The Villainous Demon Lord’s Handbook for Success: Rebirth - Chapter 9

“Wenzhu!” Ning Fuyi broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly lunged forward to pull her friend away. Fortunately, although Liu Wenzhu’s cultivation could not match Li Chaoan’s, she was the eldest daughter of the Liu family. Without fear, she flipped her hand to summon a barrier, blocking the white light.

The wind generated by the immortal energy blew back the stray hairs of both girls, creating a ripple of air that swept away the dust on the floor.

Seeing that Liu Wenzhu was unharmed, the tension in Ning Fuyi’s heart eased slightly, but the anger within her intensified. She looked at Li Chaoan with eyes full of killing intent.

“With your level of cultivation, you still dare to make a move against me!” Li Chaoan refused to yield. She shoved her companions aside and drew a circle across her chest; sizzling lightning began to gather in her palm.

As she circulated her energy, the surrounding wind grew stronger, and even the sky seemed to darken. Liu Wenzhu was startled and moved to defend herself, but her sleeve was suddenly pulled, stopping her.

She turned back in surprise. Ning Fuyi had approached her at some point and was now whispering clearly into her ear, “No need to resist head-on. Listen to my mantra.”

Ning Fuyi’s cultivation was shallow, so where did she get a mantra? Though puzzled, Liu Wenzhu trusted that Ning Fuyi would not harm her and immediately stopped her movements.

“Furnace fire illuminates heaven and earth, red sparks scatter into purple smoke. Drawn a thousand times from the palm, thunder strikes the cold river.”

Following Ning Fuyi’s guidance, Liu Wenzhu lightly waved her long sleeves, conjuring a semi-circle in mid-air that looked like a scalding canopy pressing down on Li Chaoan. The lightning Li Chaoan had been gathering began to weaken. Panicking, she quickly shifted her stance to resist Liu Wenzhu’s fierce flames.

“Thunder needs a lead; sever the connection to heaven and earth to break it,” Ning Fuyi added.

Liu Wenzhu changed her hand seal upon hearing this. A shriek rang out, sounding like a disturbed bird’s nest and making everyone’s ears ache. Ning Fuyi waved away the surging heat and, upon seeing the result, nearly burst out laughing.

Li Chaoan’s once-dainty face was covered in a layer of soot. The colorful wreath atop her head was charred black, and even the carefully styled bangs on her forehead had been singed off. She looked utterly ridiculous.

“Liu Wenzhu, you!” Li Chaoan clutched her hair, stomping her feet in a rage, nearly crying on the spot.

Seeing this, Liu Wenzhu patted her chest to calm her nerves and pulled at Ning Fuyi’s sleeve, whispering, “Yiyi, that mantra is so powerful! How did you…”

“Ning Changfeng taught me. I couldn’t practice it, so I just memorized it,” Ning Fuyi answered vaguely to avoid suspicion.

Though she currently had no cultivation, she had reached that peak in her previous life. Being proficient in lightning arts back then, she naturally knew how to counter Li Chaoan’s little tricks; she just could not execute the moves herself.

Thankfully, Liu Wenzhu was clever and understood her instructions immediately.

Li Chaoan valued her appearance above all else. Looking like a mess, she did not dare face anyone. As several disciples walked in from the door, she pointed at Ning Fuyi and Liu Wenzhu in shame and fury, telling them not to get cocky before turning and running away like the wind.

She left behind her two friends to plead her case. One was short and chubby, the other tall and thin; standing together, they looked quite comical.

“We were just sparring! Liu Wenzhu, you actually hurt someone!” the chubby one shouted.

“Exactly! Chaoan treasures her hair the most, and you two…”

“And us what? You asked for a spar, yet because you lack skill, you expect everyone else to coddle you? What kind of logic is that?” Ning Fuyi tilted her head, biting back with their own words.

These two had not left much of an impression in her previous life, and she could not remember their names. She recalled them being called something like “Shao Bing” and “Mian Tiao.”

As she thought this, she blurted it out. As soon as she spoke, Liu Wenzhu burst out laughing. Ning Fuyi turned in confusion to see Liu Wenzhu covering her lips, shaking with laughter.

