The Cool and Aloof Immortal Master Has Fallen to the Demonic Path (Transmigration) - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The dark, oppressive clouds slowly descended, swallowing the last ray of light that reached the cave. Faint shadows flickered on the rough stone walls. A woman stood by the wall, her face in the prime of youth, yet her back was slightly hunched, showing signs of old age. She was curled up in a bizarre posture, with two pale green wings protruding from her back. Her face was contorted in pain.

The green light grew thicker, and the woman’s body gradually shrunk until she vanished without a trace.

Her brief life had lasted barely a day.

Tomorrow, she would be reborn again.

She was a demon, an ephemera demon.

No, she couldn’t even truly be considered a demon; she was just one of countless ordinary ephemera, waking up daily with the rosy glow of dawn and dying under the starry night sky, in a continuous cycle.

But a month ago, she was a normal human. Yi Hu felt there couldn’t be a more unlucky transmigrator than her. She woke up to find herself an ephemera, with no “golden finger” (special ability), unable to escape the destiny of being born at dawn and dying at dusk, and unable to break free from the ephemera’s body, dying and being reborn again and again.

If there was one difference, it was thanks to her previous life: she had her memories and could transform into human form. But dying repeatedly while fully conscious was the most terrifying part. She could clearly remember this was her thirtieth death. The pain of every near-death experience was etched onto her fragile, delicate bones. She feared the darkness but also looked forward to being reborn.

No one wants to die.

She was an orphan in her previous life. Despite her difficult circumstances, she had worked hard step by step until she achieved success and had just bought a house of her own. Yet, at that moment, she turned into an ephemera.

Yi Hu couldn’t help but wonder why the Heavens could be so unfair.

Yi Hu believed she had never done anything immoral. At most, she had been following a Xianxia (Immortal Hero) cultivation GL (Girls’ Love) sweet novel. The author had promised a sweet story, but then set up a plotline where the female lead’s Master was bewitched and fell into the demonic path. The Master, who was the pure “white moonlight” early on, later single-handedly slaughtered the entire sect and nearly killed both female leads. Yi Hu was so furious while reading that she swore at the author a couple of times.

If swearing was the reason for this ordeal, was it too late to take it back now?

Yi Hu knew this was fanciful thinking, but this life was undeniably painful. No one could accept waking up one day to become a monster. She was just an ordinary person, and she was no exception, especially since she had become an ephemera.

During the period when her ephemera body was in the throes of death, Yi Hu suffered immensely. She was conscious but couldn’t move, as if trapped in a narrow black box with only endless darkness for company. All she could do was wait—wait for another rebirth.

The sky began to show the white of a fish’s belly. A faint light had begun to seep out, laying a layer of pale golden light over the earth. Streaks of light shone into the cave, bringing a small amount of brightness. Yi Hu welcomed her thirtieth rebirth.

She shook the pale green wings behind her, shedding her tiny form and acquiring slender, soft legs. Her jade-white skin looked crystal clear, indistinguishable from a human’s. She wore a light lake-green gauze dress, seemingly materialized from the ephemera’s exoskeleton.

As she could transform from an object, she should be considered a demon. Unfortunately, she knew nothing about this place, or her own situation. If she hadn’t seen a person in white robes cleave a mountain with his bare hands, she wouldn’t even know she had transmigrated into a cultivation world. She was simply repeating death and rebirth. If the process of an ephemera’s death wasn’t swift enough—if the period of pain wasn’t so brief each day—she likely wouldn’t be able to endure this repetition.

She walked out of the cave. Being touched by the faint light, she immediately felt her breathing grow difficult. Her human body couldn’t leave that cave. She had tried countless times, only to face failure. It seemed to cut off all possibilities of self-rescue.

Yi Hu stubbornly tried to walk forward again. After only two steps, her body felt crushed by a thousand-pound boulder. Her legs buckled under the unbearable weight, and the two pale green wings on her back appeared. Yi Hu felt a sweet, metallic taste surge up her throat, and a mouthful of bright red blood dropped to the ground, staining a small patch of soil.

