The Immortal Lord and the Demon Venerable Are Both My Vests - Chapter 5

Thinking about transmigrating inside a book made Ji Chang’an’s head ache.

Thinking about transmigrating into a dragon-proud-heaven leveling-up novel made her head ache even more.

Thinking about transmigrating into a dragon-proud-heaven leveling-up novel and becoming one of the male lead’s harem made her head ache tremendously.

Thinking about transmigrating into a dragon-proud-heaven leveling-up novel, becoming one of the male lead’s harem, AND having read the entire novel knowing the ending—her head couldn’t ache any more than this.

The book was titled “Defying Heaven,” and the protagonist Xu Rong was born into the only non-royal prince’s manor of the Li Dynasty, the greatest imperial dynasty on the Lantian Continent. As the sole male heir of this non-royal prince’s manor, his status naturally trampled over a large batch of typical male leads from the start.

But the problem was, this novel—it was a cultivation novel. The protagonist’s background meant jack shit in the eyes of cultivators. So naturally, the protagonist’s entire family was massacred.

Don’t complain about the melodrama—these days, if a typical male lead doesn’t have some bloody revenge plot involving family annihilation or a broken engagement, how dare they call themselves a typical male lead!

Following this, the protagonist naturally vowed revenge and went to seek a master to cultivate immortality. Under the protection of his powerful protagonist halo, he successfully became a disciple under Enforcement Elder Li Baisu of the Taihua Immortal Sect, the number one immortal sect in the cultivation world. Then he began his flying (cheating) ascension path of killing people, seizing treasures, face-slapping, and beauty-hunting.

Ji Chang’an could recite this kind of formula backwards. Under normal circumstances, the male lead should start by challenging small bosses, then work his way up challenging heaven and earth, ultimately defeating the big bad boss villain and successfully ascending.

But!

When the protagonist finally defeated all the small, medium, and large villains, and that final boss who never appeared once in the entire book, who only commanded subordinates from behind the scenes the whole time, finally showed up—

Ji Chang’an’s entire being shattered.

The ultimate villain had been lurking beside the protagonist all along! And he was the strategist-type character who contributed the most to the male lead besides the female lead Li Baisu—the second male lead, Tianji Daojun Shen Muxuan!

Holy shit, the more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes.

But the most absurd thing about this entire book wasn’t the final boss’s identity, but the ending the author wrote.

The protagonist Xu Rong was easily defeated under the spear of Demon Lord Yin Lang.

It wasn’t a feigned defeat, nor a desperate comeback, and there was no so-called earth-shattering battle with layer upon layer of danger. The villain just casually thrust out a spear, and the male lead was gone.

Huh?

Huh??

Huh???

What kind of joke is this, you trash author!!!

If it weren’t for the fact that one of the male lead’s harem members shared her own name, Ji Chang’an would never have forced herself to finish reading this trash novel written by this trash author while feeling nauseated.

The only thing she did wrong was ignoring the replies like “warning: same-name transmigration” and “read and memorize the full text” under her comment that used her real name saying “trash author, trash novel.”

So after truly transmigrating inside the book, Ji Chang’an despaired to the point of banging her head on the ground, and just before knocking herself to death, was dragged back by her master to the Taihua Immortal Sect—this high-plot-density location—forced to face this bleak life.

She had thought the worst thing would be that her future of hard cultivation might be forcibly contributed to the male lead who wasn’t even a fertilized egg yet. Who knew that the moment she turned around, her master would drag her to come face-to-face with the fake boss, real male lead of this book—Tianji Daojun.

Ah… how could she forget that Tianji Daojun’s only senior martial brother had the Dao title “Tianshu”…

To avoid the plot of Xu Rong and “Ji Chang’an’s” first meeting, she would rather request that her eldest senior brother assign her to handle this pile of tedious mortal affairs at the mountain’s foot. Ji Chang’an never imagined that avoiding the male lead would instead send her right in front of the boss.

Thinking of how the villain boss in the book had an unpredictable temperament and erratic behavior, Ji Chang’an truly used all her courage just to stand five meters from Yin Lang without trembling.

“Martial Uncle, what brings you down here…”

Yin Lang glanced at this nominal martial nephew.

Although she was trying hard to hide her emotions, the minute changes in her eyes, the trembling of her muscles, the occasional small gestures with her fingers—these details, in Yin Lang’s eyes, were no different from having the four words “I’m afraid of you” written on her face.

It had been decades since their first meeting, and her acting skills hadn’t improved one bit.

“Nothing much to do, came down for a stroll. What, does Xiao Chang’an not welcome Martial Uncle?” His lips curved into a smile, still the same Carefree Daojun that Ji Chang’an had come to know over decades of time.

Ji Chang’an thought to herself, how would I dare. On the surface, she forced on a fake smile. “How could that be!” She pointed upward. “It’s quite lively up there. I thought all the elders wouldn’t leave Huayuan Hall until the mountain-opening ceremony ended.”

