Training the Villain to Become a Big Sister Obsessed - Chapter 92

“Cang Wú, who is she?”

“Cang Wú!”

Two voices rang out simultaneously in Cāng Wú’s ear: her Senior Sister’s gentle and slow, and the Spirit King’s domineering and rude.

Without hesitation, she spoke: “She said she is the Spirit King, and she was the one who told me about the Chaos Map.”

“You…!” The Spirit King was clearly furious with her.

“The Spirit King?” Lán Shānjūn murmured the title, mulling it over. This person was not mentioned in the original book.

She knows how to use the Chaos Map… could she be a kind of tool spirit (Qì Líng)?

Lán Shānjūn temporarily assigned this identity to the Spirit King. She put away the Chaos Map and looked seriously at Cāng Wú. “Don’t easily trust the words of others, and don’t listen to anything she says.”

As she spoke, she raised her hand and gently cupped Cāng Wú’s cool ear.

Cāng Wú nodded, without a trace of doubt.

On the walk back, Cāng Wú still had some questions: “Senior Sister, why did Xiè Qīngshuāng want to kill me so badly? Was it truly because of the Nightmare Realm?”

Lán Shānjūn held Cāng Wú’s hand, intertwining her fingers and gripping tightly. She sighed and slowly said, “Cāng Wú, have you ever heard of the concept of the Three Thousand Worlds?”

Cāng Wú shook her head: “No.”

“The Three Thousand Worlds are all different—perhaps there are not just three thousand, but thirty thousand, or countless millions. Maybe there is a world that is similar to another: similar people, similar events, but because one thing or one person is different, that world becomes completely distinct.”

“In the Nightmare Realm that Senior Sister Xiè fell into, in another Four Seas, you are a bloodthirsty and murderous demonic fiend. Many people in Yáng Gǔ and the Four Seas and Eight Realms died by your hand, including herself and the person she loved.”

Lán Shānjūn stopped. She looked at Cāng Wú’s astonished eyes and gave a slight laugh. She reached out, hugged her, and whispered, “But here, Cāng Wú has not committed those wicked deeds and is not that demonic fiend. Previously, Senior Sister Xiè couldn’t distinguish between the Nightmare Realm and reality and mistook Cāng Wú for that fiend. Now that she is awake, she will not harbor murderous intent toward Cāng Wú again.”

Cāng Wú slowly raised her hand and returned the embrace. Hearing the woman’s words, she thought of the Spirit King.

The Spirit King killed her version of Xiè Qīngshuāng, and the Xiè Qīngshuāng here carried memories of that world.

No wonder Xiè Qīngshuāng, when controlled by the Heart Demon, mentioned “Lán Yàn” (闌晏)—so that was the reason.

“Was Senior Sister also in her Nightmare Realm?” Cāng Wú wanted to verify her assumption.

The Spirit King’s Senior Sister was Lán Yàn; her Senior Sister was Lán Shānjūn.

“No,” came the reply.

Hearing the answer, Cāng Wú curved her lips, her chest filled with a satisfying contentment.

Senior Sister is just her Senior Sister.

Returning to the small courtyard, Líng Guāng and the others were still there. Seeing the two return side-by-side, they couldn’t help but feel relieved. Only one person had their eyes elsewhere, lost in thought.

“That was a quick reconciliation. As expected of fellow Senior and Junior Sister Apprentices,” Líng Guāng joked, yawning.

Sòng Qīngchéng leaned on Líng Guāng, her gaze falling on the two as they entered, carrying a hint of contemplation.

“We helped Senior Sister Xiè break her Heart Demon tonight, and we still have Senior Tán Zhēn to deal with tomorrow and the day after,” Xiāo Jiǔ reached out and rubbed her hair, quickly messing it up.

“I’m so sleepy. It’s strange; I never felt tired even when I stayed up for seven or eight days before,” Xiāo Jiǔ said, about to close her eyes.

Zhào Chén extended her hand and cast a stream of spiritual energy onto her forehead. Xiāo Jiǔ instantly woke up significantly.

“Tianhe Town is different from the outside world. Here, the body quickly feels hunger and fatigue. The Four Directions bloodlines are, after all, still considered demonic (yāo), and will be more susceptible to influence than Lán Shān and Qīngchéng,” Zhào Chén said, taking out a bottle of Heart Clarity Pills (Xīn Qīng Dān) refined from herbs. “This can help refresh the mind. Everyone share some.”

A moment later, Líng Guāng watched Xiāo Jiǔ look slowly down at the pill in her hand, utterly mesmerized, and couldn’t help but ask, “Zhào Chén, are you sure you didn’t grab the wrong one? Xiāo Jiǔ is practically drunk on this medicine.”

