I just became the Pirate King, and you're telling me I also time-traveled at the same time.

Chapter 1029 Offering Myself in Return

But the words "She's on my side now" hit her like a scalding stone, crashing into her heart without warning, making her eyes burn.

The Demon King stared at Chu Yang, then suddenly laughed, though the smile didn't reach his eyes at all.

"Do you know what she did in my cave?"

"You just said you stole and killed your subordinates."

"She stole the 'Soul-Locking Bell'," the Demon King slowly spoke. "That bell contained a wisp of my soul. After she took it, my cultivation regressed, forcing me into seclusion for months. As for those two subordinates, they were merely ordered to capture her, only to be lured off a cliff by her illusions and smashed to pieces. You dare keep something like that?"

Su Wanwan's face grew even paler, her teeth chattering slightly, but she still suddenly spoke: "I did nothing wrong!"

The demon king's gaze swept over him like a knife: "What did you say?"

She was still trembling, but somehow, the way Chu Yang had pulled her up, the words "I'm here for you," and the calm, almost matter-of-fact attitude of the others made her breathe a sigh of relief.

She took a step forward, her voice trembling, yet clearer than before: "The Soul-Locking Bell was originally stolen from our Qingqiu clan! You slaughtered so many of my sisters, extracting their souls and refining them into the bell, why can't I steal it back?"

Tang Sanzang's expression changed.

The playfulness in Sun Wukong's eyes faded, and he gently twirled the staff in his palm.

The Demon King's face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water: "Your fox clan has always been lowly. It is their good fortune to be able to enter my magic weapon."

"Bullshit."

These words were spoken by Chu Yang.

He spoke so fluently that even Tang Sanzang was taken aback and subconsciously turned to look at him.

Chu Yang spat out a mouthful of non-existent ash onto the ground, the casual smile in his eyes completely gone: "Extracting human souls to forge magical artifacts, and you call that a stroke of luck? Your skin is thicker than a city wall corner."

A vein throbbed on the Demon King's forehead, and a murderous glint flashed in his eyes: "You're courting death."

"That's something other people usually say to me," Chu Yang said, raising his chin. "Brother Monkey."

"I've been waiting there for a while too!"

Sun Wukong grinned, and before he could finish speaking, he had already dashed off.

He stomped on two bricks, shattering them, and swung his golden cudgel, unleashing a blinding golden light as it smashed directly towards the demon king's face. The demon king clearly hadn't expected the monkey to attack so suddenly. He roared, and black energy surged from his arms, condensing into a massive bone-patterned demon shield in front of him.

"clang--!"

The golden cudgel slammed into the demon shield, and a shockwave exploded out of the courtyard.

The crabapple tree snapped in half, the wooden bucket on the well platform was thrown into the air, and the entire inn shook violently. The innkeeper and waiter screamed in terror in the lobby, and a guest upstairs who had just poked his head out was so frightened by the strange wind that he slammed the window shut with a "bang".

Su Wanwan was so shocked that her legs went weak and she almost fell.

Chu Yang reached out and pulled her behind him: "Stand behind me, don't run around."

"I..." She opened her mouth, her voice trembling slightly, "Are you really going to fight him for my sake?"

Chu Yang turned to look at her as if he had heard something strange: "Otherwise what? Should I ask him if he's in a good mood today before deciding whether to protect you?"

Su Wanwan choked up.

Ahead, Sun Wukong was already locked in a fierce battle with the demon king.

The inn's backyard was small to begin with, how could it withstand a fight between two demons of this level? The demon king spread his hands, and dozens of chain-like black lights flew out from the black mist, directly binding Sun Wukong's limbs and neck; Sun Wukong sneered, his golden cudgel suddenly shook, the black lights shattered inch by inch, and then he flipped over and swung the cudgel down from mid-air.

The brick ground beneath the Demon King's feet collapsed with a deafening roar, and he was thrown back several feet. With a single hand raised, a giant black claw materialized in mid-air, carrying a foul stench, and struck Sun Wukong's crown.

"Well done!" Sun Wukong neither dodged nor avoided, but swung his staff and smashed it down. The gold and black colors collided fiercely in mid-air, creating a series of explosions.

Tang Sanzang stood under the corridor, his brows furrowed, his hands moving faster and faster with the prayer beads in his hands. His lips moved slightly, and a faint golden light slowly spread across the courtyard, protecting the remaining buildings of the inn and the stables at the back.

Chu Yang didn't step forward, but stood at the bottom of the steps with his arms crossed, his expression even showing a hint of disapproval.

"Brother Monkey's skills are rusty today," he commented.

Still reeling from the shock, Su Wanwan instinctively blurted out, "This... this is called being rusty?"

