Picked Up a Demon Venerable

Without Yu Tingchao bothering her, Ning Xiang actually felt a little bored. Had being persecuted become a habit?

Ning Xiang first summoned her Heaven-Question Stone-a sort of forum in the cultivation world, similar to the Zhihu and Tieba of later times. Besides discussions of cultivation techniques and guides to exploring secret realms, it had a separate section devoted to cultivation gossip.

Ning Xiang sipped her couch-potato happy water, petted her couch-potato happy beast-the little fox-and browsed the forum.

"Seeking marriage. Male, forty-five, eleventh stage of Qi Refining. Looking for a fair-skinned, beautiful cultivation partner with long legs. Preferably no older than twenty. To spare you any feelings of inferiority, I hope you're also in the Qi Refining realm."

"The road is long and fraught with obstacles: let's talk about my romantic affairs with True Lord Qingchen."

"Help!!! Yesterday, I got drunk and forced myself on my junior brother, and my eldest senior brother caught us. How am I supposed to face them today? Oh, right, I'm male."

"The Demon Venerable and the Demon King both confessed their love to me, yet tears wash my face every day."

"Brilliant!" Ning Xiang commented.

She added the posts to her favorites, saving them to read later.

Now, all she needed to do was wait for the female lead, Jiang Miaomiao, to visit, knock her off Reflection Cliff, and finish this part of the plot. Yet Ning Xiang waited all morning, and Jiang Miaomiao still failed to appear.

She had no idea what had happened on Solitary Light Peak.

As it turned out, Jiang Miaomiao had been restless in her courtyard and originally intended to visit her senior sister at Reflection Cliff. Unexpectedly, the moment she stepped outside, she saw Yu Tingchao lying in a tree, fiddling with a multicolored square object.

Yu Tingchao seemed not to notice her, so Jiang Miaomiao greeted him first. "Fourth Senior Brother."

He merely gave a soft "Mm" in response.

Feeling a little awkward, Jiang Miaomiao asked, "I'm going to visit Senior Sister at Reflection Cliff. Would you like to come, Fourth Senior Brother?"

Only then did Yu Tingchao stop what he was doing and look down at her. "I visited Senior Sister yesterday. She's doing very well, so there's no need for you to make another trip."

"Oh," Jiang Miaomiao said glumly.

"You've only just reached Foundation Establishment, and your cultivation is still unstable. Shouldn't you go into seclusion and concentrate on cultivating?"

Jiang Miaomiao said, "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother. I was planning to enter seclusion after visiting Senior Sister."

Yu Tingchao waved a hand. "No need. I'll look after Senior Sister. Cultivation comes first. Go on back."

Jiang Miaomiao was touched. Her fourth senior brother truly was kindhearted.

And so Jiang Miaomiao returned to her courtyard and sent a paper crane to inform her masters and fellow disciples that she intended to enter seclusion for three years.

Yu Tingchao thought, Looks like Senior Sister wasn't entirely right. At least Jiang Miaomiao isn't going into seclusion for two years.

On Reflection Cliff, Ning Xiang crushed the paper crane resentfully. Where exactly had things gone wrong?

Fine. If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain.

So Ning Xiang sent Jiang Miaomiao a message saying she was lonely, forlorn, and cold on Reflection Cliff, and hoped Jiang Miaomiao could come keep her company.

Naturally, the message remained unread.

-Jiang Miaomiao had already set up a formation around her courtyard and entered seclusion.

Ning Xiang: ...Jiang Miaomiao, do you still want your man or not?!

Ning Xiang stood on Reflection Cliff and looked down. Last night, the Demon Venerable Mingyuan had come to the Profound Heaven Sect to challenge Lu Qingchen to a duel. In the end, he had lost and jumped off Reflection Cliff.

The power scaling in the original novel really was a mystery. A hundred and fifty years ago, the Demon Venerable had escaped unscathed when the cultivation world's five great sects besieged him. A hundred and fifty years later, he had somehow been gravely injured by a mere Lu Qingchen and needed the female lead, who was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm, to save him.

Ning Xiang silently lit a candle for His Excellency the Demon Venerable.

In the original novel, after falling off Reflection Cliff, Jiang Miaomiao had saved the gravely injured, unconscious Demon Venerable and cared for him attentively for ten days. Meanwhile, her disappearance after visiting Ning Xiang had stirred up towering waves on Solitary Light Peak.

Lu Qingchen and Ning Xiang's fellow disciples had been burning with anxiety. Once they finally found Jiang Miaomiao, they naturally refused to let Ning Xiang off.

Lu Qingchen had sent Ning Xiang into the Little Four Seasons Formation, punishing her by making her endure scorching summers and freezing winters in a mortal body of flesh and blood. Su Lang had challenged Ning Xiang to a magical duel and ground her dignity beneath his feet.

Yu Tingchao had been even more ruthless. When Ning Xiang was helpless, he had shown her tenderness. Once she trusted him, he had shattered her defenses and pushed her off Reflection Cliff, leaving her in the cold darkness beneath it for three months.

