The Villainous Demon Lord’s Handbook for Success: Rebirth - Chapter 13

Ning Fuyi had assumed that the thing most likely to incite Chu Qingqiu’s rage was the final remark about her being hypocritical. To her surprise, the woman seemed far more bothered by the earlier comment about them having no connection.

This stirred a sense of oddity in Ning Fuyi’s heart.

Shouldn’t she be completely indifferent to whether I live or die?

As Ning Fuyi’s dark eyes searched for answers deep within her gaze, Chu Qingqiu suddenly looked away and turned her side to her. The white silk in her sleeve fell limp, drifting to the floor before being quietly retracted.

“My word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Since I promised Ning Changfeng, I will not break my word by failing to look after you,” Chu Qingqiu said flatly. Then, with a turn of her figure, she strode away, vanishing into the sunlight outside the door.

“Tomorrow at the hour of Chen, do not forget.” The final sentence seemed to drift from the heavens, echoing in Ning Fuyi’s ears.

In this life, Chu Qingqiu’s attitude was worlds apart from the last. In her previous life, when she had begged for help, the woman had remained aloof; in this life, when she wanted no further contact, the woman had taken on the posture of a strict elder. It was truly vexing. Ning Fuyi spat on the ground and irritably smoothed her hair, which had been ruffled by the wind.

She didn’t care what kind of ailment had struck Chu Qingqiu; she only hoped the woman would keep her hands to herself and not ruin her grand plans.

“I can’t hide from her fast enough, and now she wants me there at the hour of Chen? If I listen to you, I’m a dog,” Ning Fuyi muttered with a sneer. She flicked her sleeves and sauntered away.

Early the next morning, her face dark with frustration, she stood stiffly outside Chu Qingqiu’s Jingshan Palace.

Fine, a dog it is. She felt like barking three times right now and biting everyone in this palace to shreds.

“I’m here. Can you untie me now?” Ning Fuyi tilted her head helplessly, speaking to the watchful Qiu Yi standing beside her.

“No. Master said I can only untie you once you are standing before her,” Qiu Yi said loudly, clutching a section of the snow-white Feather-Flight Rope.

“Are you missing a brain cell? I’m tied like this, how could I possibly run?” Ning Fuyi was nearly moved to angry laughter. Her entire upper body was currently bound in the rope, with only her shoulders exposed.

Qiu Yi didn’t answer. She simply crossed her arms and glared.

Ning Fuyi let out a long sigh and resigned herself to her fate, stepping inside and arriving at the same hall from the day before.

Through the carved screen, she could see a flickering silhouette. The scent of incense drifted from the room, accompanied by Zen music floating from an unknown source, bringing a sense of peace to the surroundings.

“Master, Ning Fuyi has been brought,” Qiu Yi announced.

After a moment, a concise voice replied from within: “Enter.”

Simultaneously, the ropes on her body finally fell away, transforming into fragments of white feathers that drifted back into the hall. Ning Fuyi frowned, pulling her hands back to her chest and rubbing her sore wrists.

Then, she slowly walked inside.

The woman was sitting cross-legged on a mat, her robes spilling out like petals. Half of her hair was bound with a jade hairpin, while the other half draped over her shoulders, obscuring her slender waist. As she held a brush to write, her crystalline fingers formed a sharp contrast with the black ink.

Even Ning Fuyi’s gaze froze for a split second at the sight before she began her sarcasm.

“If commands don’t work, you use kidnapping. Truly worthy of the Divine Lord Chu Ling, the White Crane in the Clouds.”

“I am strict. If a disciple is disobedient, I sometimes use certain means,” Chu Qingqiu replied, surprisingly without anger. She spoke as if it were the most normal thing in the world, then gently set down her brush and stood up gracefully.

“What is this?” Ning Fuyi pointed at a stack of papers on the table.

“The heart incantations you are to memorize today,” Chu Qingqiu said. She extended a hand. “Sit.”

The expression on Ning Fuyi’s face shattered. “This many?”

“It is not many. A total of 184 Water-element Heart Incantations. You are naturally dull; if you only learn the surface, it will be difficult to progress. You need a solid foundation for any possibility of success.” Chu Qingqiu delivered the insulting words with utter nonchalance. “No matter how many days it takes, memorize them and return to report to me.”

“I can take them away to memorize?” Ning Fuyi’s eyes lit up.

“You will memorize them here,” Chu Qingqiu answered.

Ning Fuyi let out a long breath. She stepped to the table and picked up the stack of papers. The ink was fresh; Chu Qingqiu must have written them just today.

