When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 8

The mustard seed world was collapsing.

Fragments of the sky fell between reality and illusion. Zhu Zhihan raised her hand, and they slipped through her fingers like snow.

Space was merging with space.

To directly cleave this mustard seed world apart, how arrogant and yet, how alluring.

If only she could become like that one day.

After encountering the demons and Dan Qi, she suddenly yearned for such formidable power, the kind that could control her own destiny.

She no longer wanted to be threatened by anyone.

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the novice mission “Survive the Onslaught of the Demons.”]

[You will receive Growth Points x100, Health Points Cap x5. Your mission rewards will be distributed during the subsequent process of guiding qi into your body. Please prepare accordingly.]

Growth Points? Health Points Cap?

Before she could examine them closely, Zhu Zhihan felt dizzy for a moment and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, the surroundings had changed.

Beneath her feet was not jade brick but soil, with lush branches and leaves obscuring the sky.

They had emerged from the mustard seed space.

This was a forest?

As the two spaces merged, the ground was littered with the debris of demons and the corpses of humans who had perished in the chaos.

Given that the mustard seed space was inherently small, its manifestation in reality seemed to have shrunk even further. Not far away, one could see demons that had yet to be exterminated, as well as some survivors.

It was also night outside. The fire from the mustard seed space had spread, and in the distance, members of the Immortal Alliance were shouting, using magical artifacts to extinguish the flames.

It was over.

Dan Qi, still lost in her own emotions, staggered toward Zhu Zhihan and reached out her hand.

But before she could, a blade intercepted her path.

It was a long blade, about five feet in length, shaped like a sprout of grain, its edge gleaming like snow.

The blade rested against Dan Qi’s neck. If she took another step forward, no one would doubt that the sharp edge would slice through her fair, delicate skin.

Dan Qi finally stopped.

Her face contorted briefly as she looked at the newcomer. Perhaps the cold steel had sobered her, for she quickly donned a gentle mask and nodded to the newcomer, saying, “Dao Zun.”

Zhu Zhihan also turned her head.

The faint red glow of the fire in the night illuminated the newcomer, and Zhu Zhihan saw a pair of narrow, pitch-black eyes.

Dao Zun Luan Wu.

Back in the mustard seed space, Zhu Zhihan had speculated, what exactly did the system’s countdown refer to?

The mission required her to survive the onslaught of the demons, and she interpreted it as meaning that when the countdown ended, someone would put a stop to it all.

That was why she dared to confront Dan Qi, timing it precisely. She knew that once the time was up, with everyone watching, Dan Qi would be unable to harm her.

At the time, Zhu Zhihan had guessed that the one to end it all would be someone from the Immortal Alliance.

To her surprise, it was Luan Wu who had arrived.

The great antagonist from the tales, rumored to be indifferent to human life, killing as effortlessly as slicing vegetables.

In the distance, someone seemed to be shouting, “Aaaah, Senior Sister! How could you just cleave the Sumeru Realm open?! Do you know how precious it is?! Do you know how much we’ll have to pay in compensation?!”

The voice was filled with anguish.

Luan Wu paid no heed.

Her expression was calm, but deep within her pupils was a faint, unsettling red that gave her a vaguely terrifying aura. She said to Dan Qi, “Are you one of those responsible for guarding this place?”

After receiving Dan Qi’s affirmative response, she sheathed her blade and signaled to the distant members of the Immortal Alliance to approach. “Take her away for investigation.”

The Immortal Alliance member hesitated. “But she’s from the Medicine Sect.”

Luan Wu cast a calm, sidelong glance at him, and the man fell silent.

Dan Qi was swiftly taken away.

Before being led off, Dan Qi gave Zhu Zhihan a deep look, as if to say, we will meet again someday.

Zhu Zhihan returned the gaze.

She silently thought: One day, I will become stronger than you, and then I will drive my blade into your heart.

Watching Dan Qi depart, the blood loss and mental exhaustion from overexertion began to cloud Zhu Zhihan’s mind.

But she couldn’t afford to rest yet, for before her stood a formidable figure.

“Master.”

Merely standing in front of you, this person exuded an overwhelming presence and intimidation that sent chills down one’s spine.

To her surprise, Luan Wu merely brushed past her shoulder, her voice low, as if holding back some restraint. “We will settle our matters later.”

Zhu Zhihan was taken aback.

The events that followed became hazy in her memory.

The Immortal Alliance began cleaning up the aftermath, dealing with the remaining demons that hadn’t been eradicated.

It seemed that demons had indeed infiltrated the Immortal Alliance cultivators responsible for this selection.

From a distance, Zhu Zhihan watched as Luan Wu, silent and resolute, raised her long blade and cleanly beheaded two individuals.

Someone seemed on the verge of screaming but stifled it.

They stared at the straight-backed woman in red with a mixture of fear and resentment.

The two cultivators’ bodies collapsed with a thud, their skin quickly turning black, their severed heads morphing into grotesque forms, high-level demons had possessed them, devoured their bodies, and replaced them without anyone noticing!

Luan Wu lowered her blade, the dark, viscous blood of the demons dripping down the steel.

Perhaps sensing Zhu Zhihan’s gaze, Luan Wu sharply turned her head.

