man said each semester costs three thousand gold coins. Where am I supposed to get that kind of money? But, I really do want to attend Shenfeng Institute, so I had to… so I…”

As for the two other people who were in the room listening to the princess call their vice-president a smelly old man, one sneakily laughed while the other awkwardly scratched their nose. Seeing the princess’s innocent look, they really couldn’t get angry.

Dongfang Fenghuang said, “President, what do you suggest we do?”

The vice-president said, “According to the city’s rules, thieves and bandits should be imprisoned for five years. In a moment, send her to the city lords’ residence.”

“Ah, we don’t have to do that! I want to attend Shenfeng Institute, not go to jail! Smelly old uncle, I know my mistakes. Look, I’m only sixteen; I don’t know anything—nothing at all! Please let me go.” The princess focussed her efforts on playing the sympathy card. If Chen Nan were present, he’d definitely be irritated. Why was this little demon given the appearance of an angel?

“I think the city lords will give you leniency due to your age.”

“Really?”

A smile formed on the vice-president’s face. “I think at most, you’d get three years. Normally, you’d also wash dishes or help people sew up their clothing, but no heavy duty jobs.”

“No way!” This time, the Little Princess was truly nervous. If she, a daughter of royalty, were to do this kind of job, even death was more favourable than forcing that kind of suffering onto her.

The vice-president said, “Fenghuang, watch over her. No matter what, don’t let her escape. In a moment, I will send someone to notify the residence of the city lords.”

The princess blinked her big eyes. She sweetly and pitifully stared at the vice-president. She hadn’t audibly begged, but that sort of appearance made others remarkably sympathetic. Ordinary people would be rendered completely unable to make things difficult for her, but the vice-president’s heart was like stone. He waved his hand and said, “Fenghuang, take her outside.”

“Yes.”

The princess was incapable of moving the vice-president. As she left, she shrieked, “Damn old man, smelly old man, bad old man, I said so many nice things! I curse all your hair to fall out and your teeth to lose their shine…”

With a thump, the vice-president quickly shut the door behind her. He let out a breath of air and exclaimed, “Nothing but trouble!”

Right when the princess exited the vice-president’s study, she planned to have Xiao Yu transform to escape. Dongfang Fenghuang, as if performing a magic trick, conjured a small fireball that constantly rotated around the Little Princess.

Dongfang Fenghuang said, “Don’t look down on my small fireball. It can destroy an entire building in an instant. If you don’t believe me, you can test it out yourself by trying to escape.”

Hearing this, the princess became beyond dispirited. Discouraged, she said, “Fenghuang-jiejie, how can you suspect me like that?”

“Trusting you would be strange. Lies upon lies—until now, there hasn’t been a single ounce of truth.”

“But everything I’m saying now is the truth. I really don’t plan on escaping anymore.”

“Only ghosts would believe your words.”

“Fine, you don’t have to believe me, but can you give me a tour around the campus?”

Dongfang Fenghuang glanced at her. Convinced that the princess wouldn’t be able to play any tricks, she said, “Fine. Follow me.”

As they went around campus, the two exceptional beauties attracted the gazes of countless people. Ultimately, Dongfang Fenghuang was forced to lead the princess into a quiet, secluded courtyard.

“Why hasn’t the president invited the city lords to come yet?”

“Fenghuang-jiejie, do you truly have the heart to let them imprison me?”

Dongfang Fenghuang didn’t respond. A female student came in through the gate and said, “Fenghuang-xuejie, the president has requested the two of you to go over.”

“Have the city lords come?”

“No, but the president had a visitor just now.”

After arriving at the vice-president’s study again, the princess wasn’t able to look the old man in the eyes.

The vice-president awkwardly smiled and said, “Little girl, you’re… absolved. You are free to go.”

“What?”

“What?”

The Little Princess and Dongfang Fenghuang simultaneously expressed their bafflement.

The vice-president said, “However, you are to hand over everything you stole.”

“No problem.” The princess fished out a pile of gold coins. Afterwards, she asked, “Are you really letting me go?”

“Yes. Hurry and leave, but don’t mount your White Tiger and show off in the sky, or else you’ll attract the public’s ire.”

The princess asked, “Smelly old man, why do I feel like you’re eager to make me leave? May I enrol in Shenfeng Institute?”

“No.” The vice-president immediately rejected her and continued, “We don’t accept problematic students here. Little girl, hurry up and leave.”

The princess said, “But I really want to attend Shenfeng Institute. Smelly old man, you can’t discriminate against me. Who hasn’t made mistakes? Besides, you didn’t even examine me yet.”

“Leave. Little girl, Shenfeng Institute will not accept you.”

“I won’t leave. If you don’t let me attend Shenfeng Institute, then I won’t leave.” The princess’s temper was rising.

