Chapter 0008

Chapter 8: A Peerless, Alluring New Master

The little demoness raised her brows, hooked the tip of her jade-like foot under her sword, flipped it up, and set the blade against Zhou Tong’s neck as she snapped: “Hmph. I didn’t expect that after only a few days, you would become shameless, and your tongue would get so slick!”

She sneered and pressed the edge closer as she said: “Do you think sweet words mean I won’t kill you?”

Zhou Tong stared at her face, but his thoughts slipped back to the past. In his last life, Tang Qi worked with the Heavenly Devil and planned to sacrifice everyone to complete his grand path. Zhou Tong fought to protect the others, but several senior sisters betrayed him. In the final battle, Mo Liu Su stabbed him through with one sword, and he died with hatred in his heart. Only this little demoness never left him. She fought at his side until the very end and then fell like a fragrant flower fading in the wind.

At that thought, Zhou Tong felt a rush of mixed feelings. [We met only a few times, yet she stood with me to the death. But the kindness I repaid for a thousand years brought me only cold betrayal. The gap between people can be greater than the gap between people and dogs.]

He came back to the present, looked again at that bright, bewitching face, and smiled so warmly that the little demoness was stunned. He had not smiled from the heart like this in a long time. [In my last life, you lived and died with me. In this life, I will walk through wind and rain with you.] He made the vow in his heart.

For some reason, when Mo Liu Su saw Zhou Tong’s smile, her heart jolted like a shock of lightning. It felt numb and it hurt. She had seen that smile before. On the day Zhou Tong bowed and became a disciple, his pale, young face already held a heroic spirit, and it was full of a student’s admiration. Now he would never show that smile to her again. He had given all that gentleness to the demoness.

[Why? In this whole world, why should he smile like that at anyone but me!] Mo Liu Su’s breath grew uneven. She forced herself to forget that young face, sat upright again, and watched coldly.

The little demoness withdrew her sword and looked Zhou Tong up and down as she asked: “What is going on with you? It’s like you became a different person.”

In her memory, Zhou Tong’s eyes were always full of restraint and caution. Now he seemed like someone who had seen a lot and put everything down.

She snorted and said, while her gaze slid aside and her fingers nervously combed her hair: “You heartless guy, I don’t care how good your acting is, you can’t fool me. If you want to make up for your mistakes and get me to forgive you, you must do three things.”

“I agree,” said Zhou Tong without a second thought.

“I haven’t even said the terms yet,” she said.

“Even so, I agree,” he said.

She lifted her chin and said: “First, you must join the Joyous Union Sect.”

“Fine,” he said.

“Second, you must help the Joyous Union Sect win the next Hundred Sects Tournament,” she said.

“That is exactly what I want,” he said.

She bit her lip, then said: “I’m not done. Third, you must help me cultivate.”

“It would be my honor,” he said.

They went back and forth so quickly that people everywhere were left dumbfounded. It was too explosive. The Joyous Union Sect had a terrible reputation and was barely holding on. Many said it would be wiped out soon. The little demoness’s conditions were meant to make things hard. Even more shocking, Zhou Tong agreed to all of them.

“Crazy. They are both crazy,” people whispered. A demoness and a genius cast away by his sect, now rumored to be mentally unstable, had teamed up. It was shocking to the world.

Even You Cang Yue, the little demoness herself, was startled by Zhou Tong’s decisiveness. In a few heartbeats, her face flashed through many feelings: surprise, confusion, helplessness, doubt. In the end, she simply turned away and stood with her back to Zhou Tong.

“Words are wind,” she said.

“Then I can swear by the Heavenly Dao,” said Zhou Tong.

He raised his hand, but a cool, small hand caught his wrist. “No need. I will take you to meet my master. If you dare lie to me again, I will never forgive you.”

As if afraid he would change his mind, she became a streak of light and swept him away with her.

The Heavenly Mirror’s glow chased Zhou Tong’s shadow all the way to Red Dust Mountain, where the Joyous Union Sect stood. But the place was nothing like the grand scene people imagined. Only a ruined, lonely mountain gate stood there. A cold wind blew. Mist spread. Wild grass grew thick. It was worse than an abandoned grave.

People watching could not understand it. Even if the Joyous Union Sect had fallen, how had it turned into this?

“Yue’er, you are back?” A graceful figure stepped out of a broken house, and for a moment countless people were stunned by her beauty. This was Mu Rong Ya, the sect master of the Joyous Union Sect, the demoness who had made others tremble decades ago. Just by standing there, she showed what it meant to outshine the world. The bright moon was dull beside her. Even if Mo Liu Su stood at her side, she would fade into the background.

“My goodness, she is so beautiful it hurts,” someone cried, eyes rolling back as he fainted.

“Wasn’t the Joyous Union Sect’s master supposed to be an ugly, evil old woman who stank?” someone muttered. “Didn’t they say she kept thirty thousand boy toys, could go three months without a bath, but couldn’t go one day without men?” People cursed those lies. This was a huge trick. With a face like that, a crook of her finger would make countless men die willingly for her.

Common folks fell for Mu Rong Ya at once. Only the leaders of the great sects let out a secret sigh of relief. The rumor seemed true in one way: this woman’s oil was almost spent and her lamp almost out. She did not have long to live. When that happened, the Joyous Union Sect could be erased with a flick.

Mo Liu Su laughed from the Jade Purity Sect: “A broken sect matches broken people. And they think they can win the Hundred Sects Tournament? That is a fool’s dream.”

Hearing this, Zhou Tong frowned and met Mo Liu Su’s gaze. “Do you think that is funny? I will say it here today: we are taking that championship.”

“You don’t know your limits. Look at your new master,” she said. “She is about to collapse.”

As she spoke, a strange flush rose on Mu Rong Ya’s face. Zhou Tong’s pupils shrank. He saw the signs at once. It was a Dao injury flaring up and merging with a heart-devil backlash. One wrong move, and she could throw her life away.

“Master, what is wrong?” the little demoness asked in a panic.

“I am… pff!” Mu Rong Ya tried to speak, but blood sprayed from her lips and she fell backward, limp.

“Master!” cried the little demoness.

“Don’t touch her,” said Zhou Tong. He stopped You Cang Yue with a raised hand and asked: “Do you have an alchemy cauldron here?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Do you have Demon Subduing Ganoderma, Heartseeking Grass, Soulcleansing Flower…” Zhou Tong listed a chain of spirit herbs so quickly that many pill masters watching shuddered inside.

“That is the recipe for a seventh-grade Bodhi Pill,” someone whispered. “This boy wants to refine a Bodhi Pill!”

“We have them. I will get them now,” said the little demoness. It was as if she had found her backbone. She rushed off to gather the herbs.

Mo Liu Su sniffed: “What a show-off. Even a grandmaster pill alchemist may fail at a seventh-grade pill. And you think you can defy the heavens?”

“Then watch,” said Zhou Tong. He sat cross-legged and did not spare Mo Liu Su another glance.