Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

In the end, the young woman failed to stuff it in and put her little boots back on.

There was nothing to be done. He had eaten watermelon.

It was very sticky.

’Definitely next time.’

The young woman floated gracefully to the ground.

The hem of her skirt bloomed open like a flower petal, then slowly gathered shut.

She walked to the bedside with her small hands clasped behind her back, tilting her head to study Jiang Mu, her eyes curving into a smile.

"Is Young Master Jiang so annoyed because I poisoned you?"

Before Jiang Mu could answer, she took the half-eaten watermelon from his hand, drew the dagger from her waist, and sliced off an untouched corner of the melon. She popped it into her mouth and spoke as she ate,

"But if I hadn’t poisoned you, that woman Ling Ye would have definitely grown suspicious."

"When did you do it?" Jiang Mu was very curious.

"It was the last time I came to your house to find you." Qiu Yuexin swallowed the piece of melon.

Jiang Mu was stunned, and a chill ran down his spine.

’This girl... she couldn’t have actually wanted to kill me last time, could she?’

"You guessed right."

Qiu Yuexin seemed to have read his mind.

"I did indeed have thoughts of killing you before. If you hadn’t shown your abilities and turned over a new leaf, you’d have been a corpse long ago."

The crimson watermelon juice stained the young woman’s lips, giving them an alluring, dewy shine.

It was as if she had applied a layer of the most vibrant lipstick.

She gave Jiang Mu a slight smile.

"But I won’t anymore.

After all, you’ve shown your worth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken the risk to help you escape this time."

Jiang Mu didn’t want to get stuck on this topic and asked, "Have you found the Fog Demon?"

Qiu Yuexin took out a silk handkerchief to wipe her hands and shook her head.

"Not yet, but I have a lead. Also, I need you to do me a favor."

"I knew this wouldn’t be anything good."

Jiang Mu said, "You’re not going to ask me to seduce Lord Ling, are you? I’m telling you, I’m really not that kind of guy."

"Heh."

Qiu Yuexin scoffed. "That’s something you should be doing anyway. But I came to find you today for another matter."

She pulled a letter from her sleeve and tossed it to Jiang Mu.

"Find a chance to go to your Demon-slaying Bureau’s Document Library and copy a few case files for me. The specific cases are written on this."

Jiang Mu frowned. "Isn’t this going a bit too far? I’m a—"

Before he could finish, the rims of the young woman’s eyes suddenly reddened.

Those eyes, which usually held either a smile or a cold glint, were now covered in a layer of mist. Her curved lashes trembled, as if tears were about to fall at any moment.

She bit her lower lip, her voice choked with emotion.

"My parents..."

Jiang Mu felt his scalp tingle. He quickly waved his hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright! Stop! It’s all for avenging your parents. I’ll go back and find a chance to copy them for you, okay!"

The corners of Qiu Yuexin’s lips curved up, but she immediately returned to her cold and indifferent expression.

"I am indeed doing this to avenge my parents. Once my revenge is complete, there will be nothing between us anymore. You can go be a Demon Slayer Envoy and play with your women. I’ll go be a demon and walk my own path.

If, one day, you, the Demon Slayer Envoy, come to slay me..."

She paused and turned her head to the side.

Light and shadow cut a line across her delicate profile.

"Then we will have no choice but to fight to the death."

As her voice fell, the red figure in the room dissipated like mist.

Only a faint fragrance remained in the air, along with the rustling of bamboo leaves in the wind outside the window.

Jiang Mu sighed softly.

"Ah, my dear girl... are we really destined to fight?"

"I hope you won’t feel sorry for your big bro then."

He opened the letter in his hand. It listed several demon cases from the past few years, with detailed records of the locations and the types of demons involved.

’I wonder how these are related to the Fog Demon.’

"Whatever. I’ll just find a chance to check the Document Library."

Jiang Mu put away the letter. With a flicker of his will, he summoned two Demon Shadows, stuffed them into the bubble-like Magical Treasure, and let them cultivate on their own.

’This is what capitalists do.’

’Gotta make the workhorses toil 24/7!’

’The grind never stops! Grind ’em to death!’

At the same time, he also sat down cross-legged and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique.

