Transmigrating as the Heart Demon of the Ruthless Sword Venerable – Chapter 29

Sword Sect Disciple (1)

Becoming a Sword Sect Disciple

Tang Wenchun instantly dispersed her form, executing a vanishing act on the spot.

            

Yu Zhaoming froze for a moment, glancing left and right. Finally, as though she had realized something, she settled her mind and sank her spiritual consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness—only to find Tang Wenchun with her head buried in the grass inside the Sea of Consciousness, refusing to look up.

If she keeps burying herself like this, what about her injuries?

This thought flashed through her mind, and Yu Zhaoming couldn’t help but laugh at herself. What was she even thinking? No matter how much Tang Wenchun resembled an ordinary cultivator, she was ultimately a heart demon.

            

A heart demon is born from a host’s obsessive darkness. Unless one breaks through to the Great Dao and slays the heart demon during the severing of self, or truly sees through past obsessions and delusions, otherwise, no matter how many times it dies, the heart demon will be reborn.

Yu Zhaoming pursed her lips. How could her own obsessive darkness give birth to a heart demon like Tang Wenchun? She truly couldn’t figure it out. Perhaps the other party had been numbing her all along…

Yu Zhaoming’s gaze fell upon Tang Wenchun’s ear tips, which had flushed completely red—translucent and adorable, like fine rubies. The redness had spread all the way to her cheeks; presumably her entire face must be red too.

            

She wondered if touching them would also feel burning hot.

Yu Zhaoming’s fingers twitched slightly, but in the end she didn’t disturb Tang Wenchun, quietly withdrawing from the Sea of Consciousness.

The forest was already empty. It was the same quiet that Yu Zhaoming was well acquainted with, yet something felt missing. Something—or someone—that should have made it noisier and livelier.

            

Yu Zhaoming stood in silence for a moment, then lowered her head and fished out a frantically struggling something from her storage bag. The thing was semi-transparent, radiating a faint red glow across its entire body, struggling desperately between Yu Zhaoming’s fingers.

“Eldest Senior Sister!!”

A voice called from behind. Yu Zhaoming turned to see Bian Man, who hadn’t been able to resist running over to check on the situation. Bian Man glanced behind Yu Zhaoming and asked in confusion, “Where’s Fellow Daoist Tang?”

            

“I sent her to a safe place to recover. She’ll come find us once she’s healed,” Yu Zhaoming said without changing expression.

Bian Man gave an “oh” and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Eldest Senior Sister, what exactly is Fellow Daoist Tang to you—” She looked up and met Yu Zhaoming’s gaze, which was bright and piercing.

Bian Man’s heart gave an inexplicable lurch, and she hurriedly explained, “I don’t have any feelings for Fellow Daoist Tang that go beyond friendship!” After saying this, she saw Yu Zhaoming’s puzzled expression and couldn’t help pinching herself inwardly.

            

What was she even saying! Eldest Senior Sister was only seventeen, still a young girl!

Wait, a young girl… could also fall in love, right… As expected of Eldest Senior Sister, already at seventeen… completely unlike herself…

Bian Man felt a twinge of sourness for a moment, then continued, “It’s just, it’s just that Fellow Daoist Tang’s techniques…”

            

Yu Zhaoming nodded. “They are Sword Sect techniques. It’s fine—my Shizun is aware of it as well.”

Bian Man felt relieved, never having considered that Yu Zhaoming might lie. She exhaled, and her gaze finally landed on the thing in Yu Zhaoming’s hand. “Is this… a soul¹? No, wait, shouldn’t a soul be white?”

“…It is somewhat strange,” Yu Zhaoming replied. She had seen demon qi on Tang Wenchun before that resembled this, but by comparison, it was much weaker.

            

The soul let out a shriek: “Please, let me go! I have my difficulties! I’m a Wuji Sect disciple—I had no choice!”

The soul materialized into a form. Now it wasn’t just Bian Man—even Tang Wenchun, who had been secretly observing through the Sea of Consciousness all along, instantly recognized him.

“Ah, it’s that green-robed disciple!”

            

The figure was hazy, but his facial features remained clear. He was precisely that green-robed disciple who had been bullied by the other Wuji Sect inner sect disciples.