Dongfang Fenghuang took a look at the vice-president and then the princess. She didn’t understand why the two of them seemed to have exchanged places. The princess who was at first supposed to be jailed now seemed to be on the offensive.

The vice-president said, “If you want to attend Shenfeng Institute then fine, but you must first retrieve the ancient god’s severed hand. Otherwise, don’t complain about not being accepted.”

“Smelly old man, just wait! I’ll definitely attend Shenfeng Institute.” With that said, the princess angrily threw open the door and left.

Seeing the princess leave, Dongfang Fenghuang asked, “President, what on earth happened? Why did you let her go?”

The vice-president said, “Just now, I had a visitor who told me to protect this little girl… This little girl’s identity is not simple—we have no choice but to let her go.”

“Since her identity is unusual, why did you still refuse to let her attend Shenfeng Institute?”

“If a girl as troublesome as her were to attend Shenfeng Institute, this place will become a mess. For now, I just hope she leaves the City of Crime sooner rather than later.”

Chen Nan travelled over mountains and lakes. He finally left the mountains late in the evening.

Under the guise of night, within the boundless mountains, the City of Crime remained as brightly lit as a paradise.

Chen Nan’s figure seemed like lightning. With a few leaps, he arrived inside the city. After he carefully searched all the streets and alleys in the city, he let loose a long breath of air. There was no order from the city for his arrest. It was not as terrible as he had imagined.

When he arrived back at the inn, he suddenly heard loud movements coming from his room.

“A thief! Some damn thief dares to steal from me? Today I scaled mountains and forded rivers—I’m not in the best of spirits. I’ll nicely vent my anger.”

When Chen Nan opened the door and entered, he saw his table turned over, his chair on the ground, and his bedding thrown all over. His bag was also already opened up and several of his clean clothes were strewn on the floor.

“Ah, degenerate, y-you’ve returned rather quickly.” The princess looked surprised.

“Haha… hahahahahaha…” Chen Nan laughed out loud. He never would have expected the thief to be the Little Princess. It was the person he wanted to strangle the most. He truly felt delighted.

As he loudly laughed, he moved forward. He grabbed the princess’s arm and said, “Little demon, you have slandered and framed me and forced me to travel several hundred li back, and you still dare run back to my room to steal my things? You’ve walked right into a trap! Haha!”

“Let go.” The princess attempted to struggle free with a frenetic look.

Chen Nan reached out with his other hand and pinched her smooth, tender cheek. “Tell me, how should I punish you?”

“Damn degenerate, let go already! You’re hurting me!”

“Even now you talk back. Today, I will tame this little girl.” With his right hand, Chen Nan continued to squeeze the princess’s cheek into many different shapes and sizes.

The princess was embarrassed and infuriated. She inwardly regretted having come here. In pain, she shouted, “Aiyah, it hurts! Damn degenerate, sooner or later, I’ll kill you!”

Because of her framing him, Chen Nan had travelled for a full day on the mountainous road. Now, hearing her words, his anger suddenly exploded. He dragged the Little Princess to the bedside and forced her onto her stomach.

The princess shrieked, “Degenerate, what the f*ck?! Hurry up and let me go…!”

Chen Nan reached out and spanked her plump buttocks. Pow pow! He spanked her endlessly.

“Ah! Aiyah~! Degenerate, how dare you humiliate me like this… You’ve offended me, you’re dead…! Aiyah~!”

Crack! A streak of lightning illuminated the room. Seeing his master being bullied, the Tiger King Xiao Yu leapt out from the corner of the room and shot a bolt of lightning at Chen Nan.

Chen Nan was caught off guard and was directly struck by the lightning. His entire body was immediately scorched. He was furious. He let go of the princess and, his figure like a demon, arrived in front of Xiao Yu in a flash. Pitiful Xiao Yu didn’t even have time to transform. Chen Nan picked him up by the scruff of his neck

He didn’t know the acupoints of beasts. Instead, he carried out a complete, all around attack on the Tiger King’s acupoints. Every inch of Xiao Yu’s flesh was hit by Chen Nan. Ultimately, Xiao Yu was rendered the same as a small porcelain kitten: motionless.

“Lustful tiger, to have the cheek to pre-emptively attack me…” Chen Nan aggressively rapped Xiao Yu’s forehead several times. The Tiger King clenched his teeth and grimaced in pain, but his body refused to move and his mouth refused to speak. He could only watch helplessly. “Since you dare stare at me, I’ll hit you and hit you again!” Chen Nan continued to smack Xiao Yu. This time, Xiao Yu quickly began to cry in pain. He no longer dared to show arrogance in his proud eyes. “A tiger with fake demonic might. You only rely on the little demon to protect you, but you still dare challenge me? I’ll sort you out later.”

