The Villainous Demon Lord’s Handbook for Success: Rebirth - Chapter 11

Ning Fuyi felt as if she were pinned to the spot, staring at the terrifying scene before her. Bubbles were gushing out incessantly, nearly submerging the entire Holy Celestial Sundial. Some drifted into the air, surging toward the crowd, where younger disciples reached out to poke them out of curiosity.

In her previous life, Ning Fuyi had lived for many years and experienced all sorts of horrors, yet she had never seen a sight quite this alarming. It frightened her so much that her face darkened, and she let slip a string of unmentionable curses.

Setting aside the fact that she had actually achieved a breakthrough, she was the Great Demon Lord of the Four Seas and Eight Desolations; she was one who summoned thunder from above and evil spirits from below, revered by millions of demonic cultivators. If they ever found out she had summoned a pile of ghostly pink trinkets like this, how could she ever maintain her prestige in the Demon Realm?

It was embarrassing, truly too embarrassing.

“This,” the elders were also tongue-tied, losing their composure for a moment. Finally, Rong Jin snapped out of it, stroking forward into the pile of bubbles and waving them aside.

“Ning Fuyi, Mortal Realm!” His voice was laced with undisguised joy.

“As for the element,” he stared at the bubbles for a long time, momentarily speechless.

Generally speaking, the five major elements of Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, and Wood were very easy to judge. Although everyone’s manifestation differed and could sometimes be unconventional, they could usually be categorized. But these bubbling pink spheres were far too旖旎—far too evocative.

Elder Pingyao was the first to regain her calm. With a gentle wave of her hand, the hall full of bubbles vanished. She walked to the sundial with her hands behind her back, stroking her chin in thought for a moment.

“Let’s tentatively count it as Water,” she said with some difficulty. She then looked at the motionless Ning Fuyi. “You did break through to the Mortal Realm, however. That is progress.”

“Do not waste time. Next,” she said, quickly averting her gaze and returning to her strict demeanor.

Under Elder Pingyao’s efforts, order was gradually restored to the hall, but many disciples remained immersed in the previous scene, bowing their heads and whispering.

“Ning Fuyi actually broke through the Mortal Realm. I thought she’d stay at the Initial Realm her whole life,” someone whispered.

“Yeah, it’s truly incredible. Could it be that the former Sect Leader’s passing hit her so hard it spurred her to work harder?”

“Who knows? But what kind of element was that? It didn’t look like Water magic to me at all,” another said, craning their neck.

Ning Fuyi sat back in her seat with stiff legs, ignoring the whispers. She tried her best to forget the bubbles and fell into confusion instead. One must know that in her previous life, she had remained at the Initial Realm until the moment she fell into the demonic path. Back then, she had fought desperately to cultivate to no avail, so why, upon being reborn, did she break through instantly?

It was a truly bizarre affair.

However, seeing Li Chao’an’s infuriated expression nearby gave her a sense of gratification. If increasing her cultivation could make someone she loathed that angry, then it was worth it.

Even though she would eventually become a demon anyway, which was a bit of a pity.

“Yiyi, Yiyi!” Liu Wenzhu’s shaking broke her train of thought. The girl seemed even happier than she was; she was so excited that her usually meticulous hair was fluttering. “You broke through to the Mortal Realm! We might actually be able to go to Mount Zhaoyang together!”

It was only the Mortal Realm. Even with a breakthrough, she was but a drop in the ocean in this world of gifted cultivators, and she wouldn’t be looked up to by anyone. To Ning Fuyi, it was no different from being in the Initial Realm.

But seeing Liu Wenzhu’s sparkling eyes, the wet blanket Ning Fuyi was about to throw stayed on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed it back down.

“Yeah, maybe,” Ning Fuyi smiled.

The events that followed were much the same as she remembered from her previous life. Liu Wenzhu had already reached the Awakening Realm with a Fire element. As soon as her blood dropped, a majestic fire dragon surged from the mirror with a long roar, drawing gasps of admiration.

Afterward, Liu Wenzhu walked down with a flushed, delicate face, her steps as light as a willow in the wind.

The only difference was that near the end, Qiu Yi walked in. According to Elder Pingyao, she had followed Chu Qingqiu into the Yunjisun Sect and would be cultivating with them from now on.

As Chu Qingqiu’s only disciple, she did not disappoint her master. She possessed the same Wind element as Chu Qingqiu and had already attained the Bright Realm, which was the same level as Li Chao’an.

As the evening breeze drifted and the setting sun turned to molten gold, the day’s Immortal Bestowal finally ended. The Sect Leader and elders departed first, and the disciples finally breathed a sigh of relief, noisily heading out of Xuanliang Court in groups.

Ning Fuyi and Liu Wenzhu stepped over the threshold with the crowd. Rong Jin was waiting for them at the door, placing a small box of rouge into each of their hands.

“Senior Brother Rong Jin, you’ve made a new rouge?” Liu Wenzhu smiled as she opened the lid, leaning in to take a deep breath and closing her eyes in delight. “This time it’s osmanthus-scented.”

“More than that. If you smell closely, there’s jasmine as well,” Rong Jin smiled gently. “For Yiyi’s, I added some dragon bone. I heard her say she hasn’t been sleeping well lately, so I hope it helps.”

“The color is beautiful too. Thank you, Senior Brother,” Liu Wenzhu said, dabbing a bit onto her hand.

