When Destiny Brings the Demon

The lakeshore was covered in snow-white sand, dotted with small white flowers, giving the illusion of a snowy field at first glance. The lake wasn't large, and the water level near the shore was particularly shallow, only reaching about calf-height. The lakebed was also white sand, and combined with the crystal-clear water, the swimming ice-blue translucent fish were especially visible.

Liao Tingyan stood there motionless for a long while. Sima Jiao raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Aren't you going loafing?"

Loafing? At that moment, Liao Tingyan wanted nothing more than to grab a handful of sand and stuff it down this ancestor's collar.

"I'm not going," she said, her tone as stiff as a board.

Sima Jiao, the straight-as-an-arrow senior who was even more rigid than her, stepped forward and plucked a fish from the lake, placing it right in front of her. "Here, loaf then."

His face clearly read, "You're so lazy that even when you want to loaf, you need someone to catch the fish and deliver it to you before you'll bother." Liao Tingyan was so incensed she felt 'rejuvenated.' She grabbed the still-wriggling little fish, intending to throw it back into the water.

Sima Jiao said, "I heard these ice-blue fish are good for beauty and nourishment."

Liao Tingyan withdrew her hand, deciding not to take her anger out on the innocent little fish. After all, it was Sima Jiao's doing—what did this beauty-enhancing fish have to do with it?

Sima Jiao added, "After you're done loafing with this fish, we can grill and eat it." He had already developed a deep understanding of Liao Tingyan's love for eating and sleeping.

"Grill it right here?" When they had entered, there had been so many guards—clearly, this place wasn't ordinary. Wandering in to loaf their fish was one thing, but grilling it on the spot? That was just too rebellious.

Sima Jiao was exactly that rebellious.

Ever since acquiring her spatial storage, Liao Tingyan had dedicated herself to becoming a little Doraemon, able to produce anything on demand. So while saying, "This doesn't seem appropriate," she simultaneously pulled out a grill.

This grill wasn't quite like modern ones. She had once seen a female boss at a food stall using a homemade tool for roasting meat and thought it was excellent, so she bought it from her and even commissioned several more sets, precisely for moments like this when impromptu picnics were called for.

"One fish is too little," Liao Tingyan mused, weighing the small fish brimming with spiritual energy in her hand. It wouldn't even last her two bites. It was rare for her to feel motivated to cook, so she couldn't let this be so lackluster.

This time, without Sima Jiao prompting her, she automatically waded into the water to loaf for more fish. As for Sima Jiao, he showed no intention of helping. He sat on the soft cushion Liao Tingyan had produced, already sprawled out like a freeloader.

Liao Tingyan ignored him. After all, Sima Jiao didn't eat—the fish were all for her, so catching them herself was fine. She had initially thought that with her Transformation Stage cultivation, catching a few small fish would be effortless, completely no problem. But after ten minutes in the water, she hadn't caught a single one and began to question her life.

Were these things escaping her really fish? Did they know some kind of teleportation? One moment, the little fish were leisurely swimming right in front of her, and the next, they'd vanish without a trace. How had Sima Jiao caught one earlier?

She had already used every spell she could think of, to no avail. She couldn't resort to powerful thunder spells to electrocute the fish—that would cause too much commotion and likely attract a swarm of guards.

Liao Tingyan returned empty-handed and silently lay down beside Sima Jiao, striking the same pose as the lone fish on the grill.

Sima Jiao: "..."

Liao Tingyan: "..."Although both remained silent on the surface, Liao Tingyan's mind was passionately repeating one phrase: "Whoever catches lots of fish for me is the best man in the world—I'd adore and worship them so much! A man who can catch fish is just so handsome and makes me feel so safe. Seriously, those fish are so hard to catch—only the most amazing people could get them."

Sima Jiao pressed a hand to his forehead, sat up, and headed toward the water's edge.

Liao Tingyan quickly scrambled up and sat by the grill, waiting eagerly. When Sima Jiao returned with a large string of fish, she even handed him a white towel with exaggerated courtesy, saying, "You worked so hard, so hard! Here, wipe your sweat."

Sima Jiao, who wasn't sweating at all, took the small towel and wiped his hands before instructing, "Don’t grill all of them. Make me a soup."

