Chapter 117: Since We Like Each Other

How—how could this be—

How did it turn out like this—!

The servant wailed internally, but his body knelt submissively on the ground; the door he had rashly opened creaked and groaned behind him.

The thermal pool was already soaked with a faint trail of blood, a corpse floating upon it as the water rippled slightly. The room was deathly quiet, silent and still.

The servant had never imagined the Master would die so quietly.

—Truly, there hadn't been a single sound!

It had barely been a moment since he brought the Beast Stage champion here...

At this thought, the servant's stiff gaze moved to the girl.

The moment he entered, he was met with an overwhelming pressure—this was the unconscious release of oppression from the girl who had just killed someone and hadn't yet restrained her aura.

The dead silence brought a massive, trembling shadow; the more he knew of the Master's strength, the more he feared the person before him.

She was undoubtedly a swordsman, or rather, a demonic cultivator who used a sword.

A beautiful sword lay to the side; one could feel its chilling aura even without getting close. She sat in a chair, drinking tea steeped with chrysanthemums, mouthful by mouthful.

A person who killed the Master so easily...

The servant's body couldn't stop shaking. He slumped to the floor, unexpectedly unable to stand up for a moment.

*Huh, this tea isn't as bitter as the kind in the immortal sects,* Zora thought curiously as she drank.

It was even a bit sweet. In her lifetime, her drinks had only been plain water, liquor, and tea. She was used to water, liquor was too spicy, and tea was too bitter. Now that she tasted a novel flavor, she couldn't help but take one sip after another.

"Is there something?" Zora said to the man with dilated pupils and pale lips.

She looked as if she were asking, "Did you come in to report something?"

"I... I, I..." the servant stammered. "You killed the Master..."

Zora tilted her head in confusion and answered patiently: "Yes, and then?"

This time, his voice carried a terrified sob: "...You... you killed the Master..."

The next step would surely be a bloodbath of the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion! After all, this was a family business; he couldn't escape it.

"?"

Zora: "If there's nothing, then leave."

She glanced at the open door. "I'm hungry. What good food does the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion have? 'Immortal-Slaying,' slaying immortals—do you eat people? The previous Master sucked away people's cultivation; do you all refine demonic Qi by eating them?"

Zora was just asking casually; after all, the previous Master sucking away demonic Qi was much the same as eating flesh and blood. Leaving only a layer of withered skin and a skeletal frame—was that not "eating"?

There was no answer for a long while.

*Thud.*

Under the immense pressure, the man's eyes rolled back, and he successfully fainted.

"?"

Zora glanced at him, then looked expressionlessly toward the door.

*Why hasn't he arrived yet?*

Vane was still more useful.

...

Wang Yili walked rapidly behind Vane.

Halfway there, her face suddenly twisted in a grimace.

—Wait! How does this person know where the Master's room is!

The youth walked extremely fast, his back always straight as a pine; his ponytail didn't sway excessively behind his head, showing his stability.

By the time he reached the door of the Master's room without a single error, Wang Yili's expression had gone numb.

A top-tier demonic cultivator paired with a companion at the peak of auxiliary strategy—if the "strategist" remained loyal, then the two were indeed a brilliant, complementary pair, and very troublesome enemies.

*Fortunately, he's defected now,* Wang Yili thought with zero remorse.

However—

The woman suddenly tightened her grip.

Abandoning an old employer is an absolute disgrace in the world of hidden guards. Once you betray and change masters, you are doomed to never be trusted again. Everyone knows that only a blindly loyal hidden guard is a true hidden guard.

*Should I run now?*

Wang Yili held her breath as she watched the youth step into the room. He had been cold-faced just now; unlike Wang Yili's habitual coldness filled with pressure, this youth had a gaze of true indifference, looking through everyone.

Cold and thin, it seemed nothing could cause a ripple in him.

Now, however, Wang Yili heard his voice filled with genuine mirth and a total softening, like ice breaking for flowers to bloom, reaching a gentle, tender spring all at once.

"Do we need to purge the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion next?"

Wang Yili shivered.

But regarding such a thing, he seemed to ask only casually. He walked to Zora's side, his lashes lowering and the corners of his lips curving slightly.

"This tea is very good."

