Chapter 13
In the early morning, the Myriad Sword Mountain was, as always, in the midst of a heavy winter snow.
The snow had cleared, the clouds were pale, and the sunlight was cold. In a vast and boundless world, Helan Xue walked slowly down the mountain, a sword in the bag on his back. In fact, a cultivator could summon a flying sword with a turn of their spiritual energy and didn’t need to carry a sword with them at all. It was just that when they went to the mortal world, carrying a sword was for the mortals to see, to put them at ease. This was a rule left by the ancestors of the Myriad Sword Sect.
Every generation of the Myriad Sword Sect’s sect master spent their entire lives slaying demons and exterminating evil, protecting the people, and had long become a source of comfort in the mortal world.
The sect was located at the top of the mountain, and the only way down was a flight of stone steps that seemed to have no end. Helan Xue walked step by step, a path he had traveled back and forth for a thousand years, already extremely familiar.
But after walking down a section of the steps, he saw a person squatting to the side, rubbing their hands.
“Shizun…!”
Lin Queli was wrapped in a thick red cloak, curled up to the side like a fire fox in the snow. Because he couldn’t use medicine, the place where he had been hit on his palm was wrapped in a thin layer of bandage.
Seeing Helan Xue, Lin Queli’s eyes immediately lit up. “Shizun is finally here!”
Helan Xue was stunned for a moment, then frowned. “What are you doing here?”
Weren’t you packing your bags to escape from the Myriad Sword Sect?
Lin Queli said coyly, “Going down the mountain with Shizun, of course!”
Lin Queli thought to himself, this is so hard for me!
After getting spanked, he had already accumulated 40 points, a stone’s throw away from his goal of 50. Although getting spanked was very painful, at least he saw hope. But he didn’t expect Helan Xue to go down the mountain in the blink of an eye?!
If he waited for Helan Xue to come back, it would be time for the grand competition!
Lin Queli had no choice but to hastily pack his bags and prepare to go down the mountain with Helan Xue, clinging to him and crawling if he had to.
The disciple guarding the gate told him that Taxue Xianzun was a well-known traditionalist in the immortal world.
When he went down the mountain, he would carry a sword on his back like his ancestors. In the mortal world, he would use a carriage or ride a horse. He could clearly use a teleportation array to go down the mountain, but he would still walk a section of the stone steps, as if stepping from the immortal sect into the mortal world.
But if he walked the entire flight of stone steps, it would take three or four days, which would be too much of a delay. Therefore, Helan Xue would walk the path with the heaviest snow, and only after passing through the first gate would he activate the teleportation array.
Lin Queli was waiting in front of this array.
Helan Xue looked at the person before him.
The cloak didn’t seem to provide much warmth. Lin Queli was so cold his face was pale and his lips were purple.
Helan Xue shook his head. “Didn’t you say you hated This Venerable? Why do you want to go down the mountain with This Venerable?”
There was a little bit of hate, a little bit!
But he didn’t hate the points.
“I don’t hate you!!” Lin Queli said loudly, “This disciple likes Shizun, my heart yearns for…”
Helan Xue coldly interrupted the possible “filthy words”: “This Venerable thought you had reflected after being spanked.”
“Ah, ah…” Lin Queli gave a dry laugh.
“Slaying demons and exterminating evil is not a child’s game. Go back.”
“This disciple wants to be with Shizun. Shizun, don’t leave this disciple alone on the mountain…”
“You said before that you didn’t know how to slay demons even with a sword.”
“…”
Lin Queli choked. What kind of boomerang is this?
Lin Queli took a deep breath, put on a pitiful expression, and stepped forward, wanting to hug his thigh again, but Helan Xue moved aside to avoid him.
Helan Xue ignored Lin Queli and turned to walk down the mountain.
The snow fell heavily. Looking at Helan Xue’s back, Lin Queli took a deep breath and quickly followed.
The two of them, one in front and one behind, left deep and shallow footprints in the snow.
Helan Xue turned around and saw Lin Queli following him closely, stepping in the footprints he had made. Now that he had stopped, he also stood in place, rubbing his hands and staring at him blankly.
Helan Xue thought of the mountain cats that occasionally visited the back mountain. They walked like this, stepping in the snow pits their companions had made.
Helan Xue stood in front of the teleportation array and frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Lin Queli pouted but said firmly, “This disciple may not travel with Shizun, but this disciple will also go down the mountain. And I have already learned about the situation from Brother Ji. I will lend Shizun a hand in Yangjing Village.”
“…”
Helan Xue was silent for a moment, then sighed. “Perhaps I should let you see a real demon-slaying, so that you will have a sense of awe and practice diligently.”
“Yay!” Lin Queli’s face broke into a smile.
