Wanxi Rebirth - Chapter 4

Yue Tingxi could hardly believe her ears.

A demon to be a distinguished guest of a human family? Does Miss Qin know what she’s saying?

“Of course, I promise that I won’t let anyone discover your demonic identity. After the matter is resolved, you can return to your original home safely,” Qin Suiliu promised. “As for whether you want to use a disguise, that’s up to you.”

Yue Tingxi had already intended to use the Qin family, and now she could form an alliance without losing her freedom. She should have been happy, but precisely because she got what she wanted with minimal cost, she felt uneasy.

Is Miss Qin really that easygoing? Is there no hidden agenda or conspiracy waiting for her?

While she had these thoughts, she replied without hesitation: “There’s no need for a disguise. I haven’t done anything shameful with this face. That dog Lin is cautious, so no one in the Qingxu Sect should have seen my face… What should I call you from now on? ‘Miss Suiliu’?”

She had already “tacitly” adopted the role of a “benefactor,” and as a distinguished guest, her tone and address had to change—not too respectful, but not too distant either.

She didn’t care. Even if Miss Qin had killed her in her previous life, they could now sit down and calmly discuss an alliance. It was better than being captured by Lin Chaoyao and being a puppet again!

“Very well, Miss Tingxi,” Qin Suiliu reciprocated, calling Yue Tingxi’s name, which sent a shiver down her spine.

“Where will I rest tonight, Miss Suiliu?” she deliberately asked, trying to get back at her.

“What kind of bed do you like? A hard board or a soft mattress?” Qin Suiliu asked.

“A hard board bed,” Yue Tingxi now had a psychological aversion to comfortable soft beds. “When I was cultivating in the mountains, I only slept on beds of vines and stone, all of which were hard.”

“My sleeping quarters don’t have a hard board bed,” Qin Suiliu replied. “It’s late, and it’s not easy to explain to the staff in a few words. If you don’t mind, Miss Tingxi, you can make do on my couch for the night.”

Yue Tingxi had just been killed by her once, and the memory of it still made her neck ache. Agreeing to form an alliance with the Qin family was a decision she made after careful consideration. But to lie on the same bed as the person who killed her? She’d rather sleep on the floor!

“You don’t need to be so formal, Miss Suiliu. I’ll manage,” she said, making an excuse. She retracted her demonic form and strode out of the room.

Miss Qin’s sleeping quarters were spacious and a clear display of the Qin family’s wealth. Yue Tingxi quickly found a spot on the floor covered with a soft white fox fur cushion. She lay down, curled up, and soon, sleepiness overtook her.

She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. As the “puppet wife” of the sect leader, she would have nightmares every time she fell asleep. Later, when her stomach was ripped open and she was thrown onto the Demon-Locking Platform, she suffered both physically and mentally, gradually losing her five senses and becoming mentally disoriented.

Smelling the faint incense from the soft cushion, she closed her eyes peacefully and fell into a deep sleep shortly after.

She didn’t know that shortly after she fell asleep, someone came and knelt down in front of her.

Qin Suiliu reached out a hand towards her, but just before touching her cheek, she feared waking her up and slowly curled her fingers back. Her gaze, however, remained fixed on Yue Tingxi’s serene sleeping face, silently watching her body rise and fall with each breath.

It was not until the moon set in the latter half of the night that she conjured a gray moth, which she placed in Yue Tingxi’s hair. She watched as it fluttered its wings, scattering a gentle glow that enveloped and protected her.

After confirming that even her own spiritual sense could not detect Yue Tingxi’s true identity, she returned to her room, sat cross-legged on her couch, closed her eyes, and began to cultivate.

“You mean, a living demon just disappeared into thin air, and is no longer even in the Qingxu Sect?!”

At the same time, in the sect leader’s sleeping quarters of the Qingxu Sect, Lin Chaoyao sat beside the wedding table, asking his system in disbelief.

