Transmigrating as the Heart Demon of the Ruthless Sword Venerable – Chapter 23
by Little PandaSame Kind (5)
She’s afraid of me?
A person can die, but they cannot suffer social death.
Tang Wenchun’s whole body went rigid. One careless moment—she infused too much spiritual energy, and the paper crane shattered into scraps of paper, drifting away on the wind, much like her crumbling spirit at this very moment.
Yet a certain someone remained utterly oblivious. Seeing this, she stepped even closer, a trace of barely perceptible worry appearing in her expression as she looked at Tang Wenchun: “Are you alright? Did Yunzhongjun say something to you?”
“Ah, n-no, nothing, nothing at all…”
In an instant, Tang Wenchun flailed her limbs and scooted backward a good distance. Only then did she pat her chest and turn her head away, mumbling softly: “I’m fine, I’m fine, just not very skilled at channeling spiritual energy…”
Yu Zhaoming looked thoughtfully at Tang Wenchun, then finally nodded. “I see.”
It seemed she still needed more practice.
At this moment, Tang Wenchun had no idea what schemes were turning in Yu Zhaoming’s mind. Seeing that Yu Zhaoming didn’t intend to press further, she breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and sidled up to Bian Man, affectionately linking her arm through Bian Man’s: “Bian-shimei, let’s chat.”
“Who’s your shimei…” Bian Man muttered under her breath, though she didn’t refuse. She asked quietly, “How old are you?”
“Twenty. Not young anymore.” Tang Wenchun answered reflexively, then noticed Bian Man’s complicated gaze.
“I’m already eighty.”
Tang Wenchun suddenly felt the arm she was holding become rather tremulous. Seeing Bian Man’s somewhat downcast expression, she frantically racked her brain for comfort: “Don’t—don’t worry! The books say the most important things for cultivators are Wealth, Companions, Methods, Land1. If we earn more spirit stones, your cultivation will rise too.”
Though Sword Sect disciples were poor, those who could enter the sect were mostly exceptional talents selected from thousands. Their Root Bone might not match Yu Zhaoming’s, but they considered themselves no worse than anyone else. Bian Man thought it over carefully, then asked in a low voice: “Using the method from earlier?”
Tang Wenchun nodded, painting a rosy picture with all her might: “Yes! We can earn lots of spirit stones in the future, and the Sword Sect will be built up better and better too.”
Though Tang Wenchun had grown much closer to her, she wasn’t a Sword Sect disciple, after all. Thinking of her sect’s dilapidated state, Bian Man felt a twinge of shame. She bowed her head and calculated the profits, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she said: “You’re right. If we do this a few more times, the income will be substantial—no less than what the Alchemy Peak disciples earn from refining pills.”
The key was fighting crime—and it was a zero-cost business!
Seeing Bian Man brimming with renewed vigor, Tang Wenchun let a small smile show. She couldn’t see any trace of Bian Man’s “advanced age” of eighty at all—she looked just like a young girl.
Clearly, the Sword Sect elders had protected their disciples very well.
After this exchange, the bond between the two was visibly strengthened. They chattered nonstop the whole way back, thoroughly leaving Yu Zhaoming behind.
No helping it—Tang Wenchun still hadn’t mentally prepared herself to face Yu Zhaoming.
The group returned to the Sword Sect station as though they had won a great victory, noisy and jubilant, only to be collected by their respective elders and masters.
Under Tang Wenchun’s strategy, the Sword Sect disciples had earned quite a lot this time. Even after dividing the spoils among themselves, it was still far more than ordinary spirit stones. Amid the disciples’ praise, the two elders also regarded Tang Wenchun with newfound appreciation.
Elder Xuanjiu, accordingly, had quite the moment in the spotlight. She clamped her hand firmly on Tang Wenchun’s shoulder, beaming with delight. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought Tang Wenchun was her own beloved disciple—she even left Yu Zhaoming in the shade.
And so, Tang Wenchun was affectionately detained by Xuanjiu and dragged all the way back to the room, never finding a chance to slip away and escape from Yu Zhaoming. Tang Wenchun hung her head and had no choice but to stand alongside Yu Zhaoming, watching Xuanjiu flick her wide sleeves and recline on the soft couch.
Perhaps because she was riding high on success, Xuanjiu’s reclining posture grew even more enchanting, and the smoke she exhaled curled into ever more elaborate spirals.
“Little Friend Tang, are you truly unwilling to join my Sword Sect?”
