Chapter 42: Acting
The Demon Lord would never have imagined that the final test for the Sword Saint’s disciples would be cooking.
Her confidence in her own culinary skills had vanished after a single bite of her own cooking.
Hidden in the shadows, she took a vicious bite of a spirit fruit, muttering, “Is she choosing a disciple or a chef?”
She tossed aside the core, her gaze fixed on the platform.
It was usually used for sparring matches, but now, it held four makeshift stoves. Disciples had gathered around the platform, eager to witness the spectacle.
Luo Nianshang, considering her disciple’s preferences, had chosen only female candidates for the final round.
The contestants, their cooking stations prepared, stood with their eyes closed, calming their minds before the competition began.
The Demon Lord focused her will, and one of the girls opened her eyes, rubbing them sleepily.
The Demon Lord nodded in satisfaction. Puppetry was surprisingly easy to learn, but controlling multiple puppets simultaneously was tricky, especially since she was a novice.
But she couldn’t allow Luo Nianshang to take on other disciples. The thought of it filled her with an unbearable sense of unease.
She had devised the perfect solution. If all three disciples were her, then the problem would be solved.
She was a genius.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Her smug self-satisfaction shattered, and she looked down to see her dog wagging its tail at her from the base of the tree.
Lü Qingyan teleported, landing beside the Demon Lord, then leaped onto her head.
The Demon Lord pulled her down, her voice laced with annoyance. “Are you getting heavier?”
Lü Qingyan bristled. She and Jingxue had come down to gather information. She had been delighted to see the Demon Lord.
And the first thing the Demon Lord did was comment on her weight.
Rude!
The dog’s anger, however, amused the Demon Lord.
She placed Lü Qingyan on her lap, her voice laced with amusement. “Why aren’t you with Little White?” she asked. “Did you miss me that much?”
Lü Qingyan rolled her eyes, then barked at Bai Jingxue, who was sitting at the base of the tree. “Jingxue, I’m up here!”
Bai Jingxue, seeing the Demon Lord perched on the branch, was speechless.
Wasn’t the Demon Realm in turmoil? Why wasn’t the Demon Lord concerned?
She didn’t feel like climbing the tree, so she simply sat down, her curiosity piqued. She wanted to know who Luo Nianshang would choose as her disciples.
But when she looked up again, the Demon Lord was gone.
Lü Qingyan jumped down from the tree, settling beside Bai Jingxue.
“Where’s the Demon Lord?” Bai Jingxue asked.
Lü Qingyan shook her head. The Demon Lord had vanished in a blink.
The Ejian Sect’s protective formation was no obstacle for the Demon Lord. She easily bypassed it, finding Luo Nianshang.
Luo Nianshang, sitting on the roof of her chamber, opened her eyes as she sensed the Demon Lord’s approach. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice cold.
The Demon Lord landed gracefully beside her, a smile curving her lips. “I’m here to make a deal, Venerable One.”
“A deal?”
Luo Nianshang couldn’t comprehend this woman’s motives. This third Demon Lord was far more troublesome than her predecessors.
The Demon Lord nodded, her playful demeanor vanishing as she said, “Tell me, Venerable One, are you a good actress?”
***
A leaf drifted down, landing on Bai Jingxue’s head. She shook it off, then turned her attention to the disciples on the platform, their culinary skills on full display.
One of the girls moved stiffly, her movements jerky, as if she were a puppet.
“Is there something wrong with that girl?” Bai Jingxue asked Lü Qingyan, her brow furrowed.
Lü Qingyan looked up, her gaze fixed on the girl. “Something’s definitely off.”
The girl, as if sensing their scrutiny, resumed her cooking, her knife skills impressive.
She sliced the tofu into thin strands, her movements precise and swift.
But that wasn’t what Lü Qingyan found strange. The girl’s knife skills were excellent, but when she tossed the sliced ingredients into the wok, their color changed, turning an unsettling shade of gray.
Lü Qingyan, even from this distance, could smell the foul odor. She covered her nose. “How can her knife skills be so good, yet her cooking so terrible?”
Bai Jingxue stared at the unidentifiable grayish-black mass in the wok, swallowing nervously.
She no longer cared why the contestant seemed off. She simply hoped this girl wouldn’t be chosen. She didn’t want to find that abomination in her food bowl.
Time was up. Bai Jingxue, seeing Fu Yuan seated among the judges, frowned.
“Don’t you think Fu Yuan is appearing a bit too often?” she asked Lü Qingyan.
Lü Qingyan tilted her head. “Is there something wrong with that?”
There was nothing inherently wrong with it. It was simply that Fu Yuan had been a minor character in the original story, her appearances mostly limited to intimate scenes with the male lead. This Fu Yuan, however, was a fully fleshed-out character, her presence a constant in their lives.
But it was a welcome change. These peaceful, ordinary days were precious. She didn’t want to encounter the male lead, nor did she want to witness another clash between Luo Nianshang and the Demon Lord.
“It’s fine,” Bai Jingxue said, lying down.
Lü Qingyan, however, was completely engrossed in the cooking competition. She chuckled, watching Fu Yuan hesitantly poke the grayish-black mass with her chopsticks.
