When Destiny Brings the Demon

A day in Yancheng begins with the mingled aromas of various foods wafting from the street outside the palace walls.

Over the years, the city has seen an increasing number of restaurants, teahouses, and gourmet shops, all vying for the favor of Liao Tingyan.

Liao Tingyan, the City Lord of Yancheng and the Demon Lord of the Demon Realm, is a ruler entirely different from her predecessor, Sima Jiao. She lacks his unpredictable temper and is not prone to fits of rage. In most situations, she is remarkably easygoing.

Yet no one dares to underestimate this seemingly amiable Demon Lord. As long as she possesses the spirit fire—the very same one once wielded by Sima Jiao, which struck fear into the hearts of all—no one would dare challenge her authority.

Moreover, in the years since Sima Jiao's death, whispers have spread. Many found it hard to believe that a being at the top of the food chain could perish so abruptly and mysteriously. The prevailing theory was that only someone closest to him could have orchestrated his demise. Thus, rumors circulated that Liao Tingyan had killed Sima Jiao to seize his spirit fire.

These rumors gained traction, especially after Liao Tingyan demonstrated her mastery of the fire by executing several rebellious demon generals. As a result, many in the Demon Realm regarded her with deep awe and fear.

A woman ruthless and cunning enough to outmaneuver Sima Jiao and seize power was not to be trifled with.

Yet the very woman deemed the most scheming and formidable in the Demon Realm was currently soaking in a pool to escape the heat, groaning miserably, "I'm dying."

Hongluo walked down a shaded path, rounded a flower wall as tall as a person, and arrived at a semi-open-air Spiritual Pool. Spotting Liao Tingyan submerged in the water, she leaned against the jade railing and called out, "Haven't you soaked long enough? Are you eating breakfast or not?"

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," Liao Tingyan struggled out of the pool, dragging her waterlogged hair and soaked nightgown behind her, her face as pale as a drowned ghost.

After changing behind a screen and combing her hair, she applied lipstick while grumbling, "I swear, this damn fire is killing me. It's been hurting all day again."

Hongluo sighed from her seat. "Such is the price of power."

Liao Tingyan slammed her dressing table in frustration, her anger flaring even hotter as she thought of Sima Jiao, who was now who-knows-where.

Back then, Sima Jiao had overused his Bloodline Spirit Fire and recklessly fused it with a new fire cultivated by Shi Shi, pushing his body to the brink of collapse. In a sudden stroke of madness, he decided to refine himself into a candle, intending to burn his own flesh and soul to pass the refined spirit fire to her.

Furious beyond reason, Liao Tingyan had seized his power outright, forcibly cutting off the fire's transfer. Then, she yanked his barely ignited Divine Soul back from the conduit of the spirit fire.

In the end, the fire had still been successfully transferred, but without most of Sima Jiao's Divine Soul to guide it, the process had nearly burned Liao Tingyan alive with agony. Though the pain wasn't constant afterward, it left her with a lingering side effect—every month, without fail, she would suffer for several days.

Apart from the absence of bleeding, it was practically a textbook menstrual cycle.

She had come to the World of Cultivation, finally becoming a female cultivator free from periods, thinking she had bid farewell to menstruation forever. Yet here she was, cursed with a brand-new "monthly cycle" thanks to that bastard Sima Jiao.Over the years, during these few days each month, Liao Tingyan would be in excruciating pain—the kind of burning agony that made her feel like she was dying unless she soaked in water. Floating in the water, she always felt like a dead fish.

As for Sima Jiao’s Divine Soul, which she had desperately clung onto during her sudden outburst, it had become somewhat fragile after that bastard recklessly used it to refine spirit fire. Liao Tingyan had no choice but to immediately employ the Soul Transfer Rebirth Method, selecting a suitable Gestation Body to send him off for reincarnation.

Back when Sima Jiao had performed the Soul Transfer Rebirth for Hongluo, Liao Tingyan had witnessed the entire process, so she knew exactly what to do.

However, there was a catch with this method. For the best chance of success, the reincarnation should ideally take place in a Gestation Body with blood ties to the original soul. But the Sima clan’s bloodline had been nearly wiped out by Sima Jiao himself.

The alternative was to select a fetus whose compatibility with his Divine Soul was the highest, just like with Hongluo. Back then, Hongluo had been able to quickly find a suitable body because her Divine Soul wasn’t particularly strong, and there were many compatible candidates. But with Sima Jiao, it was different. Even in its damaged state, his Divine Soul wasn’t something just any fetus could accommodate.

Liao Tingyan simply couldn’t find a suitable Gestation Body for him. Left with no other choice, she wrapped his Divine Soul in a secret technique and cast it out, allowing it to instinctively seek a compatible Gestation Body and fetus.

But because of this, Liao Tingyan now had no way of locating Sima Jiao—she had no idea which corner of the world he had been reborn into. Moreover, since she didn’t know where the Gestation Body carrying him was, she couldn’t administer the Soul Revival Pill before birth. Without this external aid to preserve his memories, there was no telling how much he would remember on his own.

