Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 174

Young Zhong Fei was closer to her bestial nature than her human one.
In a remote, nameless small city, everything was conservative and ignorant. They harbored aversion towards anything unfamiliar or misunderstood, branding it as a ‘demon.’ Coincidentally, six or seven-year-old Zhong Fei couldn’t properly control her half-demon bloodline. Ink-black scales covered her face, hands, and body, and she had an unhideable tail and a pair of terrifyingly cold vertical pupils.
Such an appearance, let alone in a small city, even if she appeared in the cultivation world, she would probably be casually apprehended or killed by passing cultivators the next second.
Not to mention, Zhong Fei acted entirely on bestial instinct: stealing, snatching food, biting and tearing at other human children, regarding everyone as an enemy. Once someone approached her, she would hold a grudge and retaliate…
Especially when she slaughtered stolen chickens and ducks, a cruel smile played on her lips, as if she greatly enjoyed the thrill of taking lives, even eating raw flesh and blood.
Originally, there were still kind-hearted people in the city who felt that, after all, it was a life and should be saved if possible. However, upon seeing Zhong Fei refuse to let go even after biting off a chunk of flesh from other human children, they finally understood a principle: Not of our kind, their hearts are bound to be different.
Zhong Fei was just an uncivilized demon! This time it was raw chickens and ducks, but what about next time? If Zhong Fei was left behind, the entire city would be harmed.
Things had come to this point; there was no need to say which was more important.
Even a great demon like Jie Yunjin still had to stay away from the human world’s hustle and bustle and choose seclusion, fearing that righteous cultivators would someday exorcise her. What about Zhong Fei then?
And the people of this small city chose to expel Zhong Fei.
In the time-space rift, her features squeezed together, Li Jin’an squatted miserably, hugging her knees, and let out a difficult “tsk.” Her disdain was palpable. She had just suddenly recalled the Heavenly Tome’s description of Zhong Fei’s background.
The Heavenly Tome depicted Zhong Fei as an unparalleled little pitiful one who, due to her half-demon bloodline, was often hungry, cold, and bullied in her youth. Thus, she always harbored vigilance towards others and never gave her true heart until she met Xie Huaixue, after which she grew into a person who only brightened for her Master.
Master for Zhong Fei was the salvation that changed her life, which was why Zhong Fei had such great possessiveness towards her Master, unwilling to share her with Lan Ci or Wu Zhaoxing…
That damned Heavenly Tome, that damned villain protagonist! How nauseating.
Xie Huaixue was indeed a Venerable One of the Human Race. She protected the vast majority of human civilians, not evil creatures who started wars out of selfish desires, plunging the Lancang Continent into misery.
How blind one must be to think Zhong Fei was that pitiful little thing? Who was bullying whom, really? Presuming that the entire city couldn’t see the Heavenly Tome, they just vigorously spread rumors! She truly didn’t find the people of this small city ignorant. Given Zhong Fei’s monstrous appearance, neither human nor demon nor ghost, clearly a blight that would last a thousand years, the entire city had actually endured until now before driving her away, instead of exorcising and burning her to death. Wasn’t that kind and enlightened enough?!
The parents whose children were bitten, the owners whose chickens and ducks were stolen, the victims whose windows and roofs were smashed by Zhong Fei’s retaliatory rocks in the middle of the night… these people actually only wanted to drive Zhong Fei away, believing “out of sight, out of mind,” instead of demanding the death of this demon in a fit of public indignation. Perhaps they thought Zhong Fei couldn’t survive alone in the wild and didn’t want to accrue more karmic debt for killing, or perhaps they felt Zhong Fei was too ominous and feared killing her might implicate themselves.
Unfortunately, their momentary kindness did not earn Zhong Fei’s understanding or gratitude; instead, it brought about devastating disaster for themselves.
Before leaving, Zhong Fei, who had been driven out of the city, cast a fierce backward glance with her bestial vertical pupils, as if to deeply remember this small city that had bullied her and humiliated her. Then, without looking back, she plunged into the deep mountains and ancient forests.
The Heavenly Tome naturally wouldn’t explicitly write about Zhong Fei’s experiences of harming others. Li Jin’an also didn’t know what exactly happened afterward. She had indeed forcibly probed into the spiritual seas of the three evil creatures back in Purple Leaf Town, but she found their minds filthy and dirty and didn’t look closely at all, merely erasing their memories from the illusion.
