Is This How It Starts? I Choose To Fake My Death [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 8

Shen Ji pinched the bridge of his nose.

No sooner had he intended to part ways with Xie Feng than Xie Feng reverted to his true form.

How was he supposed to bring up a breakup now?

The system, however, breathed a sigh of relief: “Although the main villain was a bit of a spendthrift when he turned into a bird, he is much more harmless than when he is human!”

Shen Ji held the exact opposite view.

Even as a bird, this was a bird that wanted to kill him, and he had no intention of keeping it by his side. Leaving it in Shouluo Village was, of course, even less feasible.

Sighing, he walked closer and noticed that the foolish bird had grown a bit larger than before, with its tail feathers relatively longer by a few inches, finally looking somewhat like a real bird.

Upon transforming into its true form, Xie Feng seemed utterly exhausted, quietly curled up inside the cloak and sleeping soundly.

Only in deep sleep did he look this unexpectedly well-behaved.

Shen Ji watched it for a moment before returning to the bed to resume meditating and healing his injuries.

After tonight, he would be heading up the mountain alone, which required a robust capacity to withstand risks.

The next day.

Before dawn broke.

Shen Ji opened his eyes and first looked toward the foolish bird in the corner.

Still sleeping.

Good, that saved him trouble.

He got out of bed, scooped it into his embrace, and picked up the cloak.

This novice defense gear was remarkably good. Engraved with rune patterns, it possessed numerous functions, including automatic repair and cleaning, displaying a strong sense of self-management.

Yet, constrained by the vivid impression left by yesterday’s events, Shen Ji still stowed it away into his inventory.

Walking over to the window, he pushed open a crack to peer outside.

This area was considered the outer perimeter of Shouluo Village, sitting closer to Mount Tianshan. The environment was slightly inferior to the inner circle, and few people were willing to settle here, making it convenient for movement.

Moreover, at this hour, Shouluo Village had yet to wake up, making it the prime time to leave.

Shen Ji unfolded Luo Honglin’s map, glanced roughly over the contents, and then opened the door to head out.

With a crescent moon hanging high in the sky, the path was indeed devoid of a single soul.

Hugging the wall, Shen Ji circled behind the house and proceeded straight ahead according to the route on the terrain map.

Due to the harsh environment of Mount Tianshan, hunting often required venturing deep into the mountains without any guarantee of returning the same day, which was why a temporary dwelling had been built on the mountain.

Following the map, reaching Luo Honglin’s wooden cabin required crossing the first peak.

Once outside the village, listening to the howling wind and snow, the system tried to comfort Shen Ji: “The mountain is quite nice too. At least no one will come bother you and the main villain anymore. You can dual-cultivate anytime, anywhere, how convenient!”

Shen Ji: “”

Donning his gloves and goggles, he summoned the Gale Leopard and sprinted full speed up the mountain.

The straight-line distance of this path was far removed from the demon realm’s seal, so he hadn’t exercised excessive caution.

Yet while passing through a spruce forest, he faintly caught a flurry of noisy movement.

People.

Shen Ji paused to listen for half a second. Still galloping, he raised his palm to retrieve the Gale Leopard back into its mount pearl, tapped his feet lightly, spun midair, and landed behind a massive boulder in front of him.

The moment he landed, two sets of footsteps rushed out hurriedly from the opposite side.

“Old Third, I told you that you misheard! There is not a single soul here, where would any noise come from!”

With his back against the rock face and utilizing the boulder as cover, Shen Ji looked in the direction of the two men.

The distance was slightly far, so he magnified the zoom on his goggles to clearly make out their appearances.

The one called Old Third had a lean figure yet a steady expression, his small, sharp eyes reflecting the fire-like glow of the snow. Standing in place, he scanned his surroundings with a sharp and alert gaze.

Hearing the questioning, Old Third frowned: “Eldest Brother, the Sovereign’s secret decree transmitted this time is no small matter. We must remain on guard at all times.”

Eldest Brother wore an expression of utter disdain: “Killing a mere mortal, is that even worth making such a fuss over!”

As he spoke, three more men emerged from the forest to join them.

Watching the five of them routinely take up combat stances, Shen Ji felt his heart sink slightly.

The Sovereign’s secret decree.

Hunting down a mortal.

These individuals belonged to the Scarlet Phoenix lineage and had come for him.

Their synchronized movements indicated deep familiarity with one another; facing a squad like this, seizing the upper hand would prove quite difficult for him.

“Exactly, Third Brother. A mere mortal, you are being way too cautious.”

