Villainous Junior Chapter 9
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 9: Blood Demon
Xue Lang looked at that brick-thick book with a twisted expression, gritting his teeth as he said. "That's you. Give me half a month, and I still couldn't memorize it!"
"For me," Meng Chen said tactfully, "actually two to three hours would be enough."
He had a photographic memory, so memorizing books had never required much effort from him.
Xue Lang: "..."
Seeing the young man's indescribable expression, Meng Chen lightly coughed and said, "Hm... the exam is in three days. Why don't we start now?"
Xue Lang didn't react immediately. "We?"
"Mm-hmm." Meng Chen smiled gently and said softly, "I'll accompany you in memorizing."
—
"Wrong."
"Incorrect."
"Start over."
Xue Lang exploded, slamming the book shut. "I can't memorize it!"
To avoid disturbing other disciples studying, the two had left the Library Pavilion and gone to a quiet pavilion nearby. Earlier in the Library Pavilion, when Xue Lang heard Meng Chen's gentle tone, he thought it would be some kind of "accompanied memorization" method. As if under a spell, he followed the other to this place, only to be subjected to merciless mental torture.
Make one mistake, start over. Not fluent enough, start over. Don't understand the main points, still start over!
Was this even humane?!
"I quit!" Xue Lang flung his sleeve, leaped onto the railing and sat askew, folding his arms with a cold smirk, "It's just a stupid rules exam. What's the big deal if I fail? I think you're just looking for an excuse to make things difficult for me!"
Meng Chen sat properly at the stone table in the center of the pavilion, looking at him calmly. "Are you sure you don't want to memorize?"
"Ab-so-lutely!" Xue Lang raised his chin to look at him, challenging, "What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm not going to do anything," Meng Chen's tone grew even gentler. "But as your senior brother, I feel responsible for supervising your studies. So if you don't memorize, at most I'll just follow you back to Luosong Residence, sit beside you while you eat or sleep, and repeat the contents of the 'Rules' to you over and over again."
Xue Lang: "......"
He didn't know if it was from anger or something else, but his handsome face turned red. This was still at night when it wasn't very visible, if it had been in a brightly lit place, it would have been even more obvious.
Meng Chen smiled and tapped the table with his knuckles. Finally, he saw that stubborn little wolf dog leap down from the railing, sit back on the stone bench with great discomfort, and start reading the book again with a deeply aggrieved expression.
Meng Chen didn't interrupt again, but quietly cast a few spells to drive away the annoying mosquitoes of the summer night for the young man.
—
Three days later, the midterm exam arrived as scheduled.
On the vast Jingxin Square, over a thousand desks were neatly arranged and divided into more than a dozen areas, with an elder invigilating each area. Disciples from various peaks were seated in a mixed order. Because they studied different subjects, the exam papers in front and behind were different, eliminating the possibility of communicating or copying from each other.
Xue Lang sat in his seat and heard two senior sisters from Cuixia Peak discussing in low voices in front of him.
"Who's invigilating our area?"
"I don't know. I hope it's not Elder Bu, he's super strict."
"Elder Yu Nian likes to doze off when he's invigilating. It would be great if it were him... Wait, oh my goodness, Senior Brother Meng!!"
All the disciples saw that the person walking over with a stack of exam papers was actually Meng Chen!
The disciples excitedly whispered among themselves.
"Why is Senior Brother Meng allowed to invigilate? Doesn't he have to take the exam?!"
"Tsk, who do you think Senior Brother Meng is? He's long since mastered this kind of simple theoretical knowledge. The coursework of Tianji Peak disciples has always been personally examined by Immortal Lord Zhongli. Look, Senior Brother Pei is invigilating over there too."
The two female disciples from Cuixia Peak who spoke earlier were so delighted they almost hugged each other. "Wuwuwu, this is worth it! If I could be watched by Senior Brother Meng like this every day, I'd be willing to take exams several more times!!"
Xue Lang listened silently, unable to help but lightly click his tongue.
Was it really that big of a deal?
Taking an exam once was enough, taking it several more times would probably be the death of him…
Though thinking this, the young man's thoughts unconsciously flew back to the past two nights. The cool breeze in the pavilion, the flickering lamplight on the table - every time he got tired of reciting those dry texts and looked up, he would see the face of the young man sitting across from him.