"He had just gotten up not long ago, and his face wasn't even washed properly," Chu Yang said. "Normally, someone like him would be down within three blows."

As if to prove his words, Sun Wukong suddenly sprang up in the next instant, his figure blurring and creating seven or eight afterimages. The demon king was startled, and before he could even distinguish where the real body was, the real golden cudgel had already lashed out from the side, smashing into his ribs with a "boom," sending him flying sideways and crashing into half of the courtyard wall.

"puff--"

The demon king spat out a mouthful of black blood, turned over and stood up, his face extremely pale.

He finally realized that this pilgrimage team was not someone he could easily control.

His gaze swept over Su Wanwan with venom, and he suddenly shouted sharply, "Su Wanwan! You think hiding behind them will do you any good? The kind of person you are best at flattering and playing the victim, putting on a pitiful act. Who knows when you might turn around and bite them back! You're doing their laundry and cooking for them now, but who knows when you might poison them all in the pot—"

"Shut up."

This time, it was Su Wanwan herself who spoke.

She stood behind Chu Yang, her eyes red-rimmed, her hands clenching her sleeves tighter and tighter.

"What business is it of yours if I do my laundry and cook for them?" Her voice trembled at first, but it grew increasingly steady as she spoke. "At least when they order me around, they do it openly. They know I'm a fox demon, and they don't intend to use my life to refine anything. What about you? You captured me just to skin me alive, take back the Soul-Locking Bell, and then refine me into it too!"

The Demon King's face darkened: "You—"

"What do you mean, 'you'?" Sun Wukong flicked the black blood off his golden cudgel, his laughter radiating ferocity. "Even fox demons live more intelligently than you. I hate people like you who spout rules but are rotten to the core."

Chu Yang tilted his head and looked at Su Wanwan, a faint smile in his eyes: "Not bad, you've grown bolder."

Su Wanwan felt her ears burn under his gaze, and her heart suddenly raced, but she still stubbornly said, "I...I'm not a coward."

"Who almost jumped out of the window just now?"

"That...that was just a stopgap measure!"

"Oh, that's a good expedient."

After these few words of conversation, Su Wanwan herself was stunned.

Just a moment ago she was so scared her legs went weak and she wished she could turn into the wind and run away for her life; but now, standing behind this person, listening to the booming of clubs and demonic energy in front of her, and hearing him still having the mood to tease her, the fear that had been so tense gradually dissipated, replaced by a strange sense of security that she had never felt from outsiders before.

The Demon King saw all this, and his anger intensified, with the bone horns on his forehead faintly gleaming with a dark light.

"Very well, very well." He wiped the black blood from his lips, his voice chillingly cold. "Since you insist on protecting her, then today I will take you all down with me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he clasped his hands together, and the black mist around him suddenly swirled back, coalescing above his head into a gigantic, ferocious beast shadow. The beast shadow resembled neither a wolf nor a bull, with blood-red eyes, and let out a piercing roar that shook the remaining windows of the inn.

Tang Sanzang's expression darkened slightly, his prayer beads paused, and he murmured a Buddhist chant.

Chu Yang simply clicked his tongue.

"Brother Monkey, stop dawdling." He raised his hand and lightly tapped the hilt of his sword at his waist with his fingertips. "If we keep fighting, the innkeeper will start demanding payment for the room."

Sun Wukong grinned: "I was just waiting for you to say that!"

The next instant, he stomped the ground and soared into the sky. His golden cudgel swelled in the wind and transformed into a giant golden pillar that almost covered half the courtyard. With a thunderous roar, it crashed down on the beast shadow and the demon king.

The Demon King's pupils contracted sharply, and he raised his arms wildly, the black mist beast shadow roaring as it pushed upwards.

"boom--!!!"

Golden light and black mist collided violently in mid-air, and the resulting shockwave blew away the remaining half of the inn's courtyard wall. Bricks and stones flew everywhere in the backyard, the well platform shattered into pieces, and even pedestrians on the street outside screamed and fled in terror.

But the seemingly terrifying black mist beast shadow crumbled layer by layer like paper the moment the golden cudgel truly pressed down.

The demon king let out a muffled groan, his knees buckled, and he was slammed into the ground three inches deep, his shoulder bones cracking with a series of fine cracks.

His expression finally changed completely.

"You're no ordinary demon king." He stared intently at Sun Wukong, his voice tinged with surprise and doubt for the first time. "Who exactly are you?"

Sun Wukong landed carrying his golden cudgel, flicked his wrist, and laughed arrogantly and wickedly.

You don't deserve to know.

The demon king's eyes flashed with a mixture of shock and anger. His gaze shifted and suddenly fell on the sword at Chu Yang's waist, then swept over the faint Buddhist light surrounding Tang Sanzang, his expression growing increasingly gloomy.

