When Destiny Brings the Demon

These defensive magic treasures came in all shapes and forms—some were crafted into hairpins, bracelets, or earrings, while others were made into armlets or anklets. These were fine; she could wear them. But armor? And in XXXL size? How was she supposed to fit into that?

Taking the armor was one thing, but that massive round shield with patterns resembling a tortoiseshell? Did Sima Jiao want to turn her into a mobile fortress?

When Liao Tingyan saw Sima Jiao pick up a heavy nose ring, weighing it in his hand with apparent satisfaction, she felt a pang of grief for his long-lost sense of aesthetics. She stepped forward and grabbed his hand. "Let’s skip this nose ring, alright? If you really put this on me, my pretty nose might just fall off."

Sima Jiao: "Hmm? This is a nose ring?"

Liao Tingyan: "Yes, yes! This nose ring is probably meant for a cow—it’s way too exaggerated. Let’s just leave it."

Sima Jiao: "I think it’ll work."

Liao Tingyan: ...Ancestor! I won’t work!

He walked past her and picked up a pauldron—an oversized one covered in glistening spikes, clearly designed for a muscle-bound hulk with eighteen-pack abs. Judging by his pleased expression, he was taking that too.

Liao Tingyan hadn’t expected his tastes to be so... wild. She couldn’t even control her facial expression anymore. Sima Jiao, walking ahead, seemed to sense her reaction and smirked in amusement.

Not giving up, Liao Tingyan tugged at his sleeve. "Are all these really for me to use?"

Sima Jiao replied leisurely, "Of course they’re all for you."

Liao Tingyan had no choice but to deploy her ultimate weapon—acting spoiled. "But I don’t like them! Can’t we just forget about it?"

The corners of Sima Jiao’s lips curled upward. He could hear Liao Tingyan cursing him in her mind—and quite viciously at that. He picked up an exquisitely crafted beaded necklace collar and showed it to her. "Do you like this one?"

The collar was adorned with jade swallows and auspicious clouds, intricate filigree patterns, inlaid with red gemstones and embellished with golden tassels. The band itself was delicately engraved with fine, hollowed-out designs—utterly exquisite.

Liao Tingyan: "I love it! See how beautiful this is?" When the ancestor is normal, he actually has taste.

Sima Jiao tossed the collar aside with a clatter. "Too bad it’s not a defensive magic treasure. So, no."

Damn it.

What’s wrong with this man? Does he even have real feelings for me? What kind of fake, plastic affection is this?!

In Wind Flower City, Shi Yuxiang was the undisputed ruler—no one dared to question her. The attendants around her were all pretty-faced young men with modest cultivation but more than enough charm to please the eye. Since arriving here, Liao Tingyan had enjoyed even more freedom than back at the academy. After all, she didn’t even have classes anymore, giving her a leisurely, vacation-like feeling.

Shi Yuxiang’s residence was far more luxurious than the academy’s, rivaling even the palace at White Deer Cliff. It was clear that the Shi family enjoyed exceptional privileges. Having seen so many opulent palaces and treasures since arriving in this world, Liao Tingyan was starting to view wealth as mere fleeting clouds.

Nowadays, she slept with the most temperamental ancestor, lived in the most extravagant rooms... and wore the ugliest defensive artifacts.

Upon returning, Liao Tingyan refused to deck herself out in that pile of monstrosities. Instead, she flopped straight onto the plush bed, burying herself in the flower-embroidered cloud quilt, motionless—silently protesting.Sima Jiao ignored her, not even sparing her a glance, and simply took those items elsewhere. Liao Tingyan didn’t hear any movement from him, so she got up and looked around but couldn’t find him.

Liao Tingyan: The ancestor must be up to something.

She felt that Sima Jiao had just been teasing her earlier. A man hundreds of years old could still act as childish as a kid at times. Calling him an elementary school brat wasn’t wrong at all—her little nephew in elementary school was even more mature and steady than him. That nephew would give flowers to the little girl he liked and even brought her milk in the morning.

Liao Tingyan pursed her lips, found a comfortable platform outside to sit on, and then pulled out a bottle of pills with a sigh, nibbling on two. She had taken these from the treasure vault. She had only picked them up because the bottle looked nice, but after Sima Jiao glanced at it and said the pills tasted decent and could calm the mind, she brought them along.