Xuanjiu smiled at Tang Wenchun. The more she looked, the more she found the young woman endearing. Cute, excellent Root Bone, and she could earn money! With her, why worry about the Sword Sect’s future prosperity?
“Shizun.” Yu Zhaoming said softly from the side, interrupting Xuanjiu’s persuasion.
Xuanjiu was rather displeased by this. She sighed, looked at Yu Zhaoming, and rapped her disciple’s head with her long pipe: “You—hurry up and see the light for your master!”
Such a wonderful young woman—if they missed this chance, there wouldn’t be another!
“What’s the point of cultivating the Emotionless Dao? Change it at once for your master!”
“Shizun, you know that’s impossible.”
Yu Zhaoming rubbed her head. She turned and met Tang Wenchun’s surreptitious grin. Tang Wenchun’s eyes curved with mirth, brimming with amusement—but the moment she caught Yu Zhaoming’s gaze, she whipped her head around as though startled, only to steal another glance at Yu Zhaoming afterward.
Exactly like the startled little rabbits on the back mountain.
Yu Zhaoming rubbed her head and lowered her eyes.
Heart demon… are all heart demons like this?
Xuanjiu narrowed her eyes, glancing between Yu Zhaoming and Tang Wenchun. Finally, she cleared her throat and put on a serious expression: “The Desolate Heaven Secret Realm is about to close, and we won’t be staying here much longer…” Xuanjiu exhaled a long breath. “I communicated with Sect Master shige yesterday. Things have been unsettled lately. Several shige and I will stop by Tianji Pavilion on our way to discuss this emergence of the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm with fellow cultivators. Things are chaotic right now. The return journey will be led by you, Zhaoming.”
Yu Zhaoming nodded in acknowledgment.
This child Yu Zhaoming could be stubborn at times, but she never shied away from responsibilities that fell to her. Xuanjiu smiled and nodded: “Your master will condense three Sword Talismans2 for you, enough for you to protect yourselves.”
Yu Zhaoming assented to each point. Xuanjiu breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to meet Tang Wenchun’s shining eyes, which clearly held a wealth of “I want to ask questions!”
Xuanjiu paused, then smiled: “Does Little Friend Tang have something you wish to ask?”
Tang Wenchun spoke up: “What exactly is going on with the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm, and also…”
And also Yu Zhaoming’s Emotionless Dao.
Why was Xuanjiu so unwilling to let Yu Zhaoming cultivate the Emotionless Dao? Even heart demons scoffed at the mention of it. Yet in the book, Yu Zhaoming’s Emotionless Dao reached great accomplishment in the future—she held the Sword Sect in check and made it the true number one sect in the world, even suppressing the Demon Race so thoroughly that they dared not stir for years.
Such a powerful Emotionless Dao—why did the elders all hold this attitude?
Tang Wenchun hesitated, glanced at Yu Zhaoming again, and finally changed the subject: “What do you mean by ‘things have been unsettled lately’?”
Yu Zhaoming narrowed her eyes. Setting everything else aside—Tang Wenchun knew quite a lot about the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm. What was her purpose in asking? Yu Zhaoming was about to speak when Xuanjiu laughed: “It’s no harm in telling you. Did you know that this Desolate Heaven Secret Realm is a Secret Realm that appeared suddenly half a month ago?”
Tang Wenchun shook her head. The script she possessed was set many years in the future, when the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm’s opening and closing times were already fixed—it was essentially a permanent dungeon, not something that warranted such wariness from everyone.
“Most Secret Realms in this world are formed from Great Cultivators. A cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness is formed from their own thoughts and desires, naturally containing a world of its own. As cultivation increases, the Inner Mansion3 takes shape, and can even contain living beings. In ancient times, humans, ghosts, demons, and monsters roamed the earth. Many Great Cultivators, to preserve a thread of human heritage, would even shelter Mortals4 within their Inner Mansions to live and multiply. When a Great Cultivator dies, their body dissolves into nothingness and returns to nature, while their Inner Mansion becomes a Secret Realm.”
“Great Cultivators are not common, and regardless of whether they’re evil cultivators or orthodox cultivators, most sects have records of the various Secret Realms. But this place, the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm—no sect has any prior record of it. And it’s so vast—no one knows which Great Cultivator it was formed from.”
Such matters had never been mentioned in the book. The Secret Realm’s appearance was just like in any other story—nothing special. Tang Wenchun had naturally never considered why Secret Realms appeared. Now, with Xuanjiu’s explanation, Tang Wenchun had a sudden realization—perhaps this was the natural world-building of a novel’s universe.