Zhào Chén’s expression suddenly froze for an instant, a rare awkwardness surfacing. She whispered, “I forgot. She can’t take this one.”

“Why?” Líng Guāng held the pill under her nose and sniffed. She couldn’t smell anything but the clear fragrance of the medicine.

Lán Shānjūn laughed, “Xiāo Jiǔ is a big cat.”

Big cats are still cats, and they will always be defenseless against certain things.

Líng Guāng understood and happily reached out to pet the fluffy white ears that had popped out on Xiāo Jiǔ’s head.

This is a White Tiger! When else would she get to touch them?

Lán Shānjūn also felt a little twitch in her hand, seeing the pair of bouncy, soft ears.

As she watched Líng Guāng reach out, a soft sentence suddenly drifted into her ear: “Does Senior Sister want to touch them too?”

Lán Shānjūn instantly calmed down, her hand being secretly gripped tightly.

She turned to face Cāng Wú’s smiling appearance, but immediately saw the way she was clenching her teeth.

“No,” she replied.

Lán Shānjūn laughed and rubbed Cāng Wú’s hand. She felt the texture under her touch seem different. Looking down, a layer of faint blue dragon scales had covered the place where their hands met.

Scales.

Lán Shānjūn never thought that one day she would willingly touch the very thing she once most resisted and disliked.

Forget it. I’ll touch them. They’re quite nice to feel.

Seeing that her Senior Sister liked touching her dragon scales very much, Cāng Wú glanced at Xiāo Jiǔ’s ears, her competitive spirit fully engaged.

She won.

To prevent anyone from inadvertently losing their minds due to the influence of Tianhe Town, everyone spent the night in Miss Zhào Chén’s chambers.

Their immediate concern was how to break Tán Zhēn’s Heart Demon.

“Can’t we just do what we did for Senior Sister Xiè?” Xiāo Jiǔ asked.

Since breaking Xiè Qīngshuāng’s Heart Demon was not difficult, they felt slightly more relaxed when thinking about Tán Zhēn.

“Not exactly,” Sòng Qīngchéng interjected. She glanced at Zhào Chén. “The pill Zhào Chén gave was a Grade One pill, and setting aside how rare that is, the situations of Senior Sister Xiè and Senior Tán Zhēn are different. Furthermore, Tianhe Town is a world illusion created by Xī’s demonic power. To break Senior Tán Zhēn’s Heart Demon, we must first find Xī.”

Lán Shānjūn nodded in agreement.

“Isn’t Xī the Cháo that Senior Tán Zhēn rescued and brought back?” Mò Huáishēng asked.

Based on current evidence, that seemed to be the case. The names were so similar, and in the last loop, immediately after Cháo vanished, they saw Xī’s demonic shadow.

They still needed to find Cháo.

As the morning light broke, the group, one after another, crept towards the vicinity of Tán Zhēn’s house again.

At roughly the same time—

“No one is home,” Zhào Chén announced.

“No one?” Xiāo Jiǔ wondered. “Is Senior Tán Zhēn not here either? But she wasn’t in town, was she?”

Before coming to Tán Zhēn’s house, they had deliberately circled the town to confirm Tán Zhēn was not there.

Not in town, not at home…

“The Tianhe River,” Lán Shānjūn said, pointing her hand.

“Why would she go to the Tianhe River so early? Cháo looked pretty badly injured, did he go too?” Líng Guāng recalled some of the storybooks she read and giggled, “Or is that Tianhe River actually some kind of holy place for healing?”

Sòng Qīngchéng looked helplessly at her: “The Palace Master was right not to let you read those things.”

Líng Guāng was a little indignant: “What’s wrong with that? Can’t I have a small hobby? What if I’m right?”

“It’s not healing; it’s sword practice.”

Lán Shānjūn held out her palm, feeling the wind transmitted from the Tianhe River. From it, she sensed a faint, heavy, and oppressive Sword Qi, as if a thousand-pound boulder were crushing one’s heart, forcing unbearable pain.

This sword cultivator is suffering greatly.

Through the Sword Qi in the wind, Lán Shānjūn had confirmed that the person practicing the sword by the Tianhe River was Tán Zhēn.

When they arrived at the Tianhe River, they did indeed see Tán Zhēn. However, she held no sword in her hand, merely performing sword moves and forms with her fingers held together as a sword, repeating them over and over. There was no spiritual energy in any of her movements.

“To be able to unleash Sword Qi without using spiritual power, or even just using her fingers as a sword—how astonishing,” Mò Huáishēng murmured, utterly shocked.

