Demon Emperor's Defiant Love

Ye Jiuge had expected this to happen. She took a bottle of Spiritual Beast Pills and headed with Ye Yu to the place where the Little Mute was staying.

Meanwhile, at that moment, Bai Songling was trying to communicate with the Little Mute: “Little fellow, how could you go back on your word? You clearly said that you would exchange the insect for five bottles of Spiritual Beast Pills. Even if you wish to raise the price, you have to tell me how many you want!”

The Little Mute did not even look at him. He took the basket with the Blackfly Grass and began to feed the Poison Earthworms. The batch of Poison Earthworms had already evolved once. Their initial plump, white bodies had an additional hint of a jade-like glow, and their lifespan had increased from fifteen days to two months.

The Little Mute had kept the better batch of insects to breed and produce the next generation. The remainder were developed into Legendary Venomous Insects. The one with wings that had run out the previous night to find food was among those that had just been nurtured.

Bai Songling’s mouth and tongue turned dry as he tried to communicate with the Little Mute, but the Little Mute continued to ignore him. Impulsive due to his anger, Bai Songling snatched the Little Mute’s basket away and yelled, “I am speaking to you!”

The Little Mute raised his eyes to look at Bai Songling. His blank face was emotionless, but it had an unfathomably frightening effect.

At that moment, Ye Jiuge happened to arrive. Witnessing the scene, she raised her eyebrows and said, “Brother Bai, what are you doing? Are you trying to bully him?”

“I wouldn’t dare bully him. He is bullying me.” Embarrassed, Bai Songling handed the basket back to the Little Mute.

After receiving the basket, the Little Mute turned and looked at Ye Jiuge.

“I heard that you weren’t willing to exchange with them?” Ye Jiuge asked.

The Little Mute fanned his hands beneath his nose and signaled a thumbs-down to Bai Songling.

“What do you mean?” Bai Songling was hopping mad.

“He means that your Spiritual Beast Pills are fake.” Ye Jiuge translated.

“Bullsh*t. These were produced by the third-grade Alchemists from our Baicao Hall. How can they be fake?” Bai Songling retorted.

Claiming that a medicinal store sold fake pills was the most vicious form of slander, and nobody should tolerate it. The Little Mute said nothing, but his eyes showed disdain.

“Brother Bai is right. He has given you the best pills from the market. However, the pills that you ate previously came from me, and they are not sold in the market.” Ye Jiuge returned the hand signal that the Little Mute had given her the previous night.

A bottle of Spiritual Beast Pills for an insect! It was as if she were saying: “The pills that I have produced are rare commodities worth hoarding. Go ahead and suit yourself.”

The Little Mute frowned. He seemed to be at a loss because he knew that what Ye Jiuge had said was true. The Spiritual Beast Pills that Bai Songling had brought were decent. In fact, they were better than those that he had secretly stolen in the past.

However, after using the pills that Ye Jiuge had personally produced, he had become dissatisfied with the others’ quality. The Little Mute was straightforward and agreed immediately. Ye Jiuge did not make things difficult for him. She took out the Spiritual Beast Pills, which she had already prepared, and successfully traded them for the Legendary Venomous Insect.

“How do you control this thing?” Ye Jiuge asked.

The Little Mute’s eyes lit up. He stretched out his hand to ask for more pills.

“My dear friend. I advise you to be a little more honest. You are so much less experienced at raising the price at the place of transaction.” Ye Jiuge gave a gentle smile. If the Little Mute were up to something, she did not mind treating him in the same way in the future.

The Little Mute sensibly kept his hands still. Then, he gave the Legendary Venomous Insect a slight pinch. Nobody knew how he communicated with the Legendary Venomous Insect. The sinister-looking Poison Earthworm made a squeaking sound. It flapped its wings, flew onto Ye Yu’s hand, and bit his middle finger. Then, it lay there and did not move anymore.

“It has accepted me as its owner.” Ye Yu raised his head in surprise.

After the little insect had drunk his blood, he felt that he had developed a faintly discernable connection with it.

