After My Death, the Immortal Venerable Became a Demon for My Sake - Chapter 6

On a mountain path a few miles away from the ruined temple, two Xiyi Sect disciples were hiking upward, chatting idly to pass the time.

“Tell me, why does the Sect Leader want us to drag that runaway trash back anyway? She’s been cultivating for ten years and is still just a Foundation Building failure. What use could she possibly be? And why do we, Nascent Soul cultivators, have to be the ones looking for her?” one disciple grumbled, snapping a branch in his hand with a look of pure irritation.

“Who knows? Maybe Immortal Zongyue is just a doting master. We’re just disciples; we do as we’re told.”

“Hah! Zongyue took his inner disciples to search the nearby towns while he dumped us in these godforsaken mountains. Some ‘doting master’ he is. Hey, are you sure you saw smoke coming from this direction earlier? It was so dark then, maybe your eyes played tricks on you?” Fei Xiao threw the broken branch to the ground and stomped on it, his resentment clear. “We’ve been scouring this place for days! That Song Wangxiao is a rat she’s too good at hiding. When I finally find her, I’m going to show her exactly what I think of this.”

His companion, Yin Yuan, gave him a placating pat on the shoulder. “I’m positive I saw it. It was right around here. Hey look! There’s a temple!”

He pointed toward a spot at the base of the ridge. Having climbed quite high, they could now look down and see the weathered eaves of a temple tucked away within the dense forest.

“That’s it! Let’s move!” Yin Yuan said excitedly. The ground in front of the temple was clean, free of fallen leaves and debris. Someone was definitely there. Catching her meant he could finally claim the credit.

“Wait, slow down! She’s not going anywhere,” Fei Xiao wheezed from behind. “Let’s go a bit slower; I’m out of breath.”

Yin Yuan paused, his expression flickering with impatience, before turning back to help his partner. “Fine, fine. Let’s go!”

Just as they prepared to take a shortcut down the slope, Fei Xiao felt a sudden, violent chill wash over his back. He spun around, but the path behind them was empty.

“Hey… did you feel that? Like a cold draft on your back?” he asked.

Yin Yuan, who was currently dragging him along by his robes, looked annoyed. “What chill? It’s probably just the wind hitting your sweat. Stop stalling.”

Fei Xiao glanced back one more time, still seeing nothing. Shaking off the unease, he assumed it was just his imagination. The two men quickened their pace and headed down. Behind them, a white-robed figure slowly shimmered into existence. From the figure’s hand, an invisible, gossamer thread extended forward, snaking through the air until it hovered just inches away from the throat of the burly cultivator ahead.

Yin Yuan and Fei Xiao hurried down the mountainside. By the time they reached the halfway point, Fei Xiao was gasping for air. He looked at Yin Yuan ahead of him and yelled, “Slow the hell down! Are you racing to your own funeral? Can’t you see I can’t keep up!”

Yin Yuan stopped and licked the inside of his cheek, a sharp, ruthless glint in his eyes that he quickly masked with a fake smile as he turned around. But the smile died before it reached his lips. He stared past Fei Xiao, his face turning ashen.

Sensing the change, Fei Xiao turned his head and nearly jumped out of his skin. A woman in white was standing right behind them. He hadn’t heard a single footstep.

“Who are you?” He scrambled back to Yin Yuan’s side, drawing his weapon.

“Who are you?” the woman asked. She didn’t answer his question, her gaze merely sweeping over them with cold indifference.

Fei Xiao felt a surge of wounded pride. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator; back at the sect, disciples bowed and called him “Senior” with trembling respect. Who did this woman think she was? He cracked his neck, preparing to teach her a lesson, but Yin Yuan caught his arm.

“What are you doing?” Fei Xiao snapped.

Yin Yuan was staring at the woman’s clothes, his eyes wide with excitement. “Her robes… that’s a tailoring style unique to the town at the foot of Xiyi Mountain. But we’re a hundred miles away from the sect.” He looked at Fei Xiao, and they both instantly recalled the Sect Leader’s parting warning: “Song Wangxiao is being aided by a master.”

“Ha! So I really did find her!” Fei Xiao drew his weapon. He and Yin Yuan moved in sync, flanking the mysterious woman.

“Let’s see just how ‘masterful’ you really are,” Fei Xiao sneered. To him, Song Wangxiao was a loser who hadn’t left the mountain in a decade. Any ‘master’ she could scrounge up wouldn’t be higher than the Nascent Soul stage themselves. Two against one? Those were winning odds.

In contrast to their posturing, the woman remained unnervingly still. She simply watched them, as if they were nothing more than a noisy nuisance.

“You’re a pretty one,” Fei Xiao leered, emboldened by her silence. “Surrender now, and your Big Brother Fei might just find it in his heart to let you live for your face’s sake.”

The woman’s expression remained a mask of frost.

“Fine! Don’t blame me for not being a gentleman!” Enraged, Fei Xiao lunged at her with his blade. Simultaneously, Yin Yuan thrust his life-bound sword toward her back with lethal intent.

