[Two male leads! Two male leads! Two male leads! Important things bear repeating three times.]
[Just got out of the naughty corner (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ). Sweeties, I suggest adding this to your library first. Who knows when it might get locked up again, and then you won't be able to find it, sob~]
[Content warnings:
1. Average writing, average logic, average plot. If that's not your thing, please don't read. No need to announce that you're dropping it.
2. This story focuses on romance, not traditional cultivation fantasy. It's a brain-off read, so there's no need to bring your brain. Brain storage station: beep beep, now open~
3. Both the top and bottom are villains, and the story follows the bottom. There is cross-dressing, and the bottom has a mild everyone-loves-him appeal. Several people will like him early on, though not necessarily later. The top will turn dark. There will be confinement, the "hurting your lover feels good until you have to grovel to win him back" trope, and side couples. I'm trying different writing styles, so not every couple will be sweet, but feel free to ship any of them.
4. This author is rather silly, so please bear with me, sweeties, when the writing falls short. Love you forever, mwah (˘³˘)♡.]
[Ding-]
A clear, crisp sound rang out in his mind, like music from heaven.
[Congratulations, host, on completing the main quests. Opening the transport portal now-]
The notification was like a key, opening a door in Gu Yi's heart that had long been sealed away.
He stood quietly atop Heaven-Reaching Peak, gazing at the distant sky as irrepressible joy surged through him.
Gu Yi drew a deep breath, feeling the fresh air fill his lungs, as though he wanted to etch the beauty of this moment deep into his heart.
Unconcealable excitement shone in his eyes as he murmured, "Three years. I can finally go home..."
Three years ago, he had been nothing more than an ordinary college junior, but an accident had completely changed his fate.
He had been walking on the school stairs as usual when he suddenly missed a step, lost his balance, and fell straight down.
He had thought he was surely going to die, but when he opened his eyes again, he was astonished to find himself inside a novel.
Even more shocking, he had become the sect master of the Illusory Demon Sect, who shared his name-Gu Yi, the book's early antagonist.
Although he had become an important figure in this world, as a villain, he was destined to die at the protagonist's hands.
According to the original plot, five years later, the male protagonist would lead the righteous forces in an attack on him, bringing about his destruction.
And so this once-imposing Demon Venerable had met his dismal end in the story.
Fortunately, there was always a way out: he had bound himself to a quest system.
He needed to complete three main quests.
Following the system's instructions, he had subdued all the Demonic Cult sects, become the Demon Venerable, and signed a peace treaty with the righteous path, forbidding war for a hundred years.
To finish his quests and go home sooner, Gu Yi had spent all his time either doing quests or on his way to do them. At last, he had completed the main quests before the male protagonist and the righteous path could hunt him down.
Following the system's directions, Gu Yi had arrived at the transport location, Heaven-Reaching Peak, ready to be sent home.
The system's electronic voice continued in his mind:
[Beginning countdown-] [3, 2, bzz...]
Gu Yi: "?"
[Bzz, bzz, bzz...]
A shrill burst of electrical noise suddenly rang out in Gu Yi's mind, as though it would tear his head apart.
"Ah-"
Gu Yi clutched his forehead and cried out in pain, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to withstand the agony.
"What happened?" Only after a while did Gu Yi recover enough to ask, somewhat bewildered.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out. "Gu Yi, you've committed countless evils. Today is the day you die."
Gu Yi looked up to see a group of cultivators who had appeared around him at some point, encircling him completely.
"Who are you? How dare you attack me?" Gu Yi watched them warily, keeping his guard up.
Before he could react, however, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind:
[Alert! Alert! The transport portal has closed!]
Gu Yi's eyes widened in shock.
Had being attacked by members of the righteous path caused him to fail the quest that forbade hostilities for a hundred years?
"Damn it!"
Gu Yi was filled with resentment.
He had worked so hard preparing for so long, and just when he was about to make it home, everything had fallen apart at the last moment.
Who had ruined his plans?
There was still some time before the five-year mark, and these people had not been sent by the male protagonist. For this group of righteous cultivators alone to think they could kill him was sheer fantasy.
After all, his cultivation was at the Tribulation Transcendence Peak!
He mobilized the spiritual power throughout his body, his aura surging. "Who gave you the nerve to violate the peace agreement?"
Gu Yi was truly furious. After three full years of painstaking effort, he had finally earned a chance to go home, only to see it vanish like a bubble.
Deep inside, he frantically called to the system. If I kill them all, will that count as completing the quest? System, answer me!
But the system replied with only one line:
[System error...]
After that, it made no further sound.
Gu Yi's heart clenched, and the thought he dreaded kept surfacing in his mind-the quest had failed, and the system had mercilessly abandoned him...
"Gu Yi, stop struggling. No matter what you do, you won't escape today!" A clear voice rang out, tinged with mockery and smugness.
A man emerged from the crowd, waving a fan, his eyes smiling and the corners of his mouth slightly raised-a perfect picture of sanctimonious respectability.
"It's you? He Yan!"
The instant Gu Yi saw He Yan, his face turned deathly pale, his eyes filling with shock and disbelief.
He felt the spiritual power in his meridians suddenly vanish like melting snow, as though all his vitality had been drained away.
