After Redeeming the Villain, I Was Obliterated by the System - Chapter 18

Zhu Jiayu, being simple-minded and quick to speak, blurted out as soon as he heard Lin Sui’s question, “Junior Brother Lin, you did not enter the dreamscape?”

Lin Sui tipped his head in a nod. After a moment, he spoke again, his voice sounding uncertain. “Perhaps, maybe I did enter? It is just that my eyes could not see.”

His tone was incredibly lonely. As he mentioned his blindness, his head dropped, and his long eyelashes trembled, masking the emotions in his eyes. Those present could still feel Lin Sui’s profound sorrow.

Zhu Jiayu slapped his own forehead in a moment of realization. “No wonder you did not enter the dreamscape, Junior Brother Lin! The master of this dreamscape shows us scenes from the past. Since you cannot see, he simply did not bother dragging you in.”

“That is true. It must be because your eyes cannot see that you were spared. It is actually for the best that you did not enter,” Feng Feibai added. It was rare for him not to mock Lin Sui for being useless. After speaking, his gaze lingered on Xiao Qingyan, looking thoughtful. “The three of us were separated once we were pulled in. If you had entered alone and blind, you would have been in great danger no matter what you encountered.”

Lin Sui lowered his head even further, his fingers tightly gripping the hem of his robe to suppress the urge to hit Feng Feibai. Although the man was no longer calling him a waste, repeating “cannot see” three times in a row was basically shouting that he was a burden.

He bit his lip, raising his head with tearful eyes. “I am sorry, Senior Brother Feng. I have held everyone back.”

“No, no, not at all, Junior Brother Lin! This is my fault. I did not consider how difficult this mission would be. It is my mistake,” Zhu Jiayu said. After leaving the dreamscape, his heart was filled with self-reproach. At the time, he was only focused on gathering enough people to earn mission points; he had completely forgotten that Junior Brother Lin was blind.

Lin Sui shook his head. “I do not blame you, Senior Brother Zhu. You only asked if I wanted to come. It was my own lack of foresight. As a blind man, I am truly useless.”

The four people in the courtyard were all lost in their own thoughts.

The courtyard door creaked open again. The peach blossoms on the ground took flight without any wind as someone stepped into the yard. Peach blossoms swarmed toward the figure like a tide, but the man seemed not to see them. A disciple followed closely behind him.

Dressed in blue-green Taoist robes with peach-wood swords at their waists, the leader complained. “Master is truly something. We are not constables; why must we investigate the culprit behind the scholar’s family massacre? There are only three bodies for a family of four. Is it not obvious that the scholar is the killer?”

“Senior Brother, I am scared. Could it really be a peach demon killing people and then eating the scholar?” The youngest disciple tightly clutched his peach-wood sword. His hands and chest were covered in talismans.

As peach blossoms drifted onto the orange-yellow talismans, the incantations shimmered with light. The blossoms instantly turned into pink points of light, sticking to the disciple’s robes.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Master came down the mountain last year and learned that the peach tree in the scholar’s yard had become a spirit. He killed the peach demon long ago.” His gaze fell on the peach-wood sword in the young disciple’s arms. “That sword you are holding was made from the trunk of that very peach tree!”

“Ah!” The young disciple nearly dropped the sword. “Senior Brother, do not lie to me!”

“Why would I lie? A sword made from a peach tree that became a spirit is no ordinary weapon. It possesses innate magic. Unless the opponent is a powerful old monster, they would not dare get close.”

“That, that is too cruel. A peach tree practices for a hundred years to take human form, only to be turned into a sword. Does she not feel pain?” A look of pity crossed the young disciple’s face as he gently stroked the hilt of the sword.

“What do you know? This peach demon was a monster. If we did not kill her, should we have left her to wreak havoc on the world?”

The young disciple frowned and asked, “But Senior Brother, the peach demon did nothing wrong! She only fell in love with the scholar and married him. In two months, she was going to be a mother, and the scholar would have been a father.”

“Junior Brother, what is wrong with you today?”

The young disciple hugged the peach-wood sword even tighter, shaking his head. “I am fine, Senior Brother. I just, I just want to take revenge for my unborn child!”

The young disciple’s face became twisted and hideous. A peach blossom sprouted from his mouth, and more blossoms rapidly climbed upward. Tree branches burst through his deer-like, misty eyes. Two thick branches erupted from the ground beneath him, tightly entwining his legs.

A painful whimper escaped the disciple’s throat as a branch the thickness of an arm impaled his chest. A heart continued to beat within a hand made of twisted branches.

Two screams rang out simultaneously. The disciple in the blue-green robes scrambled on all fours, trying to crawl out of the courtyard. Zhu Jiayu’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.

“Junior Brother Zhu!” Feng Feibai caught him. After checking with spiritual power and finding he was merely scared unconscious, he felt relieved.

Lin Sui heard nothing else and could not help but ask, “What happened? Senior Brothers, what did you see?”

“We saw the peach demon killing someone,” Xiao Qingyan said. He did not provide details, giving only a general overview.

“Ah!” Lin Sui gasped, covering his mouth. “But I just heard that disciple say the peach demon did nothing wrong. Instead, it was their master who cruelly murdered her. Could it really be the scholar, as that disciple suggested?”

Lin Sui felt that the scholar was definitely the key problem, but the system provided no hints. Furthermore, the peach demon was not dead; she had been hiding in this courtyard, seemingly waiting for someone to arrive.

“Little Taoist, was I wrong? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?” A soft, feminine voice rang out. A woman in a pink dress, holding a fresh, red heart, walked step by step toward the disciple who was pounding on the courtyard door.

“Little Taoist, what could I have done wrong? Why must you all be so relentless?” The peach demon stopped beside the disciple, insisting on an answer. Or perhaps she did not need him to answer at all. She forced his mouth open and shoved the heart inside.

The disciple’s eyes bulged in terror, his pupils shaking violently. His cheeks were stuffed full, and his lips could not close. Having just woken up, Zhu Jiayu fainted again.

Feng Feibai gave up on trying to wake him with spiritual power and let him lie face-down on the stone table. He then said, “Senior Brother Xiao, it is time for us to act.”

Xiao Qingyan stood up, his natal sword appearing in his palm. He and Feng Feibai each grabbed a peach blossom and entered the dreamscape before them. Lin Sui quickly grabbed the hem of Xiao Qingyan’s robe. A powerful suction pulled him along, and suddenly, his eyes could see again.

The dreamscape vanished the moment they entered, transforming into a wall of peach blossoms. Feng Feibai and Xiao Qingyan, who had been in front of him, were swallowed by the wall. Lin Sui chased after them, but the wall instantly disintegrated into a shower of blossoms. There was no longer any sign of Xiao Qingyan.