Training the Villain to Become a Big Sister Obsessed - Chapter 24

The translation maintains the original narrative flow, using appropriate context-driven pronouns and names:

“The person has been caught. How is Cang Wu?”

“Lan Shan, where are you?”

The simultaneous messages made the suspicion that had just risen in Lord Lan Shan’s heart dissipate by half. But could anyone other than Ye Haitang have left a sword mark like the one from Jian Shenghua?

She needed to personally go and see who exactly Ling Guang and the others had captured.

Lord Lan Shan first sent a reply message to Ling Guang, asking for their location so she could arrive shortly, and only then focused on the message from the female protagonist.

Lan Shan Jun did not directly say where she was; instead, she replied with a question: “Does Senior Sister Xie need something?”

Given Xie Qing Shuang’s personality, she would not contact her without a reason.

“I just saw Young Master Ling Guang and the Young Master of Fuyu Island chasing someone. After helping them catch the person, I realized this individual injured Cang Wu. I have the medicinal pills refined by the Valley Master here, I will send them over to you.”

Xie Qing Shuang explained in detail, which made Lan Shan Jun’s doubts deepen. If this were the Xie Qing Shuang she knew, the message should have been: “I heard Cang Wu was injured, I have medicine here.”

After a moment of thought, Lan Shan Jun still replied: “Thank you very much, Senior Sister. I am on my way to the Vermillion Bird Hall right now; Cang Wu has been examined by Young Master Zhao Chen and is otherwise fine.”

The reply from the other side was quick: “Good.”

“The person was caught?” Cang Wu, with a hint of defiance on her face, struggled to get up. “I’ll go take a look.”

Lan Shan Jun placed a finger on her forehead, pushing her back down, and chided her with a glance: “Look at what? Just lie down properly.”

Tucking in the blanket, Lan Shan Jun went out. Zhao Chen was surprisingly still waiting outside the door.

“I heard the person has been caught,” Zhao Chen re-veiled his face and carried his qin (zither). “Let’s go together.”

“Ye Sheng.”

“Here.”

“Before Lan Shan and I return, no one is allowed to approach this place.”

“Yes.”

Ye Sheng was likely protecting Zhao Chen personally. The fact that she left him behind made Lan Shan Jun feel grateful: “Thank you.”

She had only met this Young Master recently, yet he had helped her several times.

Zhao Chen said softly: “Friends need not thank each other. Let’s go.”

After the person was caught, Ling Guang had locked them in a specially made Fire Cage, within which the Vermillion Bird’s fierce flames burned, affecting only the soul, not the physical body.

When Lan Shan Jun and Zhao Chen arrived, Ling Guang was interrogating the captive.

“Which sect? Who is your master? Why did you attack Cang Wu?”

The cloaked figure in the cage remained silent.

“I’ll do it,” Song Qing Cheng pulled Ling Guang aside.

When the Fire Cage was refined, Song Qing Cheng had carved a formation array onto it. At the time, he hadn’t expected it to actually be put to use.

“Mao Mu (Wood of the Rabbit Hour), Fire, rise!”

Instantly, the Vermillion Bird Fire in the cage surged. Song Qing Cheng controlled the flames, slowly pushing the masked person to their limit.

Still, not a single word.

Ling Guang exclaimed: “Quite a tough one.”

As she spoke, Ling Guang looked up and saw Lan Shan Jun and Zhao Chen waving hello: “Over here.”

Lan Shan Jun nodded, then her gaze fell upon the Fire Cage. The mask had been taken off; it was an unfamiliar face.

“We have checked the entry records for Bu Ye Cheng (Sleepless City); this person is not registered. They must have sneaked in when the barrier broke that day,” Ling Guang added. “How is Cang Wu? Is she alright?”

Lan Shan Jun replied gently: “With Young Master Zhao Chen here, it’s not a major issue.”

Ling Guang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Did you run into Senior Sister Xie when you were catching her?” Lan Shan Jun asked.

Ling Guang nodded: “Yes, this thief is very cunning. Without the help of Immortal Friend Xie, it probably would have taken longer to catch them.”

Song Qing Cheng frowned upon hearing this: “No, we had already surrounded the person.”

Ling Guang knew Song Qing Cheng’s temper—she would never admit to being even slightly slow—so she went along with the words of the Young Master of Fuyu Island, who refused to lower her head: “Yes, yes, Qing Cheng trapped the person.”