Nearly seventeen years had passed, and Liao Tingyan had dispatched countless Demon Realm cultivators to search for Sima Jiao. It was a massive undertaking, and after all this time, they still hadn’t found him. The Gengchen Immortal Mansion had once housed individuals with faint traces of the Sima bloodline, and Liao Tingyan had thoroughly combed through them first.

Then came the highly talented children born into major sects—she turned the Demon Realm and the cultivation world upside down but still found nothing. The wider she cast her net, the more elusive Sima Jiao remained.

Hongluo knew Liao Tingyan’s obsession. Seeing her expression, she could tell she was thinking about Sima Jiao again.

“What’s the rush? It’s not like panicking will help. It’s been so many years—he must have been born long ago. If he hasn’t returned, it means he hasn’t remembered anything, or he’s too far away to come back. Now we’re even searching the remote rural corners of mortal worlds. We’ll probably find him soon,” Hongluo reassured her as usual.

Their search had expanded so much that they had even reached the farthest edges of the continent’s mortal realms.

Liao Tingyan had even dreamed once that Sima Jiao had been reborn as a dark-skinned farmer in some village—his skin sunburnt, his build burly, spouting corny sweet nothings. She had also dreamed of him as a beggar, wandering everywhere, bullied by other beggars. With his temper, he wouldn’t tolerate it, leading to fights where he ended up killing someone in a rage and getting thrown into prison, never seeing the light of day again.

...If that really was his current state, how was she supposed to find this ancestor of hers? That would be too tragic.

Liao Tingyan and Hongluo took Black Snake and the snow spirit fox, who had just returned from playing outside, out for breakfast.Though Sima Jiao was a constant source of vexation, just as he had said before leaving, everything he left behind for her were things she loved most. So in all these years without him, her life remained peaceful and never lacked companionship. After all, all her troubles and grievances stemmed solely from Sima Jiao—this lingering problem from the past.

When Liao Tingyan went for breakfast, she was warmly welcomed by all the food stall owners. Accustomed to their eager gazes, she casually chose her most frequented eatery. The selected proprietor triumphantly ushered her in like a favored concubine, while the others sighed in disappointment or rallied their spirits to try again the next day.

This was a daily spectacle in Yancheng.

Halfway through her meal, commotion erupted outside as a dust-covered demon cultivator arrived and halted at the eatery's entrance.

"Demon Lord, the demon general searching the Southern Continent has sent urgent news," the demon cultivator reported excitedly, bowing before Liao Tingyan. "The general confirms this must be his reincarnation—not only did the soul lamp you crafted react, but he bears the same name and even resembles his former appearance!"

At this, Liao Tingyan's hand trembled, and a crystal-clear Crystal Mini Bun plopped onto the table.

"Damn it," she cursed, springing to her feet. "Gather the others—we leave now!"

Their destination was the Southern Continent's Hu Kingdom, a land scarce in spiritual energy and thus rarely frequented by cultivation sects. It was a world of mortals, where cultivators existed only in legends unknown to ordinary folk.

How the hell did that ancestor end up in such a backwater?

Too agitated to delay, Liao Tingyan set off immediately. Only after entering Hu Kingdom's borders did she think to ask, "Where exactly is he? What's his current identity?"

The messenger belatedly realized the demon general's letter lacked details.

"Never mind," Liao Tingyan waved him off. "Find us lodging first, then summon Demon General Qi for questioning."

To avoid causing panic in this mortal kingdom, Liao Tingyan's group disguised themselves as commoners, traveling by ordinary carriage to the nearest county seat.

Coincidentally, it was Hu Kingdom's Duanxia Festival. Liyang County bustled with activity, including dragon boat races on the river outside the city walls.

Observing the crowds—nearly everyone clutching mugwort, wearing sweet flag blossoms in their hair, and tying colorful strings around their wrists—Liao Tingyan felt a pang of nostalgia. The scene resembled the Dragon Boat Festival from her original world, a celebration she hadn't witnessed in the cultivation realm for decades. She lingered a moment longer before lowering the carriage curtain. Best to focus on finding Sima Jiao first.

...

Inside a pleasure boat on the lakeshore, Liyang County Magistrate Wei Xianyu hunched deferentially as he addressed the figure before him: "Your Majesty, with such crowds and so few guards, it's unsafe for your precious self to remain here. For safety's sake, please return to my residence to rest."

He stole furtive glances at the emperor's expression, terrified of provoking his wrath.Their emperor, named Sima Jiao, was notorious for his cruelty by the age of sixteen. Had the late king not left him as the sole heir, he would never have ascended the throne. It was no wonder that several elder statesmen secretly lamented, claiming this ruler bore the signs of a doomed kingdom and was destined to be its downfall.

This emperor had no interest in state affairs and had suffered from chronic headaches since childhood, making him highly intolerant of scholarly lectures. At the age of twelve, he even drew his sword and killed one of his tutors, earning severe criticism from the court—though those who dared to criticize him were swiftly executed.

Throughout history, benevolent rulers were easily manipulated by their ministers, while tyrants and despots acted with reckless abandon, doing as they pleased, which only instilled greater fear in their subjects.