The Beautiful Demon Lord’s Disciple Won’t Pretend Anymore - Chapter 1

Xu Chengbi had never imagined that the first thing he would see after being sucked into a bizarre white light would be a murder.

An overwhelming red glow flooded his vision, stinging his eyes. Before he could even realize where he was, the sword in his hand plunged into the abdomen of the person dressed in white before him.

Warm blood splattered across Xu Chengbi’s face, the rhythmic dripping sound pounding in his ears. He widened his eyes in shock, his heart hammering violently against his ribs. Blood rushed to his head, and a mixture of surprise and terror washed over his sanity. Then, in his trembling pupils, he caught the reflection of a face that was stunningly refined and beautiful, yet unable to hide the pain it was enduring.

…This was the most beautiful person Xu Chengbi had ever seen.

This person possessed an androgynous face with porcelain-white skin, delicate eyebrows, and lips as red as cinnabar. Their hair was snow-white, cascading down like a waterfall, bound at the nape of the neck by a black silk ribbon. Although there was still a trace of pain on their face after being wounded by Xu Chengbi, their eyes remained clear and pure—seemingly sorrowful and compassionate, yet upon closer inspection, they appeared entirely devoid of emotion. The person just cast a cold, detached glance at Xu Chengbi, before gripping his wrist and pulling the sword out of their own abdomen.

Xu Chengbi could almost hear the sickening sound of the sharp blade scraping against flesh, transforming into a sharp thorn that pierced his heart, bit by bit.

“I am sorry…”

Overcome by extreme guilt, pain caused Xu Chengbi’s knees to buckle, and he collapsed in front of the person. A chaotic blackness surged before his eyes again. Before he could hear a reply, everyone around him vanished. In a daze, he felt the weightlessness of a rapid descent, followed by his back slamming hard against the ground. It felt as if his body were being dismantled and rebuilt. Eerie electricity, like a giant hand, instantly tore through the surrounding darkness, surging into his limbs and bones. He opened his mouth, wanting to scream from the pain, but all that came out was the wailing of an infant. Then, his vision went black once more, and he lost consciousness.

This was all the memory Xu Chengbi had of arriving in this world.

At this moment, he was sitting on the ground, covered in dirt. The dust kicked up by the electrical discharge made his already less-than-luxurious clothing even more wretched.

It took him an entire day and night of mental preparation to accept his situation: he had gone from a vibrant university student who had just opened an app to someone who had transmigrated into a nameless novel. He slowly stood up, only to nearly fall again because his legs were stiff from sitting for so long.

After brushing the dirt off, Xu Chengbi frowned and tugged at his complicated ancient robes, barely managing to cover his vital parts. He then picked up his phone and checked the time.

10:30.

This time was neither here nor there.

Xu Chengbi touched his empty stomach, looked around, and discovered that within a two-square-meter radius, aside from a translucent barrier, there was a jagged stone slab standing not too far away, with two characters carved into it with powerful strokes.

“Forbidden Land.”

Holy crap, had he transmigrated into a big demon lord locked in a forbidden area?!

A sense of “middle-school” excitement initially appeared on Xu Chengbi’s face, but it was quickly suppressed by the loneliness of being in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps because of the transmigration, he didn’t feel very hungry, but the suffocating sensation of being trapped here began to creep in through the air, pressing down on him until he could barely contain his irritability.

He had to find a way to break this damned barrier, get out, and then figure out how to return to his own world.

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he unconsciously twitched his palm, as if contemplating how to manipulate spiritual energy. Soon, a small teal flame sprouted from his hand.

It was warm, and in the center, there seemed to be the image of a lotus flower swirling.

Xu Chengbi was startled. Years of “don’t play with fire” social education made him cry out first, sounding quite heart-wrenching when heard closely.

“It’s, it’s on fire!”

The panic in his eyes was almost overflowing. He jumped up and down like a monkey, shaking his hand violently as if trying to fling the flame away, nearly dislocating his own wrist in the process.

The flame, seemingly aware of its owner’s rejection, wilted, flickered without wind, and then slowly extinguished itself in a sulk.

Xu Chengbi: “…”

He looked at his palm with lingering fear, only to be surprised to find that it was clean, aside from the dirt showing his plight as a fallen demon lord. There wasn’t even a trace of a burn.