Ning Fuyi lowered her head to sniff it too. The crisp floral scent made her feel a bit dazed. These were the kinds of days she used to dream of when she was trapped in the demon abyss, waking up in the middle of the night with longing. Now that they were actually happening again, it felt like a fleeting dream.

“Does Yiyi like it?” Rong Jin rubbed his hands nervously.

“I like it,” Ning Fuyi broke into a smile, carefully tucking the rouge into her sleeve.

“I’m glad. On my trip to Mount Zhaoyang, I heard that girls in the mortal world love wearing silk velvet flowers in their hair. You two are usually too plain; once I learn the craft, I’ll make some for you,” Rong Jin said.

“Then I want a purple one!” Liu Wenzhu skipped lightly.

The three of them walked down the mountain chatting and laughing. Perhaps because her friends were there, no one came to find trouble with Ning Fuyi. The weather was fine, and the distant mountains were dyed gold, spreading out in brilliant layers.

Ning Fuyi’s heart felt like those golden mountains, gradually brightening.

As for Chu Qingqiu’s words, she tossed them to the back of her mind and went to enjoy her meal.

Because Elder Pingyao was keeping a close eye on her, Ning Fuyi couldn’t escape the Immortal Lessons in the following days. However, no one cared about her morning cultivation, so she continued to sleep until she woke up naturally, getting out of bed only after all the other disciples in the dormitory had vanished.

Since she couldn’t practice demonic arts for the time being, she stole a forbidden book from the Library Pavilion. The book recorded immortal cultivators who had fallen into the demonic path throughout history. Aside from natural-born demons, most fell due to unhealed heartbreaks or extreme emotional upheaval leading to Qi deviation.

Only a very small portion entered the demonic path through specific opportunities or accidental contamination by demonic artifacts. She committed these opportunities to memory, intending to try them one by one.

On this day, the hall was empty early on. She wandered out from behind the screen, clutching the forbidden book she had disguised as a common novel with an illusion spell. She flipped through it with one hand while straightening her robes, then applied a dot of the rouge Rong Jin had given her between her brows.

In her previous life, she loved wearing ink-black. Today, she was dressed in black as well, though white patterns embroidered on the cuffs relieved some of the gloom. Paired with the red dot on her forehead, she looked inexplicably enchanting.

Ning Fuyi nodded with satisfaction. Just as she was about to close her vanity case, she saw a piece of osmanthus soap inside. She poked it with her fingertip and picked it up.

She remembered this soap was a gift from Liu Wenzhu, who had “borrowed” it from the Liu family. It was said to be made of immortal herbs; after bathing with it, the scent would linger on the body for a month.

Ning Fuyi sniffed herself, wrinkled her nose in self-disdain, then took the soap and walked into the bathhouse.

When Ning Changfeng was alive, he was very considerate of female disciples, so the bathhouse at Zhuguang Pavilion was exquisitely designed. There were thirty-six chambers, each capable of holding several people. The pools were hot year-round, and the water was enchanted to look as though it were covered in a layer of rolling white mist.

The bathhouse was empty now. Ning Fuyi placed her book on the ground, undressed, and entered the water, squinting her eyes in comfort.

However, just as she was relaxing, the air around her suddenly shifted. Ning Fuyi’s heart tightened, and she immediately opened her eyes.

At the same moment, the sound of rushing air rang out. A tall female figure broke through the void, appearing by the edge of the pool accompanied by a strong gust of wind. Ning Fuyi hastily raised her hand to block it. The water in the pool was whipped up by the wind and splashed onto the floor.

Most critically, the forbidden book Ning Fuyi had placed by her side was blown into the air, flipping over and landing right on a middle page.

That page happened to feature an illustration of a person pierced through the heart by ten swords. The blood was painted with cinnabar, creating a vibrant, conspicuous red.

Ning Fuyi cursed inwardly. She braced herself against the floor tiles, moving into a guarded stance.

“So you were hiding here! You’ve made me search everywhere!” The newcomer wore a pale gold dress, her hair pinned with a simple but obviously valuable jade hairpin. Her hair was pulled back as meticulously as Chu Qingqiu’s. She stood with her arms crossed, looking annoyed.

“Qiu Yi?” Ning Fuyi looked at the book out of the corner of her eye and frowned. “What are you doing bursting into the bathhouse?”

“Bursting in? This is the women’s bathhouse; why shouldn’t I, a woman, come in?” Qiu Yi wiped the water off the bottom of her shoes in disgust. “I haven’t even asked you yet: Master ordered you to go find her. Why haven’t you gone?”

So Chu Qingqiu had sent her. Ning Fuyi understood, but played dumb. “When was this order given? Why didn’t I know?”

“Stop pretending, I won’t,” she stopped mid-sentence, her gaze suddenly shifting past Ning Fuyi to the ground behind her. “What is that?”

As soon as she spoke, she reached out to summon the book from the floor. Ning Fuyi’s heart skipped a beat. Realizing the danger, she suddenly vaulted out of the water.

As she rose, she wrapped a layer of immortal power around herself. The power surged along her body, transforming into a thin black garment that barely covered her slender frame. Her long legs remained partially visible, and her wet hair flowed like ink over her shoulders, veiling her upper body.

She extended her slender, dew-damp arms and snatched the book out of mid-air.

Before Qiu Yi could make another move, a snow-white ribbon materialized out of the void, snapping across Qiu Yi’s eyes.

As if it were alive, it quickly tied a knot behind her head, tightening so suddenly that Qiu Yi’s vision blurred and she nearly fell to her knees.

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