He finally realized that what he had kicked today was not a steel plate, but several mountains.

If they stay, they may not be able to escape unscathed.

As soon as the thought arose, he almost didn't hesitate for a moment. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of his own black blood, and under the cover of the blood mist, he transformed into a streak of black light and fled out of the courtyard.

"Trying to run away?" Sun Wukong was about to give chase.

"Forget it." Chu Yang raised his hand to stop him. "Tell him to get lost."

Sun Wukong clicked his tongue, still somewhat unsatisfied: "I haven't had enough fun yet, so I'll go too."

"There's still a road ahead, don't waste your energy in a place like this." Chu Yang walked over, looked at the pool of black blood on the ground, and said, "Besides, keeping him alive will prevent this fox from always holding onto his grudge and running away from time to time."

Upon hearing this, Su Wanwan instinctively retorted, "I don't run away from home all the time..."

She stopped talking abruptly halfway through her sentence.

The courtyard was much quieter now. The innkeeper and waiter were still huddled in front, too afraid to come out. Crabapple blossoms were scattered all over the ground, half of the wall had collapsed, and a faint demonic aura and the smell of breaking wood still lingered in the air.

But all she could hear was her own somewhat disordered breathing.

After the crisis subsided, the tension that had been weighing on her heart finally eased, and a belated surge of bitterness and heat welled up, making her nose sting.

She looked at the group of people in front of her and was momentarily speechless.

Sun Wukong, carrying his staff, was disdainfully shaking the dust off his sleeves. Tang Sanzang was checking the inn to see if any innocent people had been injured, his expression still gentle. Chu Yang stood in front of her, looking down at her, as if ready to tease her again at any moment.

But it was precisely these few people.

Knowing she was a demon, he still stood in front of her.

It wasn't for any personal gain, nor to use her for alchemy, nor to feign compassion. It was simply and naturally that they categorized her as "one of their own."

Su Wanwan's eyes stung, and her eyes immediately reddened.

Chu Yang looked at her and raised an eyebrow: "What's wrong? Did you cry?"

She shook her head vigorously, but tears still fell, one by one, onto her clothes.

"I..." She raised her hand to wipe it, but the more she wiped, the more messy it became, and her voice was a little choked up, "I didn't mean to lie to you. At first, I really... I really did come for Elder Tang, thinking of getting close to you and finding an opportunity... but later..."

She suddenly found herself unable to continue.

"Did you later find out that doing our laundry and cooking for us was actually quite promising?" Chu Yang added for her.

Su Wanwan, who was deeply moved, almost held back her tears upon hearing this. She glared at him, sobbing, and said, "Can you please not say things like that at a time like this?"

"No," Chu Yang answered honestly.

Sun Wukong, standing to the side, slapped his thigh with laughter: "Brother, you're really something else!"

Tang Sanzang sighed helplessly, walked over and said gently, "Female benefactor, since the past is over, it's best not to harbor any more intentions to harm others."

Su Wanwan stared blankly at him, then at Sun Wukong, and finally her gaze fell back on Chu Yang's face. Suddenly, she sniffed and solemnly took two steps back.

The next moment, she knelt down with a thud.

This was so sudden that even Chu Yang was taken aback.

What are you doing?

Su Wanwan raised her head, her eyes still red, but her face was more serious than ever before.

"Chu Yang, I have nowhere to go." Her voice was slightly hoarse, but she enunciated each word clearly. "I used to think that as long as I had enough tricks and sweet words, men would always protect me. Later I realized that those who said they would protect me were either after my looks or my demon core. Only you..."

She paused for a moment, seemingly feeling a little uncomfortable about speaking so bluntly in front of these people. Her ears turned slightly red, but she still forced herself to continue.

"Only you, knowing I am a fox demon, are willing to hold me behind you and not let anyone else take me away."

Sun Wukong whistled from the side.

Tang Sanzang lowered his head and recited a Buddhist chant, pretending not to understand.

Chu Yang crossed his arms, his expression a little strange: "You're not thinking of repaying me with your body, are you? Let me make this clear, I—"

"Who, who wants to repay me with their body!" Su Wanwan's face turned red to the roots of her neck, and she was so angry that she almost jumped up. "I mean... I mean, if you are still willing to take me in, I will not run away again, and I will not lie to you anymore. I am willing to stay and be your servant."

Chu Yang blinked.

"Servant?"

"Yes." Su Wanwan bit her lip, as if she had made a huge decision. "Washing clothes, cooking, making the bed, fetching water, mending clothes, massaging legs, rubbing backs... I'll do it all. Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do. Just don't send me away." (End of Chapter)