When the Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Role Picks Up the Script - Chapter 116

The heart demon’s fingertips dig a small hole in the satin quilt, but he doesn’t notice at all. He just opens his round eyes to meet Yun Zhuoran’s scrutinizing gaze. Yun Zhuoran’s eyes are black and white, clear as a mirror, as if he can see through the surface and read the other’s thoughts. The longer he looks at the heart demon, the guiltier the heart demon becomes, lips pursed silently.

Yun Zhuoran stays silent for a moment, then turns and walks out.

“Go wash up first.”

The heart demon is stunned, unsure whether Yun Zhuoran is agreeing or not.

Yun Zhuoran walks to the door, but before he hears any movement behind him, he turns around and sees the heart demon’s uneasy face. He smiles, “Why are you still in bed? Does Weiran need brother’s help?”

Help with bathing and dressing?

The heart demon seriously considers it, and the moment he realizes what that means, a rush of heat surges from his body to his forehead. His cheeks burn hot and his scalp tingles. He waves his hands quickly. “No, no! Brother, I can do it myself!”

Yun Zhuoran only asked casually, but seeing the heart demon’s red face, he knows he’s shy. He gives him a thoughtful look, then his steps quicken as he closes the door behind him.

After the door shuts tight, the heart demon’s rapid heartbeat slowly calms. He pats his hot cheeks and hurries out of bed.

Maybe it’s psychological, but the heart demon always feels he smells of alcohol and even dislikes himself for it. He puts on his shoes and runs behind the screen.

Sure enough, the bathtub is already filled with hot water—Yun Zhuoran must’ve prepared it beforehand.

Even something so small requires his brother’s care… and he still dares to dream of becoming his brother’s Dao companion and protecting him.

Feeling ashamed, the heart demon quickly washes off the alcohol from his body. Then he pushes the door open and sees the familiar slender figure standing in front of the main hall.

Yun Zhuoran stares at the courtyard wall that separates the old city lord’s mansion. Tall and slender, graceful as bamboo, his skin white and flawless like jade. The soft early morning light falls on him, softening his usual cold aura.

The heart demon blinks dumbly and runs over with a red face.

“Brother!” he calls, running up to Yun Zhuoran’s side and gently tugging on his sleeve.

Yun Zhuoran glances at him, then raises his eyebrows.

The heart demon’s body still steams with warm water vapor, and his dark eyes glisten with a little moisture. He looks up at Yun Zhuoran with a mixture of obedience and innocence.

As expected, Weiran has changed into a new set of clothes. The hem is embroidered with a Penglai jade branch totem—a gift the Penglai Immortal made in his spare time. It’s similar to what Weiran wore before.

Though similar, Weiran looks especially good in red, showing off his flamboyant and gorgeous personality.

Yun Zhuoran has noticed Weiran changing clothes frequently lately. Whether it’s to show off for him, he doesn’t delve into. He only asks, “Do you want to go see the floating city?”

Weiran’s eyes light up. “Do you want to release the floating city? Brother, aren’t you going to the City Lord’s Mansion?”

Weiran knows Yun Zhuoran has already stored the floating city in the City Lord’s Order in his sea of consciousness. He’s very interested in the floating city, but releasing it above Yun City would be too flashy.

“No need to release it, I’ll take you inside,” Yun Zhuoran says. “There’s nothing to do here anyway, and Yun Tianqing won’t come see us for a few days.”

The heart demon suddenly understands. “Let’s go!”

Yun Zhuoran lowers his eyes, watching the heart demon tightly hug his arm in excitement. Then he looks at the boy’s especially innocent smile. He nods slowly and says softly, “Close your eyes.”

The heart demon obediently closes his eyes.

To him, the floating city is the most interesting place he’s ever seen. If not for all the scheming and calculations, if it were just for fun, he wouldn’t mind going again with his brother.