Old Third looked toward Xiao Wu: “Leaving aside mortals, if it were you trying to escape the Majesty’s grasp, what odds of success would you have?”

Mentioning Xie Feng brought a brief silence to the snowy expanse.

“Pure dumb luck,” Xiao Wu muttered unconvinced. “Besides, the Snow Domain is an ancient seal site containing chaotic Dao forces. Even with spiritual stones assisting, we cannot unleash much cultivation here, let alone release our divine sense. If that mortal is hiding here, relying solely on our eyes to search, when on earth would we find him?”

Ancient seal?

Hearing this, Shen Ji’s thoughts stirred slightly.

According to this person’s logic, they could neither freely release spiritual energy nor deploy their divine sense to search for him on Mount Tianshan. For combatants accustomed to relying on those two assets, it was equivalent to wild beasts losing their claws and fangs, causing the challenge difficulty to plummet rapidly.

Old Third said: “Stop wasting time on useless chatter. Since the Sovereign issued a secret decree specially dispatching us to the mortal realm, it proves this mortal is no ordinary person. We must not be careless.”

Xiao Wu snorted, kicking a withered branch aside: “Got it!”

Just as Old Third turned to leave, his gaze caught on the flying withered branch. He immediately raised a hand to block the others: “Wait!”

Eldest Brother asked impatiently, “What is it now!”

“Look!” Old Third hurried forward a couple of steps, squatted down to inspect closely, and said solemnly, “The footprints are fresh; the person definitely has not gone far.”

Before his voice faded, the other four exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

Before Old Third could advance along the footprints to investigate further, seeing them scatter, he quickly warned, “We have not confirmed whether this is the mortal we are looking for, do not act rashly!”

“Rashly?” Eldest Brother shook his hands, gripping a pair of spiked maces that materialized from thin air. “This lord has spent a day and a night searching for that mortal here. Even if it is not him today, I am going to kill someone just to vent my frustration!”

“Exactly!” “Eldest Brother is right!”

With him taking the lead, the other three laughed and drew their weapons as well.

Standing in place and watching their retreating backs, Old Third sighed inwardly.

Having spent so many years together, Eldest Brother’s temper never changed.

That might fly in the Three Spirit Realms, but arriving in the mortal realm devoid of spiritual energy and unable to crush opponents with pure power, how could he still be so impatient? He truly gave people no peace of mind.

Shen Ji withdrew his gaze.

Pulling the dagger from his inventory to stick into his waist belt, he grasped his handgun, spotted the surrounding environment out of the corner of his eye, and swapped it for a silent crossbow.

Not far away, a set of footsteps was closing in.

Watching Shen Ji leisurely check the mechanism, the system panted nervously: “Host, what should we do? There are five of them, if you get discovered you are finished!”

The snow made masking the sound of movement difficult.

Calculating the movement pattern of the person behind him, Shen Ji took a step across when the other placed their weight down, turned sideways into the gap between a massive boulder and a pine tree, raised his crossbow, and quietly aimed.

The footsteps grew increasingly closer.

Anxious and terrified yet afraid to make a sound that would disturb him, the system could only wait in burning suspense.

The moment the timing matured, a pitch-black crossbow bolt shot silently from the mechanism.

The arrowhead, rolling with a chilling glare, cut through the night like a cold, silent venomous snake. Locking onto the completely unaware prey in the clearing, it pierced straight through the back of the target’s neck with a wet thud.

The lean figure standing in place was driven forward a staggered step by the impact. Barely managing a choked, brief cry of pain, the man dropped to his knees and collapsed with a heavy crash.

Shattered flesh and debris blossomed across the snow, spraying blurred splashes of blood.

“Third Brother!!”

The footsteps about to cross the boulder came to an abrupt, screeching halt, turning back toward where they came from with a mournful wail.”

“Third Brother!”

Shen Ji had already lowered his crossbow and squatted down, slipping quietly deep into the pine forest amidst the man-made chaos.

The system said excitedly, “Host, you are amazing!”

Without looking back, Shen Ji sensed movement inside his coat and lowered his gaze to look.

The foolish bird had been awake for who knows how long, its head resting against the folds of his collar, bobbing slightly with his movement. Its fierce eyes were half-open, and even its furry face managed to convey extreme exhaustion.

Shen Ji had originally intended to let Xie Feng resume his human form to intimidate these pursuers, but seeing his state, he casually shoved him back in.

He was full of vigor when trying to kill him on normal days, yet dropped the ball at critical moments. A pet as useless as this was not worth raising.

However, the foolish bird slowly wriggled back out from his embrace, poked out a small, snow-white head, threw him a glance, rested its head back against the collar folds, and looked forward.