Only then did Zora lift her head to reply: "It's very sweet, very good to drink."

She paused, then began to issue her mission: "Learn how to make it."

Vane smiled: "Yes."

Zora lowered her head again to drink the tea sip by sip. Her movements weren't those of a refined person tasting tea, but rather born of curiosity. She took a sip and stared at the flowers spinning and soaking in the cup—then ate the flowers in one bite as well.

Vane naturally began to serve the tea, his pouring far more pleasing to the eye and considerate than Wang Yili's.

The two of them actually quieted down like that.

Wang Yili: "..."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Zora: "Also, that person fainted."

Vane glanced at the servant fainted at the door and said nonchalantly: "He's likely just too excited. I heard the previous Master, Lu, was cruel by nature and a cancer of the Demon Realm. Eliminating him now is truly a heart-warming act of sincerity and passion, an act for the good of the whole world."

Wang Yili was stunned by his powerful ability to spout high-level flattery with his eyes wide open. She hesitated to speak: "..."

But Zora had no thoughts on his subtle, high-level flattery; she barely even listened.

Clearing out the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion was necessary because there were demonic cultivators within who wanted the Demonic Seed. Those who kidnapped Vane at the December Sect were from the Pavilion.

Although Vane's Demonic Seed had been dug out, some obsessed people wouldn't believe it and would insist on digging it out themselves to see.

She was very impatient with the flies that might come in waves in the plot. Furthermore, she didn't want to play guessing games with forces hidden in the dark. It would be much more satisfying to simply drag them out of the shadows and resolve them. Such a crude way of uprooting the problem would make her feel much better.

However, it was a bit too easy; the opponents were too weak.

She felt bored. From here on, aside from waiting for the evil spirits a hundred years later, there was nothing else she *had* to do.

Thinking of this, Zora set down her teacup and sprawled against the back of her chair like a relaxed piece of flatbread.

Wang Yili hesitated again: "..."

Vane paused and set down the teapot. First, with a fawning smile, he gave her a small, interesting object, then walked to the thermal pool. He seemed to observe it from above for a moment before speaking: "Where does he go after he sucks away the demonic Qi of cultivators?"

His tone carried the intent of a cold inquiry.

Zora didn't react, continuing to sprawl.

Wang Yili instantly realized he was asking her. She breathed a sigh of relief—at last, she didn't have to act like a door goddess. She walked over, bowing respectfully to Zora as she passed.

However, Zora had already closed her eyes and gone to talk to the System.

Wang Yili: "..."

She stood stoically at a distance, neither too close nor too far from Vane.

The smile was gone from his face. He wasn't that cold, either—just indifferent. He looked at the corpse as if looking at clues to be unraveled.

Wang Yili thought for a moment: "The Mas—the previous Master would return to the main Pavilion after absorbing demonic Qi to hold secret talks with the other members of the Lu family. I've heard that in a few days, the Northern Demon Lord will also come to see the Master. The Immortal-Slaying Pavilion and the Northern Realm have always been on good terms..."

Vane investigated the corpse with his divine sense. As soon as she finished speaking, he withdrew his sense, his dark pupils deep and unfathomable.

"The Lu family? A family is better. The tighter they huddle, the less time it takes to resolve them."

A drop of transparent liquid fell from a small vial in his hand, and the corpse vanished instantly. The surface of the thermal pool sizzled with a pungent sound, as if everything had been thoroughly cooked and dissolved.

...

The System, while chatting with Zora, even offered a comment on the conversation over there.

**[Tsk, tsk, tsk. A family business. The tighter they huddle, the easier it is to find them. One slap can kill the whole bunch.]**

Zora: "So boring."

System: **[Host, this is a great moment to intimidate everyone! Cut down any of the Lu family who don't behave. Take control of the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion; you might even become famous in the Demon Realm!]**

Zora didn't react.

The System took another look at what the original female lead was doing.

Mhm, the original romance line was still a pile of indistinguishable trash.

...However.

The System checked seriously once more.

That's right; Zora's reputation in the cultivation world had completely turned around along with the crimes of those elders.

In the eyes of the cultivation world, Zora was: Just, filled with hatred for evil, having slain the cancers of the cultivation world and pursued demonic cultivators into the Demon Realm.

