Chapter 4: The Third Day After Transmigrating Into a Book

Deep within the Xianzhou Dense Forest, inside the ward…

A fissure in the earth stretched across the otherwise flat ground. The abyss below seemed bottomless; even from the cliff’s edge, all Chu Wuyue could see was darkness, as if some divine hand had carved it into the world.

A massive blue formation floated above the abyss, its intricate patterns unmarred.

After surveying the area, Chu Wuyue furrowed his brow.

The main sealing formation was intact. There was no sign of damage at all. And since he hadn’t gone into detail in the original book about where the seal had been breached—or how Venerable Xuanji had repaired it—how was he supposed to fix it now?

He would just have to figure it out himself.

Chu Wuyue recalled the descriptions of the seal he’d read in the sect’s records. The seal on the Devil Realm was no small matter; naturally, it had more than one layer. Besides the main formation, there was an outer protective ward.

Perhaps something had gone wrong with the outer ward.

He flicked his sleeve and silently willed the outer ward to reveal itself.

Several golden rays gradually appeared around the main formation. A ward made up of Sanskrit characters encircled it like a cylinder, rising and falling as it reinforced the seal. The sight was majestic, almost sacred.

Rain poured from the sky, but every drop that struck the formation or the Sanskrit characters vanished without a trace.

At first glance, it was quite the spectacle.

Chu Wuyue: “…”

But where was he supposed to make repairs?

He cautiously fed spiritual energy into the ward. Since the ward and the formation were one continuous whole, putting energy into the ward had the same effect as putting it into the formation.

The moment his spiritual energy entered the ward, the Sanskrit characters began to flicker with golden light. The brightness hurt his eyes, so he closed them and spread his divine sense over the seal, searching for damage.

Sure enough, he found a flaw. Two of the floating Sanskrit characters were riddled with cracks. Demonic qi seeped from them, and the spiritual energy he’d sent in was already mending the damage, slowly restoring the characters.

This is bad.

Chu Wuyue opened his eyes. So the seal had been compromised because cracks had formed in the outer ward.

According to the timeline, Venerable Xuanji should already have repaired the Devil Realm Seal by now—and even found the male lead and brought him back to Fengyun Sect.

But Chu Wuyue had lost time because he’d only just transmigrated into the book. That meant there was every chance a whole group of the Devil Race had escaped through the seal without ever reaching the Devil Abyss!

Near the Xianzhou Dense Forest lay Yucheng, the human settlement closest to the Devil Race. Given their hatred of humans, the devils would surely slaughter the city.

The thing Chu Wuyue was most unsure about was whether a large number of devils had already escaped through the seal.

Repairing the Devil Realm Seal went remarkably smoothly.

Chu Wuyue poured in spiritual energy as quickly as he could, and the seal was restored in no time. He concealed the formation, then leaped onto Frost Descent.

[Congratulations, Host. Main Quest complete: “Repair and Reinforce the Devil Realm Seal.” Virtue Points +200. Current Virtue Points: 100.]

It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. Chu Wuyue tried to look on the bright side. At least his Virtue Points were no longer in the negative.

Next, he planned to check Yucheng and see if the devils had caused trouble there.

He flew his sword out through the ward that isolated the Devil Abyss. Once outside, he discovered that the demonic qi was actually denser beyond the ward than within it.

That made no sense. The Devil Abyss was inside the ward, so the demonic qi should have been heavier there. There was no reason for it to be stronger outside.

There was only one possibility: before he arrived to repair the seal, a large number of devils had already escaped. The demonic qi was so thick, yet he couldn’t find a trace of them. Who knew how many there were?

Chu Wuyue didn’t dare waste time. If anyone had died because of him, he would feel responsible—even if this was only the world of a book.

He flew toward Yucheng, the city closest to the forest.

As he left the forest, his divine sense passed over a clearing below—and Chu Wuyue suddenly stopped. He held Frost Descent aloft and looked down.

Rain had churned the ground into mud. Crooked tombstones jutted from the earth, and the mound behind them had been dug open, revealing a coffin with its lid pried off.

But strangely enough…there was no body inside. The coffin was empty.

And yet a dense, chilling demonic qi clung to it, so overbearing that it made his blood run cold.

What was going on?

Yucheng.

The sky remained dark with clouds, though the rain had dwindled to a drizzle. The air carried the fresh scent of rain.

After a while, mist began to spread across the city. By the time Chu Wuyue arrived, Yucheng lay shrouded in white fog.

Something felt wrong. Why was there no one moving around at the city gate?

Chu Wuyue was about to release his divine sense and investigate when the restrictions of his persona stopped him.

[OOC warning.]

Chu Wuyue frowned. “What did I do out of character this time?”

[That would be inappropriate. Every city has a cultivator stationed there. If you release your divine sense, wouldn’t that be discourteous?]

Chu Wuyue: “…”

True. Venerable Xuanji was rigidly proper. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the male lead as his disciple despite suspecting him of having ties to the Devil Race. Anyone else would have killed first and asked questions later.

Fine. If he couldn’t use his divine sense, he wouldn’t use it.

Chu Wuyue put away Frost Descent and walked into the city. The moment he passed through the gate, he stopped dead. The sight before him caught in his throat, leaving him speechless.

