“The Sect Leader is here! The Sect Leader is here!”
Joyous cries rang across the surroundings. The morale of the surviving disciples immediately raised, and they began fighting with increased vigour. As they cheered, a sword radiating a blinding white sword aura flashed through the crowd of demons, slaughtering left right and center. What used to be a beatdown of the disciples turned into a one-sided massacre of the demons.
Dong Shuilian was a smart demon. Without being aware and smart, he would’ve long been dealt with by other envious demons. The moment he felt the sword aura, he roared at the demons to retreat back through the vortex. Who would’ve thought that just as the demons started scrambling over each other to be the first one to escape back to the Demon Realm, the vortex started shaking?
It was slight at first, enough that none of the demons noticed it in their wild scramble to escape from the mighty sword. And when they finally realised something was wrong, it was already too late.
As the first demons started emerging around the disciple’s dorms, the vortex started shrinking. Inside the building was the clear sound of metal clashing against metal and the rapid whizzing of spiritual energy being sent around. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on.
“Someone’s destroying the vortex! Stop them!” The demons screeched, charging into the building with their weapons raised.
-
Barely ten minutes before the arrival of the Sect Leader, Fei Luoci had launched himself at Shi Lianfeng with a deadly killing intent. Bolstered by the fact that he was backed by the four Demon Lords, he swung wildly, his spiritual energy crackling and racing through his meridians in a way that wasn’t normal at all. “Ling-shixiong! If Fei-shixiong keeps doing this, he’ll suffer a qi deviation!” Shi Lianfeng yelled above the cacophony.
Ling Luoying could tell. Or, more precisely, MiSi was the one that was telling him everything. [If Host does not disarm or incapacitate Fei Luoci immediately, disastrous things will happen to Anlue Peak.] MiSi said.
“I can tell. But how?”
[Host should aim for the lit up meridians on Fei Luoci.]
“What lit up meridians?”
Before his very eyes, five tiny points of light flickered on on Fei Luoci’s body. Shi Lianfeng couldn’t see them, and neither could Fei Luoci, judging by the way they were still clashing blades with such force. “MiSi, I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do! Just stab?”
[Well, yes. But Host has to make sure he stabs the right area otherwise he might stab the wrong person or kill Fei Luoci.]
“Well that’s really reassuring, isn’t it?”
Before he could yell at MiSi for its absolutely terrible arrangements, Fei Luoci flung Shi Lianfeng back into a wall with a thundering crash. “Ling-shixiong, why don’t you join me?” Fei Luoci offered suddenly, catching Ling Luoying off guard.
“Join you? In doing what? Betraying the sect and killing everyone?” Ling Luoying replied testily.
“You’ve seen the power I have now. The great Demon Lords have bestowed me with enough power to go against a Peak Lord directly! If you join us, you could become the next Sect Leader!”
Ling Luoying didn’t buy it. He glanced back at the unmoving Shi Lianfeng, crumpled amongst a pile of broken wood shards and winced. Whatever injury he suffered this time can’t be good either.
If it was before, when Fei Luoci hadn’t received the power of the Demon Lords, Ling Luoying probably had a chance. He had the knowledge of the world from a (begrudging) reader’s perspective, and he somewhat had the powers of the real Ling Luoying.
The situation now was like the hidden boss of a video game being revealed on one’s second playthrough, but was suddenly buffed by the devs of the game! You know it’s attacks, but you also don’t know what was buffed and what was changed. It was like playing a familiar music piece on an unfamiliar instrument blindfolded.
“If I did join you, what would I get?” Ling Luoying tested the waters.
“You’d get stronger, of course.” Fei Luoci stated as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
“What if I’m not interested in power? What else could the Demon Lords give me?”
“Money, women, power, anything you want, you can have.” Fei Luoci boasted, an unnatural gleam in his eyes.
Ling Luoying nodded, finally verifying something.
“MiSi, that’s not Fei Luoci speaking, is it?”
[Host is correct! Fei Luoci has been possessed by one of the Demon Lords!]
“Can you tell me which one?”
[All MiSi can say is that it’s the Lord of Earthborne Marionettes.]
“Who?” He sighed in disappointment.
Another obscure NPC character he had never read about before.
“So? What’s your answer?”
Ling Luoying brandished Qingtao, aiming at the glowing meridians trailing across Fei Luoci’s right arm. “First, tell me who you are.”
