Is This How It Starts? I Choose To Fake My Death [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 6

The foolish bird was Xie Feng.

Xie Feng’s true form was not a proper, majestic phoenix, but rather a malnourished, foolish white bird.

Shen Ji digested this explosive piece of news amidst the system’s repeatedly crumbling convictions.

“Why am I so unlucky!” The system wept and howled to its heart’s content in his mind, “What should we do, Host? If the main villain doesn’t recover his cultivation within three months, he won’t open the immortal-mortal passage at the time stated in the book, and the female lead won’t ascend on schedule. Then this book is completely, utterly finished!”

Shen Ji countered, “You couldn’t recognize his true form?”

“I only know the plot development, I don’t have his pictures, and besides, this is not a phoenix at all! Where on earth is there a phoenix this small and unlike a phoenix?”

“Have you hugged enough?”

Xie Feng’s cold and severe voice reached his ear at the same time. Shen Ji realized his palm was still gripping the other’s slightly warm waist, and immediately released his hold, shifting away by an inch.

Meeting Xie Feng’s eyes, based on his adult rationality, he offered a polite greeting: “You look a bit familiar, have we met somewhere before?”

Xie Feng gazed at him coldly, evidently lacking any mood for idle chatter.

Just as Shen Ji was about to put some distance between them, he heard a knock on the door from outside.

“Brother Shen, are you awake? It’s time to take your medicine.”

With no time to overthink, Shen Ji snatched the cloak off the table, draped it over Xie Feng, grasped the other’s wrist, and retreated two steps back toward the bed.

Xie Feng failed to dodge in time and was abruptly pushed down onto the bed, his gaze turning pitch-cold: “You—”

“Don’t make a sound,” Shen Ji interrupted him, leaning down to pull the blanket up over him. Then, looking into his eyes, he said in a low voice, “You don’t want to be discovered either, do you?”

Xie Feng’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Brother Shen?”

“Just a moment.”

Responding to the call, Shen Ji directly covered that “immortal-like” face completely with the blanket, stood up, and went to open the door.

Xie Feng could not be discovered.

At least, not while being discovered together with him.

The only ones hunting him down were the Scarlet Phoenix lineage, but those hunting Xie Feng were the entire four realms.

His situation was already difficult enough; he didn’t need to add frost to snow.

The system was still wailing loudly.

That crying and weeping noise was genuinely unbearable to endure. Shen Ji pressed against the bridge of his nose: “Can’t Xie Feng heal himself autonomously?”

Grief welled up in the system: “He can’t! The main villain had his own plotline to follow after falling to the mortal realm, but he was intercepted by you on the very second day. What are we going to do? This is a top-tier major error, I’m going to face trial, I don’t want to be punished!”

Shen Ji filtered for key points amidst the noise it generated.

Xie Feng would have encountered a special fortuitous encounter after descending to the mortal realm, but being accidentally rescued by him yesterday instead disrupted the development of the plotline and hindered the progress of Xie Feng’s recovery.

Which meant.

Xie Feng was currently still in his weakest state.

Otherwise, given Xie Feng’s personality and his hatred toward him, he would have made a move the moment he transformed.

Shen Ji’s steps paused slightly.

If at this moment—

“Please, Host, stop such dangerous thoughts!”

Frightened to the point of forgetting to cry, the system shouted a warning, “The main villain is a crucial character in this book, you cannot kill him at this time! Once the world of the book collapses, the Host will immediately face punishment!”

Shen Ji raised an eyebrow.

That was quite a pity.

An enemy destined for the future was actually well worth nipping in the bud as soon as possible.

He continued walking toward the door.

Hearing the door open, Luo Ning looked up at him, then glanced back into the room: “Brother Shen, how is the little bird?”

Shen Ji’s expression remained unchanged: “It’s asleep.”

“Alright then,” Luo Ning’s face drooped, “Then I won’t go see it. Uncle said things are unstable lately and asked everyone to help dig secret tunnels, so I’m heading over there too. Remember to eat after taking your medicine.”

Shen Ji accepted the food box she handed over: “Thank you.”

Luo Ning waved her hand: “I’m off!”

