Ch60 - Assassination

Two important figures…

Xie Zhiwei calculated on his fingertips and more or less had a guess. The road for the rise of the hero had begun, so the first thing on his list was to strike back against the Bai father and son. But the last goodbye with Qiu Chongyun had happened so quickly he had no time to ask how far her relationship with Mu He had gone. Would she appear like the novel to befriend Bai Yu, then torment him together with Mu He? Those provocative scenes were best witnessed in person.

But Xie Zhiwei didn’t dare approach Mu He. Even if he did, he had to give him some advantages, after all.

Like say, the Golden Lotus?

Xie Zhiwei looked at Tantai Meng before silently sighing.

I can’t mess with the heroine either. Who knows where this evil plot will end up? If I offend her by accident and she earns the hero’s favor one day, I’ll be miserable.

It was better to observe the situation for a few more days.

—

Unexpectedly, a plot twist hit him unawares.

This time, they really were screwing with him!

All he did was follow Tantai Meng out of the Buddhist sect one day to find out more about her, but they’d hardly reached the snow cedar forest in the rear mountains when something happened. In the twilight, Tantai Meng got in a fight with someone blocking her way. Upon closer look, the other was actually Chi Yan.

Xie Zhiwei could only gape. He had no idea why Chi Yan showed up out of the blue. Perhaps he had minions snooping around the entire time who had simply avoided being caught. Tantai Meng’s cultivation level wasn’t high enough to exchange blows with Chi Yan, but with the Golden Lotus she easily mitigated his various killing blows. It was like playing a game where the HP bar never decreased. Even the strongest opponent was useless against her.

Chi Yan’s eyes shone with greed. “As expected of Golden Lotus. Girl, hand it over and I’ll spare you from death.”

Tantai Meng felt the force of another palm strike as he spoke, but remained unmoved. “Demon head, even if you don’t spare me, I won’t die anyways.”

Xie Zhiwei was all admiration. The heroine is cool and brave.

The two exchanged a few more blows. The snow cedar forests were lush, but Red Lotus’s light didn’t shine past them at all. Chi Yan had obviously come alone and was trying to stay lowkey, or else he’d have no reason to suppress his spiritual power, which was currently less than one third of his strength at One Step Peak.

Or maybe that was all the power he had left.

Dozens of moves later, Tantai Meng finally noticed the anomaly. She struck out a palm and landed beneath a snow pine, muttering in confusion, “Why is the demon head’s spiritual power getting weaker and weaker?”

Chi Yan narrowed his eyes as the seven-hued stars on his mask glittered. “Girl, this Seat won’t show any more mercy.”

Red Lotus gradually unfurled, releasing boundless radiance as a boundary field appeared to seal off the forest. Tantai Meng looked around her and grew grave. Xie Zhiwei debated whether he should act. The light would quickly attract members of the Buddhist sect here, so Chi Yan would have trouble escaping in his half-assed cultivation state. He was supposed to live until the hero finished him off and leveled up. No one else had the right.

Xie Zhiwei moved his fingers slightly and Chi Yan’s crazy eyes immediately shrunk. Red Lotus withdrew into his consciousness and refused to come out—at such a critical time, his flow of spiritual energy stopped again. But Golden Lotus was so strong that it could fix Xie Zhiwei’s damned scar on his left hand as long as he snatched it for himself. He couldn’t…afford to wait any longer.

While Chi Yan was hesitating, a phoenix cry rose in the air. Soon afterwards, there was a charming laugh as soft as waves, soothing one’s heart in the forest of cicadas. Chi Yan’s eyes narrowed, his ferocity obvious even through his mask. “Are you sick of living, Chongyun? I told you to keep an eye on the daoist sect, what are you doing here?”

A few red feathers drifted down like flower petals before Qiu Chongyun leaped down from the back of her flame phoenix. Her lightness was even more airy than the feathers.

“Saint sovereign, little sister, you’ve both been fighting for ages. But even four eyes aren’t enough to notice me.”

