The Villainous Demon Lord’s Handbook for Success: Rebirth - Chapter 7

The expression on Chu Qingqiu’s face was complex. She stood with her hands behind her back, allowing Ning Fuyi to cling to her as she pleased. She remained silent as the front of her robes was soaked through. The others present dared not breathe loudly, and no one spoke.

A long time passed before Ning Fuyi’s strength finally failed. Her hold on Chu Qingqiu gradually loosened, her knees buckled, and she collapsed backward.

Just as everyone expected Chu Qingqiu to flare up in anger, she reached out lightly. She easily caught the girl’s waist from behind, supporting her limp body.

The movement was careful and gentle, as if she were cradling a precious treasure.

Seeing this, several elders quickly lowered their heads, not daring to look further. They told themselves their eyes must be playing tricks on them, or perhaps the Exalted Goddess had spared the girl out of a lingering sentiment for the late Sect Leader.

After another indeterminate amount of time, Chu Qingqiu finally spoke. Her voice was low and cold.

“Take her back.”

Ning Fuyi did not dream again. Physical exhaustion had completely overtaken her. After she fainted, the image of Ning Changfeng vanished, leaving only a pitch-black void where she couldn’t even see her own hand.

She lingered in that darkness for a long, long time, until a series of annoying noises reached her ears, and she woke up reluctantly.

“Ning Fuyi, if you keep sleeping, I’m going to pour this medicine down your throat!” A woman’s voice hammered against her ears, making her head throb with pain. Ning Fuyi clicked her tongue with a frown and opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a bed curtain adorned with crystal pendants. The bed was of a magnificence Ning Fuyi found hard to accept—gold-threaded quilts and celestial silkworm pillows. Incense for calming the nerves burned at the head and foot of the bed, its scent making her sneeze.

She warily rolled out of bed to find a tall woman dressed in lake-blue brocade standing before her. The woman held a bowl of steaming medicinal soup, her brows knit in an ill-tempered scowl.

Qiu Yi? Ning Fuyi hadn’t expected to see her upon waking. Surprised, she stared speechlessly as Qiu Yi set the bowl down heavily.

“Food is on the table. Get it yourself if you want to eat.” Qiu Yi seemed to have a major grievance about being assigned to care for Ning Fuyi, her footsteps stomping loudly against the floor.

Ning Fuyi was somewhat bewildered. She was just about to say that as a Demon Lord who had fasted for a hundred years, she had no need for food, when a long series of growls erupted from her stomach.

…

Oh, right. She had been reborn. She had almost slept long enough to forget.

“Where is my mother?” The first person Ning Fuyi thought of was Ning Changfeng, so she asked immediately.

“You’ve been asleep for two days. Naturally, Sect Leader Ningtian has already moved on to her next life. I heard she was buried at Yunjia Peak. Why? Do you want to go see her?” Though every word from Qiu Yi was delivered with a bad attitude, she still answered while crossing her arms.

“No need.” Ning Fuyi shook her head. The person was gone; what remained was merely a physical shell.

“Where is this?” Ning Fuyi asked as she looked around. The decor was completely unfamiliar. It didn’t look like a place for cultivation but rather like a mortal palace, exuding extravagance and luxury at every turn.

However, the answer came to her as soon as she asked. This should be Zixia Peak, Chu Qingqiu’s domain. She wondered what Chu Qingqiu was thinking, bringing her back here.

“Can’t you tell? Naturally, it’s my lady’s bedroom.” Qiu Yi had a sharp tongue. she looked Ning Fuyi up and down with disdain and added resentfully, “If it weren’t for Master’s orders, your two instances of disrespecting her would have been enough for me to cut you down ten times over!”

“Two instances?” Ning Fuyi raised an eyebrow. What had happened before she fell asleep? She only remembered acting as the protector for Ning Changfeng and seeing the final image of her mother’s spiritual soul before losing consciousness.