Shen Ji watched her turn around, and before he could even close the door, he keenly sensed something amiss, his brow twitching slightly.

Beside him, a silver-white feather shaft, sharp as a sword’s edge, silently pierced forward!

Shen Ji sidestepped behind the door, hearing a thud as the wooden door was pierced right through at the base of the feather shaft, its sharp corner hurtling straight toward his chest!

Yet the next instant, the silver feather instantly exploded before him, transforming into silver flames that wrapped around the wrist he had pressed against the door frame. The touch was warm and smooth, completely devoid of its previous ferocity.

Xie Feng’s expression shifted slightly.

He raised his palm to recall the primordial spiritual energy that had been inexplicably cut off.

Before vanishing, the silver flames even brushed against Shen Ji’s palm, gently lingering and tangling.

Shen Ji glanced down at his unscathed arm, then looked at Xie Feng, who evidently shared his lack of understanding. Taking two broad strides, he placed the food box on the table, raised his arm to parry Xie Feng’s merciless palm blade, and counter-gripped the other’s forearm with a heavy, steady force that made breaking free impossible.

“Sneak attacks from behind?” Shen Ji asked leisurely, a smile playing on his lips, “Your Majesty, isn’t that rather unseemly?”

Xie Feng’s cold gaze swept across the back of Shen Ji’s hand. The moment he raised his eyes to look at him, a faint silver fire seed condensed out of thin air between the two of them, aiming straight at Shen Ji!

Shen Ji’s pupils contracted slightly, and his shifting feet narrowly dodged it. The distorted airflow, merely grazing past, instantly turned a strand of long hair loosened at his temple into ash, and his cheek felt as though it had been scorched.

He frowned.

Could his conjecture have been wrong, and Xie Feng’s cultivation had already begun recovering?

This thought rolled past in a blink, and Shen Ji stopped holding back. Hooking his elbow upward, he slammed heavily toward the side of Xie Feng’s neck!

Yet Xie Feng’s reaction was less agile than he had anticipated. Barely blocking the blow, he unsteadily retreated a step, his expression remaining as deeply cold as ever, revealing no abnormalities.

Having learned from his previous lesson, Shen Ji did not pause. Twirling his body to dodge Xie Feng’s vicious palm wind, he followed up with an elbow strike straight to Xie Feng’s undefended throat!

Xie Feng’s movement remained a fraction of a beat too slow.

Sensing his own inability to match his intent, a faint crease gathered between his brows.

Seeing this, Shen Ji sighed inwardly. Checking his momentum slightly, he pivoted to slam into Xie Feng’s left shoulder instead.

Xie Feng was equally powerless to block this.

Forcing the condensation of his primordial flame seed posed an immense burden to him; right then, even maintaining an upright stance was difficult.

Furthermore.

The spiritual energy that had slipped out of his control just moments ago acted like a fuse; even after being recalled, it rampaged wildly through his already hollow meridians.

The mark of the heritage awakening burned between his brows with a bizarre, indescribable itchy numbness that sank all the way down to his Dantian.

Every time he exchanged blows with Shen Ji, that itchy numbness intensified, and the unprecedented emptiness within his Dantian grew even more pronounced, igniting waves of uncontrolled, bizarre cravings.

Even so, the killing intent toward Shen Ji within his eyes did not diminish by a single fraction.

Feeling somewhat helpless, Shen Ji gripped Xie Feng’s wrist, employing a clever leverage technique to pin him behind his back. Seeing that the other refused to quit, he pressed him straight against the door panel to prevent any further resistance.

Being repeatedly subjugated, especially by this mortal, stirred trickles of anger deep within Xie Feng’s heart.

Disregarding his already parched Dantian, he formed hand seals with one hand. In an instant, an air vortex carrying overwhelming pressure rose from the soles of his feet, violently sweeping outward!

Yet whether it was because his meager spiritual energy utterly failed to support his spellcraft, or because the scene of spiritual energy slipping out of his control repeated itself.

The fierce air vortex vanished in a flash, leaving behind only wisps of scorching residual warmth that gently ruffled their long hair as it brushed past Shen Ji.

