After Becoming the Villain’s Black Moonlight - Chapter 4

The system understood immediately: 0011 was dissatisfied with the body it had arranged.

The so-called “Xie family guest official” was merely a lie 0011 used to deceive Yin Huizhi. The true identity of the original body, “Xie Ling,” was the only son of Xie Gou, the Second Elder of the Qianyin Ghost Domain and the Sect Leader of the Tianye Sect.

This man was lazy, possessed poor natural talent, and was excessively dissolute with both men and women. His ultimate end was a premature death at the hands of a dancing girl.

When the system first stuffed Xie Ling into the body, the original host’s corpse was still warm. Before the knife-wielding dancing girl could react, Xie Ling, newly arrived in the body with a bloody hole in his chest, snapped her neck.

As the corpse hit the floor, Xie Ling grabbed a water mirror to look at his appearance. His eyes were as dark as a ghost crawling out of hell.

Recalling that scene, the system shivered.

Back then, it thought Xie Ling was enraged by the assassin. Now, it realized he was likely dissatisfied with the system and the body it had provided.

But identity was not something it could choose! The system felt indignant and aggrieved, yet it hesitated to speak.

Finally, it asked in a small voice, “Xie… Number 0011, may I speak now?”

Xie Ling answered with an easy “Mhm.”

The system breathed a sigh of relief and offered a cautious defense. “Although the identity chosen by the Reformation Department is not the strongest, it is often one with low threat levels that can quickly earn the trust of the mission target.”

Xie Ling gave another “Oh.” “So, the son of the Second Elder of the Qianyin Ghost Domain is the identity most likely to earn the trust of a righteous cultivator like Yin Huizhi. Such excellent logic and conclusions are truly admirable.”

The system was speechless. “No,” it said awkwardly.

“There were plenty of righteous disciples with clean backgrounds in the matching character pool, but once I entered your serial number,” the system said carefully, “those identities became unavailable.”

Though it dared not say it plainly, it believed Xie Ling understood the implication: this was entirely due to your personal factors!

If his past conduct had not been so brutal, why would the main system place such restrictions on his identity choices?

Xie Ling finally stopped his sarcasm and nodded thoughtfully. “So that is how it is.”

Were it not for this mission, he truly would not have known the main system would guard against him so seamlessly. He rubbed his brow tiredly. “Let us go back.”

The system asked instinctively, “What about Yin Huizhi?”

Had they not agreed to wait for him there?

A mocking smile flashed in Xie Ling’s eyes. He did not blame the system for prying and simply said, “He will not be coming back.”

“Young Master!”

The moment Xie Ling stepped into Tianye Sect territory, he was flanked and grabbed by two demonic cultivators who appeared out of nowhere.

Both wore black. The one on the left was withered and dark, while the one on the right was tall, fat, and pale. Standing together, they looked like charcoal and a steamed bun; they were uniquely ugly.

When Xie Ling first arrived, the situation was urgent. After snapping the dancer’s neck, the system had rushed him to Yin Huizhi’s side, leaving him no time to meet the original host’s associates. However, this did not stop him from intending to snap the hands of these two ugly things.

Unexpectedly, “Shorty” and “Fatty” moved faster than he did.

Thud! Bang!

The sound of two pairs of knees hitting the ground simultaneously followed. Immediately after, Xie Ling’s legs were tightly hugged by four arms.

“Young Master!” “Young Master!” “Where did you go?” “We thought you were taken by assassins!” “Are you alright? Strip off your clothes and let us see!” Their wails rose one after another; the two of them somehow creating the momentum of an entire sect.

Xie Ling was silent.

After a long while, his tensed fingers finally relaxed slightly, and he pressed his brow. He looked down and said indifferently, “Shut up.”

The wailing stopped instantly. The hands reaching to lift Xie Ling’s hem froze. They looked up at Xie Ling’s face secretly, then turned to exchange a useless but knowing glance.

