System, You Didn't Say the Villain Can Read Minds! - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

◎I Want to Seduce My Master.◎

Four eyes met. For an instant, Yun Wenzhou’s heart pounded as if it would leap out of her chest.

Her mind stopped functioning, and even her Heart Devil fell silent.

She froze in her posture of kneeling naked by the bedside.

Mo Jiu’s gaze involuntarily drifted downward. Realizing the impropriety, she quickly looked away.

She got up, grabbed the quilt from the bed, and draped it over Yun Wenzhou, thinking at the same time:

Is she checking my face? Can’t believe it’s her Master guarding her bedside?

It must be that.

She wouldn’t possibly be trying to kiss me.

Yun Wenzhou huddled in the quilt. Hearing her Master’s inner voice instantly calmed her, though a faint sense of melancholy rose in her heart.

Yes, how could she possibly kiss her own Master…

“This disciple’s cultivation is shallow, a failure of Master’s teachings,” Yun Wenzhou said, putting the quilt back on the bed. She picked up her clothes nearby, and as she stood up, she shook out her robe and put it on.

“I have disrupted Master’s cultivation. This disciple’s crime is unforgivable. Since it is late, please permit this disciple to return tomorrow to beg for punishment.”

Yun Wenzhou, still somewhat disheveled, bowed to Mo Jiu.

Mo Jiu had her back to her. Aside from not wanting to intrude on her privacy, she also didn’t want her to see her eyes, which hadn’t completely de-puffed yet.

“You may leave,” her voice was flat.

“Yes.” Yun Wenzhou picked up her sword and retreated.

[No guts.] Just as she closed the door, her Heart Devil swore at her in her mind. [You were so close to kissing her if you had been a bit faster!]

Then the rest of my life would be ruined.

Yun Wenzhou replied internally while quickening her pace.

That’s why I say you have no guts! You’re so afraid of Master finding out. Do you plan to hide it from her for your whole life?

Don’t be ridiculous.

Ye Lan has already reached Peak Golden Core. If you don’t want her to surpass you, you must shatter your core and form your Nascent Soul before her. When that happens, I will definitely take over!

Yun Wenzhou: I will deal with you before then.

After Yun Wenzhou left, Mo Jiu tidied the room briefly and lay down on the bed herself.

Cultivators don’t easily get hungry or sleepy. They can go into secluded cultivation for several years without eating, drinking, or sleeping.

She didn’t know how she had fallen asleep earlier. Perhaps she wasn’t yet used to this new world, or maybe she had consumed a lot of internal energy while performing the “Vessel Forging Scripture” on Yun Wenzhou, or perhaps she was simply tired from crying.

It was no big deal, though. As cannon fodder who was destined to die at the hands of the villain, Mo Jiu had no need to cultivate. When she didn’t have a mission, she could rest whenever she wanted.

Thinking this, she closed her eyes.

However, before she could invite sleep, the System spoke up and scared off her drowsiness: Mission settlement: Saved the female protagonist from being killed by heavenly lightning, earned 100 reward points. Completed mission “The Weak are Unworthy of a Master’s Guidance,” earned 10 reward points.

10 reward points?

Mo Jiu immediately couldn’t lie still!

Mo Jiu: Why only 10? I spent a total of 600 reward points today!

System: Those were spent by you arbitrarily and are irrelevant to the mission.

500 reward points for a “Vessel Forging Scripture” and a complimentary dragon tendon whip, and 100 reward points for a bottle of healing potion.

They were indeed not essential items for completing the mission, but…

Mo Jiu: The minimum reward point in the last world was 100, wasn’t it?

System: You misremembered. In the last world, you gained 100 reward points for every 10 small missions completed. Only key main missions rewarded more than 100 points at once.

System: The mission to save the female protagonist was a bonus mission, and the 100 reward points serve as compensation. The mission to bully the villain is a small mission to increase the villain’s blackening degree. The effect of doing it one more or one less time is difficult to estimate. It’s considered ‘the more, the better,’ so we can’t reward you too much at once. To earn enough reward points quickly, you should consciously increase the number of times you bully the villain.

Mo Jiu: Tsk.

Mo Jiu was too lazy to bargain with the System. Anyway, resurrecting Yun Wenzhou required 100,000 reward points. She only gained a little over 20,000 in the first world. Even if she could gain 20,000 in every world, she would need to go through five worlds. The difference between 10 or 100 for small mission rewards was negligible.

Besides, she was genuinely exhausted today, too tired to think.

Just leave it. Time to sleep.

Mo Jiu closed her eyes again. After a while, her body gradually grew heavy, as if sinking into mud.

