Could it be that I am the cruel villain?
Chapter 34: Devouring Soul

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Devouring Soul

"..."

No matter how hard I tried to explain, it was impossible to clarify everything.

Yan Yurou was going to make an excuse, but she just silently got on the carriage without saying a word and left without looking back.

"You!"

Glaring fiercely at Lu Luo as he turned his head, he hadn’t even had the chance to get angry before realizing that the culprit had vanished.

It was only now that he remembered those two women who spent their days in the brothel were cultivators, and he couldn’t afford to offend either of them.

"What sins have I committed..."

He sighed to the heavens, realizing that although he had dodged a disaster today, his reputation in Qingshui County was likely ruined forever, and a multitude of troublesome issues awaited his attention.

Such as his room.

He silently walked to the second floor and gently pushed open the door, and beyond the familiar furniture, what caught his eye was a torn and tattered quilt with numerous scorch marks - clearly the impact of an explosion that scattered papers everywhere.

Obviously, his trap had been triggered, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a bit amused.

"Thank goodness luck was on my side, but that guy should have..."

He muttered, realizing had he not insisted on staying the night at the Ethereal Violet Pavilion instead of going home, what awaited him there could have been a guillotine.

"It must feel terrible, doesn’t it?"

Looking at the pile of wood on the bed and the traces beneath the quilt, the small explosion caused by his trap wasn’t strong, merely frightening to a degree, but he had deliberately mixed in many rusty steel needles.

And furthermore!

He had even purposefully rolled them in excrement.

Ahem, it wasn’t that he had a particularly perverse taste or an odd fixation with excrement; it was simply to maximize the damage.

In the principle of the Five Elements, metal is linked with poison. In this era, wounds from iron weapons were difficult to heal, and they could even threaten a person’s life; thus, it was common in warfare to poison blades deliberately by mixing them in soil or feces. If the infection took hold, it was challenging to survive.

That’s why Mr. Jiang decided to include a curse.

He was not someone with a taste for the macabre; using this method was solely to identify the killer’s whereabouts and appearance. As for how to be sure?

"Brother, with tetanus plus a curse, given the extent of your infection, if you don’t visit a doctor at the medical hall, you’re likely to die a more gruesome death than Xue Wuwei..."

Rumble—

The sky was shrouded with clouds.

The heavy rain from last night showed no signs of stopping, and recently, Qingshui County had been under an unending veil of rain.

Hiding in a side room to rest, his eyes tightly shut, the youth’s face was etched with fatigue. Although resting at home posed a certain risk, Jiang Feng clearly could not care less at the moment.

Since yesterday, he had been planning non-stop, scheming and arranging his layout. The number of events he had experienced in this short day was overwhelming - in his own words, purely a stroke of dumb luck.

Had he not met Su Yi, had not been given this chance of heavenly fate by Liu Xianzi, he probably would have been exposed this morning.

His brow slowly furrowed, his expression revealing an unmistakable pain. As usual, as soon as Jiang Feng fell asleep, he would dream of that mysterious Immortal and visions of himself being chopped into pieces, but today’s dream seemed different than usual, starring not Liu Tangxi.

But the recently deceased...

Wang Qi.

"Lao Qi! Go fetch that chicken from home."

"What are you up to! Husband, we are already poor, why must you kill a chicken to host a guest, we can’t live like this!"

"Silly woman, look at what our guest is wearing, must be a scholar! What’s wrong with Lao Qi becoming an Attendant Student in the future? Besides, what’s wrong with a man hosting a guest?"

"You’re gonna be the death of me..."

The scenes slowly passed through his mind, albeit fuzzy, but Jiang Feng felt like he was watching a movie, where the first scene showed a child chasing after a chicken all over the place, finally catching it after considerable effort, and carrying it back home.

A couple, seemingly weathered by life, bickered as they started to kill and pluck the chicken, but they still prepared a meal to entertain a distinguished-looking guest.

