What to do, what to do?!
I went with the professional immortal route after a millisecond's panicked consideration.
Turning around and smoothing my immortal hair, I grinned in what I hoped wasn't a super nervous way. The grin almost slid off my face when I saw the scene in front of me—Fong Jue violently struggling and starting to steam like a hot potato, while the array glowed so brightly it was practically blinding. That could only mean that it was reaching its capacity limit, and at any moment, it might shatter, releasing this angry, moody bored demon king and dooming me and all these stupid villagers, along with my stupid, stupid students, who just had to come down here and make everything go nuts.
"Venerable One!" I chuckled. "You must be mistaken! This is most definitely not a Demonic Restricting Array! It's—ahem, a Sleepy-Time Array that puts the mafia to sleep, muting their powers until everyone leaves for a bit and then—"
"FOOLISH IMMORTAL!" Fong Jue roared. Shit. Rocks were falling from the ceiling in droves again. I batted a pebble away. "HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK THIS VENERABLE ONE IS? I TRUSTED YOU BECAUSE YOU HAD A FUN GAME! BUT I HAVE SEEN TOO MANY DEMONIC RESTRICTING ARRAYS TO BELIVE THIS IS A SLEEP-TIMEY ARRAY, OR WHATEVER CAME FROM YOUR FOOLISH IMMORTAL MOUTH! RAAAAAAH!"
Before my eyes, Fong Jue gave a mighty roar so loud it felt like it deep fried my eardrums.
In a blast of blood red sparks, the array burst into smoke, and Fong Jue vaulted to his feet, unleashing another furious roar worthy of a demon king who was pissed about being stuck under a mountain for thousands of years. A blast of angry demonic qi so strong that I could literally smell it rushed through the air, blowing my beautiful, immortal hair out of my face.
All right. Scratch the professional immortal route.
I turned around and sprinted out the throne room door, screaming:
"RUN! RUN, YOU FOOLS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
The villagers weren't that far ahead, being mortals who couldn't run all that fast. When they heard my screaming, they all started screaming. So, basically, we all ran away through the rumbling caves as a horde of screaming people, while bitter-smelling demonic qi chased us like a nasty wind and Fong Jue's heavy footsteps banged behind us, getting closer and closer.
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Some grumpy old man who was huffing right in front of me turned his head and hollered,
"Aren't you an Immortal? Can't you do something besides telling us to run for our lives?!"
"Yeah!" an old woman agreed. Dang, she was running real fast for an old woman. Though maybe she was actually only middle-aged and had been aged up by the Frightful Aging Curse. "Do something, Immortal! What's your reputation for anyways if all you can do is make a demon mad?"
"Yeah!"
"Are you even a real immortal?"
"Do something already!!!"
"AHHHHH!" I bellowed, holding my head as I sprinted. That made everyone go quiet and stare at me like I'd gone crazy.
Fine! That was better than yelling at me! And did these people not realize that I was literally casting techniques right now to make us all run faster? Seriously! How else could all these old people be running just as fast as an immortal like me?
My heart was beating so fast that it felt like it had been implanted in my ears, like a giant, hot drum.
Yeah, sure! I was an immortal!
But even immortals get stuck, all right?!
And what's more, an immortal like me had only dealt with small fry demons before!
And what's worse...I'd apparently only gotten this far because I'd been on Easy Mode, according to the stupid xianxia system!
For the first time in years, a nauseating feeling welled in my stomach, making me gag as I ran and continually cast the Flashing Floor Overcoming Technique, which made the ground speed by beneath us and just barely kept the distance between us and Fong Jue. A scary thought came to mind.
Maybe...I still didn't belong here?
I was once a nineteen-year-old girl who read danmei for fun. I was a first year in university studying for a medical degree like my parents had wanted me to. Living in that world had been hard!
Maybe...I didn't belong here, either? After all these years in this xianxia universe, I'd gotten so used to thinking of myself as a graceful poser with powerful talents. But maybe...
Maybe I really was just a poser!
I couldn't even hold off a demon king! Much less a demon emperor!
"Immortal Xia!" Suddenly, Xu Yun's concerned voice pulled me out of my whirl of panic. I looked up to see him looking like he was about to pass out from running—yeah, scholars apparently didn't exercise all that much—but his eyes were also shining with worry. "Immortal Laoshi Xia, are you all right? I'm sorry! I'm sorry for bringing everyone down here! It's all my fault!"
I sighed, shaking my head to clear it. No time for spiraling right now.
"No, Xu Yun. It's...not all your fault. I should be able to get us out of here. I promised to help these villagers. And...I'm going to do it, no matter what. I think. Hopefully."
Hopefully without dying first.