An intense weakness swept over him like a tide, even darkening his vision and leaving him swaying on his feet.
He endured his discomfort and fought to stay conscious, but his heart had already sunk to rock bottom.
"What did you do to me?" Gu Yi's voice was low and hoarse, filled with anger and confusion.
He Yan was Gu Yi's subordinate. For three years, he had served diligently and loyally; no one would have imagined that he would betray Gu Yi.
This sudden turn caught Gu Yi completely off guard, leaving him unable to understand.
"I gave you a little something to make your death more comfortable."
He Yan closed his fan and flicked it lightly. It immediately transformed into a longsword, green from end to end, its blade gleaming coldly.
His expression was cold and resolute, and a trace of cruelty flashed through his eyes.
"You have only your own strength to blame. How could the righteous path allow a Demon Venerable at the Tribulation Transcendence Peak to exist?"
He Yan's tone was icy, laden with deep hatred.
He pointed his longsword at Gu Yi, its tip glinting coldly as though ready to pierce Gu Yi's heart at any moment.
He Yan led the disciples forward, closing in on Gu Yi step by step, and Gu Yi staggered weakly backward.
He stood atop Heaven-Reaching Peak, with a fathomless abyss behind him.
When the emerald-green longsword pierced Gu Yi's chest, a faint smile still lingered on his lips.
The watching cultivators all clapped and cheered:
"Demon Venerable Gu Yi is finally dead! He got what he deserved!"
"From now on, we won't have to live in fear anymore!"
"Gu Yi committed countless evils. Death is too good for him!"
"Exactly! Good riddance!"
Blood trickled from the corner of Gu Yi's mouth. His already fair skin grew even paler from blood loss, and his bloodless lips trembled slightly, as though he might collapse at any moment.
His long black hair danced in the wind, like a flock of black butterflies fluttering around him.
At that moment, he looked both disheveled and breathtaking, a sight that could not help but move those who saw him.
"Though I am the Demon Venerable, I have never committed any heinous deeds!" Gu Yi's voice echoed through the air, filled with boundless sorrow and despair.
His eyes were full of pain and helplessness, as though questioning why the world was so unjust.
"I unified the Demonic Cult sects. I signed the Peace Agreement Between the Righteous and Demonic Paths. All I ever wanted was to go home. What exactly did I do wrong?"
Gu Yi's expression was utterly bleak. Everything he had done over the past three years was like an illusory dream, and now that he had awakened, only endless pain and disappointment remained.
He Yan gazed quietly at Gu Yi. "Gu Yi, I'll give you a chance. Kneel and beg, and perhaps I'll spare you and let you stay... as my male concubine."
At the thought, a lewd smile appeared on He Yan's face. He knew Gu Yi was an expert at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and all that cultivation was far too precious. If he could take Gu Yi for his own use as a cultivation vessel, it would surely help him ascend.
He Yan was extremely excited, greed gleaming in his eyes.
He had always coveted Gu Yi. Whenever he stood behind him and looked at that fair neck, impure thoughts would arise.
Now that he finally had a chance to fulfill his wish, how could he not be thrilled?
Gu Yi suddenly curled his lips into a smile, momentarily stunning everyone. He reached out and gripped the sword He Yan had plunged into his chest. "I am Gu Yi!"
He Yan frowned, his grip on the sword involuntarily tightening. "What are you doing?"
"Making me your male concubine... He Yan, is that what you've been thinking during these three years at my side?"
The fingers Gu Yi clenched around the blade trembled slightly, but he did not let go. Scarlet blood dripped down his fingers.
"He Yan, you really are disgusting..."
Then he staggered back two steps, forcibly pulling the blade out of his body.
Among the onlookers, several people saw what he was doing and paled in horror.
"Get back!! He's going to self-destruct!!" He Yan noticed something was wrong as well and shouted hoarsely.
But it was already too late.
Boom-
Gu Yi detonated his spiritual power, and the cultivators closing in were all instantly blasted backward by the force of his Tribulation Transcendence Peak self-destruction.
He Yan had already begun retreating swiftly as he shouted, but Gu Yi's spiritual power still struck him hard enough to make him cough up blood.
Three years after transmigrating, diligently completing quests, he had still ended up surrounded and killed.
What an ironic ending!
As the Demon Venerable, he had never done anything wrong.
Yet those so-called upright, prestigious sects had colluded with a Demonic Cult guardian to poison him.
Ha!
Abandoned by the system, betrayed by his subordinate, surrounded by the righteous path-could anyone be more miserable than he was now?
Since he would die either way, he might as well make his death a little more heroic.
Covered in blood, a mocking smile on his lips, Gu Yi fell limply backward.
He Yan felt as though all his internal organs had been shattered. Without a magical artifact protecting him, he probably would have died here too.
Clutching his chest, he rushed to the cliff's edge, only to see that bloodstained figure drifting down like a rag doll before finally disappearing from sight...
In this battle, hundreds of righteous-path disciples joined forces at Heaven-Reaching Peak to encircle and kill Demon Venerable Gu Yi, ultimately dying alongside him...
He Yan returned to the Demonic Cult with severe injuries and became the new Demonic Clan Leader.
Before you continue