She had many friends, and those around her now were among the most naturally gifted of the young generation in the Four Seas, yet Tán Zhēn surpassed them.

Below the Tianhe River, Tán Zhēn’s plain clothes were dampened and clung to her body, the chill of the morning sun causing her face to look slightly pale.

She practiced her sword over and over, like a habit and like a form of catharsis.

“Where is Cháo?” Líng Guāng asked.

The others also looked around. Tán Zhēn was indeed alone beneath the Tianhe River; Cháo’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

Tianhe Town was only so small. Where could Cháo have gone?

“Líng Guāng and I will go look.”

After Sòng Qīngchéng said this, she left with Líng Guāng. Her spell formations, combined with Líng Guāng’s mechanical arts, made finding a person in Tianhe Town not difficult, even under the shroud of Xī’s demonic power.

Lán Shānjūn and the others stayed where they were, quietly watching Tán Zhēn practice her sword for a long time, tirelessly. In the successive movements of her hands and arms, an invisible sword seemed to be grasped in her hand. Person and sword were one in that moment—an undeniable, sharp radiance.

Tán Zhēn did not stop until Líng Guāng and Sòng Qīngchéng sent back news.

Cháo was not in Tianhe Town. He had vanished as if into thin air.

From sunrise in the morning to the scorching noon sun and then to the red sun setting low, Tán Zhēn never stopped, and Cháo never appeared.

As the sky darkened, a day had seemingly blurred past.

Xiāo Jiǔ became anxious. She pointed at Tán Zhēn, who was still practicing her sword. “A whole day! Still practicing. Are the disciples of Yáng Gǔ always this diligent?”

Lán Shānjūn lowered her eyes, avoiding the gaze. The word ‘diligent’ did not apply to her; Senior Sister Xiè was closer to that description.

“Do we still wait? If we wait any longer, it might…”

Xiāo Jiǔ did not finish her sentence, but they all knew what she was about to say.

If they waited any longer, it might lead to Xī slaughtering Tianhe Town, forcing out Tán Zhēn’s Heart Demon, and Tán Zhēn committing suicide…

“She stopped,” Cāng Wú said.

Lán Shānjūn suddenly looked up and saw that the person who had been practicing her sword all day had finally stopped, standing still as if even her breathing had ceased.

“Ah—!”

Suddenly, shouts of confusion came from a distance.

Everyone turned to look. In the night, Tianhe Town suddenly burst into flames, and demonic shadows darted about.

“What’s going on?” Xiāo Jiǔ asked, puzzled. “Shouldn’t these demonic shadows only be drawn out when we wake up the people in town?”

“It seems it wasn’t our problem. The last time was a coincidence,” Lán Shānjūn calculated the time.

As soon as she finished speaking, a message arrived from Líng Guāng. Sòng Qīngchéng’s spell formations covered every part of Tianhe Town. They not only failed to find Cháo but noticed that many people in the town had also disappeared.

“Senior Sister, Tán Zhēn has demonic aura,” Cāng Wú said, raising her hand to take Lán Shānjūn’s.

The moment their palms met, Lán Shānjūn’s vision changed. The towering, sky-high Tianhe River path slowly transformed into a gigantic demonic shadow, looming behind Tán Zhēn. The demonic shadow was waving six tails—it looked exactly like the one they had faced in Tianhe Town the last time.

“It’s shrinking,” Xiāo Jiǔ suddenly fixed her gaze and pointed. “Look down.”

Lán Shānjūn looked down as instructed. Right at Tán Zhēn’s feet, at the junction with the Tianhe demonic shadow, the demonic aura flowed toward Tianhe Town as if it were a tangible substance.

Simultaneously, the demonic shadows in Tianhe Town absorbed the aura and became massive.

The demonic shadow… actually came from Tán Zhēn. Then, where is Xī?

When the Tianhe demonic shadow completely disappeared, Tán Zhēn was no longer tranquil. She noticed the abnormality in Tianhe Town, picked up a dry branch from the roadside, and dashed toward it.

Lán Shānjūn and the others quickly chased after her.

The events that followed were no different from what they had witnessed the last time: Tán Zhēn saw Xī slaughtering Tianhe Town, was forced to reveal her Heart Demon by Xī’s words, and once again took the “sword” to herself.

The Tianhe River poured down, and everything before their eyes disappeared, mixing and reshaping into a new Tianhe Town.

Another loop.

This time, Lán Shānjūn did not wake up quickly. Her consciousness seemed to be floating.

A spot in her chest felt hot.

“Hurry up, find Xī, hurry.”

The voice was familiar and urgent.

Is it Jiǔ Yīng (Nine Infants)?