Normally too timid to cross Xie Feng, the system lacked a bit of fear toward his true form: “Host, it is so arrogant…”

Shen Ji merely flicked the bird’s beak up and down: “Whatever, look if you want.”

Failing to dodge in time, the foolish bird was flicked on the forehead by his bent finger, its half-open silver pupils suddenly widening. Its sharp claws struggled twice inside his coat, but constrained by its minuscule bird strength, it accomplished nothing.

Ignoring its resistance, Shen Ji narrowed his gaze to map out the route.

Shortly after relocating, he made a right-angle turn, backtracked to erase his footprints on the ground, and nimbly found a cover spot.

In jungle warfare, especially moving light and unencumbered without heavy loads, he held a massive advantage compared to the Scarlet Phoenix pursuers whose cultivation was severely suppressed in the mortal realm.

Having lost the squad’s brain, the remaining four possessed distinct personality flaws and low sensitivity to danger. They could practically be judged as ill-suited for prolonged pursuit battles; next, he only needed to seize the opportunity to pick them off one by one.

Squatting down to load a bolt, Shen Ji raised his goggles, pulled out dual-tube night-vision goggles from his inventory, peered out from a narrow gap in the cover, and waited for the fish to bite.

Soon, he spotted the four individuals divided into pairs moving left and right. One team stumbled upon the footprints and, burning with rage, hacked down the pine trees along the path as they sprinted straight toward his direction.

The system asked quietly, “Host, they are coming over, but how are you going to fight two people?”

Shen Ji lowered the night-vision goggles, his stern dark eyes remaining as calm as still water.

Aiming his crossbow alongside the blow darts in his left hand, both weapons remained rock steady, unmoving as a mountain.

The dim night served as the best camouflage prepared for him.

As the two rushed up to the broken trail of footprints, the blow darts flew first, and while still halfway there, the pitch-black crossbow bolts followed closely behind.

Shen Ji did not stay in place to wait for the results; after firing, he stepped slowly back into the shadows of the forest.

Xie Feng watched him.

The brief contact over these past two days was enough to figure out this person’s background.

Shen Ji had escaped Qishan six days ago, his severe injuries unhealed, yet still lingering near the Snow Domain, this alone proved he lacked backing from any faction and possessed zero foundation in the mortal realm, showing utter superficiality.

Such an insignificant mortal, merely because he possessed the Heavenly Spirit Cauldron constitution, dared to act beyond his station, colluding with the Scarlet Phoenix lineage and being exploited by Wu Xun to this extent. Utterly foolish.

Yet being able to escape Qishan single-handedly, recognizing the pragmatic situation today, and escorting him to the Snow Domain seal site showed he possessed a shred of cleverness.

Overnight, Xie Feng’s spiritual platform had long since cleared.

With the golden mark pressing closer step-by-step, transforming into his true form was forced by circumstance, but it could not be sustained long-term.

Ever since falling to the mortal realm, his cultivation had not improved by a fraction; if not for Shen Ji’s spiritual stones, even performing transformation would not have been easy.

With complications arising in his heritage, the awakened primordial bloodline currently posed more drawbacks than benefits. If he wished to stably recover his cultivation, he needed someone to guard his flanks.

Shen Ji’s cultivation was low, so he initially hadn’t paid him any mind.

Now viewed in a new light, Shen Ji possessed endless tactical methods, and escaping Qishan was no fluke, this set of footwork was quite passable.

Xie Feng’s bird eyes half-lowered.

With the golden mark interfering, he could no longer bring himself to kill Shen Ji, saving him from wasting further effort.

Since Shen Ji also harbored intentions of making amends, as long as he stopped acting presumptuously, giving him a chance was not out of the question.

Abruptly.

Bloodline instincts whipped up waves of turbulence within his spiritual platform once more. Xie Feng concentrated to suppress it, but before he could, a dull, glancing tap landed right on top of his head.

“Have you looked enough? Stop sprawling here and getting in the way.”

A faint flash of anger welled in Xie Feng’s eyes.

Pushed by brute force into the collar, he had nowhere to brace himself, falling backward inside the mortal’s embrace and getting patted on the back through his clothing.

“Do not move around.”

The anger he had managed to swallow down over the course of a whole night flared back up. However, Xie Feng lacked the bandwidth to care right now, tightly closing his eyes to resist the impact raging within his body.

Yet perhaps the heartbeat by his ear was too steady.

Surpassing the golden mark once more, he was nearly exhausted of all mental strength. Cradled now within the mortal’s warm embrace, drowsiness gradually overtook him.

