Villainous Junior Chapter 66
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 66: Fourth Lifetime
The Flesh and Bone Regeneration Ointment made by Mei Xiaohan truly lived up to its reputation as a priceless miraculous medicine. Half a month later, Li Feng's right arm had completely regrown without any defects.
"It still feels a bit stiff though," Mei Xiaohan commented while repeatedly squeezing the muscles of his right arm, appearing somewhat dissatisfied.
Li Feng said, "It'll get better with practice."
He then asked, "What do you plan to do next?"
Mei Xiaohan replied: "Of course, we'll go take back what belongs to us."
Although he had a good temperament, that didn't mean he would let others bully him. Plum Blossom Valley was established by his ancestors and his father had invested countless efforts into it, entrusting it to him with great expectations. He would never hand over Plum Blossom Valley to a traitor.
Li Feng, as always, had no objections and simply replied. "Alright."
When Meng Chen learned they were leaving, he wasn't surprised. Regarding Mei Xiaohan's experience, he empathized more than anyone else - being betrayed by someone you trust the most was like having a deep thorn stuck in your heart. Only by removing it yourself could you finally find peace.
"We just need to borrow some experts from the Demon Venerable," Mei Xiaohan said. "Plum Blossom Valley has fallen under Xu Can's control, and he's at the Mahayana Realm. The two of us alone aren't strong enough to defeat him."
He spoke frankly, because he didn't think asking friends for help was something embarrassing. When Meng Chen and Xue Lang needed help, he would assist them with all his might; when he was in trouble, he would also ask them without hesitation.
This was what friendship meant.
Xue Lang directly said. "Others aren't reliable. I'll go with you myself."
Both Mei Xiaohan and Li Feng were surprised by this. Xue Lang glanced at Meng Chen and snorted. "Just a mere Mahayana cultivator, I can take him down with one hand."
He wanted to prove to his beloved that he was still a formidable man!
Meng Chen saw his smug expression and turned away with a slight smile, saying to Mei Xiaohan and Li Feng. "He's free anyway, let him go with you."
Having a Tribulation Crossing Demon Venerable join them was stronger than having several Mahayana cultivators, so Mei Xiaohan was naturally pleased. He then asked Meng Chen. "Chen Chen, do you want to come too?"
Before Meng Chen could speak, Xue Lang interjected. "The journey back and forth would be too tiring. Let him stay and watch over home."
After speaking, he felt his decision was too arbitrary, so he quickly looked at Meng Chen and asked for his opinion. "Is that okay?"
Looking into Xue Lang's eyes, Meng Chen cleverly perceived what remained unsaid. On the surface, Xue Lang said he didn't want him to tire himself with the journey, but in reality, he didn't want him involved in this matter.
He feared the experience of Mei Xiaohan's revenge might stir up some unpleasant memories and feelings in his heart.
Although Meng Chen didn't consider himself that fragile, seeing Xue Lang being so considerate of his feelings, he wouldn't reject his goodwill. So he smiled at Mei Xiaohan and said, "You all go ahead. After the dust settles and you've fixed up Plum Blossom Valley, I'll come visit you for drinks."
Mei Xiaohan smiled too, extending his hand to high-five Meng Chen. "It's a deal!"
---
The next day, the three of them left in a nightmare horse carriage.
Before leaving, Xue Lang still clingily asked him, "Will you miss me?"
"You'll be back in two or three days," Meng Chen looked at him strangely. "What's there to miss?"
Hearing this, Xue Lang's face showed utter disbelief, his eyes clearly saying "how can you be so heartless."
Meng Chen couldn't help but laugh, finally stopping his teasing and rubbed his cheeks saying, "I'm kidding, I will miss you. So remember to come back soon."
Only then was Xue Lang satisfied. He gave him several more passionate kisses before reluctantly leaving amid Mei Xiaohan's "oh my" expression.
Although dealing with the matter at Plum Blossom Valley would indeed only take two or three days, Meng Chen had never been apart from Xue Lang for so long. Half a day after Xue Lang left, he clearly felt the Xiuluo Palace seemed somewhat empty; after two days with no sign of their return, he actually started to regret not going with them.
Laughing at himself for becoming so sentimental and clingy, Meng Chen shook his head and decided to find something to do.
He went to the back garden to water the Moon Frost flowers.
The many recent events left these Moon Frost flowers completely untended. If not for their strong vitality, they would have likely withered away long ago. Meng Chen felt somewhat guilty, so he carefully watered them, removed weeds, and trimmed the flower branches.
