When Destiny Brings the Demon

Sima Jiao was a very nominal emperor, much like when he had been a sect ancestor—he never acted like one, instead resembling a great demonic leader from the enemy camp. Considering his past as Cizang Daojun, where he had brought down the Gengchen Immortal Mansion, and later as the Demon Lord of the Demon Realm, where he had nearly wiped out half the demon lords and generals, Liao Tingyan didn’t force him to be a proper emperor. After all, everything was overseen by her... or rather, her demon generals, ensuring nothing major would go wrong.

The sudden resolution of the snow disaster in the southern prefecture and the spring plague that was reported to the emperor before it could erupt on a large scale were both mysteriously quelled. Demon generals weren’t skilled at handling plagues—they were better at spreading them and creating ghastly scenes with living corpses and vengeful spirits—so the task was delegated to some cultivators, with Clear Valley Heaven also contributing.

Invited by the Demon Realm to aid the mortal nations in dispelling the plague, the righteous cultivators worked diligently, though they couldn’t help feeling a little conflicted.

We’re righteous cultivators! Why are we saving the world alongside the Demon Realm?! Wait, why is the Demon Realm saving the world? Are they the righteous ones, or are we?

After the matter was successfully resolved, rumors spread everywhere that the emperor was blessed by divine mandate, capable of summoning immortals to aid him.

The court officials, who had once feared and secretly despised Sima Jiao, began treating him with even greater reverence, their imaginations running wild. They didn’t dare ask why the young prince hadn’t grown an inch in two or three years.

Among the palace servants, a particularly vivid rumor circulated—that on a stormy night, a massive, serpentine shadow had coiled around the young prince’s palace, nearly engulfing it entirely.

“What snake? That must’ve been a dragon!”

“Exactly! The young prince is the crown prince of the nation—of course he has the aura of a true dragon!”

Sima Jiao paid no mind to these rumors. He and Liao Tingyan rarely stayed in the palace. Even when lazing around, Liao Tingyan preferred scenic places with abundant delicacies, so she would move to a new location every six months or so, depending on her mood.

This was probably the ultimate dream of a lazy fish when it came to travel—going wherever she pleased, whenever she pleased, but always lounging no matter where she was.

At first, Liao Tingyan felt a little guilty about leaving the Black Snake alone in the palace, but Sima Jiao said, “Let him stay there. Being emperor for a while will be good for him in the long run. A decade or so on the throne, and he’ll be able to speak.”

The fortunes of a mortal dynasty differed from those of the cultivation world. As a supreme expert, Sima Jiao used his own methods to rapidly elevate both his Dao companion and his subordinate.

This terrifying man—how horrifying!

At some point, the emperor, who had remembered he didn’t actually have a son, still treated the Black Snake as one. The scenario Liao Tingyan had hoped for—where he would recall everything and be forced to eat his words—never came to pass.

She was slightly disappointed. Once the little emperor reverted to his old, ruthless self as the sect ancestor, he became even better at keeping up appearances. She couldn’t tell if he was secretly fuming, nor could she sense it through Soul Communion. The only things she could sense were... things she’d rather not say out loud.Sima Jiao had been in a much better mood lately, without the constant suppressed rage that had characterized their ancestor in the past. Liao Tingyan attributed this largely to his improved sleep quality, proving just how important sufficient rest was for maintaining a pleasant disposition—it could even alleviate and cure manic tendencies.

They had recently arrived in a previously unexplored area—the western region on the fringes of the cultivation territories. Here, thousands of mountains stretched endlessly, shrouded in perennial mist and damp rain, with boundless forests and countless local delicacies. The spiritual energy here was thin, even worse than in the Demon Realm, but there were some unique cultivation clans. They didn’t practice orthodox Five Elements Spells but rather spirit shamanism.

Liao Tingyan had come for the local specialty—grilled mushrooms. But after eating a meal of them, she began feeling unwell, her entire body burning up. Lying in bed, she questioned her life, wondering if she had been poisoned by the mushrooms. But she was a big shot now—could she really be taken down by mere mushrooms? This was so un-cultivator-like!

Then, after a nap, she woke up to find an egg beneath her.

Liao Tingyan stared blankly at the object in her hand: "…" An egg?

Wait a minute—what was this egg? This red, patterned egg—did Sima Jiao slip it under me while I was sleeping to mess with me?

Just then, Sima Jiao walked in. Liao Tingyan held up the warm egg toward him. "Your egg. Take it."

Sima Jiao pinched the egg, examined it for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed and tossed it lightly. "Did we have this together?"

Liao Tingyan scoffed. "We’re both humans. How could we produce an egg?" Wake up, you’re not in the Snake Demon setting anymore! You can’t lay eggs!

She was more inclined to believe this was Sima Jiao’s latest prank. He’d been unusually mischievous lately.

Sima Jiao studied the egg, then suddenly smashed it against the wall. Liao Tingyan’s heart clenched, and she blurted out, "My egg!"

Realizing her slip, she quickly corrected herself, "Your egg!"

The egg didn’t crack open—it remained intact, still oval-shaped.

Sima Jiao: "Why don’t you try incubating it and see what hatches?"

Liao Tingyan wasn’t as easily fooled as before. She eyed him suspiciously and warily. "You already know what’s inside, don’t you?"

Sima Jiao chuckled, lying down beside her and casually tossing the egg down her collar. Liao Tingyan felt the warm egg roll down to her stomach and immediately fished it out, shoving it back at Sima Jiao. "If you want to incubate it, do it yourself! I’m not doing it!"

Sima Jiao caught her hand, wrapping it around the egg. "In that case, let’s just roast and eat it." As he spoke, transparent blue flames erupted from his palm, engulfing Liao Tingyan’s hand and the egg.

