Transmigrating as the Heart Demon of the Ruthless Sword Venerable – Chapter 39

Demon Shadows Flickering (Part 1)

A Pauper’s Self-Awareness

Demon cultivators.

            

Demon cultivators were different from evil cultivators. Evil cultivators also committed wicked deeds, but their Dao lineage still belonged to the human race’s Great Dao. Demon cultivators, however, walked the path left behind by the demon race after the War of Gods and Demons ten thousand years ago — they were not of the human race.

Once discovered, they had to be eradicated to the last.

Zhan Lun slowly sat down, his brow deeply furrowed. “The good news is that these people won’t be escaping for now — they’re definitely still in the city. The bad news is whether the ghost market can even stay open anymore — that’s another matter entirely.”

            

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but slam his fist against the table. “Could this be the Wuji Sect deliberately causing trouble?”

Yu Zhaoming gave a noncommittal hum. “You should go back.”

Zhan Lun fell silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Yu Zhaoming. “Fellow Daoist Yu, don’t you have any thoughts on this?”

            

Thoughts on what? Could he have discovered that she was a heart demon? Tang Wenchun’s heart jolted in alarm.

Clearly Yu Zhaoming had arrived at the same conclusion. She immediately turned her gaze toward Zhan Lun, her eyes sharp as swords.

Zhan Lun flinched beneath the coldness in that gaze, an instinctive flicker of fear rising in his heart. But a cultivator could revere heaven and earth — how could he fear another person, especially a fellow cultivator of his own generation?

            

Zhan Lun immediately straightened his neck and met Yu Zhaoming’s eyes again. “Fellow Daoist Yu, you practice the Emotionless Dao, yet you show singular favor toward your shimei, protecting her at every turn. I know you possess peerless talent, yet you’ve been stalled at Golden Core peak for four years, unable to find the opportunity to form your Nascent Soul. Could it be that you intend to play out a scene of slaying your spouse to prove the Dao?”

Tang Wenchun: …What was this? Why did everyone around her think like this??

Tang Wenchun felt a little dazed, but all at once, a spark of inspiration lit up from somewhere deep within her mind. Perhaps, in everyone else’s eyes, Yu Zhaoming really did treat her differently?

            

For some reason, once she became aware of this, Tang Wenchun suddenly grew uncomfortable.

The Sea of Consciousness was a person’s most private domain. Tang Wenchun sat upright within Yu Zhaoming’s Sea of Consciousness, and it felt as though… she were surrounded by Yu Zhaoming. She moved her hands, then pressed her lips together, but in the end did not gather the white mist to hide away. She simply waited quietly for Yu Zhaoming’s answer.

Yu Zhaoming frowned. “You’ve only known her for a single day…”

            

Zhan Lun spoke with righteous conviction. “Though it’s only been a day, Fellow Daoist Tang has great talent. When she collaborates with me in the future, she will surely bring glory to the continent. Please don’t let your personal Dao path harm all the cultivators in the world… I’ve also looked into you. Although you suffered a great change in your childhood, but—”

Yu Zhaoming’s expression darkened abruptly. She flicked her sleeve, and the door swung open. Zhan Lun yelped as he tumbled out. By the time he looked up again, the door had already shut tight — nothing was visible.

Yu Zhaoming turned her head. Tang Wenchun’s figure appeared at her side.

            

Feeling that crucial presence dissipate from her body once more, Yu Zhaoming frowned in involuntary displeasure. Tang Wenchun sat down beside her, not daring to look at Yu Zhaoming’s expression.

Yu Zhaoming did not answer Zhan Lun’s question.

Though Tang Wenchun didn’t know what Yu Zhaoming’s answer would have been, wasn’t this kind of evasion all the more likely to set imaginations running wild?

            

No, no, no — stop thinking! Think about what Yunzhongjun said!!