It was the same every day. Walking this far was her limit. She had tried transforming into her ephemera form to see if she could leave, but maintaining any shape was entirely out of her control.

Her daily, repetitive life was dull, agonizing, and inescapable. She could only walk this far. In this short time, the sky outside had fully brightened. As the light densely fell, Yi Hu suddenly widened her eyes and saw a patch of white in the distance. She hastily retreated into the cave, wiped the remaining blood from her lips against the stone wall, and positioned her body against the wall to avoid the light shining in.

A loud “Bang!” The soil beneath her feet trembled slightly. Before it could settle, there was another “Bang!”

Yi Hu cautiously poked half her body out. Her vision finally caught the white robe. The White Robe was the first person—or perhaps non-person—she had seen since she came here.

The White Robe was a middle-aged man with a short, rough beard, not at all like an immortal. His skin was dark, and the whites of his eyes were visible, indicating he was blind. Yi Hu didn’t know him and had never greeted him. She only called him the White Robe because he wore white every time. He came almost daily, standing about ten meters outside the cave entrance. He would form hand seals, and streaks of white light, like long swords, would cleave toward the mouth of the cave. Her unimpeded cave entrance seemed to have an invisible shield, blocking the white blades repeatedly.

At first, Yi Hu was shocked, but after watching it many times, she lost interest. He couldn’t break the cave, and she couldn’t leave it. All she could do was hide from him. Yi Hu had considered asking the White Robe for help, but she had her suspicions. The White Robe came repeatedly just to attack the mountain, a horrifying display day after day, yet he never broke through. Furthermore, she could enter and exit this place freely, but he couldn’t get in. There was definitely something amiss. She couldn’t be certain the White Robe could save her.

This time was different from before. The White Robe actually walked into the cave. Yi Hu looked closely and noticed a grey-green bead in his hand. The bead emitted a faint green light that encircled his body like a wave. As he approached, a few gray arrows drifted out of the cave entrance, rushing toward the White Robe. The bead in his hand glowed brighter. The gray arrows collided with the green light and vanished before her eyes. Suddenly, the green light intensified, but the hand holding the bead was trembling, looking like he could barely hold onto it. Yet, he was getting closer to the entrance.

“Eh!” He suddenly accelerated. Yi Hu didn’t pull her head back in time, and her eyes met his directly. The White Robe let out a surprised sound.

He saw her!

He wasn’t blind, but what kind of eyes were those!

Could it be that he really wasn’t human, but a demon?

Yi Hu didn’t dare to look anymore. Her back pressed against the stone wall, cold sweat breaking out. Her lips trembled slightly, and she bit her lower lip, the scene of their brief eye contact repeatedly surfacing in her mind. From a distance, she couldn’t see clearly, but now she had gotten a good look. His eyes were too pale, almost grey-white. His face was also pale, yet his skin was dark, making his entire head look grafted on. There was also a scar at the corner of his eye, and his gaze when looking at people was sinister and terrifying.

Yi Hu was terrified, feeling that not asking him for help initially was the absolutely correct decision. He didn’t look like anything benevolent.

She clung tightly to the stone wall, unable to see what was happening outside, only hearing the sound fade until it completely disappeared. Only then did Yi Hu dare to poke her head out again. The White Robe looked as though he had been knocked flying. His shoulder was pierced, and blood was gushing out, yet his eyes were fixed on the cave entrance. When Yi Hu poked her head out, he immediately spotted her.

He grinned: “Sure enough, someone is here!”

Being stared at by those eyes made Yi Hu feel a prickling sensation on her back. She shrank back, her body stiff, not daring to move easily. She took a deep breath, her raven-black eyelashes dampened with sweat.

This world was different from her former one. The fear of the unknown felt like a caterpillar crawling into her heart. She nervously wiggled her toes, pressing her body tighter against the stone wall, hoping to completely conceal herself.

