When Destiny Brings the Demon

Although the Tribulation Lightning was withstood by Sima Jiao, Liao Tingyan still successfully advanced from the Transformation Stage to the Void Refining Stage.

The heavens and earth have their own rules. Originally, Liao Tingyan's Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation had turned into a Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, which was attributed to Sima Jiao. Since Sima Jiao blocked the lightning, the achievement could still be credited to Liao Tingyan.

It was like coming to take a sixth-grade math test only to find a college-level calculus paper, and then having an outsider rush in to complete it for her. Liao Tingyan's tribulation was perilous yet ultimately safe.

Now, judging solely by her cultivation level, she could be considered a powerhouse even within the inner court. But Liao Tingyan felt no sense of reality about it.

If she were surrounded by Qi Refining Stage or Foundation Establishment cultivators, she might have felt a bit proud. But the person beside her was a powerhouse who could ascend at any moment, and the enemies they encountered were either at the Transformation Stage, Void Refining Stage, or even higher—each no weaker than her and having lived hundreds or thousands of years longer. In such circumstances, she really didn’t think her current cultivation level was anything remarkable.

After surviving the tribulation, she still had to cultivate in Thunderclap Valley for a few more days.

Liao Tingyan didn’t want to stay here, especially since her cultivation would inevitably grow—something she least desired right now.

Sima Jiao: "Stay here."

Liao Tingyan: "Fine." She missed her quiet napping spots and Shi Yuxiang’s flower-filled, fragrant palace. Any place was more comfortable to sleep in than this barren rocky field. Moreover, there was something unusual about this place—even the live-streaming mirror had no signal here, cutting off a lot of entertainment. It was like suddenly losing internet access.

It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back. She hadn’t been this particular when she first arrived in this world.

Whatever Sima Jiao did, he had his reasons. If he wanted to stay here, there must be a purpose. Liao Tingyan thought for a moment and asked, "How long do we have to stay?"

Sima Jiao: "Three days."

Liao Tingyan glanced at his bandaged finger, suspecting this was his petty revenge for her insisting the wound be wrapped for three days. This man was absolutely capable of such childish behavior.

But whatever. She didn’t care.

The tribulation had taken a long time, and it was already night again. Although her current cultivation allowed her to see in the dark, Liao Tingyan still preferred light, so she took out a lantern. She particularly liked these flower-shaped lanterns—their shades cast patterns resembling blooming flowers, scattering floral light around her.

Hanging up the lantern, she set up a table, took out prepared food, and began enjoying the meal.

Liao Tingyan had always believed that no matter where she went, as long as conditions allowed, she must eat well and sleep well. Doing so would naturally lift her spirits—it was the best way to treat herself kindly. So wherever she followed Sima Jiao, she always paid attention to these details.

Her storage space was filled with all kinds of food, drinks, and items to make life more comfortable—anything that could boost happiness. Her collection included familiar favorites, soft cushions, fur mats, pillows, long couches, bamboo mats, grilling racks, stewing pots, portable hotpots, and more—enough to furnish several cozy living spaces in an instant.

In stark contrast, Sima Jiao never cared about such things. Whether he resided in opulent palaces or sat on a boulder in the wilderness, he remained the same, as if he never needed anything to embellish or serve him.

Yet he didn’t dislike Liao Tingyan’s lifestyle arrangements. In fact, he greatly enjoyed watching her do these things.He watched as Liao Tingyan took out her favorite soft cushion to support her back, settling comfortably before pulling out food and drinks. Under his gaze, she leisurely enjoyed her dinner, wiped her mouth afterward, and then produced two wooden figurines she had made herself.

There was a celestial-tier spell called the Puppetry Art, which could temporarily bestow life upon inanimate objects, making them obey their master's commands. This was what Liao Tingyan was using now.

In the Compendium of Spells Sima Jiao had given her, the Puppetry Art was one of the more difficult ones. He had never seen her attempt celestial-tier spells before—most of her time was spent flipping through the simpler ones at the beginning. Even with those, she would clutch the book, tug at her hair, and lament how impossible they were to learn.

This was the first time he had seen Liao Tingyan use a celestial-tier spell, and this Puppetry Art was one he himself had never tried. Intrigued, he watched as she animated the two wooden figurines.