As evening approached, a cool breeze swept through the night sky, making the sea of Moon Frost flowers rustle and sway, as if feeling cold, their petals trembling slightly.
After trimming the last flower branch, Meng Chen straightened up and stretched. Noticing some dirt on his fingertips, he was about to wash his hands when a pristine white handkerchief was silently offered beside him.
Meng Chen's movements froze, his gaze unconsciously falling on the hand holding the handkerchief.
The fingers were long and fair, luminous like jade, with neatly trimmed nails - truly a sight to behold.
He slowly looked up to see the owner of that hand.
"Ah Chen," Pei Yuze gazed at him with refined features and a smile, "it's been a long time."
His demeanor was composed, his voice friendly, as if nothing had ever happened between them - just like long ago at Taixuan Sect, when he'd return from a mission and greet his most beloved junior brother at Qixue Residence.
Meng Chen stared at him for a long while without saying a word.
"It seems Ah Chen has been wandering freely for too long and has forgotten about this senior brother." Pei Yuze reached for Meng Chen's fingers, but Meng Chen immediately pulled away in disgust. Pei Yuze paused, lowered his hand, and turned to look at the swaying moonlit sea of flowers in the garden.
"Did Xue Lang plant these for you?" He smiled and said softly, "What a pity."
As soon as the words "what a pity" fell, all the Moon Frost flowers in the garden instantly withered to ash, swept away by a night breeze without leaving a trace.
As if that beautiful silver sea of flowers had never existed at all.
Waves of emotion finally surged in Meng Chen's eyes. He reached to draw his sword, but in the next moment found himself unable to move at all, while Pei Yuze simply stood there quietly, smiling at him.
A chill slowly rose in Meng Chen's heart.
He couldn't discern Pei Yuze's current cultivation level at all. Even though the other party was just standing there quietly without using any spiritual power, he found himself subtly short of breath, with a feeling that he couldn't resist at all.
Pei Yuze took his hand again, using the handkerchief to carefully and gently clean the dirt from his fingers. "You're heartbroken just because I destroyed some flowers? Then how would you feel if I killed Xue Lang right in front of you?"
Meng Chen coldly laughed. "In your dreams."
"Indeed. In your heart, I'll never measure up to Xue Lang." Pei Yuze was still smiling, but the smile at his lips somehow made one's whole body go cold. "But actually, three thousand years ago, I had already taken him out of the game."
Meng Chen's spirit shook, and he suddenly shot a piercing gaze at him!
"Ah Chen." Pei Yuze raised his hand, gently pressing it against Meng Chen's brow, "It's time for you to remember."
The moment those fingers touched his brow, Meng Chen felt his head would explode from pain, but soon, countless memories broke through their seal and flooded into his mind, making him remember everything—
Three thousand years ago, he had been respectfully addressed as "Immortal Lord," one of the very few peak Mahayana Realm cultivators in the world.
Before that, he was a disciple of the Tianqing Sect, and Pei Yuze was his senior brother.
They could be called childhood friends, growing up together in the sect, receiving their master's teachings together, as close as brothers, inseparable. But he never expected that one day, Pei Yuze would suddenly confess his feelings to him.
In Meng Chen's heart, Pei Yuze was his elder brother, family, and confidant - his most intimate and trusted person. Beyond that, he had no other feelings for Pei Yuze, so he apologetically but firmly rejected him.
Pei Yuze showed neither anger nor sadness, only saying he wouldn't give up and would keep waiting. He told Meng Chen not to feel burdened and that they should continue their relationship as before. But Meng Chen understood that after this incident, they could never return to how things were - he couldn't accept Pei Yuze's feelings, and simultaneously didn't want to see his most valued senior brother hurt, so he quietly left Tianqing Sect, choosing to cultivate in seclusion alone, hoping time would wash everything away and let Pei Yuze resolve his feelings.
Time flew by, and he progressed from God Transformation Stage to Refining Void Realm, then breakthrough to Mahayana Realm, finally reaching peak Mahayana. In the immortal path, peak Mahayana was the highest existence, but at that time the immortal path was still overshadowed by the demonic path, because the demon realm's Demon Venerable had reached the Tribulation Crossing Realm, considered the strongest in the world, with unfathomable power that none could match. The immortal path was very worried about this, fearing the demon race would embark on a killing spree under this Demon Venerable's leadership, so they tentatively proposed establishing an alliance to jointly maintain peace in the cultivation world.
