Luckless

There were no candles lit in the cellar, and Shen Leyan couldn't make out his senior brother's expression in the darkness.

But his senior brother stopped moving the bluestone slab over the cellar entrance. After a long while, he sighed.

"You're right... It's my fault for not listening to you this morning and going back to the sect to get cultivators."

Shen Leyan said, "...It's also my fault for always sleeping through the instructor's lessons. I couldn't convince you with what I knew."

"What do we do now, then?"

"Whether there really is a fire outside or not, the bluestone slab over the cellar is fireproof. The flames can't reach us here, and whatever's out there probably doesn't know we're here either. Let's wait until dawn."

If there really was a fire, the Cloud Radiance Sect would surely notice. Once the sect's cultivators arrived, they could get out.

"That's our only choice... I just hope the other junior brothers and sisters are safe."

They waited in the cellar for a while. Near the entrance, they gradually began to feel waves of heat radiating down through the bluestone slab.

Yet the shouting outside showed no sign of fading. Instead, it grew louder and louder, the voices twisting into something no human could produce.

"Fire—someone help—where is everyone? Where is everyone?"

"Where is everyone? Where is everyone? Where is everyone?!"

As though unable to find prey in the blaze, the voices of men and women, young and old, gradually merged into an incredibly shrill howl, brimming with furious rage and echoing in their ears.

Shen Leyan immediately covered his ears, but the sound outside still stabbed at his eardrums, almost piercing straight through his temples.

His senior brother cursed, "Fuck!"

At this rate, they wouldn't burn to death, but they would definitely go deaf.

"Senior brother, did you bring any magical artifacts or talismans when you came down the mountain? Like a Voice Transmission Talisman or a Demon Suppression Talisman?"

A Voice Transmission Talisman could immediately notify the sect to come rescue them.

A Demon Suppression Talisman could restrain a demon for a short time. If its demonic power wasn't very strong, it could even hold it for several hours.

His senior brother's voice trembled slightly. "...Do you think talismans grow on trees? Even plenty of inner disciples with spiritual roots can't afford a single one."

Shen Leyan trembled along with him. "Then there must at least be someone in the sect who can cure deafness, right?"

As they spoke, the bluestone slab above their heads suddenly gave a tremendous bang. Several cracks seemed to spread rapidly across its surface, and fragments of stone clattered down.

In an instant, the warped, piercing voices outside sounded right beside them, separated from them only by a bluestone slab that was about to shatter completely.

"Found~ some~ people!"

The demon's voice was jubilant. It even sounded as though it was drooling.

Shen Leyan tightened his grip on the sickle while frantically calling the system in his mind.

"Xiao Du, Xiao Du, Xiao Du! Didn't you say the repairs would take half a day? That time should be up by now! Where are you, system?!"

Xiao Du said, "Dear host, theoretically, the repair time is indeed up..."

Shen Leyan said, "Just tell me whether I hit the jackpot with that 0.5% chance of successful repairs."

"Someone with rotten luck should have a clear understanding of their own luck."

*"..."*

Seeing its host raise his sickle, ready to charge up and kill the demon himself, Xiao Du hastily tried to stop him.

"If the repairs had succeeded, you would have received the special ability 'Mind Reading,' allowing you to hear the thoughts of everyone around you."

Mind Reading sounded good. But never mind that he didn't have the ability now—even if he did, what fucking use would reading an arson-crazed demon's mind be?

Was he supposed to spend his last moments finding out whether this Demon liked barbecued human flesh?

Seeing its host's frighteningly icy expression, Xiao Du quietly swallowed the rest of what it had been about to say.

There had been a teensy, enormous hitch in the repairs. People in this world with a destined connection to the host could hear his thoughts.

The host looked like he was in an absolutely terrible mood. Better not tell him this depressing news.

Xiao Du said, "O-of course, since quantum mechanics damaged my brain during transmigration, this is ultimately my fault. I-I'll compensate you."

Crack!

The Bluestone Slabs split in two, then collapsed with a crash into chunks of all sizes.

The bright firelight outside instantly painted the dark cellar crimson.

His eyes couldn't adjust to the sudden light, and tears sprang to them involuntarily. Shen Leyan forced them wide open. Looking down at them from around the cellar entrance was not the three-headed, six-armed Demon with a blue face and fangs he had imagined, but a ring of villagers.

More precisely, they looked like a group of people who had burned to death and come back to life.

The villagers had been burned beyond recognition, charred flesh covering their bodies. There was no possible way they could have survived such severe injuries.

Yet they could still speak.

"Found~ you!"

Drool dripped from their mouths like starving wolves.

A charred hand nimbly reached for his neck.

"A soul~ from another world~ tastes the best!"

Shen Leyan swiftly swung his sickle, bumping into his senior brother, who stood frozen on the spot.

"Get some water from the cellar and cover your mouth and nose!"

The fire outside was fierce, thick smoke swirling everywhere. Without covering their mouths and noses, they would soon lose consciousness from the smoke.

His senior brother snapped out of his daze and hurriedly tore strips from his clothes, soaking them in the cellar's water jar.

"Xiao Du, kill the Demon that started the fire right now, and we'll call that my compensation!"

Xiao Du said, "...The system can't fight on your behalf. I'll compensate you with a supreme-grade Spiritual Root."

"No!"

"Let's give you a Wind Spiritual Root."

Shen Leyan hacked off a section of a villager's charred hand as he retreated farther into the cellar.

There were simply too many villagers outside. They crowded him so tightly that he could barely move. He had to back up to give himself room.

"I fucking said no!"

Remembering that people with a destined connection could hear its host's thoughts, Xiao Du felt a brief pang of guilt.

"Then I'll give you a little more compensation. Besides asking me to fight for you, you can make one more request. It can't be anything too excessive that upsets the world's balance."

Shen Leyan had been about to ask for a billion Demon-Breaking Talismans so he could single-handedly wipe out every Demon in the world, but those words stopped him short.

"I want a Voice Transmission Talisman!"

"No problem!"

Looking at the talisman that appeared out of thin air before him, Shen Leyan shouted, "Lu Yuanyi, a Demon is setting fire to a village below your Cloud Radiance Sect! Get over here and kill it!!!"

The Voice Transmission Talisman flashed, recording his words.

"Send it to the Cloud Radiance Sect!"

The Voice Transmission Talisman vanished instantly.

In the cellar, his senior brother handed him the wet cloth, frantically wielding his hoe to help fend off the strange villagers pouring in from outside.

When people were terrified, they probably liked to chat a little to relieve the stress.

"Shen Leyan, I think I just heard you calling the sect master by name."

"Yeah."

"You're not expecting the sect master to come here and save us, are you?"

In the original novel, although Lu Yuanyi was so cold and aloof that he seemed to have renounced worldly life, he really was the sort of powerful figure who cared for all living beings.

He shouldn't be capable of standing by and watching disciples of his own sect die.

"The sect master has countless duties to attend to. How could he possibly—"

A brilliant sword light descended from the sky, more dazzling than lightning, like frost and swirling snow. Wherever it passed, the sea of fire split in two like paper, opening up a pitch-black path. The raging flames went out in an instant, leaving not even a single spark.

His senior brother: "O.O."