I Failed to Fake My Death After Scumming the Demon Lord [Transmigration] - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Qin Gu carefully recalled the two times he had entered the mist: the first time, he felt he had only just stepped in, yet Ji Yun said an hour had passed; the second time, the moonlight was bright when the mist rose, but the sun was blazing high when it dispersed.

There was no doubt about it: when immersed in the mist, one unknowingly loses all sense of time.

As for that crow…

Qin Gu’s brows furrowed deeply: When did the crow appear? And how long had it been monitoring them?

If the crow had been watching them all along, why didn’t it raise an alarm when they entered the mist? But if it hadn’t, could such a coincidence truly exist in this world—a coincidence so perfect that not a single second was off?

Sheathing his sword, Qin Gu said: “I am sorry… let us go to the city and inquire first.”

The one he was apologizing to was, of course, not Ji Yun, but the man whose life likely hung by a thread.

Ji Yun understood his meaning immediately: “Senior Brother need not blame yourself.”

This formulaic comfort was somewhat effective. Qin Gu smiled and walked out of the bamboo forest along the path they had come. Ji Yun watched his retreating figure, following after a moment. The shadows of the bamboo leaves swept across his eyelids, murky and unreadable.

—Qin Gu was born into a family of cultivation elites. In his eyes, the difference between mortals and cultivators was no different than that between humans and beasts. A cultivator who prioritized bloodlines above all else like this, after losing his memory, had actually drawn his sword to save a mortal.

Returning to the city, there were many pedestrians on the street, and peddlers were setting up their stalls and shouting. The rumors of the monster’s appearance seemed to have failed to affect the people of Lin’an. However, this facade of peace was actually built entirely upon Qin Gu’s three-day promise.

Qin Gu looked deeply at the hustle and bustle of human life when someone suddenly called out to him: “Young Alliance Leader!”

Looking toward the source of the voice, he saw Qingli standing with a man and a woman, waving at him. Taking a closer look, the couple was none other than the pair from the alley the night before.

Qin Gu walked over and asked casually: “How is your daughter?”

Before he could even reach them, the couple fell straight to their knees before him. Qin Gu was startled, a rare moment of helplessness appearing on his face as he hurriedly helped them up.

As they stood, the man said excitedly: “Thank you, Immortal Lord, for saving her life! The Immortal Lord may not know, but my wife and I are over forty and only have this one daughter. If she had really been taken by the monster, how would I have gone on living…”

The man’s surname was Li, and he referred to himself as Old Man Li. After standing up, Old Man Li bowed repeatedly toward Qin Gu: “We heard that you Immortal Lords were tracking down the monster, so we thought that if there was anything we could do to help, we would wait here for your return.”

Judging by his words, they had actually been waiting from last night until now, failing to catch Qin Gu and Ji Yun, but meeting Qingli, who had been out searching for them.

Qin Gu was deeply moved and very fortunate: “You exaggerate, this is what we should do. However, there is indeed one thing I would like to ask of you.”

He weighed his words: “Do you know about that bamboo forest outside the city…”

Before he could finish, Old Man Li’s expression changed. He exchanged a glance with his wife: “Could it be… that this monster is really…”

Qin Gu’s eyelids twitched, waiting for what he would say next.

Old Man Li let out a sigh and said in a rough voice: “She was also a pitiful soul. I heard she came from the south, looking for her lover… but that man had already found a new love and wanted to pay her off with money. The woman had a fiery temperament, she wouldn’t take a single cent and left without looking back.”

The people of Lin’an City assumed the matter was settled, but unexpectedly, a few days later, they discovered that the woman had hanged herself in the bamboo forest.

And the heartless man in this story was, naturally, Merchant Jia.

Qin Gu nodded. Everything Old Man Li said matched Chan Niang’s behavior in the bamboo forest, with one exception—

Hanged herself?

Recalling the Soul-Locking Array in Merchant Jia’s mansion, Qin Gu didn’t believe for a second that this was a suicide.