This woman was truly terrifying.

“Isn’t the Divine Lord a Wind-element? Why do you know so many Water-element Heart Incantations? Besides, Elder Pingyao said I’m only tentatively Water-element. If I’m not, won’t this be a waste of effort?” Ning Fuyi tried to struggle.

“Does being skilled in one element mean you should only learn one? There are always commonalities between the Five Elements. If you do not know yourself and your enemy, you will surely hit a bottleneck later. Today you memorize the Water element; in the future, you will need to learn the other elements as well. The hour of Chen has arrived, do not delay further.”

As Chu Qingqiu spoke, she gave a light wave of her hand. Ning Fuyi felt as if her legs were filled with lead, and she landed on the mat with a thud, forced into a kneeling position.

She gasped, rubbing her knees, but when she turned around, Chu Qingqiu’s figure had vanished. She was left staring at the inch-thick stack of paper, her face contorting in pain.

In her previous life, she had always believed that practice was the only truth; she hated memorizing things from books like a nerd. Didn’t she end up becoming the Demon Lord anyway? Chu Qingqiu was simply too old-fashioned.

Unfortunately, she was currently under someone else’s roof and had to bow her head. She picked up a page and began to memorize, pinching her eyelids to stay focused.

One day passed, followed by the second, third, and fourth. Every morning, she was tied up and brought for morning cultivation. After several days, she had only finished half of the 184 incantations. Ning Fuyi’s temper grew hotter with each passing day. By the fifth day, her resentment was practically skyrocketing.

She decided she couldn’t let this continue. She had to find a way to make Chu Qingqiu give up on teaching her personally.

Qiu Yi guarded the palace gates like a stone pillar, so escaping was out of the question. Instead, she threw the papers aside and began wandering around the palace, intending to cause some trouble to infuriate Chu Qingqiu. She wanted the woman to realize she was a hopeless case, a piece of rotten wood that cannot be carved, so she would stop trying to teach her.

Regrettably, Jingshan Palace was massive. If she destroyed a few flowers, plants, or buildings, it wouldn’t even register as a nuisance to Chu Qingqiu. Abandoning her plan to trash the palace, Ning Fuyi wandered into Chu Qingqiu’s living quarters, a three-story pavilion.

As usual, Chu Qingqiu’s barrier couldn’t stop her. She sauntered up to the top floor and entered the woman’s room.

The room was elegantly decorated, reflecting an immortal’s aesthetic. A few gardenias were scattered in vases. Chu Qingqiu was sitting cross-legged on a redwood couch, surrounded by a faint white light that made the entire room look hazy.

Ning Fuyi tiptoed behind her and waved a hand in front of her eyes. There was no reaction.

Is she in a deep meditative trance? Ning Fuyi grew bolder. She circled to the front and actually lifted Chu Qingqiu’s eyelid with her fingers.

“No way. Even this doesn’t wake her up?” Ning Fuyi marveled to herself. She then felt the woman’s wrist; the pulse was strong and steady, nothing out of the ordinary.

Do Divine Lords always enter trances with such total lack of concern for their surroundings?

When Ning Fuyi stood up straight again, a mischievous smirk played on her lips. She cleared her throat, put her hands behind her back, and paced the room. Noticing the gardenias on the wall were quite nice, she plucked one and tucked it into Chu Qingqiu’s hair.

It was white. It actually looked quite pretty.

Ning Fuyi gave a wave of her hand, and the white flower instantly turned a vivid, striking crimson. She nodded with satisfaction.

One wasn’t enough. She plucked another, casually undid Chu Qingqiu’s hair, and tied it into two buns on either side of her head, pinning the red flowers into them.

She wasn’t finished. After a moment of thought, she pulled a box of rouge from her robes. Smiling wickedly, she dabbed a red glow between the woman’s brows and smeared two bright red circles onto her cheeks.

Looking at Chu Qingqiu in this state, she could hardly contain her gloating laughter. However, she felt something was still missing. The room was bare of other fabrics, so she reached out to untie the sash of Chu Qingqiu’s outer robe.

She intended to turn the outer robe red and tie a giant crimson butterfly bow on her chest.

Just as she had undone half of the sash, she heard a light cough from behind her. Startled, she spun around toward the source of the sound.

There stood Chu Qingqiu, tall, elegant, and looking every bit the immortal, standing outside the door. She held a scroll in one hand and had the other tucked behind her back, looking with a complicated expression at the “self” on the bed decorated with gaudy flowers.

And at the outer robe on that “self,” which Ning Fuyi had partially untied.

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