Long Aotian’S Villain Taoist Companion Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Killing of Villain Shen Ciqiu Mission Begins

Xuanyang Zun’s second disciple, Yu Kui, rode his sword rapidly towards Shen Ciqiu’s residence. This place was called the Hidden Moon Courtyard, located on a cold peak of the Jade Immortal Sect, an excellent spot for elegant moon appreciation and quiet cultivation.

Yu Kui swooped down and started shouting in the courtyard, “Senior Brother!”

He clearly sensed Shen Ciqiu’s aura inside the house, but Shen Ciqiu remained silent.

Cultivating? Doesn’t seem like it.

Yu Kui urgently knocked on the door again, “Senior Brother, I have something to tell you!”

A moment later, Shen Ciqiu’s voice, clear as a spring, came from behind the door panel, “Speak.”

Through the door panel, Yu Kui couldn’t detect anything unusual in Shen Ciqiu’s voice, only saying, “Senior Brother won’t let me in?”

Shen Ciqiu replied, “Inconvenient.”

Inconvenient, how so?

At this time, Yu Kui and Shen Ciqiu had a good relationship, so he had no way of knowing the immense effort Shen Ciqiu was exerting to restrain himself from striking him down with a single sword strike.

Yu Kui was only at the early stage of Golden Core, and Shen Ciqiu could certainly kill him.

But acting directly within the sect, after killing Yu Kui, Shen Ciqiu wouldn’t escape Xuanyang Zun’s sword either. Shen Ciqiu didn’t plan to be buried with them; he was only enduring for a moment to send them all to hell one by one. He could endure.

Yu Kui lingered outside for a long time, but ultimately didn’t dare to cause trouble, just standing outside the door and asking, “I heard you chose Xie Ling yourself. He’s a cripple, how is he worthy of you?”

Saying this, Yu Kui became anxious again, “Since the sect didn’t force him on you, there’s still room for maneuver. Go now and say you regret it, and pick someone better!”

Yu Kui had long known the sect would discuss Shen Ciqiu’s marriage. When he first learned about it, he felt a strange sense of loss, but quickly put it out of his mind. The Eldest Senior Brother’s marriage was a sect affair, as it should be.

But even for an alliance, the choice should be among the Heavenly Talents. Shen Ciqiu personally chose a crippled fiancé; Yu Kui couldn’t understand it and couldn’t accept it.

How would outsiders view their sect if this news got out? Even if Shen Ciqiu didn’t feel wronged, Yu Kui, his junior martial brother, felt ashamed just thinking about it!

Shen Ciqiu coldly replied from inside the room, “The Betrothal Letter has been accepted; there is no reason to go back on it.”

Yu Kui: “But—uh!”

A blast of frosty spiritual energy shot through the door panel, hitting Yu Kui head-on. Caught off guard, Yu Kui was directly thrown back three steps. His fingers were frostbitten by the cold air. He looked up, staring blankly at the door.

Shen Ciqiu said, “You can leave now.”

Although Shen Ciqiu had a cold temperament, he always listened quietly when Yu Kui spoke, as if possessing endless patience. Yu Kui often found him boring, but occasionally, when annoyed by others, he would appreciate having someone willing to listen quietly until he finished speaking.

Shen Ciqiu rarely interrupted him, and never spoke to him so harshly.

A surge of anger immediately rose in Yu Kui’s heart: I’m looking out for you, and you’re driving me away? You don’t appreciate kindness!

“Marriage matters are treated so frivolously. Don’t say your junior brother didn’t warn you if you regret it in the future!”

Yu Kui left, full of anger. Shen Ciqiu suppressed the humming sword in his hand, his slender raven-feather-like eyelashes drooping slightly, obscuring his eyes frosted with snow.

When he was little, he witnessed his junior brother Yu Kui being upset by a harsh word from Xuanyang Zun. At that time, he realized words were sharp weapons that could hurt people, so afterwards, he always thought carefully before speaking, cautious, afraid of unintentionally hurting others.

Over time, this developed into a habit of being taciturn. Somehow, in the minds of some people, it was misinterpreted as him being aloof and disdainful of speaking to them.

Yu Kui later believed Mu Zichen over him, which meant he also thought Mu Zichen was better.

It didn’t matter; there was no one left in this world he cared about.

The Master who raised him could abandon him so easily, the junior brother he grew up with could turn against him, and the fiancé with a marriage contract immediately devoted himself to someone else. The relationships between people in this world were just like that.

All fake.

Shen Ciqiu would never trust anyone again, never hand over his true heart again. Only hatred and vengeance were truly real.

Shen Ciqiu looked at the marriage contract and engagement tokens on the table.