Shen Ji remained completely oblivious to the trials and tribulations the foolish bird inside his coat had endured.

Hearing the mournful, anguished roars echoing from afar, he thought for a moment and turned back.

The system asked anxiously, “Host, we went through so much trouble to escape, why are we going back?”

Shen Ji said calmly, “Wildfires cannot burn them out entirely; the spring breeze blows them back to life.”

Hearing this, the system did not dare chime in.

The host was ruthless; it was terrified.

Recalling the route he had taken just moments earlier, Shen Ji walked briskly back up the slope to where he was first discovered.

Finding a cover spot, he glanced up at the sky.

Dawn was approaching.

This environment was not optimal for ambushes, but limitations were limited.

Withdrawing his gaze, he picked a spot, set up his sniper crossbow, and quietly waited for the targets to appear.

When two bloodthirsty figures appeared before his eyes, the system did not even dare draw a breath.

Shen Ji adjusted his breathing, his calm and indifferent eyes during a mission tracking slightly with the targets.

“Eldest Brother, what do we do now? Should we go back and report?”

“Report?! This lowly bastard killed three of our brothers, I am going to make him pay with blood!!”

Cursing furiously, Eldest Brother strode into the clearing. Staring at Third Brother’s corpse on the snow, tears welling in his eyes, he choked up, kneeling down to stroke his icy arm.

“Third Brother, it is all my fault—”

“Eldest Brother, watch out!”

A silent, chilling arrow tore through the pale dawn, only to be sliced cleanly in two by Xiao Wu’s panicked slash. Reacting instinctively to shield Eldest Brother, the instant he reached into his Qiankun pouch for a spiritual stone, a needle tip matching the shadows pierced straight through his chest, sinking deep inside.

“He…” Xiao Wu pointed forward. “Is… right…”

Eldest Brother’s eyes split wide with rage as his figure shot like lightning toward the direction the crossbow bolt had come from, the pile of rocks used for cover pulverized by the fireballs he hurled!

“Bastard!” His eyes red as blood, blazing red flames erupting across his entire body, he roared, “Get the hell out here!”

As the words fell.

A silent, tall shadow cast downward from behind, falling right before him.

Eldest Brother whipped around violently!

The mortal from the Sovereign’s secret decree stood right before him, sideways, holding a piece of ironwork in one hand, the small, pitch-black opening aimed directly between his brows.

A fleeting glimpse: the mortal’s expression carried a biting, freezing calmness, save for his eyes, which burned deep and piercing like torches, looking at him as though looking at a dead man.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Staring with wide eyes, Eldest Brother crashed straight to the ground.

He still maintained his attacking posture, but the blazing red flames had already been buried beneath the snow.

Shen Ji retracted the silenced pistol, squatted down to rip the Qiankun pouch from the dead man’s waist, retrieved a spiritual stone from inside, channeled power through it, and used the energy to transport this corpse to reunite with its brothers.

“…” Watching the host skillfully loot the corpses and destroy the evidence, the system did not dare utter a single syllable.

Meanwhile, Shen Ji returned his final retrieved crossbow bolt to the inventory, summoned the Gale Leopard, and continued pressing toward Luo Honglin’s wooden cabin under the morning light.

After a long while, the system finally found a topic: “Host, are you… going to give these gathered spiritual stones to the main villain to heal his injuries?”

Xie Feng?

Shen Ji fished the foolish bird out from his coat.

It had fallen asleep again.

“I checked the records. The main villain looking like this strongly resembles his juvenile form; only beast clans suffering the most severe injuries revert to their juvenile forms to conserve physical energy.”

The system said, “I really do not get it. You two clearly dual-cultivated once, why does the main villain look like he has not improved at all?”

Shen Ji felt no interest in this.

In truth, he had not really paid attention to the system’s words either, carrying the foolish bird by its wing as he directly swung his leg off the mount.

The system was baffled: “Why did you stop?”

Shen Ji looked around left and right.

The terrain here sat somewhat low and remained inconspicuous, serving as a suitable spot.

He hoisted the foolish bird up to eye level.

Luo Ning was right; Xie Feng’s true form indeed possessed decent aesthetic appeal. Growing a bit larger only served to accentuate its graceful proportions.

Too bad such a pretty bird made for a terrible human.

Thinking this, Shen Ji walked over to a tree nearby, dropped to one knee, casually scooped a shallow trench in the snow, and tossed the foolish bird right inside.

“…” The system was stunned. “Host, what are you doing?”

Hearing that, Shen Ji broke off a tree branch from overhead and laid it across the foolish bird.

Mhm.

Very concealed.