The moment she thought of Yunzhongjun, it was as though a basin of cold water had been poured over her boiling brain, instantly chilling her to the core. Tang Wenchun looked down and saw her own fingers unconsciously picking at the wood grain on the desk, over and over.

“Tang Wenchun.” Yu Zhaoming spoke, but for a moment, she didn’t know what she wanted to say. Whether it was Zhan Lun’s words or the upheaval outside, Tang Wenchun should already know about all of it — there truly wasn’t much to say.

            

But her heart demon, her shimei in name, heard her own name and looked up at her. Under the lamplight, those round apricot eyes were clear, reflecting nothing but trust.

Will you kill me?

Yu Zhaoming suddenly recalled the question Tang Wenchun had once asked her. Her hand tightened.

            

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” Tang Wenchun asked.

Yu Zhaoming averted her gaze. “No… it’s just getting late. You should go back and rest.”

Tang Wenchun gave an “oh” and stood up, casting one more glance at Yu Zhaoming. Yu Zhaoming sat at the desk with lowered eyes. The lamplight flickered, making the shadows on her face waver ceaselessly.

            

Sure enough, Yu Zhaoming always looked lonely like this, as though burdened by countless unspoken worries. It made people want to comfort her for no reason at all.

“Yu Zhaoming.”

Yu Zhaoming looked up. She saw Tang Wenchun standing at the door, smiling at her with innocent radiance. This heart demon of hers seemed as though she had never experienced any hardship or setback, always looking at the world with eyes full of beauty.

            

She was a completely different person from herself.

And she deserved to have a completely different life.

“Even though I don’t know the reasons behind many things.” Her heart demon smiled, bright and dazzling, her face seemingly glowing under the candlelight. “But Yu Zhaoming, don’t worry. You will be safe and sound, and you will reach the other shore of the Great Dao. You will become the most powerful person in this world. No one will be able to hurt you. No one will hurt you.”

            

“You’re the future Sword Venerable, after all.”

With that, Tang Wenchun flashed an embarrassed smile, pulled open the door, and dashed out.

Yu Zhaoming sat frozen at the desk. Her fingers lightly touched the green forehead band she wore, and she closed her eyes.

            

Tang Wenchun did not sleep well that night. Too many things had happened in one day, and she had received far too much information that had nothing to do with her original mission — things about heart demons, and Zhan Lun’s vague, murky references to Yu Zhaoming’s past.

Yu Zhaoming’s future was clearly visible. She would become the future female lead’s master, the Sword Sect’s Zhaoming Sword Venerable, a great cultivator who had achieved perfection in the Emotionless Dao.

But what about Yu Zhaoming’s past?

            

Tang Wenchun had thought she had already become part of Yu Zhaoming’s past, that she would even walk alongside her into the future. But now, Tang Wenchun hugged the quilt and pulled it over her head. She realized that she neither understood Yu Zhaoming’s past, nor perhaps would she be able to participate in her future.

The two of them would perhaps, in the end, end up like all heart demons and their hosts…

Would it come to that?

            

Tang Wenchun closed her eyes. A small thought suddenly rose in her heart. If Yu Zhaoming truly was as different toward her as everyone else said…

She didn’t think further. She didn’t dare think further.

The next day, Tang Wenchun appeared with a pair of exhausted, lifeless eyes. Cultivators didn’t get dark circles under their eyes, but a whole night of wild imagination still had its aftereffects. In contrast to the neatly and properly put-together Yu Zhaoming, Tang Wenchun felt an extra twinge of worry.

            

Something was different!

She was eating well, drinking well, and sleeping just fine!!

Zhan Lun’s complexion was also poor. He represented the entire Treasure Gathering Pavilion’s hopes, yet he had encountered such a situation the moment he entered Xunyang City. It gave him a premonition that this trip would be ill-fated. Merchants always sought auspiciousness and most tabooed such thoughts.