The bride’s red veil was crumpled into a messy pile on the table.

The moment he discovered Yue Tingxi was missing, he immediately ordered the system that had fought countless small worlds with him to scan for her.

【Yes, Host, the target character is currently not detected within the Qingxu Sect.】

【Doubtful: [Yue Tingxi] most likely escaped during the integration of the small world data.】

Integrating the small world data meant that real-time monitoring of the characters’ movements was not possible during that period. The system usually only performed this during the “stable period” at the beginning of invading a small world.

Lin Chaoyao had been counting on nothing happening during the wedding, so he told the system to get to work. He never expected his key observation target to escape during this very window!

“Go find her now!” Lin Chaoyao impatiently ordered. “Controlling that person is the fastest way to complete the mission! Without her, who knows how many detours we’ll have to take!”

【Understood. Please provide a specific search range, Host.】

The system displayed a map of the human world.

“In such a short time, and without anything with her, she’s either gone back to her hometown in Xishan, or she’s hiding near the Qingxu Sect,” Lin Chaoyao marked several of the most likely areas. “Scan them quickly! The sooner, the better!”

【Understood. However, Host, the time node we arrived at after this world reboot is a bit awkward. The wedding has already happened. From all analyses, you are the one in the wrong here.】

【If handled improperly, according to the character data, there is a 90% chance that the Qin family will become a hostile force. Please be aware of this, Host.】

【Based on your past experiences, here are some reference-only remedies: Apologize to Qin Suiliu, but emphasize that you and that unnamed woman are deeply in love—it was already established earlier that Qin Suiliu has no romantic feelings for the original host. Promise that the Qingxu Sect will continue to support the Qin family if they need it, and hope she can be understanding about matters of the heart.】

“Do you really think Miss Qin is that easy to fool?” Lin Chaoyao laughed in exasperation. “Even if the original host stood in front of Qin Suiliu, he might not get her forgiveness. Marrying another woman before marrying Qin Suiliu is a betrayal of the contract between the two powers!”

“What’s more, with Miss Qin’s ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ domineering personality, after being so badly betrayed, she will absolutely ruin my reputation.”

System 7364 fell silent, but Lin Chaoyao had a new idea.

“You did remind me, though. According to her character profile, Qin Suiliu is a person of great loyalty and a close friend of the original host’s younger sister, Lin Fengqing. If I get Lin Fengqing to handle this, even if the Qin family is destined to become hostile, she might not be able to do much against me.”

“All I need to do is find the missing Yue Tingxi and regain control of her before she can start targeting me. I’ll still be able to complete the mission and establish an ‘anchor point’ for the Bureau.”

The next day, Yue Tingxi slept until the warm late-spring sunlight, not yet too hot, shone on her face.

She opened her eyes, didn’t feel the pain of her flesh being sliced, and looked around in a daze, and a state of wariness. It took a while for her to remember what she had been through and where she was now.

It was strange… How could she have slept so soundly in the home of a human who had once killed her?

Seeing that she was still wearing the tattered wedding dress, she felt a wave of nausea. She quickly tore it up, pulled it off her body, balled it up, and burned it to ashes with a fire.

After burning the cursed clothes, Yue Tingxi felt refreshed. She was about to summon a set of old clothes from her inner cave dwelling when she rummaged through her things and found that she had only brought some herbs and healing elixirs.

She couldn’t be seen in the nude, and even though Yue Tingxi disliked wearing clothes conjured by spiritual power, believing it was no different from being unclothed, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and cast a spell.

She subconsciously conjured a set of bamboo-patterned, water-colored robes, but when she looked down at the color, which was identical to the lake in the mountains, she was lost in thought.

Human stories often speak of “seeing an object and thinking of home,” but for her, it was “seeing a color and thinking of home.” If that’s the case, she should change it to a color that would constantly remind her.

With a soft sigh, she changed the robes to a crimson color.

—Just like the stream stained red with the blood of the demons.

