RIIDMDR chapter 24

 

Nan Xu had experience in furniture making and immediately began chatting with him about his carpentry experience. He described various pieces of furniture he had seen in his former life in the human world. When he got excited, he dipped a wooden stick in water and drew a few strokes on the ground. The man was very interested and listened attentively.

Tingchuan listened for a while, but then he found it boring. He lay down with his eyes half-closed, just to pass the time.

The moon rose high, and soon it was Nan Xu’s usual bedtime. The candle was relatively thick and had only burned halfway. He yawned.

Seeing that Nan Xu was tired, the man stopped talking. Nan Xu prepared to return to his room. Just as he was about to get up, the man called him back.

Nan Xu had sensed from the beginning that something was bothering the man, but since the man had been slow to speak, Nan Xu hadn’t pursued the matter. Now that the man had finally made up his mind, Nan Xu felt relieved.

The child, tired from playing, had fallen asleep in the man’s arms. The puppy was curled up in the hallway. Nan Xu looked at the man.

“I…” He seemed at a loss for words. Fearing he would annoy Nan Xu if he didn’t speak, he continued, “I’ve been traveling with my people for a long time, not knowing where to go. We just wanted to find a place to rest and recuperate. But along the way, every place was occupied by demons from other tribes. We had nowhere to go. When we reached Zhuyu Mountain, two wild boar demons outside the mountain warned us not to enter. However, we saw that the mountain ranges outside the main peak of Zhuyu Mountain were devoid of demons. We decided to take our people into the mountains and show them to the innkeeper.”

Nan Xu frowned and looked at Tingchuan, whose face also showed impatience. Clearly, he hadn’t expected the two wild boar demons to cause trouble again after being taught a lesson. He had indeed been too kind to them.

Seeing Nan Xu frown, the Canine tribesman stopped talking, assuming he was unwilling. Nan Xu understood and asked, “So, you want to live with your people in Zhuyu Mountain?”

The man had always been hesitant to speak openly about his feelings, but now that Nan Xu had spoken, he nodded immediately.

“There are only a dozen of us in the canine tribe right now. The rest are either dead or alive. We have no intention of seizing territory; we simply need a place to reproduce. There’s a valley about halfway up the mountains. We kindly request your permission to lease it for a maximum of a hundred years. We’re willing to sign a spiritual contract.”

Nan Xu finally understood. The Canine Demons had their eyes on a piece of land within Zhuyu Mountain and wanted to rent it. The lease term ranged from one to one hundred years.

Nan Xu hesitated to answer. He considered it carefully. Although he had the ownership certificate for Zhuyu Mountain, he lacked the demons’ special ability to travel at lightning speed. The map he had mapped on foot only covered an area the size of a palm.

He hadn’t decided which was more important, the pros or the cons, so he said he’d consider it and went back to his room to sleep.

Clearly, the man knew this wouldn’t be easy, so he carried his son into the guest room.

In the bedroom, Nanxu lay on the bed. Tingchuan came in and lay down next to him. He had been using this half of the bed as his own for so long that even if he got a new room, he had no intention of moving.

Tingchuan explained that when guests came, they’d drag him out to rent the room, so it was better not to move.

Tingchuan’s prediction was spot-on; Nan Xu couldn’t utter a word to contradict it.

After tossing and turning for a long time, Nan Xu still wasn’t sleepy. He nudged Tingchuan, who was lying next to him, with his foot. “Tingchuan, are you asleep?”

Tingchuan’s voice was sleepy. “What do you want to ask?”

In the darkness, Nan Xu stuck out his tongue. He wasn’t angry about being woken up. Tingchuan was truly a top-notch employee.

“What’s the reputation of the Canien Tribe in the demon world?” Nan Xu asked.

He didn’t actually oppose other demons moving into Zhuyu Mountain. Zhuyu Mountain was so vast that it would be a waste for just him and Tingchuan to inhabit it, putting aside other considerations. As for the resource issue, that wasn’t a big deal. The mountains were interconnected and rich in resources. Even if he feared a conflict of interest, he could have included in the contract that he owned Zhuyu Mountain and was fully in control.

His biggest concern was his character. Even landlords fear unreliable tenants, let alone a hundred-year lease. Nan Xu thought with some resignation, wondering where he had been back then.

However, the image of Zhuyu Mountain back then was crucial to his current decision.

“The canine demon clan has always been straightforward and honest, not prone to scheming. We have few enemies among the demon clans,” Tingchuan replied without further thought.

Nan Xu was actually just looking for confirmation. From his time with the canine demon clan leader, he sensed his good character. When they decided to stay in Zhuyu Mountain, they didn’t do so secretly or harbor ulterior motives, as the wild boar demons had done before. Instead, they brought their entire clan to the inn and introduced them to Nan Xu. The clan leader stayed to communicate with Nan Xu and present his request. Judging by their process and attitude, they seemed harmless, and Nan Xu developed a favorable impression of them naturally.

Without hearing Nan Xu speak, Tingchuan explained, “In the demon world, highly skilled demons have absolute control over their territories. They can control everything within their territory and restrain outsiders.”

Nan Xu replied unhappily, “But I’m a human without any spiritual power.”

