Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Chapter 33 – A deviation from the plan

Wenren È wasn’t angry. He had long since gotten used to the plot’s habits. It was normal enough that reality, from time to time, needed to conform with the events of the original plot.

He was twisting the story’s events, trying to defy heaven and change fate, but the original fate still offered resistance. Under these circumstances, it was fully expected that the original story, from time to time, would manifest itself on some originally unrelated character.

“Then, do you feel loyalty toward Baili Qingmiao?” Wenren È asked.

It had suddenly occurred to him that Zhongli Qian was no longer the only choice. Shi Congxin… Wenren È sized him up carefully. Aside from his sickly complexion, his looks weren’t bad. With Shi Congxin’s condition, before he could freely control his sickness qi, anyone who dual cultivated with him would’ve died from his illnesses, and only ghost cultivators could be around him safely. That was why Wenren È had sent him to Hellfire Pavilion.

It was possible that only the female lead would be immune to Shi Congxin’s sickness qi. Didn’t that mean they were suited for each other?

Wenren È looked pleasantly at the “spare” he had chosen for Baili Qingmiao. Shi Congxin, feeling his expectant gaze, shook his head furiously and said, “Cough, cough, how could this subordinate? This subordinate is only loyal to the Venerable.”

Meaning that since Wenren È was Lord of Demons today, Shi Congxin was loyal to Wenren È. If tomorrow Shu Yanyan pulled off a coup, Shi Congxin’s loyalty to the Lord of Demons wouldn’t waver. He had the same kind of loyalty as everyone else in Xuanyuan Sect.

Wenren È immediately lost interest and waved him off. “Since you can’t do anything to her, just leave Baili Qingmiao for now. Go cast the curse on Zhongli Qian.”

Shi Congxin hurried off. He took a glance at Baili Qingmiao through the window of her room, and shook his head slightly. Deep inside, he did want to help this girl… but the Venerable had given his orders. In the future, he could help her on some less important matter.

Seeing his expression, Wenren È was greatly disappointed and shook his head. “He can’t even defy this Venerable’s orders and save someone behind my back. Completely undependable!”

Altar Master Miao, just arriving: …

Did the Venerable consider defying his orders “dependable”? In that case, it made sense how Protector Shu had maintained her position. When it came to acting behind Wenren È’s back, he, Miao Qiuqing, really could not hold a candle.

Altar Master Miao entered the room, blindfolded Baili Qingmiao again, fed the gu insect to her, then left to go put it in Zhongli Qian.

Throughout the whole process of being cursed by Shi Congxin and having a parasite placed in him by Altar Master Miao, Zhongli Qian had been awake and aware that they’d done something concerning to him. He wasn’t afraid though, and in fact relaxed a little. He’d been anxious Wenren È would use him against the Zhongli clan, or use his reputation in the mortal world to lead scholars astray and set up an evil cult so as to increase his own power.

Neither of those things had happened by now. Zhongli Qian was widely read and had more practical knowledge than Baili Qingmiao. When the drops of blood were placed into his eyes, he recognized it as a curse for tracking the person the blood belonged to, not something that would affect his consciousness at all. When Altar Master Miao forced him to swallow the gu insect, he recognized it as the heart-linking parasite, which could link two people’s emotions. It was a type of love gu, often used by Miao women to know their husbands’ feelings.

It was said that the Miao had created the heart-linking parasite because Miao women discovered that even though their husbands would fall in love with them under the influence of a love parasite, it wouldn’t stop them from sleeping around. Some men made a distinction between love and lust and could love one woman and be in bed with another at the same time, then act like he didn’t know her afterward.

In order to completely control their husbands, Miao women had created the heart-linking parasite, so that the moment he felt desire for another woman, she would know.

Zhongli Qian recognized that this parasite would also not affect his consciousness. They were not subject to the queen parasite, and though they were influenced by each other, it was two-way. If one’s will was strong, one could avoid being influenced by the other party, and could even suppress the other’s emotions.

“Sir Wenren should be aware that these two things cannot control me, so what is his purpose? Could he possibly want me to track someone for him?” Zhongli Qian asked. “I have no particular skills in tracking. He could’ve found an expert instead of me.”

Zhongli Qian was sharp and had been considering Wenren È’s plans and intentions for these past months. During his time at the Hellfire Pavilion, he had played out multiple chess games against himself, thinking of countless possibilities, but they were all proven wrong at this point.