That jade-like pale face was dyed a warm color by the orange candlelight, but his eyes were as calm and gentle as water, reflecting the dancing flames, as if filled with a handful of tiny stars.
So beautiful... that one couldn't take their eyes away.
His heart rate inexplicably quickened. Xue Lang steadied himself, unable to resist secretly looking up, and then met Meng Chen's gaze looking back at him. As the other looked at him, his calm and cool expression changed slightly, the corners of his eyes curving down a bit, as if in silent encouragement.
Xue Lang immediately lowered his head, picked up the exam paper he had just received, and began writing furiously.
He wrote quickly, but his handwriting was truly not to be praised. It looked like ghost script or dog scratches - crooked and twisted, painful to behold. When Meng Chen had previously checked his recitation, he had remained silent for a full cup of tea's time when faced with this earth-shattering, ghost-wailing handwriting. But time was limited, and calligraphy wasn't something that could be improved in just a few days, so this would have to do.
For a time, the exam hall was completely silent, with only the scratching sound of pen tips on exam papers. Xue Lang wasn't originally good at memorizing dry and boring theory, but as those words fell into his eyes, they gradually transformed into a clear and pleasing voice. He slightly pursed his lips and continued answering with clear thoughts.
Half an hour passed, and it was almost time to hand in the papers. The disciples were speeding up to finish the remaining questions when suddenly, a disciple's shocked voice rang out. "Song Luoming, what are you doing?"
All the disciples looked up to see a Wuzhao Peak disciple who, for some unknown reason, had suddenly stood up from his seat, turned around, snatched the paper from the desk behind him, and tore it to shreds in two motions!
The disciple behind him clearly knew the other person, and was thoroughly enraged by this unexpected action. He also stood up angrily and shouted. "I know you've always been jealous that my grades are better than yours, but how can you use such a shameless method to win?! Just you wait, Elder Bu will definitely punish you severely!"
The disciples nearby who witnessed this scene couldn't help but show contemptuous and angry expressions towards Song Luoming. Those familiar with him knew that while Song Luoming's cultivation talent was passable, his character was truly not to be respected. He was narrow-minded and jealous, and usually loved to sarcastically mock disciples whose grades were not as good as his. As for those more capable than him, he was even more unpleasant, often slandering others behind their backs. Because of this, most disciples really disliked him.
However, Song Luoming completely ignored the various gazes around him. His expression was distorted, his eyes dark red as he stared fixedly at the disciple behind him. His throat emitted a series of chilling, beast-like growls, and then he suddenly reached out to strangle the neck of the disciple behind him!
The disciple behind hadn't expected the other to not only tear up someone's exam paper without reason, but to also suddenly attack. Shocked, he reacted a beat too slow, and by the time he tried to dodge, it was already too late. It was only then that he realized what was reaching for his neck wasn't a human hand, but a claw with sharp nails exuding a demonic qi!
He cried out in terror, and just as he was despairing, he suddenly saw a flash of bright sword light pass by, blocking that demonic claw back in an extremely close call that grazed his neck!
"Senior Brother... Senior Brother Meng!"
Meng Chen repelled that disciple with one sword strike, but saw that the other was already in a frenzied state. The skin exposed outside his clothes had gradually turned into a terrifying red color, and even his eyes had become two blood-red orbs. He let out an inhuman howl from his throat and lunged madly at Meng Chen!
This sudden change had already alarmed the entire exam hall. The other elders all changed their expressions and rushed over at top speed - they were extremely sensitive to demonic qi and had already detected that this was a blood demon with strong demonic power!
Blood demons excel at parasitism. They first invade the host body, then control the mind. After absorbing all the flesh and intelligence as nourishment for themselves, they discard the used-up host and continue to seek the next target. If the host cannot get rid of the blood demon in time, there is only one outcome - death.
Meng Chen clearly understood this point as well. He didn't continue to use his sword, but shot three exorcism talismans from his fingertips with lightning speed, hitting Song Luoming right between the eyebrows. The talismans were infused with the powerful purifying force of a Nascent Soul cultivator. The blood demon couldn't withstand it and screamed as it was pulled out of the host body!