Seeing that they had recognized him, the disciple wept and prostrated himself on the ground, saying, “You all saw it too—they bullied me, humiliated me. Were those dead Wuji Sect disciples innocent? Am I not innocent as well?”

Bian Man had witnessed how that disciple had been bullied, and her eyes immediately revealed sympathy.

            

“Even so, if someone told you to go be a mortal, you wouldn’t want that either, would you? Does being weak make you right?” Tang Wenchun frowned.

Yu Zhaoming found this quite reasonable and repeated Tang Wenchun’s words. The disciple looked up blankly and stared at Yu Zhaoming: “But, but I have a spiritual root². How can I become a mortal?”

Bian Man averted her eyes. Yu Zhaoming continued, “You were bullied by inner sect disciples, felt aggrieved, harbored resentment, and wanted revenge. But what about those mortals you harmed? Who do they go to for vengeance?”

            

The green-robed disciple shouted, “So what? Mortals are but a fleeting century—how can they be compared to cultivators!”

“With your aptitude, how can you be compared to genius disciples?” Yu Zhaoming replied.

The green-robed disciple glared furiously: “What would genius disciples like you know about the suffering of ordinary disciples like us! You’re all birds of a feather!”

            

Tang Wenchun scoffed, “Twisting words to justify yourself! It’s really ‘equality for everyone above me, hierarchy for everyone below me’! Disgusting!!”

Yu Zhaoming heard this, pondered it carefully for a moment, and revealed a slight smile. Bian Man, seeing this from the side, hastily retreated several steps. She looked up and met Yu Zhaoming’s puzzled gaze, and couldn’t help asking, “Ah, E-Eldest Senior Sister, aren’t you going to use some kind of torture… er, soul torture method?”

Yu Zhaoming: “…Why would I use such methods?”

            

Her voice carried a hint of sullenness, while in the Sea of Consciousness, Tang Wenchun laughed out loud without hesitation: “Hahaha! Eldest Senior Sister’s fearsome reputation is truly well-earned!”

Yu Zhaoming could bear it no longer. She split off a thread of spiritual consciousness and dove into the Sea of Consciousness. Within the Sea of Consciousness, Yu Zhaoming’s voice rang out: “Beautiful Shizun…”

She still couldn’t bring herself to say those words like “simp” that Tang Wenchun had originally used. How this heart demon had ever said such things, Yu Zhaoming truly couldn’t fathom.

            

“Ahhhhh!! Stop saying that, Eldest Senior Sister, I was wrong!”

Tang Wenchun hastily covered her ears, her face completely flushed, gazing tearfully upward, appearing exceptionally delicate and pitiful.

Yu Zhaoming paused slightly, momentarily speechless. Seeing her motionless, Bian Man edged closer and whispered, “E-Eldest Senior Sister, I don’t mean anything else by it. Please don’t be upset.”

            

Yu Zhaoming came back to her senses and gave Bian Man a light glance. “You’re overthinking it.”

With that, she ignored the green-robed disciple’s breakdown and cursing, directly stored him in a soul vial³, and said, “Send messages to the elders. This matter concerns Wuji Sect disciples—it’s not just our sect’s affair.”

Bian Man quickly assented and followed behind Yu Zhaoming. She glanced back and asked again, “Eldest Senior Sister, is Fellow Daoist Tang really alright?”

            

“She’s fine.”

“But I saw she was quite badly injured. We still have healing medicine here. She’s all alone…” Bian Man rambled on.

Tang Wenchun, mortified by Yu Zhaoming’s words just now, had shut down the Sea of Consciousness and fallen into a state of self-isolation, naturally unable to hear her good friend’s concern.

            

Yu Zhaoming stopped in her tracks and gave Bian Man a look. “You care about her a lot?”

“Uh…” Bian Man thought about it and finally chose words that wouldn’t provoke her Eldest Senior Sister. “Just, just normal concern?”

Yu Zhaoming narrowed her eyes. “She’s fine. She doesn’t need your concern anymore.”

            

Bian Man gave an “oh” and finally fell silent. She watched Yu Zhaoming’s receding, quickened pace and thought to herself—Eldest Senior Sister’s possessiveness is really strong… Doesn’t Eldest Senior Sister practice the Emotionless Dao? What’s going to happen in the future?

She wouldn’t slay her spouse to prove the Dao, would she?

This thought flashed past, and Bian Man couldn’t help but laugh at herself for overthinking. How could that be possible?

