Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 96: Ye Xiang and Xiao Die

“Who are you? Why are you pretending to be me?” Ye Xiang, a master of the Sky Reaching realm, sensed Murong Lin’s approach almost immediately.

In a burst of fury, Ye Xiang cast aside the bottle he held, allowing it to shatter on the ground, and staggered ungracefully toward Murong Lin.

“I am you!” Murong Lin’s voice carried an almost hypnotic quality as he retorted, his words laced with an enchantment drawn from circulating《Lifelessness Law》.

Though Ye Xiang boasted the prowess of the fifth layer of the Sky Reaching realm, his years of cultivation had lapsed, and coupled with his current state of intoxication, he became ensnared in Murong Lin’s web of confusion.

He spluttered, “Bullshit! If you are me, then who am I?”

His intoxicated eyes were clouded and unfocused as he clutched at Murong Lin’s collar, his brows knitted in confusion and anger.

Drawing closer, Murong Lin whispered in a voice that dripped like honey into Ye Xiang’s ears, “You’re Ye Xiang ah! Have you forgotten your shame and resentment? Come! Take up your blade!”

Ye Xiang’s arms were outreached as he noticed his own weapon, with a dramatic change to his expression, he shouted, “No! No! I don’t want to!”

In a display mirroring a stubborn child’s resistance to a dreaded task, he writhed on the ground as another bottle of alcohol materialized in his hands.

He refused to take up his own weapon, much less kill.

Murong Lin shook his head helplessly as he advanced, the tendrils of his enchantment weaving deeper into Ye Xiang’s psyche, “Do you still remember Xiao Die? She was the one that sent me here!”

At the mere mention of those two words, ‘Xiao Die’, Xiang’s complexion faltered almost instantly as his silhouette flickered, appearing before Murong Lin. He stared at him as he asked, “Xiao Die? Xiao Die? It was Xiao Die?”

He looked at the face that was identical to his, his own expression rather strange.

As he spoke, it was as if he had remembered something, and his expression swiftly worsened, “I am not worthy to even utter her name, I am not!” His words tumbled out like those of a tormented soul on the brink of madness.

Agitatedly, he shook his head, his self-loathing palpable, he had a visceral disdain for his own being.

“No! You are!” Murong Lin grabbed his shoulders, forcing him still.

“Xiao Die is still waiting for you to avenge her! She is still waiting for you to save her! Do you not want to save her? Will you stand by and let her suffer?”

“No! I want to protect Xiao Die! Protect Xiao Die!” Ye Xiang’s fervent declaration echoed through the air.

A knowing smile graced Murong Lin’s lips as he reached into his spirit familiar bag, withdrawing a hundred Blood Bat Locusts and presenting them to Ye Xiang, “Observe these creatures closely! With diligent nurturing, you can obtain the power to rescue Xiao Die!

Remember this well! These entities possess an insatiable appetite and extraordinary power!”

In this world, the Blood Bat Locusts stood as supreme entities, rivalled only by humans. The realm’s demonic beasts, mostly limited to the Flesh Refining realm, paled in comparison to their might.

Ye Xiang regarded the hundred Blood Bat Locusts in his hand, his expression changing dramatically as he discerned their potent strength within the Origin realm.

While he had encountered locusts before, these Blood Bat Locusts possessed an unprecedented strength, they were creatures that had never graced his knowledge.

“Them? Can they do it?” He asked in a daze.

“Of course they can! Think about it, a swarm of thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands of these Blood Bat Locusts descending upon a foe. Even first-rate experts would find survival a daunting endeavour, don’t you think?

And should the targets be of second-rate calibre, the outcome would be nothing short of inevitable.”

Murong Lin patiently shared his strategy with Ye Xiang, helping him see the path ahead more clearly. Ye Xiang, though initially hesitant, began to absorb the guidance with genuine interest.

As Murong Lin explained how to work with the Blood Bat Locusts, Ye Xiang’s drunken fog seemed to lift, replaced by a determined focus. With Murong Lin’s patient coaching, he quickly picked up the methods and precautions required.

He controlled the locusts, which Murong Lin had already given up some authority over, as his eyes became bright.

Alone, he might struggle, but he saw a chance for success with their strength.

The lives of the Blood Bat Locusts became a currency he was willing to spend, an expendable resource that he could accept sacrificing. After all, they were not human lives, and the weight of their sacrifice wouldn’t burden his conscience.

As his vision of that man solidified in his mind, his determination swelled. The desire for revenge burned brightly within him, stronger than ever.

Murong Lin continued, “Good luck! I believe in you! You are me, and I am you!”

After he finished speaking, with the aid of ‘Evil of lifelessness, lawlessness and formlessness’, he vanished.

The still somewhat dazed Ye Xiang didn’t search for him, instead, he caressed the hundred Blood Bat Locusts carefully as he mumbled to himself,

“My babies! We’ll achieve our goal soon! I’ll let you all have your fill! All of you must kill everything that blocks my path! Kill them all!”

