Dongfang Yuechu, who had been busy with his research, suddenly froze.
His cousin?
Right! He had come here on a mission, too!
He'd been so absorbed in his research lately that he'd completely forgotten about his cousin…
After replying to his mother's message, Dongfang Yuechu hurriedly began asking around for information about the Daoist Weapon, Wangquan Fugui.
As it turned out, finding information about Fugui wasn't difficult at all. A couple of days earlier, Fugui had shown mercy to a demon and been whipped by Wangquan Baye as punishment. He was still hanging from a tree, and apparently wouldn't be let down until he'd spent three full days there.
Once he learned Fugui's whereabouts, Dongfang Yuechu immediately sneaked into the Wangquan estate. Sure enough, he spotted his cousin in the courtyard.
Fugui's lips were moving slightly, as though he were saying something.
Yuechu followed his gaze and saw a little golden-haired girl in pink perched on a tree branch. She wore a bright, heartwarming smile.
This wasn't the right time to reveal himself. After confirming that his cousin was still alive, Yuechu quietly left.
He couldn't help feeling envious of the seemingly ambiguous relationship between his cousin and that demon. At the same time, Ren's earlier words echoed in his mind.
Unless the lifespan problem was resolved, love between humans and demons was destined to leave the demon heartbroken.
Dongfang Yuechu didn't dare tell his mother about Fugui's situation, either. Given Qinlan's personality, if she learned that her elder sister's son was living like this, she'd charge straight into the Wangquan estate and drag him out herself.
⸻
Back in Tushan, Qinlan frowned.
"That brat Yuechu actually dared to brush me off!"
"Heh. He's grown up and has his own ideas. That's perfectly normal," Ren said with the air of an experienced elder.
Yaya glared at him, the corners of her mouth drooping as she spoke sarcastically.
"He's grown up and has his own ideas. That's perfectly normal~ Hmph! You're still a little brat yourself!"
Looking at Yaya, whose appearance had barely changed over the years, Ren laughed mockingly.
"Heh! I remember when I was first brought here. I was about the same size as you, Sister Yaya. But look at me now! I've grown into a handsome, elegant man, while you're still a little radish! Tsk, tsk, tsk. I won't say who's the child here."
"Who are you calling a little radish? Have you got a death wish, you brat?"
Yaya rolled up her sleeves and charged at him, ready for a one-on-one fight.
Ren naturally had no intention of standing still and letting her beat him up. He immediately took off running. With those little legs of hers, there was no way she could catch him!
Watching the two of them bicker, Honghong could only look exasperated.
"Can't you two behave yourselves for even a little while?" she muttered.
Then she turned to Qinlan and asked, "Do you want to go rescue him yourself?"
"This…" Qinlan hesitated.
Before, she hadn't known that Wangquan Baye was the leader of the Masked Troupe. But now that she knew, what reason did she have to take her nephew away from his father?
Because she was his maternal aunt?
That was hardly a convincing argument!
"Forget it. Let's have little Yuechu ask his cousin what he wants first…"
Just then, Ren returned, carrying Yaya by one hand.
Hearing Qinlan's words, he smiled.
"There's no need to worry about Wangquan Fugui. He'll leave the Wangquan family on his own. It's just that he's experienced too little and doesn't understand his father's intentions. When he leaves, he'll probably suffer a few minor injuries."
"His father? What do you mean?" Qinlan asked in confusion.
She had no idea what Ren was talking about.
Seeing her bewilderment, Honghong quickly intervened.
"Don't worry about it. You don't need to ask too many questions. If Wangquan Fugui really decides to leave the Wangquan family, we'll help Yuechu."
With that, she grabbed Ren and hurriedly retreated.
Qinlan and Yuechu's father could only stare at each other in bewilderment.
Once they were far enough away and certain no one was nearby, Honghong turned to Ren.
"I've told you countless times! Don't reveal that you know the future. Not even to Qinlan!"
Seeing how serious she was, Ren understood what she was worried about and smiled.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing!"
"No, you don't!" Honghong stared sternly at him. "You have no idea how dangerous this is. Someone who knows the future—even if they only know a few events from the next five hundred years—would become a target for every major power!"
"So… does that mean Sister Honghong is trying to get her hands on me, too~?"
Seeing Ren suddenly bring his face close to hers, Honghong's expression changed. She hurriedly backed away until she reached a safe distance, then stammered, "Of course! With you around, we can guarantee that Tushan stays five hundred years ahead of everyone else!"
"Ah! So in Sister Honghong's eyes, I'm nothing more than an information machine~"
Faced with Ren's pitiful act, Honghong turned away.
"You can think of it that way."
She began walking off.
The next moment, however, Ren caught her by the wrist.
Feeling the warmth of his hand, Honghong's body trembled slightly.
Then Ren's voice reached her ears.
"Don't worry, Sister Honghong. I won't leave Tushan. I won't leave any of you."