Only when Ning Xiang's second elder brother emerged from seclusion had she finally been rescued.

Thinking of this, Ning Xiang was overcome with emotion.

The original owner had suffered such abuse, yet instead of distancing herself from these darlings of Heaven's will, she had stubbornly insisted on opposing Jiang Miaomiao.

Ning Xiang casually kicked a pebble at her feet, ready to return to her cave abode and continue slacking off.

Mingyuan wasn't her man, anyway! If Jiang Miaomiao wasn't worried, why should she be? At that moment, Ning Xiang had not realized in the slightest that the plot seemed to have... gone off course?

Unexpectedly, a gust of mountain wind blew the little fox off her shoulder and over the cliff. Ning Xiang hurriedly reached to catch the fox, only to lose her own footing and tumble down after it.

The fierce winds slashed several cuts into Ning Xiang's delicate skin. She raised a protective barrier and tucked the little fox into her sleeve pouch. Just as she was about to ride the wind upward, she discovered she could no longer mobilize her spiritual power and plunged straight down...

Surviving a fall from a cliff was a privilege reserved for the female lead. Where would a supporting female character like her get such good luck?

That was Ning Xiang's last thought.

When Ning Xiang woke up, she was surprised to find that her body didn't hurt.

She had just started to get up when a groan sounded beneath her.

Ning Xiang froze and looked down. Well, would you look at that-she was actually lying on top of a man.

Judging by the original novel, this had to be Mingyuan, the proud, aloof, devilishly charming, overbearing Demon Venerable.

Ning Xiang rolled off him. He was tall and powerfully built, with deep-set, handsome features and a crimson flame mark between his brows. Although his eyes were closed, the fierce, formidable presence of a conqueror was still impossible to ignore.

So handsome!

Ning Xiang admired him briefly, then looked away, intending to leave this damned place.

But a hand caught the hem of her skirt.

Lecher!

She hastily jumped away.

Mingyuan's vision was blurred. All he could see was a red skirt, blazing and brilliant as the red spider lilies blooming in the underworld.

He remained conscious for only a moment before slipping back into unconsciousness.

Ning Xiang: "..."

"You damned system, get out here! What am I supposed to do now?"

After a long while, the system finally spoke.

[Host, you can choose to fly to the Smoke Cloud Courtyard, kidnap the female lead, and bring her here to save the male lead.]

"Great idea. Now, would you mind telling me how I'm supposed to get up there?"

Ning Xiang had already tried. She could only mobilize a faint trace of spiritual power. Presumably, some sort of restriction had been placed beneath Reflection Cliff.

The system fell silent, choosing to play dead.

Fine. No counting on that damned system.

Ning Xiang took a Profound Heaven Sect uniform out of her spirit bracelet, changed into it, and put on a veil. She declared smugly, "As if a little thing like this could stump me! If Jiang Miaomiao won't come, I'll pretend to be her."

Excellent. A gorgeous stand-in romance.

The system spoke timidly.

[The Demon Venerable isn't an idiot.]

Ning Xiang selectively ignored it.

With a clatter, Ning Xiang dumped out a great pile of bottles and jars, all containing miraculous medicines her father and elder brothers had given her.

"Hmm..." Ning Xiang rubbed her chin. "Which bottle should I use?"

Damn it, she had a fire spiritual root, not water or wood. She couldn't study medical arts at all, let alone know how to treat Mingyuan.

Helpless, Ning Xiang pried open Mingyuan's mouth and poured in a little from every bottle.

None of them were poison, anyway. Taking a little extra shouldn't hurt.

[My little tyrant, keep tormenting him like this and you'll batter the Demon Venerable into trouble even if he was fine to begin with!]

Ning Xiang said, "Shut up, you damned system! All you do is undermine my confidence. You're completely useless!"

[...Feeling terribly wronged.]

So tired, so tired. After pouring in all the medicines, Ning Xiang noticed that the ground beneath Mingyuan was soaked with blood, which seemed to be flowing from his body without stopping.

She sighed and pulled open Mingyuan's clothes, exposing the firm, lean contours of a young man's body without a trace of excess flesh. Even the air seemed filled with an intimacy that made her blush.

Ning Xiang slurped back her drool and reached out to feel Mingyuan's abs.

[Reporting you! Host, you're sneaking in some personal benefits!]

Ning Xiang ignored the system, which only knew how to spout cheeky remarks, and enjoyed herself a while longer. When it came time to treat Mingyuan's wounds, however, she grew troubled... She didn't know how!

Ah, what a sigh!

Mingyuan's blood was normally scorching hot, but now that the Canglang Sword had wounded him, cold air seeped from his injuries.

Come to think of it, the novel had sketched out Mingyuan's origins in a few brief strokes.

When an ancient god of war descended to undergo his tribulations and returned to the heavenly court, he accidentally left the divine artifact, the Kongtong Seal, in the lower realm. It fell into the netherworld flame at the bottom of the Sea of No Delusion. After ten thousand years of burning and tempering, it gradually cultivated a human form. Then, four hundred years ago, war broke out between the human Cultivation Realm, the Demon Realm, and the realm of demons, stirring even the Sea of No Delusion into surging waves. It was at that moment that Mingyuan burst onto the scene.