The Demon Emperor seemed eager to send his son off immediately, sending the marriage certificate and the Twin Phoenix Jade Pendants overnight. The jade pendants were a pair, which was a good thing—it could withstand a fatal blow from an Integration Stage cultivator.

Just as Shen Ciqiu put the items away, his Sound Transmission Jade Token lit up. After listening to the transmission, he paused.

…The Seventh Prince was on his way to the Jade Immortal Sect, and the sect wanted him to go and welcome him?

Xie Ling felt the ground beneath him shaking slightly.

He was asleep, dreaming that he was lying in the clouds, so a little shaking was normal. He comfortably turned over.

…Wait, it really is shaking!

Xie Ling suddenly opened his eyes, alertly sitting up. Because he moved too quickly, he felt dizzy. After steadying himself, he realized he wasn’t lying in his room at all, but inside a carriage.

Curtains hung all around, and it was the grand formation of a golden chariot pulled by eight spirit tigers.

Xie Ling was stunned for a moment.

He looked down at his clothes—he was in full formal attire; then he looked at the six Integration Stage cultivators accompanying the carriage.

With this kind of procession, the old thing, the Demon Emperor, hadn’t sold him off while he was unconscious, had he?

Xie Ling pinched his brow. Fortunately, his trusted subordinate, the Black Eagle, was still there. Seeing him wake up, the Black Eagle immediately stepped forward, “Your Highness, you’re finally awake!”

Xie Ling gripped the folding fan in his hand, “Tell me, what’s going on?”

“You were unconscious for two days. During this time, the Demon Emperor discussed with the Jade Immortal Sect and finalized your marriage contract with the Jade Immortal Sect’s Eldest Disciple, Shen Ciqiu. Then, under the guise of recuperation and cultivating feelings, they sent you to the Jade Immortal Sect to live with Shen Ciqiu for a period of time.”

Xie Ling gasped, “Who, who did you say I’m engaged to?”

Black Eagle was straightforward, “The Jade Immortal Sect’s Eldest Disciple, Shen Ciqiu.”

Xie Ling’s vision immediately went black!

Black Eagle was alarmed, “Your Highness!”

His Highness weakly covered his chest and collapsed, lying flat, staring at the sky with a dead look.

He just slept for a while, and not only was he engaged, but he was engaged to the Great Villain.

This plot was wrong!

It’s over, the plot has deviated, won’t he die here?

That’s right, Xie Ling was not the original. He was a transmigrator.

A year ago, he transmigrated into a book and became Xie Ling, who shared the same name, the protagonist of the book.

The protagonist of this book followed the typical arrogant young master route: being crippled, having his engagement broken, and then proclaiming, “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, don’t bully a young man for being poor.”

When Xie Ling transmigrated, he only had a heartless system with him. It didn’t have the chat function found in many transmigration novels; it was just a cold, ruthless mission-issuing machine, and there was a punishment mechanism for mission failure.

Fortunately, the rewards for successful missions were also very generous, serving as his golden finger.

The original novel had over a thousand chapters, and Xie Ling had only read half of it. However, he had read the spoiler reviews for the later plot, so he was very familiar with the important characters and key turning points.

Shen Ciqiu was one of the villains who appeared in the middle stages.

When he first appeared, he exuded a strong villainous aura, wearing a mask, killing without batting an eye. At that time, he caused a lot of trouble for the protagonist because the protagonist was on good terms with the Jade Immortal Sect, and Shen Ciqiu was a traitor to the Jade Immortal Sect.

It was said that he killed his fiancé, Wen Lan, the Young Master of the Dingjian Sect, and then betrayed the Jade Immortal Sect, becoming irreconcilable with the sect.

Xie Ling felt a chill in his heart.

Wasn’t Shen Ciqiu’s fiancé Wen Lan? Why did it become him?

A villain who was supposed to appear in the middle stages had met him so early!

At this time, he was a cripple at the second level of Qi Refining. Falling into the hands of a villain, what good end could he expect?

Black Eagle looked at Xie Ling’s expression of utter despair, gripped his sword, and said very loyally, “Your Highness, if you are dissatisfied with this marriage, your subordinate is willing to fight to the death to carve out a bloody path for you and help you escape!”

Xie Ling’s expression was numb, “Thanks for the invitation, but with six Integration Stage cultivators here, you, a mid-Integration Stage cultivator, can’t carve out a bloody path.”

The Demon Emperor was afraid he would run away, sending a full six Integration Stage cultivators to watch him. Outsiders who didn’t know the situation would definitely think these people were here to protect him, perhaps even praising his grand display.

Xie Ling gritted his teeth and cursed the Demon Emperor inside and out.

He took a deep breath, sat up from lying flat, and thought that since he wasn’t dead yet, he had to find a way.