She didn’t struggle, letting herself sink.

She fell asleep.

And then… she dreamed of Yun Wenzhou.

The Yun Wenzhou in her dream was a little strange. Her long hair was waist-length, with flat ends, a style Mo Jiu was familiar with, but the color was not black. Instead, it was like a sunset, gradient from blue to purple to red. Although it was a vibrant color, it seemed to be covered in a layer of grey mist.

She had her back to Mo Jiu, but for some reason, Mo Jiu was certain she was Yun Wenzhou.

The Yun Wenzhou she loved.

Mo Jiu approached her, wanting to embrace her, but as soon as she raised a hand, the other party seemed to sense her movement and extended her own hand, palm to palm, fingers intertwined.

The familiar touch and temperature instantly soothed Mo Jiu. She felt her entire chest being filled.

“Only those with a clean and gentle heart have the courage to approach me,” Yun Wenzhou suddenly spoke, her eyes fixed on the scenery outside the balcony, never meeting Mo Jiu’s gaze. “But I am definitely not some holy sword that only the brave can draw. I am an abyss that only light is willing to explore… I am not worthy of you.”

“What are you talking about?” Mo Jiu didn’t understand what she was saying and only wanted to comfort her. “Love is a matter between two people. It wasn’t me who chose you, nor you who chose me, but we chose each other. There is no such thing as being worthy or unworthy, only whether we are willing and happy. Are you unhappy with me?”

“I am happy… but I don’t want to taint your light.”

“Just consider that I want to be tainted by you. Can’t you? Besides, I’ve always been the one enjoying you. If there’s any tainting, shouldn’t I be the one tainting you?”

“…No.”

“No?” Mo Jiu smiled and leaned in toward Yun Wenzhou. “Then tell me, how did you taint me? With your…”

“Ah…” Yun Wenzhou lowered her head slightly. Her radiant eyelashes were half-closed. A blush spread from her cheeks all the way to her earlobes.

Mo Jiu clearly saw her eyes. They were reddish-orange, like a sunset that had burned half the sky.

So beautiful, makes me want to kiss them.

“Do you really think… my eyes are beautiful?” Yun Wenzhou turned her face toward Mo Jiu, but her gaze was still lowered, avoiding Mo Jiu’s eyes.

Mo Jiu didn’t answer. She simply cupped her face with both hands and planted a light kiss on her eyelids.

Satisfied.

Yun Wenzhou: “…”

Yun Wenzhou: “As long as you like it.”

Her reply carried a smile.

Mo Jiu pulled back, finally meeting the gaze of her beloved.

The beauty, as beautiful and shy as a sunset, had the corners of her lips slightly lifted, smiling like a meticulously crafted oil painting by the world’s finest artist.

Mo Jiu was mesmerized.

A gust of wind blew, lifting her hair. The hair, which was primarily grey-blue and faded to sunset colors at the ends, initially felt dull. Now, the more Mo Jiu looked, the more pleasing it became, the more beautiful it looked.

The wind also lifted her own hair, partially obscuring her vision.

Snow-white, like the snow on a mountain peak, clean, pure, without a single trace of impurity, untouched by any dust.

Mo Jiu opened her eyes, staring blankly at the now-familiar ceiling for a while.

She had dreamt of Yun Wenzhou last night, a very warm and happy dream. It helped her significantly overcome the grief of losing her beloved, like placing a band-aid on a wound. Although the wound was still there, it would no longer tear her apart with pain from an accidental touch.

Before getting up, she sensed someone outside the room.

Mo Jiu: Is it Yun Wenzhou?

System: Yes, she’s been kneeling outside since early morning. She’s here to beg for punishment. Do you want me to assign a mission?

Mo Jiu: No, I’ll do it myself.

She replied while getting out of bed. She picked up the bruise-healing pill formula she had found yesterday, reviewed the refining steps, then tidied herself up, and finally left the room.

Yun Wenzhou was kneeling in the courtyard, clean and properly dressed, dozing off.

Mo Jiu watched her for a moment with a hint of amusement until Yun Wenzhou was startled awake from almost losing her balance and falling. Only then did Mo Jiu adopt an indifferent expression and speak coldly: “Is this how you beg for punishment?”

Yun Wenzhou instantly snapped to attention, prostrating herself completely on the ground: “Please, Master, forgive me! No, please, Master, punish me!”

“Ye Lan entered the sect more than ten years after you. Yet her cultivation is already above yours. You are truly disappointing your Master.”

Even so, how long have I been stuck at Nascent Soul?] Mo Jiu inwardly mocked herself.

