Transmigrated as the Villain’s Sword - Chapter 23

Amidst the admiring gazes of the Demon citizens, Guan Luowei departed with Ling Chenyan.

As soon as they left the public eye, the silver sword in Guan Luowei’s arms struggled free and floated ahead on its own, its receding back radiating a distinctly huffy energy.

Guan Luowei came to a halt, watching the silver sword’s angry back, and asked flatly, “Where are you going?”

Ling Chenyan replied resentfully, “Back to the palace!”

“Hmm?” Guan Luowei walked slowly toward the sword, saying leisurely, “This is not the way to the palace.”

Ling Chenyan: “…”

“Hmph.” Ling Chenyan shifted directions. “I knew that, obviously.”

“Is that so?” Guan Luowei glanced sideways at the silver sword floating toward the Demon Tower. “That isn’t it either.”

“…” Ling Chenyan’s embarrassment turned into anger. “I just—I want to go this way! I’m not going back to the palace!”

“Fine,” Guan Luowei said, her lips twitching as she tried to suppress a smile. She observed the sword and added, “It just so happens I need to go to the Demon Tower as well.”

As expected, upon hearing this, the silver sword stopped again. It spun around abruptly, its tone eerie: “Then you go ahead. I’m suddenly tired again.”

Guan Luowei finally realized something was wrong. She pursed her lips and asked in confusion, “What is the matter with you?”

Ling Chenyan grumbled in her heart: [Sys, I feel like I’m being mad for nothing. I’ve been fuming for ages, and she has no idea why.]

System: [To be honest, I don’t quite get it either.]

Ling Chenyan: […Never mind.]

She thought sadly that the System would never understand her complex emotions. What was more irritating was that Guan Luowei didn’t understand either.

But come to think of it, what was she actually mad about?

Ling Chenyan thought it through. Perhaps it was because this was the first time Guan Luowei had shown concern for someone else, whereas previously, all that care and attention belonged only to her.

Because Guan Luowei worried she wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping, they slept together every night. Even when they were away, Guan Luowei always carried a top-grade jade storage box to ensure the sword’s comfort.

Because she was afraid of pain, Guan Luowei had never used her against an enemy. Many times, when accidents happened, Guan Luowei protected her first. When “injured,” she received meticulous care, even to the point where Demon Doctors meant for Guan Luowei were hauled over to examine her.

Guan Luowei was cold by nature and never said things like “you are important,” but her actions shouted it. Since she treated her so well, Ling Chenyan felt she shouldn’t be so greedy. Besides, she wasn’t actually the real “Yinye.”

Forget it. She would eventually leave this world anyway. This negligible amount of emotion didn’t really matter—as long as Guan Luowei was still good to her now, that was enough.

Having thought it through, Ling Chenyan let out a sigh and replied, “It’s nothing.”

Guan Luowei hadn’t known what was wrong, but she had heard Ling Chenyan’s inner thoughts—including that last part about “eventually leaving.”

Inexplicably, her throat felt a bit tight.

“Yinye,” Guan Luowei suddenly called out.

Ling Chenyan hummed in confusion. “Yes?”

Guan Luowei paused, then spoke slowly, “When I was young, my grandfather taught me that the most important thing for a Demon Emperor is to learn how to manage subordinates. You cannot be too close, but you cannot be too distant. A balance of grace and authority is the way of a ruler. I will eventually become the Demon Emperor; Tong Di and Zong Xian will both be my subordinates.”

Ling Chenyan blinked, not quite following. “Yes, I know that.”

Guan Luowei gritted her teeth, a layer of pink gradually spreading to the tips of her ears. She looked down. “I am saying… you are different from them. Those tactics meant for subordinates—I will not use them on you. Do you understand?”

Though she had initially been good to her because she mistook her for Yinye, later on, all her kindness came from the heart.

Ling Chenyan was dazed for a moment. Once she snapped out of it, she slowly realized what the Big Villain had just said.

She said I am different from them! Doesn’t that mean I’m special to her?!

“I—I—I—” Now it was Ling Chenyan’s turn to be red-faced. She said bashfully, “I understand. Master is also different from everyone else in my heart.”

Guan Luowei gave a flat “Mm,” but the heat on her ears showed no sign of stopping.

“Then… will you leave me in the future?”

Ling Chenyan felt her heart racing like a runaway deer. She said woozily, “No, I will stay with you forever.”

“Good.” The tension in Guan Luowei’s heart slowly dissolved. She continued, “I am going to the Demon Tower now. Will you come with me?”

“Yes, yes!”

[Sys, has the Big Villain’s character design collapsed?]

System: [? Why is your focus always so strange?]

[Hehe, isn’t it because it’s so sudden? Even in the original story, the Big Villain never told the male lead he was ‘different’ from others. Besides, she doesn’t seem like the type to say such things.]

[Heh, that’s just because you are indeed different.]

[Hehe, hehe, hehehe…]

System: *[…] *

The Demon Tower was where all the ancestral records of the Demon Race were kept, located in the flatlands at the center of the Demon Realm. It stood eighty or ninety feet tall, its top invisible from below. In the night, it was nearly black, exuding a solemn and ancient aura like a sentinel.