“Good thing I don’t have to eat that,” she said, her tail wagging.
Fu Yuan, of course, didn’t want to eat it either, but she couldn’t be rude. She forced a smile, her voice gentle. “Did you do this intentionally, or was it an accident?”
The Demon Lord, her attention now focused on Luo Nianshang, had loosened her control over the puppet.
The puppet, lacking sentience, responded to stimuli with simple, preprogrammed answers. If asked to choose between option one and option two, it would always choose the first one.
Fu Yuan received a response that made her want to scream. The puppet, its smile innocent, replied, “Intentionally.”
Fu Yuan’s face contorted in horror. She took a deep breath, her hand trembling as she reached for the abomination.
A sword cry echoed through the Ejian Sect, followed by a powerful gust of wind and Luo Nianshang’s furious roar.
“Demon Lord! How dare you disrupt my sect!”
Bai Jingxue and Lü Qingyan clung to the tree, their claws digging into the bark, barely managing to stay upright as the wind whipped around them.
Objects flew through the air, a chaotic whirlwind of pots, pans, and cooking utensils. Weaker disciples were sent tumbling across the ground.
Lü Qingyan, watching the debris fly past, chuckled. “Good thing we held onto the tree.”
But her laughter was cut short as a small, grayish-black mass was blown into her open mouth.
She spat it out, but the lingering taste was so horrific that she instantly fainted.
It had all happened so quickly. Bai Jingxue, seeing Lü Qingyan being swept away, reached out with her paw, but she couldn’t grab her.
Panicked, she let go of the tree, using the wind’s force to chase after Lü Qingyan.
She caught the dog, cradling her in her arms. But as small creatures, they were easily carried by the wind, their bodies tossed around like leaves. They eventually landed in a well.
The wind finally subsided, and the disciples looked up to see Luo Nianshang and the Demon Lord hovering in the air, their bodies covered in wounds. They had clearly been fighting.
The Demon Lord wiped the blood from her lips, her smile seductive, despite her conservative attire. “Why so angry, Sword Saint?” she purred. “I simply wanted to see your new disciples.”
Luo Nianshang’s face was flushed, her eyes blazing with fury. “Frostbite!” she roared.
The world around them stilled, the air freezing. There was no visible sword light. The Demon Lord found herself trapped within a sword made of ice.
She could have resisted, but she chose to play along, feigning weakness as she allowed herself to be captured.
The disciples watched as the ice sword, containing the Demon Lord, descended, embedding itself in the ground.
Before they could celebrate their victory, the Demon Lord laughed, and cracks began to appear in the ice surrounding her. The cracks widened, and the ice sword shattered, its fragments dissolving into dust.
The Demon Lord, emerging from the shattered ice, her face pale, coughed up a mouthful of blood. “You’re impressive, Sword Saint,” she said, her voice weak.
She produced her poison pearl, a malicious smile curving her lips. “Guess what I’m going to do now?”
The disciples paled.
The Demon Lord’s true strength lay in her mastery of poisons. Her toxins could corrode flesh, dissolve souls, and instill terror in the hearts of even the bravest cultivators.
Seemingly pleased by their fear, her smile widened. “You injured me, Sword Saint,” she said. “I believe I’m owed some compensation.”
“Don’t you dare!” Luo Nianshang roared.
The Demon Lord twirled the pearl between her fingers, her smile seductive. “Let’s see if I dare, Venerable One,” she purred. “And I suggest you refrain from any rash actions. My poison is faster than your sword.”
The situation had taken a turn for the worse.
The Demon Lord, her gaze sweeping over the terrified disciples, was suddenly tackled from behind.
Luo Nianshang, her heart pounding, had been unsure if the Demon Lord was truly intending to unleash her poison or simply acting. But now, it seemed clear that this was all part of a performance.
She had been about to cast a spell to neutralize the poison, but she paused, her gaze fixed on the girl who had tackled the Demon Lord.
The girl, pinning the Demon Lord down, shouted, “Now!”
The Demon Lord, of course, wouldn’t have been subdued by a mere mortal. This was all staged, a carefully orchestrated performance.
Although it was a performance, the girl who had tackled the Demon Lord was unaware of the script. Her courage impressed Luo Nianshang.
The Demon Lord, seeing that the scene had reached its climax, decided to end the act. She shook off the puppet, then pretended to unleash her poison, coughing up another mouthful of blood, as if she had been struck by the backlash.
“Consider yourselves lucky,” she hissed.
She clutched her chest and vanished, transforming into a wisp of red smoke.
The crisis averted, Luo Nianshang landed gracefully beside the unconscious puppet.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
Fu Yuan, covered in dirt, emerged from beneath a pile of rubble.
Luo Nianshang, seeing that she was unharmed, pointed at the puppet. “Who is this?”
Fu Yuan recognized her. “She’s one of your disciple candidates, Master.”
Luo Nianshang nodded. “She will be my disciple,” she said, her voice firm.
Fu Yuan’s breath caught in her throat. She glanced at Luo Nianshang’s serious expression, then sighed, accepting her fate.
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