Yue Tingxi then re-styled her hair before leaving the sleeping quarters.

She hadn’t gone far when a familiar female voice said, “Good morning, are you the distinguished guest who saved my sister?”

Yue Tingxi turned around. Qin Yingguang was approaching her quickly.

The young girl wasn’t afraid of her at all. She even blinked her eyes and looked her up and down curiously.

“I’m sorry, I was born here, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen my sister care so much for an outsider,” Qin Yingguang explained, a little embarrassed, as she held out a storage bag with both hands. “This is for you! Just consider it… a meeting gift and an apology!”

Yue Tingxi was speechless. She didn’t want the young girl’s things.

But since the other party had called it an “apology,” if she didn’t accept it, the girl might think she was still upset about the matter. So she accepted the storage bag without hesitation, tucking it into her sleeve and then into the inner cave of her demonic body.

“Where is your sister?” Yue Tingxi took the opportunity to ask. “I have something important to discuss with her about that scumbag sect leader of the Qingxu Sect.”

She remembered their conversation from last night and the “reasonable identity” Qin Suiliu had fabricated for her. She just didn’t know how much Miss Qin had told her younger sister.

“My sister personally went to the Qingxu Sect to annul the marriage!” Qin Yingguang’s lips couldn’t help but curl up as she said this. “The bride ran away on the wedding night, and the next day she was dumped by her fiancée. This time, we’ll make sure that dog Lin’s reputation is ruined and he gets what he deserves!”

After hearing Qin Yingguang’s explanation, Yue Tingxi was initially happy.

Great! The annulment meant the Qin family would sever ties with the Qingxu Sect. Lin Chaoyao would lose a powerful arm, and her revenge would be within reach!

But after her moment of joy, she began to worry.

“Your sister didn’t go alone, did she?” she asked subconsciously.

That puppet dark sorcery was truly bizarre, even able to control one’s words and actions. Miss Qin shouldn’t be so unlucky as to be controlled the moment she arrived, right?!

“Of course not! My mother and several influential elders of our clan are going to be witnesses!” Qin Yingguang shook her head. “Honestly, with the way that dog Lin has behaved, not to mention an outsider like you coming to help, even if my father knew about it from the grave, he’d be so angry he’d appear in my sister’s dreams and tell her to annul the marriage!”

Yue Tingxi also remembered. She had heard in her previous life that this marriage was arranged by the previous head of the Qin family when Qin Suiliu and Lin Chaoyao were still children.

She didn’t really understand human “marriage matters,” only that an alliance was mostly for the benefit of two factions. However, the betrothal between Qin and Lin was the Qin family head’s way of ensuring that after his death, the Qin family would have a powerful backer to protect his most beloved daughter for life. He chose the son of an old friend.

It was said that the young Lin Chaoyao regarded the Qin family head as his own father. After the Qin family head’s death, he even knelt in the Qin family’s mourning hall for 49 days to mourn him, repeatedly swearing that once he came of age, he would protect Qin Suiliu for the rest of her life.

—Now, it seems his vows were nothing but empty words, or a joke, otherwise how could he break his promise so easily?

Yue Tingxi didn’t dwell on things she didn’t quite understand.

Feeling reassured that her temporary ally had company, she changed the subject and asked Qin Yingguang about her future residence and rooms she could freely access.

“Huh? Didn’t my sister arrange it for you?!” Qin Yingguang was surprised. “That’s not right! Where did you sleep last night?”

“I found a white fox fur rug in your sister’s sleeping quarters and just slept there,” Yue Tingxi recalled. Seeing Qin Yingguang’s look of disbelief, she tried to explain, “I like sleeping on hard beds. If there isn’t one, sleeping on the floor is fine too.”

Qin Yingguang was also a pampered young lady from a prestigious family and found it hard to imagine that a guest would prefer to sleep on the floor. She was speechless for a moment before finally saying, “Why don’t you wait until my sister comes back and ask her?”

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