This world increasingly felt real and magnificent—far grander than the novel itself.
In that instant, Tang Wenchun felt her heart race, gripped by the curiosity of stepping into an entirely new world.
“And then?” She pressed her lips together and nodded, looking very obedient.
Xuanjiu found this quite amusing. Yu Zhaoming had been a little adult since childhood—obedient, yes, but overly mature and steady. More importantly, Yu Zhaoming could draw inferences from a single example; Xuanjiu only needed to explain something once, and she could extrapolate the rest.
This applied to techniques as well. For anything else, Yu Zhaoming showed little interest and even less curiosity, never asking questions on her own. Xuanjiu would bottle up all her sect gossip, often having to keep it to herself, occasionally writing stories to vent—but she didn’t dare write too much. It was truly rather dull.
Seeing Tang Wenchun like this, Xuanjiu felt something closer to the joy of taking on a disciple. She smiled: “The aura leaking from the Desolate Heaven Secret Realm is balanced and peaceful—not the chaotic miasma of evil cultivators. Otherwise, the major sects wouldn’t have let their disciples inside.”
“However, there have been many harmful incidents lately, and frequent earthquakes in the mortal realm… Though Mortals lack spiritual energy, they are the foundation of us cultivators. Mortals may be small, but they are attuned to heaven and earth, and they move the heavens and earth. Frequent earthquakes and anomalous celestial signs—these are not good omens…”
Xuanjiu spoke, a flash of worry crossing her striking face before she quickly concealed it: “But these matters have nothing to do with you. At your level of cultivation, just focus on practicing well.”
Tang Wenchun wanted to ask a few more questions, but Yu Zhaoming spoke up: “Understood.”
And just like that, Tang Wenchun didn’t dare say another word.
Xuanjiu slowly drew a long breath of smoke, her red lips exhaling a ring of mist. She lazily surveyed the two juniors, then suddenly smiled: “Alright, you two may go.”
Yu Zhaoming nodded, glanced at Tang Wenchun, and the two turned to leave. Xuanjiu’s voice sounded behind Tang Wenchun: “By the way, Little Friend Tang—this person Yunzhongjun seems to value you greatly. You don’t have any connection to the Sound Sect, do you?”
Tang Wenchun froze and turned her head: “No.”
“Good, then.” Xuanjiu smiled as she sowed discord. “This person Yunzhongjun is melancholic and resentful. Though she is the Sound Sect’s Sect Master, her playing has recently shifted toward the Sound of Rectitude5. Be careful.” They absolutely could not let such a fine seedling be snatched away by the Sound Sect.
Sound of Rectitude… that name sounded so familiar. Tang Wenchun suddenly had a flash of insight, as though she had thought of something.
Tang Wenchun nodded blankly and followed Yu Zhaoming out of the room. Yu Zhaoming led Tang Wenchun toward her own courtyard. Seeing Tang Wenchun staring blankly, she stopped and turned around, about to speak.
But the moment Tang Wenchun met Yu Zhaoming’s gaze, she jumped like a startled rabbit, bolted into her own room, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Yu Zhaoming stood frozen in the courtyard. She furrowed her brow, and her usually solemn face showed unmistakable confusion: “She’s afraid of me? Why?”
The author has something to say:
Second update
Yu Zhaoming: Why is she afraid of me?
Author: Because she suffered social death
Tang Wenchun: Aaaaaah!!! Stop talking! My dead memories are attacking me!!!
Footnotes
- A fundamental concept in Chinese cultivation fiction, cai lü fa di (财侣法地) represents the four essential resources for practitioners: wealth (spirit stones), companions (fellow practitioners), methods (techniques), and land (cultivation sites).
- In Chinese cultivation fiction, a jianfu (剑符) is a talisman imbued with condensed sword qi, typically used for protection or combat enhancement.
- In Chinese cultivation fiction, a neifu (内府) is an internal spatial realm that forms within a cultivator's Sea of Consciousness as their cultivation increases, capable of containing living beings.
- In Chinese cultivation fiction, fanren (凡人) are ordinary humans without spiritual power, often considered the foundation upon which the cultivation world rests.
- In Chinese cultivation fiction, zhongzheng zhi sheng (中正之声) refers to a musical cultivation style characterized by balanced, orthodox sound, traditionally associated with righteous cultivation paths.
0 Comments