Yin Lang followed Ji Chang’an for a walk around the mountain’s foot, deliberately bringing up this year’s trial situation during the conversation. When mentioning Xu Rong, Lin Xinqiao, Li Baisu and others, Ji Chang’an unconsciously started making small gestures again.

Interesting.

Li Baisu could still be explained by conflicting positions and crushing power disparity, but what about Xu Rong and Lin Xinqiao—two newly initiated disciples? What about them warranted nervousness from Ji Chang’an, an Out-of-Body stage cultivator?

Yin Lang’s mischievous streak began to flare up.

He pretended to just remember. “Oh right, I previously asked to borrow Xiao Chang’an from Senior Martial Brother for a period of time. Did Senior Brother tell you?”

Ji Chang’an’s expression changed drastically.

Her emotional management system crashed in a short span of time, this sentence repeating and echoing in her mind, her face deathly pale.

She stuttered. “M-Martial Uncle, this disciple has been q-quite busy with affairs recently, and may not be able to attend to and s-serve you.”

“That’s fine.” The Daojun smiled warmly. “Senior Brother agreed on the spot, saying the affairs could be temporarily transferred to Ah Lan, and even if some unimportant matters were delayed, he wouldn’t blame you.”

“In a few more days, your Senior Brother Feng will return. At that time, I’ll have to trouble you to hand over the organized peak affairs to him. You just finish the work at hand first. Martial Uncle will take his leave.”

Having said that, without giving Ji Chang’an any chance to refuse, he turned and left.

Looking at the distant white-robed figure, Ji Chang’an belatedly realized what happened, tears flowing in her heart.

One big demon wasn’t enough, now another little demon was coming back?

Master, do you really not want your good disciple anymore? How can you bear to let your disciple go to a demon’s lair, wuwuwu…

The junior martial sisters came over. “Chang’an, why are you crying?”

Ji Chang’an was in tears, climbing upward while choking out. “I think these mortals who traveled so far to seek immortality are too pitiful. I’m going to find Eldest Senior Brother to have him assign me more work…” Preferably the kind that could never be finished in a lifetime.

Watching her rapidly departing figure, the junior martial sisters sighed. “Chang’an is truly too kind-hearted…”

However, hiding was useless. Life was destined to face all sorts of difficulties, obstacles, and rough roads ahead.

Ji Chang’an dragged her legs that felt heavy as lead, her face full of life-resignation, standing at the foot of Tianji Peak. The lush emerald bamboo sea between the mountains, rated as one of the Ten Scenic Views of Taihua, was to her like a dangerous cave dwelling where fierce beasts lurked.

Being afraid was useless.

She sighed. Lifted her leg.

After taking two steps and turning around a bend, she looked up and spotted someone kneeling on the only path up the mountain, wearing coarse cloth and short brown commoner’s clothes. Looking at the back, the person’s build hadn’t fully grown yet, and didn’t look like those old monsters who maintained their appearance through deep cultivation.

So Ji Chang’an asked, “…Brother, who are you?”

That person raised their head at the sound. It was an extremely handsome young man, whose shabby clothing and messy hair couldn’t hide that beautiful face. He was practically molded to her aesthetic preferences.

Ji Chang’an felt for a moment that she had fallen in love.

Then she heard the other party’s hoarse voice making a self-introduction. “I am Xu Rong, and I…”

Alright, it didn’t matter who he was anymore.

The light of love in Ji Chang’an’s eyes extinguished in one second. She stared with a pair of dead fish eyes, the young man’s figure in her vision already replaced by the bolded and enlarged words “male lead.”

Turn around, take a detour, never see him again.

…Just kidding.

No matter what, Ji Chang’an was a girl with proper values educated under the red flag of the 21st century. She couldn’t possibly impose a future that hadn’t happened yet onto an innocent person who knew nothing. Otherwise, given the detailed descriptions in the original work, would it be difficult for her, an Out-of-Body stage cultivator, to find an excuse to go out for training and kill a mortal?

She stopped in front of the kneeling Xu Rong. Because of his “male lead” status, she was now immune to that handsome face. She crouched down and asked, “What are you kneeling here for?”

If she remembered correctly, in the original work, the male lead should have already successfully become Li Baisu’s disciple and started his cheat-level cultivation life. How could he be half-dead kneeling at the foot of Tianji Peak? Where did things go wrong?

“I want to take Tianji Daojun as my master.” The youth said hoarsely. He didn’t have much strength to speak, but his eyes were full of stubbornness and persistence.

Ji Chang’an’s eyes died for a second.

What did you say? You want to take who as your master?

No, is there something wrong with my ears or am I hallucinating? Did I actually hear the male lead say he wants to take the villain as his master?

She was in a daze, subconsciously rejecting him three times in a row. “Give up, it’s impossible, he won’t accept you.”

