Snake and Rabbit (8)

The demon king finally decided to go out and check on the little rabbit. She had always been a little odd, it couldn't be that just a few moments of entering closed cultivation and she had already gone completely crazy right? Oh, right, wasn't there that saying that rabbits will die of loneliness? It couldn't be helped, the demon king thought, deciding to go check up on the rabbit just in case.

As for Yin Mei, she wasn't sure why the demon king had come out, but was happy nonetheless. Immediately, a smug expression crept onto her face. It seems that she was forgetting her manners more and more, or it was more accurate to say, her true colors were showing.

She excitedly recounted her adventure, emphasizing how hard it was to get back here and how awesome she was and how much the demon king should appreciate her hard work. After doing so, she revealed the dragon bone sword. After she retrieved the sword from the sword grave, it had regained its true appearance. It was a sword that shined ice blue with various carvings on it, the hilt covered in fur and the characters Winter Moon engraved on the blade.

The demon king had actually only been half listening, but seeing the shining blue sword, Yin Mei immediately got his full attention.

"It's a sword made from the bone of an ice dragon." Taking it out, the cold bit at Yin Mei's fingers, and she quickly handed it over to the demon king. She really wasn't compatible with the ice element! Her eyes were sparkling as she had an expression of "praise me! praise me!" written on her face.

"You did good," the demon king said, not stingy with his praise like he usually was. For him, this treasure could even be considered to be better than the mysterious rock, solely from the fact that this was made out of dragon bone. After all, the end goal of the demon king was to pass through the dragon gate to transform himself into a true dragon. This sword would be very beneficial for him. "You can go ask Hu Shan to cook you whatever you want for dinner," he added on, and Yin Mei immediately ran off in excitement.

Of course, the demon king would reward her with something else later, but for now, the sword was the most important.

Yin Mei didn't know, but actually this sword had almost completely cemented the demon king's decision in killing off the female lead. With the sword added to the mix, a furnace like the female lead was made unnecessary. It was much more useful to just kill her off in order to obtain the Nine Dragons Stove. "Did you finish the check?" The demon king asked, and a voice appeared from thin air to answer him.

This voice was deep and cold, it was the sound of the hidden guard captain. "Yes, Your Majesty. The furnace indeed possess a refining stove with the same description mentioned by Miss Bai."

"Good, good! This Li Kingdom truly has many surprises." The demon king chuckled lightly, his red lips curving up into a delighted smile. "Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha! With this I'll finally be able to pass through the dragon gate! How delightful."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty." The hidden guard replied.

"What are you congratulating me for when we haven't even obtained the stove yet?" The demon king scoffed, scorning the hidden guard captain.

"Please accept my apologies. Should we...?" The hidden guard trailed off, waiting for the demon king to reply.

"No, not yet. So far, the little rabbit has been accurate. I want to see this hidden backing she mentioned, and if it's really as powerful as she says it is. There's no harm in being cautious. I've already been waiting for so long, being patient for a little more is no problem." The demon king answered, stroking the blade of the dragon sword. "Letting her out to play, and she comes back with so many good things. It's only right to let her do as she pleases for now."

Meanwhile, Yin Mei was feeling very happy these next few days. Even the thought that she would soon be an accessory for murder couldn't get her feeling down. She was currently feeling that the mission might not be so impossible anymore. Yin Mei didn't even think they would need to do that convoluted plan of having the female lead get the male lead's golden finger first before stealing from the female lead either. After all, the male lead was about to get weakened from the assassination and the demon king had powered up with the mysterious rock and dragon sword!

When it came time for the assassination event, it was three days after she had come back to the manor, currently about one at night. The demon king was, as always, dressed in a casual robe that revealed too much of his skin for Yin Mei to feel comfortable. He was currently lounging on a chair under the moonlight, a steaming cup of tea placed on the small table beside him. The dew shone on the petals of white hibiscus flowers, creating a picturesque scene.

Yin Mei adjusted the cloak around her shoulders, looking like a night time assassin dressed in all black. "I'll be right back!" She turned around and then with a jump, leapt over the manor wall. She had gotten more and more used to the difference in physical abilities. Originally, Yin Mei had been a shut in that couldn't even run for half a minute before being out of breath, but now she was pretty much super human. She could create holes in the wall with a single punch, run thousands of miles without breaking a sweat, and even fly on a sword... even Yin Mei felt that she was scary awesome now.

The reason that Yin Mei wasn't going with the demon king was one part feeling that she could handle this without the demon king, one part feeling bad dragging him around all the time, and fifty parts unable to invite him after he had sat down and wished her luck.

