Chapter 22: Trapped with a Psycho (And It’s Not Me… I Think?)

Two Days Later.

[Xu Mo's POV]

In my free time, I played with the ants. I tried to talk to the cellmate in the parallel cell, but every time, silence was the only response. If the guard hadn’t been bringing two plates of food from time to time, I would have thought I had lost my mind after being left alone for so long.

As time passed, I felt my skin growing paler, but without a mirror, I couldn’t know my current appearance. I could run my fingers through my hair, but I hadn’t washed up in weeks, and I was starting to smell.

“Agh—I hate myself,” I muttered. I was going to die of Qi dissipation eventually, but at this rate, I might die from my own stench first.

“What... did... you do?”

I stiffened.

“Ahhh! W-Who’s there?”

I looked around, but there was no one. Yet, I was certain I had just heard a female voice. It couldn’t be a ghost, could it?

“It’s... me.”

“I don’t know any ‘me.’ Please leave. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”

I closed my eyes, fearing something unknown might pop out of nowhere. My words tumbled out without thought, and I had no idea what I was saying or doing.

“Huh? It’s me.”

My ears twitched as I tried to pinpoint the source of the voice. Carefully, I opened my eyes and adjusted to the direction of the sound. It seemed to be coming from one of the side walls of my cell.

“Is it you?” I asked.

“Yes. Did you think I was a female ghost?”

“Well... anyone would have reacted the same way after hearing, ‘What... did... you do?’ Many might have lost their souls.”

“To answer your earlier question, I did nothing. I was framed—maybe for helping a girl. What about you?”

I quickly shifted the question back to her, fearing she might retreat into silence again.

“...I-I killed someone.” I sensed hesitation in her voice.

“I believe you must have had your reasons.” I wasn’t sure how to comfort others, but I knew everyone had their own circumstances that led them to do things they might not have wanted to.

“You believe me?!” Her voice carried a glimmer of hope, as if she longed to be understood by someone, anyone.

“No. But did you act in self-defense? What happened?” I calmly denied the “believing” part and asked the most crucial question.

From what I had observed over the past few days, she seemed like an obedient prisoner who might have committed her first kill. If she had acted in self-defense, I could ask the Sect Master to pardon her or at least spare her from execution.

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“I killed her intentionally. I even wanted to cut her body into more pieces, but she was lucky that a disciple reported it, so her body remained intact.”

Hehehe...

Her response shocked me. What surprised me even more was her eerie laughter at the end of her sentence.

I took a step back, then another, until my back touched the opposite wall.

Sect Master, save me!

I screamed internally, my heart racing as I imagined the gruesome scene she described. Just moments ago, I had been thinking of asking the Sect Master to forgive her. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

After my internal panic, I didn’t know what to do.

“You still there?” the female disciple asked from the other side.

“Hehe... yes,” I replied with a bitter laugh.

“Do you regret helping that girl that day?”

“To be honest, I don’t. It was my choice. I could have walked away like everyone else, but I chose to help.”

“Isn’t that stupid?”

Gulp.

I swallowed hard and said, “To you, it might seem that way, but I helped because I could. If I didn’t even have the ability to protect myself, why would I help others?”

“Then why are you here if you have the ability?” She scoffed at me. I shook my head. I couldn’t exactly say, I’m the True Successor—bow before me, you imbecile.

She’d probably think I was a psycho, just as I now had the same impression of her.

“If it’s about ability, I think I have enough to get you out of this prison scratch-free.”

Haha...

She laughed, and I joined in. Hahaha...

“You can’t even save yourself, and you think you can save me from execution?”

She abruptly stopped laughing and mocked me.

“You’re right,” I agreed. Truly, at this moment, I had no way to contact any of my elders.

I sat down on the cold cell floor, thinking about my future, which had once seemed so bright but now felt impossibly dark.

[Ancestor’s POV]

The Ancestor was inside his seclusion chamber, spying on the disciples—and Xu Mo. He had heard the entire conversation between Xu Mo and the female disciple. He had already sent his informants to gather the full story, wanting to understand what had truly happened and what had driven the female disciple to murder another.

He had also heard Xu Mo offering to plead for her forgiveness.

The Ancestor didn’t mind. He would have done the same if he were in Xu Mo’s place—especially if the person in question was beautiful. Unfortunately, Xu Mo couldn’t see the girl’s true appearance. Hearing her sweet, honey-like voice, Xu Mo must have assumed she was a beautiful lady. At least, that’s what the Ancestor thought Xu Mo assumed.

With his divine sense, the Ancestor could bypass almost every obstacle, except for those with strength comparable to his own.

The girl’s face was covered in blisters, which was why she kept her appearance hidden. She had become a target for bullying, a punching bag for other, less ugly female disciples—most notably the one she had killed. According to the informant’s report, the girl had acted in self-defense on the day of the murder, but somehow, the victim had become the perpetrator, and the real culprit had been painted as the victim.

The girl who had died was connected to a male disciple in the inner sect—likely his sister, judging by the faint similarity in their features. The Ancestor flipped through the pages of the report, not missing a single detail.

Soon, he had a complete picture of the situation. The girl’s statement—“I killed her intentionally. I even wanted to cut her body into more pieces, but she was lucky that a disciple reported it, so her body remained intact.”—was merely an attempt to scare Xu Mo away. By a strange twist of fate, she was the same girl Xu Mo had once helped when he went down the mountain to the outer sect.

The girl had recognized Xu Mo by his voice—he had done most of the talking when he saved her. Xu Mo, however, didn’t recognize her because she had only responded in a hoarse whisper, saying, “Thank you.” Her mouth and chest had been repeatedly struck by the now-dead girl.

A smile bloomed on the Ancestor’s face as he observed how fate worked. Whether mortal or cultivator, no one could escape the chessboard laid out by destiny. Only by becoming an immortal could one gain some control over their future.

But an immortal hadn’t appeared in hundreds of thousands of years. There might still be some living in seclusion, far removed from mundane life, but the Ancestor didn’t know for sure. Ancient records stated that immortals had lifespans ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of years.

Xu Mo didn’t realize that he was slowly entering the eye of the storm. Or perhaps he had an inkling but chose not to acknowledge it.