If the villain took the protagonist as a disciple, she could transmigrate back on the spot.

Coming back to her senses and meeting the young man’s wounded eyes, Ji Chang’an spoke without thinking, “Ah no, I was talking nonsense.”

Thinking again, she said, “But… but he really won’t accept disciples anymore. No matter how long you kneel, it’s useless.”

However, a protagonist was worthy of being a protagonist—the word “give up” didn’t exist in their life dictionary.

Disappointed for less than a second, the youth regained his conviction, politely thanked her, and expressed that he would never give up.

“…The Daojun will eventually see my sincerity.”

Unable to dissuade him, Ji Chang’an dragged her heavy steps up the mountain. Behind her, Xu Rong’s gaze was profound, and the corner of his mouth hidden by messy hair lifted slightly. “…Ah, still just as stupid as in the last life. Both stupid and kind-hearted.”

Ji Chang’an passed through the bamboo sea and saw the white-robed Daojun waiting in the small courtyard.

“Greetings, Martial Uncle.” She bowed respectfully.

The person sitting by the stone table casually picked up a cup of tea and, without using spiritual energy, sent it over purely with skillful force. “New tea from the Li Dynasty’s tribute this year. Taste and see how it is?”

Ji Chang’an was a sword cultivator by origin. With a lift and turn of her hand, she easily dispersed the force attached to the teacup and brought it to her lips. Just as she was thinking about whether she should offer some commentary, Yin Lang had already stood up.

That’s it? Had the villain changed his nature today and finally wasn’t going to torment her under the excuse of training?

Upon closer inspection, she noticed Yin Lang had a somewhat familiar long sword hanging at his waist, about two feet seven inches long, with a blade as thin as a cicada’s wing, with the two characters “Tianji” carved near the hilt.

The Tianji Sword?

Ji Chang’an hesitantly asked, “Martial Uncle, in the coming days… will our sect have a major event?”

Yin Lang looked at her sideways.

Given the message Qin Xun sent back overnight, he wasn’t really in the mood right now to play with his martial nephew who had little secrets.

“The Jihe Alliance was massacred. The Sect Master summoned the elders and peak masters to discuss this matter.” For once, he spoke seriously in his identity as Shen Muxuan. For Gu Fuxuan’s sake, he roughly gave her a few instructions, telling Ji Chang’an not to wander around, then prepared to leave.

Ji Chang’an knew about the Jihe Alliance—it was the natal family of Lin Xinqiao, the tsundere young lady who was one of the male lead’s harem in the original work. In the later part of the original story, this person in front of her had sent people to destroy it. This led to another whole mess of melodramatic romance plots, along with the elimination of dozens of small and large villains.

But… they were still so far from that point, how had the Jihe Alliance already been massacred? The male lead was still kneeling at the mountain’s foot!

Ji Chang’an shuddered and quickly called out to stop the departing Yin Lang.

The moment their eyes met, Ji Chang’an backed down again, her voice getting lower and lower. “Um, Martial Uncle… there’s a newly initiated disciple from this year kneeling at the mountain’s foot, named Xu Rong. He seems to… want to take you as his master…”

Although Ji Chang’an figured the villain should already know about Xu Rong kneeling at the mountain’s foot and was just too lazy to deal with it, she still couldn’t help reminding him under pressure.

“Hm? He’s still kneeling there?”

Heh, look at that rhetorical tone. There was no way she’d believe he didn’t know.

“Aiya, if that’s the case, then I must trouble Xiao Chang’an to accompany Martial Uncle on this trip.” The white-robed Daojun said helplessly, “That child is too stubborn, won’t leave no matter what we say. Martial Uncle still has important matters to attend to, so I’ll have to trouble Xiao Chang’an to help deal with this child.”

Ji Chang’an could only follow him back down the mountain.

Halfway there, the person in front suddenly stopped. “Just remembered that Senior Brother also entrusted me with something. What a pity, I can’t continue traveling the same road with Xiao Chang’an.”

Ji Chang’an didn’t think even one fraction of his regret was genuine, but could only fake a smile as she watched him depart on the wind.

After continuing down for another stretch of road, just as she was about to turn one more corner to reach where the male lead was kneeling, Ji Chang’an suddenly heard a commotion.

She quickened her pace around the bend and looked up.

A young girl in yellow with her chin slightly raised stood in place, looking down mockingly at the cloth-clad youth kneeling before her, with several young men whose spiritual energy clearly indicated they had already reached Foundation Establishment following behind her.

She snorted coldly. “Why don’t you continue being arrogant! You actually dared to ambush this young lady on the Heavenly Stairs, causing me to fall into…hmph, if I don’t cripple half your bones today, I, Lin Xinqiao, will take your surname from now on!”

Ji Chang’an: “……”

If the villain hadn’t detected the situation from far away, found it troublesome, and taken a detour, she would also take the male lead’s surname from now on!