Guan Luowei reached the door and presented her identity token. The guards stood aside, bowing. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

Once inside, the interior was a stark contrast to the exterior. There were three floors, each about thirty feet high, illuminated by East Sea Night Pearls. At a glance, the perimeter was densely packed with books.

Guan Luowei went straight to the third floor, floating in mid-air as she began to skim through ancient records.

Ling Chenyan found it a bit boring to just watch her search, so she picked up a random book. She opened the first page—great, gibberish. She couldn’t read it. She had forgotten that in this world, she was completely illiterate.

Ling Chenyan sighed: [Wasn’t it said that if you learn math, physics, and chemistry, you can travel the world without fear?]

System: [This world isn’t ruled by science; it’s ruled by strength.]

[Yawn—the power of knowledge is too great. I’m already getting sleepy.]

System: *[…] *

Ling Chenyan yawned several times in a row. When she looked up again, she saw Guan Luowei had found the book she wanted and was reading it intently.

After some thought, Ling Chenyan decided to go for a walk. She didn’t want to accidentally make noise and disturb her. Since she didn’t want to interrupt Guan Luowei’s concentration, she snuck out on her own.

Once outside the Demon Tower, Ling Chenyan immediately perked up, her sleepiness vanishing. As she tried to return the way she came, she somehow got lost.

The surroundings were terrifyingly dark, and a bone-chilling aura enveloped her.

Ling Chenyan shivered involuntarily. [Sys, which way do I go?]

[I am a Plot Navigation System, not a GPS Map System.]

“Fine,” Ling Chenyan muttered to herself. She walked a bit further until she saw a somewhat familiar back.

She snuck up and lightly tapped the person on the back. “Hey, kid…”

“HOLY CRAP GHOST AAAAAAAAH!”

Demonic power burst out in wild, random strikes. Ling Chenyan dodged while shouting, “It’s me! Yinye! Yinye!”

After a bout of chaos, the person finally stopped attacking and looked gloomily at the longsword. “Why is it you? Where is Her Highness?”

Ling Chenyan dodged the question. “I’m just out for a walk.”

Tong Di’s eyes lit up. “So you’re lost, aren’t you?”

Ling Chenyan: “…” Was it that obvious?

Seeing her silence, Tong Di knew he was right. He laughed, then said mysteriously, “Actually, I’m lost too.”

Ling Chenyan: “?” You sound quite proud of it? “Haven’t you lived in the Demon Realm for decades?”

Tong Di didn’t look embarrassed at all. “But we have Forbidden Zones in the Demon Realm too.”

“…Wait,” Ling Chenyan said. “You’re saying this is a Forbidden Zone?”

“Yeah.” Tong Di sat on the ground casually and patted the spot next to him. “Come, sit for a bit.”

“And you’re still this calm?” Ling Chenyan asked. “No wonder I’ve been feeling chilled to the bone.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Tong Di looked around. “The mist is thin; we should be on the outskirts. There shouldn’t be danger. The Demon Emperor said if you accidentally enter the outskirts, just block your hearing and meditate until dawn, and you can leave. But if you’re in the inner circle…”

Tong Di shrugged. “The Emperor told me that if I ever enter the inner circle, he’d break my legs even if I managed to get out.”

Ling Chenyan felt relieved. “Luckily we’re just on the outskirts.”

“Not necessarily,” Tong Di said. “Dusk has just fallen, so the mist is thin and it’s hard to tell. Besides, this mist changes with time.”

“What if we started on the outskirts but it becomes the inner circle because the mist changed?”

“Then it’s simple,” Tong Di shrugged. “Then we leave our lives to fate.”

Ling Chenyan: “…”

Just then, the mist around the pair thickened abruptly. It grew so dense they could no longer see each other.

“Dammit, you are a professional jinx,” Ling Chenyan grumbled. [Sys, what is this? How do we get out?]

[Wait, I think the original text mentions this. The male lead once came here to steal a treasure. He almost got lost and only escaped by killing the remnant souls within the mist! But back then, he was at the late Void-Hollow stage and was covered in injuries.]

[Remnant souls? You mean…] Ling Chenyan’s back tensed. [There are other people in here?]

Almost as soon as Ling Chenyan finished her thought, a blood-curdling voice rang in their ears: “Found you. So, you’re here…”

“HOLY CRAP!!!!”

Before Ling Chenyan could even scream, Tong Di’s scream reached her ears.

Under such circumstances, Ling Chenyan should have been terrified, but remembering the System’s words, she calmed down.

“Tong Di, don’t panic,” Ling Chenyan sent a transmission. “She can be killed. I have a treasure that can briefly immobilize her for a few seconds. You must take that time to deal a heavy blow!”

She didn’t know if the Deceptive God Zither worked on remnant souls, but it was the only thing she had right now.

In that split second, just as Ling Chenyan was about to use the zither, she heard Tong Di cry out in shock:

“Madam?!”

Ling Chenyan turned her head and saw a deathly pale woman in red slowly lifting her eyes. And that face… was seventy percent similar to Guan Luowei’s.

Ling Chenyan’s pupils constricted. If this was Guan Luowei’s mother, then Mu Yunze’s past life…