After hearing those words, Honghong gradually relaxed. She pulled her wrist free and replied awkwardly, "Go wherever you want. I couldn't care less! But Tushan will always welcome you back…"
"Back to Tushan, or back to you, Sister Honghong?"
Unable to tolerate his cheekiness any longer, Honghong fled.
Just as Ren was feeling a little disappointed, Yaya suddenly sprang into action from behind him and kicked him in the back of the head.
"You still want to go back to my sister, huh?! Where exactly do you want to go? Tell me! I'll send you straight into the future myself!"
"Ah! Stop! Don't hit me! Not there! Anywhere but there!"
Seeing the two of them fighting again, Rongrong sighed and appeared in front of them.
"Ren, Sister Yaya, there's a mission I'd like you two to handle."
Ren raised his head from the ground and asked curiously, "Don't tell me it's a fated-bond mission?"
"Correct!"
"I refuse!"
"Your refusal is denied."
Rongrong left them a comprehensive guidebook for Red String Immortals and then departed.
At the same time, Yaya sensed something and pulled a Heavenly Book out of her clothes. Sure enough, a new mission had appeared.
"Help Fan Yunfei complete his reincarnation and fated-bond mission?" Yaya frowned.
She had no objection to completing fated-bond missions. But why did it have to be now?
Ren glanced at the guidebook Rongrong had left, flipped through it twice, and casually tossed it aside.
"Why do we have to make people fall in love to complete a fated-bond mission? What nonsense…" he muttered.
Yaya put away her Heavenly Book and looked at him.
"Come on. Let's find that Shachui fellow and get his mission sorted out."
The two headed to Tushan's central district, where Demon Kings waiting to reunite with their fated partners lived. Fan Yunfei had been staying there recently as well.
"Why hasn't the person Tushan assigned to us arrived yet? Do they have any idea how much rent costs here per day?" Li Xueyang frowned impatiently.
Fan Yunfei was getting anxious, too. It wasn't that he was worried about money. He just wanted to see his wife as soon as possible.
Ren had spotted the two from a distance. Their clothes and the little ears on their heads made them impossible to miss.
He walked up to them with a smile.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. We're the Red String Immortals responsible for Fan Yunfei's fated-bond mission. My name is Ren, and this is Yaya."
When Li Xueyang realized that Tushan's Second-in-Command had personally come to handle the mission, her previously disgruntled expression immediately brightened.
"So it's the Second-in-Command! I never expected you to handle our mission personally!"
Fan Yunfei's eyes lit up, too. After searching for hundreds of years, he finally felt that he might be able to bring his quest to an end.
"Y-you… hello…" he stammered.
"That's enough. You don't need to speak," Ren said, raising a hand. "I already know your situation. Let's go straight to your wife's reincarnation."
"Huh? You can find her directly?" Li Xueyang asked in surprise.
"Ordinary Red String Immortals can't, but Yaya can!"
"Hmm? Wait, I can?" Yaya stared at Ren in astonishment.
Ren looked back at her in even greater disbelief.
"You don't know where his wife's reincarnation is?"
"No."
Ren sucked in a sharp breath.
Only then did he realize the problem. This wasn't the future, when information was stored in a vast database. In the future, everyone's name would be registered, and finding someone would be as simple as looking them up.
That was how Bai Yuechu and Tushan Susu could quickly find Li Xueyang's reincarnation.
But now, trying to find a woman named Xueyang among the countless people in the world was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Just thinking about what lay ahead gave Ren a massive headache.
"Come on. Let's look around the nearby area first!" Yaya said cheerfully.
She didn't mind this sort of task. After all, completing fated-bond missions was part of a Red String Immortal's job.
"Come to think of it, I haven't handled a mission in ages…"
Fan Yunfei and his secretary, Li Xueyang, quickly gathered their belongings and followed Ren and Yaya out of Tushan.
Even after leaving Tushan, Ren was still thinking about how to find Li Xueyang's reincarnation quickly.
After turning the problem over in his mind, he finally came up with an idea!
He turned to Fan Yunfei.
"Hey, dirt dog! Don't worry. I've figured out how to help you find your wife!"
"D-dirt dog?!" Li Xueyang nearly exploded.
How dare this weird tiger call her handsome, charming young master a dirt dog? This was absolutely intolerable!
Just as she was about to attack Ren, Fan Yunfei stammered out a question.
"W-what… method? Can… I help?"
"I'm afraid you can't help with this one," Ren replied with a smile. "But don't worry. We just need to make a trip to Chicken Tyrant Mountain, and we can solve the problem."
"Chicken Tyrant Mountain? The territory of those stingy roosters?" Li Xueyang looked at him curiously. "Why are we looking for them? They're so miserly that they'd never help us."
"Help? No. They're just tools. If they refuse to cooperate, we'll beat them until they do."