In the blink of an eye, the woman vanished. Both men struck empty air. Before they could even process her disappearance, Yin Yuan felt a sudden, agonizing pressure in his arm. It felt as if his bones were being ground into powder by an invisible hand. He screamed, dropping to his knees as his sword fell to the ground with a sharp clang.

“Die!” Fei Xiao roared, swinging wildly at the woman where she had reappeared. She shifted slightly, dodging with effortless grace.

Then, the sword Yin Yuan had dropped suddenly rose into the air as if possessed. It hovered protectively in front of the woman, parrying every one of Fei Xiao’s desperate strikes.

Yin Yuan watched in horror as his own sword fought his partner while the woman simply stood back, a detached spectator. He realized with a jolt of terror that her cultivation was on a level he couldn’t even fathom. She was controlling his weapon with sheer mental strength.

In that moment of distraction, the floating sword found an opening. It lunged.

Yin Yuan’s heart leaped into his throat. In a blind panic, he reached out and grabbed the person nearest to him, yanking them in front of him as a shield.

Squelch.

The sound of steel piercing flesh echoed through the woods. Yin Yuan panted, his hands trembling as he felt his own body for wounds. Finding none, he let out a frantic, hysterical breath of relief. Then he looked to his side and froze.

Time seemed to stop. Fei Xiao stood there, skewered through the chest by Yin Yuan’s sword. Blood dripped from the tip of the blade protruding from his back. He slowly turned his head toward Yin Yuan, his eyes wide with shock and betrayal. His lips moved, but only a torrent of blood spilled out.

Yin Yuan recoiled. Fei Xiao collapsed, his dying eyes still fixed on his “partner.”

Yin Yuan glanced at the woman. She wasn’t even looking at them; she seemed lost in thought.

Now! While she’s distracted!

He bolted down the mountain toward the temple. This woman was a monster she hadn’t even used a technique or touched them, yet she had effortlessly slaughtered a Nascent Soul cultivator. He was no match for her. Fei Xiao, you didn’t die for nothing, he thought frantically. Once I get the reward for catching the girl, I’ll make sure you get a mention!

The woman stood still, watching the scrawny man flee toward the temple. She cast a brief, cold glance at the corpse on the ground before vanishing into the shadows.

Yin Yuan ran toward the base of the mountain. The temple was only a few miles away. He pushed his spiritual energy to the limit, his mind filled with the desperate hope of survival.

But then he noticed something strange. He felt like he had passed the same stretch of road multiple times. He slowed down, his brow furrowed and then he saw the body on the side of the road.

“Fei… Fei Xiao?”

His legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed onto the dirt. The silent corpse of his partner was lying right in front of him. But then, it began to move. It stood up in a grotesque, jerky motion, as if its bones were being snapped and reset by invisible hands.

The sword was still buried in its chest, and blood continued to pour from the gaping hole a hole so large Yin Yuan could see the trees on the other side through the ribcage.

Fei Xiao took a step forward, his bones popping with every movement. He lifted his head, his face a mask of gore. His mouth opened, stretching far beyond human limits until it looked like it could swallow a man whole. Blood wept from his bulging eyes.

“Yin Yuan…” the corpse rasped. “Why did you kill me?”

Back at the clearing, Song Wangxiao tucked the gathered fruit into her storage ring and prepared to head back to the temple with the game she’d caught. When she turned around, she found Jiang Cishuang already standing behind her.

“Yinxiao? What are you doing out here?” she asked, holding up a struggling wild rabbit. There was a touch of genuine cheer in her voice; the awkwardness from her earlier sword practice had evaporated.

Jiang Cishuang looked at the rabbit and smiled softly. “That’s a very plump rabbit. Can you finish all that by yourself?”

Song Wangxiao laughed. “If I can’t, there’s always leftovers for tomorrow. Do you… want some?”

She asked out of habit, though she had never seen Jiang Cishuang eat anything. At most, the woman drank water as if it were tea.

“May I?” Jiang Cishuang’s response was unexpected.

Song Wangxiao stumbled over her next step, then beamed. “Of course!”

She felt that Jiang Cishuang was in a particularly good mood today, and it was infectious.

As they walked out of the forest, chatting idly, a sudden whoosh echoed from the distance. They both looked up to see a massive flock of birds startled into flight from the distant mountain ridges.

“What was that? Did they find us?” Song Wangxiao asked, her hand flying to her sword.

A moment later, she felt a warm touch on her shoulder. She turned to find Jiang Cishuang’s hand resting there, a grounding weight.

“I’ve checked the area,” Jiang Cishuang said calmly. “Aside from the two of us, there are no other cultivators nearby.”

Song Wangxiao’s focus was entirely stolen by the hand on her shoulder. She nodded dumbly. “Oh. Okay.”

“But we shouldn’t stay here forever,” Jiang Cishuang continued. “The Great Sect Assembly is only half a month away. We should prepare to leave.”

Song Wangxiao seemed to think of something, and a small smile played on her lips. “But before we do that, there’s one more thing we need to take care of.”

Support