Fei Luoci raised an eyebrow. “Me? I’m Fei Luoci of course. You know that, Ling-shixiong.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Do you think I’m a fool? I know you’re not Fei Luoci.”
The Demon Lord masquerading as his shidi laughed maniacally. “Wonderful! As expected of Anlue Peak’s Head Disciple!”
“Get out of my shidi’s body now, demon.” Ling Luoying snapped, gathering his spiritual energy.
The Demon Lord made no movements to defend as Ling Luoying condensed his spiritual energy into five glowing white swords. “The only way you can force me out of this body is if you kill your shidi. Do you really think you can afford the consequences?”
Ling Luoying’s movements did not falter. With a determined glare, he raised his sword, slashing downwards with a freezing white-blue aura.
The Demon twisted out of the way in the nick of time, brushing off his right arm, which had condensed with pure white ice crystals. “So, that old geezer’s taught you the Qianxue Sword Style, has he?”
Ling Luoying had absolutely no idea what a Qianxue Sword Style was, but he nodded anyway. [The Qianxue Sword Style is the signature style the Ancestral Anlue Peak Lord Shi Lanxing made when he first ascended to the Nascent Soul stage. It’s the sword art that has been passed down from Peak Lord to Head Disciple in Anlue Peak for ages, signifying the next Peak Lord.] MiSi helpfully told him.
That made some sense. But if the original Ling Luoying had received these teachings, why was he so paranoid of someone stealing his position?
He was sent crashing into a wall before he could figure out an answer to his question. “Pay attention to the present, fool!” The Demon Lord snapped, Fei Luoci’s features twisting uncontrollably.
Ling Luoying summoned his spiritual energy swords again, aiming them at Fei Luoci’s left arm. This time, he didn’t even bother to dodge, and just let Fei Luoci’s body take the brunt of the attack. “See? Even if you hit me thousands of times, you’ll never get anywhere. The only thing you’ll be doing is whittling down your spiritual energy and your shidi’s defences.”
“MiSi, there’s a shop feature, right?”
[Yes, and Host is currently dirt broke. Host will be in debt if Host tries to buy anything.] MiSi said flatly.
“Forget that, I’ll pay it back soon. Is there any temporary skill acquisition thing I can buy?”
[Yes, but at Host’s level, it’s a randomised skill.]
“That works too. Can you buy me one?”
Ling Luoying’s mouth dropped open as the world around him was slowly leeched of colour. [Don’t be afraid, Host! This is what it’s like when Host speaks to me, except it’s too fast for Host to see usually. When Host is accessing the System Shop, the time stops for longer to allow Host time to ponder over his options. Oh and, Host cannot move out of a 3 meter radius! ^_^]
“...When did you have the capability to do emojis?”
[Please hurry up and buy, otherwise I will introduce a permanent time limit for the time allowed to spend in the shop.]
Ling Luoying scrolled through the options, the different coloured outlines of the item boxes almost blurring until he found one called Temporary Skillshare - B-Tier. It cost 1580 Fables. Ignoring the blaring red sign that told him he had a grand total of 0 Fables, he pressed the Debt Payment button.
A box the size of his palm dropped on his head, bouncing onto the floor. Rubbing his injured forehead, Ling Luoying grabbed the box. It was made of a blue crystal with intricate iron carvings creeping around the faces. [Hurry up and open it, Host.] MiSi urged, floating around Ling Luoying’s head like a demented yapping halo.
Fumbling around, Ling Luoying pried at the corners of the box like an idiot before he realised there was a diamond shaped protruding crystal he had to press on. MiSi sighed, completely and utterly disappointed as it saw its Host fail something no other user had managed to do so terribly before.
A wide blue screen that looked like every basic gacha cargo box in the FPS games Rong Yao loved to play appeared in front of Ling Luoying’s face. He pressed the button without even thinking, and watching with mild interest as the different skills rolled through.
Apparently the skill he got was really really good, because it elicited a gasp from MiSi. [Host has gotten an S-Tier skill from a B-Tier skillbox! The chances are 0.5%!]
“Oh, nice? How long can I use it?” Ling Luoying asked.
[The B-Tier Skillshare Box lasts for five minutes.]
Ling Luoying groaned. Of course. It was a B-Tier. What did he expect from the third lowest tier there was?