Old Man Li reached into his pocket and stuffed a few eggs into Qin Gu’s hands before leaving with endless thanks. Qin Gu treated the eggs like treasure, storing them away: “Let’s go, let us make another trip to the Jia mansion.”

The three of them visited the Jia mansion again. This time, there was no advance notice. When the steward opened the door, his expression was clearly flustered, yet after hesitating for a moment, he opened the door to welcome them.

After waiting for a long while, Merchant Jia came running over in a hurry, his clothes disheveled and his belt sagging, not even having had time to fasten it properly.

Qin Gu narrowed his eyes and smiled: “Are we interrupting the Master’s good time?”

Facing the incoming sarcasm and mockery, Merchant Jia could only laugh dryly: “The Immortal Lord is joking. Oh my, what could I possibly… Why are you Immortal Lords looking for this commoner? Didn’t you say it was already settled?”

His address for them had shifted from “Excellency” to “Immortal Lord,” showing he had been keeping a close watch on them. Qin Gu did not expose him, his smooth fingertips rubbing the edge of his teacup.

“Naturally, it concerns the matter of Chan Niang,” the jade-white porcelain reflected Qin Gu’s upright brows and eyes, “We have investigated, and that Chan Niang…”

Qin Gu turned to look at Merchant Jia. Seeing the latter’s face full of nervous tension, he smiled: “She was filled with great resentment when she took her own life, causing chaos in the human world. It is truly abominable. It must be eradicated as soon as possible.”

The fat on Merchant Jia’s face trembled. He even forgot to control his facial expression, visibly relaxing. As he cupped his hands in a bow, he looked like a round ball: “The Immortal Lord protects the human world. Jia is incredibly grateful!”

As he was flattering them, a teacup was thrust right under his nose. Qin Gu’s smiling voice came from above: “You have been talking for so long. Trouble yourself to pour me another cup of tea, Master.”

Merchant Jia was stunned: Had they been talking for a long time? But he was so overjoyed that he immediately took the teacup and looked up: “Yes, yes, I will—”

His words came to an abrupt halt. Merchant Jia stared blankly at the smiling Qin Gu.

The maple leaf on the young man’s brow seemed to come alive. He felt as if he were standing in a vast, boundless forest of maple trees, and the master of this maple forest was like a god who pitied the world—sacred, yet beautiful in such a bewitching way.

“Master?”

The gentle voice brought Merchant Jia back to his senses. He was shocked to realize he had been lost in thought while looking at a man, so he hurriedly gave a fawning laugh: “I will go and prepare it for you right away.”

However, when he returned with the tea, the figures of the few were already gone from their seats.

The steward said: “The Immortal Lord said they received an urgent letter and left in a hurry. Master, should we call that…”

Merchant Jia slammed the teacup down on the table and shook his head: “Call for what? Didn’t you hear the leader? Ha ha, that stinking woman will soon have her soul scattered to the winds. I am finally free!”

Merchant Jia’s words reached the ears of the three clearly.

Qingli spat: “Pah, he truly isn’t human. But Young Alliance Leader, you just now…”

A cultivator who has reached the Void Refinement stage can use spiritual energy to build their own unique domain. The maple forest just now was the scene of Qin Gu’s domain. It was just that Qingli and Ji Yun were close to Qin Gu in cultivation level, and they were not his intended targets, so they were not affected.

Pulling others into one’s domain consumes a great deal of mental energy. Qingli was truly curious why Qin Gu would go to such great lengths.

Qin Gu’s porcelain-white fingers slowly peeled an egg, closing his eyes to recall the scene he had seen from Merchant Jia’s memory: The lightless bamboo forest, the struggling woman finally losing her life, the perspective shifting—a pair of blood-red eyes stared at him, and shadows seemed to ripple in the darkness.

