Chapter 20 | How Could the Master of All Villains Be Righteous?

Wen Li’s expression turned cold. As she watched Feng Ling’s umbrella come flying toward her, the six people who had been pursuing her happened to catch up at that exact moment.

She immediately opened her mouth and shouted, “Why are you here?!”

Fortunately, the timing she had stalled for lined up perfectly.

She was facing Feng Ling directly, so he naturally saw her anxious and worried expression. The six pursuers behind her couldn't see her face, however, and assumed she was speaking to Feng Ling.

“Big Brother, kill them quickly!”

These were Wen Li’s next words. She flew toward the six pursuers, channeling her spiritual energy into the sword in her hand.

Facing the six of them, her eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Yet her sword qi was directed toward the two female attendants instead.

Just as the two opposing forces rushed toward her to pin her in a pincer attack, she bent backward with a smooth, fluid arc, dropping to the grass and rolling off to the side.

Feng Ling, dripping with murderous aura, found himself directly facing the six pursuers. A streak of bloody light flashed through his eyes.

“Then I’ll deal with you first.”

If they were her 'big brothers,' he would simply kill them all together.

The six pursuers caught sight of Feng Ling’s cultivation level, and their faces paled instantly. How does she have a Soul Formation stage big brother?!

Before they could speak, Wen Li was already cheering from the grass. She even pulled out the Nine Underworlds Reincarnation Banner and waved it around with insufferable arrogance.

“Big Brother, crush them! They wanted to kill me and steal my treasures! Didn't you say last time that even if they came, you'd crush them like ants?!”

“You even said that after killing them, I could strip off their clothes and sell them!”

The moment those words were uttered, a bone-chilling hostility flared in Feng Ling’s blood-red eyes, and his attacks grew even more ruthless.

“Seeking death!”

Among the six opponents, there was one Golden Core Early Stage, two Golden Core Late Stage, one Nascent Soul Early Stage, and one Nascent Soul Mid Stage.

Yet with only a single move...

“Ugh...”

Feng Ling’s hand pierced straight through the Golden Core Early Stage cultivator’s abdomen. The cultivator stared down in disbelief, but before he could say a word, Feng Ling tossed him to the ground. A flame of ghostly blue bone-fire flared up, burning his body to ash instantly as his soul was extracted.

“A mere Golden Core dares act insolent before me?”

The red corners of Feng Ling’s eyes glinted with sinister malice as he threw his head back and swallowed the soul raw!

The remaining five felt their hearts leap into their throats from sheer terror. “Y-You are from Jiuyin Island!”

Only Jiuyin Island practiced such evil techniques that devoured human souls.

Feng Ling rarely showed his face in public, especially after the incident where his clothes were stripped off years ago. Since then, he always traveled in a sedan, so very few people recognized his appearance.

Having successfully stirred up chaos, Wen Li went to assist Xie Tinglan.

The two female attendants were only at the Golden Core Mid Stage.

Wen Li rushed over to hold the two attendants off, pulling out a handful of Speed Talismans and Defensive Talismans to shove into Xie Tinglan’s hands. She pulled out one extra talisman separately and said, “This talisman can mask your aura for half a month, keeping you hidden from the Beast Taming Sect and anyone else. Transform into your true form, take Yao Dai, and leave quickly. Don't look back!”

Xie Tinglan’s true form was an Ancient Soaring Serpent, which moved far faster than his human form.

“...”

Xie Tinglan froze. Holding Yao Dai in his arms, his crimson eyes stared at Wen Li in dazed shock.

Wasting no words, he immediately soared into the clouds, transforming into a giant serpent tens of meters long.

“Roar!!”

Carrying Yao Dai on his back, he sped off toward the distant clouds.

【Ding! +3. Villain Salvation Progress Bar for Xie Tinglan: 10%】

Seeing him leave without even saying a word, Wen Li felt a tightness in her chest.

“Brat... When disaster strikes, he really just runs off on his own.”

【Host, at least the progress bar went up a bit. That's not bad.】

Snapping back to her senses, Wen Li raised her sword and continued to fight the two female attendants.

