When Destiny Brings the Demon

Liao Tingyan thought she would die on the spot, but she didn’t. After passing out with shock and a heart full of curses, she saw fragments of scattered memories.

The protagonist in these scenes was a naive and innocent girl named Sima E. She and her twin brother were the last two members of the Sima Shi lineage. Their clan was on the brink of extinction, yet the Sima bloodline could not be allowed to perish—they had to continue it. Thus, from the moment of her birth, Sima E was raised in a twisted environment, destined to unite with her own brother and bear offspring.

To preserve the purity of the Fengshan Clan’s bloodline, the Sima Shi never intermarried with outsiders. Tainting the Fengshan blood was considered an unforgivable sin. Conversely, within the Sima lineage, consanguineous unions were not uncommon—everything they did was for the sake of the purest bloodline. Only the pure Fengshan blood could nurture the Spirit Mountain Fire.

Liao Tingyan saw that Spirit Mountain Fire, burning like a small torch atop a bowl-sized crimson face. It was far more vigorous than the foul-mouthed, baby-voiced little flame she had encountered before. In any case, this seemed to be an incredibly important treasure, and Sima E was the one chosen in her generation to tend to it. She had grown up on Three Sage Mountain, surrounded by countless attendants and disciples, with the finest food, clothing, and luxuries—in Liao Tingyan’s eyes, she was practically the world’s number one princess. But truthfully, her life was utterly tragic.

Sima E adored that little flame. In these memories, the flame wasn’t a baby-voiced creature but a hot-tempered man who would berate anyone who came to serve him—except Sima E. She was the only one he never scolded. Unfortunately, no matter how much she liked him, there was no way Sima E could ever be with this precious flame—after all, there was a reproductive barrier between them. Their relationship could only be described as "love’s offering." When the girl reached childbearing age, she was forced to procreate with her brother.

Liao Tingyan saw the Three Sage Mountain in these memories—its palaces magnificent, furnishings exquisite, and servants as numerous as clouds, each resembling celestial consorts. What left the deepest impression on her was the enormous painting of Fuxi and Nüwa hanging in the layer where the green pond flame resided. Sima E worshipped it daily, likely part of some Sima Shi belief system. Though the young girl was unwilling, burdened by the weight of her clan’s survival, she ultimately yielded in agony.

She and her brother bore a son, named Sima Jiao.

Hearing this name, Liao Tingyan realized—oh, so this was the story of the ancestor’s mother.

One boy wasn’t enough. They needed her to bear a girl as well to ensure the purity of the next generation. Yet Sima E failed to conceive a second child. To make matters worse, her brother suddenly went mad, burned down half of Three Sage Mountain, and committed suicide. These memories were unclear, jumping erratically—Liao Tingyan pieced them together from context.

The scene shifted to a haggard Sima E, seemingly driven mad by it all. She was still young, and though exceptionally gifted, she hadn’t had time to mature. Meanwhile, the Gengchen Immortal Mansion was no longer under Sima Shi’s control—the ruler was weak, the ministers strong. Many demanded that she dutifully tend to the Spirit Mountain Fire and wait for her child to grow up so she could bear more children with him.When she read this part, Liao Tingyan was utterly baffled. At this time, Sima Jiao was just a little kid a few years old. Were the people making these decisions out of their damn minds?

Obviously, the already somewhat deranged Sima E couldn’t accept it. Liao Tingyan saw her, on a dark and windy night, preparing to strangle her own child.

Liao Tingyan: "...Sima Shi, I’m speechless."

There was nothing after that. The last segment showed Sima E committing suicide in the green pond. The emerald waters turned blood-red from her, and an enormous red lotus bloomed. The raging flames quietly enveloped her, burning her to ashes.

Forced to learn such private matters, Liao Tingyan didn’t feel too great when she woke up. Knowing too much wasn’t a good thing—after all, the more you knew, the more trouble you’d get dragged into. She had seen many ugly faces and more or less understood the origins of these demons and monsters, making her feel even more like pulling her hair out.

This dungeon was way too hardcore. She couldn’t handle it.