His words were dejected, but Tingchuan disagreed. Zhuyu Mountain was the highest mountain in the demon world, with countless layers of formations stacked and in a state of flux. It would take thousands of years to cultivate a formation spirit. Yet Nan Xu could suddenly appear here and live peacefully in the mountain, unaffected by those formations. He had traversed the area without incident. How could he be just a random intruder?

It was unclear if the mountain had submitted to him or if the formations were simply avoiding him.

Moreover, ever since he opened the inn, demons entering the mountains hadn’t been devoured by the formations, and always made it safely to the inn’s entrance.

This gave Tingchuan pause for thought.

“006, can you decipher that property certificate and contract for me?” Inspired by Tingchuan’s words, Nan Xu asked the system.

The demon world had spiritual contracts, but he wasn’t a demon. Therefore, it was uncertain whether he could use them to restrain the other party. Moreover, he stood no chance of winning a fistfight, so he opted for a safer method.

He had rarely asked the system questions proactively, so he didn’t know if it would respond.

A few breaths later, rows of words appeared on the screen. Nan Xu’s eyes were dazzled, but he grasped the general idea. Although he lacked the cultivation of a great demon, Nan Xu still had absolute mental control over Zhuyu Mountain. Until he could exercise actual control, the system could act according to his mental needs to safeguard his rights.

He didn’t understand the meaning of actual control, but he breathed a sigh of relief nonetheless. With his mind made up, he drifted off to sleep.

Tingchuan, perhaps unable to sleep, recalled the words of the canine tribe leader. From those brief words, he learned that the inn’s recent lack of business was due to the two wild boar demons causing trouble outside the mountain. He immediately sat up.

“Where are we going?” Nan Xu asked vaguely.

In a clear, cold voice, Tingchuan replied, “Outside the mountain. Let’s find the wild boar demon and reminisce.”

Given Tingchuan’s lazy nature, Nan Xu assumed he would ignore the story after hearing it during the day. Besides, they say that youth is full of vigor, and Tingchuan is already four or five thousand years old—long past his prime. Why was he still brooding over it in the middle of the night?

Perhaps foxes generally have longer reaction times.

Tingchuan had already reached the door when Nanxu immediately regained consciousness. He sat up and asked, somewhat surprised, “They’re penniless and won’t last more than a few days. Besides, the Canines will undoubtedly mention them when they arrive. How could they possibly be sitting there waiting for you?”

Tingchuan tilted his head and glanced at Nanxu. The night breeze blew in through the open door, causing a few strands of his long hair to flutter and giving Nanxu an inexplicable sense of dread. He spoke softly. “It’s okay. Chasing a couple of wild boars isn’t hard. Is there anything you want me to bring back?”

Nanxu: …

Nanxu: “Could you help me look at the billboard outside the mountain?”

He was still upset that he couldn’t see it.

Tingchuan had expected Nanxu to be kind again. However, when he received this answer, he couldn’t help but curl his lip. “Okay.”

The door opened and closed twice, and Tingchuan’s footsteps faded away. Nanxu lay in bed, unable to sleep. His mind flashed back to Tingchuan: one moment, he was catching up on his leisurely nap in the recliner; the next, he was overturning the two boar demons with a single raised hand.

Silently, he lit a candle for the two boar demons, hoping that when Tingchuan transformed them back into wild boars, they would retain some of their memories. Then, when they ascended to become demons again in the future, they wouldn’t run into Tingchuan.

The next morning, Nan Xu had just gotten up when he saw the Canine tribesman also getting up. While Nan Xu went to the stream to fetch water, the Canine tribesman helped sweep the yard. When Nan Xu returned with the bucket, the Canine tribesman was reinforcing the bamboo fence he had erected around the fruit seedlings in the courtyard the previous day. His work had made the fence much stronger and elevated the beauty of the yard to a new level.

Nan Xu thanked him. He waved his hand and smiled. “It’s good that I have nothing to do. I’m just sitting around anyway.”

Nan Xu didn’t intend to keep him waiting. Before making breakfast, he simply explained that he had agreed to their request but with a few conditions.

The man was overjoyed and said that having requirements was perfectly acceptable.

Since the other party had already taken such a low stance, Nan Xu didn’t hesitate to sign a lease agreement with him.

The agreement specified the lease term, as well as restrictions on felling vegetation and capturing birds and animals in the mountains. Nan Xu knew that the influx of other species would impact the local ecological balance to some extent. As the new owner of Zhuyu Mountain, he wanted to minimize any such damage.

Nan Xu’s request was reasonable. Although it restricted the Canine Tribe’s operating space, considering the depletion of spiritual energy in their territory, the lack of vegetation, and their expulsion by other demonic species, Nan Xu’s restrictions were within their acceptable range.

Xu Ji, the man, immediately signed the spiritual contract with Nan Xu on behalf of the Canine Clan.

It was the first time Nan Xu had seen a spiritual contract. After writing the contract on the stone slab, and after both parties had signed and sealed it, a halo of light enveloped the slab. Each character began to glow with golden light and imprint onto the skin of both men. As the halo faded, a square mark resembling a seal appeared on Xu Ji’s arm. However, the characters on Nan Xu’s arm did not sink into his skin, leaving no trace.

Simultaneously, a rumbling sound erupted from the cliffs beyond the main peak of Zhuyu Mountain. It sounded like lightning shattering a huge rock. The sound startled the surrounding birds and beasts, scattering them.