Xie Zhiwei shrugged his shoulders behind a snow cedar. So what? Even six eyes aren’t enough to notice me.

No wonder the story’s progressing so quickly. Aunt Yun’s online again! This plot progressing expert didn’t earn her name in vain!

But she had always been respectful to Chi Yan. Now she was even talking to him in a teasing attitude. Was she truly “sick of living” like Chi Yan claimed?

Tantai Meng looked up and recognized her. “It’s you.”

Qiu Chongyun said lightly, “Isn’t that so? Aren’t you happy to see big sister again?”

Tantai Meng shook her head and said frankly, “Not happy. You’re here to help him.”

Chi Yan’s voice was deep. “If you were really here to aid this Seat, then this Seat will allow you to replace your crime with meritorious service.”

Qiu Chongyun actually ignored him and arched her willow brows at Tantai Meng instead with a smile. “Little sister, big sister really admires your honesty, oh. But…” she paused before suddenly attacking.

Red silk flew out from her waist at Tantai Meng, who quickly dodged to the side. The fabric followed fiercely until it was three inches away from her brows. Tantai Meng kept retreating until she was trapped against a tree, then closed her eyes against the inevitable.

Xie Zhiwei gathered spiritual power in his hand and prepared to strike, but the red silk only brushed Tantai Meng’s brows and did nothing else.

Chi Yan was displeased. “What the hell are you doing?”

Tantai Meng opened her puzzled eyes, but Qiu Chongyun was chuckling behind her sleeves. “Little sister, that was it. Give big sister some room, oh.”

Her final oh had hardly finished when her eyes of spring pools froze into ice. Before anyone could react, her red silk filled with killing intent and turned to lunge at Chi Yan. His pupils shrank. Unable to call upon spiritual power, he couldn’t block and could only retreat before the onslaught.

Red damask pounced on the snow cedar tree beside him. There was a crack before the trunk split in half and crashed to the ground. Chi Yan didn’t dodge in time and was struck by debris, letting out a groan.

This…what is Qiu Chongyun doing?

Xie Zhiwei was lost, to say nothing of Tantai Meng. She could only gape while her brain struggled to find answers.

Chi Yan endured the pain and roared, “Qiu Chongyun! You have some nerve!”

Qiu Chongyun was all smiles. “Is the saint sovereign praising me? I’m so happy, can I ask for a reward?”

It was a truly inexplicable request. Chi Yan only rebuked, “What nonsense are you spewing, b*tch?”

Qiu Chongyun lifted her hand to smooth out her not-at-all-messy-hair and said to herself, “How about rewarding me with the saint sovereign’s life?”

Her voice was light and airy, as if she was a courtesan begging a guest for a night of warmth. But her eyes were absolutely venomous. With her intentions revealed, Chi Yan’s voice turned cold. “This Seat knew it, you can’t be tamed.”

Qiu Chongyun’s smile faded. “That depends on who’s taming.”

Xie Zhiwei remembered a plot point he’d almost forgotten back in the M78 nebula—something he thought wasn’t important.

As one of the three main harem heads, Qiu Chongyun had plenty of backstory from Gallant Outlaw. Mu He’s mother Qiu Zhaoshui was the adopted daughter of the previous Demon Lord before he picked up another abandoned girl with supreme innate talent to raise up together. That girl was named Chongyun. The two girls were on good terms since youth, but Qiu Zhaoshui was seduced by Mu He’s father, making her incompatible with the Demonic Sect. At that time Chi Yan had already ascended to Demon Lord and was on average terms with both saintesses at best. He was furious over what Qiu Zhaoshui had done.

Chi Yan hunted down Qiu Zhaoshui and severed her cultivation base. Even worse, she couldn’t find Mu He’s father and was pregnant at the time. For the sake of her child, she endured humiliation to become an opera singer until her suicide.