“You have the face to ask!” Qiu Yi’s face turned red, whether from embarrassment or rage. “Many disciples saw it. They said you hugged Master and wouldn’t let go. It’s lucky Master is kind-hearted, otherwise…”

Qiu Yi brandished the curved blade in her hand.

Hugging Chu Qingqiu? Ning Fuyi’s face darkened. She only remembered being unwilling to let Ning Changfeng leave. Could it be that the person she was hugging wasn’t her mother in the vision, but Chu Qingqiu?

Thinking this, she could no longer hold the soup bowl comfortably and set it down abruptly on the nightstand.

She had embarrassed herself right in front of her enemy. She cursed inwardly. In her previous life, the thing she could least tolerate was making a fool of herself in front of Chu Qingqiu, yet she had managed to do it twice in a row immediately after her rebirth.

Whatever. As the saying goes, one must “sleep on brushwood and taste gall”—endure hardships to achieve an ambition. She was the peerless Demon Lord Ning Fuyi; losing a little face was nothing to fear!

After comforting herself, she steadied her nerves and looked up as if nothing were wrong.

“Since you’re awake, I have important things to do and no time to deal with you. Eat and then get out of Zixia Peak as fast as possible!” Qiu Yi said with her chin tilted, turning to leave.

“Wait.” Ning Fuyi called out to her. Sitting where she was, she pointed to the food container on the table and curled her lips. “My body is weak. I can’t reach it.”

Qiu Yi nearly jumped in rage. “Ning Fuyi, you!”

Ning Fuyi tilted her head slightly, looking innocent. “Weren’t Master’s orders meant to be followed?”

Qiu Yi stood there with clenched fists for a good while. Finally, through gritted teeth, she strode to the table, snatched up the container, stomped back to the bed, and shoved it forcefully into Ning Fuyi’s arms.

“Eat quickly, then get out!” With that, she turned and vanished with a “pop.”

Her temper is just as bad as it was in the other life, Ning Fuyi chuckled. She couldn’t be bothered to tease her further. She picked up the medicine and sniffed it.

It was all high-quality spiritual medicine with no poison. She tilted her head and drank it all, then opened the food container, laid out the meal, and slowly filled her stomach.

No matter the time, the body is one’s capital.

After eating her fill, she wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Instead, she sat cross-legged on the bed, hands folded, and summoned the little immortal energy she had to probe her meridians. She still remembered that surge of power from the day before, a power she had never felt, which seemed foreign but had felt as if it were part of her the moment it filled her body.

Although both immortal and demonic cultivation rely on talent and opportunity, most opportunities “teach a man to fish.” She had lived for a thousand years and had never heard of power suddenly appearing in the body like that.

However, after her immortal energy completed a full cycle through her body, that power from yesterday seemed to have evaporated without a trace.

Could I have felt it wrong? Ning Fuyi was puzzled but could only drop her hands and get ready to leave.

She wasn’t too disappointed, though. She knew her own limitations. She had long accepted the fact that her talent for immortal cultivation was practically non-existent. At her age, she was still only in the Initial Realm. Immortal techniques that others could learn in a day took her a month to only partially master, a fact that had brought her much bullying and ridicule.

It wasn’t until her friends and family died tragically and she was forced into demonic cultivation that her power began to advance by leaps and bounds.

Therefore, Ning Fuyi had no intention of seeking any achievements in immortal cultivation now. She possessed a Peak Yin meridian; she was a person destined for the dark and the sinister. She was not meant to be a “good person” from birth.

If the world says demons and monsters are detestable, then she would insist on walking the demonic path.

After her contemplation, Ning Fuyi pushed open the door and strode out, intending to leave Zixia Peak and return to the Yunjia Mountain Sect to make further plans.

Zixia Peak was only a few mountains away from Yunjia Mountain, but it was a treacherous peak where no birds flew and no paths were trodden. It pierced deep into the clouds and was unreachable for mortals. Usually, only Chu Qingqiu and Qiu Yi lived there, so it felt quite desolate.

