The Demon Venerable’s Wistful Desire - Chapter 20.1

WARNING: Attempted sexual assault, misogyny.

Xi Huai’s eyes snapped open. He flinched after turning to Chi Muyao, who was next to him.

It turned out that Chi Muyao wasn’t tucking his feet under his leg. Instead, Yi Qianxi was dragging Chi Muyao away from Xi Huai by his clothes.

Yi Qianxi was pulling on the back of Chi Muyao’s collar, so his body ended up spinning around one hundred and eighty degrees clockwise, causing his foot to coincidentally touch Xi Huai’s leg.

Xi Huai’s heart had stopped beating for a moment. He thought he had really found A-Jiu this time. The intense joy the thought brought him made him want to scoop Chi Muyao up into his arms.

The disappointment that came a moment later almost caused him to have murderous intent. Resting his hand on Shukuang, he wanted nothing more than to slaughter these two where they sat.

Noticing his movements, Yi Qianxi also reached for her dagger in an attempt to protect her shidi.

The dagger’s main purpose was to process spirit beast carcasses, but it could still be used to block a blow or two when necessary. That should buy enough time for Yu Yanshu to intervene.

Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen also felt the intense, momentary joy and the subsequent rage of Xi Huai. They glanced in this direction in unison, confused.

In the end, Xi Huai didn’t make a move. He just sat down where he was and closed his eyes without saying a word.

He has been looking for A-Jiu for more than two years to no avail. He didn’t even know what A-Jiu actually looked like.

A-Jiu didn’t seem to care about him at all. He didn’t want to be found. The only one who cared about what happened in those years was him.

A sick feeling washed through his body. He clenched his fists until the tendons on the back were bulging out.

He had fantasized countless times about his reunion with A-Jiu. He rehearsed his lines again and again, thinking of ways to not lose his cool.

Yet reality just kept beating him down into the ground. Until he realized that A-Jiu didn’t want to see him…

Yi Qianxi only dragged Chi Muyao to her side after she saw that Xi Huai wasn’t going to start anything. The sight of her shidi sleeping his way to Xi Huai’s side gave her quite the fright. There was no way she could get to sleep again.

This demonic faction disciple had a strange, overbearing temperament. She shouldn’t let down her guard around him.

Yi Qianxi couldn’t help but admire Chi Muyao, who slept through the entire tense affair.

* * *

The sun rose over the horizon.

Its clear light penetrated the cave barrier bit by bit, some rays casting irregular patterns of light inside after being reflected by the boulders.

Chi Muyao opened his eyes. He slowly got up with the blanket still wrapped around him. He glanced at Yi Qianxi first. Only when he noticed the look she was giving him did he turn to look behind him.

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the sight.

Qiuqiu was standing on Xi Huai’s shoulder, nuzzling his cheek and chirping “Qiu~”.

Qiuqiu was once an oriole that sounded ordinary as well.

It was injured after getting caught up in Chi Muyao’s lightning tribulation, and its feathers and voice changed afterwards. Since its call sounded now like ‘qiuqiu’, Chi Muyao decided to just name it that.

Yi Qianxi and Chi Muyao could both understand Qiuqiu. Yi Qianxi asked Chi Muyao using her divine sense, “Why’s Qiuqiu calling that demonic faction disciple daddy?”

He was chagrined and tried to call back Qiuqiu with his thoughts. At the same time, he replied angrily to Yi Qianxi through his divine sense, “Because he’s a white-eyed wolf!”

“If it needed to call one of them daddy, it should be that flamboyant one, right? At least he has peacock feathers in his hair. Why go for the one with a dragon horn?”

“Maybe…Qiuqiu thinks he looks good?”

“Yeah he’s good looking, but his temper’s too volatile. What a shame.”

“Indeed.”

Xi Huai finished adjusting his breath and opened his eyes, turning to look at Qiuqiu.

Qiuqiu immediately became even more excited, jumping up and down on his shoulder and continuing to chirp “qiuqiu”, waving its wings all the while.