Lan Shan Jun still felt that something was off. She walked up to the Fire Cage and used her finger to lift the person’s face from a distance.

Individually, the facial features were striking, but crammed onto one face, they looked very strange.

Especially those eyes; Lan Shan Jun inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity.

“Look at me.”

Lan Shan Jun uttered a commanding phrase. The captive’s pupils twitched but did not look at Lan Shan Jun.

With just that slight movement, the eyes seemed to come alive. Before Lan Shan Jun could recall the owner of the eyes, a voice appeared in her mind:

【My name is Dan Zhao. I am an unaffiliated cultivator.】

【I am neither a sword cultivator nor a sound cultivator. I haven’t decided what path to pursue yet, so I’m trying them all.】

Dan Zhao! These were Dan Zhao’s eyes!

Lan Shan Jun took a step back and looked at the face again. She finally understood why the face looked strange: it wasn’t one person’s face; it was a composite face formed from the features of many people.

In an instant, the Fire Cage suddenly exploded, and the ‘person’ inside slowly stood up, finally transforming into Dan Zhao’s appearance in front of Lan Shan Jun.

“Lan Shan, long time no see,” it said, mimicking Dan Zhao’s tone and giving a stiff, awkward smile to Lan Shan.

“Dan Zhao?” Lan Shan Jun shook her head, denying her own words. “No, you are not Dan Zhao.”

‘Dan Zhao’ smiled, and the face changed again, becoming Mo Huaisheng, complete with an identical short flute.

Ling Guang frowned, watching: “What is this ghastly thing?”

“A Sea Demon’s Withered Bone (Hai Yao Ku Gu). It has bone but no form, and possesses a perfect memory. As long as it sees someone, it can transform into that person’s appearance,” Song Qing Cheng had read about it in the Record of Sea Demons (Hai Yao Lu).

“A Sea Demon?” Ling Guang’s expression darkened. “Bu Ye Cheng actually allowed this demon inside.”

“This Sea Demon once visited Bu Xian Xian,” Lan Shan Jun observed the Sea Demon constantly changing its appearance. “Dan Zhao was an unaffiliated cultivator I befriended at Bu Xian Xian.”

“Since it’s a Sea Demon, just kill it,” Ling Guang scoffed, and countless mechanical birds flew out from behind her.

Song Qing Cheng stood by her side, channeling the formation array of the mechanical birds to surround the Sea Demon.

Ling Guang was an artifact cultivator who liked to make all sorts of strange little gadgets. Whether they were useful or not, Song Qing Cheng would always carve a formation array onto them, for both defense and attack.

The Sea Demon burrowed into the earth, not trying to escape, but leaving a winding trail of water towards Lan Shan Jun.

Lan Shan Jun bit her lip secretly; she knew it would pick on the weaker one to bully.

The Sea Demon leaped out. Lan Shan Jun’s chain-blades were already entangled with it. The identical chain-blades wrapped around each other, the damp spiritual energy colliding without a clear victor.

Both sides exerted force simultaneously, and the positions reversed.

Two Lan Shans stood between the group.

The mechanical birds in the air instantly stopped.

“This… which one is real?” Ling Guang dared not attack rashly.

“Ling Guang!” The one closer to Ling Guang called out to her.

Ling Guang rejoiced: “This one is—”

Turning to look at the other side, her eyes showed obvious shock and disbelief, as if saying: You trust her that easily?

Ling Guang shut her mouth and touched Song Qing Cheng beside her.

Song Qing Cheng said: “Just attack both.”

Ling Guang: “?”

The mechanical birds moved in response, attacking the two Lan Shans separately. The two chain-blades swung, perfectly synchronized like shadows.

Zhao Chen twitched his ear and uttered one sentence: “This one is Lan Shan.”

The mechanical birds instantly changed their targets. The ‘Lan Shan Jun’ on Ling Guang’s side was immediately heavily surrounded.

The Sea Demon, its identity revealed, stopped disguising itself. It seemed confused: “You do not have a Wind Spiritual Root, so why do you possess the art of wind manipulation?”

Lan Shan Jun’s robes fluttered, with a gentle breeze swirling around her. She circled Bujin (her weapon) with her fingers, her eyes curving into a smile: “Why wouldn’t I have a Wind Spiritual Root? Your transformation was inadequate.”

