I Failed to Fake My Death After Scumming the Demon Lord [Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The extremely pale young man before them was none other than the demonic cultivator, Yan Baishu.

Qin Gu gritted his teeth in secret: Just my luck. Whatever I feared most is exactly what happened.

He did not know when Yan Baishu had made his move, but he was certain that before they had even entered the bamboo forest, Yan Baishu had already disguised himself as Qing Li.

The reason he had discovered it was because, back at Qingsong Temple, he had quietly released a wisp of spiritual aura, attaching it to the robes of both Ji Yun and Qing Li.

If Yan Baishu had been paying attention, with his strength, it would have been impossible for him not to notice Qin Gu’s petty move. But the original story mentioned that Yan Baishu was only interested in the strong; to him, the cultivation levels of Qin Gu and the others were no different from ants.

Under such a disparity in power, Qin Gu had gambled that he wouldn’t pay excessive attention to trivial details.

The facts proved him right. Upon realizing he had been outmaneuvered, Yan Baishu’s gaze, filled with intrigued interest, landed on Qin Gu’s face.

After a long while, he commented: “You look so much like your father, except for those eyes—they remind me of your mother.”

Qin Gu frowned, not understanding the intent behind his words, and dared not relax for even a second.

“I don’t like your mother,” Yan Baishu said. “Why don’t you give me those eyes? I’ll spare your lives—how about it?”

As the words fell, his murderous intent surged!

A vast amount of internal energy drove demonic aura to strike at the two of them. The range was so wide that the surrounding bamboo forest was uprooted entirely.

Qin Gu held his sword high above his head, concentrating all his spiritual power into the blade, and swung it downward with all his might.

Spiritual aura collided with demonic aura, producing a dull roar that made the ground tremble slightly. Qin Gu’s sword, carrying a dazzling red glow, struck the center of the demonic aura, which was wrapped in black mist.

However, the blade only moved down a few inches before a tremendous repulsive force hit them. Not only could he not cut further, but the counter-shock made Qin Gu’s arm go numb, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the sword.

Qin Gu knew clearly in his heart that this was a contest of internal energy, and he was simply no match for Yan Baishu.

But he could not retreat, because Ji Yun was still behind him.

Just as he thought of Ji Yun, a sudden warmth spread across his back, and a heat flow swept through his limbs. Qin Gu felt his hands regain their strength. He turned his head to see spiritual energy pouring endlessly from Ji Yun’s palms, sinking into his body.

Ji Yun’s spiritual power continued to flow, merging together and injecting into the sword. Qin Gu let out a low shout; the red light flared like tongues of fire, and the sword tip sank further, completely splitting the demonic aura apart!

The two internal energies dissipated simultaneously. The resulting gale sent the robes of the three people in the battle circle fluttering wildly.

As the pressure on his hands eased, Qin Gu gasped for breath uncontrollably. They had managed to block this strike from Yan Baishu with great difficulty, but looking at Yan Baishu’s state, that strike seemed to have been nothing more than a casual flick of his wrist.

The disparity was so great that they had no chance of winning.

He looked toward the horizon, where a round sun was rising. There was no shortage of high-level cultivators in the Demon-Slaying Division; if they could drag this out until they arrived…

Yan Baishu followed his gaze: “Waiting for the Demon-Slaying Division? I left them some ‘welcome gifts’ along the way; they should be happily receiving them by now, shouldn’t they?”

Qin Gu’s heart sank. Yan Baishu was a clever man—otherwise, the Immortal Alliance would have captured him by now. How could he not have foreseen what Qin Gu could foresee?

He turned his eyes to Ji Yun, who was also gasping for breath.

Estimating their strength rationally, escaping unscathed was impossible. Qin Gu couldn’t abandon Ji Yun to save his own life, so only two options remained before him.

Between leaving Ji Yun to help and letting Ji Yun flee first, Qin Gu resolutely chose the latter.

But no matter how many signals he gave, Ji Yun acted as if he saw nothing.