Chi Muyao was so anxious he tried to use the Control Object Technique to pull Qiuqiu back. Unfortunately, Qiuqiu was so excited that it failed.

Xi Huai’s gaze swept over Chi Muyao’s anxious expression. Ignoring the excited Qiuqiu, he stood up, recalled his artefacts, and prepared to leave the cave.

Naturally, Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen followed suit.

But Qiuqiu actually followed Xi Huai out of the cave as well! Such tenacity, just who was supposed to be its master??

Chi Muyao quickly gave chase. He saw Qiuqiu fall from the air as soon as the wind and snow outside the barrier hit it.

Chi Muyao lunged over and caught Qiuqiu with both hands.

At the same time, Xi Huai also turned around, seemingly trying to catch Qiuqiu as well. His right hand ended up cupping Chi Muyao’s.

Xi Huai’s hand was just as scalding hot as he remembered.

But Xi Huai quickly drew away. He turned around and released an aerial pavilion-like flying artefact.

This kind of flying spiritual artefact was crafted with luxury in mind. It was very big and insulating, with many decorations and even tables and chairs inside. The only downside was its slow speed in the air.

The three people gradually left Chi Muyao behind after boarding the flying artefact.

Chi Muyao held Qiuqiu. Looking at its pitiful appearance he explained, “He’s not your daddy.”

“Qiuqiu!” Qiuqiu petulantly chirped twice at him.

“I know that…but he doesn’t recognize you.”

He carried Qiuqiu back into the barrier. There, he shook the snow off his body, and kicked the stone walls a few times to knock all the snow off his shoes.

Someone suddenly spoke up, “Good looking ones are always good at attracting those demonic faction disciples. Is it part of our expedition to help you out after you find that you can’t get rid of them?”

Chi Muyao didn’t mind. He gently replied, “If I do get into trouble, I will handle them myself. I will also try to not cause trouble for the rest of you.”

The disciple who just spoke was called Mu Ren. He’d always hated demonic cultivators, and the sight of Xi Huai’s group being so unrestrained only further incensed him.

He was even more unhappy to see Chi Muyao acting all buddy-buddy with them. His already low opinion of the Yu Chong School only fell further. He spoke again, “Without the boundary those demonic faction disciples set up, you two won’t be able to sleep restfully anymore.”

“En. The storm’s about to die out too.”

“Heh—” Mu Ren sneered, “The weather in this formation is unpredictable. Can someone with your meager qualifications really know when it’ll end? All the seniors present can’t see a pattern. Are you saying you’re better than them?”

Chi Muyao sighed after hearing that. “The less said the better.”

After that, he stopped talking to him.

Mu Ren still had a mocking expression on his face. He sneered after watching Chi Muyao redrape the blanket over himself and sit down. “Ridiculous.”

Yi Qianxi was so angry that she almost went to fight with Mu Ren, but Chi Muyao held her back.

The storm suddenly stopped within the hour.

When they took down the barrier, the disciples saw that the depths of winter had now become a fair, early spring.

The storm really did stop.

Mu Ren was surprised and also a little embarrassed.

Chi Muyao stood up and gathered his things in preparation to leave the cave. However, Yi Qianxi perked up and asked him, “Shidi, how did you predict that the storm would stop?”

“By calculating the amount of rain and snow using the thickness of the cloud layer.”

“…” Yi Qianxi didn’t understand, but she nodded anyway.

Yi Qianxi deliberately asked her question very loudly. Mu Ren grew even more embarrassed and frustrated after hearing that. “It was just dumb luck.”

“Then why are you so unlucky? Do you cultivate the Bad Luck Mantra or something?” Yi Qianxi retorted.

“What did you say?!”

“What about it? Didn’t see you saying these things while the demonic faction disciples were still here. Are you too much of a coward to bully anyone other than people from our Yu Chong School?

Chi Muyao hurriedly dragged Yi Qianxi away and told her not to cause trouble.

