Qiu Yunru wanted to dig a hole in the mud and stuff his head into it. He had been here for thirty seconds, and yet he'd already run into a hungry demon!
He craned his neck with difficulty to look at it. Stalking towards him was a demon that could only be described as "low-level". It was short and stalky, with the classic appearance most think of when they think "demon": red skin, black horns sticking out of his head, and yellow irises. Over his face, he wore a rather ugly wooden mask.
This was a common custom among demons; in Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits, demons often wore masks that denoted their status. Lower-rank demons wore ugly wooden masks, while the highest-ranked demons wore beautiful porcelain masks, or no masks at all.
The demon giddily skipped forward, grabbing his hair and yanking him up by it. Qiu Yunru swore internally. He was on the verge of death--did he have to start balding from a low-level demon's carelessness, too?!
"Oooooh!" The demon sang. "A good morsel! Young and virile! We never get fresh humans down here!"
Qiu Yunru cleared his throat, which was dry from his earlier ordeals. His voice came out as hoarse and crackly as sandpaper: "Aren't you curious as to why I'm here? It's rare for humans to come to the Demon Realm.
The demon paused, its eyes frowning behind its mask. It rubbed its chin. "Yeah, why are you here? Humans never come down here! The only people who get fresh meat are those noble demons who send guys like me to go hunting in the Mortal Realm!"
Good. Just as his appearance indicated, this low-level demon was also low-IQ. That meant that he could be distracted by pointless yapping!
Qiu Yunru scanned the clearing. He cleared his throat weakly and pointed. "Put me down by that tree, and I'll tell you. It's actually a big secret. I'm sure all the noble demons would pay a lot of money to know why I'm here."
"Really?" The demon looked at him suspiciously. "How big is the secret?"
"Really big."
The demon rubbed his chin again, contemplating his options. He could gobble up this delicious human here and now and have a good meal that would leave his satiated for the rest of the day. Or, he could get this secret, and end up with a pile of gold that would buy him fresh meals for a lifetime...
"All right!" He said triumphantly. He dragged Qiu Yunru over to the base of the nearest Spiral Root Tree and dumped him there unceremoniously.
"Fuck me!" Qiu Yunru yelped involuntarily. He'd been dropped on his injured arm!
"What?" The demon muttered, puzzled. "You want to fuck?"
"No!" Qiu Yunru said quickly. "I just hurt my arm. Here, come sit next to me. It's a big secret, so I have to make sure to be quiet and tell you in your ear."
The demon seemed somewhat disappointed. He crouched down by Qiu Yunru's side, leaning close and putting his hands up to his ear to make a sound tunnel. "What is it? What's the secret?"
Qiu Yunru leaned over with difficulty. He could taste bile and blood in his throat. However, if he failed now, he'd surely turn into demon food.
"Well, you see," He managed, trying to put on a serious voice. "I'm a really important cultivator who's killed a lot of demons. A lot of demon nobility would pay a lot of money to get their hands on me..."
"Holy shit!" The demon muttered, rocking back and forth with excitement. "What's your name?"
"I'm Qiu Yunru."
The demon's expression suddenly changed. Qiu Yunru was startled; he had thought about saying another name, but he hadn't thought it necessary. Did this demon recognize his name?"
The demon suddenly stood, stabbing a finger at him. His bright yellow eyes, which had been filled with glee a moment before, were now smoking with contempt. "You! You're Qiu Yunru! Don't you know you're hated around here?"
Qiu Yunru blinked. He had never been to the Demon Realm before--how could he already be hated here?! It was true that he'd killed many a demon on his missions for the Jade Clouds Sect, but that was something all cultivators did--there was no way he'd be so singled out to be hated!
"Everyone knows your name!" The demon went on furiously. "You're the worst!"
It suddenly struck Qiu Yunru.
It must be his Demon Realm Reputation Points!
Hadn't he exchanged Demon Realm Reputation Points that one time he had almost been killed by Black Lip Leaf Poison in the Jin He City inn? Come to think of it, they had immediately gone on to interrogate the innkeeper after that, and he'd gotten distracted. Since he'd never expected to be able to go to the Demon Realm, he'd only concerned himself with Mortal Realm Reputation Points, and never checked them since!
Quickly, Qiu Yunru called up the game menu. He clicked over to his Reputation Points, and he felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured down his back.
Mortal Realm Reputation Points: 2,178
Ghost Realm Reputation Points: 103
Demon Realm Reputation Points: -1,974
Holy shit.
He was almost at negative two thousand points in the Demon Realm!
Usually, when one reached negative five hundred points, the authorities would begin looking for you wherever you went to imprison you. Once you reached negative one thousand points, many NPC's would beat you half to death on sight. Once you reached negative one thousand five hundred points...
It was death on sight!
Qiu Yunru closed his eyes briefly, allowing an imaginary tear to slide down his cheek. So it really wasn't any kind of blessing that he'd glitched into the Demon Realm and received a second chance to live. Anywhere he went, he was bound to be chased by an angry mob that wanted to tear him to pieces and eat him alive! He'd rather die, thank you!
That low-level demon was still going on, pacing back and forth now. "Don't you know, there's almost no one as hated as you around here lately! They used to hate that other guy, but now you're number-one most hated! The biggest of all the hated people!" He suddenly stopped, rubbing his hands together with a gleam in his eyes. "If I can turn you in...I'll make so much money!"
Qiu Yunru closed the menu quickly. The situation was becoming dire; the NPC had made it out of his monologue and was preparing to act!
Although, one thing occurred to him that was confusing.
If his Reputation Points were so low, why hadn't the Demon recognized his face?