Their eyes met.

The red in Luan Wu’s pupils deepened, like dark crimson blood, and anyone could see that she was not in her right state.

Being stared at by such terrifying eyes should have evoked primal fear in any normal person.

But Zhu Zhihan’s mind was truly muddled. Facing this future great antagonist her nominal master, with whom she would soon clash after uncovering part of her secret her fear seemed severed, leaving her numb and dull.

In that moment, time seemed to stretch.

Zhu Zhihan heard the sound of flames licking at dry branches in the distance, the warm wind brushing past her ears, carrying the chirping of cicadas from the mountains.

She simply watched, as if admiring a flower.

Luan Wu was the first to lower her gaze.

With a sweep of her long blade, she went to deal with the remaining demons hidden among the crowd.

Later, a woman who claimed to be Luan Wu’s junior sister gathered the survivors of the incident, offering comfort and arranging their accommodations.

Zhu Zhihan reunited with Du Peiran and Xiao Chuling.

They were safe. After escaping the demon tide, they had coincidentally encountered Luan Wu splitting open the pocket dimension and were rescued by the Immortal Alliance.

Xiao Chuling was overjoyed to see Zhu Zhihan unharmed, nearly in tears, while Du Peiran, a grown man, had red-rimmed eyes.

Zhu Zhihan wanted to explain that everything had been within her calculations and that they shouldn’t take it so seriously, but things didn’t go as she wished. These two had minds of their own and were convinced that Zhu Zhihan was a great benefactor who was just bad at expressing herself and preferred to do good deeds without seeking recognition.

Great Benefactor Zhu: Fine then.

She could only let them have their way.

They were taken to a nearby small town where cultivators gathered and temporarily settled there.

Zhu Zhihan also got to know the cultivator who claimed to be Luan Wu’s junior sister.

This cultivator was named Tu Meng, a rather rare surname. Strictly speaking, she didn’t belong to the Immortal Alliance; she had just been dragged over by Luan Wu to help out.

When Tu Meng heard that Zhu Zhihan was Luan Wu’s newly accepted disciple, she was utterly shocked.

“What!? Since when did Senior Sister take on a disciple?”

She looked at Zhu Zhihan as if she were some rare animal.

Zhu Zhihan thought to herself, Indeed, in the storybooks, Luan Wu never took on a disciple, but who told me to use some special methods?

This wasn’t something she could explain in detail to Tu Meng.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Once this matter is settled, I’m definitely taking you back to the sect to show you off to everyone!” Tu Meng said with a grin. “But never mind that for now. Come on, call me Little Martial Aunt~”

Zhu Zhihan really wasn’t good at dealing with overly enthusiastic people like this. Steeling herself, she said, “L-Little Martial Aunt?”

“Aye!!” Tu Meng laughed delightedly.

From Tu Meng, Zhu Zhihan learned a lot about the cause and aftermath of the incident.

After an investigation, the Immortal Alliance confirmed that Dan Qi had no direct connection to the demon, but some of her actions in the Sumeru Realm remained unexplained, leaving the matter at a stalemate.

In the end, the Medicine Sect stepped in and took Dan Qi back under their protection.

Moreover, on the day of the spirit cleansing, Luan Wu had to leave for some reason it turned out she had been deliberately sent away. When she returned later, it was because she herself had sensed something amiss.

Tu Meng said, “Those old fogies in the Immortal Alliance didn’t believe Senior Sister and refused to hand over the key to open the Sumeru Realm. Hey, guess what? Senior Sister just took her sword and hacked it open!”

“But it was so expensive, boohoo.”

Zhu Zhihan thought: Oh, so you were the one wailing about having to pay for it that day.

“But there was no other way. What if there really was a demon? Senior Sister’s intuition is never wrong.”

Tu Meng shrugged and glanced lazily at the dozen or so people behind the wooden railings, a faint smile on her lips. “At least we saved some people, right? That makes it meaningful.”

“I heard you saved two people inside as well? Pretty impressive, truly worthy of being Senior Sister’s disciple.”

Zhu Zhihan shook her head. “It was just a matter of circumstance. I didn’t deliberately go out of my way to save anyone. It’s not worth praising.”

Tu Meng patted her shoulder.

“Now those old men are probably sweating bullets. The Immortal Alliance’s influence is vast, and its internal interests are deeply entangled. Who knows if there are still demons infiltrating? It’s going to be a tough situation.”

Tu Meng laughed as if taking pleasure in their misfortune, but a trace of worry flickered in her eyes.

Zhu Zhihan sensed the looming storm.

Besides this, Zhu Zhihan also learned something very important.

Something that hadn’t been written in the storybooks but was common knowledge throughout the Immortal Alliance.

And that was—

Luan Wu detested demons to an extreme degree so much so that she would lose all reason when faced with anything related to them.

Zhu Zhihan suddenly realized: So, the redness I saw in Luan Wu’s eyes that day wasn’t an illusion.

That faint sense of restraint she had sensed came from this.

Then a new question arose in her mind.

If Luanwu clearly despises demons so much, then why in the future depicted in the storybooks does she betray the Immortal Alliance and fall into demonhood?

It seems contradictory.

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