Succeed, or Fall into Depravity as a Witch!

Not long after, Qin Wuyi was also led away by another senior brother, but the two don’t seem to know each other. He was just a randomly assigned guide by the sect.

Like the previous tours, six hours passed before Qin Wuyi returned, looking a little dazed.

As he stepped off the flying boat, he quickly regained his composure and was not as miserable as his fellow housemates.

At this time, Jiangming and Li Daoming were hosting a small party in the courtyard in order to relieve their stress, venting through excessive drink. One was so drunk he was hugging a boulder on the ground crying for ‘Little Qing’, the other was swaying to-and-fro and a cup away from falling over. 

Facing Qin Wuyi’s dumbfounded expression, Jiangming raised his jade wine ewer and mumbled:

“We……We who fell from heaven together, our fates tied us once-strangers together……Belch~~Brother Qin, I salute you!”

Qin Wuyi was handed a cup and drank a large mouthful, before wiping his lips with his sleeve.

He smiled bitterly: “I’ve never imagined that Joyous Union Sect turned out to be such a place! That it had such an earth-shattering secret! And I’ve always thought……that Joyous Union was the most normal of the Four Great Demon Sects!” 

Jiangming hugged Qin Wuyi’s thigh and was already quite intoxicated. He muttered as if to himself: “Brother Qin, after this the three of us will share a bond of sisterhood. Let me first offer my respects, sister.” 

He raised his cup again and said drunkenly: “Sister Qin, Sister Li, this junior offered her respects already. May I trouble fellow sisters to let me feel up one of you afterwards…...”

“Dogshit!” Li Daoming suddenly pushed away his rock and overturned the wine table with a kick. He pointed and furiously yelled at the distant moon: “I won’t accept my fate! I won’t be married off to that lump of coal! You all just watch! I’ll run away tomorrow! No! I’ll run away tonight! Don’t you dare stop me!”

Before he even finished speaking, he stumbled off the ground and madly ran towards the gate. Unfortunately, before he ran more than a few steps, he tumbled over the gate sill, collapsed on the ground with a "Thump", and fell asleep like a baby.

Qin Wuyi felt more flabbergasted than before. He carried Jiangming who was still kneading his thigh, and then the thunderously snoring Li Daoming to their beds. With that done, Qin Wuyi retired to his own room, locked his door and went to sleep.

The next morning.

Jiangming felt groggy, and he stared blankly at the distant sights in an attempt to sober up.

A small indistinct black dot shot from the clouds with dazzling speed, approaching closer so quickly that it was hard to track. Until a familiar voice rung out over the forested hills did Jiangming realise who it was…… 

“Junior brother! Junior brother!”

Song Tianxing leapt down from the flying boat. Although his smile was warm as spring, Jiangming’s back broke out in cold sweat.

“What is it?” Jiangming instinctively took a step back.

This subconscious act was noticed, and Song Tianxing’s smile grew brighter, in a perverted ‘your resistance only makes me more excited’ type of way.

“It’s nothing serious. There’s a sale going on at Shou¹Longevity City’s Heavenly Treasures Pavilion. Do you want to check it out, junior brother? If you do, you can come along with me.”

“No.” Jiangming shook his head and firmly rejected, “I’m busy cultivating.” 

Song Tianxing was silent for a moment in apparent surprise. His mouth was open, and he hesitated for a few seconds before he spoke: “Oh junior brother, you’re different from the others. You must not waste your time on cultivation……”

“Bleh!”

Jiangming’s eyes darkened, and he almost lost his composure. He was really pissed off!

Even though it’s true, how can you just say it outright? I don’t even get any basic respect, huh!

Tired of speaking further with his perverted senior brother, Jiangming waved him away and prepared to go back to cultivating. Or at least trying to cultivate, to prove to himself he’s ‘not total rubbish’.

“Eh-eh-eh, junior brother, don’t be hasty, wait a moment……”

“Slam—”

The door slammed shut and left the pervert standing outside. Jiangming leaned on the door, finding it difficult to calm down.

[No, I have to pass the sect exam.]

He made up his mind in the dark.

[I can’t just sit idly and do nothing. The pervert is acting so impatiently right now that I fear that the instant I become a woman I’ll end up on his bed, doing this and that, and more……Jeez~~~]

Shamefully obscene images flashed across his mind beyond his control, which were all distilled knowledge from certain adult apps he frequently used in his previous life.

For Jiangming, the best-case scenario going forward would be to keep the body of a man, continue braving life and death along with his little Jiang, and eventually finding a beautiful dueling partner for it.