No wonder the city had seemed so strange from the outside. The people of Yucheng were already corpses. Of course there was no sound.

There wasn’t a human voice or birdsong anywhere in the city.

Beyond the gate, a long street paved with bluestone stretched before him. Chu Wuyue stood at the far end and saw people sprawled across the road in all manner of grotesque positions. Faint black demonic qi drifted through the street, though he couldn’t find its source.

He walked a few steps farther into the city, then stopped to stare at the bodies. A terrible suspicion began to form.

He couldn’t afford to hesitate. Chu Wuyue immediately spread his divine sense, covering the whole city. The fog-shrouded streets of Yucheng seemed utterly desolate…

The system blared a frantic alarm.

[OOC! OOC! 50 Virtue Points deducted! 50 Virtue Points deducted!]

Chu Wuyue withdrew his divine sense without changing expression. “You’re giving me a headache.”

He lowered his eyes. Just as he’d feared, everyone in Yucheng had been slaughtered.

“The cultivator stationed in Yucheng is dead. Technically, I didn’t break character.” Chu Wuyue tried to reason with the system.

The system fell silent.

That was fine. Chu Wuyue wasn’t in the mood to argue with it, either. He continued down the street until a faint sound came from an alley nearby—the soft scrape of a bamboo basket being moved.

It was quiet, but Chu Wuyue’s keen senses caught it at once. He turned toward the alley.

A quick glance revealed only the body of a burly man and a tall pile of bamboo baskets stacked beside him.

Chu Wuyue turned away, but didn’t move. He’d heard a faint breath behind the baskets.

Almost everyone in Yucheng had been slaughtered. How was there still a survivor? And if someone was alive, why hadn’t Chu Wuyue sensed him when he’d searched the city with his divine sense?

He stayed on guard and flicked his sleeve, summoning a gust of wind. It wasn’t strong, but it swept straight toward the stack of baskets. They toppled over and rolled across the ground.

Behind them, curled against the wall, sat a child in filthy, rumpled clothes. He looked frightened, and a handprint stood out on his face. He stared at Chu Wuyue with wide, timid eyes.

Chu Wuyue relaxed a little. It was only a child, and he looked pitiful. Chu Wuyue offered him a faint smile, hoping to soothe him.

The next moment, his heart tightened again.

The system chimed.

[Main Quest issued: Take the male lead, Qin Feiyuan, as your disciple. Complete this quest to earn 200 Virtue Points.]

“…”

Chu Wuyue asked the system in his mind, Wasn’t Qin Feiyuan supposed to be badly injured in the countryside when I found him? Why is he in the city?

He’d arrived a little late, but the plot shouldn’t have changed. This was a book. It had rules of its own.

[Reminder, Host: Since this book was discontinued, all bugs in the main storyline will be corrected by the world itself. You arrived fifteen minutes late, and Qin Feiyuan had already woken up and made his way back to the city.]

That explained the empty coffin Chu Wuyue had seen outside the forest.

It belonged to the old beggar.

By now, the male lead had already been dragged to the old beggar’s grave by a rich young master, who had dug it up to humiliate him over his origins. Qin Feiyuan had been beaten by the young master and his men until he lost consciousness.

Chu Wuyue should have appeared while the boy was unconscious. But he’d lost time repairing the Devil Realm Seal, so Qin Feiyuan had woken up without ever meeting him and made his own way back to the city.

And because Chu Wuyue had lingered in Bihuai Mountain while getting used to his new surroundings, a group of devils had escaped through the seal. They’d scattered, and Yucheng had suffered for it.

But the strangest thing was…despite all the demonic qi drifting through the air, he couldn’t see a single devil. Not even a low-ranking one. That made no sense.

And what about the old beggar’s coffin? Chu Wuyue had gone down to investigate it. Why had the demonic qi around it been so terrifyingly strong?

He wasn’t trying to make excuses for arriving late. There were simply too many unanswered questions; he couldn’t help being suspicious.

But he’d only just arrived in this world and didn’t know what to do. For now, he could only follow the main storyline. Once he returned to Fengyun Sect, he would tell Sect Leader Yin Shiyan what had happened. Perhaps Yin Shiyan would have a solution.

Chu Wuyue looked back at Qin Feiyuan. The boy was huddled behind the fallen baskets, clutching their edge. His clothes were torn and dusty, and a corpse lay not far from his feet. He looked terrified, his eyes helpless and innocent as he gazed at Chu Wuyue.

This was the male lead Chu Wuyue had written himself. Someday, the boy would cruelly grind him to death with Soul-Devouring Nails. Chu Wuyue was afraid of him, but his heart still softened despite himself.

For now, the male lead was just a helpless child anyone could bully. He was only fourteen.

But with the OOC restrictions in place, how could Chu Wuyue bring the boy back to Fengyun Sect without losing Virtue Points—and still stay in character as Ancestor Xuanji?

After considering it carefully, Chu Wuyue steadied himself and walked over to Qin Feiyuan with his hands clasped behind his back. He lowered his head slightly and extended a long, pale hand, speaking in a cool, distant voice that was just warm enough to be kind without seeming overly familiar.

“Would you come with me?”