She jumped from house to house, following the handy dandy GPS feature of the system. After getting lost in the dimensional space for two weeks, she learned her lesson! Arriving at her destination, she landed in a hidden alleyway just in front of the male lead. This was the first time that she was seeing the male lead. Although it was dark, Yin Mei could see clearly. The ninth prince was sitting on the ground, his back leaned up against the wall. He had his hand pressed against his stomach, his black clothes stained an even darker black with blood. His eyes were narrowed, the moonlight reflecting in them.

He was very handsome. If the demon king was beautiful in an androgynous manner, than the male lead was had a sense of strong masculinity. Yin Mei preferred the demon king, and felt that the male lead couldn't be compared. No matter what, she thought that her master was the best. Though, the image of a handsome bleeding man had a different sort of appeal.

"The ninth prince?" She said, although she knew the answer to this question. She could hear the sound of the assassins getting closer. "There's no time. If you want to live, come with me." She felt pretty badass saying these words, but it was also very embarrassing. It's a good thing that a black scarf hid her face, or he would be able to see the twitching smile that she was trying to force down.

The ninth prince, was of course, filled with suspicion. After all, who would believe some random person that appeared right in front of him while he was injured? Yin Mei sighed, feeling nervous from the pressure. She took off her scarf and hood, revealing her beautiful appearance. She thought that she made the wrong decision. It would have been better if she dressed normally and arrived in a carriage, to make it appear as if she was just passing by. Though, the problem with that was that she wasn't a very good actor and couldn't handle pressure very well.

"You don't have anything to lose, right? They're almost here, so make your decision quickly." She said, her voice filled with urgency.

The ninth prince furrowed his brow, glaring at Yin Mei as he grit his teeth. He finally took her hand, and she lifted him up, tossing him over her shoulder like a rice bag before running away. The ninth prince immediately regretted his decision. Who the hell would treat an injured person so roughly? He thought so while throwing up blood onto the back of the girl.

Meanwhile, Yin Mei had no thoughts about how roughly she was treating the male lead. In fact, if he died of blood loss before reaching the manor, that would be great. She still felt a little bit guilty, but wasn't that better rather than having to kill him herself? It was for the sake of the mission. If he didn't die, then she would have to suffer even more. She continued rationalizing her actions like this, until the little bit of guilt went away.

Yin Mei finally arrived back at the manor, unceremoniously dumping the ninth prince onto the ground as she quickly used a magic technique to clean all the blood off her clothes. Feeling satisfied, she then put on a big smile and ran up to the demon king. "Your Majesty, I'm back!" She said.

The demon king pat her head, surprising her. But this feeling was not too bad...

"You bastard, actually throwing me onto the ground..." The ninth prince said, as he struggled to prop himself up, coughing up blood again. He had never seen someone this rude before, to actually treat him like this. Actually, no, there was one other person...

"Wow! You're still not dead," Yin Mei couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, struggling not to show it on her face. She sighed. These protagonists really had the life force of a cockroach, how troublesome!

These words really angered the ninth prince to death. To him, it was like she was cursing him to die. What happened to the promised saving of his life? As expected, people couldn't be trusted!

"Well, since you're still not dead, I guess I'll help you now..." Although Yin Mei was saying this, she clearly had a look of reluctance. She walked over, taking out a pill from her storage ring. It had a refreshing and cooling scent. Just smelling it made the ninth prince feel better, until Yin Mei roughly shoved it into his mouth, sending him into a coughing fit.

"You goddamn..." Before he could finish speaking, he was already knocked cold.

Yin Mei felt the male lead was kind of weak. It couldn't be that putting him to sleep would really be that easy? But this really couldn't be blamed on the male lead. Not only had he received a fatal injury, but he had been tossed around by Yin Mei so roughly on top of that. He already no longer had the energy to resist.

Yin Mei shook her head, discarding her thoughts and proceeding to loot the corpse (the ninth prince). The ring around his neck was there, as expected. She couldn't help but feel endless happiness. It was bound by blood to the male lead, though, so the ninth prince would have to die first before it could be used.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that." Yin Mei groaned. Well, she planned on killing the ninth prince off anyways, it was just that she couldn't believe this was it. There was no way it could be this easy right? After all, the male lead had the protagonist's aura! The legendary plot armor! She cautiously looked around. Only the demon king could be seen, lounging around on his chair and looking at the male lead with a faint mixture of both interest and disdain.

Yin Mei took out a sword. She cautiously poked the ninth prince with a sword, before looking around in fear again. Nothing. She poked him again, at the neck, drawing blood this time. She looked around again. Still nothing?

She took a deep breath. Initially she had plans to have the demon king kill him, but looking at him now, she had lost the courage to push the responsibility onto him. But, she was also losing the courage to kill him herself. Just do it! Just do it! Just do it! She screamed inside her head, raising up her blade. She squeezed her eyes shut, and in one go, slashed down.