Of course, Yun Zhuoran doesn’t lie to him. He watches the boy’s closed eyes dimly, thinking that he seems obedient now—but when asked the truth, the heart demon hides it.

A flicker of deep meaning crosses Yun Zhuoran’s eyes as he steps forward and rests his forehead against the heart demon’s.

The touch of skin is vivid. The heart demon senses something wrong almost instantly. He opens his eyes and finds Yun Zhuoran’s face close to his. Startled, he nearly jumps back. “Brother…”

Yun Zhuoran calmly grabs his wrist. “Don’t move.”

The blush on the heart demon’s face quickly spreads down to his neck. He doesn’t move anymore. He even forgets to breathe. He doesn’t dare blink, eyes wide open and blank.

Yun Zhuoran purses his lips slightly and closes his eyes.

The heart demon follows. Just before his eyes shut, a golden light suddenly flashes and strikes his mind.

When he comes to, he’s already standing at the gate of the floating city lord’s mansion. Before him is a spacious, straight, and prosperous market. Though there aren’t many people, it’s not much worse than Yun City’s market.

The heart demon looks around. His smile slowly fades as he hears lively hawking from vendors in the distance. “Brother, why are there so many people here?”

“They were transferred here from the Sealed Demon Well by Gu Shenshu’s incarnation resentment. Some are demonic cultivators, some are not, and some were originally from righteous sects. None of them are good people. Rather than let them idle, I built a floating city,” Yun Zhuoran says coldly, glancing at the demons managing the market. They’re still pretending to be human, so he gives them five points in his mind.

Little do they know, when Yun Zhuoran glances over, every single cultivator disguised as a vendor or customer freezes, chills running down their spines. No matter how hard they try to act normal, no one dares say a word against the new city lord.

Yun Zhuoran continues, “The floating city is their residence. If anyone doesn’t want to—”

Before he finishes, the cultivators of various sects catch the warning in his tone. Their smiles instantly become more sincere, and their hawking louder.

The heart demon doesn’t notice anything wrong. He smiles, breaks free from Yun Zhuoran’s hand, and runs into the street.

Yun Zhuoran watches him run around like a bird released from a cage and follows calmly behind. But he sees the heart demon circle around twice, then return. The smile on his face has faded. “Brother, can this place still be the same as before?”

“Before?”

The heart demon nods. “It was like a game!”

Yun Zhuoran hasn’t removed the games Gu Shenshu’s resentment incarnation left behind.

But after expelling all outsiders, those level-breaking games also ended.

Now, with only select demons locked in the city, Yun Zhuoran unseals the floating city. He hadn’t had time to handle them before, so chaos broke out. He adds several rules to the city lord’s order, placing restrictions on demons who do whatever they want once free. Still, since he previously asked them to help search for a formation map, he relaxed some rules and restarted small games for the reforming demons to have some fun.

“Want to play?”

The heart demon looks at him eagerly. “Can I?”

Yun Zhuoran glances at the demons. While he speaks, they fall silent and peek nervously.

“Brother!”

The heart demon’s eyes shine.

Yun Zhuoran sighs softly. “Okay.”

But bringing the heart demon into the floating city today isn’t just for play.

Seeing the boy’s innocent smile, Yun Zhuoran leads him to the south of the city to try a game they’ve never played before. The floating city’s level-breaking games grow harder from the outer to inner zones.

The heart demon skips the outer city and chooses to start from the inner one. But since the city lord comes personally, the demons guarding the gate open it immediately to flatter him.

They have no choice—what if he throws them back into the Sealed Demon Well?

The demons imprisoned here are clever. They don’t expect the city lord to set them free.

Night falls.

After half an hour of playing an upgraded version of leaf cards in a gambling house, the heart demon loses interest and returns to the city lord’s mansion with Yun Zhuoran to rest.

The floating city’s moon is full and bright.

They walk down the empty street. The moonlight casts long shadows at their feet.

Looking at the two shadows side by side, the heart demon quietly grabs Yun Zhuoran’s sleeve. Yun Zhuoran looks over, confused.