“Since you can’t cultivate well, stop cultivating. I’m punishing you to refine pills for me. I want twenty Bruise-Healing Pills. You can leave only when you’ve refined enough.”

Other pills can wait. I must teach her how to refine Bruise-Healing Pills so I don’t have to sneakily give her wound medicine anymore.

Yun Wenzhou heard her Master’s inner voice and happily curved her lips.

Master was frightened by my serious injury and unconsciousness yesterday, and she wants to teach me how to refine wound medicine.

Master cares about me.

“Yes, Master!” she replied, forcefully suppressing her excitement.

Refining pills requires a pill furnace, and Mo Jiu had a stack of them in her Qiankun Sleeve.

The Nascent Soul stage allows the use of a Qiankun Sleeve, which is essentially a storage space opened in the sleeve, allowing anything messy to be stuffed inside.

Mo Jiu’s Qiankun Sleeve was connected to the spatial ring she opened in the previous world, so her counterpart in this world found many unfamiliar items in her space—various pills, artifacts, pill furnaces, artifact furnaces, materials for refining pills and artifacts, and array flags.

This Master, though cannon fodder, was very wealthy.

Mo Jiu openly took out a third-grade pill furnace from her space and tossed it to Yun Wenzhou: “Use this one.”

Then she took out a pile of herbs and taught Yun Wenzhou to distinguish them: “This is Azure Spirit Grass. It is cold in nature and has the effect of promoting blood circulation, dissolving stasis, relieving pain, and reducing inflammation. This is Radix Sophorae Flavescentis. It is hot in nature and has the effect of boosting Qi and blood and prolonging life. This is Full Moon Flower. It is neutral in nature and acts as a medicinal guide to harmonize these two herbs. The refining ratio is 3:2:1, meaning 3 stalks of Azure Spirit Grass, 2 Radix Sophorae Flavescentis, and 1 Full Moon Flower can refine one Bruise-Healing Pill. If you find it bitter, you can add some honey, but not too much.”

System: OOC…

Mo Jiu: Is it wrong for me to want to add honey?

System: Fine.

“I’m accustomed to coating the outside of pills with a layer of honey. Even though you don’t need to chew them when consuming them, and can swallow them whole, a sweet outer layer is better than a bitterness that’s impossible to swallow,” Mo Jiu said, sitting cross-legged in front of the pill furnace. “Now, I will refine one for you to watch. Only once, watch carefully.”

“Yes, Master!” Yun Wenzhou was eager to try.

Mo Jiu had dual Water and Wood spiritual roots. If the talent of the Water spiritual root was self-healing, the talent of the Wood spiritual root was the ability to distinguish the medicinal properties of various herbs.

Despite only arriving in this world yesterday, and not having fully grasped the Water Moon Sword Art, she instantly understood how to refine this type of pill as soon as she saw the Bruise-Healing Pill formula.

Speaking of which, in the previous world, she could control not only living things but also plants. She always wanted to find a piece of land to farm, but she never managed to settle in a good place until the very end…

Mo Jiu forced herself to stop reminiscing and focused on refining the pill.

Refining one Bruise-Healing Pill took a whole shichen, which is two hours.

Two hours later, Mo Jiu opened the pill furnace, allowing the pill inside to fly into her palm. She carefully examined its quality: “Grade two, upper-mid quality. Not bad. The quality of the herbs is low. No matter how good the refining technique, the grade has an upper limit. However, better herbs require a better furnace. The third-grade pill furnace is only good for refining this much.”

“Did you understand?” she asked Yun Wenzhou.

“Replying to Master, I understood. Wenzhou will begin refining immediately! However…” Yun Wenzhou hesitated before asking, “If I fail to refine it and waste Master’s herbs…”

“Then you will be struck by me dozens of times more.” Mo Jiu stood up. “In one shichen, I expect to see the finished Bruise-Healing Pill.”

“Yes!”

Mo Jiu stayed in her room for one shichen, studying a few more formulas.

Nascent Soul Pills and Qi Nourishing Pills could also be refined by oneself, but finding the herbs and refining the pills took a lot of time and effort. Spending a few days to refine one Qi Nourishing Pill was less worthwhile than spending those few days entirely on cultivation, unless one was inherently a Pill Cultivator.

Mo Jiu was considered a dual Sword and Pill Cultivator; both practicing the sword and refining pills could increase her cultivation.

Yun Wenzhou and Ye Lan were both pure Sword Cultivators, at least for now.

After all, the Moon Splendor Immortal Sect was a Sword Cultivation sect.

One shichen later, Mo Jiu came out to check and found that Yun Wenzhou had already refined six pills.