Chan Niang had died at the hands of Merchant Jia, and beside Merchant Jia, that pair of dim, blurred bird eyes—

Qin Gu suddenly raised his hand. The eggshell flew out in an instant, emitting a clear sound as it broke the air, flying straight toward the eaves of a house.

With a “pfft” sound, something fell. It was a pitch-black crow.

Qingli used the toe of his boot to nudge the crow’s corpse: “No wonder I had a feeling of being watched since we left the Jia mansion.”

Yes, this sense of being watched was like a shadow, making one’s skin crawl, but…

Qin Gu and Ji Yun exchanged a glance, seeing the same gravity on each other’s faces. The crow in the mist had not been detected by them at all until it flapped its wings and flew away.

Clearly, the ins and outs of the Lady of Double Happiness incident had become gradually clearer, but the situation had become even more baffling.

The oblivious Qingli was still muttering: “Young Alliance Leader, how long have you been practicing that move? The techniques of Qingsong Temple lack enough lethality. Can you teach me?”

Qin Gu placed the peeled egg into his palm, smiled, and patted his shoulder: “Use your heart to comprehend it.”

Then he said: “I must borrow the Qingsong Temple’s Water Mirror.”

A moment later, Qin Gu stood inside Qingsong Temple, a prism-shaped mirror floating before him. This prism was as flat as the surface of water. It was the Water Mirror kept by the heads of each sect. Unlike paper cranes, the Water Mirror could communicate directly with the Immortal Alliance without being restricted by time or distance.

The only requirement to use the Water Mirror was—Demonic Qi.

His fingertips lightly touched the mirror surface. The calm surface began to fluctuate, rippling in waves. Soon, a phantom of a woman appeared in the ripples.

Qin Gu swallowed nervously: “…”

This woman was none other than the Alliance Leader of the Immortal Alliance, Qin Gu’s biological mother, Qin Lulian.

While he hesitated, Qin Lulian’s image had already become clear. Her peach-blossom eyes, identical to Qin Gu’s, looked over: “Juan Zhi?”

Juan Zhi was Qin Gu’s courtesy name— to care for (Juan Gu), the caring intent (Juan Zhi), this was the meaning.

Seeing that he did not speak, Qin Lulian said: “I am already aware of the matter at Qingsong Temple. Speak, what trouble have you encountered?”

Qin Gu quietly let out a sigh of relief. In his past life, he was a lonely orphan. He had no idea how to face Qin Lulian. Seeing this, Qin Lulian was clearly in a professional, business-like state of mind, so he adopted a serious tone: “A demonic cultivator has appeared in Lin’an City. This person’s magic power is profound, higher than mine.”

He picked out the key points of the investigation since descending the mountain and informed her. When he spoke of the demonic cultivator using a crow for surveillance, Qin Lulian’s complexion darkened.

“This time, the boundary of the Immortal Ship was damaged. Several demonic cultivators fled during the chaos. The rest have all been captured. Only one remains,” Qin Lulian’s expression turned cold. “Yan Baishu. His story is a long one, it is not convenient to discuss in detail. You only need to remember…”

Qin Lulian’s gaze swept over them: “If you encounter this person, do not engage him in direct conflict.”

The group of youths gathered were all the best of the younger generation, and they couldn’t help but freeze upon hearing this.

The others were shocked because Qin Lulian, who had a deep-seated hatred for demonic cultivators, would actually ask them to avoid fighting, even at the cost of running away for self-preservation.

But Qin Gu was shocked because—

The name Yan Baishu did not have much ink spilled about it in the original book. As Ji Yun’s capable assistant in the later stages, every time he made a move, it was always a bloodbath. Even now, if ten Qin Gus were added together, they would likely not be his match.

This person also had one achievement that could not be overlooked.

If the Qin Gu of the original book was the culprit who made Ji Yun lose all faith in the cultivation world, then Yan Baishu was the one who handed the dagger of revenge into Ji Yun’s hands.

The credit for Ji Yun’s fall into the demonic path was half due to Qin Gu and half due to Yan Baishu.

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