The faces of the two opposite them turned as black as charcoal.

Is something wrong? Ning Fuyi raised an eyebrow.

“Ning Fuyi, you give people nicknames just because you can’t win an argument!” The girl’s face turned as purple as a grape. “Our names were given by our parents, and you mock them like this? How malicious!”

“Just you wait!” She finished angrily, pulled her partner, and ran off to chase Li Chaoan.

“Their names are Shao Bing and Mian Tiao. ‘Sesame Cake’ and ‘Noodles’… leave it to you to come up with that,” Liu Wenzhu whispered into Ning Fuyi’s ear, still trembling with laughter.

Oh, so she had remembered them incorrectly. Ning Fuyi nodded.

Ning Fuyi had intended to have a grand verbal battle, but a slip of the tongue had chased them away. Feeling bored, she pulled the still-laughing Liu Wenzhu into the hall.

The North Courtyard’s decor was the most basic. Both the courtyard and the main hall were made almost entirely of granite. This was not to mistreat the lower-ranking disciples; rather, young disciples often struggled to control their immortal energy, frequently destroying the North Courtyard during practice. Ning Changfeng had repaired it over a dozen times before losing her patience. In a fit of rage, she sought out the hardest granite to renovate the entire area.

Ning Fuyi walked through the whispering crowd of her peers, strutting into the lecture hall and curling up comfortably in a corner.

“Yiyi, they say there’s important business today. The elders are coming to the North Courtyard. Don’t sleep, or you’ll get scolded again,” Liu Wenzhu said, tugging at Ning Fuyi’s sleeve.

“Let them scold. It’s just talk about immortal veins and energy, things a ‘waste’ like me can’t learn anyway.” Ning Fuyi, determined to be uncooperative, gave up entirely, raised her head, and turned to face the other way.

Liu Wenzhu was anxious for her and was about to pull her up when she saw a tall, elegant man enter the door. Her eyes lit up, and she poked Ning Fuyi in the waist. “Yiyi, get up quickly! Senior Brother Rong Jin is here!”

She did not hold back her strength, nearly poking Ning Fuyi’s spleen out. Ning Fuyi winced in pain and sat up straight, grimacing.

“Liu Wenzhu, you…” Ning Fuyi was speechless. Though Liu Wenzhu looked delicate, she possessed a strange, monstrous strength. She could pull a thousand-year-old willow tree out of the ground without using immortal energy and stick it back in right-side up.

That poke had nearly cost Ning Fuyi half her life.

Liu Wenzhu realized her mistake and apologized repeatedly, “Sorry, sorry, sorry, Yiyi…”

“It’s fine.” Ning Fuyi waved her off with tears in her eyes. Once the pain subsided, she looked toward the door.

A familiar figure appeared. His hair was meticulously tied in a white jade crown, and he wore the deep blue robes of a managing disciple. His back was straight, and at his waist hung the same lotus wood carving as Liu Wenzhu’s, a birthday gift from Ning Fuyi.

However, his carving looked quite crooked; it was from when Ning Fuyi had just started learning the craft.

Ning Fuyi blinked, hiding the bitterness in her eyes.

She knew she was not well-liked, and it was true. Very few people had been kind to her growing up. Out of respect for Ning Changfeng, the disciples did not openly clash with her, but they looked down on her in private. The elders felt she lacked talent and lacked ambition, and they never gave her a warm look.

So, counting them on one hand, the only people who were truly good to her—besides Ning Changfeng and Liu Wenzhu—were Senior Brother Rong Jin.

Rong Jin was a good man, perhaps too good. That was why Ning Fuyi felt he treated her well. Because of his nature, whenever Ning Changfeng found her a nuisance to look after, she would dump her onto Rong Jin.

Rong Jin never failed her. An unmarried young man, he spent his days researching how to feed and care for infants, essentially turning himself into a qualified nanny. In her childhood, her clothes were all hand-sewn by him; he was truly dedicated.

Over time, Ning Fuyi came to respect him as an elder brother.