One sentence struck the Sea Demon’s heart; it roared in anger: “Impossible! That person didn’t lie, you are problematic!”

“That person? Which person?” Lan Shan Jun seized on its words.

The Sea Demon spoke no more; its body slowly devolved into its original skeletal form, a long, thin shape resembling a certain type of creature.

Lan Shan Jun felt her eyes were soiled and hurriedly looked away.

“It seems there is more than one Sea Demon in Bu Ye Cheng,” Ling Guang frowned. “We must report this to my mother immediately.”

Song Qing Cheng nodded: “I will send a message to Fuyu Island.”

The Sea Demon was moved to the dungeon of the Vermillion Bird Hall for specialized guarding. Lan Shan Jun and Zhao Chen walked back together.

“Although the Withered Bone Demon (Ku Gu Yao) can transform into anyone’s appearance, it can only choose someone whose cultivation realm is the same as or lower than its own. Earlier, when it chose you among the four of us, I think its realm must also be in the Life and Death Realm (Sheng Si Jing),” Zhao Chen’s voice was calm.

“But Cang Wu’s spiritual energy is clearly at the Soul Illumination Realm (Ming Hun Jing).”

Lan Shan Jun stopped in her tracks.

Zhao Chen faced Lan Shan Jun, his usually vacant eyes now appearing profound: “It was difficult to say directly in front of Ling Guang and Song Qing Cheng, but they caught the wrong person.”

“Although they caught the wrong person, drawing out the Sea Demon was not a complete waste of effort.”

The corner of Lan Shan Jun’s mouth twitched.

This indeed could not be said openly.

In a guest house in Bu Ye Cheng—

Xie Qing Shuang walked past the screen and looked at the person on the bed, who was frowning in agonizing pain, her knuckles making clicking sounds.

“It’s not you who is dying, why are you getting angry?” Ming Yu opened her eyes; the whites of her eyes were already blood-red.

In another hour, her body would turn into a puddle of blood.

She hadn’t done anything yet, hadn’t made those people pay the price they deserved—she was unwilling!

Her wrist was suddenly grasped; it felt ice-cold. Ming Yu flinched, but due to her lack of strength, she could not break free.

“What are you doing?”

Xie Qing Shuang pursed her lips and remained silent. She channeled her spiritual energy into the other’s meridians, chasing the tyrannical and overbearing qi (energy), seizing its tail and guiding it into her own body.

“You—” Ming Yu was momentarily stunned.

The moment the qi entered her body, Xie Qing Shuang groaned softly, a dense layer of sweat forming on her forehead.

Ming Yu was half-held in her arms. She felt the agonizing aura being drawn away, and her body slowly began to recover, but…

“I will not be grateful to you for doing this.”

“I don’t want your gratitude.” Xie Qing Shuang’s lips were trembling. “I am willing.”

Willing to die?

Ming Yu lowered her gaze: “You person are truly inexplicable. Inexplicably chasing after me, inexplicably blocking my path, and now inexplicably trading your life for mine.”

Xie Qing Shuang managed a desolate smile: “Inexplicable?”

The qi was completely drawn away. Xie Qing Shuang suppressed the sweet metallic taste in her throat, stood up, and walked towards the door.

“You will die,” Ming Yu reminded her.

Xie Qing Shuang paused: “I won’t die.”

“So certain? Are you planning to find a scapegoat to transfer this fatal thing to them?” Ming Yu lifted her face, revealing a smile. “The Eldest Senior Sister of Yang Gu (Sun Valley) is also someone who disregards another person’s life like this?”

Xie Qing Shuang frowned: “Is that what I am in your mind?”

“We’ve only met a few times, yet you are willing to die for me,” Ming Yu burst out laughing. “How can I believe that?”

“I have never seen anything like this; I do not believe it.”

Xie Qing Shuang turned to look at her, slowly raising her hand, and enunciated word by word: “I, Xie Qing Shuang, swear to the Heavenly Dao here and now, if I transfer the thing within my body to another person causing their death, may my soul be destroyed and I meet a terrible end.”

The Heavenly Dao Oath was established, and a lightning-like mark appeared on Xie Qing Shuang’s wrist.

“Do you believe me now?”

Ming Yu opened her mouth, a flash of annoyance crossing her eyes, but it quickly returned to her usual cold and detached look. Her gaze quickly swept over the mark left by the Heavenly Dao Oath, and she said coldly and ruthlessly:

“No.”