Before being animated, the figurines were palm-sized, but after the spell, they grew to about waist height. They had round heads, with eyes and mouths drawn by Liao Tingyan—her usual emoticon style: two curved lines for smiling eyes and a "3" for a pouty mouth, or round eyes with a sideways "3" pout. They looked like adorable, chubby stick figures straight out of a comic.

The two cute, round-headed figures were obedient and diligent. One cleared the dining table, while the other, armed with a tiny hammer Liao Tingyan had given it, diligently pounded away at her back.

Sima Jiao had never seen such bizarre little 'creatures' before and couldn’t understand why Liao Tingyan was gazing at them with such fondness, calling them adorable. He glanced at the busy little figures, finding them oddly shaped, until he noticed the characters written on their backs: "1" and "2."

"What’s that?" Sima Jiao grabbed one of the figures, pointing at the number on its back.

The captured No. 2 figure, which had been hammering Liao Tingyan’s back, suddenly found itself airborne, flailing its limbs and tiny hammer in protest.

"Don’t bully the kids!" Liao Tingyan set it back down and patted its head before answering, "They’re numbers. That’s 1, and this is 2."

Only then did she realize—the ancestor wouldn’t know Arabic numerals. Speaking of which, she had another question. During their Dual Cultivation, she had occasionally glimpsed fragments of Sima Jiao’s memories. By the principle of reciprocity, he should have seen some of hers too, yet he had never shown any reaction.

If he had seen memories of her previous world, he should have bombarded her with endless questions. But there had been no sign of that. Even when she occasionally slipped up and referenced things from her original world in moments of excitement, he never reacted.

So she had a theory: everything about her past world might be "blocked."

Sima Jiao frowned. "One and two? Why use such strange symbols?" He didn’t press further, assuming it might be some Demon Realm convention.

Still, the Puppetry Art had piqued his interest. He held out his hand. "Hand over the 'Gengchen Compendium of Ten Thousand Spells.'""The Compendium of Ten Thousand Methods from Gengchen" was the massive tome of Spells that he had previously brought back for Liao Tingyan. She took it out and handed it to him. He flipped through it rapidly, found the Spirit Binding Technique, studied it for about ten seconds, then closed his eyes for five seconds. After that, he took a blank little wooden figurine from Liao Tingyan and used the Spirit Binding Technique to animate it.

Liao Tingyan: "..." Mastering a heavenly-tier Spell in fifteen seconds—do you know how long it took me?! I kept failing before and only succeeded after reaching the Void Refining Stage! I was even feeling a little proud just now!

Now, witnessing the brilliance of a prodigy, her pride and joy committed double suicide together.

The little wooden figurine Sima Jiao animated was just as round and chubby as Xiao Yi and Xiao Er, except Liao Tingyan hadn’t drawn eyes or a mouth on it yet, so it just dumbly groped around.

Sima Jiao pressed a hand down on the little figurine’s head, watching with mischief as it spun helplessly under his palm.

Liao Tingyan thought he looked like a little boy playing with a toy.

She took the figurine back and also drew an emoji-style expression on it—one that looked inexplicably mocking, bearing a subtle resemblance to Sima Jiao.

She labeled it "No. 3" on the back.

Despite its mocking expression, Xiao San was also a diligent little worker. Since Liao Tingyan didn’t have much for it to do, she took out a bag of nuts—she couldn’t remember what they were called, but they were quite tasty, just troublesome to shell.

She gave Xiao San the bag of nuts and a large bowl, and it obediently sat down to start shelling them, filling the bowl before dutifully moving on to the next.

Sima Jiao: "..."

Sima Jiao: "I was the one who animated that."

Liao Tingyan: "Hey, no need to split hairs. Here, have a nut." Good for the brain.

She stuffed a nut into Sima Jiao’s mouth. He had been about to say that, generally speaking, only the animator could command a spirit they had summoned, but seeing Liao Tingyan’s oblivious expression, he couldn’t be bothered to explain. It was probably due to their Soul Communion that he found her commanding it so amusing.

He chewed the nut in his mouth and only realized after swallowing that he had actually eaten something. Irritated, he flopped back down.

He didn’t like eating anything—not because of the taste. When he was very young, most of his caretakers were from the Shi family, and they had fed him some... less-than-pleasant things. In any case, afterward, he never wanted to eat anything again.

It wasn’t just pickiness, as Liao Tingyan had assumed.