With the boost from the Dual Star Position, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged into his meridians through all his acupoints, pouring madly into his body like a torrential flood.

It was more than ten times faster than before.

It brought an unprecedented feeling of exhilaration.

"Fucking awesome!"

Jiang Mu clenched his fist. "This is what it feels like to be a true Star Official!"

A fiery glint flashed in his eyes.

’The Terrestrial Star is formed. Next up is the Celestial Spirit.’

’I wonder which bastard stole the true Celestial Spirit Star Position that belongs to me.’

’No matter what, I’ll remember this grudge!’

Jiang Mu cursed for a while before his gaze fell on Shadow Number Two, and a strange idea suddenly occurred to him.

’Shadow Number Two is empty right now.’

’Could I move my true Star Position into it?’

After a moment’s hesitation, he tentatively tried to use his will.

However, with just a single thought, the Star Position instantly shifted and entered Shadow Number Two.

But the Star Power within his body didn’t change.

Jiang Mu then tried to retract Shadow Number Two into the Demon Slot.

Instantly, his aura changed, and he reverted to being that unremarkable, fake Star Official.

Others wouldn’t be able to sense that he was a true Star Official at all.

"Well, I’ll be. I can’t believe it works like this."

Jiang Mu was rather pleased. "I can switch back and forth seamlessly in the future. A must-have for ambushing people."

...

Jiang Mu rested until the afternoon. Once his body had mostly recovered, he returned to his own small courtyard.

"Master!"

Just as he entered the courtyard gate, a petite figure pounced on him.

Yuan Ahqing looked up with her small face, the rims of her eyes slightly red, her expression full of worry.

"Yesterday, Miss Chu said you were sick and told us not to worry. Master, are you okay?"

’That girl Lingzhu is pretty thoughtful.’

Jiang Mu ruffled the young girl’s hair and smiled. "I’m fine. I just caught a bit of a cold and slept at her place for a while."

"That’s good."

The young girl breathed a sigh of relief.

After sending the little one away, Jiang Mu went to the space under the eaves.

Bai Xiang was sitting in the wicker chair as usual, reading quietly.

The hem of her dress, hanging down, swayed in the wind.

Jiang Mu plopped down on the chair next to her and let out a long sigh.

"Sigh. I didn’t come home all night. Someone must have been too worried to sleep. It must have been hard for her."

Bai Xiang: "..."

"Of course, maybe it wasn’t worry, but letting her imagination run wild."

Jiang Mu habitually grabbed her small hand, holding it in his palm and rubbing it slowly. Her skin was cool and smooth as jade.

"For example, thinking things like, ’I wonder if something will happen with Master sleeping at Miss Chu’s place? Should I go over and catch them in the act? Oh my, why does dinner taste so sour tonight?’"

Bai Xiang finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

She gave him a big, playful eye-roll. She tried to hold back, but in the end, she couldn’t suppress the smile that appeared on her lips.

’This guy...’

’But in truth, I had been a little worried.’

’As for being jealous, that was impossible.’

’Things like romance were completely foreign to me. In this lifetime, no man could ever dream of touching me.’

...

After chatting with the women for a while and eating the sumptuous dinner meticulously prepared by Xiangxiang, Jiang Mu returned to his room to rest early.

Before going to sleep, he moved his Star Position to Shadow Number Two.

He had both Demon Shadows cultivate the "Purple Extremity Art" inside the bubble.

This Cultivation Technique was extremely difficult to practice.

Previously, it had taken him many days of hard cultivation to barely reach the initial stage.

Now, with the boost from a true Star Position, his progress was finally much faster. He figured he would be able to break through to the First Layer very soon.

However, in reality, it happened even faster than Jiang Mu had expected.

「At the stroke of Midnight.」

As he lay sound asleep, a layer of pinkish-white radiance suddenly bloomed around his body.

The Purple Extremity Art—a breakthrough!

—

「Inside the Underground Palace.」

On the Cold Jade Platform, Shangguan Luoxue, who had sensed something, suddenly snapped her eyes open. Starlight glinted in her purple pupils.

"That person... actually mastered it so quickly!?"

"Go and see who it is!"