Chapter 77: Your Master Is Always with You

“Forget it, let me be a demon then! It’s not as though I’m any kind of virtuous person. When the time comes, I’ll rebel and make it official, following the proper procedures! That’s fine too,” Wen Jingge muttered under her breath.

[Congratulations!]

Wen Jingge’s lips twitched. She glanced instinctively at the coffin beneath her. Its hue was ancient, naturally camouflaged, and the material looked in no way like millennium black iron. She let out a sigh of relief.

[I said, congratulations!]

“I’m not dead yet,” Wen Jingge snorted, her gaze lingering on Liang Si. “If you’ve something to say, hurry up. I’m busy leveling up my disciple.”

[What… what are you planning?] The “Nonexistent” AI grew inexplicably nervous.

“You called me over to boost the villain’s intelligence. Now both the righteous and the wicked are smarter, and you’re still not satisfied? Honestly! For an AI, you’re awfully skilled at making things difficult—makes one wonder—” Wen Jingge’s tone was exasperating. The “Nonexistent” AI had already cast itself as the heartless antagonist. [I’m just here to tell you there’s a reward. Do you want it or not?]

“I’m busy, no time.” Wen Jingge applied several small wards to Liang Si, ensuring he would not be harmed before relaxing herself.

She personally circled the arena, assisting Qiao Yu and scattering golden powder to set up formations and write talismans.

At last, the final talisman was affixed to the coffin. “Si-si, relax!”

“Nonexistent” was left bitterly speechless.

Wen Jingge used to enjoy teasing it, but never had she so thoroughly ignored its existence as now.

“Think of nothing! Just break through! Your master is with you.”

“If one day I turn demon, will you still think so, Master?” Liang Si’s gaze was complex, the demonic aura in his eyes undiminished—indeed, it seemed to grow richer still.

“That depends on your ability,” Wen Jingge pressed his head down. Truth be told, she really wanted to pry open his skull and see what thoughts churned in there every day.

Liang Si’s obsession with being the villain was deeper even than hers!

She was the villain; she was supposed to be the villain!

Liang Si, however, was forthright. Without prompting, he confessed, “It’s my own inner demon—long before I joined the sect, it was already there.”

“Oh.” Wen Jingge was not particularly interested.

“At that time, Master had little regard for me, said I was born under a disastrous star.”

He smiled, like a villain before descent into darkness.

His gray robes were stained with blood—on his face, his clothes, his shoes, all smeared with dirty black-red. After his earlier exertion, the smile on his pale face seemed even more dazzling.

Wen Jingge rolled her eyes. This was a massive social embarrassment!

Worse still, the Wen Jingge from then and the one now were not the same person; she was paying for someone else’s mistakes.

How awkward!

“My situation was much like Junior Brother Qiao’s now. Master gave me a booklet, and after that, the Wan Zhang Peak was sealed. The most guidance I received on cultivation came from that booklet, then Uncle Ai, and only later from Grandmaster.”

“Mm.”

“Whenever I drew near Grandmaster, I couldn’t control myself.” The demonic aura in his eyes thickened; thunderclouds flickered overhead, ready to strike. “I couldn’t help wanting to take my sword and drag Grandmaster from his position.”

“Why didn’t you?” Wen Jingge asked.

“Because I remembered the teachings of the Grandmaster. He said that on this mountain, only Master could discipline me. She alone shares my fate. And rumor had it, Master and Grandmaster were always close; I didn’t want to be foolish.”

“To be honest…” Wen Jingge jumped down from the coffin. “You’d be better off a bit foolish—it would make me look smarter.”

Liang Si replied earnestly, “Alright.”

“Master, since you awoke, I’ve been restraining myself.”

“Mm?”

“I don’t know why, but when I face you, my inner demon awakens, as if summoned.”

“How does it compare with your feelings toward Grandmaster?”

“I still want to kill Master more.”

Wen Jingge’s voice suddenly failed her. She didn’t want to waste any more time listening to threats against herself, so she asked mentally, “The reward—where is it, the one you mentioned?”

[…]

“Never mind.”

She forced out a drop of blood, smearing it on the coffin, and blinked toward the flashing light. If she guessed correctly, it should be Wang Xi’s arrowhead, and it was aimed behind her.

All the beads were gone, her aura nearly vanished, yet her strength was not to be underestimated.

“I’ll escape, then?”

Lu Wei possessed Qiao Yu, glanced at Liang Si, surprised by the demonic aura on him. “He’s staying?”

“He’s staying,” Wen Jingge replied calmly.

“Alright! Then I’ll run far away.”

“Good.”

“I’m really going!”

“Fine.”

“I’m truly leaving!”

Whoosh!

An arrow flew straight for Wen Jingge. Lu Wei’s expression changed; before she could react, he cleaved the arrow aside, his face showing a surge of murderous intent that had dissipated and now flared anew.

“Wow! Such a temper?” Wen Jingge exclaimed, as if her tail had been stepped on.

“In my whole life, I hate nothing more than someone aiming a bow at me.” Yet before he could strike, the incoming arrow veered aside; two arrows shot in opposite directions, embedding themselves in the coffin.

At that moment, the coffin caught fire. Thunderbolts rained down, a strange sight beneath clear daylight.

Lu Wei stiffened, as one of the main culprits strode out, swaggering before the building, looking over the scene, and shouted through an amplifying talisman, “Grandmaster, I swear! I didn’t do it on purpose, do you believe me?”

He was familiar. Lu Wei had no choice but to shift his focus to another, a man in green robes wearing a veiled hat, with the missing little maid standing behind him.

“Master…!” The girl tugged shyly at his sleeve. “I told you before, they said themselves they aren’t Immortal Wen’s people. Look, three demons in this group.”

“Cough, cough, cough.” The master’s body was frail, as if a breeze could topple him. The cough sounded as if it tugged at one’s heart, making it uncomfortable just to hear.

“Let’s go!” Regarding his dead servants, the man showed no concern; those things were like crushed ants to him.

“Where—” Lu Wei’s momentum faltered. “Hm?”

He couldn’t leave, nor could the man and the maid.

Looking at Wen Jingge, anger flared within him.

“Could you not let me capture them before setting the fire? You’re making me look like an idiot!”

“Grandmaster,” Liang Si said quietly.

A bolt of lightning struck him, but his expression did not change, as though it had not touched him.

To him, thunder was as simple as walking in the rain.

The demonic aura dissipated as the thunderclouds descended.

“So it’s suppression, not harm?” Lu Wei observed for the first time such a strange phenomenon.

Thunder, formed of primordial righteous energy, strikes evil, those who defy the heavens, those who slander the Dao. But Wen Jingge was a peculiar case, likely evading it thanks to that coffin!

And Liang Si?

The coffin did not shield Liang Si; it merely redirected some of the lightning that struck Wen Jingge and himself. Though little truly hit Liang Si, it was not something an ordinary person could withstand.