Liao Tingyan: "Huh? You’re going to eat?!"

Sima Jiao: "I caught the fish. Can’t I eat them?"

Liao Tingyan: "Of course, of course."

As she prepared the fish, Liao Tingyan thought to herself, What could possibly make our ancestor—who never cared for food—suddenly willing to eat? Is it because these fish have beauty-enhancing properties? No! It’s love!

Who would’ve thought he liked her so much that he’d even overcome his aversion to eating just to try her cooking?

This conviction wavered when she tasted the fish. Holy crap, how is this fish so delicious?! The grilled fish had a crispy exterior with tender, melt-in-your-mouth flesh—utterly free of any fishy taste or bones—and was bursting with savory flavor. The fish soup was so good it felt like her tongue might dissolve from sheer bliss.

The soup that was supposed to be Sima Jiao’s? He took two sips before Liao Tingyan gulped down the rest in one go.

"Good?" Sima Jiao propped his chin on his hand, watching her with faint amusement.

" So good," Liao Tingyan admitted shamelessly, rubbing her full belly.

Mystery solved. Sima Jiao drinking those two sips of soup definitely wasn’t because of some ridiculous notion of love—it was just that the soup was that delicious. If her slapdash cooking turned out this amazing, she couldn’t even imagine how good it would be if a real chef put effort into it.

Sima Jiao remarked, "When I was young at Three Sage Mountain, people would deliver all kinds of food daily. These fish were among them. I ate so much I grew tired of them."

Liao Tingyan: ...So it’s not that you have an eating disorder—you’re just picky.

No wonder he barely ate anything now if he’d been feasting on stuff this good back then. Damn, I’m so jealous!

Liao Tingyan rubbed her hands together eagerly. "So, uh... think we can take some to go?"

With a flick of his sleeve, Sima Jiao emptied half the lake of its fish, all of which Liao Tingyan stored in preservation boxes for future snacking.

Liao Tingyan: "That’s enough, that’s enough! Leave some for the ecosystem."

This lake was called the Cloudsky Realm, and the fish within were Spirit-Nourishing Flying Fish. Each palm-sized fish took a hundred years to grow, feeding exclusively on the purest water-attuned spiritual energy condensed into tiny particles. Their diet gave them a striking ice-blue hue.

Originally, this place had been created by a powerful cultivator from the Sima clan, but times had changed, and it now belonged to the Shi family. The current overseer was Shi Qianji, the half-brother of Sect Leader Shi Qianlv. Greedy and opportunistic, Shi Qianji had leveraged his elder brother’s authority to hoard many treasures—this lake and its fish being one of them.

Even he couldn’t bring himself to catch more than two or three fish at a time for his own indulgence. His most beloved children only received a single fish as a reward when they pleased him.On this day, Master Qianji, who had arrived in high spirits to catch fish, let out a heart-wrenching roar of fury.

The Loafing incident quickly reached even Liao Tingyan in the outer quarters of Gengchen Immortal Mansion, as it had caused quite a stir. Master Qianji, furious about the theft of his treasures, refused to let the matter rest and dispatched numerous disciples to track down the thief.

Given his status, the theft of his treasures was naturally a major event, and news of it spread rapidly. Everyone was discussing who could be so bold and possess such cultivation to dare commit such an act.

While listening to her fellow students discuss the matter, Liao Tingyan was holding a freshly fried crispy fish snack. She paused mid-bite, realizing the gravity of the situation, and suddenly found the fish snack even more delicious.

So it was something that precious—no wonder it tasted even better.

Sima Jiao listened to all this with an expressionless face, playing with his own little ball. It was a sign he was about to go out and stir up trouble again.

Liao Tingyan glanced at him a couple of times, and suddenly, Sima Jiao reached out, pulled her by the neck, and pressed the back of her head to plant a kiss on her lips.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You taste like fish."

Liao Tingyan wiped her mouth and continued crunching on the fish snack.

After finishing it, she analyzed the situation rationally: "I suggest you find me something tastier to eat. Then next time, I'll taste like something else. Let me think... how about beef flavor?"

Sima Jiao: "What's so good about beef?"

Liao Tingyan: "I'm tired of hearing that line. I'll take anything, I want to eat it all."

Sima Jiao: "You've been eating too much lately. You're getting chubby around the waist."