The Zora of the Demon Realm: Had smoothly integrated and seized power, a case of the "black-eating-black."

System: **[.]**

But then it thought of the villain's flattery it heard right after being awakened by the Host.

Turning around and slapping a "righteous" label on Zora, who had killed the Master.

The villain didn't say it, but he was still leaving a path of retreat for the Host's identity in the cultivation world...

Vane finished instructing some trivial matters in a few sentences. Wang Yili no longer cared if this was what a hidden guard should be doing—on the contrary, the youth seemed quite repulsed by Zora having a personal hidden guard by her side, not even mentioning guard duties. Zora was even more so; with a hidden guard by her side, the greatest source of danger felt like Zora herself; one moment of inattention and she might hack the guard down.

As for everything else, Zora only needed to decide that the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion was now hers; the rest was seemingly left for him to arrange.

Zora said to the System: "So boring."

**[...It's okay,]** the System said with motherly love. **[No worries, we'll be back to hacking off Lu family heads soon.]**

As the System spoke, it suddenly realized something.

**[Since the conquest was successful—when are the Host and the villain getting married?]**

Zora: "Married?"

System: **[Yeah! Or at least be together like a couple. What about you two?]**

Zora was silent.

**[?]**

**[You two... don't tell me you still only have a master-servant relationship? No way?]**

Zora wasn't guilty at all: "Mhm."

System: **[At least give the villain a formal status!]**

Zora was genuinely confused: "Is that something important?"

System: **[Of course! It's the best relationship for both parties to exclude a third person! Without a status, how would he know from what position to be jealous? For example, you can tell him not to get close to other people, lose your temper at him, or make the demands of a lover.]**

Zora: "But right now, if I tell him not to get close to others, lose my temper at him, or make any demand, it's also satisfied."

**[...]** *That seems true.*

*Then what about the villain's jealousy? Always letting it simmer in the dark will only increase the gloom index, Host!*

The System fell into a deep silence.

After a long while, it tried a different approach: **[...How about giving the other person a sense of security?]**

*Security.*

Zora was enlightened.

"I don't have to worry about him harming me, but he might, in turn, be afraid that I will kill him."

Zora didn't take it to heart: "That's fine. Whatever."

**[...Let's just say it's like that,]** the System said, tired. It felt forced to instill some basic romance knowledge. **[Also, Host, don't you like the villain too? If you're in a relationship, poking through the paper and being lovers will offer a completely different experience. He can still be your servant, but he can also be your lover. Maybe if the villain lets loose, there will be more variety and feedback, and you'll be even happier.]**

*Though there's already quite a lot of variety,* the System grumbled internally.

*Make her happy.*

Zora fell into thought: "Mhm."

To be honest, she didn't feel that a title or relationship made any difference. Could it really make her happy?

The System then threw out its trump card.

**[Anyway, you're bored.]**

—*True. These hundred years will be filled with nothing to do. If there really can be new things, could it really make her happy?*

Zora opened her eyes.

Wang Yili and the fainted servant were gone. The thermal pool had been replaced by Vane; he hadn't just changed the water, he had used a spell to swap out the entire basin walls.

No one knew exactly what was piled up in his storage bag.

Right now, Vane was silently tidying the bed—even the entire bed had been swapped out.

Zora stared with intense concentration.

Soon, Vane turned around to meet her gaze and smiled: "The Lu family's affairs can be resolved tomorrow. It's just a few people to kill. Anyone who doesn't approve of your succession can simply be eliminated."

Like a sudden whim, Zora asked sincerely: "Have you ever thought... since you and I like each other, why don't we become Dao partners?"

She paused, then added cautiously: "But master and servant still come first."

"..."

The youth maintained his smile, staying completely still. At this moment, he had forgotten whether he had ever analyzed his own filthy affection for her, or whether he had ever spoken of his liking as directly and sincerely as she just had, making his feelings clear to her.

He was just silent.

the atmosphere fell into a strange quiet.

After a moment, seeing that he still didn't speak, Zora felt a craving. she picked up her teacup and took a sip. She was truly satisfied with the "just right" sweetness and couldn't help but remind him again.

"Remember to learn how to make this tea."

"..."

Vane still didn't speak.