When Chen Nan once again returned beside the bed, the princess fearfully panicked. With a trembling voice, she said, “Degenerate… smelly thief… I was just playing with you, but I don’t want to play anymore.”

“You’re done playing, but I’m not.” He lifted her up like a ragdoll and said, “With one mouth, you call me a degenerate; with the other, you call me a smelly thief. Don’t forget you’re still my prisoner. I originally abandoned the plan to reform you into my maid, but you’ve forced me to proceed with the plan. Apparently it is essential for you to be trained to be a qualified maid.”

Hearing these words, the princess’s countenance took a drastic turn. She looked like she was about to explode, but she endured. Feeling wronged, she said, “I won’t call you a degenerate anymore, nor will I call you a smelly thief, is that okay?”

“That’s just natural. From now on, call me master. Understood?”

The princess was barely able to restrain her fury. “From now on, I’ll call you Chen Nan. I won’t call you whatever names anymore.”

Chen Nan said, “Too late. From now on, be my obedient maid.”

“Damn degenerate, smelly thief, shameless bastard…” The princess could no longer endure his treatment and let out a flurry of curses and kicks and punches.

Chen Nan pressed her down onto the bed. Again, the sounds pow pow filled the room.

The princess’s pride was broken. Her face was scarlet and glistened with tears, but there was nothing she could do.

“Degenerate… right now, you’re humiliating a nation’s princess. If my father the emperor were to find out—Aiyah~!—even if you had ten lives, it wouldn’t be enough. Aiyah~! Don’t hit me anymore! I promise I won’t call you names anymore, so stop! Aiyah~!”

Chen Nan stopped. With a mocking tone, he said, “Are you willing to be my maid?”

The princess quickly withdrew to the corner of the bed. With her eyes gleaming with tears, she said, “I am a princess; how can you ask of me something like that? Besides, there are misunderstandings between us. I didn’t purposely give you troubles. Next time, I won’t make fun of you, okay?”

Chen Nan said, “Oh, please. Little demon, you can stop pretending now. I’ve already gotten used to your behaviour.”

The princess said, “Fine. Let’s try to be friends and not be hostile to each other, alright?”

“No. Do you agree or not?”

Seeing Chen Nan raise his hand again, she princess became afraid and said, “How can you act so threatening? I can promise to do some favours for you sometimes, isn’t that enough? But it definitely won’t be a master-servant relationship.”

Chen Nan laughed in his mind. He didn’t expect being so evil today would be such a success. Unexpectedly, it even scared the princess who feared nothing under heaven.

He didn’t want to go too far and overreach. With a heavy voice, he said, “Fine, wait a moment. I have something to say to you after I go wash up. That damn lustful tiger dared to pre-emptively attack me and scorched my body black.”

Seeing Chen Nan leave, the princess quickly leapt off the bed and embraced the motionless Xiao Yu.

“Xiao Yu, why aren’t you moving? Aiyah, hurry and move! Take me someplace else.” No matter what she did, Xiao Yu refused to budge.

“That damn degenerate actually sealed an animal’s acupoints. F*ck him, he deserves to be chopped up a thousand times by a thousand blades…” cursed the princess quietly.

Although she wanted to carry Xiao Yu and escape, the instant she recalled the tale of a damsel falling into the clutches of a villain, her heart was stricken with fear. The current Xiao Yu was unable to protect her, and her own power had been sealed away a while ago. The sky was already dark. If she wanted to flee under these circumstances, in the City of Crime where criminals mixed with civilians like fish and dragons, only heaven knows what would happen.

When Chen Nan returned to the room, the Little Princess was hugging Xiao Yu and seething in anger.

“Little demon, help me fetch a basin of hot water.”

“You… Didn’t you just finish bathing? What else do you need water for?”

“I want to soak my feet. After travelling on several hundred li of rocky roads, my feet are swollen.”

“You… you want me massage your feet? Stop dreaming! Even death wouldn’t make me do that for you!”

This time, Chen Nan compromised and he lowered his demands. “Hmm, then pour me tea from a teapot. Help fetch me a cup of tea.”

After cursing Chen Nan a hundred times in her mind, she very reluctantly exited the room. After she retrieved the tea from the waiters’ courtyard, with shifty eyes, she hatched a scheme.

“That damn degenerate dares to humiliate me, a princess? You want to drink tea that I personally bring you? Hmph, today, I’ll have you drink water used to soak feet!” The princess naturally wouldn’t take off her own shoes and socks. Instead, she lowered Xiao Yu’s small tiger feet into the tea. She couldn’t contain her laugh: “Smelly thief, you asked for it, haha!”