Even if it was fake, she wouldn’t allow those evil creatures to covet Xie Huaixue.
Although she hadn’t yet enlightened to her feelings at the time, her subconscious actions had already exposed Li Jin’an’s thoughts and inclinations.
So Li Jin’an didn’t know what this innocent small city would encounter. But seeing it now, what else was there to not understand? With Zhong Fei’s ungrateful and heartless demeanor, it was estimated that none of the city’s inhabitants would come to a good end.
As if confirming Li Jin’an’s thoughts, a group of mad demon beasts soon rushed out from the deep mountains and ancient forests towards the small city.
How could a small city without even a single cultivator resist rampaging demon beasts? The city was in a state of panic and chaos.
The city’s inhabitants didn’t know how they had attracted such a great disaster, but Li Jin’an, looking down from her commanding position, saw clearly: Zhong Fei was hidden behind a tree. At this moment, she had retracted her scales and tail, with only a pair of vertical pupils coldly watching the city’s direction. When she saw the city gates being smashed open, she laughed with her mouth wide open, looking very satisfied.
The Zhong Fei who was both stupid and evil in the Dao Sect was already in a disguised form. It wasn’t just because she cared about her Master’s opinion of her; more importantly, there were too many people in the Dao Sect who could threaten her. Any elder could kill her, so she had no choice but to behave herself.
But now, Zhong Fei, whose bestial nature dominated, didn’t conceal her malice at all. She even felt a bit regretful that, if she could, she would have preferred to pierce these people’s necks with her sharp teeth.
Li Jin’an silently clenched her fists.
As expected of the Heavenly Tome’s protagonists, those three evil creatures each had their own despicable qualities. As long as one appeared, everyone within a ten-mile radius would surely die. They were so inauspicious, ‘disgusting’ barely began to describe it.
No, she couldn’t bear it any longer!
She hadn’t acted rashly in the last time-space because Lan Ci herself didn’t care much about her family’s lives, so why bother making an extra effort? But the people of this small city were so innocent! Even knowing she couldn’t change anything that happened in the past, Li Jin’an didn’t intend to wait any longer. Otherwise, her mind wouldn’t be at ease.
At worst, the time-space rift would just squeeze her a bit longer.
Li Jin’an knew that doing this was meaningless and would also shorten her waiting time for Xie Huaixue. But had sword cultivators done few meaningless things?
A sword tempered with firelight suddenly descended.
As if sensing its wielder’s soaring wrath, the Blazing Radiance Sword, carrying raging flames, suddenly smashed down, incinerating the mad demon beasts to ashes.
What she didn’t know was that on the normal timeline, this small city was not only breached by demon beasts but also set ablaze by Zhong Fei, who burned away all grievances and sins. She then stepped on the blood, tears, and bones of an entire city to walk the grand path spoken of by the great demon remnant soul, pretending to be the city’s sole survivor to act pitiful and ingratiate herself with Qingxiao Immortal Venerable, who came to investigate the cause of the demon beast unrest.
The method the three evil creatures used to approach Xie Huaixue before revealing their true faces was always the same old trick—acting pitiful, extremely pitiful, claiming the entire Lancang Continent owed them, everyone bullied them, and only their Master could save them…
Lift them high, then drop them hard.
This was the method the three evil creatures used on Xie Huaixue in the Heavenly Tome, hoping to force Xie Huaixue to yield. Unfortunately, Qingxiao Immortal Venerable possessed an unyielding pride. Though she wasn’t arrogant, her eyes couldn’t bear to see dirty things. She could learn anything, but she simply couldn’t learn to yield.
Both were towering seas of flames, yet their effects were completely opposite.
One brought disaster, while the other was fire, yet it felt like a heaven-sent sweet rain, bringing a wave of cheers.
The city’s inhabitants still had some insight. Knowing that an immortal had come to save them, they immediately knelt down in large numbers, grateful for the immortal’s great kindness and virtue.
In contrast, Zhong Fei, hidden in the forest, perhaps guided by her beastly instinct, realized something was wrong the moment the sword light fell. Without hesitation, she turned and burrowed into the depths of the forest. However, having no one to guide her, she inevitably overestimated her abilities. Before leaving, she turned to look, wanting to remember who had ruined her plans.