His gaze became frenzied.

In the next instant, he disappeared from the forest.

Not long after, yet another human silhouette descended from the skies. Carefully inspecting the surroundings, it spoke, “Ye Xiang? Are you here?”

He was none other than Meng Xing Hun, Ye Xiang’s close friend, and one of the four great assassins of Gao Lao Da. And also, he was the protagonist of 《Meteor · Butterfly · Sword》.

He had a fate similar to a comet.

Meng Xing Hun carefully inspected his vicinity, and after confirming that Ye Xiang wasn’t avoiding him, he looked at the shattered bottle on the ground as his expression became solemn.

Then, he simply left.

And then, yet another human silhouette flew here, sneakily following behind Meng Xing Hun.

He was Xiao He, one of the four great assassins, someone who was considered to be their younger brother.

He was the first to follow Gao Lao Da, causing seeds of envy to sprout within him as Meng Xing Hun and the two others stole away the concern that Gao Lao Da had showered upon him. This festering jealousy had nurtured his resentment towards them.

Among the four great assassins under Gao Lao Da’s command, both Ye Xiang and Shi Qun boasted expertise at the fifth level of the Sky Reaching realm. Meng Xing Hun, trailing just behind, stood at the fourth level. Meanwhile, the youngest of them, Xiao He, occupied the second level of the same realm.

Xiao He’s gaze swept dismissively over the spilt alcohol, his disdain evident. He knew that the once-mighty Ye Xiang, the most formidable subordinate of Gao Lao Da, was now crippled.

Turning his attention to Meng Xing Hun’s back, a cold, sardonic laugh escaped his lips. “I’m eager to witness Gao Lao Da’s intentions for you. How amusing that she dispatched me to remind you.” he sneered, his face clouded with envy.

In the meantime, Murong Lin had made his way to a riverside, his eyes locked on his reflection shimmering in the water. Lost in contemplation, he pondered deeply.

Behind him, a girl draped in a scarlet cloak approached, her demeanour marked by a sense of melancholy. She reached the water’s edge, peering into the reflective surface of the river.

It wasn’t clear whether her sympathetic gaze was directed to someone else, or for herself.

According to Meng Xing Hun’s own description, she possessed an ethereal beauty akin to a water nymph emerging from the river’s depths. However, her allure was not accompanied by any martial cultivation. In fact, she was merely an unassuming mortal, a stark contrast to her lineage as the daughter of Sun Yu Bo, a renowned figure of great strength.

It seemed as though she had consumed a large amount of alcohol, but she didn’t seem intoxicated. She had never succumbed to drunkenness.

Murong Lin’s gaze lingered on her, taking in the crimson cloak that adorned her form and the aura of melancholy that shrouded her. The sight stirred a wellspring of compassion within him.

But Xiao Die didn’t think so.

Her gaze fixed on the young man crouched at the river’s edge, precariously balanced on the precipice of plunging into the waters below. A question escaped her lips, “Are you seeking death?”

In her mind, Murong Lin and herself shared a bond of kinship, both drawn to this river with an intent that echoed a desire for release from life’s burdens.

Day after day, she would venture to this very riverside, thoughts of ending her existence engulfing her mind. Yet, she had never mustered the final resolve to carry out the act. Deep down, she understood that she couldn’t die.

Over the years, she had intervened in numerous suicide attempts at this very spot – lovers seeking an escape, bereaved widows, desolate merchants abandoned by their spouses – her empathy extended to them, even as she wrestled with her own despair.

With a gentle warmth that she reserved for others, she spoke softly, “Should you truly seek to embrace death, I won’t dissuade you. Yet, let me ask you this: Have you truly lived?” Xiao Die’s voice, though soft, carried a clarity that resonated with purpose.

“Isn’t it rather foolish for one to seek death without having truly experienced life?” Her words could deter most of the people who had recklessly journeyed to this place to end their lives.

However, Murong Lin wasn’t such a reckless person, and he wasn’t a person who would take his own life.

“I died once.”

He knew that Xiao Die possessed a genuine capacity to listen – a trait often found in those who offered solace to others.

Murong Lin believed that she wouldn’t divulge the words he had spoken to her, and of course, even if his words were shared, it wouldn’t affect anything.

After dispelling the heart demon that had once plagued the original occupant of his current body, a lingering unease continued to gnaw at him. The sensation felt all too familiar, a haunting presence he recognized all too well.

Misery, despair, resentment, madness……

It mirrored the same heart demon that had been bequeathed to him by the previous Murong Lin upon his demise.

Now, he found himself wrestling with his very own heart demon.

Ever since his transmigration, Murong Lin had walked on a path of slaughter, and he knew that this wasn’t because he had a heroic heart.

This was due to his own fear.

He feared that everything was fake.

He regarded human lives as insignificant as ants, dispatching them without a second thought as he pursued his own unrestrained desires.

Because his death was real.

The death of his past life, was his heart demon.

Translator’s note

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