“Little Mute, are there any side-effects when your insect accepts an owner?” Bai Songling was not assured—he had found the practice strange.

The Little Mute gave Bai Songling a look of disdain before he carried off the basket and continued to feed the Poison Earthworms.

“Zi Shang, will this thing that the Little Mute has developed cause any side-effects?”

Ye Jiuge decided to ask Zi Shang instead. After all, he was the one who’d recommended the Little Mute.

“You’re overthinking it. He cannot control these little insects yet,” Zi Shang replied lazily.

“Not yet? You mean that he will be able to in the future?” Ye Jiuge asked warily.

The Poison Detection Pills that Imperial Consort Xi and Dongfang Que had been eating were all made from the Poison Earthworms, which the Little Mute had grown.

Ye Jiuge thought: If he can control these Poison Earthworms, won’t I be leading the wolf into the house?

“Yes. He will probably have the ability to control them after finishing the bottle of Spiritual Beast Pills that you gave him,” Zi Shang replied earnestly.

“Then, can we still use the things that he has grown?” Ye Jiuge suddenly had a mind to take back the bottle of Spiritual Beast Pills.

“If he can control the insects, why can’t you control him?” Zi Shang’s tone seemed to harbor evil designs.

He had intentionally recommended the Little Mute to see if Ye Jiuge would still be unwilling to become a slave-boss after seeing the little fellow lose control.

“What is Little Mute’s background?” Ye Jiuge questioned.

“You do not need to know. You just need to know how to control him.” Zi Shang threw Ye Jiuge a sphere of light.

When Ye Jiuge had absorbed the sphere, her gaze landed on the Little Mute, who was fiddling with the Poison Earthworms. He was wearing a plain blue cotton shirt. His sleeves and the lower hem of his clothes were dirty, and his hair was messily tied up. The new clothes that Bai Songling had delivered to him had not been touched. It was as though he liked his head and face filthy with grime, as well as his name – Little Mute.

Ye Jiuge had initially felt that calling him “Little Mute” was humiliating, and she’d wanted to change the way he was addressed. However, the Little Mute had refused. She felt that there was still a need to investigate his background to discern his true identity. However, at the moment, the most important matters at hand were the Sorcerers and the competition at the Alchemy Convention.

“Where’s Brother Wan?” Ye Jiuge asked Ye Yu.

“He is still at the Justice Department making preparations to go to the Medicine Refinery Valley. I will head over to meet him later,” Ye Yu replied.

If not for the delay due to the Little Mute, he would have been ready to set off.

“Bring these two bottles of pills with you and give one to Brother Wan. Be on the alert, and don’t fall for the venomous beauty’s Mental Manipulation.” Ye Jiuge took out another two bottles of third-grade Mind-clearing Pills.

Ye Yu was slightly embarrassed. Liu Yunfei’s Mental Manipulation was indeed powerful, and this was why he had developed an unfathomably favorable opinion of her. He’d told himself to be more alert in the future.

“Those who are participating in the competition have already started heading over to the Medicine Refinery Valley. When do you plan on setting off?” Bai Songling asked Ye Jiuge.

“The day after tomorrow.” Ye Yuxuan had initially arranged her departure in three days, but Ye Jiuge had refused.

“Do you want to accompany the Dongling Prince there?” Bai Songling asked again.

“There’s no need.” Ye Jiuge shook her head.

Ye Shanshan had headed off with the Crown Prince the day before. It would be too eye-catching for Ye Jiuge to go with the Dongling Prince.

“Sure. I will bring some guards to protect you in secret,” Bai Songling said.

“As you wish.” Although Ye Jiuge felt that this was not necessary, she thought that it be unpleasant to reject his good intentions.

“Hehe. If someone were to deliver themselves to my door, I would be able to catch them and discover some clues.” Bai Songling laughed deviously.

“That’s inauspicious.” Ye Jiuge wanted to kick Bai Songling.

She thought: Does he really want to protect me, or is he merely using me as bait?

While Ye Jiuge and Bai Songling chatted casually, they did not notice the cryptic glint in the Little Mute’s eyes when he heard about the Medicine Refinery Valley.