“The Venerable’s decisions are profound and we couldn’t possibly guess at them,” said Altar Master Shi. “Young Master Zhongli should just obey his orders, cough cough cough.“

Altar Master Miao, having more seniority than Altar Master Shi, knew a bit more. He was aware that Baili Qingmiao was Wenren È’s favored disciple, who had been stolen by Qiu Congxue. He also knew what the heart-linking parasite did, and he had just heard Wenren È call Altar Master Shi “undependable”. Putting the pieces together, he figured the Venerable was intending to use Zhongli Qian to dispose of Qiu Congxue, so he could take back his disciple.

Obviously, he wouldn’t tell his conjecture to Zhongli Qian, and left right after completing his task. He had already told Wenren È how to remove the heart-linking parasites, so now he could leave everything else to Wenren È.

After the two Altar Masters left, Baili Qingmiao struggled out of her ropes. She snuck out of the room, looking carefully around and seeing nobody in the area. Instead of escaping, she went deeper into the compound in search of Master Qingxue.

Baili Qingmiao wasn’t an idiot. The two people who had come to her cell were much higher level than her, so there was no way a mere Nascent Soul stage could’ve escaped on her own. They had to have some scheme and were planning for her to escape. Instead of running face-first into a trap, better she go find her master. Master Qingxue was a wandering immortal, and with her, Baili Qingmiao would have a much better chance of escape.

Wenren È had expected Baili Qingmiao to make a break for the exit. There was an illusion array set outside, and if she went that way, she would run into a phantom wall that would lead her to Zhongli Qian’s room no matter which way she walked. Somehow, she had outsmarted him.

“Odd. Was Baili Qingmiao this perceptive?” Wenren È frowned, feeling that something somewhere had deviated from his plan.

If Baili Qingmiao went toward the exit, she would be led smoothly to Zhongli Qian. But she was heading deeper into the Hellfire Pavilion, which was crawling with ghost cultivators.

She’d only taken a few steps when she heard the sound of sobbing. She hurried over and found someone in a red robe and loose hair, crouching in the corner of a room and weeping pitifully.

Baili Qingmiao walked over and placed a hand gently on that person’s shoulder, asking, “Miss, were you captured too?”

The red-robed person continued to sob, their whole body trembling, as if they’d had their heart broken.

Baili Qingmiao felt sympathy, wondering what awful thing could have happened to this maiden, and became even more anxious about Master Qingxue.

“They— they chose me for him. Why me…?” the red-robed person sobbed. “There were so many others who wanted to get closer to Altar Master Ruan. They could’ve gone! I didn’t want to!”

“What did they make you do?” Baili Qingmiao asked carefully, worried about digging up any trauma.

“They— they made me…” The person cried so hard they couldn’t speak. Slowly, they turned around and lifted their head. “They said I was the ugliest, so they made me go kiss Altar Master Ruan.”

“Ahhhh!” Baili Qingmiao couldn’t help but let out a yelp when she saw the other’s face. The eyeballs were dangling from their sockets, the flesh was rotting off, and the tongue had maggots crawling around in it. Most importantly, this person… seemed to be a man.

The red-robed person grabbed Baili Qingmiao by the arm and crawled toward her. He pointed at his face. “I— I wasn’t really unwilling to be with Altar Master Ruan, but he insulted me and said I got my bugs on him. Look at my cute babies! Do you think they’re ugly? See how chubby they are! They’re lovely!”

“Argh! Get away from me!” Baili Qingmiao shoved him away with her spiritual energy. Despite using the full strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator, she only managed to toss him back half a meter.

The Moonlit Frost Silk twisted wildly in the air in fear. When coming into contact with one of the red-robed man’s bugs, it shuddered and flung it off.

Baili Qingmiao ran away as the red-robed man staggered after her, shouting, “How come Altar Master Shi and Altar Master Ruan think I’m ugly? Things were better when Altar Master Qiu was here. Altar Master Qiu liked me and often praised me. I miss her so much. Hey, why do you smell like Altar Master Qiu? Wait up! Don’t run away!”

Baili Qingmiao didn’t know who Altar Masters Shi and Qiu, but she did feel bad for Altar Master Ruan. She ran with all her might, her heart in her throat, but was unable to shake the red-robed man. It was less that she couldn’t fight him, and more that she didn’t want to.

On the verge of desperation, she saw out of her left eye light streaming out from a room. She rushed in, locking the door behind her. A hand on her heart, she held her breath, hoping the other person wouldn’t find her.

The red-robed man stood outside the door and cocked his head at it for a moment. Sobbing a few times, he said, “This room is for Altar Master Shi’s guest. I’m not allowed to disturb him, so I’ll go now.”

He staggered off miserably, missing Altar Master Qiu.

Hearing his footsteps grow fainter, Baili Qingmiao patted her chest, her fear finally fading. She glanced around the room, but her left eye instantly landed on a white-robed young man with a book in his hand. He was also looking at her, and her left eye locked gazes with him, unable to be moved away.