Only the heavy cloak draped over Xie Feng’s shoulders slid down abruptly over his mixed black-and-silver long hair.

Shen Ji was completely unprepared for this mishap. His right knee, wedged directly between Xie Feng’s thighs in an attempt to dissipate force, could not be retracted, locking tighter still against Xie Feng as their breathing fused seamlessly together.

Immediately following that, their combined weight slammed heavily against the wooden panel with a dull thud!

Hearing the commotion behind her when she hadn’t yet walked far, Luo Ning turned back with a puzzled look: “Brother Shen?”

An eerie silence hung inside the room for a moment before Shen Ji’s response, for some reason sounding rather deep, floated out.

“I’m fine.”

Luo Ning instinctively looked toward the crack of the unclosed door.

The gap closed abruptly the next instant.

Luo Ning blinked and remained rooted in place.

It hardly looked like he was fine.

Still, since Brother Shen said he was fine, he must be fine…?

Luo Ning scratched her chin and walked away, turning her head back every three steps.

Hearing the footsteps outside gradually fade away, Shen Ji ignored Xie Feng’s murder-filled gaze as much as possible, gave a light cough, and prepared to release his hold.

Yet the moment he made a move, Xie Feng lost his strength and dropped downward, showing clear signs of being unable to stand steady.

Shen Ji had no choice but to step back in and catch him in his arms: “Are you alright?”

Xie Feng frowned fiercely, intending to break free from Shen Ji’s embrace, yet his entire body lacked half an ounce of strength.

Shock and anger flashed within his eyes as he pressed his thin lips into a straight line, channeling almost all his remaining meager spiritual energy to forcefully suppress the escalating desires raging within his body.

The moment Shen Ji saw the golden phoenix mark on Xie Feng’s brow gradually fade, he heard the other’s voice turn increasingly chilling.

“Let go.”

Indifferent, Shen Ji complied and let go, considerately turning around to avert his gaze.

“Put it on yourself.”

Watching Shen Ji’s back, Xie Feng suppressed the raging anger churning within his heart and formed hand seals, shifting them rapidly.

Errors had occurred during his heritage awakening, and he had originally assumed losing his cultivation was already the worst possible outcome.

Yet seeing Shen Ji now, or perhaps dragged down by the dual cultivation of that day, this cauldron was actually disrupting his primordial spiritual energy, causing anomalies to stir within his heritage mark.

Such anomalies matched the events of that night stroke for stroke.

Xie Feng’s gaze turned dark and cold.

The helplessness of that day was an experience he would never endure a second time.

This mortal who had driven him to such a state must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he stepped past the cloak on the floor. By the time he walked over to the window, a golden robe had slowly formed, obediently concealing his body while his disheveled silver hair was partially bound up by a golden crown once more.

Regaining the greater part of his majesty as the Phoenix Emperor, he made the tiny wooden cabin appear resplendently brilliant, while simultaneously rendering himself thoroughly out of place.

Shen Ji finished his medicine and glanced at him.

The robes were not as gorgeous and exquisite as when they last met, but they were equally glaring; it seemed Xie Feng had an abiding fondness for this color scheme.

Yet having fallen to the point of losing his cultivation, he still wasted spiritual energy on such dispensable, trivial details, his idol baggage was simply far too heavy.

Shen Ji found this difficult to comprehend.

Withdrawing his gaze, he opened the second layer of the food box, took out the dishes inside, and after a moment of thought, turned back to Xie Feng: “Hungry?”

Gazing out the window, Xie Feng turned a deaf ear.

Abruptly, he frowned and formed hand seals, attempting to stabilize the chaotic and disordered spiritual energy within his body ever since he recalled it. Yet the effects were minimal.

Matters concerning his primordial origin meant that the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became.

No longer sparing attention for Shen Ji, Xie Feng sat cross-legged on the floor immediately, placing his hands in a hand seal before his abdomen to center himself and calm his mind.

Shen Ji was still enjoying his breakfast alone. Hearing the commotion, he glanced over.