            

The elder who came from the Sword Sect was Xuanjiu. Upon receiving the message, she had rushed with all haste toward the Sword Sect disciples. Naturally, the Wuji Sect elder came along as well. However, this continent was vast—even at an elder’s cultivation speed, it still took two days to reach the Sword Sect disciples’ location.

Looking at the Wuji Sect disciples who had been found by the Sword Sect disciples from the dense forest—broken and tortured beyond recognition. The former genius Thirteenth Young Master sat to the side in tattered clothes, his divine soul deranged, like a ruined man.

The Wuji Sect elder let out a furious roar, twisting his head to glare at Yu Zhaoming at the front, and said viciously, “Where is that thief’s soul! I will make him suffer endlessly in soul fire⁴, regretting his actions day and night!!”

            

“So scary…” Tang Wenchun, who had already recovered and couldn’t wait to emerge from Yu Zhaoming’s Sea of Consciousness, shrank toward Bian Man’s direction. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to lean toward Yu Zhaoming—it was just that leaning toward her would remind her of what Yu Zhaoming had said in the Sea of Consciousness.

Too mortifying! She didn’t want to see Yu Zhaoming!

Her obvious evasive movement drew the attention of both Yu Zhaoming and Xuanjiu.

            

“And who are you!” Elder Wang, already furious, immediately turned his head upon hearing someone speak like this. Heavy oppressive pressure crashed down upon Tang Wenchun. Yu Zhaoming stepped forward, blocking Elder Wang’s oppressive pressure, and looked at him in silence.

Elder Wang paused for a moment. Upon perceiving Yu Zhaoming’s protective intent, he sneered, “What’s this—you want to protect her? This person’s attire isn’t that of your Sword Sect. What’s her purpose in appearing here—could she have some ulterior motive?”

The words had barely fallen when a massive palm materialized from the air, pressing viciously toward Tang Wenchun.

            

“My, my, Elder Wang, it’s not like our Sword Sect has no one left.” Accompanied by a coquettish laugh, a smoke ring drifted out and expanded in an instant, effortlessly blocking Elder Wang’s attack.

The moment the massive palm vanished, the smoke ring leisurely dissolved into a wisp of smoke and dispersed.

Elder Wang whipped his head toward Xuanjiu. “This person’s attire is clearly not that of a Sword Sect disciple.”

            

The implication was clear—he had seized upon Tang Wenchun’s identity as a rogue cultivator and intended to use her to apply pressure and vent his fury.

Xuanjiu had been worrying about finding an excuse to take Tang Wenchun under her wing. Now, seeing Elder Wang’s behavior—wasn’t this like wanting to doze off and having someone deliver a pillow!

Xuanjiu curved a faint smile, took a long drag of her pipe, and slowly exhaled a perfect round smoke ring before speaking. “Elder Wang, be as angry as you like, but there’s no need for such fire toward our sect’s disciple. This little one is a disciple I’ve just taken in. Her root bone is no worse than my eldest disciple’s.”

            

“Wenchun.”

Xuanjiu beckoned to Tang Wenchun with a smile, not even glancing at her own disciple’s dark expression. After spending so much time, when trouble came, the little girl didn’t even hide by her side! Such excellent aptitude—she absolutely couldn’t let other senior brothers’ disciples get their hands on her.

Xuanjiu narrowed her eyes and glanced at Bian Man. Bian Man shuddered, unsure where this sudden chill came from, but sensing it was familiar somehow. She could only silently edge further away from Tang Wenchun.

            

Sure enough—the moment she moved away from Tang Wenchun, the feeling dissipated.

At least this little girl knows what’s good for her! Xuanjiu nodded inwardly and affectionately draped her arm over Tang Wenchun’s shoulder. “This is my newly accepted personal disciple⁵. Come now, hurry and pay your respects to Elder Wang of the Wuji Sect.”

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The author has something to say:

            

Xuanjiu: Useless disciple. I can’t let other sect members pick up the bargain!! Looks like this old lady will have to do it herself.

Bian Man: Ah, Eldest Senior Sister’s possessiveness is really strong. Ah, Eldest Senior Sister wouldn’t slay her spouse to prove the Dao, would she?

Yu Zhaoming: This one likes her too? That one likes her too?

            

Tang Wenchun: ??????

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