After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

The next morning, Liu Qingyi leaned against a pillar in the training hall and watched Jiang Yan finish practicing his last sword routine.

The swishing sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air stopped, and Jiang Yan put the sword back against the wall and picked up a cloth to wipe his sweat.

Liu Qingyi looked at Jiang Yan, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly said, "Jiang Yan, how about we go for a walk together?"

His tone of voice was as lazy as usual, with a faint smile on his lips.

"Just the two of us." Liu Qingyi placed the wine pot on the steps. "We won't tell anyone else."

Lin Chu nodded without saying a word. (From now on, I'll normally refer to her as Jiang Yan, but occasionally I'll refer to myself as Lin Chu when I'm thinking to myself.)

Having spent several years in the Jiang family mansion, practicing swordsmanship and reading every day, even someone with his composure would have long been bored to death.

"Walk."

The two left the Jiang family's side gate one after the other.

Liu Qingyi was still half-drunk and walked with a limp, but her pace was not slow.

The streets of Tushan Royal Capital were much more chaotic than Jiang Yan had imagined.

The bluestone road was full of potholes, and the buildings on both sides were of various styles, including pointed stone buildings unique to the demon race and wooden shops built by human craftsmen.

The streets were filled with demons and humans. The demons with beast heads and human bodies strode around, while the half-transformed demons with cat ears darted among the vendors. Many humans followed behind the demons, carrying their goods with their heads bowed.

Jiang Yan's gaze lingered on a monster with a horse's head for too long, and Liu Qingyi tapped him on the back of the head with the hilt of her sword.

"Don't look around."

Look back.

After walking another half street, a group of demons came towards them on the official road.

The leader was a wolf demon, riding a beast with four flaming hooves, the copper bells on the horse's harness jingling.

Pedestrians on the official road quickly moved to both sides, causing the stalls to be jostled and tilted.

An old man who didn't have time to move aside was casually pushed aside by the rhinoceros demon at the front of the line.

While the group seemed to be doing it casually, the old man was sent flying, his back slamming against a stone bench on the side of the street. He groaned and slipped to the ground.

The demon cavalry did not stop, and the dust billowed as they went.

The vendors slowly peeked out from the roadside, gathering up their scattered goods.

Several people glanced at the old man who had fallen to the ground, then lowered their heads and continued with their own tasks.

Jiang Yan quickly went over and helped the old man up.

The old man, clutching his back, managed to stand. His lips trembled, and he whispered "Thank you" in a low, quick voice, as if afraid of being overheard. After saying this, he picked up his load and hurried away.

Liu Qingyi stood a few steps away, watching this scene with a complicated expression in her eyes.

He didn't say anything, waited for Jiang Yan to come back, and continued walking forward.

"The Tushan Dynasty is already considered the most enlightened demon race power in the Myriad Demon Realm."

"Enlightened?" Jiang Yan looked up at him.

"Enlightened," Liu Qingyi said, "meaning that cannibalism in the streets is not allowed, nor is the arbitrary slaughter of registered humans allowed." He took a step forward. "At least not openly."

He led Jiang Yan onto a side road.

This side road leads to the market on the west side of the capital. Before even reaching the archway, Jiang Yan could smell a mixture of blood and dirt.

The market was small.

There were several stalls selling furs, a blacksmith shop, and further in, a row of iron cages.

Jiang Yan stopped.

One of the cages contained a family of three: a man, a woman, and a three- or four-year-old boy.

The three of them huddled on a pile of rotten grass in the corner of the cage, their clothes so faded that their original color was no longer recognizable.

The woman held her child tightly in her arms, while the man sat in front of them, half of his face swollen shut.

Next to the cage stood a wooden sign with a few words crookedly carved on it: "Two-legged sheep, ten spirit stones per sheep."

Two-legged sheep.

He had heard the Jiang family servants mention this word before, and at the time he just found it a bit jarring.

