"It's fine," Yulan replied, with a hint of bitterness in her tone. She then added before her figure slowly vanished into thin air, "Maybe our paths should have never crossed in the first place."

Zhao Yichen returned to his room to rest and brought Yu Yan with him. He was a little worried about Gu Liuxian. The older man had laid out his worries in front of Zhao Yichen, hoping that he could shed some light on some problems.historical

"Yu Yan, was that woman a demon like your master?" He asked curiously.

Unlike Shen Minyao who had a noticeable white, silky hair and sharp claws on her demon form; the woman they met earlier looked like a human with unusually pale skin. So Zhao Yichen wondered how Gu Liuxian mistook her for a human.

"Hmm, not exactly, Master Yichen," Yu Yan replied. "In human terms, she would be a flower fairy, though their origin isn't so different from other demons. There are so many flower fairies all over the world, and their purpose is to make sure that the flowers will bloom in the right season.. Moreover, they also helped humans avoid famine by making sure the trees that bear fruits."

Zhao Yichen sat up and leaned against the headboard of his large bed.

"I see." He nodded. "But I wonder how Gu Liuxian was able to see her in the past."

"You might not know this, Master Yichen, but there are humans who were not shamans but were gifted with the eyes that could see past the facade," the black cat explained. "Just like you before my mistress passed her fox orb to keep you alive."

Zhao Yichen pressed his lips into a thin line, his hands balling on his side.

"Is that why she was able to enter a contract with me?"

Was it because of his ability to see ghosts and demons? If so, then Zhao Yichen wasn't sure whether he was fortunate or not to stumble upon the place where the infamous nine-tailed fox was sealed.

"I'm not sure about that, Master. You would have to ask Milady once she returns." Yu Yan replied. "As for your friend, I supposed he was able to meet that flower fairy for some reasons we don't know yet. Milady would know for sure if she was here with us."

"Then, we couldn't help him on our own?"

He was hoping that he could at least do something to help Gu Liuxian. Since he was capable of seeing and talking to the flower fairy, shouldn't he be able to mediate between the two?

"You aren't asking the right question, Master Yichen. The one you should ask is whether the flower fairy wants to meet your friend or not, especially now that her life force is dwindling fast."

The black cat's words caught Zhao Yichen off-guard.

"What do you mean?" He asked in surprise.

"She would perish from this world soon, Master. I supposed that she hadn't fed on any humans for the past years, which led to her losing most of her strength. I understand why she chose to not follow your friend. It would be dangerous if she lost her sanity because of hunger and attacked him blindly." Yu Yan looked heavenward as she sat on the windowsill of Zhao Yichen's room. She hoped that Shen Minyao would return to them soon.

"Such things could happen? She would feed on him based on instinct?"

"Of course, Master Yichen. Flower fairies might be good by nature, but like humans and other demons, it is also important for them to feed. If you suppress her hunger for a long time, can you imagine the pain she'll be in, Master Yichen? Even a human won't last long if they don't eat or drink. The same thing could happen with demons."

Zhao Yichen fell silent. How could he not know? When he was kidnapped the moment he came back from overseas, his captors didn't bother giving him any decent meal, and he had to suffer for days without food. Not a single drop of water had passed his lips, and the hunger he experienced was hellish.

It now made sense to him why the fox woman acted like that during their first encounter. She must be so hungry that the first thing she did after breaking from her confinement was to eat human livers.

"Then, what do I do? I can't leave Brother Xian like that," he muttered to himself. "I'm not even sure whether I should tell him that she wasn't missing or not."

The expression Gu Liuxian had when he talked about Yulan remained on Zhao Yichen's mind. Gu Liuxian must have fallen hard for a woman he didn't even know was a demon in the first place.

"It's better for us not to get involved, Master. The flower fairy still has her sanity intact and has chosen to keep her distance from your friend. However, if she has dared to harm you and your friend earlier, I cannot promise that she'll be able to survive after today."

The reason why she didn't kill the flower demon readily.. was that she didn't want Zhao Yichen to witness a bloody scene. Yu Yan could tell that her mistress's human contractor had suffered from the past, and seeing her kill another demon today would surely put a heavy weight on his mind.

Not only had his body not stabilized yet, but also his mind hadn't gained enough strength to ward off the spirits that were coming his way. If Yu Yan wasn't with him, all those spirits and demons would have already found him and fed on him.

Zhao Yichen wanted to disagree with her. Wasn't it like telling him to turn a blind eye to someone who is in need of help? However, what could he do in this state? If the flower demon's days were already numbered, then he should help her and Gu Liuxian to patch up things before she dies, but how?