Bad Woman

In the replayed footage...

Liu Ruyan strode openly up to the main entrance underground.

Spirit patterns flowed across her palm as she broke the stone door's ward.

She pushed it open and strode into the underground library. After probing the array for a moment, she found Reverend Guiqi next door and said in surprise:

"We're both in Fireburn Kingdom, yet this is the first I've heard of you, Reverend Guiqi, or the Demi-Immortal's Book!"

Then she frowned at the traces left around the library.

"Demonic aura, devilish aura, an array that devours both... Don't tell me you laid a trap here, old man, using this so-called Demi-Immortal's Book to lure demons and devils into becoming your next meal?

"If so, why didn't you invite me?"

Reverend Guiqi slowly opened his eyes.

He had sensed fox spirit in the spiritual power Liu Ruyan used to break the ward.

Only one fox demon in Fireburn Kingdom could breach his door: the one from the legends.

And the clues he had left in Gray Castle were meant only for demons and devils below Nascent Soul Peak. The Thousand-Faced Fox, with her unfathomable illusions, did not fall into that category.

"I would have liked to invite you, but no one has ever seen the Thousand-Faced Fox's true face... Are you her?"

Liu Ruyan thought it over seriously.

"You could say that."

What did she mean, "you could say that"? Jiang Chen wondered.

He was certain the body before him was the Thousand-Faced Fox herself.

She simply looked like Liu Ruyan... As for who the original Liu Ruyan was, he had no way of knowing.

Unable to judge for himself, Reverend Guiqi probed further:

"I've long heard that the Thousand-Faced Fox excels at illusions and can divine opportunities. So you divined your way here?"

"You could say that too."

"There's no grudge between us, and the Demi-Immortal's Book is of no use to the Demon Race. Seek your opportunity elsewhere. I'll pretend none of this happened."

"That's not for you to decide. I need to take any two manuals from here and examine them at home before I'll know. In return, I can offer you an opportunity."

Any two manuals... Reverend Guiqi was shaken. This woman was no ordinary figure.

He had no confidence he could defeat the Thousand-Faced Fox, so for now he could only hear her out.

"Oh? What opportunity?"

Liu Ruyan casually picked up two manuals.

"Five days from now, Heavenly Demon Sect's leader, Tian Mingye, will lead her forces against Azure Mist Sect to seize the Demi-Immortal's Book.

"You can set an ambush for her here.

"Tian Mingye may be hailed as the Devil Race's greatest genius in a century, but she's only a child of a hundred, at the Nascent Soul Early Stage. Devour her, and you'll surely reach Spirit Severing in one leap."

With that, her slender figure dissolved like an illusion and vanished...

Even Reverend Guiqi could not pinpoint her location!

Jiang Chen had to hand it to her.

Selling out the Demon Sect while playing both sides... Thousand-Faced Fox, you really are a bad woman.

Could that demoness have taken over the Liu Ruyan on Tranquil Heart Peak?

Fortunately, he had the simulator.

"Begin the third simulation!"

The third simulation repeated the second up to the point where he parted ways with Liu Ruyan.

On Tranquil Heart Peak, the evening breeze was intoxicating and sunset clouds filled the sky.

Jiang Chen began his experiment in latching on to a wealthy woman.

"Have you ever considered that the opportunity we divined might not be a technique or a treasure, but a person?"

Liu Ruyan's heart gave a jolt. Her beautiful eyes reflected the sunset and Jiang Chen as she asked without betraying a thing:

"With that body of yours, how could you divine anything?"

Jiang Chen was no good at courting girls, but he knew the Thousand-Faced Fox inside and out. So he spun a story, telling it at an unhurried pace:

"Divination has nothing to do with the body. All it takes is sufficient cultivation and soul arts, a chosen one, or a soul that has traveled back from the future.

"Three years ago, I divined that my opportunity was a demoness who would appear on Azure Mist Sect's Sunset Glow Peak.

"So I worked hard to earn money in the mortal world, exchanged it for spirit stones, and bribed an outer-sect steward of Azure Mist Sect to let me in.

"Sunset Glow Peak doesn't accept male disciples, so I had to join the neighboring Stubborn Stone Peak and watch Sunset Glow Peak every day.

"And one day, I saw my senior sister setting the mountain on fire..."

A flicker passed through Liu Ruyan's eyes. She had investigated Jiang Chen's background in private, and everything he had said matched it exactly.

"So I'm your opportunity?"

Pretending not to know, Jiang Chen smiled and asked:

"Are you a demoness, Senior Sister?"

Liu Ruyan shook her head.

"No."

That lie came awfully easily. Not a blush or a skipped beat... Jiang Chen paid it no mind and went on:

"Then what a shame.

"I want the Demi-Immortal's Book so I can cultivate together with a demoness without being harmed by her.