For some reason, ever since waking up from that high fever, she had felt restless and uneasy no matter what she did. Treating these as little cooling sugar pills, she ate two and indeed felt her spirit settle into tranquility.

Liao Tingyan: I even feel like chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha.

Sima Jiao found a quiet room to refine artifacts. The defensive magic treasures were haphazardly piled to the side as he dismantled them one by one, studied them, then melted and reforged them into various beads and decorative patterns.

Finally, he took out the Beaded Necklace Collar he had previously thrown away in front of Liao Tingyan and fused those beads with the treasure.

……

Liao Tingyan woke from her calm state to find herself squeezed to the side while Sima Jiao sprawled across her spacious seat, forcing her to lie on top of him.

She sat up and noticed an extra weight around her chest. Looking down, she saw a Beaded Necklace Collar.

The collar had already been beautiful, but with the added small beads and floral embellishments, it looked even more stunning. Liao Tingyan couldn’t help but adore it, thinking to herself, The ancestor pretended to throw it away earlier, but he still took it back in the end. But upon closer inspection, she realized something was different.

Originally, the collar’s function had been storage—somewhat redundant for a Transformation Stage cultivator who could create their own spatial pockets. But now, it seemed to have become a defensive magic treasure with an additional storage feature.

After fiddling with it for a while, she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. What kind of magical creature is Sima Jiao? How does he even know artifact refining?

Sima Jiao opened his eyes to look at her. Liao Tingyan lifted the collar. “Did you refine this yourself?”

Sima Jiao gave a dismissive hum in response.

Liao Tingyan was curious. “Where did you learn artifact refining?” The lectures she had attended earlier weren’t for nothing—the teacher had covered the basics quite thoroughly. Supposedly, artifact refining was incredibly difficult, akin to subjects like math and physics for modern students—impossible to grasp without innate talent.

She certainly couldn’t do it. After skimming through an introductory jade slip on refining, she had wisely given up.

This ancestor had been imprisoned on Three Sage Mountain before—where had he picked up these skills?

Sima Jiao countered, “Something this simple—do you really need to learn it?”

For him, it truly was easy. There were books and spells circulating on Three Sage Mountain. Though he hadn’t wanted to learn, the days were too long, and out of boredom, he had perused some. With a little thought, he understood. Moreover, he had an advantage over ordinary cultivators—he possessed spirit fire.

Liao Tingyan: Blinded by the sheer radiance of this guy’s kingly aura. "Do I still need to wear all those shoulder armors and body armors?" Liao Tingyan held the beautiful Beaded Necklace Collar gifted by her ancestor, feeling like she had dodged a bullet.

Sima Jiao: "Think about it for a second. Did you really think I’d make you wear those things?"

Hmm… Given Sima Jiao’s unpredictable ways, that wasn’t necessarily a given.

Liao Tingyan smiled at him. "Of course you wouldn’t. You’re the best."

Sima Jiao: "That’s not what you’re thinking in your heart."

Liao Tingyan: "My mind is perfectly calm. You shouldn’t be able to hear my thoughts."

Sima Jiao pressed a hand against her forehead, pushing her down beside him, his expression half-amused. "Don’t need to hear. I can guess."

Oh well, so what if he guessed? Liao Tingyan wasn’t afraid of him at all. She lowered her head to examine the Beaded Necklace Collar carefully, counting how many defensive restrictions were embedded in it. Aside from integrating existing Defensive Magic Treasures, it seemed he had also forged new ones himself, utilizing the original storage function to miniaturize many defensive artifacts inside.

The more she looked, the more she lost count.

Liao Tingyan gave up and lay down.

Sima Jiao: "Done counting?"

Liao Tingyan: "No point. There are so many, I doubt I’ll even need them."

Sima Jiao chuckled. "You’ll need them soon enough."

Liao Tingyan: "???"

She turned to look at him, only to find his eyes closed. "You’ll know in a couple of days."

He never liked explaining things. Only when he deemed the time right would he suddenly spring into action. Liao Tingyan was used to this behavior of his—no wonder he was called the ancestor. His level of difficulty was truly ancestral.