When she snapped out of those tragic memories and realized her current situation, she felt even worse. Because right now, she was lying inside a pitch-black rectangular box.

Liao Tingyan: Aaaah, was I buried?! Can’t you at least try to save me if I’m not dead yet?! Which bastard buried me?!

She felt utterly weak, her back aching and legs cramping, her chest heavy and suffocating. She didn’t even have the strength to push open the coffin lid and climb out.

"Someone... help... I’m not dead yet... I died... and came back to life..."

"Ancestor? Snake? Little flame? Say something..."

"I’ve worked hard for the company, I’ve bled for the boss..."

After shouting a bunch of nonsense inside the coffin, Liao Tingyan finally mustered a bit of strength. She lifted her leg and kicked upward with all her might—instantly, she cracked the coffin lid open a tiny gap. Thankfully, it hadn’t been nailed shut yet, or she might’ve had to take up permanent residence here.

She reached up, feeling along the gap, and pushed with all her might, inching it open bit by bit. After what felt like forever, she finally saw daylight again... and the ancestor.

That pale-faced ancestor, dressed head-to-toe in black, was standing beside the coffin, leaning against it as he watched her. He said, "Awake." Then, with a single finger, he casually flipped the half-opened coffin lid away.

What the hell were you doing earlier, huh? Did you find it fun watching someone struggle with a coffin lid? For some reason, Liao Tingyan really wanted to curse at him in that moment. But then she suddenly remembered the little kid she’d seen in the memories—strangled by his own mother until he looked like a wilted vegetable. The fury in her chest was doused by a tiny squirt gun. Whatever, she didn’t feel like cursing at him anymore.

Sima Jiao noticed her expression and asked, "Did you want to curse at me?"

Truth Buff, activated!

Liao Tingyan couldn’t help herself: "Yes."

Sima Jiao’s expression was inscrutable, his gaze unsettling as he said, "Go on, say it."

"You stupid asshole, I’ll fuck you up! You hear me, I’ll fuck you up!" Liao Tingyan was still alive, but her soul had already left her body. She had a feeling this coffin lid she’d painstakingly pushed open might just have to be closed again. Maybe this time, she’d really be laid to rest for good.However, she was destined to never understand the thought process of a lunatic. The ancestor she had just insulted suddenly burst into laughter—not the kind that meant "I'll kill you after I finish laughing," but genuine laughter that said "this is fucking hilarious." Leaning against the coffin, he laughed so hard the entire coffin shook.

Liao Tingyan: You good, bro? Did I piss you off that much?

Just as she was lying there like a corpse, Sima Jiao, having laughed his fill, reached out and lifted her up. The place she had been lying in was indeed a coffin—an extravagantly ornate one at that. They seemed to still be in the Central Tower, though she wasn’t sure which floor. Bright, strangely shaped dragon-shaped candles burned around them, illuminating the heavy coffin at the center. She also noticed the walls ahead were carved with images of Fuxi and Nüwa.

Sima Jiao carried her out with long strides, the wind from his wide sleeves making the candles lining the path flicker wildly.

Liao Tingyan had assumed she’d only slept for a day, but in reality, she had been lying there for half a month. When she stepped out of the Central Tower, she found the ruins outside had completely vanished, leaving only an endless stretch of flat land. The once-empty, maze-like structures were gone, with only the half-collapsed Central Tower remaining.

Liao Tingyan: Wake up from a nap and find the world turned upside down.

The massive Black Snake was waiting outside. Seeing them emerge, it slithered over with its enormous body. Sima Jiao stepped onto its tail. "Let’s go."

Liao Tingyan: Wait, go where? I can’t keep up with this train of thought.

She didn’t even have the mind to dwell on being carried by Sima Jiao, turning her head to glance back at the Central Tower and the circle of swaying Lunar Eclipse Flowers below. "Ancestor, where are we going?"

Sima Jiao, in a good mood, replied, "Out, of course. I’ve had enough of staying here."

Holding her limp form, he added, "What are you afraid of? If I wanted to kill you, you’d die no matter where you were. If I don’t, even death won’t keep you down. Oh, and the poison from that flower has already been neutralized."

