Chapter 5: The Descent into Darkness

Liang Si hesitated. Even as a seventh-rank Mystic Master, it would take him a full hour to reach the outer mountain; let alone for the little junior brother, who was just an ordinary person unable to fly on a sword. The sky was dark now—nothing for cultivators, who could traverse such terrain in an instant, but for an ordinary person, the wild mountains teemed with wolves, tigers, and leopards, turning any journey into a misfortune-laden ordeal.

Liang Si knew that Wen Jinge was eccentric, but he himself had never suffered any difficulties because of it. He didn’t think he was anyone special, yet couldn't fathom the reason behind this. Seeing his indecision, Wen Jinge had to remind him, “Do you know the saying: ‘give a stick, then a date’?”

“Master, what do you mean?”

“With him.” Wen Jinge pointed outside. “Ten sticks, then one date—that’s enough.”

“Why?”

“Don’t be fooled by how obedient he looks…”

[OOC warning! OOC! OOC!]

“He may look well-behaved, but in my dreams, he skins me alive and tears out my tendons, then forces me to swallow my own flesh and blood. Do you have any idea how terrifying that is?”

“I understand.” Liang Si, spooked, glanced out the window. “I won’t meddle in junior brother’s affairs anymore, and I’ll keep master’s dream a secret.”

[Alert lifted! Lifted! Lifted!]

“Will you sell me out to Ai Fengling tomorrow?” Wen Jinge suddenly laughed.

“Master!” At this, Liang Si’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

“It’s fine. He cares about me. Let him know. It’s all nonsense anyway; it's just a thorn in my heart.”

“No!” Liang Si was firm. “I trust master. Uncle Ai is your first tribulation, Burning Heaven Sect the second, and junior brother should be the third.”

“Who told you this?”

“When I first joined, Grandmaster sent me a transmission, saying I might temporarily apprentice under Uncle Ai for a few years, and that only when you accepted another disciple could I be claimed back.”

“All right, off you go!”

That old fox of a grandmaster—some things grow weary with repetition.

[Do you realize how close you just came to disaster!] “Nonexistent” bellowed in her mind. [You almost got electrocuted!]

“But I didn’t, did I?” Wen Jinge lay sprawled on her desk, listening to the noises outside. Liang Si had given the boy a few talismans, and Qiao Yu was wolfing down his food, the aroma wafting into the room. “Isn’t this sort of game all about the thrill?”

[Why do I feel like you’ve changed?]

“I haven’t! Just gone dark.”

[…]

[Where are you going?]

“Hunting.” Wen Jinge replied as she stepped into the dressing room and changed into black night gear. “I’ve taken a liking to the jade pendant around his neck. I was only bluffing to Baiteng, but now I really want to try my hand at jade carving.”

[Don’t do anything reckless!]

“When others believe you possess something and want to use it to convict you, your best bet is to actually have it!” She snorted. “Look at me, how wicked I am! I just want to indulge for once. But why is it that when I truly become wicked, you get scared? ‘Nonexistent,’ are you hiding something from me?”

“Nonexistent” fell silent. Wen Jinge knew it was still watching but pressed no further.

“Master, about junior brother—”

“Hush!” Wen Jinge had not concealed any of this from Liang Si. In the original novel, Liang Si had suffered terribly; not only was his throat slit for speaking in her defense, but he was also blamed as the arsonist who burned Lingxiao Peak.

Since death was inevitable, obviously, letting him live it up a little before he died better suited Wen Jinge’s tastes.

“I’m on the mountain tonight. I’m going to rest.”

“Understood.” Liang Si asked no further questions. After Wen Jinge vanished into the night, he conjured a substitute and placed it in her bed, then extinguished every lamp and set up a barrier around the dwelling.

As for Wen Jinge, at that very moment she was tailing the protagonist Qiao Yu, planning to bestow upon him a surprise attack.

The protagonist truly lived up to his title!

Peril stalked him at every turn, murder lurking in every shadow—a miserable journey indeed.

First, he encountered a sleepless bear. After barely escaping, he ran into a wolf. Qiao Yu was a tough child, yet he still survived.

However, what happened next forced Wen Jinge to summon the sulking “Nonexistent.”

“Isn’t the Azure Sand Beast a sixth-rank demon beast? How could it appear in Xuanyun Sect? They wouldn’t dare put such a creature in the high-level trial grounds. ‘Nonexistent,’ just how much are you hiding from me?”

[Didn’t you want excitement? Then see it through to the end!]

“See it through, my foot!” Wen Jinge spat.

That brat Qiao Yu clutched the blueprints to his chest. Though he’d escaped, he was badly wounded. Now, as he tried to bandage himself, he stumbled into the Azure Sand Beast’s lair.

Wen Jinge couldn’t help but marvel—what incredible luck the protagonist had!

But with her unstable mystical energy, any rash move would startle the beast, and she couldn’t let Qiao Yu discover her identity. So she preemptively took medicine to suppress her aura.

[What’s your hurry?]

“Heh.” She sneered, though her words belied her expression: “Yes, I’m anxious.”

[Want help?]

“I’m the villain! Now’s the time to kick him while he’s down—why would I help?”

“Nonexistent” had nothing to say, but was overcome by an odd feeling.

Qiao Yu opened the brocade pouch Liang Si had given him, found some blood-staunching medicine, and swallowed it. Perhaps because of the drug, his eyelids began to droop.

But he knew he couldn’t sleep—he had to deliver the item to the outer mountain.

Senior brother had said this was a test from their master. The sword blank itself was a trial of character and temperament; a single misstep could strip him of his cultivation, leaving him a cripple. This was his master tempering him.

If he couldn’t pass even this hurdle, he might as well go down the mountain and become a little beggar. But now that he finally had a place to eat his fill and stay warm, he couldn’t bear to leave.

Children’s emotions always come suddenly.

He touched the letter at his chest, wiped away his tears, and was about to stand up when a rustling sounded from behind.

“Boy, hand over your most precious possession, and I’ll spare your life!”

This was the line Wen Jinge had planned to say, but fate did not give her the chance; instead, it stole her words away.

The Azure Sand Beast was unlike other demon beasts in one notable way—

It was a compulsive collector.

If it encountered an adult man, it would likely kill him outright; but if it met a child or woman, it would demand their most precious item, and if lied to, would tear them limb from limb.

It was the only demon beast that, though lacking spiritual intelligence, could converse with humans.

Qiao Yu was just a child—an older child, but still—wounded and harmless in the Azure Sand Beast’s eyes.

After all, he was just an ordinary boy. His nerves, briefly relaxed, were forced taut again, especially with the talking demon’s head looming over him, heightening his fear.

In that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. He began to doubt—was his master really testing him, or simply unwilling to take him as a disciple, wishing him dead instead?

Yes, his master hadn’t even wanted to know his name, found him dirty—everything good he’d heard about his master had come from his senior brother. Perhaps, in his master’s eyes, he never existed at all.

“Boy, you’re actually thinking about that?” The Azure Sand Beast snorted, tapping Qiao Yu’s head with its paw. “I’ll just take the thing myself. You’re pitiful enough to let live.”

“No!” Qiao Yu snapped out of his daze and hurled himself at the beast with all his might.

Wen Jinge was astonished—the thing the boy clung to was—

A letter?