Anyone else might’ve been driven mad by him, but Liao Tingyan’s curiosity lasted at most ten minutes, and her desire to explore things was equally limited. So she couldn’t be bothered to ask further, preferring to wait until the boat reached the bridge naturally.

For the next two days, she felt inexplicably restless and irritable, unable to find the reason. She couldn’t even sleep well, turning into a grumpy salted fish. The usually ill-tempered Sima Jiao, however, remained perfectly calm watching her like this, occasionally even observing her tantrums with a strange look, as if he were just short of applauding and asking her to throw another fit for his amusement.

Liao Tingyan: I really need some calming herbal tonic right now.

That night, a heavy storm rolled in, accompanied by deafening thunderclaps. The thunder was so loud it felt like it was striking right above their heads. For some reason, Liao Tingyan felt a sense of dread, shrinking back in fear. For the first time, she wasn’t woken up in the middle of the night by Sima Jiao, but by the thunder itself.

What’s wrong with me? Did I do something bad and now I’m scared of thunder? Liao Tingyan sat on the bed, utterly baffled. Another thunderclap boomed, and her heart pounded violently. Unable to help herself, she started shaking Sima Jiao.

Sima Jiao wasn’t asleep—he just had his eyes closed. Liao Tingyan shook him for a long time, but he refused to open his eyes, though the corners of his lips kept twitching upward.

After a moment of silence, Liao Tingyan pressed her hand against a certain part of him.

Sima Jiao finally opened his eyes.

Liao Tingyan wore a solemn expression. "The thunder is making me feel uneasy. Why is that? I’ve never been like this before."

Sima Jiao: "Take your hand off, or you’ll get struck by lightning immediately."

Liao Tingyan glanced at that part of him. "Care to explain the causal relationship here?" Does that thing of yours summon lightning or something? She deliberately screamed the thought in her mind, riling herself up.

Sima Jiao rolled over, laughing. Once again, she had inexplicably tickled his funny bone.He laughed enough, then hooked his hand behind Liao Tingyan's head and pulled her onto himself. "You're about to break through, soon there'll be Tribulation Lightning. That's why you're like this."

Liao Tingyan suddenly understood, remembering this matter.

Right, she was indeed about to break through. It wasn't her fault for not feeling it—after all, she hadn't cultivated step by step to reach this point. Previously, due to the Blood Clot Flower from Fengshan, she had broken through multiple times without facing Tribulation Lightning, sailing smoothly all the way without any experience. This was her first time.

Her cultivation had risen too quickly. Earlier, after Dual Cultivation with Sima Jiao, it had advanced another notch. What he meant just now was that if they were to Dual Cultivate again now, she would probably break through immediately and get struck by lightning right here.

Liao Tingyan took a deep breath and rubbed her fingers together. Close call, close call.

But why did the state before breaking through feel so much like early menopause?

Also, so all those defense armors the ancestor had prepared for her were meant to block Tribulation Lightning? She had thought it was because he was provoked by her being bullied before.

After thinking for a while, Liao Tingyan humbly asked, "I wouldn't be the first Transformation Stage cultivator to die from failing to withstand Tribulation Lightning, would I?" After all, she had taken shortcuts. She felt a bit guilty.

Sima Jiao was still putting on airs. "If I don't let you die, you won't die."

Alright, alright, you're the best.

The next day, Liao Tingyan realized the ancestor was truly formidable.

"Do you know why I chose Shi Yuxiang?" Sima Jiao lifted the white mouse that Shi Yuxiang had transformed into and said to Liao Tingyan, "Because she's also a Transformation Stage cultivator about to break through."

The Shi family enjoyed special privileges. When their members were about to break through, they could go to a secret place in the Gengchen Immortal Mansion—Thunderclap Valley—to undergo their breakthrough. There, natural barriers would block most of the Tribulation Lightning. Even the most mediocre Shi family disciple couldn't possibly be struck to death by lightning.

Moreover, there was a hidden secret there that allowed cultivators who broke through in that place to advance another minor realm within a few days. The further one progressed in cultivation, the harder it became to improve. This minor realm would typically take ordinary people decades or even centuries to achieve.

Sima Jiao wanted Liao Tingyan to replace Shi Yuxiang and go to Thunderclap Valley for her breakthrough.

Author's note: Yan Yan: Getting power-leveled by the big boss.