Qin Gu felt a tightness in his chest: Is this really the time to be heroic? If the protagonist dies, how can this story continue?

With no choice, he had to search for a possible escape route while staying vigilant of Yan Baishu’s movements.

However, the bamboo forest had long been razed to the ground during their back-and-forth battle. At this moment, the bamboo lay scattered everywhere; there wasn’t a single place to hide or take cover.

Qin Gu’s gaze went past the wall to the street outside the manor, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

Qin Rulian’s warning still rang in his ears: “Do not confront Yan Baishu head-on.”

Qin Gu said “Sorry” to her in his heart. Given the current situation, he could not run.

Perhaps he and Ji Yun could use their light-body techniques to run, but it was hard to say how far they could get. If it spilled over to the townspeople, he would truly be unforgivable even in death.

Yan Baishu yawned, seemingly waiting for Qin Gu to make his final decision.

He looked leisurely, as if he were treating Qin Gu’s hesitation and struggle as a show.

Just as he had clearly seen them enter the fog but waited until the last moment to let the crow warn them;

Just as he had clearly replaced Qing Li but hadn’t attacked while they were fighting the Cicada Lady.

Yan Baishu toyed with everyone equally, whether it was him, the wealthy merchant Jia, or the monsters.

Beyond anger, Qin Gu felt a deeper sense of powerlessness.

He had no other choice but to fight.

His sword light was like a rainbow, leaving an afterimage behind. Qin Gu had already flown forward. The Maple and Reed Sword Technique excelled in speed. As a successor of the Drink Maple Pavilion, Qin Gu had long since mastered the essence of “fast.” A series of sounds piercing the air rang out, sweeping through the maple forest like a gale, arriving in an instant!

Yan Baishu raised an eyebrow, circled his palm once, and pushed it out flat.

This push looked ordinary, yet it instantly dissolved several sword auras. Taking advantage of the weakening sword light, he didn’t retreat but advanced, colliding with him head-on!

Internal energy exploded outward from the point of impact. This time, the balance lasted less than a second before the demonic aura tore through the spiritual energy, pouncing toward Qin Gu like a ferocious beast.

Qin Gu quickly shifted his offensive to defense, but heard the sword hum and felt the weight in his hand suddenly disappear.

The sword had been snapped in two by the force of his palm!

Losing its obstruction, the palm struck him squarely in the chest. The pain of broken ribs assaulted him. Qin Gu was pushed back several steps by the tremendous force, spat out a large mouthful of blood, swayed a few times, and finally unable to support himself, fell to one knee.

In his extreme pain, his vision was blurred, and it took a while for it to refocus.

Yan Baishu gracefully withdrew his hand: “Hmm… Emerging Aperture stage? At your age, to reach this realm is truly remarkable. If left unchecked, you would be a menace to the future Demon Lord.”

Qin Gu didn’t hear a word of what he said; he only felt a buzzing sound in his ears.

Demonic aura gathered in Yan Baishu’s palm again. Qin Gu struggled, but couldn’t stand up.

Yan Baishu said: “What a pity, Qin Gu. Do you need me to deliver your last words?”

He opened his mouth and asked strangely: “What are you laughing at?”

The young man slowly raised his hand, casually wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Even in his grave injury, speaking was very difficult; every word felt like it was soaked in blood. The vivid red made the smile at the corner of his mouth look even more heart-stopping: “Yan Baishu, don’t you want to look behind you?”

As the words fell, a burst of red light suddenly flared up, as if an aurora had torn through yin and yang, rushing over with a terrifying wave that pierced the darkness!

The Maple and Reed Sword Technique was the introductory skill for Drink Maple Pavilion disciples. The sword moves were flexible and varied according to the user’s realm and sword style, but in the end, there were only three moves.

One for offense, one for defense, and the final move remained.

Yan Baishu turned and threw a palm to block the sword move. This sword had come from behind, catching him at a moment when he hadn’t been careless. Yan Baishu stepped back and immediately understood:

Qin Gu’s attack had been a mere diversion; the true killing blow had been entrusted to that young brat who looked several years younger than him!