Seeing him still leisurely drinking porridge, the system grew frantic enough to nearly short-circuit: “Host, stop eating, hurry up and think of a way! If this keeps up, the main quest is going to fail before it even starts!”

Shen Ji said, “I’ll send him back up the mountain shortly.”

The system froze: “Huh?”

Its brain was unfunctional most of the time, a fact Shen Ji was gradually getting used to: “He has been here for less than a day, sending him back now should still be in time.”

The system hesitated with difficulty: “Is it really still in time?”

Shen Ji said, “Mhm.”

To be honest, he wasn’t certain either.

Yet a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment was something he was certain could not be kept by his side.

He intended to drop Xie Feng off on the mountain and leave, then find some random place to lie low for three months before returning.

Thinking for once, the system asked suspiciously, “Host, you aren’t tricking me, are you? You just wanted to kill the main villain a moment ago?”

Shen Ji’s tone remained unchanged: “Then what do you suggest we do?”

“…” The system had no counter-suggestion, so it had to agree, “Alright then…”

In the span of this brief dialogue, Xie Feng by the window suddenly shuddered slightly, a trail of blood slipping from the corner of his lips, though his tightly shut eyes did not open.

The system gasped in alarm: “Host, look at this! You intercepted him halfway, and now the main villain is about to die!”

Such a fortunate event?

Shen Ji couldn’t help setting down his porridge bowl, walking over to Xie Feng, and squatting down to examine him.

Xie Feng sat with his head bowed, completely motionless.

Could he really be dead?

Shen Ji extended two fingers to press against his carotid artery.

The exact instant his fingertips brushed the skin.

Xie Feng’s hand-sealing palms loosened and dropped to the ground, his body collapsing limply forward as his side profile rested against Shen Ji’s neck, stray locks of silver hair slipping into his collar and tickling him.

Porcelain doll routine?

Shen Ji maintained his posture to avoid any misunderstandings: “Phoenix Emperor? Your Majesty?”

Seeing no reaction from Xie Feng.

“Xie Feng?”

Xie Feng snapped his eyes open.

The breath sweeping across his forehead was scorching like a tidal wave. His breathing heavier for a single second as he abruptly regained his wits.

“Let go!”

Shen Ji stated: “Your Majesty, your hands are saying otherwise.”

He believed Xie Feng abhorred this even more profoundly.

Yet strangely enough, while Xie Feng’s words expressed extreme resistance, the body leaning over kept pressing closer, and the force in his hands did not loosen either.

If this continued, disaster would strike sooner or later.

Calmly, Shen Ji pinned Xie Feng’s forearm down: “Isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”

The golden mark on Xie Feng’s brow flickered with a blinding radiance, resembling a blazing, burning flame.

“Stop…” Xie Feng uttered only a single word before pressing his thin lips into a straight line again, looking as though he were enduring sheer force.

Shen Ji raised a hand to grip his shoulder, attempting to steady him: “Stop what?”

Xie Feng’s gaze remained clear, his pupils sinking cold as frost, yet the craving of the heritage mark toward his cauldron grew stronger by the second.

Having lost his cultivation, he was utterly incapable of resisting the instincts of his primordial divine beast bloodline.

“Get…” He exercised restraint, his voice chilling as water, “…away…”

Distracted by the system, Shen Ji didn’t catch it clearly: “What?”

The hand Xie Feng pressed against his collar tightened repeatedly.

The system whispered, “Host, I checked the records, actually I have a method to save this world right now, do you want to hear it…”

Its tone already made it clear this wouldn’t be any pleasant method.

Shen Ji said indifferently, “If you don’t want to say it, don’t.”

“…” The system pretended not to hear and prompted him coyly, “Host, did you forget? You possess the extremely rare Heavenly Spirit Cauldron constitution—”

The moment it started, Shen Ji guessed what was about to come out.

Sure enough.

The system continued: “—As long as the Host dual-cultivates with the main villain, given the main villain’s capabilities, he will definitely recover his cultivation within three months!”

Shen Ji flatly refused: “Impossible.”