Doing this much for Xie Feng could be considered going above and beyond the call of duty.

Shen Ji tapped the foolish bird’s head through the pine needles.

From here on out, bridges belong to bridges, roads to roads, let us go our separate ways and have nothing more to do with each other.

He stood up, brushed the pine needles off his shoulders, scrambled back onto the Gale Leopard amidst the system’s panicked shrieks, and left without looking back.

“……?” The system finally processed what happened, asking with a breakdown: “Host, why did you throw the main villain away?!”

Shen Ji said, “Could you not tell he wanted to kill me?”

“But he is in his true form right now!” The system wept tears of frustration. “If you leave him by the side of the road and he dies, what are we going to do?!”

Shen Ji raised an eyebrow: “Then I wish him good luck.”

He was no saint returning good with evil. For someone who had repeatedly attempted to take his life, parting peacefully was the greatest concession he could muster.

“…………” Catching the undeniable certainty in the host’s flat tone, and recalling the gruesome deaths of those five men, the system could not help sobbing and crying.

The main villain was gone.

The quest was going down the drain.

Why was it so unlucky…

The host it bound possessed formidable strength, but he completely refused to play by the rules. What kind of person was this?!

Successfully crossing the outer mountain, Shen Ji did not travel far down before spotting the giant pine tree Luo Honglin had described.

Beneath the pine tree stood a compact courtyard cabin enduring the wind and snow.

Shen Ji stepped into the courtyard, pushed open the door, and entered.

Being merely a temporary dwelling, the interior furnishings lacked perfection, but everything had been reinforced, offering more than enough shelter from the cold.

Approaching the table, he first took out the five Qiankun pouches to tally his harvested loot.

Likely due to executing a so-called secret decree, the pouches contained few usable items aside from a relatively abundant supply of spiritual stones, around a hundred per person, marking a delightfully profitable haul.

Emboldening itself, the system asked: “Host, are you really not considering dual cultivating to earn points? This method is mutually beneficial and achieves a win-win cooperation!”

Shen Ji stashed the spiritual stones into his inventory: “You go cooperate and win with him instead.”

The system: “”

Shen Ji turned and walked toward the bed.

Xie Feng was a thing of the past; with five hundred spiritual stones now in his possession, using them to heal his injuries couldn’t be better.

“Help me keep watch on outside movements.”

The system replied aggrievedly: “Alright…”

Shen Ji closed his eyes and formed hand seals.

Having spent less than a week in this world, he had adapted remarkably well to the new medical procedures.

However, the new alarm system failed to come into play.

Just as footsteps sounded outside the door, Shen Ji snapped his eyes open, whipped out the dagger at his waist, and strode to the back of the door, bracing himself for combat.

“Shen—”

“Brother Shen!” Luo Ning eagerly cut off Luo Honglin’s voice. “Are you inside!”

The tension in Shen Ji’s grip relaxed slightly. Returning the dagger to its sheath, he opened the room’s door.

“Brother Shen!” Luo Ning looked at him with undisguised excitement. “You will never guess what I am going to give you!”

Luo Honglin smiled helplessly, stepping inside first to place the food box he carried onto the table: “Shen Ji, come eat. We forgot to prepare some dry rations for you last night, you must be starving, right?”

“Oh, right, right.” Luo Ning patted her forehead, placing a medicine pouch beside the food box. “And the medicine, remember to take it on time.”

Shen Ji looked toward the doorway.

Sunlight hung high in the sky, at least noon.

He hadn’t expected these two to make a special trip up the mountain for such a trivial matter.

“Sorry to trouble you.” Shen Ji arranged the food and medicinal soup on the table, filled the food box to the brim with spiritual stones, and pushed down Luo Honglin’s obstructing hand. “Please accept these.”

To prevent exposing traces, he hadn’t handed over the Phoenix clan’s Qiankun pouches as well.

Luo Ning was still young, well-versed only in medicinal herbs while knowing precious little about spiritual stones.

Eagerly waiting for the two elders to finish speaking, her face immediately blossomed into smiles as she untied the medicine basket from her back and handed it toward Shen Ji.

“Brother Shen, look!”

Shen Ji chuckled softly, asking, “Look at what?”

Luo Ning shoved the herbs in the basket to the side, revealing the most striking splash of snow-white nestled inside.

Shen Ji took a single look and fell silent once more.

Inside the medicine basket, a familiar set of pale-silver eyes locked gazes with him.

Judging by how long it had stared at him, as always, it was royally pissed off.

Luo Ning’s face still brimmed with anticipation.

“How is it, Brother Shen? We helped you find your little bird back, are you not happy!”