His surprise quickly faded, and Yan Baishu laughed loudly: “A wet-behind-the-ears young cultivator, who probably hasn’t even grasped what killing intent is? It seems they are desperate—”

Pfft.

The sword tip pierced through between his palms. Yan Baishu’s smile stiffened. He dodged sideways to avoid a vital point, but was too slow to exit the attack range. Ji Yun’s sword barely pierced into his left rib.

The blade was blocked by the demonic aura and didn’t pierce deeply, but it left Yan Baishu dazed for a moment.

He had never expected he would be hit. As soon as he looked up, he saw, amidst the howling wind, a pair of eyes as black as violet staring fixedly at him.

In that pure blackness that even the morning glow couldn’t permeate, Yan Baishu actually felt a chill run down his spine.

Killing intent was fully revealed.

How is it possible? A Nascent Soul stage cultivator—where did he get such heaven-shattering killing intent?!

Yan Baishu struck out with his backhand, knocking Ji Yun back. He stood on his tiptoes, hovering as lightly as a crow perched on a branch.

Ji Yun leaned on his sword, panting heavily, with blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

Yan Baishu approached him step by step, suspicion and doubt flashing in his eyes.

Compared to Qin Gu, who had been finished off and couldn’t stand, Ji Yun’s performance interested him even more. Yan Baishu decided to kill Ji Yun first.

Watching the demonic aura expand in Yan Baishu’s palm, Qin Gu used the last of his strength, pulled the talisman given to him by Qing Yu from his bosom, and threw it forward with all his might.

He no longer had the mental focus to distinguish which talismans these were, so he just threw them all out. The talismans rode the wind, and Qin Gu shouted: “Explode!!”

A series of loud bangs followed, and Yan Baishu landed lightly, ultimately forced to open some distance between himself and Ji Yun.

Qin Gu began to cough violently, spraying droplets of blood onto the ground, blooming like tiny red flowers: “If you want to kill him, you must… kill me first!”

This sentence stunned Yan Baishu. Immediately following it, a loud shout came from the air: “There!”

Several streams of spiritual power flew in, exploding beside Yan Baishu.

Several figures riding swords appeared on the horizon, their robes fluttering. It was the long-awaited Demon-Slaying Division.

Yan Baishu seemed to sigh, his intrigued gaze landing on Qin Gu: “So, you were sincere at the time after all…”

Several more bursts of spiritual power exploded. Yan Baishu no longer wanted to fight. With a wave of his robe, a group of crows flew out of nowhere, surrounding him tightly. The next moment, he vanished from the spot as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving only a few crow feathers slowly falling.

The battle could not be called anything but tragic—though the tragedy belonged only to Qin Gu and Ji Yun.

Seeing this, the Demon-Slaying Division split into two groups: one landed beside Qin Gu, while the other pursued Yan Baishu.

Qin Gu only heard the sound of footsteps ringing in his ears, and anxious calls: “Young Alliance Leader! Young Alliance Leader, hold on!”

He tried hard to shake his head, but his severe injury and strained nerves left him unable to regain consciousness.

Before his consciousness plunged into total darkness, he subconsciously murmured: “Ji Yun…”

This was the scene Ji Yun saw as he stumbled over:

Qin Gu lay pale in another man’s arms, his eyelashes trembling unceasingly, the bloodstains at the corners of his lips bright and stinging to the eyes, his chest rising and falling weakly.

Ji Yun’s eyes were filled with confusion. The past instances of harshness and difficulty were unusually clear, deeply disconnected from the scene before him.

But even if the questions and answers that could entrap the mind were fake, the entanglement with Yan Baishu just now, the various ways Qin Gu had used his life to buy him time, and this moment right now…

New kindness and old hatreds caused him to fall into extreme struggle and indecision.

Until that extremely faint call came, deafening in its impact.

Ji Yun snapped back to reality, stumbled to his knees, reached out to grip Qin Gu’s cold wrist, and choked out: “Senior Brother!”

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