Liao Tingyan: "Wait!" How could he just set it on fire like that? What if there was something alive inside?

With a crack, the egg in her palm split open.

A burst of red flames shot out, immediately shouting, "F*ck me, you two shameless Daoist partners, trying to torture me again! I must’ve been cursed for eight lifetimes to be stuck with you!"

It was the foul-mouthed little flame! Long time no see.

Liao Tingyan had thought it had been refined by Sima Jiao long ago and lost its consciousness. After all, in the nearly twenty years she’d possessed this spirit fire, she’d never heard the foul-mouthed little flame make a peep.She instinctively looked at Sima Jiao. Seeing his expression, she knew he must have been aware of this matter long ago. There were more than one or two things this man hadn’t told her. The most infuriating part? It wasn’t that he deliberately concealed them—he simply didn’t think they were worth mentioning, his mind always preoccupied with who-knows-what.

So, she usually stumbled upon things one by one, learning them as they came. Who knew what other "surprises" he might have in store.

Liao Tingyan grabbed the chattering flame and tossed it into Sima Jiao’s arms. "Explain this."

"The spirit fire’s true form can manifest outside the body," Sima Jiao flicked the cursing flame away. "It means you’ve fully merged with it now."

After all, Liao Tingyan wasn’t of Fengshan Clan bloodline. Back then, forcibly passing the spirit fire to her hadn’t been easy—it required a lengthy merging process he’d estimated would take thirty years. But because his own spirit fire had stirred it these past few years, the fusion completed ahead of schedule.

The spirit fire perched on a jade pillow nearby, as if it had been pent up for too long and grown bolder. It shouted loudly, "Sima, you heartless bastard! After all these years serving you, you abandon me for another woman without a second thought. Look how shrunken I’ve become, you Sima family—"

Why did this sound so wrong?

Liao Tingyan: "I’ll leave you two alone, then."

She finally understood. Previously, though she possessed the spirit fire, she couldn’t wield it as effortlessly as Sima Jiao. She’d assumed it was due to lacking Fengshan bloodline, which weakened the flame’s power. Now she realized it simply hadn’t fully merged before. With complete fusion, new insights flooded her mind, and she felt her strength grow once more.

Liao Tingyan: "..." Suddenly, she grasped what Sima Jiao had been planning all along.

First, he intimidated all the troublemakers in the Demon Realm and key figures in the cultivation world. Then he gave her the spirit fire to flaunt and frighten others. By the time the flame fully merged, his lingering prestige would no longer deter those with ulterior motives—but by then, she’d have nothing to fear either with the fully integrated spirit fire.

His planning was thorough. Far more thorough than she’d imagined.

Liao Tingyan pressed the cursing flame into silence and withdrew it. She lay down on the bed. This man—how did he always manage to move and infuriate her simultaneously?

This tormenting ancestor!

She stayed quiet. Sima Jiao glanced at her, tugged his sleeve, and offered his wrist. Liao Tingyan obligingly opened her mouth and bit down.

"Not angry anymore?" Sima Jiao traced the teeth marks, gauging the depth to assess her current level of displeasure—mild irritation this time.

"Mm." Liao Tingyan figured if she got mad at Sima Jiao over every little thing, she’d eventually inflate like a balloon and float away. Besides, anger was exhausting—fine in small doses, but unsustainable long-term. Might as well let it go after a token display of indignation.

Somehow, this became their pattern. Whenever Liao Tingyan showed signs of anger, Sima Jiao would offer his arm or fingers for her to vent on, or let her choose any spot to bite.

A tuft of his hair—now frayed from her nibbling—still dangled at the ends, occasionally lifted by him for inspection.Liao Tingyan felt better and got up to look for food. Delicious cuisine was a very important part of her life. She had gone so far as to conceal her identity and come here for it, so of course she wasn’t going to settle for just one meal.

Before she could enjoy the food, she encountered a fiery-tempered girl who had taken a fancy to Sima Jiao’s good looks and started arguing with Liao Tingyan right in the street.

Liao Tingyan: “…” Arguing isn’t my strong suit.

So she released the little flame of profanity she’d been holding back for a long time. Although its vocabulary of insults wasn’t extensive, as everyone knows, a child’s high-pitched screams and unreasonable crying complaints can defeat any street argument. The girl who had wanted to hook up with Sima Jiao fled in disarray, her face dark as she covered her ears.

Liao Tingyan, meanwhile, finished two skewers of wild game and grilled vegetables. She felt that the unique flavors alone made the trip worthwhile.

The men and women here were also exceptionally passionate.

On the way back, Liao Tingyan was hit on by a wild-looking man with painted face markings. Here, when men or women tried to pick someone up, they would argue or fight first, then simply carry the person off to bed. So in reality, Liao Tingyan had received a challenge from the man. But before he could finish speaking, he turned to ashes right in front of her.

Liao Tingyan: “…” She heard screams erupt around her as the crowd panicked.

She saw Sima Jiao flex his fingers nearby.

He sneered, a long-absent ferocity rising within him, flames flickering around his body.

—Just like the Flame Demon King who had once scorched Three Sage Mountain with fire. She had thought his temper had improved, but now it seemed that might have been an illusion.

The legends of the demon king in the World of Cultivation had gained a new chapter.

Liao Tingyan: “Ancestor! Please retract your divine power! I’ll handle it, let me handle it!”

Later, the legendary demon king became two.

Liao Tingyan: “…” So unfair, it’s all Sima Jiao framing me.

Divorce was out of the question; she could only endure being framed by him for a lifetime.

(End of main story)

Author’s note: Four extras—ABO, vampire, mermaid, and campus. The extras are unrelated to the main story~