"But the Demi-Immortal's Book offers demons and devils no benefit. They might even be drained dry by a human cultivating the same method... Which is exactly what Reverend Guiqi has been doing."

Liu Ruyan lightly touched her chin, looking thoughtful, then suddenly smiled.

"Thank you for the warning!"

She abruptly reached out and cupped the right side of Jiang Chen's face, studying his features and the color of his eyes.

"As for cultivating together... If I really were that demoness, do you think I'd trust a man's word?"

With a barely perceptible smile, Liu Ruyan turned and left.

It seemed this fox demon would not be easy to win over.

Jiang Chen still remembered that in the previous simulation, Liu Ruyan had only pretended to agree to cultivate together. In truth, she had used the chance to investigate his constitution and identity.

Only when he had hinted at his origins beyond this world and the nature of the Plot Simulation had she suddenly been moved enough to give herself to him...

This time, she had refused, but not completely. She had even shown a womanly side.

It seemed this wealthy demoness would not be easy to win over.

But why did he have to win her over? Why not shamelessly hold out his hand and ask?

Before Liu Ruyan got far, Jiang Chen hurriedly sent her a telepathic message.

"I need a little demonic and devilish aura to test the Demi-Immortal Method."

Without looking back, Liu Ruyan casually tossed him two pills the size of quail eggs.

Jiang Chen caught them and opened his hand.

One pill was black.

The other was red.

He placed them in his inventory.

[Items]:

Demonic Obstacle Pellet ×1 (low-grade spirit);

Demonblood Pill ×1 (low-grade spirit);

Jiang Chen marveled inwardly. Neither pill gave off the slightest trace of demonic or devilish aura. Her skill at alchemy was remarkable.

He turned and returned to his disciple's quarters.

He immediately tested the Return-Form Method.

He needed to determine as soon as possible whether the Demi-Immortal's Book truly suited him, and whether it hid a backdoor.

The Demi-Immortal Art's effects were slight, and the manual was muddled with plenty of useless gibberish masquerading as cultivation methods. No one was likely to notice him practicing it, so there was no need to hide.

Jiang Chen read the manual from start to finish, then sat cross-legged in meditation and circulated energy through his meridians according to the Return-Form Method.

Ordinary cultivation generally gave him a sensation of floating.

But as he practiced the Demi-Immortal Art, his body felt unbearably heavy, as though it were sinking underground.

At the same time, he felt an invisible force dragging his soul toward the Abyss.

Jiang Chen had to bring up the system panel and fix his eyes on the data to anchor his soul.

Only after steadying himself did he begin cultivating the Demi-Immortal Method.

If Five-Element Spiritual Roots were like Five-Finger Mountain, a good talent would be one finger rising as a pillar into the sky. Drawing spiritual energy through that strongest meridian would be most efficient.

Jiang Chen's Five-Element Talent, however, resembled a chaotic row of uneven, interlocking fangs.

It was not exactly poor. It was simply far too ordinary.

As he circulated the Return-Form Method, Jiang Chen felt the uneven Five-Finger Mountain gradually flatten, its peaks slowly becoming nearly equal in height...

That meant his talent was declining further.

Only when it became a perfect Five-Element Endowment would it have nowhere left to fall.

Jiang Chen was not worried. This was only a Plot Simulation; he could push it as hard as he liked.

The method was circulating too slowly for his taste, so he took out the spirit stones and Qi-Refining Spirit-Nurturing Pills Liu Ruyan had given him to speed it up.

Only after he had exhausted the spirit stones and pills did the interlocking fangs become almost indistinguishable in height.

For a moment, Jiang Chen felt his heart grow as still as water, free of every desire.

So he decided to devour some demonic and devilish aura and see what happened.

He took out the red and black pills and swallowed them together!

The pills melted the instant they entered his mouth. Surging demonic and devilish aura rushed into his core, churning his sea of qi like overturned rivers and seas and swiftly overwhelming his own spiritual energy.

Jiang Chen suffered terribly, as though he were being tormented by both the fires of hell and the ice of the Abyss...

He hurriedly swallowed a Spirit-Healing Pill to counterbalance the demonic and devilish aura.

Before long, spiritual energy, demonic aura, and devilish aura reached a delicate balance.

Like three comma-shaped jewels chasing one another's tails, they spun faster and faster.

Gradually, they formed a vortex visible to the naked eye!

Boom—

Jiang Chen's vision went black, and he passed out on the spot.

Dawn was just breaking.

Jiang Chen rose from his straw mat and discovered he was completely unharmed.

He was soaked through, his muscles pale with a healthy flush, and his body considerably stronger.

Most notably, his sea of qi surged and his meridians felt clear. It was as though he had advanced a layer.

He hurriedly opened the system panel.

[Cultivation]: Qi Refining, Third Layer.