            

If this were an ordinary business deal, Zhan Lun could simply walk away. But this wasn’t business — it was a grand plan concerning the Treasure Gathering Pavilion’s future for the next century, perhaps even longer. Even if he had to grit his teeth, Zhan Lun had to press on.

“Let’s visit the ghost market tonight and take a look,” Zhan Lun said, his expression dark as he fiddled with a tortoise shell in his hands.

“What’s that?”

            

Zhan Lun manipulated it, frowning. “Those of us in business place the utmost importance on timing, terrain, and harmony. Divining such things — every merchant does it.”

Tang Wenchun: …Even in a fantasy world, these businesspeople were still addicted to mysticism, huh?

The divination result was not good, and the result of their nighttime ghost market visit was, like the divination, not much better. The ghost market was empty and desolate, with almost no one around. The few scattered people glanced at the three of them. This time they hadn’t worn their perception-blocking cloaks, only switching to casual clothes.

            

“You came to the ghost market to find something? Bad timing. Demon cultivators appeared in the city — who would dare set up a stall?”

They had come in high spirits and returned in disappointment.

The group’s mission had stalled for the moment. When they reconvened, everyone was frowning.

            

Tang Wenchun looked this way, then that way. The competition wasn’t limited to Xunyang City — now that demon cultivators had appeared here, other cities wouldn’t have this problem. Wouldn’t their progress be delayed for nothing?

“At this point, we can only try other methods to break the deadlock,” Zhan Lun said.

Three days had already passed. The group had initially thought the demon cultivator issue might be resolved in a day or two. But the great formation rotated, steady as a boulder. The people on the streets went about their lives as usual, but the day the formation would be lifted was never announced.

            

Zhan Lun rubbed his forehead. “The Treasure Gathering Pavilion’s manager here has already gone to probe for information. A murder occurred on the very day we visited the ghost market. The city lord sensed demon qi, which was what prompted the decision to seal the city. But they still haven’t found the culprit… and there’s been another murder every single day since. Clearly, it’s a provocation.”

The moment demon qi was mentioned, Tang Wenchun couldn’t help but think about the heart demon in this city.

It couldn’t be…

            

But thinking it over carefully, she felt it was unlikely. Yunzhongjun had been body-replaced — that heart demon was now the respectable Sect Master of the Sound Sect. What reason would she have to abandon her current identity and expose herself?

Yu Zhaoming glanced at Tang Wenchun, who had been silent the whole time. Her gaze drifted, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

Yu Zhaoming’s brow furrowed tightly. She turned to Zhan Lun. “Our mission is to find the book sellers. The cultivators at the ghost market are many, but most are impoverished. From what we already know, the books mostly flow to ordinary rogue cultivators and low-ranking sect disciples, so they wouldn’t be sold for much.”

            

Zhan Lun’s eyes widened slightly. “In other words, they’re all paupers!!”

Yu Zhaoming nodded. Zhan Lun fell silent for a moment, then said, “What good is knowing that? The ghost market is gone.”

“No, that’s not right!”

            

Tang Wenchun suddenly stood up, her eyes shining. Zhan Lun looked at her in confusion. “What did I say wrong? At a time like this, they can just lay low. No need to take the risk.”

“You really don’t understand paupers at all.” Tang Wenchun shot Zhan Lun a glance and lifted her chin slightly. “Being poor is the original sin! It’s the driving force that makes people act impulsively and take risks! Precisely because they’re poor, they will absolutely find a way to locate a channel to sell their goods. I guarantee you, it will be exactly like this. I have experience with this.”

Zhan Lun: …Even though he knew the Sword Sect was poor, hearing her say it with such a proud expression on her face gave him a peculiar sense of heartache.

            

Yu Zhaoming tapped the desk. “I have an idea.”

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The author has something to say:

Went to the hospital today (again)

            

Yu Zhaoming: …My heart demon is truly endearing

Zhan Lun: This is my future business partner! We’re going to make a fortune together

Tang Wenchun: She likes me, she doesn’t like me, does she like me or not?

            

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