With just that glance, Li Jin’an neatly leaped out of the time-space rift, standing in mid-air with her hands behind her back, robes fluttering. Her narrow, sharp phoenix eyes lifted slightly, and she gazed at the inescapable Zhong Fei with a half-smile.
Despite the vast distance between them, that overwhelming arrogance and disdain rushed directly into her face. The blazing firelight, capable of incinerating everything, seemed as if it could burn her and the group of demon beasts to ashes the next second.
Six or seven-year-old Zhong Fei had not yet experienced the miserable, dark days of being whipped and beaten later in life. But some people’s antagonism was innate. The moment Zhong Fei saw Li Jin’an, she felt the half-demon bloodline within her stirring restlessly, making her uncontrollably want to transform into a flood dragon and rush forward to tear the red-clothed person to shreds with her sharp claws.
“Run!!!”
The great demon remnant soul within Zhong Fei was awakened by an extreme sense of danger. Before it could say anything, it turned its head and saw the commanding Jijin Sword Sovereign.
Its vision went black. Too late to question Zhong Fei how she had provoked this harbinger of death, it could only scream heart-wrenchingly in Zhong Fei’s mind.
“Run!”
“Run for your life!”
Still not enough, the great demon remnant soul forcibly took over Zhong Fei’s body and began to dash wildly through the forest, deeply resenting that Zhong Fei’s demon king mother’s true form was an ink dragon that flew in the sky and swam in the sea, but didn’t run on the ground. Otherwise, four legs could run faster!
Jijin Sword Sovereign’s extremely arrogant chuckle exploded in the ears of the two demons.
Then, the next second, she was lifted by the neck from a distance, spun around in mid-air, and smashed in front of Li Jin’an at a speed so great that the air scraped Zhong Fei’s cheeks.
Li Jin’an lifted her foot and stepped on Zhong Fei’s head. With a slight press, the entire demon sank into the ground, unable to struggle free no matter how hard she tried.
She coldly looked down at the demonized Zhong Fei, and suddenly thought of a good idea to pass the time, one that would keep her from being bored even while waiting for Xie Huaixue.
Not long after, another group of reluctant demon beasts quickly ran out of the forest. They weren’t mad; they had been entirely dragged over by force.
With the spot where Zhong Fei was embedded as the center, the second group of demon beasts stomped back and forth, back and forth, on her head…
If she couldn’t truly empathize, then she would make her completely experience it. There was no need for Zhong Fei to repent, or weep bitterly and say she was wrong. Just letting her suffer equal harm would suffice. Evil people are dealt with by evil people.
How could an evil creature like Zhong Fei compare to the cultivation world’s acknowledged great menace?
Perhaps Jijin Sword Sovereign wouldn’t engage in torture and killing, but she would enrage people to death with the most disdainful attitude.
Li Jin’an let out a breath, finally feeling her spirit at ease. A wicked smile played on her lips. “I heard you have two lives? Let this Venerable One see if that’s true.”
Being continuously pressed deeper, the miserable Zhong Fei’s eyes trembled violently. The next second, her body was once again taken over by the great demon remnant soul. “Jijin Sword Sovereign, we… Ah!”
Li Jin’an’s eyebrows twitched slightly. Without even drawing her sword, she erased the great demon remnant soul and scoffed, “Noisy.”
Did it truly think there was still a chance for reconciliation and negotiation between them? Right. If it wasn’t truly craven, it wouldn’t have slept for so long inside Zhong Fei, and later been forced to die in Zhong Fei’s place.
She turned to look at Zhong Fei, calculating how much time she could still stay in this time-space.
“Tell me, how should you die?”
“Never mind, why should this Venerable One trouble herself? These adorable demon beasts will do it for me.”
Born a demon yet dying under the hooves of demon beasts, Zhong Fei, no matter how unwilling or humiliated, had no choice but to breathe her last and close her eyes. The last image she saw was not her enemy’s face, nor her belated ‘salvation’, but a head full of hooves.
After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Li Jin’an finally waited for Xie Huaixue, who had rushed over. She relaxed her body, allowing the time-space rift to squeeze her out, and teasingly left a remark for Xie Huaixue.
“You were late this time; you made me wait so long. When we go back, I’ll punish you.”