Later, after Ning Fuyi entered the demonic path, she had made the righteous Rong Jin so angry he fell seriously ill. She had thought they would become strangers, but later, when she was gravely injured and besieged by the immortals, Rong Jin—who had been caught in the crossfire—turned against his allies at the front line and pushed her out of the demon-slaying formation.

He lost his chance to escape and was struck by heavenly thunder right before her eyes, turning into dust.

Even though Rong Jin was standing perfectly fine before her now, the rush of memories made Ning Fuyi’s heart ache as if pierced by needles.

In the distance, Rong Jin’s gaze swept over the crowd and landed on Ning Fuyi. Sensing something was wrong with her expression, he hurried toward her.

“Fuyi, how are you?” he asked with concern.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired,” Ning Fuyi answered in a low voice, staring at his face.

She suddenly felt grateful to fate for not letting her life end in such misery and for giving her a chance to live again.

“I wanted to visit you, but every time I went to Zhuguang Pavilion, they said you were resting. I haven’t seen you until today,” Rong Jin said, his voice full of heartache. “About the Sect Leader…”

“Truly, it’s fine. Thank you, Senior Brother,” Ning Fuyi said, her voice unusually soft.

Her dark eyes were wide and clear, her face pale, and her voice weak. In Rong Jin’s eyes, she looked incredibly frail.

Rong Jin sighed heavily but said no more. Instead, he pulled a milky-white jade pendant from his robe and held it out to her.

“This is a Meridian Jade. I won it in a match against someone when I followed Daoist Yuanming to Zhaoyao Mountain. It has the effect of gathering immortal energy. Wear it, and your cultivation will be easier in the future.”

“Senior Brother, this is too precious, I…” Ning Fuyi was about to say she did not need it, but Rong Jin was already holding the red strings, reaching out to put it on her.

Ning Fuyi did not want to reject his kindness, so she let the jade pendant settle against her neck. It turned warm the moment it touched her skin.

She was about to thank him when the atmosphere suddenly seemed to freeze. The chattering hall fell silent, an eerie quiet that made the heart race. The surrounding disciples sat upright, looking down at their tables, none daring to make a sound.

Beside her, Liu Wenzhu began to cough loudly and urgently. Rong Jin instinctively turned his body, revealing a pair of eyes behind his shoulder that were as cold as an ice cellar.

“Chu… Chu Ling Exalted Goddess,” Rong Jin stammered.

Chu Qingqiu? What was she doing here? Ning Fuyi looked up in surprise. She was still dressed in plain robes, her black hair draped halfway down her back, standing opposite them with a cold, detached air.

Her injuries seemed completely healed; there was no trace of the weakness from two days ago.

She ignored Rong Jin. Instead, she reached out lightly, her fingertip brushing the back of Ning Fuyi’s neck, leaving a cool sensation. Ning Fuyi shuddered and moved to dodge, but Chu Qingqiu had already withdrawn her hand.

The jade pendant had been removed by Chu Qingqiu at some point. She held it loosely by the red string, letting it dangle in the air.

“Chu Qingqiu, you!” Seeing the jade taken, Ning Fuyi frowned and was about to argue, but she was interrupted.

“This object gathers spiritual energy but does not release it. Wearing it not only fails to help with cultivation, but it also harms the immortal veins.” As she spoke, Chu Qingqiu slowly placed her finger on the table, setting the pendant down.

Rong Jin’s eyes widened in fear at her words.

“The hour of the Snake has arrived. Why are you still standing?” Chu Qingqiu spoke again. Rong Jin did not dare to disobey. He gave Ning Fuyi an apologetic look, regained his composure as a managing disciple, and walked away quickly.

Ning Fuyi was quite baffled. She glared at Chu Qingqiu but could only sit down obediently.

Chu Qingqiu’s presence lingered beside her for a moment before she passed by silently, creating a small breeze. A single gardenia petal drifted on the wind and landed before her.

Ning Fuyi reached out and picked up the petal. Suddenly, a string of golden text that only she could see flashed before her eyes.

“When the lecture ends, come to my room.”

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