I Learned My Lesson the Hard Way (1)

The old man's attention was taken away when he received an important phone call he needed to answer. He left Shen Minyao inside the room, accompanied by two guards. Because there were humans that may overhear her conversation with Yu Yan, the fox woman used her telepathy to converse with the black cat currently curled comfortably next to Zhao Yichen. 

"Miss, are you really leaving tomorrow? But he hasn't woken up yet," Yu Yan asked worriedly. 

Although she was strong enough to fend off some lower demons, she could sense a high-level one lurking somewhere within the hospital. Perhaps Xiao Bai wasn't able to sense it yet, but after four days of keeping Zhao Yichen's company, Yu Yan was certain that a powerful demon was coming to the ICU late at night to feed on the other patients. 

"You found something?" Shen Minyao lowered her eyes, pretending to be in deep thought, while the humans paid attention to her closely. In their eyes, she was probably just a clueless girl, oblivious to what was happening to Zhao Yichen. 

Yu Yan hesitated for a moment, but it would be better if Shen Minyao knew what was happening for Zhao Yichen's sake. If Shen Minyao lost her fox orb, it would be easy for anyone to kill her in her weakest state. 

"There's a high-level demon coming to the ICU around the hour of the tiger.1 It would always come here but stop just outside the door, doing nothing. I think it is attracted by the energy coming from your human contractor," she explained. 

"You weren't able to tell what it was?" Xiao Bai jumped from Shen Minyao's shoulder and joined the black cat on the bed next to Zhao Yichen. 

The black cat sat on its hind legs and shook her head. It was hard for her to identify a demon, especially if it was a shapeshifter. There were many kinds of demons that had the ability to change their appearance and pretend to be a human. 

"It has the face of a human, but I'm sure it is a demon." She informed them. Unless the demon revealed more about itself, she wouldn't be able to find out what kind of demon they were dealing with. 

Shen Minyao remained silent. Aside from nine-tailed foxes like her, there were other demons with the ability to shape-shift and copy a human's appearance. However, this only meant that they were dealing with a troublesome demon. 

"I will leave Xiao Bai here with you." If that was the case, Yu Yan wouldn't be able to keep up with protecting Zhao Yichen on her own. She would need Xiao Bai's assistance to protect her human contractor, just in case it was a powerful demon. 

"But milady!" Xiao Bai exclaimed. If he was to stay here with Yu Yan, then who would protect Shen Minyao once she was left on her own. She was almost at her limit, and her spiritual powers were quite low. The fox woman would need to eat a fresh liver soon or consume another demon's life force to recover. 

"It's alright. Zhao Yichen should be able to recover his consciousness in the next seven days. Until then, you two should stay by his side and protect him from any demons that would come after my fox orb." 

A fox orb of a nine-tailed fox could be considered a vessel that could hold unlimited demonic powers. Due to their long life and how they cultivate, nine-tailed foxes could store a lot of energy using their orbs. This was why many demons vie for a chance to get their hands on it. 

However, it was hard for other demons to use it as a nine-tailed fox could ruin its own fox orb at will. The only way to extract it was to use a human as their medium, which Zhao Yichen was in a perfect place and circumstances. 

Even humans believed that consuming the liver of a nine-tailed fox could heal their illnesses and live a long life because of it. Not that Shen Minyao had ever heard a human successfully consuming one of her kind without losing their life first. 

A nine-tailed fox without its fox orb was in its weakest state; this was why Xiao Bai couldn't help but worry about his mistress. She must have chosen to enter a contract with Zhao Yichen in an attempt to divert the shamans from tracking her whereabouts. 

So long that she pretended to be Shen Minyao, most shamans would assume she got her strong spiritual powers from an old ancestor who was related to a powerful demon. The strongest exorcist during her past life was rumored to be a child of a powerful demon with a human, so it wouldn't be far-fetched if she also displayed a little spiritual sensitivity towards the humans and supernatural creatures around her. 

Since the fox woman had been sealed for centuries, her demonic energy had depleted over time. The fox woman could barely remember how long she'd been trapped inside that seal alone as she succumbed into a long slumber until Zhao Yichen's blood smeared and ruined the seal that caged her. 

Her fox orb was strong enough to fix Shen Minyao's broken body and heal the superficial wounds on Zhao Yichen. The remaining demonic energy inside her fox orb was what attracted the other demons towards Zhao Yichen. They were probably wondering why a human like him was emitting such monstrous demonic energy. 

"I'll come to visit him frequently," she told the two cats, making up her mind. If she stayed here for too long, the other demons might suspect her real identity and go after her instead, but visiting Zhao Yichen would be a good alibi to look around the hospital while Xiao Bai and Yu Yan were looking after her human contractor. 

Anyway, there were other things she needed to deal with, and that included getting used to the life Shen Minyao had before she'd been ruthlessly killed by her cousin.