Now, a living example is right before our eyes; they are no different from the sheep waiting to be slaughtered outside the cage.

Jiang Yan stared at the sign for a long time.

Ten Spirit Stones.

According to the account books I had looked through in the Jiang family's study, an ordinary iron sword could sell for twenty spirit stones.

A person is not as valuable as a sword.

"Some of these people were captured from the wild, descendants of exiles left behind in the wilderness; others fled into the capital on their own, without any household registration," Liu Qingyi's voice came from the side. "Those who are not protected by the Tushan Clan are not considered human."

He paused. "Scenes like this happen every day here."

After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again, his voice reverting to the same cold tone as before.

"If this is the case even in the enlightened capital of the Tu Shan Dynasty, Jiang Yan, how do you think humans survive in other parts of the Ten Thousand Demon Realm?"

Jiang Yan did not answer.

Liu Qingyi sighed, her voice even lower.

"What can we do? In the Demon Realm, people like us can only survive by abandoning compassion. As for them—" He gestured with his chin toward the cages, "they can only live a muddled existence. The day they are captured and eaten by the demons will be the end of their suffering."

He reached out and grabbed Jiang Yan's wrist.

"Let's go."

Jiang Yan was pulled along by him, through the dirty and messy passageway, around a pool of sewage of unknown origin, and stopped when they were almost at the entrance of the market.

He turned his head.

The three- or four-year-old boy in the cage was looking at him.

His face was expressionless.

Jiang Yan released Liu Qingyi's hand.

In his previous life, he served as an official in the Vast Domain, providing disaster relief, repairing dikes, and saving countless lives.

At that time, I felt that I had seen the deepest suffering in the world.

Jiang Yan muttered to herself.

"If even people like us have given up the fight," he said softly, "then what right do we have to criticize them for being so muddle-headed?"

He looked into Liu Qingyi's eyes.

"I can't control what others do." Jiang Yan pulled her hand away from Liu Qingyi's. "But if I see something that makes me uncomfortable, I will intervene."

I turned and walked across the dirty passageway back to the cage.

A wolf-headed, human-bodied demon sat cross-legged on a wooden stool nearby, picking his teeth with his claws.

"Thirty spirit stones for three people."

Jiang Yan took out thirty spirit stones from her storage bag and placed them next to the stool. "Open the cage."

The wolf-headed demon's gaze lingered on the spirit stone for a moment, then swept over the Jiang family crest on his collar, and looked at the storage bag in his hand.

A flicker of greed crossed his eyes, but he ultimately suppressed it.

People from the Jiang family should not be messed with casually.

He took the spirit stone, weighed it in his hand, turned around, took the key, and opened the cage door.

"Come out," he said, then sat back down and continued picking his teeth.

The man in the cage raised his head, his lips cracked and his eyes blank, as if he didn't understand what he was saying.

The child in the woman's arms stirred first, and then the woman stood up shakily, holding onto the iron railing as she moved out.

The family of three climbed out of the cage. As they passed the door, the man glanced up at the wooden sign that read "Two-legged Sheep," then lowered his head and continued walking.

Liu Qingyi, standing at the entrance of the market, watched this scene unfold.

He was smiling, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, leaning against the door frame, picking up the wine jug and taking a sip, his cloudy eyes suddenly becoming much brighter.

Jiang Yan walked at the very front.

On the way back to the Jiang family from the West Market, the three people behind me remained silent, their footsteps as light as if they were walking on cotton.

Only the little boy kept his head up, staring intently at Jiang Yan's back.

Liu Qingyi walked at the very back of the group.

He has difficulty walking, and his shoulders and back lean slightly forward when he walks.

But now his face no longer showed the indifference he had when he spoke in the market.

Jiang Yan was thinking about something else.

In my previous life, when I served as an official in the Vast Domain, the historical records only mentioned the Myriad Demon Domain in four characters.

"Beyond the Demon Realm."

Only then did he truly understand the weight behind those four words.