Unexpectedly, that Demon Venerable agreed. So Meng Chen was chosen as the immortal path's representative to meet with the Demon Venerable, only to discover that this young Demon Venerable called Xue Lang would, for some unknown reason, always stare at him foolishly.
Then the next day, Xue Lang sent him a letter, written in messy scrawl, cautiously yet excitedly inviting him to watch the stars.
Later, he and Xue Lang got together, and then heard news - Pei Yuze had betrayed Tianqing Sect, fallen into the demonic path, and with peak Mahayana strength established his own faction, gathering all demons unwilling to ally with the immortal path, sharing the demon realm with Xue Lang, forming an opposing force.
After becoming a demon, Pei Yuze's temperament changed drastically, becoming cruel, murderous, and vicious. He allowed his subordinates to wreak havoc in the cultivation world, and unscrupulously enhanced his cultivation, breaking through to the Tribulation Crossing Realm through slaughter and soul-devouring methods. Not only that, he used an extremely poisonous forbidden technique, attempting to control Meng Chen's soul, trying to turn him into a puppet without self-awareness, completely dependent on him. This finally thoroughly angered Xue Lang, who accepted Pei Yuze's challenge letter and engaged in a decisive battle with him.
In the battle, he crippled Pei Yuze's limbs, turning him into a person completely without cultivation.
But what neither Meng Chen nor Xue Lang expected was that Pei Yuze would emerge stronger from the brink of death, using endless hatred and obsession as motivation to reach a brand new realm, becoming the world's first "immortal" to ascend as a demon!
The power of an immortal was beyond any cultivator's imagination. To some extent, he had broken through the constraints of world rules, achieving true "freedom." He even gained the ability to split space and reverse time, so Pei Yuze did one thing - he split off another unknown space, completely excluding Xue Lang from this world.
Meng Chen fell into complete despair at this, and unwilling to fall into Pei Yuze's hands, chose to end his life.
But the deranged Pei Yuze wouldn't let him go even in death.
He captured Meng Chen's undispersed soul, and extracted part of his own soul, sending them together into the cycle of reincarnation.
Pei Yuze firmly believed that without Xue Lang, Meng Chen would definitely be with him. So he made everything start over, turning them into Taixuan Sect's Pei Yuze and Meng Chen three thousand years later, wanting to accompany him again as senior brother, making Meng Chen fall in love with him bit by bit.
Unfortunately, he failed again this time, as Meng Chen died.
Pei Yuze, having regained his memories, wasn't willing to give up, so he used his immortal power to reverse time and revive Meng Chen. But this time something unexpected happened - although time reversed, Xue Lang, who had long been banished, returned to this world!
It turned out that every world had its own operating rules. Pei Yuze's arbitrary splitting and altering of space-time violated these rules, causing the world to lose stability and begin developing holes. If he continued a few more times regardless of consequences, the entire world might completely collapse.
After understanding this point, Pei Yuze still didn't care - obtaining Meng Chen had become an obsession carved into his bones. He didn't care what happened to this world, only wanting to achieve his goal. But simultaneously he realized that if a second "immortal" appeared in this world, they would notice his actions and would definitely stop him from continuing this to maintain the world's stability.
So he created "Heavenly Fate," secretly transmitting it into the minds of those powerful beings, making them fall into cycles of destiny, leading them to their end in various ways.
This way, no one would interfere with him anymore.
"...You've truly gone mad."
Meng Chen opened his eyes, and after learning the whole truth, he could barely control his emotions. Anger, heartbreak, absurdity, hatred... countless complex feelings surged in his heart at once, making his eyes redden in mere moments. "Just for this, how many people have you killed? How many innocent people have you killed!?"
"I'm not afraid of the world's destruction, so what does it matter if a few people die?" Pei Yuze was still smiling, looking at him tenderly and saying, "Ah Chen, I just love you and want to be with you."
"Love me?" Meng Chen felt like he'd heard the biggest joke in the world, speaking through gritted teeth with a trembling voice, "So this is how you love someone - making me die again and again and come back to life over and over, until I fall in love with you?"
Treating life like a game, starting over repeatedly until getting a satisfactory ending.
But the price was the entire world and billions of lives within it.
"This is my way." Yet Pei Yuze saw no problem with this, speaking naturally, "Ah Chen, this is already our fourth life. If this time doesn't work, we still have a fifth life, a sixth life."
"Remember? When I first confessed my feelings to you, I told you I would wait for you forever and ever." Pei Yuze said tenderly, "So I hope you understand one thing - you can't escape."
"No matter how many times, you can only be mine, there are no other choices."