And if that wish couldn’t be realised, at least allow him to join a nunnery and avoid getting fucked. That’s not completely unacceptable for him.

Yet in the current situation — with the dirty senior brother eyeing him like an eagle, and the sect exam fast approaching, he can’t let himself slack off.

If he failed, his senior brother wouldn’t miss the opportunity.

He’s afraid he’ll become a ‘little junior sister’ begging for love and meowing passionately every day on the bed of that bastard senior brother.

“Phew……”

Jiangming took deep breathes until his mind was as calm as still water, then returned atop his bed and continued to cultivate.

Not even half an hour later, he had no choice but to stop.

“No, this is too slow, how many months and years more until I can even draw qi into my body? At this rate, I’m definitely going to fail the sect exam.” Jiangming’s face was ashen as he talked to himself.

Pondering for a long time, Jiangming suddenly remembered a place that his perverted senior brother introduced: a great skill repository within walking distance in Baishi²White Stone City, open to all disciples. By exchanging spirit stones or merit points, you can redeem some of the sect’s treasured techniques.

Although the chance was small……Maybe there would have a solution for his mediocrity? 

After all the pervert could just be lying about his lack of talent~ 

Knowing he’s just deceiving himself but with few straws in reach, Jiangming could only grasp anything desperately no matter how much he’s against it.

He borrowed hundreds of spirit stones from Qin Wuyi, then went to borrow more from Li Daoming. Only to find Li’s door now tightly closed, not welcoming any guests.

With this pathetic ‘capital fund’, Jiangming ran until it’s almost evening, reaching the outskirts of Baishi City.

He looked at the gloomy dilapidated city walls as the night ravens circling in the sky, signalling the oncoming night. However, there were no lights on inside the city. Jiangming’s pace slowed as he begun to have second thoughts.

“Hey, this is Joyous Union, not Fengdu Ghost City³https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fengdu_Ghost_City, right?”   

He joked to himself out loud to dispel the growing unease in his heart. 

Stepping past the city gates, through the deserted empty streets, there was absolute silence all around. It was as if the entire world was muted save for the "Rustling" of his silk shoes on flagstones.

Feeling the situation getting worse by the second, Jiangming wanted to turn and run, but the way he came was wrapped in pitch darkness, and that unnatural gloom made Jiangming’s heart throb fearfully. He gritted his teeth, dug out the token engraved ‘Song’ from his pocket and snapped it in pieces.

And then nothing happened.  

Jiangming fell into quiet despair. He followed the direction of the moonlight, wandering in this abandoned city, as desolate as a graveyard, hopelessly searching for any glimmers of light and a sense of security.

And then……He really found it.

Here was a grand seven-story hall, which looked somewhat similar to the ‘skill repository’ previously introduced by his senior brother, and what Jiangming once saw below from atop the flying boat.

Except the ‘skill repository’ in his memory was a brilliant and magnificent treasure palace, and this one he saw before him was heavily dilapidated and long in disrepair. It looked as if a clash of titans had happened here, with half the building already collapsed, and the other half crumbling.

Apart from that, comparing the ‘war-torn version’ here with the one from his vague memories, even the smaller shapes and details don’t quite seem to match?

No matter how bizarre this ‘skill repository’ was, Jiangming could only head on inside, for through the windows of this hall shone the only faint lights in this entire city. Bathed in that yellow light, Jiangming felt that concentrated terror gradually fading and replaced with a sense of warmth.

“Creak~~”

An ear-piercing sound made by wood axles grinding against each other.

In a swirl of floating dust, Jiangming pushed open the doors and entered the hall. Even inside the hall weren’t any signs of people, yet an oil lamp was lit every few steps. The sizzle and smoke of the lamps gave off a strange aroma, which made Jiangming somewhat entranced.

He even begun to hallucinate a little — feeling like the lamps weren’t burning lamp oil, but people wailing in pain.

On the first floor of the grand hall, there were rows and rows of bookcases which accumulated dust half an inch thick. Jiangming randomly grabbed a book, trying to read something to ward off the returning fear.

Looking closely, it was a sword manual, [Nine Secrets of Sword Palace].

Jiangming grew fascinated and read through the first page synopsis, word for word and line after line. The exquisite sword theory teased within gripped onto his attention, and he couldn’t help but turn the page so he could read the rest in more detail.

“Pat.”

Suddenly from the side came a woman’s hand, gently holding down Jiangming’s forefinger in the midst of turning the next page.

Jiangming froze completely, his face instantly white.

[……A ghost?]