The False Young Master Married the Demon Lord on a Flash Marriage (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 1

“Would you be interested in… entering a Daoist partner contract with me?”

Today is the final day of Shi Li’s life. He knows this clearly because it is execution day. As the young master of the Changming Sect, Shi Li has been ordered by the Sect Leader himself to be captured, brought to the Altar of Judgment, and executed.

Shi Li stands on the Altar of Judgment in blood-stained robes. Behind him lies a bottomless abyss; around him are familiar faces turned hostile. On the high platform stands the Changming Sect Leader, Yan Moxia. The summer sun is too glaring, blinding Shi Li to the Sect Leader’s expression, though he assumes it must be one of cold indifference and disdain.

He truly doesn’t know how things reached this point, but it no longer matters.

“No wonder our young sect master is a good-for-nothing who couldn’t form a core no matter how much he cultivated,” a fellow disciple sneered. “Turns out he was a fake all along.”

“Indeed, what a waste of the Sect Leader’s efforts!”

“Fortunately, the real young master has been brought back. To think this imposter actually tried to assassinate the Sect Leader out of spite—talk about courting death.”

Shi Li listens, his eyes devoid of emotion.

The executioner raises the Soul-Devouring Whip high: “Impersonating the young master and attempting to assassinate the Sect Leader—your crimes are unforgivable. Do you have any last words?”

“Nothing to say,” Shi Li says, looking toward Yan Moxia and flashing a careless, light smile, as if asking the Sect Leader if he was satisfied. “Proceed according to sect law.”

Three lashes are struck, breaking Shi Li’s spine and shattering his spirit roots, ensuring he can never cultivate again. He collapses, his long hair matted with blood, yet he continues to stare at the high platform without a single groan.

Seeing the wreckage of the once-favored young master, some disciples are fearful, others secretly delighted. The Sect Leader’s “real” young master, dressed in pristine white, stands beside Yan Moxia, his expression filled with false mercy. “Sect Leader, don’t take his life. Why not… leave him to me?”

Shi Li swallows the blood rising in his throat and forces himself to stand. Yan Moxia thinks he has something to say, but Shi Li remains silent, simply staring at him. In that gaze, Yan Moxia finally realizes Shi Li’s true intent and roars: “Stop him!”

It is too late. Shi Li leaps into the Wanyou Valley.

In the depths of the valley, thick white fog swirls like clouds and water. Shi Li loses consciousness as he falls, his consciousness drifting into a dreamscape.

Am I dead? he wonders groggily.

A child’s voice echoes through the mist: “Shi Li leaps into the Wanyou Valley, coinciding with the Demon Lord’s tribulation… the Demon Lord fails his tribulation and, in his frenzy, consumes Shi Li. Good, that concludes Shi Li’s story. Next is…”

Shi Li follows the voice to a great tree. A child in white sits on a boulder, drawing in the mud with a twig. Shi Li notices the child’s features resemble his own. A breeze blows, erasing the lines the child drew about Shi Li’s death. The child looks up, smiles, and taps Shi Li between the brows: “So it was you.”

Then, the child vanishes, and Shi Li is expelled from the dream.

Shi Li wakes on the valley floor. The whip wounds on his back are agony, but he forces himself up. The night sky is filled with dark clouds, purple lightning, and suffocating demonic pressure.

He remembers the child’s words the Demon Lord is here, and he is fated to die at his hands. Even if he avoids the Demon Lord, his injuries make survival impossible.

As he contemplates this, the Demon Lord finds him.

Jun Yanye, the Demon Lord, has failed his tribulation and is severely injured, starving for human soul and flesh to recover. He is five thousand years old, possessing peerless power and a youthful, peerless, cold, and cruel beauty.

Shi Li, seeing no way out, decides to perform one last divination. For two hundred years, he studied divination but was always considered talentless until now. His mind clears, and the hexagram manifests instantly: Qian Gua, Nine-Five.

The dragon flies in the sky; it is advantageous to meet a great person.

There is still a chance.

As Jun Yanye closes in, Shi Li calmly places a hand on the Demon Lord’s shoulder: “Wait. Don’t be in such a rush to kill. I find you quite pleasing to the eye; would you be interested in… entering a Daoist partner contract with me?”

Jun Yanye is stunned. He is the most powerful demon in the world, yet a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator dares to proposition him?

“Enter a contract with me, and we both live. Otherwise, your energy, damaged by the tribulation, won’t last three days.”

“Continue,” Jun Yanye commands.

“I have a Fire Root; you have a Water Root. If we borrow wood-elemental energy for dual cultivation, we can restore our internal energy, and the partner contract will maximize the effect. I can calculate the perfect time and place.”

Jun Yanye probes Shi Li’s pulse. “Your spirit roots are shattered. How can you dual cultivate?”

“Even with broken roots, I am a Foundation Establishment cultivator. I can help circulate your energy,” Shi Li says, his eyes curving like a fox’s. “Besides, maybe dual cultivation will repair my roots? With your cultivation level, it’s not impossible.”

Jun Yanye is silent. The logic holds.

“Also, after the contract, your primordial spirit can rest in my sea of consciousness. Is that enough sincerity for you, Demon Lord?”

It is indeed.

“Two questions,” Jun Yanye says. “Who are you? Why are you in Wanyou Valley?”

“The young master of Changming Sect… no, the former young master—Shi Li.”

Jun Yanye blinks. “The good-for-nothing imposter who tried to assassinate the Sect Leader?”

“Yes, that’s me. Any problems?” Shi Li asks, his expression unashamed. He smiles and tugs at the Demon Lord’s sleeve. “A ruthless villain like me should be a match for the Demon Lord, shouldn’t I?”

Jun Yanye is taken aback by his candidness.

“Shi Li, I agree to the contract,” Jun Yanye says. “If I recover, I will let you leave. If I do not… you know the consequences.”