After pulling out the Nine Underworlds Reincarnation Banner to hold them back, she caught sight of Feng Ling killing another three people. Her expression turned grim, and she hurriedly slapped an Escape Talisman onto herself.

【Stupid system, navigate to Flame Mountain!】

Wen Li rapidly escaped deep into the mountains.

【Waaah, Host! To save your two disciples, you were actually willing to sacrifice yourself and buy time! I never expected you to have such a conscience!】

Crying one second, the system shrieked the next, 【Fly three kilometers to the right, then turn southeast! Run! Feng Ling has gone completely insane—he killed everyone! He even killed his two attendants! He reclaimed the Nine Underworlds Reincarnation Banner!】

Wen Li knew Feng Ling was capricious and unpredictable; he was undoubtedly blaming those two attendants for failing to stop her.

Concealing her aura, she stowed Hold On away and executed an Earth-Tunneling Technique to move stealthily beneath the ground.

【Host, why not fight him head-on? Last time you managed to hold your own against Xie Tinglan when he was a Golden Core above your level!】

Wen Li chuckled in sheer exasperation. 【After Golden Core is Nascent Soul, and after Nascent Soul is Soul Formation! If you want me dead, just say so!】

Suddenly, her body went rigid.

“Found you.”

“I will not kill you. I will refine you into my newest puppet, replace your body with another corpse, and skin you to make a new umbrella. Your soul, undying and unextinguished, shall serve as my slave for all eternity.”

【Host, hang in there!】 The system hurriedly searched to see if there were any weapons.

Wen Li rolled her eyes, knowing this fellow was completely unreliable.

Her body, hidden underground, was suddenly seized by a powerful, irresistible force, pulling her straight up through the soil and into the air.

The man in moonlight-patterned robes, who appeared tender on the surface, landed before her. At this moment, he stared at Wen Li with an extraordinarily chilling and terrifying gaze.

“Those people were not your brothers. You wanted to kill with a borrowed knife, so consider this me fulfilling your final wish before death.”

Unable to move, Wen Li could still speak. She twitched her lips into a faint smile. “Then thank you, Lord Feng Ling. Actually, I still have something to say.”

She had known, of course, that such minor tricks would not deceive Feng Ling. What she had intended was to deliberately infuriate him.

A man who routinely slaughtered even innocent bystanders would naturally never spare those pursuers. They were merely tools to buy time so that Xie Tinglan could get far away with Yao Dai.

Otherwise, with the highest among those six being only at Nascent Soul, how could anyone expect them to stall Feng Ling for half an hour?

If so, wouldn't cultivation stages be a joke?

Feng Ling stared at her as if looking at an ant. “Speak.”

He was no exhibitionist, but he did possess a craving for tormenting the dying—giving them a glimmer of hope only to extinguish it with his own hands, savoring the sight of their despair.

“I’ve heard that Jiuyin Island is connected to the Nine Corpses Palace in the Central Province. Jiuyin Island belongs to the Western Province, specializing in devouring soul energy and trading in stolen souls and intelligence. In contrast, the Nine Corpses Palace can bind souls into corpses to refine a puppet equal in cultivation to oneself, yielding double the results for half the effort. They can even use secret arts to keep corpses preserved, selling them at high prices to powerful experts seeking possession.”

Wen Li’s cool eyes were terrifyingly calm as she met Feng Ling’s gaze directly.

“Lord Feng Ling just mentioned wanting to refine me into a new puppet, so you must already be adept in puppet crafting. Unfortunately, Jiuyin Island is merely an abandoned branch of the Nine Corpses Palace. I doubt Lord Feng Ling’s puppet-making technique can compare to the orthodox methods of the Nine Corpses Palace.”

As soon as those words left her mouth, Feng Ling’s eyes narrowed with a dangerous glint.

“What do you know?”

Wen Li’s lips curled slightly. “I don't particularly enjoy looking up to speak with someone.”

Assuming a mere Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator could not possibly escape his grasp, Feng Ling released the restriction on her body.

Wen Li tilted her head and stretched her neck, flying up until she was level with him. “You are merely the deputy leader of Jiuyin Island. If you could return to the Nine Corpses Palace, with your talent, you could certainly claim a prominent place there.”