Ren gave her a brief answer, then took Yaya and flew toward Chicken Tyrant Mountain.
⸻
Chicken Tyrant Mountain.
As its name suggested, it was the territory of a group of chicken demons.
It had nothing to do with Chicken Lord of Northern Mountain. Chicken Lord was the top general under the Northern Mountain Demon Emperor, Shi Kuan, while Liang Kun, the master of Chicken Tyrant Mountain, was merely an insignificant Demon King.
Their greatest industry was the enormous number of eggs they produced every year!
Li Xueyang followed the two with Fan Yunfei. She was still annoyed that someone had called her young master a dirt dog, but there didn't seem to be time to dwell on it.
Even now, Li Xueyang hadn't realized that Ren and Yaya were Demon Emperors. Although Yaya was Tushan's Second-in-Command, Li Xueyang had never imagined that she had reached that level.
Ren and Yaya had concealed their true strength so well that no one outside their inner circle knew how powerful they really were.
When they arrived at Chicken Tyrant Mountain, Li Xueyang was about to ask a question when Ren released a tremendous surge of demonic power.
A storm of demonic energy swept across the entire mountain!
What?! This demonic power… He's definitely at the Demon Emperor level! That guy is a Demon Emperor?!
Li Xueyang trembled.
She had actually considered fighting him earlier. She must have been looking for death!
Wait! Tushan has two Demon Emperors now?
While Li Xueyang was still reeling from the revelation, Liang Kun, the master of Chicken Tyrant Mountain, hurriedly flew out from below.
Seeing Ren, Liang Kun immediately plastered a smile across his face.
"I didn't realize such an esteemed lord was coming from so far away! I failed to welcome you properly. Please forgive this humble servant!"
Liang Kun was a completely black rooster. For some unknown reason, despite having cultivated to the Demon King realm, he had never transformed into human form.
Ren waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough of that. I'm here to inform you that all the eggs produced by Chicken Tyrant Mountain over the next ten years are requisitioned by me! Understood?"
"Requisitioned… eggs?" Liang Kun stared at him blankly.
He could understand if Ren had come to conquer his mountain. The man was powerful, and surrendering to him wouldn't be particularly shameful.
But what on earth was this business about requisitioning eggs?
"That's right." Ren nodded.
Then he turned to Yaya and asked, "How long until Sister Honghong arrives?"
Yaya shook her head.
"My sister said she's already informed Rongrong. Rongrong should be here soon."
"By the way, what exactly are you planning? You're being so mysterious that you won't even tell me!"
"You'll find out when Rongrong gets here," Ren replied with a smile.
Before long, Rongrong arrived at Chicken Tyrant Mountain with several fox demons from Tushan.
"What exactly is going on?" she asked, smiling at Ren.
Despite her pleasant expression, Ren could clearly sense the hostility beneath it.
If he couldn't come up with a convincing explanation, Rongrong would probably beat him to a pulp.
"Ahem. Well, isn't it difficult for Tushan to find the reincarnations of our fated partners? So I came up with a way to solve the problem we're facing!"
Rongrong glanced at Liang Kun, who was already trembling with fear, then turned back to Ren.
"So they're important to your plan?"
"Extremely important!"
"Fine. Tell me your plan."
Ren began explaining.
"The most important thing about our fated-bond missions is that reincarnated people change their surnames but keep their given names. So, if we can obtain a record of human names, we can quickly identify reincarnated individuals!"
"And how do you plan to obtain those names?" Rongrong asked.
"Here's the plan. We'll carry out a census of the human population. Our fox demons will establish registration posts in every human village and record the names of the villagers. Everyone who registers will receive ten eggs!
"Those who can't even afford food will certainly welcome the offer.
"As for the stubborn people who refuse to register, anyone who persuades them to come and register will receive another ten eggs as a reward!
"With enough time, we might not collect every human name, but we'll certainly have records of the vast majority."
In other words, it was a population census. Without modern technology, registration would be difficult, but with enough manpower and a serious commitment, it was entirely achievable.
In this world, only the great clans with thousands of years of history bothered to register every member of their families. Nobody else had been willing to undertake such a task.
After hearing Ren's explanation, Rongrong's playful expression disappeared. Her gaze toward him grew dangerous.
"You had such a good idea, and you only came up with it now? If I hadn't forced you to go on this mission, were you planning to keep slacking off forever?"
Under Rongrong's stare, Ren shrank his neck.
"Uh… well, I had my reasons!"
He was about to defend himself when Rongrong waved a hand.
"Forget it. I'll let it slide this time. But when we get back, I'm telling Sister all about this."
"I'll start making arrangements as soon as I return. As for you two…"
Ren and Yaya stared at her with sparkling eyes.
"You'll continue helping Fan Yunfei complete his fated-bond mission. Once it's finished, you can return to Tushan."
Rongrong smiled sweetly.