Yi Qianxi walked out while muttering, “You’re always overly cautious. We obviously weren’t the ones who started it. Disciples of the renowned righteous sect? Hah, more like gossiping village wives with how sharp their tongues are and how they bully the weak and appease the strong.”

The other disciples who heard what she said were all a little upset.

Chi Muyao hurriedly tried to pacify her, “Don’t say that. I can’t refute what you said, but your tone could use some work.”

Yi Qianxi laughed.

Chi Muyao’s words may sound like he was trying to pacify her, but he was actually telling her secretly that he agreed.

Yu Yanshu walked over to Chi Muyao and said, “You’re pretty good.”

With that, none of the other disciples spoke up.

Actually, Chi Muyao didn’t have any formal experience to speak of. It’s just that his knees always ached on windy and snowy days.

He couldn’t tell this to any of the others since the fact that he was ninety was supposed to be a secret. More than that, how could he admit his knee problem came from using the cowgirl position for three years? Thus, he just left it at his ‘experience’.

Another few days of hunting passed. Without Xi Huai causing trouble, the team ran into two or three Jilingshou once every so often.

Jilingshou were not pack spirit beasts. Most of the time only mother beasts and their immature young lived together.

The downside to having a large group soon became apparent. There was no way to divide the merits gained from taking down a Jilingshou, and no one out of the thirty plus people present wanted to put themselves at a disadvantage. If this continued, their team would probably end up dead last on the scoreboard.

Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi didn’t compete with the others because they had no reason to. For them, hunting spirit beasts was part of their lifestyle instead of a trial. And since they had received the blessing of the Colourless Yunni Deer earlier on, the expedition was already a success for them.

So after doing nothing for a couple of days, nearly everyone dismissed their presence.

That night, Yu Yanshu discussed things again with the other Golden Core stage disciple. They decided to split up again, and even swapped a few members of their original teams.

When the other team left, Chi Muyao noticed how everyone who was unfriendly towards him before, like Mu Ren and Ming Shaoluo’s entourage, had been swapped out. The people left were either nice or didn’t mind Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi.

This new team was quite easy to work with.

Later that night, their team found a quiet place to rest. While the Nuan Yan Pavilion disciples crossed their legs and meditated, Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi went to sleep with a blanket in the corner.

Chi Muyao woke up in the middle of the night. He sniffed the air before looking up at the sky. Then he used the He Huan Sect’s Illusion Spell, leaving a mirage of him sleeping in place while he teleported ten feet away.

He quickly flitted through the forest like a ghost with his Light Body Technique. Ordinary cultivators would have to go to some trouble to find his trail.

After all, this was the He Huan Sect’s instantaneous movement technique.

When he arrived at the location where the signal had come from, he didn’t immediately reveal himself. Instead, he hid behind a nearby tree.

At the high bank of this deep valley, the air was filled with the smell of blood and a faint fragrance that only a disciple of the He Huan Sect possessed. A signal requesting backup.

“Are you done fighting?” It was the sneering voice of a man.

The person he was talking to didn’t answer, just spitting at him. The sound alone was enough to tell that she was a woman.

The man laughed at her and said mockingly, “Why pretend to be pure? You’re just a He Huan Sect whore. Did you really think yourself some pure maiden? You should be grateful that I’m willing to play with you. Aren’t your kind always looking for people to dual cultivate with? What, you think I can’t satisfy you?”

The woman still refused to answer. She tightly held onto her swords and glared daggers at him.

He continued, “Sigh. I just wanted to do it once with you, but you just had to make it a fight. Is this your fetish? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else who you are if you come when I call you. I’ll make you feel real good…”

With that, he began to tug at his belt.

Then, Chi Muyao threw out a concealed weapon.

Rain

…Get him Chi Muyao!

You guys know about the pokemon Oricolo? Specifically the yellow variant? That’s my mental image of Qiuqiu. XD

Also Xi Huai has just been flaunting his wealth, hasn’t he? Reminds me of bird courtship rituals haha.