"Lao Qi, you have to study hard in the future and not be like your dad, incapable and inept, you know?"

"Alas, I don’t know what kind of bad karma our Wang family has incurred; those who died, died, and those who were maimed, were maimed. Not one of your six brothers lived past twelve."

"From now on, the family can only count on you. Here, take this; it’s the silver your mother saved."

"When you go to the county, you must study hard."

The scene shifts to an elderly couple instructing their child and sending him off to school. Despite their dark complexions, one can see the youth’s ambition and determination.

However, at this moment, Jiang Feng feels that the person is somewhat familiar. Although much younger, he already bears a slight resemblance to Wang Qi as he is now.

"...Immortal, Immortal, have you...have you returned?"

"To repay a kindness, no no no! It’s just a meal, just a meal, are you...are you serious? Are you really going to take our Lao Qi up the mountain?"

"Heaven has opened its eyes, heaven has opened its eyes! Our Wang family, finally, finally..."

"Quick, kneel down, kneel down and kowtow to acknowledge your teacher! From now on, whatever the Immortal says goes. You must follow the Immortal closely and serve them well..."

This is the scene where Wang Qi finds his fateful encounter with an Immortal.

"Completely unacceptable, your aptitude is too poor."

"After a year of Body Refining, two years of cultivation, you and Li Ying can merely sense the flow of Spiritual Energy and can’t even incorporate it into your body for your own use. At this level, you can’t even step onto the threshold of cultivation."

"Since you cannot cultivate, the sect will naturally not waste resources on you. The two of you should leave the mountain."

"Go collect some silver, then return to the secular world."

"You’re asking if there’s any way to come back?"

"It’s difficult. Innate qualities like physique are hard to change unless you can obtain Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or Body Tempering Pills."

"But those treasures are only supplied to Inner Sect Disciples; you should stop dreaming about them..."

The young man leaves the Mountain Gate unwillingly, looking back at the immortal mountain for a long time before he finally resolves to leave.

Soon, with the young man wandering with a big knife in hand, he gradually ages and eventually arrives in Qingshui County.

"You want to join our household? And you ask for this amount? Has my father lost his mind?"

"Fine, but if you want to enter our doors, you need to show some sincerity, how about it?"

"Look, see that kid over there?"

"With Qingming festival coming up, that kid will surely go up the mountain to visit his ancestors. If you chop off his head for me, Mr. Xue will double your reward; how about that?"

"Why the grudge, you ask? Heh, daring to compete with Mr. Xue over a woman, this little beast already seeks his own death!"

Finally, he sees familiar scenes in Wang Qi’s memory - Mr. Xue and the large knife grazing past his scalp.

Besides these disjointed memories, Jiang Feng sees many things. He seems to witness Wang Qi diligently practicing and torturing himself daily to succeed at Body Refining to the point of dehumanization.

That familiar feeling quickly emerges.

Every move, every action of Wang Qi is fully deconstructed in his vision; it feels like directly devouring another’s soul, horrifically straightforward, instantly comprehensible with just one filtrating thought in his mind.

Thus, the youth in the dream wields the sword, just like once in a dream, fighting against Liu Xianzi with swordsmanship, except this time, he chooses to plunge the longsword into the other’s chest...

His eyes snap open.

Instead of being covered with sweat as usual, his expression is exceedingly calm. In his dark pupils, two souls seem to twist, struggle, and roar before slowly merging into one with the iris, indistinguishable from each other.

Supporting his head, feeling the flashes in his mind, the youth uncontrollably gets out of bed and walks to the desk to pick up the ruler.

With a fierce swing!

Exactly like the blow from Wang Qi that day.

At this point, Jiang Feng finally fully understands his abilities, but he doesn’t feel any joy, instead, he sighs.

"It looks like the crazed Evil Cultivator from Liu Xianzi’s mouth..."

"Is indeed me."

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