The heart demon chuckles. “Brother, the floating city is fun.”

Yun Zhuoran naturally takes his hand.

The city’s time is synced with the outside world. After a discussion, they decide to stay for three days.

Seeing the heart demon’s bright smile, Yun Zhuoran says, “Then come back tomorrow.” He pauses. “If Weiran likes it, why not let the City Lord Order recognize you as its master? That way, you can enter whenever you want, and even adjust the city’s rules.”

The heart demon’s eyes light up. “So the City Lord Order can recognize two masters?”

Yun Zhuoran replies casually, “If it’s a Dao companion whose life is tied to mine, then naturally, it’s not a problem.” He frowns slightly. “Ah… I nearly forgot. Weiran is just a heart demon.”

The heart demon’s smile freezes. He asks uneasily, “Dao companion… Brother, are you looking for a Dao companion again?”

Yun Zhuoran smiles. “Unfortunately, no one likes me. So let’s forget about looking for one.”

The heart demon blinks. “How could no one like you, Brother? I…”

I like you… The words almost slip out, but he bites them back. He notices Yun Zhuoran watching him gently and instantly blushes, lowering his head. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a Dao companion. As long as you have me, that’s enough.”

Yun Zhuoran looks at him steadily. “Is that so?”

The heart demon nods firmly and pats his chest reassuringly. “Don’t worry, brother, there aren’t many heart demons as good, cute, and obedient as me who can protect you. I’m definitely better than a Dao companion!”

Yun Zhuoran stares at him for a moment, then a smile gradually appears in his dark eyes. He smiles softly and then looks ahead with a cold expression.

“Then I will listen to you.”

Finally getting the confirmation, Weiran’s heart, uneasy all day, finally settles. Filled with happiness, he hugs Yun Zhuoran’s arm and asks, “Brother, where are we going to play tomorrow?”

The two walk and talk slowly back to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Perhaps having received Yun Zhuoran’s notice in advance, the door of the City Lord’s Mansion is already open, and some people are arranged to serve there.

As the heart demon approaches, he sees a familiar figure. Isn’t that the fox spirit from Shuanglu Pavilion greeting them at the door?

The tiger demon who had been at Shuanglu Pavilion with the fox demon is also assigned to guard the city lord’s mansion entrance.

The fox demon bows respectfully to the two and then leads them directly into the mansion to rest. They don’t stay in the hall where the incarnation of resentment once set up the blood array, but in a main courtyard in the front yard.

After bringing Yun Zhuoran and the others to the courtyard, the fox demon stands trembling in front of the door.

In truth, the fox demon still doesn’t understand why the new city lord assigns him to serve in the city lord’s mansion. Before seeing Yun Zhuoran in person, he hadn’t even realized this Penglai Island Master is the new city lord.

Previously, when Yun Zhuoran orders the demonic cultivators in the city to investigate the formation diagram, he only gives commands through the city lord’s order and never appears in person. After seeing these two Penglai Island Masters, the fox demon realizes he’s in trouble—he’s offended these two before!

Despite the fox demon’s desperate expression, the heart demon notices he looks a little different from the last time. The fox demon still hides his tail and ears, still looks like a demon, but after watching for a while, the heart demon realizes his thick, long hair has thinned, and his eyebrows are much lighter, though not bald.

The heart demon blinks, somewhat gloating.

He doesn’t know that the fox demon has been struck by lightning, and the tiger demon’s fur has thinned too. Their human forms remain intact, but their original tails are bald now.

And the instigator is Yun Zhuoran.

The fox demon doesn’t understand what he did wrong, but after this period of rectification, he gradually realizes that the city lord is the true boss of the floating city and must not be offended.

It’s better to be bald than to die.

The heart demon sits down and chats with Yun Zhuoran for a while, then puts down his teacup and goes to bathe in the hot spring. He’s been particularly vain lately and has to wash himself clean every night before sleeping next to his brother.

