Reborn as a succubus - Chapter 9

Xi Che stood by the lake, staring at Rong Shi who was still struggling in the water. He didn’t feel a strong sense of satisfaction or revenge, only relief that he himself wouldn’t be stripped and thrown into the lake.

Rong Shi’s two henchmen hurriedly rushed over, calling out “Young Master Rong,” pulling him ashore by his arms.

Xi Che stood aside, watching coldly.

At this moment, Luo Qing came over. Seeing Xi Che’s hands wrapped in bandages, he hesitated and asked, “You’re injured?”

Xi Che didn’t even glance at him. “None of your damn business.”

Luo Qing was speechless.

He had never been so bluntly rejected by Xi Che before and was stunned for a long time. This scumbag seemed very confident in his charm, so he put on a fake act: “Are you mad at me for not helping? Xi Che, I also…”

“Stop.”

Xi Che raised a hand to signal “stop,” ignoring him, then walked toward Rong Shi in the distance.

He wasn’t the original owner (of this body), who wanted to hear such nonsense? He roughly understood Luo Qing’s psychology: since he didn’t fall for his tricks, Luo Qing had to keep pretending. No matter what, he had to sleep with him before giving up.

But he wasn’t the original owner, and he wasn’t interested in bargaining with Luo Qing. He cared more about dealing with Young Master Rong.

Rong Shi had been pulled out of the lake. It was late autumn, and he shivered from the cold, loudly ordering his men to take off their pants and give him a pair.

Xi Che glanced at him casually, noticing that his wet clothes had ridden up, exposing his lower back and buttocks. Xi Che frowned, noticing something unusual — not the young master’s flesh, but the tattoo on his lower back.

It vaguely looked like a fierce tiger coiled on his waist.

Xi Che didn’t know much about incubi/demons, but he’d heard rumors that incubi usually have tattoos on their bodies…

“That’s called an ‘indecent tattoo,’” a voice said inside his mind. It was Bai Hu.

When Xi Che mentioned the term, he simultaneously accessed many memories from the original owner’s mind about “indecent tattoos.”

These were tattoos unique to incubi that grew naturally after adulthood or a heat cycle. Different incubi’s tattoos had different effects, mostly related to reproduction and sexuality. For humans stubborn to resist mating, incubi would cause matching tattoos to appear on them, which would confuse their minds.

Indecent tattoos were the clearest manifestation of incubi’s magical power.

However, not every incubus could grow these; due to severe degeneration, most no longer did.

Xi Che cleared his throat. “Really? I thought…”

Bai Hu interrupted, “That pattern doesn’t look like one. Most incubi’s indecent tattoos are on the lower abdomen, with symmetrical abstract reproductive organ shapes. The one on his waist looks familiar.”

Xi Che should have known this, but he wasn’t a person who liked to pry into others’ secrets, especially ones involving such intimate and arcane matters. He didn’t want to waste effort on them. Back in Fengzao Mansion, he wasn’t exactly a well-behaved student — often causing his teacher to nearly bleed from frustration during etiquette classes — but aside from all that, he was somewhat a gentleman and unwilling to focus energy on such matters. Hearing Bai Hu talk about it made him embarrassed.

Come to think of it, Bai Hu was nothing like him — a venomous snake that said whatever he wanted without decorum.

Xi Che wanted to look more carefully at Rong Shi’s tattoo to confirm if it was what he suspected, but Rong Shi was already helped up by his two lackeys and was trembling as they helped him put on pants.

Xi Che slowly walked over and stood with his arms crossed in front of him. Rong Shi saw him and took a step back, startled.

This Young Master Rong really was just a bully who feared the strong and picked on the weak…

“W-what do you want! Why are you coming over?” Rong Shi asked.

Xi Che raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want anything. You… take off your shirt.”

“What?!”

Rong Shi crossed his arms in front of his chest like a modest lady being teased, then shouted, “I… I admit I can’t beat you, but don’t think you can force me to do anything weird! You damn gay, don’t come near me! I’m homophobic!”

Xi Che couldn’t help but laugh out loud: “You’re homophobic? Do you even have a mirror? If not, maybe pee on the wall and look at yourself. Being gay is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Indeed, homophobia meant he was deeply closeted. Young Master Rong secretly messed around with Luo Qing, yet shamelessly called the original owner gay to attack him… What a hypocritical world.

Xi Che stepped closer: “Although I’m not interested in you, I don’t know if others will fancy a pale, tender young master like you. You better take your shirt off quickly, or…”

He casually removed the bandages on his arms and tossed them aside, looking at the three shivering men huddled together with a vicious grin: “I’ll strip you all and sell you to a gay bar.”

Rong Shi’s face turned iron pale, his lips trembling, either from cold or anger. But now he knew he couldn’t stand up to Xi Che and couldn’t resist.

Eventually, he submitted and took off his shirt.

“Turn around, face away from me.”

Rong Shi dared not defy him and obediently turned his back.

Xi Che now clearly saw the tattoo on his lower back and widened his eyes — it was indeed a tiger-shaped tattoo, identical in form to Bai Hu’s, except it was colorful.

Was it Bai Hu?

No… it wasn’t Bai Hu. It was Da Chi!

At the moment he recognized the tattoo, many long-forgotten memories flooded his mind like a breached dam.

In his last life, after leaving the Nine Nether and arriving at the Demon Realm, he was appointed the King of Caution (Shen Wang), the leader of the Ten Hells of the Demon Realm — though with his power, he could have been the supreme leader, but lacking ambition, he accepted the title.

He was a martial fanatic, passionate about spells. With innate talent and keen interest in research, he achieved much in cultivation.

He had three legendary treasures:

• Tiger Talisman Da Chi.

• Shen Wang.