Why is the Young Master so gloomy today?

That look and that tone made their skin crawl. Although the Young Master usually beat and scolded the servants, he was quite affectionate toward the two of them! Could it be that some little vixen had stolen the Young Master’s heart while they were away?

At this thought, the two turned pale with fright and said submissively, “Young Master.”

Xie Ling’s dark eyelashes fell and rose again, hiding his gloomy impatience. He asked tonelessly, “Where is the assassin?”

Seeing Xie Ling concern himself with the assassin, the two immediately forgot about his mysterious disappearance. They competed to answer, describing in exaggerated detail the miserable state of the dancing girl’s corpse after they had finished with it.

Shorty said sharply and flatteringly, “Rest assured, Young Master, we also severely punished the dog of a mayor who presented that wench!”

“Yes!” Fatty’s thick voice followed. “Young Master, Xie Dong and I have gathered twenty beautiful girls for you. When would it be appropriate for you to see them?”

Xie Ling’s head throbbed from the noise. He detested talkative subordinates the most, yet such an encounter was inevitable at the start of every world. He suppressed the urge to rub his brow again and looked at the two of them. “Xie Dong, Xie Xi?”

The black and white duo rejoiced. “Yes, we are here.”

Xie Ling was silent. They really were a pair of ugly “things.”

Xie Ling said indifferently, “I will not see them.”

Xie Dong and Xie Xi froze for two seconds before realizing he meant he would not see the beauties. Their mouths hung open as they looked at him in confusion.

Even if the original host’s persona was so foolish that it required no effort to analyze, Xie Ling had no patience to play along. He stepped into the mansion, tossing back words as light as a breeze. “Send them back. Find a few boys instead. Shen Zhihui from Elder Shen’s family is not bad; bring him along as well.”

Xie Dong and Xie Xi’s expressions cracked. “What?!”

As the only son of the Tianye Sect Leader Xie Gou, even if the original host was laughably useless, no one dared to laugh to his face. At least, this was true in the Eastern Region of the Qianyin Ghost Domain.

There were currently four major powers in the Qianyin Ghost Domain. Zhou Ye, the master of Wuliang Mountain in the Northern Region, held the highest position as the Domain Master, controlling both the central Qianyin City and Wuliang Mountain.

Meanwhile, the three elders led by Xie Gou—Xie Gou of Tianye Sect, Shen Xiedu of Nanhai Palace, and Mo Xu of Mozhou—managed the East, South, and West regions respectively.

The Shen Zhihui mentioned by Xie Ling today was the future master of Nanhai Palace. This “future master” was currently an illegitimate son who could not be presented in public. Fortunately, the current Young Master of Nanhai Palace had more illegitimate brothers than dogs in his yard, so he never took him seriously. Generally speaking, Shen Zhihui’s situation was slightly better than that of the boy in the Guanlan Sect.

“Young Master,” the sound-transmitting jade at his waist vibrated. Xie Xi’s voice came through amidst a noisy commotion, sounding like something was struggling. “Shen Zhihui refuses to comply even unto death!”

Xie Ling smiled, the curl of his lips carrying a hint of genuine amusement. “Do not mind him. Just bring him back.”

On the other end, Xie Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Regarding the Family Head,”

Xie Ling repeated, “Bring him back.”

Xie Xi was speechless. It seemed their Young Master was determined to have this fierce beauty. He turned to look at Shen Zhihui, who was pressed against the wall and glaring at him. He signaled Xie Dong, who understood and quickly used a Demon-Binding Rope to tie Shen Zhihui up tightly.

Fifteen minutes later, Shen Zhihui was brought into the Young Master’s bedchamber in the Xie Mansion. He saw Xie Ling sitting on a high seat.

Xie Ling opened his mouth to bite the dried fruit offered by a maid and said to no one in particular, “Leave.”

Xie Dong and Xie Xi instinctively looked at the dust on Shen Zhihui’s back and hesitated. “Should we not wash him first?”