Next, the calmed-down Xu Chengbi had a flash of inspiration, thinking that this might be the spiritual energy he needed to escape. But no matter how he tried to summon that little flame again, it refused to appear.

Xu Chengbi was sweating profusely, and eventually, having no other choice, he sat down, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and wondered in despair if he was destined to die of old age in this dump.

That couldn’t be right, could it? Surely the protagonist of a story wouldn’t be treated like this, trapped in a forbidden area without any plot relevance, just a nameless lackey?!

Just as he was spiraling into despair, a whistling wind suddenly swept through the valley, kicking up fallen leaves and sounding like the mournful cries of some monster. However, his keen hearing allowed him to clearly catch the sound of footsteps approaching from the front of the valley.

One step, two steps.

Soon, the person arrived before him and looked down at him.

This was the first person Xu Chengbi had encountered since transmigrating. He was trembling with excitement and, having no time to determine if the person was a friend or foe, he rushed to the barrier and pounded on it, trying to get the person to let him out.

However, the person was startled by Xu Chengbi’s slightly ferocious expression and frantic movements. He backed away several steps, a look of extreme terror appearing on his face. He didn’t even think, but turned and ran, his blue and white robes fluttering as he quickly vanished from Xu Chengbi’s sight.

In less than ten minutes, Xu Chengbi had experienced the ups and downs of life.

He stared blankly at the person’s retreating figure, standing like a statue for a full minute. Once he finally reacted, he was so angry he could have screamed. He kicked the thin-film barrier trapping him with all his might, only to be repelled by a greater force. As he was being electrocuted into numbness, he was sent flying to the ground in the distance.

By the time he was thrown far away by the barrier, Xu Chengbi no longer wanted to struggle. He lay on his back like a dead dog, then flipped over and pulled out his phone, deciding to just rot there.

Fine, as long as he had his phone, he could stay here until the end of time.

He casually opened his novel app, wanting to figure out which book he had transmigrated into, only to find that nothing would load. He frowned, and after switching to mobile data and still being unable to see the page, he finally, slowly, realized.

Damn it, there’s no signal!

Xu Chengbi was completely speechless.

He leaned against the large stone behind him, not caring that it was dirty, and sat there quietly contemplating life—

He had done good deeds his whole life, so why the hell did he transmigrate into this ghost of a place?!

Just as Xu Chengbi was contemplating whether he should try to smash his head against the stone, kill himself, and see if he could respawn back home, the person who had run away earlier returned.

Only then did Xu Chengbi have the mood to observe him. He noticed the man had a plain appearance, darker skin, thick lips, and single eyelids, the type you’d never notice in a crowd.

He wore blue and white Taoist robes, which only made him look darker. He was clumsily holding bright red spiritual fruits in his arms, watching Xu Chengbi vigilantly as if he were some kind of terrifying beast. Because he had fled in such a panic earlier, he had dropped a few of the fruits.

Xu Chengbi, after his earlier ordeal, had already given up. He wanted to close his eyes and pretend not to see him, but soon, movement at his feet caught his attention.

He opened his eyes and saw the person perform some kind of hand seal, and then the spiritual fruits in his arms and on the ground began to float, easily passing through the barrier that had just felt like a steel wall, rolling to his feet.

Xu Chengbi: “…”

His eyes burned with intensity as he looked at the young Taoist, but he had learned his lesson and didn’t dare to startle him again. He just took a look at the boy, and without worrying about the dirt, picked up one of the spiritual fruits and took a bite.

It was the first time the little Taoist had seen Xu Chengbi willing to eat the fruits he brought, and a look of surprise flashed across his face, though he said nothing and turned to leave.

Over the next several days, this same young Taoist brought fruit to Xu Chengbi.

Perhaps Xu Chengbi’s cooperation had lowered the boy’s guard, for after delivering the fruit, he didn’t bolt away as he had before. Instead, he would linger and watch Xu Chengbi.

Playing with his phone.

Although Xu Chengbi’s phone couldn’t connect to the internet, it had several offline games installed. When the battery died, he would pull out a charger and plug it into the barrier, and surprisingly, it would charge the phone.

The little Taoist was both curious and amazed by the “magical artifact” in Xu Chengbi’s hand, often becoming so mesmerized watching Xu Chengbi play that he only rushed down the mountain once the allotted time had passed.