Huh?

Wait a minute?

Shouldn’t she only be able to refine one in one shichen?

Did she increase the number of pills per batch by increasing the amount of ingredients?

But that should take longer, shouldn’t it?

Mo Jiu pulled the six pills into her palm to verify them, unwilling to believe it. All of them were Grade Two, upper quality.

Mo Jiu: “…”

Mo Jiu: Arrogance, I need comfort.

System: What’s wrong?

Mo Jiu: She is a first-time refiner, right?

System: Yes.

Mo Jiu: Why can she refine six pills of higher quality in the same amount of time?

System: Because she is a genius.

Mo Jiu: You are kicking me while I’m down.

System: No, this is a setting. The villain Yun Wenzhou, pure Water spiritual root, cultivates twice as fast as you. A pure spiritual root is a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Her cultivation talent is above yours, and she cultivates twice as fast as you.

Mo Jiu: The ‘cultivates twice as fast as me’ part did not need to be emphasized twice!

System: She is intelligent. Refining pills and artifacts is easy for her. There’s no skill she can’t learn by watching once. But precisely because she is a genius, she rarely fails, which is why she is so resentful of Ye Lan’s existence.

Mo Jiu: The Genius Beauty meets her Lifelong Nemesis.

System: That’s right.

Mo Jiu: I must say, I have good taste. Both of my disciples are more formidable than the last.

System: “…”

Mo Jiu placed the six pills back in their original spot and said coldly: “If you can refine them this quickly, then refine sixty more. I only want the twenty highest quality ones from the batch.”

Actually, the quality of this batch is already very high… But precisely because it’s too high, I have no reason to refuse them, so this is the only way.

Refine a few more for yourself to carry.

“Yes, Master.” Yun Wenzhou curved her lips, feeling very pleased.

Mo Jiu didn’t know why she was pleased. Had she fallen in love with pill refining?

But at least, they passed the System’s check.

System: Forcing the villain to refine pills for you, gained 10 reward points.

Yun Wenzhou spent an entire day refining the sixty pills.

By the time she finished, it was late at night.

There was no sound from Master’s room. She might have retired for the night.

Although Master said to just leave the finished pills outside her door, but…

If I go in now, maybe I can see Master sleeping in bed.

What am I thinking!

Yun Wenzhou shook her head, placing the medicine bottle containing the twenty Bruise-Healing Pills outside Master’s room door.

I wonder if Master takes off her clothes when she sleeps.

Stop! Don’t think about it!

It’s just thinking. Why panic? Not everyone has the ability to read inner thoughts.

It’s too exhausting to have to regulate what you think in your own head. Do you really believe the Will of the Heavens can judge everything?

Whether It even exists is a question.

Yun Wenzhou pursed her lips, resolutely turned her back to the door, determined not to take advantage of the situation, and inwardly rebuked her Heart Devil—What does the Will of the Heavens have to do with it? I’m not going in, not because I fear the Will of the Heavens, but because I respect Master. I genuinely love Master, so I don’t want to do anything that might hurt her.

To say you love someone while hurting them, is that what a demon does?

If so, I would rather kill myself than fall into the Demonic Path!

So contradictory. If you truly aren’t afraid of death, why are you afraid to confess your feelings to Master?

Perhaps Master likes you too. Perhaps you had a chance to be together, but because of your obstinance, you make her sad and disappointed. Who is truly hurting her?

This… this…

Yun Wenzhou stopped walking.

Yes. The reason the Heart Devil appeared, in the final analysis, wasn’t because she loved Master, but because she felt this love shouldn’t exist.

If Master accepted this love and acknowledged its legitimacy, dissolving the self-reproach and guilt in her heart, the Heart Devil could also be resolved.

And even if Master chose to refuse… at least Master would know.

If Master allowed her to stay on Water Moon Peak, she would have the opportunity to harden her heart and cut off all affection.

If Master drove her away, at that point, whether she cultivated immortality or the demonic path would make no difference to her.

But a direct confession had too low a chance of success. It would be better to…

“I’m going to seduce Master.” Yun Wenzhou made a firm decision.

Heart Devil: “…Huh?”

The next day, Mo Jiu woke up early, for no other reason than to practice her sword!

As the Great Elder of the Moon Splendor Immortal Sect and the Peak Master of Water Moon Peak, wouldn’t it be a laughing stock if she couldn’t even properly use the Water Moon Sword Art she created?

So Mo Jiu asked the System to wake her up after Yun Wenzhou left. She was going to seriously practice her sword!