According to the plot, Qiu Chongyun should have heard of the past from the protagonist already and hated Chi Yan to the bone for driving Qiu Zhaoshui to her death. But in the original novel, she had only helped the hero overthrow Chi Yan before handing him over to Mu He to deal with. Where was the hero now? And why was Qiu Chongyun acting ahead of time?

With lotus-like steps and weak willow-like posture, Qiu Chongyun walked towards Chi Yan, whose mask lit up briefly before sputtering out. Still he was unresigned. “B*tch! Aren’t you afraid of my Red Lotus?”

Qiu Chongyun giggled. “I am, but it doesn’t seem like saint sovereign can use it anymore. Back at the fire at Mahavira Hall, you pretended to be all that. I thought it was a one-time fluke, but it turned out to be a massive bargain. I’d be stupid if I didn’t pick it up.”

Why am I so freakin’ stupid too? Xie Zhiwei thought. He was so concerned about dealing with Chi Yan that he forgot this woman was a shrewd one as well. Naturally she’d discover something amiss!

Chi Yan slowly backed away with gloomy eyes.

“Don’t be scared, ah,” Qiu Chongyun said leisurely. “Someone wants your life more than me, so I’ll save it for him. But I’m not giving Red Lotus to anyone, oh.”

In other words, she was preserving his life for the protagonist.

That’s not right, ah, Xie Zhiwei thought, The Red Lotus belonged to the hero in the original novel too. He took it along with Chi Yan’s life, so why is this woman being greedy?

Booming bells sounded on the mountain, an alarm signal from the Buddhist sect after sensing something amiss. Tantai Meng recovered her wits and started running uphill, but Qiu Chongyun’s eyes flashed and shot a phoenix feather over. It stabbed Tantai Meng’s main acupoint on her back, sealing her movement.

“Little sister, when did big sister let you leave? Don’t tell me you’re going back to report me.”

The skies were filled with stars as Tantai Meng stood woodenly in the wind and dew. She sighed and said, “I was going back to report the news.”

Chi Yan wanted to flee too, but he didn’t receive the same treatment as Tantai Meng. Qiu Chongyun simply wrapped him up in red silk, strangling him until his eyes grew bloodshot. He gnashed his teeth and said, “Xie Zhiwei, Qiu Chongyun, this Seat won’t spare either of you even if I’m a ghost.”

Qiu Chongyun was lost. “Why is the saint sovereign suddenly bringing up a daoist?” But she quickly laughed in disbelief. “It’s an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as him. It’s just a pity that such a good man was killed by a group of small fry, tsk.”

Chi Yan laughed coldly. “This Seat also never expected to fall into the hands of a b*tch. Don’t be smug so soon.”

Qiu Chongyun arched her brow. “What do you mean?”

Chi Yan’s eyes intensified in bloodiness as if the Red Lotus was blooming before its petals and shape emerged around his body as light. The silk in Qiu Chongyun’s hands shook.

Not good, Xie Zhiwei thought.

Immediately afterwards, Chi Yan started laughing wildly beneath his mask as he violently released Red Lotus’s aura. In a flash, the air of the mountain grew scorching hot, nearly blowing Qiu Chongyun and Tantai Meng’s dresses inside out.

Chi Yan was actually going to self-detonate with Red Lotus.

Xie Zhiwei would never allow that to happen and rushed over before the flower swelled to bursting point. Qiu Chongyun was already squeezing her eyes shut from the wind. Just when she began to panic, the gale stopped.

Then a giant explosion rocked the valley.

—

Translator’s Note: Thank you for reading all of today’s bonus releases! This time the gift is a Too Bad Master Died Early + Return of the Immortal Emperor novel trailer I made up! My video-editing skills are amateur at best and I couldn’t find 100% perfect clips, but I hope it entertains you. The video contains major spoilers for Arc 1 and vague spoilers without context + featured characters for Arcs 2 and 3.

Too Bad Master Died Early – Novel Trailer

Some fun things to do while you watch:

See you tomorrow!