Liao Tingyan shot to her feet. "Nonsense! How can an immortal cultivator gain weight?!"

Sima Jiao: "Then you must be pregnant."

Liao Tingyan's legs went weak, and she sat back down. "Impossible! How can Soul Communion lead to pregnancy?!!"

Sima Jiao looked utterly indifferent. "Haven't you heard of 'conception through resonance'?"

He said it so convincingly that Liao Tingyan stared at him in horror. "What kind of nonsense is that? Do you people really play like that? If it's possible to get pregnant this way, didn't you take any protective measures?!!"

Sima Jiao: "Pfft." He covered his forehead and eyes with his slender fingers.

Liao Tingyan: "You're laughing—so you were lying to me, weren't you?"

Sima Jiao shook his head, laughing heartily, looking at her with the affectionate pity one might reserve for an idiot.

Fury rose in Liao Tingyan's heart, and she lunged at him, claws out, ready to teach this bully of a schoolboy a lesson. But he tripped her with his leg, then pinned her waist down onto the desk, rendering her immobile.

Completely subdued, Liao Tingyan declared with a stern and ruthless expression, "I'm going on a diet. I'll lose all the soft fat on my belly, and then you'll never get to enjoy such a good feel again!"

Sima Jiao: "..."

This time, when he returned from his outing, he brought back a cow.

Since he always came back in the middle of the night, Liao Tingyan was always shaken awake by him. This time, when she woke up to the sound of a cow mooing in her room, she was utterly speechless.

The cow was draped in an ornate blanket, its horns adorned with jewels, a precious collar around its neck—dressed more lavishly than Liao Tingyan herself, like a high-society lady. Clearly, this was no ordinary cow. Since when did ordinary cows beg for mercy in human speech?

The cow pleaded, "Senior, please don't eat me!"

Liao Tingyan buried her head back under the blankets, unwilling to face this midnight nightmare. But Sima Jiao relentlessly pulled her out again. "Didn't you say you wanted to eat beef?"Liao Tingyan was furious. "Did you fucking bring back a cow? Whether it's a cow demon or cow spirit, it's definitely not a cow!"

"I just want to eat cows that don't talk," Liao Tingyan said indifferently.

Sima Jiao looked completely unbothered. "Cut out its tongue and it won't talk anymore." He gave the sniveling 'cow' a cold glare and said threateningly, "No more talking."

The 'cow' trembled with fear, its sobs coming in hiccups. If not for its burly frame and powerful hooves, it might have looked like a pitiful, helpless woman.

Sima Jiao's cruelty was completely natural.

Liao Tingyan felt like crying too. She grabbed Sima Jiao's hand. "I really don't want to eat it. Please, my lord. Here, you can rub my belly as much as you want. Just send this cow back where it came from, okay?"

Sima Jiao pinched her soft belly, still displeased. "You've been getting more and more audacious lately." His tone wasn't particularly harsh—more like a complaint under the circumstances.

Far from being scared, Liao Tingyan wanted to curse at him. What kind of bullshit is that? Who's more audacious here, me or you?

While mentally screaming in frustration, she quickly surrendered. "Yes, yes, I'm so audacious. It's too late to argue now. Let's just sleep, okay?"

The next morning, the cow was gone from the room. Liao Tingyan thought she must have dreamed it, but when she looked down, she saw the Little Black Snake carrying the cage that held the small pheasants—now with a shrunken cow inside. The tiny cow seemed quite comfortable, chasing the two little pheasants around.

Now, in addition to the two pheasants, the Black Snake had a cow to feed.

Liao Tingyan asked Sima Jiao, "What exactly is this cow's background?"

Sima Jiao replied, "A cow demon's wife."

Liao Tingyan: "??? You kidnapped someone's wife? Won't the cow demon come looking for revenge? And getting your wife snatched for no reason is pretty tragic."

Sima Jiao considered this for a moment. "You're right."

Then he disappeared for half a day and brought back the cow demon, reuniting the couple. The two shrunken cows now lived in another small cage, becoming the Little Black Snake's pets.

Liao Tingyan: What a ridiculous move!

Author's Note:

Liao Tingyan: I, Liao Tingyan, would rather die than fall in love with this kind of demon king!