The System only talked about Yun Wenzhou’s high talent, but Mo Jiu’s talent was also not bad.

Keep in mind that in this world, and with this body, she took over halfway through. With only a rudimentary understanding of Xianxia settings, she instinctively knew how to fly on a sword, she could refine pills after looking at a formula once, and as for the Water Moon Sword Art, she only needed a chance to practice it. It was already fully integrated into her mind.

So, in the early morning, in the beautiful garden, on the flat clearing, the ageless beauty smoothly wielded her sword. Every move was as natural as flowing water, without any hesitation.

She spun and flew up at times, and landed lightly at others. Her skirt billowed, like an agile butterfly.

As she danced with the sword, water vapor condensed around her, moving with her like flowing sashes. The moisture spread, and the surrounding plants grew, flowers blooming in competition.

Water feeds Wood. Her Water Golden Core boosted the spiritual energy emitted by her Wood Golden Core, benefiting all the surrounding flora.

After completing the set, Mo Jiu ended with a cool pose and asked the System in her mind: How was it?

“Master’s Water Moon Sword Art combines both practicality and aesthetic appeal. Watching Master dance with her sword is like witnessing a Celestial Fairy descending. It is truly too beautiful! So beautiful that the surrounding flowers dim in comparison.”

The System would never say such a thing.

Mo Jiu followed the voice and saw Yun Wenzhou’s face.

Yun Wenzhou bowed only after meeting her gaze: “Master, Wenzhou failed to finish refining the pills Master needed before you retired yesterday. I have come to beg for punishment today.”

Mo Jiu looked at her suspiciously, feeling that her demeanor had changed a little.

How to describe it? More confident?

Or… more aggressive?

It was like the transformation of the previous world’s Yun Wenzhou from having no ability to awakening her ability.

…Why am I thinking about her again?

Mo Jiu sighed inwardly, forcing an indifferent expression: “Who allowed you to peek at your Master practicing her sword?”

“Please punish me, Master,” Yun Wenzhou replied quickly. “Wenzhou came here to beg for punishment anyway. Please punish this offense together.”

Mo Jiu figured Yun Wenzhou’s injuries should be mostly healed, and her meridians could undergo the second round of clearing. She nodded and said: “Very well. Then take them off.”

“Yes, Master!” Yun Wenzhou untied her belt, then walked toward the clearing while slipping off her outer robe, but she tripped on her own clothes mid-way and fell forward with an “oops.”

In that instant, Mo Jiu skipped the thinking step. It was pure instinct—she quickly raised a hand and wrapped it around her waist.

Yun Wenzhou stumbled two steps and crashed into Mo Jiu’s arms. She let her outer robe slip from her shoulders, revealing her inner garment, which covered almost nothing.

“Thank you, Master,” she said with a flushed face, her voice barely a whisper.

Mo Jiu frowned slightly, feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Is she trying to seduce me?

How could that be.

But the fact that I like women seems to be the same in every world.

So I can’t…

Mo Jiu abruptly pushed the person in her arms away, coldly criticizing: “Stand steady before you take off your clothes. Don’t take them off while walking. Are you that impatient?”

Yun Wenzhou fell to the ground, then propped herself up with both hands on the grass, breathing heavily: “Is Master going to whip me again? Could you perhaps hang me up, or tie me to something? Because…”

She tried to stand, but fell again after a few steps: “Wenzhou’s legs are inconvenient today. I can’t stand to receive punishment… I have disappointed Master again.”

Inconvenient legs?

Is it because she was sitting and refining pills all day yesterday, causing her legs to go numb?

[But she was fine just a moment ago?

Mo Jiu looked down at Yun Wenzhou on the ground, frowning twice and sighing three times. Finally, she knelt down in front of her, took her wrist, and checked her pulse.

Although she had never checked a pulse before, she clearly knew what different pulses represented.

Just like in the previous world, even though she had never cooked before, she clearly knew how to make food delicious.

Many things, even if her mind didn’t remember them, her body still did.

This pulse is…

Poisoned.

The poison is…

An aphrodisiac.

Mo Jiu: “…”

“You are poisoned. Someone gave you an aphrodisiac. Can you remember who did it?”

She was going to kill that bastard!

“Ah, that… I gave it… to myself.” Yun Wenzhou responded breathlessly.

What…

Mo Jiu stared blankly at Yun Wenzhou, unable to react for a long time.

What does that mean?

Giving herself an aphrodisiac, and then coming here to beg for punishment… What does that mean?

“That way, being whipped won’t hurt so much…” Yun Wenzhou curved her lips, smiling pleasurably and contentedly. “Please, Master, punish me.”