Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

Clearly, the artist had poured their heart and soul into the painting.

"This is..." A stir went through Jiang Mu.

"This is my son."

Tang Guixin gazed at the portrait, her eyes growing distant and sorrowful. Her fingertips gently brushed across the cheek of the boy in the painting as she whispered,

"I painted it from memory, little by little. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried. I always feel it’s not quite right, but at the same time... I feel this is exactly how he looked when he was little."

Jiang Mu leaned in for a closer look.

At first glance, the contours of the boy’s eyes and brows in the painting bore a faint resemblance to Jiang Mu’s own from his youth.

’No wonder this woman is so warm toward me.’

’Her motherly love, pent up for so many years, had nowhere to go. Then she met a young man who bore a slight resemblance to her deceased son, and even heard that he was an orphan with a tragic past. All at once, those feelings found an outlet.’

"He’s very cute," Jiang Mu said softly.

Tang Guixin smiled, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "Yes, he was the sweetest boy..."

The night wind blew by, bringing a slight chill.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, enjoying the rare moment of tranquility.

...

...

「Late that night.」

The moonlight, like liquid silver, spilled through the window lattice into the humble farmhouse.

Everyone else was already asleep.

Jiang Mu and Xu Fu were staying in the same room.

The moment his head hit the pillow, that guy Xu Fu was out cold, sleeping like a dead pig. His snores, as loud as thunder, rose and fell, shaking the room.

Jiang Mu lay in bed, wide awake.

He took the Jade Pendant Tang Guixin had given him from inside his robes and examined it closely.

The Jade Pendant felt smooth and delicate.

On the road earlier, he had tried to channel Demonic Qi into it, as he usually did, to see if he could give it one of his demonic alterations.

Strangely enough, the Demonic Qi did manage to enter the Jade Pendant.

But the Jade Pendant was like a bottomless pit. It swallowed a good deal of his Demonic Qi without so much as a peep, let alone showing any unusual reaction.

He’d never encountered anything like it before.

’How strange...’

Jiang Mu fiddled with it for a while longer but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. In the end, he could only chalk it up to the material being special or the activation conditions not having been met yet.

’Whatever. Time to sleep.’

He tucked the Jade Pendant back into his robes and closed his eyes.

As he drifted into a daze, Jiang Mu suddenly felt a powerful force pulling at his consciousness. The world began to spin.

When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him had changed.

A vast, mirror-like lake reflected the brilliant river of stars that filled the sky.

On a lone island in the center of the lake, radiant peach blossoms bloomed like rosy clouds.

Purple Mansion Divine Realm!

’I’ve been forcefully dragged in here again by that Lady Peach Blossom.’

Beneath a peach tree stood a graceful figure, wreathed in swirling flower petals.

It was none other than Shangguan Luoxue.

But now, the peach blossom petals around her were no longer drifting gently as before. Instead, they spun with a piercing sharpness, whirling violently.

If last time she had the air of a mysterious and gentle Fairy, then this time, she was like a war goddess about to deliver divine punishment, her entire being exuding an oppressive aura as fierce as a tempest.

Her eyes, in particular, were bone-chillingly cold and held a faint hint of killing intent.

’She looked like someone owed her a million bucks and hadn’t paid, or... maybe she was just on her period.’

Jiang Mu’s heart sank, and he tentatively ventured a greeting:

"Hello, Lady?"

When she didn’t react, her eyes still as cold as ice, he tried again: "Lady Peach Blossom?"

"Do you think..."

Shangguan Luoxue’s beautiful eyes were like ice as she bit out each word, "You’re so clever?"

Jiang Mu was baffled.

’What’s this woman’s problem? Did she eat gunpowder?’

’After all the trouble I went through, I finally managed to break open that crappy Dao Mansion of yours, just like you asked.’

’I even won over your high-and-mighty Celestial Dao.’

’I could forgive you for not saying thank you, but what’s with the long face the moment I get here?’

’Are you trying to go back on our deal?’

Jiang Mu’s expression soured, and he snapped:

"Lady Peach Blossom, one should have some integrity. We had a deal: I comprehend the Celestial Dao, and you give me the Star Position and the Cultivation Technique.

Now that I’ve done my part, are you trying to go back on our deal? If that’s how you’re going to be, I’ll really look down on you!"

’Look down on me?’

Shangguan Luoxue was so furious she actually laughed, her chest heaving.

’You have the gall to look down on me?!’

’You used such a brutish, unreasonable method to force your way into the Grotto Heaven Dao Mansion—my supreme Dao Foundation, which I worked so tirelessly to create—and you twisted it into your own form!’

’You’ve taken over my home, turned from guest to master!’

’And now you have the nerve to play the victim and ask if I’m backing out of our deal?’

’And you dare to look down on me?!’

She fought back the urge to immediately blast this scoundrel into dust and said coldly, "I instructed you to comprehend the Celestial Dao. How did you go about it? Who gave you permission... to alter the Dao Foundation without authorization!?"

Realization dawned on Jiang Mu.

’So that’s what this is about.’

He put on an innocent expression. "I had no choice. You were the one who said time was of the essence and that I needed to comprehend it as fast as possible.

Besides...

’My method might have been a bit brutish, but it was efficient! You can’t say it wasn’t fast, right?’

"And you never told me I had to be gentle and not be so rough. If you’d said so earlier, I would have been very gentle with it, I promise."

"..."

Purple snow began to gather in Shangguan Luoxue’s palm, her killing intent surging.

’She really wanted to slap this bastard dead for playing dumb after getting exactly what he wanted!’

’You twisted my Celestial Dao into your own form, and you think you’re the one in the right?!’

But her rational mind told her what was done was done. Killing him now would solve nothing.

Her Dao Mansion had already recognized him as its master.

Although she could still receive feedback from the Celestial Dao via the Dao Mansion to sustain her cultivation, regaining control was impossible for the time being.

Unless her Dao Foundation was fully restored and her power returned to its peak, allowing her to forcibly erase his imprint.

And right now...

’To repair her Dao Foundation... she actually needed him!’

For the ever-lofty Shangguan Luoxue, this feeling of being at his mercy was incredibly frustrating.

She took a deep breath...

She forcibly suppressed her anger, dissipated the swirling purple snow in her palm, and her expression returned to one of cool indifference.

"Fine. What’s done is done. There’s no point in saying more."

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"From this day forward, you and I shall begin our joint cultivation and discourse on the Dao."