After Redeeming the Villain, I Was Obliterated by the System - Chapter 20

Lin Sui turned his head. The silver-white spiritual energy transformed into ropes that coiled around the branches, and in the next instant, they turned into ice blades that pierced through the wood.

The Peach Demon clearly had not expected her former ally to betray her. Her expression soured as she abandoned that branch and allowed a new one to grow in its place.

Lin Sui forcibly broke the seal Su Zhanyun had placed on him, allowing his cultivation at the Transformation Stage to return. Simultaneously, the restless cold poison surged through his limbs like a rising tide. Even his sword was covered in a thin layer of frost. He only wanted to slay this lying Peach Demon now. When had he ever cooperated with such a creature?

A powerful wave of sword energy surged toward the Peach Demon’s life vein. Sensing the aura of death, the Peach Demon gathered all her branches together to form a shield, but the wood had already been frozen solid. She could only watch helplessly as she took the fatal blow.

Lin Sui’s spiritual energy was depleted at that exact moment. Deprived of his strength, he fell from midair and vanished from Xiao Qingyan’s sight the second he hit the ground. The barrier imprisoning Xiao Qingyan shattered simultaneously.

Severely wounded, the Peach Demon escaped by burrowing into the earth. Xiao Qingyan tracked the scent of her blood and entered another illusion. This time, the scholar blocked his path. Xiao Qingyan stopped hiding his true strength. He broke through the Foundation Building stage in a single step, and his Golden Core cultivation allowed him to kill the scholar instantly. The scholar’s body collapsed, shattering into a pile of peach blossoms.

The Peach Demon’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. Ignoring her bleeding, mangled body, she used the blossoms to reconstruct the scholar’s form. Xiao Qingyan saw a soul missing its limbs being stuffed into the newly formed body.

“Husband! Quickly, capture him for me!” the Peach Demon shouted before vanishing.

Xiao Qingyan used his spiritual energy to disperse the reconstructed figure once more. When he tried to track the Peach Demon again, her aura had completely disappeared. He did not linger and broke through the illusion to return to the real courtyard.

“Wah, wah, wah! Senior Brother Xiao, you finally came out! Everyone was gone when I woke up. Oh, oh, oh!” Zhu Jiayu was sobbing, large tears rolling down his pale face. He had clearly been crying for a long time.

“Where is Junior Brother Lin?” Xiao Qingyan’s first words were about Lin Sui. He was not worried about Feng Feibai; since Feng Feibai was at the Foundation Building stage, he could protect himself. Lin Sui was different. He was blind and had not even reached the Qi Refining stage. If he entered an illusion, it would mean certain death.

“I do not know. Everyone was gone when I woke up. I thought I was in another illusion, so I tried to see if I could walk out of the courtyard. It actually worked. Then I was worried you would not be able to find me when you came out, so I came back.”

Zhu Jiayu was terrified. He had been overjoyed to find himself out of the illusion and able to leave the courtyard. He had run blindly toward the main street before realizing his brothers were still trapped. He could only return and sit there until dark, but no one had appeared.

“Then why did you not wait at the inn?” Xiao Qingyan asked.

Zhu Jiayu replied, “I was afraid you would not see me when you came out.”

Xiao Qingyan looked at Zhu Jiayu as if he were a fool and said, “Do you not have a disciple plate?”

Zhu Jiayu’s mouth dropped open. “Oh! I completely forgot!”

Thinking of the two people still trapped, Xiao Qingyan instructed, “Go find an inn and check in. I will go look for Junior Brother Lin and the others.”

Zhu Jiayu nodded vigorously but did not move. He tugged at Xiao Qingyan’s sleeve and asked, “Senior Brother Xiao, can you walk me there?”

Xiao Qingyan was anxious to find Lin Sui, but seeing Zhu Jiayu’s tear-stained face, he reasoned the chances of the Peach Demon encountering Lin Sui were only half. Besides, they had the disciple plates. If Lin Sui were in danger, he would surely make contact.

“Let us go.”

“Okay! Senior Brother Xiao, you only need to take me to the end of the alley. Junior Brother Lin is still in the illusion, and I am afraid he might be in danger,” Zhu Jiayu added worriedly.

“It is fine,” Xiao Qingyan said. He grabbed Zhu Jiayu and arrived at the inn entrance in an instant. Zhu Jiayu’s head was spinning. By the time he recovered, he was looking at the inn door. He straightened his messy collar and walked inside.

When Xiao Qingyan returned to the scholar’s house, he slashed the peach tree in the courtyard with his sword. There was no peach tree there; there was only a large, excavated hole. If he were not there, where could he be? Xiao Qingyan began hacking wildly around the courtyard in frustration.

The Peach Demon’s flirtatious voice drifted through the air. “Oh, young master, why the sudden rage? Do not destroy my home! If you ruin it, I will have nowhere to go!”

Xiao Qingyan turned and swung his sword toward the source of the voice. However, when he saw the person in the Peach Demon’s grasp, he diverted the blade.

“Junior Brother Lin!”

Lin Sui’s shoulder blades had been pierced by branches. His head hung weakly, and his light blue disciple robe had turned a dark, soaked blue.

“Oh, do not be so excited. Young master, you destroyed my husband’s body, so I merely poked two holes in your junior brother. For you cultivators, can these two holes not be fixed with a bit of spiritual energy?”

As the Peach Demon spoke, the branches inside Lin Sui’s body shifted, and peach blossoms began to bloom from near his head.

“Ungh,” Lin Sui’s slender waist trembled from the pain. Tears flowed from his eyes, and his lips were dark red and parched.

“He Qin! Give my junior brother back!” Xiao Qingyan roared, pointing his sword at the demon.

“Fine. I will give him back if you give me your heart in exchange,” the Peach Demon said, staring intently at the beating heart in Xiao Qingyan’s chest.

Xiao Qingyan gripped his sword hilt so tightly that the blade began to vibrate with his emotions. Lin Sui’s fingers spasmed with pain. The moment he had returned to this body, he had run into the wounded Peach Demon. Two branches had pierced his shoulder blades before he could react. He was on the verge of fainting.

“A natural spiritual body! It is actually a natural spiritual body! Those old fossils at the Sanqing Sect actually let a natural spiritual body with no spiritual energy come down the mountain?”

The Peach Demon’s voice was excited, but Lin Sui could not focus on the meaning of her words. It was too painful. Why did he have to go through this?

[Countdown to blocking damage for the villain in place of his White Moonlight.]

The system prompt helped Lin Sui regain consciousness. His fingers moved slightly, and a talisman appeared in his palm. Just as Xiao Qingyan’s sword was about to pierce his own heart, Lin Sui ignited the talisman. The branches were violently pulled from his body. He screamed in pain, “Senior Brother Xiao, do not do it!”

Xiao Qingyan had only just cut a small opening in his chest when he saw Lin Sui ignite a talisman and teleport from the Peach Demon’s side to his own.

“Senior Brother Xiao, do not, do not listen to the Peach Demon.” Lin Sui’s voice was trembling so much that Xiao Qingyan had to listen very closely to understand him.

Xiao Qingyan hurriedly used his spiritual energy to stop Lin Sui’s bleeding and produced a medicinal pill for him. The pill dissolved instantly, but it was so bitter that Lin Sui’s tongue spasmed. Why was Xiao Qingyan’s medicine even more bitter than the ones his Eldest Senior Brother gave him? It was so bitter that he would have preferred the pain!

Lin Sui’s eyes filled with tears from the bitterness, and he grabbed Xiao Qingyan’s sleeve as the man turned to leave. “Senior Brother, it is so bitter. Do you have any candy?”