Animated figurines would revert to their original state once their spiritual power was exhausted. To Liao Tingyan, they were like rechargeable robots.

Her Xiao Yi and Xiao Er reverted first. Xiao San lasted three times as long as the other two, though it seemed a bit slow—without her telling it to stop, it shelled enough nuts to form a small mountain. Liao Tingyan decided that next time she animated Xiao San, she wouldn’t make it shell nuts. Her stockpile had almost been depleted.

After staying for three days, even without cultivating, Liao Tingyan felt her cultivation steadily rising during this time.

"Shouldn’t we be leaving soon?" Liao Tingyan asked.

Sima Jiao stretched out his hand: "Take this off, and we can go."

Liao Tingyan: "..." Fine, fine, I’ll remove your foot cover, you stinky cat.Over the past three days, she had taken meticulous care of him, ensuring the ancestor didn't have to lift a finger. So when she unwrapped the Medicinal Talisman now, she found the healing progress slightly better than expected. Holding Sima Jiao's hand like Er Kang cradling Zi Wei's, she suddenly became possessed by theatrical spirits and said with exaggerated tenderness, "Promise me you'll be careful not to reopen the wound or bump it. It would break my heart."

Sima Jiao's expression looked as if she'd dropped a caterpillar down his shirt.

Liao Tingyan: "Wait! Aren't we leaving? Why are you going further inside?" Could he have heard her mentally laughing at him and gotten angry?

Sima Jiao glanced back at her. "Grabbing something before we go."

Liao Tingyan was certain this casually mentioned "something" couldn't possibly be simple.

When Sima Jiao reached to pull her along, she preemptively wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'll hold on like this. Don't use your hand."

Sima Jiao rested his hand on her shoulder instead. In an instant, he transported them to the center of Thunderclap Valley. Releasing her, he pressed his palm against an ordinary-looking stone at the epicenter.

The earth shook violently, but their footing remained perfectly steady. As the ground beneath her vanished, Liao Tingyan quickly stabilized herself midair, discovering they now stood within a river of stars.

In this vast black emptiness, glittering purple light points flowed like a celestial river beneath their feet.

"Come." Sima Jiao strode forward along the purple starry river. Following behind, Liao Tingyan observed the tiny purple lights closely - as they floated near her face, she realized they took the shape of floral sparks.

After walking this path awhile, they reached a convergence point where multiple star rivers met. All the radiant lights swirled around a fist-sized purple stone, around which miniature lightning arcs crackled.

When Sima Jiao plucked the stone, the electric threads sizzled and stabbed into his fingers - only to be peeled away like removing the white pith from citrus segments.

After cleaning it thoroughly, he tossed the stone to Liao Tingyan with utter nonchalance.

"Let's go."

"What's this?" Liao Tingyan turned the stone over in her hands.

Sima Jiao: "Thunderstone."

Liao Tingyan: "Given where we found it, I can't help suspecting this premium-grade Thunderstone is rather important to Thunderclap Valley."

Tapping the deceptively plain-looking stone, Sima Jiao explained, "It's the 'heart' of Thunderclap Valley. The valley's ability to block Tribulation Lightning comes mainly from this."

Liao Tingyan: "..." So you're telling me taking this means destroying Thunderclap Valley?

"People will notice," she fretted while hastily pocketing the stone. Joke aside - if it's this useful, they're keeping it even if discovered. They'll need it again.

Sima Jiao: "They won't. By the time they realize, significant time will have passed." By then, no one would care about this place anymore. This thought amused him, bringing a faint smile.

As they departed, Liao Tingyan still felt surreal. "You just waltzed in and casually took their most important treasure? Just like that?"

Sima Jiao: "Thunderclap Valley was originally created by the Sima clan. The Thunderstone has always belonged to Sima Shi."Liao Tingyan: "No wonder you could get in! But even though it was your territory before, after Shi Shi has held onto it for so long, wouldn’t they have set up some kind of restriction to prevent the Sima Shi from coming and going freely?"

Sima Jiao scoffed. "Of course they did. But does it work on me?"

Hah, useless trash. His expression spelled it out plainly.

Liao Tingyan thought that with this ancestor’s mouth and that expression alone, he could piss off at least ten members of the Shi family.

Author’s note:

Shi Shi: Behold my firewall!

Virus Jiao: rips through firewall barehanded.