Its demonic body was seen to be long, thin, and soft, entirely dark red in color, without facial features or limbs, looking just like a flowing river of thick blood. It twisted and churned eerily in midair, quickly choosing its next host. Its long body shot like an arrow released from a bowstring, lightning-fast towards another male disciple!
Meng Chen didn't give it another chance to run wild.
The blood demon was fast, but his sword was faster.
The disciples only felt a strong, biting chill bearing down on them, and they instinctively stepped back in unison, holding their breath as they stared at the scene. In midair, dense sword shadows formed an airtight net of light, completely enveloping the blood demon. The sword momentum wasn't particularly earth-shattering or imposing in its grandeur, it could even be called calm and silent. Yet in the space of a single breath, it had completely shattered the blood demon into pieces.
It could only be said that the swordsman's mastery of sword techniques and spiritual power had reached the pinnacle of perfection.
The blood demon fell to the ground in scattered pieces. The disciples hadn't yet recovered from the heart-pounding shock when they saw those dark red fragments suddenly start to writhe again, as if struggling to reassemble!
Several disciples nearby turned pale with fright, but Meng Chen wasn't surprised. He stepped forward with his sword pointed down, lightly grinding the tip on one of the fragments—
All the blood chunks suddenly stopped writhing, gradually turning from red to black. This time, they were finally completely dead.
A disciple finally managed to catch his breath and asked admiringly, "Senior Brother Meng, how did you find its weak point?"
"Although blood demons seem to have no facial features or head, their brain is actually hidden in the torso," Meng Chen used his sword tip to flip over the blood chunk for him to see. "The demon's body is dark red, but the part that's bright red is where its brain is located."
The disciples suddenly understood and finally let go of their suspended anxiety.
Although the incident was alarming but harmless, with the blood demon being eliminated in an instant, all the disciples understood that achieving this wasn't easy—there were thousands of disciples present, each one a potential parasitic target for the blood demon. If Meng Chen's sword hadn't been fast enough, and if he hadn't accurately known the blood demon's weak point, who knows how many more disciples would have fallen victim.
Song Luoming, because he had been parasitized for only a short time, didn't suffer too much damage to his body and was immediately sent for treatment. After several elders confirmed the safety of the present disciples, their suspended anxiety hadn't yet settled when another burst of anger rose up, especially in Disciplinary Elder Fu Yan, whose old face turned blue with rage. "Where did this blood demon come from? When did Taixuan Sect become infiltrated by demons without our notice?!"
"I don't know about other places," Yu Nian suddenly remembered, "but there is a blood demon sealed on the eighth floor of the library."
Although blood demons are demonic creatures, their blood can be used to refine a kind of "fight poison with poison" pill. So a few years ago, when Taixuan Sect went down the mountain to exterminate demons, they had captured a live blood demon, locked it in a demon-sealing bottle with several layers of reinforced restrictions, and stored it on the eighth floor of the library for future use in pill refining.
For years, nothing had happened. How could the demon suddenly escape on its own?
There must be something fishy about this incident!
The matter was of great importance, and the elders didn't dare to be careless. They immediately began investigating. There were only a few dozen people at the elder level and above in Taixuan Sect, totaling no more than twenty or so. After questioning each one, it was confirmed that no one had been to the eighth floor of the library recently.
If it wasn't an elder, then it could only be a disciple.
Trespassing into a forbidden area and releasing a demon, nearly causing a disaster—whether intentional or not, the act was extremely vile and must be severely punished!
"Who has recently trespassed onto the eighth floor of the library?" The Disciplinary Elder's face was ashen as he used spiritual energy to project his voice far and wide, sounding like a great bell exploding in every Taixuan disciple's ear, "Confess immediately!!"
The disciples were silent as cicadas in cold weather, holding their breath and not daring to make a sound. At this moment, a figure stepped forward.
Meng Chen's gaze shifted slightly, falling on that person.
Xue Lang didn't look at him, but stared fixedly at Disciplinary Elder Fu Yan, saying in a deep voice. "In response to the elder. The night before last, I personally saw Senior Brother Meng Chen enter the eighth floor of the Library Pavilion."