Unfortunately, the person outside had already seen her. His voice drifted clearly into her ears, as if from a distant place: “A member of the Ancient Spirit Clan? Are you the Cultivation Spirit Flower or the Saint Spirit Flower?”

“I didn’t expect the Ancient Spirit Clan to still have remnants!”

Ancient Spirit Clan? Cultivation Spirit Flower? Saint Spirit Flower… it sounded familiar.

Yi Hu cycled through the related terms in her mind and finally remembered. This was from the Xianxia GL sweet novel she had read, part of the author’s world-building. The full name was the Ancient Spirit Twin-Birth Clan, who guarded a mirror capable of viewing reincarnation (Wangxian Mirror). Their reproduction relied on feeding the young flower with the blood of the previous generation. They were often connected as twins, their lives intertwined.

The Saint Spirit Flower represented holiness, and the Cultivation Spirit Flower represented evil. If one sister withered, the other would also be destroyed.

The Ancient Spirit Twin-Births came and went together, never surviving alone.

Because they were immortals transformed from spiritual medicine, every member of the Ancient Spirit Clan was considered an excellent cauldron (for cultivation) and tonic, and they also possessed the supreme treasure of the Wangxian Mirror. Thus, they were hunted down by the Demonic Sect. The novel started with very few of them remaining alive. This was a relatively novel part of the author’s setting. She had initially thought the female lead would be from the Ancient Spirit Clan, but unexpectedly, the author seemed to have forgotten this plotline later on, with very little mention of it afterward, and no successful revenge.

Grey-white eyes, a head that looked grafted on…

Yi Hu finally remembered a person: Yun Dongyue, the elder of the Demonic Sect who had led the siege against the Ancient Spirit Clan back then. The Ancient Spirit Clan’s clan leader and her sister had self-immolated their spiritual essence, injuring both of Yun Dongyue’s eyes and causing severe burns. Though he was rescued, he was left looking neither human nor ghost.

He was Yun Dongyue. He truly was not a good person.

Yi Hu felt fortunate about her intuition. It was a good thing she hadn’t sought help from him. Falling into his hands would undoubtedly be ten thousand times worse than being an ephemera.

“Little girl, come out. I won’t hurt you.” He finished his words with two sinister, grating laughs.

With that kind of eerie laughter, she’d be crazy to go out.

Yi Hu stretched out her hand and braced herself against the stone wall. Brushing past a sharp point, a cut opened on her palm. Blood gushed out, but she didn’t care about the pain. She even instinctively grasped the protruding section more tightly. She feared Yun Dongyue, the pervert described in the book, who was known to eat people and consume demons.

If she fell into his hands, she might well have her limbs chopped off and be cooked for food.

Yi Hu was terrified, not daring to make a sound. She could only hope that Yun Dongyue couldn’t enter this place.

“Boom.” Yi Hu felt as if a bolt of thunder had struck next to her, causing her ears to ring. Her limbs instantly became uncontrollable. She was being pulled forward by an invisible thread, her head bowed, her feet moving involuntarily toward the outside. As expected, she had just been hit by Yun Dongyue’s soul-capturing technique. Though she was still conscious, her body was no longer her own.

He couldn’t come in, but she could go out.

Other transmigrators conquer the world, but she had transmigrated only to become a meal on a plate. She really was a jinx!

She was getting closer. She only regretted that the cave had no restrictions on her. If Yun Dongyue couldn’t enter, it would be better if she couldn’t leave.

She could not fall into Yun Dongyue’s hands. She could not!

Yi Hu’s conscious mind fought to break free, but her rigid limbs moved forward uncontrollably. She finally walked out of the cave, completely exposed to Yun Dongyue’s view. He cracked a smile, and the blood hanging by his mouth surged out. The thick blood slowly trailed down, making his already hideous and strange face look even more terrifying and sinister.

He was injured, but she was still powerless to resist.

Yi Hu’s will to resist was slowly fading when she suddenly heard a clear, cold female voice: “Stop!”