The anger Shen Zhihui had suppressed all the way exploded at these words. He glared at Xie Ling. “What do you want to do!”

Xie Ling did not answer. He repeated tonelessly, “Leave.”

Even as stupid as they were, Xie Dong and Xie Xi could see Xie Ling was annoyed by them. They shut their mouths and hurried out. Only the two of them remained in the hall, which became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

As time passed in silence, the anger on Shen Zhihui’s face faded, eventually turning into a panicked unease. After a long while, he bit his teeth and spoke first. “Xie Ling, no matter what, I am from Nanhai Palace.”

“Come up.” Xie Ling interrupted him, putting down his wine cup and beckoning with his hand.

Shen Zhihui’s face turned pale. The “glorious achievements” of this scoundrel playboy flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, and his back began to turn cold.

No one in the Qianyin Ghost Domain had a clean reputation. Even if they did, they would fabricate stories of blood-washing a certain sect to build their prestige. But Xie Ling was different. The scoundrelry was real, the lechery was real, and the achievements were even more undeniable. This man even dared to ask for the concubine of the Domain Master Zhou Ye; what would he not dare to do?

Shen Zhihui’s palms were cut by his own nails, bleeding and painful. His expression grew worse. Xie Ling grew impatient and finally frowned, glancing at him. “Shen Zhihui, come up.”

The words carried the weight of a command, but Shen Zhihui did not have time to think deeply. With lowered eyes, he walked toward Xie Ling step by step, weighing whether the consequences of submitting or taking the chance to knock the other man unconscious would be worse.

If he submitted, he would become the laughingstock of the entire Qianyin Ghost Domain after today. If he resisted, he would surely earn Xie Ling’s resentment, and Nanhai Palace would never offend the Tianye Sect for his sake.

“What are you thinking about?”

He had dragged a distance of a few dozen steps out for several minutes. The black and gold robes were piled haphazardly on the carpet. As he approached, they spread out following the change in the master’s posture.

Xie Ling’s cold fingertips tilted his chin up, adding fuel to the fire with a comment. “You are indeed good-looking.”

The face he was holding tensed up. Shen Zhihui forced a smile and looked up to meet Xie Ling’s eyes. But before he could speak, something unexpectedly pierced into his forehead.

A sharp pain, like burning fire, erupted in his soul. He could not support himself and fell to the ground, clutching his head. His body curled up like a shrimp dropped into boiling water.

Xie Ling watched this scene quietly until the person on the floor calmed down, panting. He leaned over slightly and reached out his hand toward Shen Zhihui. “Zhihui, it has been a long time.”

Strange, pale fingertips entered his vision. Shen Zhihui’s scattered gaze slowly focused. He looked up at Xie Ling blankly. Xie Ling tilted his eyes at him.

Shen Zhihui’s lips trembled and his chest heaved for a long time before he crawled on his knees to Xie Ling’s feet and bowed deeply. “Subordinate Shen Zhihui greets the Lord.”

Xie Ling helped him up steadily and said kindly, “Sit.”

Shen Zhihui naturally did not dare to sit. A trace of inexplicable emotion flashed in his eyes as he looked at Xie Ling’s current face in a daze. “Lord, how did you?”

Shen Zhihui still remembered the great siege of his past life. He had been trapped in a sea of blood and corpses, watching this man go to battle alone, only for news of his total destruction to arrive. From the day he decided to be loyal to this man, he had formed a soul contract with him. The soul contract linked life and death, as well as the existence of their souls. If the other died, he would also perish.

No, perhaps his soul had not perished. Otherwise, he and the Lord would not have reunited today.

Shen Zhihui looked at the young man before him, still finding it hard to believe that the dignified Domain Master and the Sovereign of the Demon Realm, Yin Huizhi, had become a wine-and-medicine-soaked playboy with terrible cultivation.