Xie Ling said with a heavy expression, “Where are we now?”

Black Eagle replied, “We are almost at the mountain gate of the Jade Immortal Sect.”

As he spoke, the entire convoy stopped.

Xie Ling extended his fan and slowly lifted the curtain to look outside.

With just one glance, he was stunned.

Among the welcoming party for the carriage, the person in the lead was wearing a moon-white silver robe, tall and slender. His features were inherently stunningly beautiful, yet the clear light in his autumn-water-like eyes made his beauty pure rather than seductive, like a bright immortal from the heavens.

Autumn water for spirit, jade for bone, white robes like snow, bright moon and clear breeze.

How could anyone be this good-looking!

Xie Ling enjoyed admiring beautiful people, without any lewd intent, just like appreciating a painting or fine porcelain. His eyes lit up: In three seconds, he needed to know everything about this person!

Xie Ling’s amber eyes moved, and the system’s character annotation panel popped up. He eagerly looked over.

[Name: Shen Ciqiu

Age: Eighteen

Cultivation: Late Golden Core

Faction: Jade Immortal Sect

Alignment: Villain]

Xie Ling: “…………”

This was the villain who would be irreconcilable with him later, but who was about to become his fiancé.

No one told him the villain looked like this!

The first time he was moved, he lost so completely.

Immediately after, a ‘ding’ sounded—the system’s mission notification.

[Side Mission “Kill Villain Shen Ciqiu” Activated

Mission Duration: Twenty Years

Mission Reward: Please view the “Reward List.jpg”

Failure Penalty: Heavenly Tribulation and Lightning Strike]

Twenty years sounded like plenty of time, but System, you artificial intelligence idiot, the plot has already deviated by a hundred thousand miles, do you know that! Whether he could survive two days in the villain’s hands was uncertain, let alone twenty years.

The grass on his grave would be three feet high by then.

At this moment, Shen Ciqiu also looked over, and coincidentally, his gaze met Xie Ling’s.

Xie Ling knew he was the villain, but his Peacock bloodline made him instinctively maintain his composure.

Birds of prey enjoy admiring beauty, but they enjoy… preening even more.

Shen Ciqiu paused when he saw Xie Ling.

He had casually said Xie Ling’s face was nothing special earlier, but he hadn’t expected him to actually be quite good-looking.

Xie Ling was wearing extremely luxurious clothes: a scarlet cloud-patterned brocade cloak, embroidered with golden threads depicting peacock feathers, a waist cinched with an embroidered sash, and boots woven with black gold clouds. It was extremely opulent, highlighting the young man’s handsome features and bright eyes, making him incomparably dashing.

Anyone looking at him could tell this extraordinarily handsome young master came from a noble background.

Xie Ling’s action of lifting the curtain with his folding fan carried a certain indescribable elegance, mixed with a hint of flirtatiousness.

Shen Ciqiu stepped forward and performed a gentleman’s bow. His voice flowed like a clear spring, “Jade Immortal Sect disciple Shen Ciqiu, greets the Seventh Prince of the Demon Clan.”

Xie Ling nodded with great grace, “Mm.”

No one knew that the other hand he kept behind his back was trembling slightly.

He was thinking, how could this person’s voice be so pleasant to listen to, while simultaneously warning himself that this was a cold-blooded villain who killed without blinking.

It was life-threatening in every sense.

Xie Ling forced himself to remain calm, seemingly unperturbed, stepping down from the chariot onto the back of a white tiger.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the idiotic system popped up another box.

[Plot deviation detected, dangerous character appearing early. Compensation plan activated. Compensatory reward for side mission activated.]

Xie Ling paused his movement.

[“Kill Villain Shen Ciqiu” Compensation Mission “Survival is Key”: Please lie low and ensure he doesn’t develop murderous intent towards you. It’s never too late for a gentleman to survive for ten years. If you can gain his trust, why worry about not being able to counter-kill him later?

Suggested action: Make him lower his guard towards you initially, try to hook his finger, give the villain a taste of the protagonist’s warmth and shock.

Mission Reward: One Fifth Grade Spirit Pill, choose freely.

Failure Penalty: None]

Xie Ling’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on Shen Ciqiu’s fingers—fair, slender, and beautiful. The action of killing must look even better.

Making him go and hook the finger of such a ruthless killer upon meeting—did he not want to live?

Since this was a compensation mission, it should be reward-focused. Couldn’t it just directly give him the reward? Why give such a hellishly difficult compensation?

Trash system, ruining my youth.

Yu Kui rushed to Shen Ciqiu’s residence on his sword, arriving at a place called Hidden Moon Courtyard, situated on a cold peak of the Jade Immortal Sect, a perfect place for elegant moon appreciation and quiet cultivation.