When Chen Nan raised the tea cup, he suddenly noticed a peculiar smirk at the corner of the princess’s mouth. His mind shivered. This cup of tea definitely had something else going on. He lowered the teacup from his lips and carefully examined it. To his surprise, he found a bright white hair. He glanced at the little porcelain kitten Xiao Yu in the princess’s arms and he suddenly realized that this teacup had a ‘piece’ of the Tiger King remaining.

Chen Nan angrily placed the teacup back on the table and said, “Little demon, I didn’t think you’d be audacious enough to still dare plot against me. It seems I’ve been too lenient on you. I need to punish you.”

The princess jumped in fright. She didn’t expect Chen Nan to see through the tea’s ‘mystery’. Her voice trembled: “De-Chen Nan, what’s wrong? Wh-what do you mean?”

“How bold of you to tamper with the tea. If I’m not careful around you from now on, wouldn’t that be the death of me?” With that said, he stood up.

“I didn’t tamper with it—ah! Don’t come over.”

Chen Nan pulled the princess closer causing her to drop Xiao Yu from her embrace. After that, he tossed her onto the bed.

This time, the princess was truly frightened. Her fear reached new heights and, with a trembling voice, she said, “Degenerate—no—Chen Nan… we were just messing around. I know my mistakes… I won’t do it again.”

Right then, Chen Nan suddenly sensed an intense unease. An incredible pressure seemed to be seeping in through the window, causing his very soul to shudder. A powerless, irresistible feeling welled up in his heart. But in a flash, that feeling vanished. That abnormally intense pressure retreated backward like a tidal wave.

Chen Nan was stunned. He was now already an expert of the third rank, but he was barely able to mentally resist that pressure. One could imagine the astonishing cultivation that was needed for this to occur. Back then when he had seized the princess and took her away from Chu, when they were a hundred li from the Chu capital in that inn, he had felt the same intense uneasiness. But this time, it seemed much more intense than previously.

Chen Nan suddenly associated this pressure with the Emperor of Chu’s great–great-grandfather, that one hundred and seventy years old monster. He glanced at the princess and found her completely oblivious, only anxiously looking back at him. He was certain that that person was undoubtedly the old monster. His back was chilled like it had been buffeted by wind and rain. The old monster had actually followed them. The old man with terrifying cultivation was not only protecting the princess, but he was also definitely secretly conspiring against him, or else how could he have tolerated him up until this point?

The princess watched as Chen Nan’s expression continued to transform. Her heart trembled in accordance, afraid of his ‘excited animalistic blood’. After a while, Chen Nan finally settled down. As a result of the veneration he held towards the old monster, he didn’t dare act too excessively with the princess.

“Little demon, don’t lie on my bed. Get off, already.”

The princess relaxed slightly. “Who wanted me to stay on your bed? It smells like shit.”

Chen Nan ignored her and picked Xiao Yu up off the ground. He randomly hit various points on his body. Golden qi penetrated into his body.

Xiao Yu transformed his body the instant he regained the ability. An enormous tiger body occupied over half the space in the room. He wanted to howl, but Chen Nan reacted quickly and threw the socks and shoes on the ground into his mouth. After that, he threw in the dirty clothes that he had just changed out of into the giant maw as well. But how could just these few things fill up the Tiger King’s mouth? He hurriedly corked his mouth with the bed sheets as well. Finally, just before Xiao Yu was able to roar, his gigantic mouth was successfully plugged.

Although Xiao Yu’s mouth was plugged, he still pounced at Chen Nan. Chen Nan quickly dodged to the side and yelled at the princess, “Quickly have your lustful tiger stop, or else I’ll skin his tiger pelt off!”

The princess called out, “Xiao Yu, stop. Right now, we can’t defeat this bastard. We’ll have our revenge later.”

Xiao Yu was filled with endless resentment and took a glance at the princess before finally putting a stop to his attacks. When he spat out Chen Nan’s putrid shoes and socks, he immediately vomited.

The princess pinched her nose and said, “Chen Nan, you’re… too gross! How could you throw this nauseating stuff into Xiao Yu’s mouth? Look at how sick you made him.”

Xiao Yu transformed back into the size of a small kitten, vomiting unceasingly. The floor was covered in barf.

Chen Nan cursed, “F*ck! Lustful tiger, are you seriously this squeamish? Are my shoes and socks that disgusting?”

The princess cried out, “They smell like shit!”

Surprisingly, Xiao Yu behaved like a human and nodded in agreement. Then, he continued to madly throw up.

Chen Nan embarrassingly scratched his head. “After travelling a hundred li on the mountainous road, a little stench is normal. Serves you right, lustful tiger. Who told you to pre-emptively shock me with lightning?”

The Little Princess dearly embraced Xiao Yu and helped him clean his face and rinse his mouth. Eventually, his nausea subsided.

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