Zhongli Qian: …

Earlier, his heart had been racing in a kind of terror that he hadn’t felt for a long time, which he knew was the work of the heart-linking parasite. He was trying to calm his emotions when a girl barged into his room. At that moment, Zhongli Qian could not tear his eyes away from her. Her image seemed to be glued to the front of his eyeballs.

Her face felt like it was burned into his sight. Her body let off rays of light, which soon made his eyes ache, yet he couldn’t look away.

Zhongli Qian, with Baili Qingmiao’s face filling his mind, wondered what kind of new torture method this was.

Baili Qingmiao was doing a bit better. Her left eye couldn’t see anything but Zhongli Qian’s face, but she could move her right eye to check her surroundings. However, it was too uncomfortable to look at different things with both her eyes, causing overlapping images to appear in her vision. When Zhongli Qian moved, Baili Qingmiao became so nauseous she nearly vomited.

Thinking there was nothing to do but cover his eyes, Zhongli Qian took out a piece of cloth and tied it over them. As a cultivator, he could use his spiritual cognition to sense his surroundings, so being blinded wouldn’t really bother him.

His action reminded Baili Qingmiao, who tore off a strip from one of her sleeves and tied it over her left eye, so that she could only see out of the right. She instantly felt much better.

With her right eye, she could see Zhongli Qian properly, and found he was an upstanding young man. Seeing him move, she pressed her back against the wall, the Moonlit Frost Silk twirling wildly in the air before her. “Don’t move!” she cried. “Stay like that! Don’t bring any bugs near me!”

Feeling her fear, Zhongli Qian began reciting poetry in his mind, trying to calm down both himself and Baili Qingmiao. “Miss, relax,” he said with a slight smile. “This is my true form. I’m not going to transform into anything. This one’s name is Zhongli Qian. May I have your name?”

“Zhongli Qian? Of the Zhongli clan?” Baili Qingmiao did have some general knowledge of the cultivation world. Discovering she was now calm, she asked, “Are you also being imprisoned here?”

“Pretty much.”

Zhongli Qian’s levelheaded attitude helped Baili Qingmiao relax quite a bit. Retrieving her bonded weapon, she greeted him respectfully. “I am Baili Qingmiao of Shangqing Sect. While traveling with my master, we passed by Ghost Peak and were captured. I don’t know where my master has ended up, so I’m currently searching for her. Does Young Master Zhongli know what this place is?”

“The Hellfire Pavilion in Xuanyuan Sect,” Zhongli Qian answered.

His doubts returned. Why would Wenren È bind him to this ordinary righteous disciple, who seemed to have no idea what was going on?

“Xuanyuan Sect?” Baili Qingmiao said, now even more puzzled. When she had encountered Wenren È before, he was a good senior to her, and he and Master Qingxue had also met. He wouldn’t hurt them, would he?

Perhaps something had happened to Wenren È and the leadership of Xuanyuan Sect now rested with someone else? No, there was also the possibility of people in Hellfire Pavilion acting on their own.

Baili Qingmiao took out the token Wenren È had given her from her storage belt. She had originally planned to never use it, but for the sake of her master, it was worth a shot.

Wenren È, observing in secret, winced when he saw it. He couldn’t let Baili Qingmiao use it to summon him. If he was there, how could Baili Qingmiao and Zhongli Qian have their private first meeting?

Yin Hanjiang, seeing the awkward look on his Venerable’s face, put the ghost mask on. His bearing changed in an instant. He entered the room in a streak of shadow and snatched the token out of Baili Qingmiao’s hand.

“Who are you?” Baili Qingmiao cried, backing up against Zhongli Qian. They could sense Yin Hanjiang’s power, and through their linked emotions, they made a decision to fight him together.

The masked man ran a finger over the diagram of Polis on the token. In a deep voice, he said, “You’re not worthy of this.”

While wearing the ghost mask, Yin Hanjiang didn’t need to hide his emotions. He had been suppressing his emotions over the last few days, and only now, under the mask, could he let them show on his face. For the first time in days, he relaxed a bit.

He looked sullenly at Baili Qingmiao and Zhongli Qian, thinking back to that phrase—love takes you unawares, and before you know it, you’re deep in its clutches. A pang shot through his heart.

Were it not for these two, he would never have realized the intentions of his own heart, and he wouldn’t have to bear this kind of agony.

Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d never known?

Yin Hanjiang carefully placed the token in the lapel of his robes, near his heart. Without harming either of them, he left and returned to Wenren È’s side. He took off the mask, revealing his usual expression of quiet devotion.