Perhaps due to a barrier, there weren’t even insects on the road. The surroundings were filled with jagged rocks. An occasional green leaf sprouting from a crevice was a rare sign of life on this mountain.

As Ning Fuyi trekked through the rough terrain, she felt a slight sense of admiration that Qiu Yi could endure staying in such a godforsaken place with Chu Qingqiu for so long.

As she neared the base of the mountain, Ning Fuyi stopped and looked to her right. There stretched a small path paved with green stone, ending at a cold stone palace—Chu Qingqiu’s residence.

She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly turned around and headed toward the palace.

She wasn’t stupid. She could naturally sense the differences after this rebirth. Though she was still herself, she seemed to have been dragged onto a different life trajectory. Many events she remembered vividly from her previous life had not happened.

For instance, the inexplicable marriage covenant; the fact that her savior was Chu Qingqiu; and the fact that she hadn’t needed to kneel outside Chu Qingqiu’s door for a day and night to beg for a final meeting with her mother.

Now that she finally had time to think it through, she realized all these differences were because of Chu Qingqiu.

Since she was already here, she might as well pay a visit before leaving. Perhaps she could find some answers.

While thinking, she came to a halt outside the palace doors. This place didn’t look like an immortal’s residence at all; it looked more like an ancient tomb burying some old corpse. Ning Fuyi curled her lip and was about to knock when her hand froze in mid-air.

She suddenly remembered that Chu Qingqiu loved setting barriers. She put one up wherever she went. In her youth, an ignorant Ning Fuyi had once tried to barge in and nearly had her nose burned off. It was only because Ning Changfeng had been quick enough to grab her that she hadn’t become a “noseless Demon Lord.”

Ning Fuyi touched her nose with lingering fear, her hand hovering as she tentatively touched the surface of the barrier.

The expected burning sensation did not occur. A thin, mist-like film slid over her skin like a giant bubble, breaking and then healing. Ning Fuyi was somewhat surprised. She boldly lifted her leg and stepped through the barrier.

It felt like her whole body was submerged in cool water and then stepping out perfectly dry. Ning Fuyi looked down at her unharmed body in amazement.

The barrier was actually useless against her.

The interior of the palace was even more desolate. A chill surged through the air. The sunlight outside seemed as if it could never reach this place; only the pale light of night-luminescent pearls filled the corridors.

“Exalted Goddess Chu Ling?” Ning Fuyi called out loudly.

No one answered. Ning Fuyi felt something was wrong. After hesitating, she moved forward slowly.

She had been here with Ning Changfeng before, so she knew her way around. Within a few steps, she navigated the winding passages and arrived outside the sleeping quarters.

However, once she reached this spot, she sensed something was off. The air, which usually only smelled of gardenias, was suddenly tinged with a faint scent of blood.

“Chu Qingqiu?” Ning Fuyi called out softly. Seeing no response, she frowned and stepped through the door, only to gasp at the sight before her.

The hall was a mess. Spots of blood were scattered across a stone low-table, as if sprayed from a mouth. Several oil lamps had been knocked to the floor, their flames igniting papers on the ground and burning along the corner of the wall, adding a touch of warmth to the all-stone hall.

And beneath the stone table, a small piece of a robe was visible.

Ning Fuyi lifted her skirt and stepped over the flames on the ground. She warily circled the stone table and saw the face of the person lying there on her side. It was none other than Chu Qingqiu.

She looked as though she were enduring some great torment; her brows were knit, her face was deathly pale, and her lips were stained with flecks of blood. She looked incredibly weak, a far cry from her usual self.

Ning Fuyi froze for a moment, staring at Chu Qingqiu for a while before raising her hand to extinguish the flames. The hall returned to its cold state.

She crouched down, her left hand slowly sliding over the woman’s arm before gripping a bare, white wrist. After tightening her grip, she gently pulled, and the body turned over softly into her arms.

That wrist held in her palm was smooth, soft, and as white as snow.

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