• The Slaying Horse Knife Jin Hunwu.

Da Chi was a bronze tiger talisman, infused with magic minerals like azurite, cinnabar, and sulfur, personally forged by Xi Che with primordial heart fire over 49 days. It looked exactly like Bai Hu but was seven-colored bronze. The patterns were inseparable from the bronze, impossible to fake. Da Chi was the symbol of the King of Caution’s authority over demons and also a magical artifact with the power to confuse hearts.

Shen Wang was a palm-sized diamond-shaped black jade with no patterns, set in old silver.It gathered yin and spirit energy, made from a millennium-old cold jade, and dramatically accelerated cultivation speed.

These two artifacts were forged by Xi Che but their powers were predetermined at creation.

He used to wear them on his waist as simple decorations.

He loved forging magical artifacts for fun, curious about the mysterious, scientific-defying processes. Coming to this world, he wanted to learn more about it. Every time he forged something, it was like opening a blind box.

Among his three treasures, only the Slaying Horse Knife Jin Hunwu was different. It wasn’t forged but was his companion artifact.

Every god race member had a companion artifact—like his knife, Zhu Wu’s scepter, Chu Yan’s Taiyi sword. Companion artifacts could be summoned anytime if the original owner lived.

Jin Hunwu was six feet long, with a blade as wide as five fingers. The red sheath bore a fierce pattern of a snarling beast biting a peony. The handle glowed with a dark red light, with natural patterns; the drawn blade was cold and sharp, able to cut hair and break anything.

These three were Xi Che’s most powerful artifacts.

Before dying in his last life, fearing his treasures falling into evil hands and causing disasters, he planned to destroy them all. But his death was too sudden. He only managed to seal Jin Hunwu in Nine nether Mountain. Da Chi and Shen Wang were buried with his body in the Kunyu Ice Mountain canyon.

Kunyu Ice Mountain was a remote place, unlikely anyone would dig up his relics…

But if no one retrieved them, why did Da Chi’s tattoo appear on Rong Shi?

Hundreds of years had passed, and nobody should remember it.

Bai Hu’s voice in his mind was full of doubt: “Could someone have obtained your artifact? Da Chi is the most sinister of the three, a symbol of power. Wearing its tattoo is no ordinary thing.”

Xi Che frowned, knowing this well, but judging from just Rong Shi’s tattoo alone, it was hard to tell if it was a group act or his own doing. Maybe he just liked the pattern and tattooed it for fun?

But Rong Shi’s identity was special—he was the son of Rong Jiudao…

This was very strange and needed investigation.

Just as Xi Che thought this, the stripped Rong Shi shouted, trembling with false bravado: “Hey! Kid! You looked enough, I’m leaving now!”

Xi Che came back to himself and smiled, stepping behind him and lightly placing a hand on his shoulder: “Ah, one more thing I forgot to ask. If you answer my questions well, I’ll let you go.”

Rong Shi nervously swallowed and asked, “What… Do you want to ask?”

“My brother Bi Yuan has been missing for days. Did you have anything to do with it?”

Rong Shi shouted without hesitation: “Your brother’s missing? What does that have to do with me? I’m too busy every day, who has time to care about your brother!”

Xi Che frowned slightly: “Really?”

“Damn it! Believe it or not! If you have guts, try and kill me!”

Rong Shi’s loud threats seemed like a bluff to give himself courage. His quick reaction and no hesitation suggested he was telling the truth, not lying.

So where did Bi Yuan go? Xi Che had hoped to get some clues from him…

He gave up and released his grip: “Alright, I’ll trust you this time. Go.”

Rong Shi felt pardoned, grabbed his clothes, and ran off.

He even called to his two henchmen, “Run! What are you waiting for?!”

Xi Che watched them run away and shouted after Rong Shi’s back, “Next time bring more people!”

Luo Qing witnessed all this, still stunned. To him, the original owner was a meek, kind, easily bullied beautiful boy who wouldn’t do such a domineering thing.

He looked at Xi Che, disappointed: “Xi Che… what happened to you? You’ve changed so much I don’t recognize you.”

Xi Che glanced at him sideways, cracking his knuckles: “What did you say?”

Scumbag. One more word and he’d make him recognize him even less.

Xi Che thought Luo Qing was a complete scumbag. He stood by and watched while he was bullied and even when Rong Shi got beaten up.

A total scumbag, no saving him.

Luo Qing was startled: “I… I have something to do, I’m leaving.”

Xi Che rolled his eyes at his retreating back — a dead scumbag, trying to play both sides, dreaming.

Xi Che was about to leave when he suddenly sensed a flash of golden light behind him. He turned but saw nothing.

He asked Bai Hu: “Who was that?”

“No idea. Did someone just pass by?”

Xi Che didn’t know. Bai Hu also didn’t know; it could only “see” what Xi Che saw.

Xi Che looked around but found nothing. Still, his heart inexplicably raced a few beats faster. “Maybe I imagined it. Let’s go back.”

Not long after he left, two human students wearing the academy uniform ran by chatting happily, a tall one and a short one, clearly a young couple. They were senior students who came to the shadows behind the teaching building by the lake. The boy seemed impatient and quickly embraced the girl, hiding into the shadows.

Students at the Academy all worship the God of light, and the school rules were strict — dating was forbidden. But teenagers couldn’t resist their desires, so many snuck away to secret places to meet, and the bolder ones even broke the rules physically.

These acts were also banned by the school.

Looking up, there were gods watching above; doing such things openly was shameful.

But young students didn’t care and acted on impulse, forgetting their faith.

Soon, the couple rolled together in passion.

They were so absorbed they didn’t notice two blurry footprints pressed in the grass nearby — one transparent like a pair of feet — as if… an invisible person was standing there.