“Why!” The system was consumed by grief, “Wake up, Host! Our quest has reached a dead end, you’re merely sacrificing your body, while I’m the one who has to go back and face trial! If this book is truly finished, my punishment is a small matter, but what the Host loses is the precious chance at a second life, Host!”

Shen Ji said, “Even if I agree, do you think Xie Feng would agree?”

As the words fell, he lowered his gaze to inadvertently meet Xie Feng’s silver eyes brimming with rage, and only then realized something was amiss.

Xie Feng was not exhausted.

And given Xie Feng’s attitude toward intimate contact, logically speaking, it was impossible for him to choose to actively lie in his arms.

Looking once more at the unusual golden mark on Xie Feng’s brow, Shen Ji pinned his hand down again: “We can talk things over peacefully, but let’s keep our hands to ourselves, alright?”

The temperature of the mortal’s palm seeped into flesh and blood.

The primordial divine beast bloodline’s instinct was finally fully unleashed at this moment!

Xie Feng abruptly raised his eyes.

The merciless, brilliant silver gaze shed its indifference, and those pupils were slowly dilating.

They were filled with a frantically surging restlessness, burying deeply buried shards of fragile clarity beneath.

Bad.

Extremely bad.

Meeting those eyes, Shen Ji retreated on instinct. Before he could even stand, he was pinned to the ground by Xie Feng, who held the positional advantage.

“Assist my cultivation.”

Shen Ji frowned.

Xie Feng’s voice sounded hoarse and muffled, differing vastly from usual.

If he hadn’t been holding the person all along, he might have even suspected this wasn’t Xie Feng.

Yet the system was pleasantly surprised: “What did I hear! Host, the main villain agreed to dual cultivate!”

Shen Ji had no time to converse with it.

He suddenly felt his palm tighten as flecks of golden light drifted off Xie Feng’s body.

Streaks of gold-tinged silver flames pierced through Xie Feng’s Dantian, wrapping in circles around Shen Ji’s waist to pull back his retreating movement.

Shen Ji’s right hand, locked onto Xie Feng’s shoulder and neck, instantly froze in place.

The drifting spiritual energy merged successively into his meridians amidst the momentary deadlock, finally recalling a shred of sanity to its owner.

Yet that sanity was suppressed by unrestrained instinct, leaving behind only futile clarity.

The shock and rage within Xie Feng’s eyes were likewise buried deep beneath a surface-level urgency.

Being forced to witness this entanglement governed by bloodline heritage was a hundred times more humiliating than sinking into chaos.

Taking advantage of the moment, the system pushed its sales pitch: “How about this, Host? As long as you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for the quest, I can apply upwards for a special condition for you!”

Special condition?

Shen Ji snapped out of it: “Like what?”

The system said, “It’s somewhat similar to your arbitrary conditions, but this time it uses my quota, so it cannot relate to the contents of the quest world—”

It was racking its brains for phrasing to persuade the host to agree when it heard the host’s inner thoughts sound.

“Give me ten thousand points.”

The system choked: “Special conditions do not grant points, let alone ten thousand points.”

No points.

And cannot relate to the quest world.

Shen Ji said, “You should find someone else more capable.”

The system hurried: “Don’t, Host, please, help me out!!”

Shen Ji’s tone sounded utterly devoid of room for negotiation: “Dual-cultivating once led Xie Feng to seal the entire Qishan to hunt me down. You want me to dual-cultivate with him for three months, how many lives do I have for him to kill?”

Growing anxious, the system once again cut into its own flesh to bleed for the cause: “I know the Host wants points. How about this: every time you dual cultivate with the main villain, I will deduct a bit of points from my own account as a reward and gift them to you for free!”

Shen Ji performed a simple math problem.

1 point per time; the Perfect Disguise he needed cost 42 points on discount, and his balance was 2.5 points, meaning at least 40 times would be enough. Across 3 months (90 days), that averaged once every 2.25 days.

Too frequent.

He didn’t have that much energy to waste on this sort of thing.

Shen Ji rejected the condition.

“Not enough.”

“What! That’s still not enough, uh,” the system’s hopes were half-shattered when it abruptly reacted, “Wait… What…?”

Did it hear wrong?

Not no?

But not enough??