While playing games, Xu Chengbi chatted with the little Taoist as if it were nothing. Even when the boy didn’t answer, Xu Chengbi remained patient and even generously let him play.

After some hesitation, the little Taoist accepted and began playing two-player games with Xu Chengbi happily. It was then that Xu Chengbi realized the boy didn’t refuse to talk to him because he didn’t want to; he…

He couldn’t talk.

He was a mute and a low-level outer disciple. Because he was ostracized by his peers, he was assigned every day to deliver food to the demon lord, Xu Chengbi.

He used twigs to write on the ground to communicate with Xu Chengbi, who couldn’t fully understand the ancient script. He told him that he had been locked up here by the righteous Elder Qinghe after being reported to the Lingxiao Pavilion, the top sect in the cultivation world, for kidnapping many beauties.

“So that’s why.”

Xu Chengbi squatted on the ground for a long time, guessing until he finally understood the complex ancient characters. Realizing he had been forced to carry the reputation of a “lecher,” he felt extremely wronged and hated the person who had locked him up with a passion. However, on the surface, he had to maintain a pleasant demeanor:

“So, Elder Qinghe is the one who sealed me here?”

Wait until I get out, I’ll slice him to pieces!

Demon Lord Xu Chengbi smiled gently, but behind his mask, his molars were grinding in rage:

“What is his name? What does he look like?”

The little Taoist suddenly blushed and acted shy. After a long while, under Xu Chengbi’s urging, he wrote two characters on the ground, stroke by stroke.

Finally, to express his admiration, he drew a heart after the name and wrote two words in ancient script beside it—

“Hua Yao.”

“What does this say?”

Xu Chengbi thought to himself, Can’t you cultivation people just use simplified Chinese? He held back his temper and stared at the ghost-like script for a long time, finally saying hesitantly:

“His name is Hua Niu (Flower Girl)?”

A grown man with a name like that? Doesn’t he feel embarrassed?

Xu Chengbi muttered: “Sounds like a pretty boy.”

Unexpectedly, his words were overheard by the little Taoist. The boy became instantly agitated and angrily shoved Xu Chengbi. By the time Xu Chengbi reacted, the boy was already engulfed in violent teal flames. The little Taoist, who had just been chatting with him, was now opening his mouth, emitting a rapid, hoarse wheeze like a broken bellows, rolling on the ground in agony as he could not extinguish the blue fire consuming him.

Xu Chengbi was stunned. The anger he felt from being offended instantly extinguished. Realizing what was happening, he desperately looked for water to put out the fire, but this place was desolate and ruined; aside from no water, he couldn’t even find a third pair of clean underwear. He could only watch helplessly as the little Taoist’s face became distorted by the flames…

“Whoosh”

A pool of water, from who knows where, descended from the sky, instantly extinguishing the teal flames on the little Taoist.

Following the water, a pair of pristine white boots appeared, hovering in the air.

Xu Chengbi froze, his heart trembling lightly for no apparent reason. He looked up, and his pupils reflected a face he had once seen in his dreams.

“Since you have been sealed here, why stir up more trouble and harm the innocent?”

The person’s snow-white hair had turned into dark tresses. His beautiful phoenix eyes were slightly lowered, and his gaze remained indifferent, as if everything in the world, including Xu Chengbi, could not enter his eyes.

The rescued little Taoist saw him and let out two “woo-woo” sounds, crawling toward him. The joy and admiration in his eyes were exactly the same as when he had spoken of Elder Qinghe to Xu Chengbi earlier.

Seeing this, Xu Chengbi suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Realizing that the person in front of him was the culprit responsible for him being locked up, he sneered:

“So you’re the pretty boy, Hua Niu, who locked me in this place?”

“Why not just call you Niu-Niu? It rolls off the tongue better.”

As he finished speaking, the teal flames on his body rose in coordination with his hidden anger, threatening to break through the barrier.

Hua Yao’s eyebrows twitched at the insult, but his expression remained as calm as an ancient well. He slowly descended from the air and looked down at the furious Xu Chengbi, saying in a low voice after a moment:

“Now, it is you who kneels beneath me, subdued by me.”

He reached out, his fair, delicate fingertips lifting the chin of the shocked and wide-eyed Xu Chengbi, gripping it tightly. His tone was slow, but his gaze, fixed on Xu Chengbi, was cold enough to form ice shards:

“You need to learn some manners with me.”

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