An iridescent blue bubble floated out of the box and into his hands, slowly melting into his skin. Ling Luoying shivered at the unpleasant feeling of ice crawling up his spine and arms. Was this possibly the skill of the demon who had cursed the original Ling Luoying? [Host has received the skill of ‘Snowglaze Bloom’, from the Lord of Lifedrop Sentience, Dong Shuilian.]
Hold on a minute.
What did he just receive?
“MiSi, did you just say Dong Shuilian? As in, the Dong Shuilian that was just attacking us?”
[Yes… the chances of getting the skill of a character with a title in a storybook is extremely rare! The chances are 1.5% out of the 0.5% of S-Tiers!] MiSi exclaimed, fluttering around excitedly.
[Host seems to be really lucky!]
As the colour blossomed back into the world around him, Ling Luoying clenched his fists, preparing another wave of the Qianxue Sword Style. Xi Mu’ou waved the attack away with nothing more than a tear in his sleeve. Ling Luoying threw relentless waves of attacks at Xi Mu’ou, slashing viciously at each glowing white meridian MiSi was pointing out for him. Each time a sword hit Xi Mu’ou, Ling Luoying counted one down from ten.
At the tenth strike, Ling Luoying clenched his fist suddenly, causing a wave of ice to explode out of his body, ice crystals crystallising on the walls.
“Those piddly little ice sticks won’t do anything against me.” The Demon Lord said contemptuously, brushing a few miniature icicles off the corner of the tattered sect uniform. “You may as well be trying to fight a bear with a stick.”
“But even a bear will be felled by a stick if it gets hit enough.” Ling Luoying rebuked, staring up at Xi Mu’ou with a grin.
Before his very eyes, Xi Mu’ou’s skin began freezing. Endless tiny snowflakes blossomed on his skin, right above his meridians. A bright snowflake larger than all the rest bloomed on the back of his hand, a crude imitation of the marking on Ling Luoying’s forehead. “You… how did you manage to learn this?” Xi Mu’ou gasped, stumbling back. “Only he has the capability to create this curse. Who are you?”
“Me? I’m just the Head Disciple of Anlue Peak.”
Xi Mu’ou let out a screech as he was forced out of Fei Luoci’s body. Ling Luoying watched a black fog rise up and away, shrieking curses in a foreign tongue as it did so. He caught Fei Luoci’s limp body, quickly calling MiSi to remove the skill.
-
Sect Leader Mo Pingchu found his first shidi’s Head Disciple sitting next to the unconscious body of his xiao-shidi’s Head Disciple. “Disciple Luoying, what has happened here?” He asked calmly.
He could see the traces of demonic possession wafting around Fei Luoci’s body. You would have to be blind and crippled to not be able to sense the ominous demonic energy around him. Ling Luoying sighed, shaking his head mournfully. “The Lord of Earthborne Marionettes took control over Fei-shidi’s body.”
The Lord of Earthborne Marionettes? The famous recluse Demon Lord that spent days holed up in whatever palace he was currently occupying busy making marionette after marionette, came over to Qiuhai Mountain Sect to possess the least talented Head Disciple? It was suspicious. Mo Pingchu frowned. “If Disciple Luoci was indeed possessed by him, then there is no doubt his real body is already far off in the Demon Realm, likely under strict guard near Xi Mu’ou.”
As if it heard Mo Pingchu and wanted to verify that statement, Fei Luoci’s body began crumbling to ash in Ling Luoying’s arms. Mo Pingchu nodded with an ‘mmm’, as if he had anticipated this all along. “Etherwisp. I will deal with this. Please take Disciple Lianfeng to Yaocao Peak for treatment.”
Oh right. Shi Lianfeng was still pitifully passed out amidst the rubble when he’d gotten hit by Fei Luoci. It had to be some seriously powerful demonic art to have incapacitated him for so long.
Shi Lianfeng was just beginning to stir as Ling Luoying picked him up. “I’ll get you to Yaocao Peak. Fei-shidi… no, the Lord of Earthborne Marionettes has already been subdued.” He murmured gently to Shi Lianfeng.
Ling Luoying clambered onto a thoroughly exhausted Qingtao, banking on their combined will and Qingtao’s reluctance to let anything with its previous owner’s face die to get him and Shi Lianfeng to Yaocao Peak safely.
“Oh, and the Peak Lord meeting will happen as soon as your shizun gets back, Disciple Luoying.” Mo Pingchu added seriously, cupping a delicate white flower in his palms.