When Yun Zhuoran is left alone in the room, the fox demon’s body begins to tremble for no reason. Yun Zhuoran gives him a cold look, and the fox demon immediately kneels with a thud. Though there’s no visible pressure, his face is pale and he looks suppressed, unable to straighten his back.

The fox demon trembles as he says, “City Lord, spare my life…”

Seeing the fox demon so frightened, Yun Zhuoran is momentarily puzzled. Does he really look that scary?

He quickly drops the thought, sets down his teacup, and asks calmly, “How is the formation diagram?”

The fox demon, who has been assigned to the City Lord’s Mansion today and previously helped find the formation diagram, is skilled and manages the south of the city well. He hadn’t expected Yun Zhuoran to ask this, and suddenly realizes the city lord has no intention of killing him.

He almost cries with joy and says, “My Lord, the formation diagram is too complicated. Most people in the city come from small sects or are independent cultivators. No one has ever seen such a formation.”

Yun Zhuoran has almost searched the entire library of the floating city and still can’t find it. Now that Yun Tianqing has awakened, as long as the formation diagram has nothing to do with Yun Peiran’s whereabouts, there’s no need to keep looking.

He thinks for a moment, then asks again, “Has anyone in the floating city heard of Fengtian Temple?”

The question about Fengtian Temple has also been announced throughout the floating city along with the formation diagram.

The fox demon smiles faintly. “To be honest, there are people in the city who have heard of Fengtian Temple.” He doesn’t dare hide it and says, “The demonic cultivator who now lives in the north of the city was an elder of the Demonic Star Sect. He was the one who sealed the demon well fifteen years ago.”

“An elder of the Demonic Star Sect?” Yun Zhuoran’s eyes light up with surprise. “Call him over.”

The fox demon responds and is about to run away, still trembling.

Yun Zhuoran watches him—this demon who usually acts with fox-like charm—and frowns. “You gave the fire avoidance map to Weiran, didn’t you?”

The fox demon freezes and kneels again. “City Lord, please allow me to explain…”

“No need to explain.”

Yun Zhuoran says coldly, “Such an obscene thing—you insisted on giving it to Weiran. But since you’re still working for me, hand over the remaining fire avoidance maps and I’ll destroy them. I won’t pursue this matter further.”

“…Thank you, City Lord!”

Give up a few fire avoidance maps to save his life?

The fox demon is overjoyed and turns over all the remaining books without hesitation. Seeing Yun Zhuoran has nothing more to say, he frowns and looks down at the fire avoidance maps in his hand, clearly disgusted.

The fox demon thinks for a moment, kneels, respectfully places the fire avoidance maps on the floor not far from Yun Zhuoran’s feet, and quietly rolls away.

Fortunately, Yun Zhuoran doesn’t keep him; otherwise, the fox demon would’ve been so frightened he might reveal his true form on the spot.

After the fox demon leaves the City Lord’s Mansion, Yun Zhuoran is left alone in the room. He cautiously looks outside the door, hesitates a moment, then slowly picks up the fire avoidance maps. He flips through a few pages with a blank expression, his brows tightening as he reads. After less than ten pages, he gives up, stuffs the books into his storage ring, and presses a hand to his forehead.

These kinds of things really aren’t suitable for him.

If he wants to teach Weiran, he’ll have to think of another way.

Because of his instinctive fear of Yun Zhuoran, the fox demon returns with the elder of the Demonic Star Sect very quickly and brings him to the City Lord’s Mansion in no time.

At that moment, the heart demon has just finished bathing and is drinking tea with Yun Zhuoran in the house. When he sees the fox demon bring someone back, his eyes light up and he chews on the demon core with a crackling sound.

Hearing the crisp noise, both the fox demon and the demonic elder are horrified.

As the two enter, Yun Zhuoran says directly, “You were the elder of the Demonic Star Sect?”