The instant he entered the world, he displayed formidable combat prowess, easily disposing of the reigning Demon Venerable and the Demon Realm's ten great protectors as though crushing ants. The demonic cultivators bowed before him and acknowledged him as their ruler.

At the time, the entire cultivation world feared this young man of unknown origins. The Cultivation Realm and the realm of demons even reached an agreement to eliminate the Demon Venerable Mingyuan together. Yet despite losing countless elite fighters, neither realm managed to harm a single hair on his head.

But although Mingyuan was valiant and skilled in battle, he was neither cruel nor tyrannical. Over the past four hundred years, he had only occasionally challenged the Cultivation Realm's strongest cultivators and never harmed innocent lives.

He even kept his subordinates under tighter control than the previous Demon Venerable, never allowing demonic cultivators to commit evil unchecked. Thus, the Cultivation Realm had maintained at least a surface calm.

Ning Xiang summoned her heart flame to dispel the Canglang Sword's icy chill. Mingyuan's body gradually regained its warmth, becoming like a great furnace. Ning Xiang liked that very much-cultivators feared neither freezing cold nor searing heat, but her constitution particularly favored warmth.

This fellow stood well over a hundred and ninety centimeters tall and was so large that Ning Xiang struggled mightily to move him.

After finally cleaning his wounds, applying medicine, and bandaging him, Ning Xiang was rather reluctant to dress Mingyuan again. She ran her hands over his sharply defined abs a couple more times.

Looking at the Demon Venerable, now as bulky as a mummy, the system wisely pretended it had seen nothing.

Ning Xiang conjured a reclining chair and lay down for a leisurely rest.

As for Mingyuan, she had done what she could. His fate was up to Heaven!

When Mingyuan opened his eyes again, a young woman in a lake-blue dress was keeping watch beside him, gazing at him with concern. She said gently, "You're finally awake? Do you know I've watched over you for an entire day and night?"

That was Jiang Miaomiao's line from the original novel.

Mingyuan said nothing, lowering his eyes as he pondered something.

He vaguely remembered seeing a woman dressed in scarlet. Although the girl before him looked fresh and lovely in her current attire, Mingyuan felt that she seemed... better suited to red.

He's actually being this cold to her? Is this the supporting female character treatment? Love it, love it.

Ning Xiang grumbled inwardly but showed none of it, asking with concern, "Which peak are you from, Senior Brother? How did you fall down here?"

At this point, Ning Xiang couldn't help cursing Jiang Miaomiao for being blind. This man practically had "I'm not a good person; I'm arrogant and overbearing" written all over him. One glance was enough to tell he wasn't one of their own. How had that little white lotus Jiang Miaomiao ever mistaken Mingyuan for a Profound Heaven Sect disciple?

Mingyuan sat up and said, "This sovereign... My name is Changyuan. Thank you for saving my life, miss. May I ask your name?"

Ning Xiang said, "No need to be so polite, fellow cultivator. My surname is Jiang."

Mingyuan was just about to address her as "Miss Jiang" when he heard-

Do you think you're worthy of knowing this lady's illustrious name? Dream on!

Mingyuan's brows furrowed slightly. That voice...

There were only the two of them here, and the girl before him hadn't spoken again. Where, then, had that voice come from?

"Do you know how we can get back up, fellow cultivator?" Ning Xiang asked.

Mingyuan gathered his thoughts and shook his head lightly, only to hear the girl's voice again-

Aaaah, am I really going to have to stay with this guy for ten days? This is killing me, killing me, killing me! I don't have Heaven's halo protecting me. Is he going to skin me and grind up my bones for cultivation?

Something stirred in Mingyuan's heart. Could these be the thoughts of the woman before him?

Judging by her tone, this girl seemed to know his origins?

Ridiculous. She was only in the Core Formation Realm. How could she see through his identity?

As the thought arose, Mingyuan prepared to use the Soul-Seizing Technique to investigate this woman's background.

Ning Xiang felt somewhat defeated. Oh well. With Jiang Miaomiao's name over her head, she ought to be able to borrow at least a little of Jiang Miaomiao's luck, right?

Fine, fine. Staying with such a handsome man isn't exactly a loss. It's just that he doesn't look as good dressed as he does undressed. If I'd known, I would've felt him up a few more times while he was unconscious.

Ning Xiang sighed regretfully and glanced at Mingyuan again.

Mingyuan: "..."

For some reason, he felt as though the girl's gaze were piercing straight through his clothes, brazenly sweeping over his body.

He had an urge to cover his chest...

Mingyuan restrained himself. Only then did he notice that he had been wrapped up like a rice dumpling.

"What is this..." he asked hesitantly.

Ning Xiang lifted her chin slightly. "No words of thanks can repay a great kindness. I'm the one who bandaged your wounds."

At that moment, both the Demon Venerable and the system fell silent.