Liao Tingyan: "That was a poisonous flower?!"

Sima Jiao: "Why else would you have been lying there for half a month?"

Liao Tingyan found it hard to believe—not that she had been unconscious for so long, but that the flower had been poisonous. According to Sima Jiao, evil people bore poisonous flowers, while good people bore spiritual ones. The flower she had picked seemed to have grown from the Bone Pearl of Sima Jiao’s mother, a spiritual flower by all appearances. How could that make her evil? She had never killed anyone and had always tried to be kind.

"Really a poisonous flower? Didn’t you say only evil people bear poisonous ones?" Liao Tingyan couldn’t make sense of it.

Sima Jiao scoffed. "I lied to you. How can anyone be purely good or evil? Can a mere flower determine that?"

Liao Tingyan, sensing he was in a talkative mood, pressed further. "Then how does it work?"

Sima Jiao actually indulged her. "If one dies in peace and contentment, their Bone Pearl bears a spiritual flower. If they die in resentment and pain, it bears a poisonous one."

Liao Tingyan thought of the blood-filled pool, of Sima E drenched in blood and barely alive before being consumed by flames, and fell silent. Honestly, the pain of her death had affected her a little too—her head still ached from it.

"What, judging by your tone, you saw who the flower’s original owner was," Sima Jiao remarked casually.He didn’t seem to know that the flower had bloomed from his mother’s Bone Pearl, Liao Tingyan mused. The patch of flowers he had been standing in was the same one where, in the past, a girl had tried to pick a flower and ended up having her head plucked instead. When she saw him standing there, she had assumed he knew about the flowers born from his mother’s Bone Pearl.

Since he didn’t ask, Liao Tingyan didn’t bring it up either, avoiding the topic and instead saying, “Didn’t you say the poison flowers were incurable?”

“There are flowers that can cure any poison,” Sima Jiao replied matter-of-factly.

Liao Tingyan thought to herself, So it wasn’t a battle of contradictions—it was more like a matching game.

Back then, when Sima Jiao had watched Liao Tingyan collapse, he crouched beside her and pondered for a long while before deciding to save her. So he picked some flowers and tested them himself. He wasn’t afraid of the flowers because they had no effect on the Sima clan. Others couldn’t distinguish between medicine and poison, but he had the Spirit Mountain Fire—he could tell by tasting them. Bitter ones were Spirit Medicine, sweet ones were poison. He just needed to find a bitter one and feed it to her. What he hadn’t expected was that she would sleep for half a month.

During those two weeks, others had come to Three Sage Mountain, and Sima Jiao had fought them, reducing all the structures to ashes. Not wanting to leave her lying around, he placed her in the coffin at the base of the Central Tower—he had slept there for centuries before, so it was practically his storage space.

Though Liao Tingyan didn’t know the specifics of what Sima Jiao had done, she knew he had saved her this time and felt a flicker of gratitude… Wait, no. Gratitude, my ass! Wasn’t he the one who poisoned her in the first place? Trash! Absolute trash!

She pressed a hand to her chest, then froze. Why did her chest feel two sizes bigger? The weight of it was so substantial now—no wonder lying down made her feel like she was being smothered.

She stayed silent for a long time, her expression darkening. Sima Jiao’s face darkened too, irritation creeping in. “What are you thinking about?”

Liao Tingyan: “My chest seems to have suddenly grown?” Her legs also seemed longer, and the skin on her hands looked even more luminous, as if she’d been put through a beauty filter.

Sima Jiao: “Chest?” For the first time, he actually looked at Liao Tingyan’s chest.

Liao Tingyan stared down at her own chest, tempted to touch it, but restrained herself since she was being carried by a man. Just as she was fighting the urge, she saw Sima Jiao reach out with a detached expression and give it a perfectly casual squeeze.

Liao Tingyan: ??? What are you doing with your hand? Where are you touching??

Sima Jiao: “It’s just two lumps of flesh. What’s the point of them being this big?”

Seeing the disdain and indifference on his face, Liao Tingyan flashed him a fake smile. “Maybe take your hand off before saying that.”