The demonic cultivator looks suspicious. “Yes, that’s right. May I ask why the City Lord has summoned me…”

Yun Zhuoran waves his hand and glances at the fox demon, who is still standing there. 

The fox demon knows this isn’t something he should be listening to and immediately leaves.

Once he’s gone, Yun Zhuoran asks the demonic cultivator, “Do you know Yun Duo?”

The heart demon, smiling behind the departing fox demon, subconsciously frowns when he hears the question and follows Yun Zhuoran’s gaze to stare at the demonic cultivator.

The demonic cultivator looks at the half-eaten demon core in the heart demon’s hand, riddled with holes and pits, and senses something is wrong. He lowers his head and answers honestly, “I’ve never heard of Yun Duo. But I do know a little about the Fengtian Temple you mentioned. The leader of the Demonic Star Sect is a believer in Fengtian Temple. I’ve heard he’s good friends with the temple’s saint, who once bestowed on him the secret of longevity. Before I was thrown into the Sealed Demon Well, the Demonic Star Sect was already aligned with Fengtian Temple.”

The heart demon shows a look of disappointment.

Yun Zhuoran, however, isn’t disappointed.

This demonic cultivator doesn’t know Yun Duo’s identity, but his information is useful—it confirms at least that Young Master Yin is closely tied to Fengtian Temple. And since Yun Duo has been associating with Young Master Yin, she can’t be completely uninvolved either.

Yun Zhuoran intends to dig out more information about Fengtian Temple from the former elder, but he suddenly sees the heart demon beside him stuff the remaining half of the demon core into his mouth, then stand up and clap his hands.

“Brother, I’m going to wash my hands.”

Before Yun Zhuoran can respond, the heart demon tosses down his cup and runs off happily.

Yun Zhuoran is a little puzzled. The heart demon has already bathed, and casting hand seals doesn’t require washing one’s hands. Still, considering that the heart demon can’t leave the floating city and no one inside dares provoke him, he simply watches the boy run off and then turns back to the demonic cultivator, his expression turning cold.

“Tell me what you know about Fengtian Temple.”

After running out of the front yard, the heart demon follows the scent of foxes all the way to the front door. Before he gets close, he sees the fox demon—so timid earlier—now crying in the arms of the tiger demon guarding the gate.

From a distance, the heart demon hears the fox demon crying.

“Brother… the city lord is too scary. Can we even leave the floating city alive…”

“You actually said bad things about my brother behind his back.”

The heart demon touches his chin, snorts, and walks over with a stern face, hands clasped behind his back.

That snort immediately startles the two demons at the door, especially when they turn and see the little island master in red. The two exchange glances, their eyes filled with fear—but also a little relief. Fortunately, it’s not the city lord…

But this one is no pushover either. The fox demon rolls his eyes cunningly, wipes his tears, and kneels down.

“Little island master, spare my life! I’m willing to work for you. Just please don’t tell the city lord—I really didn’t mean to offend him!”

“Really not?” The heart demon steps right in front of the fox demon.

The tiger demon initially moves forward with a serious expression to block him but is quickly pushed aside by the fox demon.

The heart demon watches the interaction between the two demons with interest, slowly smiles, and sighs. “Alright, since it’s me, the little island master, being merciful, I’ll let you off this time.”

The fox demon knows the little island master is easier to deal with than the city lord but hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

Seeing this, the tiger demon is stunned too.

Looking at their stunned faces, the heart demon lowers his voice and says, “But if you want me to keep quiet, you’ve got to give me something good.” He bends slightly, shielded by the two demons’ bodies, and quietly stretches out a hand. “You still have that little figure drawing from last time? Hand it over!”

The fox demon looks confused.

“W-what little figure drawing?”

The heart demon has already made it perfectly clear, yet the fox demon still pretends not to know. He doesn’t have time for games, so he drops his smile and says coldly, “If you don’t hand over the man-drawings you gave me last time, I’ll eat both of you as a snack right now.”