And so, for the first time in a thousand years, Taxue Xianzun took a small pendant with him through the heavy snow and the array down the mountain.
…
After descending the Myriad Sword Mountain, Lin Queli realized that it was not winter at all.
Below the mountain was a beautiful spring scene, with lush greenery, blooming flowers, and a warm, cool breeze.
Lin Queli was extremely excited. He finally had a chance to go down the mountain! Although it wasn’t a market, at least he could see something other than white snow.
Shouyang’s eldest disciple, a young boy named Qiansui, was already waiting at the foot of the mountain. He drove a carriage, taking Lin Queli and Helan Xue to Yangjing Village, and explained the details to them on the way.
“Strange phenomena have been frequently occurring in Yangjing Village since three days ago. The disciples have confirmed that it is the work of the Demon Clan. This is what alerted Grandmaster…”
Since transmigrating, Lin Queli had been listening to Helan Xue and the others talk about “slaying demons and exterminating evil” as the Demon Lord. Now, he couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Are the Demon Clan… really that bad?”
“Young Master Lin, what are you saying!” Qiansui said helplessly, “If it weren’t for your young age and innocence, you would be hated for saying that. You now know that the Demon Clan is currently fighting with us for this fragment, but do you know how this fragment is found?”
“Hmm?”
“The Demon Sword was shattered, but the evil qi still remains. After the Xianzun shattered the Demon Sword back then, the fragments were scattered everywhere, but they were long suppressed by heaven and earth. Now, to find the fragments, the Demon Clan must use evil qi to draw out evil qi!”
Qiansui said that in order to find the fragments, the Demon Clan would kill people everywhere in possible locations, or release low-level demons and ghosts to generate evil qi. Then, they would follow the flow of evil qi to find the place where the fragments were buried.
Many people had already gone missing and died in Yangjing Village.
Lin Queli was stunned.
“Then, Young Master Lin, do you know how the Demon Lord digs out this fragment?”
“I don’t know…”
Qiansui took a deep breath. “Sacrifice, a sacrifice with evil qi. The fragment that Shizun retrieved from the Demon Clan last time was activated after the Demon Clan burned down a village.”
How cruel…!
Lin Queli silently rubbed the goosebumps on his arms.
Qiansui shook his head and said in a low voice, “They are so crazy, isn’t it just to reforge the Demon Sword and hand it over to the Demon Clan, so that the Demon Lord can lead the Demon Clan to overthrow the immortal world again? Sigh… the ordinary people are the ones who suffer.”
Qiansui had been staying in the village for the past few days to comfort the people and had witnessed many tragic scenes firsthand. His words were truly from the bottom of his heart.
Lin “The Demon Lord Himself” Queli lowered his head and said nothing. He remembered that in the original novel, the Demon Lord wanted to reforge the Demon Sword to overthrow the immortal world, and Elder Jin also wanted to reforge the Demon Sword, but he also wanted to overthrow the original Demon Lord and take his place to control the Demon Sword.
Lin Queli fell into deep thought—he knew that the novel world was different from a society with laws, but… the common people were innocent!
Qiansui turned his head and saw Lin Queli’s pale face. He was startled and quickly said in a soft voice, “Aiya, aiya… sorry! Was Young Master Lin scared by me? It’s my fault for speaking too harshly…”
“No, no…!”
Lin Queli thought to himself, let alone preventing the devastation… I was in such a hurry to follow Helan Xue down the mountain that I forgot what I should do if I encountered people from the Demon Palace. Would I be exposed immediately?
He had transmigrated in a daze and still didn’t know how the original owner and Elder Jin were doing, or what the attitude of the Demon Palace and the Demon Clan towards the original owner was. After all, not every demon was a death-sworn loyalist like Zhuiying and Tingfeng.
Lin Queli was so scared that he would accidentally expose himself. Then it would be a dream come true to meet Helan Xue in the heavy snow again.
“Swoosh—!”
Just then, a sharp arrow flew through the air and stuck in the side of the carriage.
The bracelet on Lin Queli’s wrist glowed red, and Helan Xue, who had been resting with his eyes closed and playing with his prayer beads, suddenly opened his eyes.
Qiansui immediately pulled the reins and stood up, drawing his sword. “Is it the Demon Clan?!”
Lin Queli: “???”
No way?
Bro??
At the same time, the few of them heard the faint sound of bells clashing, clear and melodious, but for some reason, it made one feel mournful and desolate.
“Not good…!”
Qiansui’s originally firm expression became a little dazed after hearing the bells. “Young Master Lin, be careful…! This is a trick of the Demon Clan! It can bewitch… the hearts of people…”
Lin Queli: “…”
Why don’t I feel anything?
Oh, because I’m the Demon Lord.
The problem was, how was he going to pretend to be affected now?