“In the future, call me Master in public and in private. You can also call me Young Master, but do not call me Lord anymore.” Xie Ling—or rather, Yin Huizhi—corrected him calmly.

Shen Zhihui had followed him for decades in his past life and knew him too well to think he was someone who obsessed over titles. He felt strange. “Why?”

Yin Huizhi leaned back against the couch, pointed to his head, and said calmly, “I am haunted by something filthy.”

Shen Zhihui was brilliant; he understood the meaning in an instant. His mind was thrown into chaos, but he forced himself to stay calm and stared at Yin Huizhi’s face without blinking.

“There is no need to look; you will not see anything,” Yin Huizhi said lazily. “I have sent it away for now. There is no need to panic.”

The tension in Shen Zhihui’s heart relaxed slightly, but he gritted his teeth secretly. What exactly happened after he died in his past life? Today’s reunion gave him an inexplicably strange feeling about Yin Huizhi.

Compared to before, the paranoia and madness in Yin Huizhi seemed to have faded significantly, but Shen Zhihui knew that was impossible. They had not truly disappeared; they were simply hidden in a deeper, darker place where even he could not see them.

“Why that expression?” Yin Huizhi asked half-seriously. “Are you regretting that the soul contract is still in effect?”

Shen Zhihui was stunned, then sighed helplessly. “How could that be? I could not ask for anything more.”

He was speaking of the soul contract, but also of their relationship as master and servant.

Yin Huizhi raised an eyebrow. “Selling two lifetimes of your life for one soul contract; do you not feel it is a loss?”

Even though he knew Yin Huizhi was saying it on purpose, Shen Zhihui felt a sense of urgency. “I do not!”

“Alright, I will stop teasing you,” Yin Huizhi said, his smile fading. “Do you know what year it is?”

Shen Zhihui looked around the ornate bedchamber, his gaze passing over the Xie family emblems. He said uncertainly, “The 45th year of Tianding?”

“No, it is the 27th year of Tianding,” Yin Huizhi corrected him. He opened his hand, revealing a dark red pill in his palm. “I have to stay in the Xie Mansion for the time being. After you go back, handle your affairs cleanly, but do not make too much noise.”

In the 27th year of Tianding, Shen Zhihui was still being cautious in Nanhai Palace, Zhou Ye was still the ruler of the Qianyin Ghost Domain, and it would be thirteen years before he was taken under Yin Huizhi’s command.

“Yes.” Shen Zhihui’s head throbbed from the shock of the timeline, but he instinctively obeyed and took the pill. After recognizing what it was, his eyes dimmed, yet he swallowed it in one gulp.

His throat moved slightly. Shen Zhihui remained silent for a long while before whispering something he would not have said in his previous life. “Even without this, I would not betray you.”

Yin Huizhi knew the power of the soul contract and did not doubt the truth of these words. He said, “You indeed would not, but it is hard to say for others.”

Shen Zhihui was slightly stunned. “Others?”

Yin Huizhi，”Zhihui, this world has its own ‘Yin Huizhi.’ I am merely an outsider.”

Shen Zhihui understood something. His heart sank, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

“And the same goes for you.” Yin Huizhi looked at him, confirming his suspicion. “I trust you, but I do not trust him.”

“Him” referred to the true Shen Zhihui who originally possessed this body, not the lonely soul from a past life who had already died once.

The Yin Huizhi of the previous life was an expert in soul control; his understanding of the subject was unmatched. Shen Zhihui knew what Yin Huizhi said could not be false. He took a light breath and asked, “Is he still within this shell of mine?”

“Yes, I used a method to put him into a deep sleep,” Yin Huizhi said.

“Then you,” Shen Zhihui frowned tightly, hesitating to speak. As the saying goes, one mountain cannot hold two tigers. Shen Zhihui did not think Yin Huizhi would tolerate the seventeen-year-old version of himself.

“The one I have,” Yin Huizhi smiled. His tone was light, as if mentioning a toy that could be broken at any time. “He still has some use.”