Pulling Together A Villain Reformation Strategy Chapter 24

Chapter 24 – Deathly Village

Faced with this unexpected trouble, Jiang Xunyi impatiently stopped and frowned . At the same time, the System popped up once again to reinforce that it still existed:

[Task 2: Find out the truth . ]

Jiang Xunyi was momentarily thrown off: “Find out the truth? Find out what truth? Can’t you speak clearly just once? …System, did you run out of power? Hey!!”

The system did not say anything more . By this time, the villager who had called out “Monk” had already rushed in front of them, panting for breath: “Wait… wait a moment… monk… and beggar1, can you two catch monsters?”

Jiang Xunyi: “…… . . ” He looked down at his own clothing and immediately understood who was being referred to by “beggar” . Seeing his expression, Yun Xie almost laughed out loud . He only held himself back by quickly coughing into his sleeves a couple times .

You’re the beggar, okay?! Your entire family are all beggars!

Jiang Xunyi glimpsed Yun Xie out of the corner of his eyes and immediately knew what he was thinking . He rolled his eyes at Yun Xie, before turning his head to look expressionlessly at that villager: “I’m a beggar? If I dare to beg, do you dare to give in return?”

Of course, he was not idle or bored to the point of haggling with a mere countryside villager . He was only dissatisfied with the other’s rudeness, and just offhandedly shot back . However, that villager originally did not hold any hopes for Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi in the first place purely because their figures were not the tall and burly type . Although Yun Xie was wearing the uniform of a cultivator, his face was pale and his manner refined, making him appear like he didn’t have long to live . While Jiang Xunyi… . . Cough cough, just based off his current “style,” the villager didn’t even give him a proper glance .

But now once Jiang Xunyi opened his mouth to speak, his voice was clear and cold, actually indescribably nice on the ears . The villager couldn’t help but look at him properly . He was first shocked by Jiang Xunyi’s good looks . Then upon being stared down by Jiang Xunyi’s knife-like gaze, his heart trembled with fear and timidity . The villager immediately recognized this was not a lowly person, and his words turned polite: “It’s because this insignificant one is too clueless, may you two young masters please refrain from blaming me, refrain from blaming me . ”

With Jiang Xunyi by his side, Yun Xie’s heart was satisfied and his behavior became gentle in turn . He shook his head with a smile on his face: “You mentioned catching ghosts and monsters just now . What ghosts exactly?”

On the side, Jiang Xunyi sank into deep contemplation . He originally was not a nosy person by any means, but this person’s appearance was too timely to be a mere coincidence . It was not clear if the System’s incongruous “Find the Truth” just now was connected to the haunting in this village . It wasn’t that Jiang Xunyi’s level of understanding was too low, but because the System had never released a task for this level of minutiae before .

While considering the situation, he listened in on the conversation between the villager and Yun Xie . Through this multi-tasking, he achieved a general understanding of what was going on .

To sum it all up, there wasn’t anything particularly extraordinary . The village had a nearby river, where villagers would often go to catch fish and bathe . These past years, it had always been calm and peaceful, without anything happening . But starting a short while ago, anyone who entered the water never came back up . Not even a single corpse was found——in other words, even all those who went down to salvage the bodies had also died .

From listening to this, it could be deduced that some underwater spirit or monster had newly come to this river . Since it had to hide in order to hurt people and couldn’t come ash.o.r.e to expand the range of its haunting, its cultivation was clearly not very high . Given Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi’s ample experience killing demons and monsters since childhood, they had seen far too many situations similar to this and neither one took it particularly seriously .

A thousand hopes rose in Yun Xie’s heart at the possibility of continuing to interact with Jiang Xunyi, so he naturally jumped at the chance to stay here for a few more days . He therefore whispered: “Young master Du, from my perspective, slaying demons and monsters is my generation’s responsibility . Since we have run into this situation, how about we help out and solve this problem?”

Jiang Xunyi praised him with a faint imitation of a smile on his face: “Sect Master Yun is truly a highly principled and righteous person . ” Without waiting for Yun Xie to speak, he briskly added: “Since this is the case, then let’s go check it out . ”

In accordance with Jiang Xunyi’s personality, he did what he said with vigor and resolve . But that villager refused to lead the way no matter what, stating that after nightfall he would absolutely never dare to approach the river . Since he was not in a hurry, Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi were in even less of a hurry, so they followed him back to the village to stay the night .

Outside of the village, there hadn’t been any very noticeable abnormalities . But as soon as the two of them stepped foot into the village, they quickly sensed an extremely strong atmosphere of death wreathed around the area, like that of a graveyard . Jiang Xunyi and Yun Xie met each other’s eyes in slight surprise . Although Du Heng’s body did not have the same level of spiritual sensitivity as his original one, Jiang Xunyi did not think this was an error in his judgement . According to reason, inside such a heavy aura of death, there should not be a single living person here . However, the people here were all in high spirits and very much alive and kicking——a truly incomprehensible phenomenon .

Yun Xie was obviously somewhat perplexed about this matter too . Without changing expression, he took two steps forward to grab the wrist of that villager leading the way and smiled: “Brother, I still don’t know what your name is?”

The man had not expected a character of such refined appearance and temperament would actually call him brother, and was overwhelmed by this unexpected favor: “I don’t dare, don’t dare . I2 am my family’s eldest, so you… you can call me Xu Da3 . ”

Yun Xie let go of his wrist and smiled: “Good, this humble one’s surname is Yun, while this young master is surnamed… . Du, and he is my s.h.i.+di . ”

Jiang Xunyi did not speak up to refute him . Still, he couldn’t resist secretly glaring at Yun Xie, thinking “who the h.e.l.l is your s.h.i.+di . ” However, when Yun Xie received Jiang Xunyi’s gaze, he shook his head with dignified solemnity . Jiang Xunyi couldn’t help but momentarily freeze .

With this one action, he already understood Yun Xie’s meaning: “no abnormalities found at all; it’s unclear how the people in this village survived in such a strong atmosphere of death . ”

Sure enough, the System would not send him tasks so casually, and especially would not give him any easy work to do . Jiang Xunyi frowned, vigilance secretly rising in his heart .

Sure enough, the System would not send him tasks so casually, and especially would not give him any easy work to do . Jiang Xunyi frowned, vigilance secretly rising in his heart .

When Yun Xie chose to kill him back then, that was the end of their brotherly bond . Although it was unclear why upon being reborn, all Jiang Xunyi saw was Yun Xie’s remorse, guilt, and nostalgia towards himself as well as this task to “escort the protagonist back to his mountain”… in the end, he could not trust the other person like before . This current situation therefore involved both a dangerous environment as well as a person who he did not know whether to consider a friend or enemy . The only thing Jiang Xunyi could truly count on right now was himself .

Jiang Xunyi avoided Yun Xie’s gaze, bowing his head to fix his own sleeves as he followed the other two into Xu Da’s courtyard .

Upon entering through the door, the hall and rooms did not count as large . The s.p.a.ce had been cleaned up very tidily, but there wasn’t much for furnis.h.i.+ng . Two skinny little girls peered out timidly from behind some curtains . When they came into contact with Jiang Xunyi’s gaze, they hurriedly retracted their heads back .

The embarra.s.sed Xu Da said: “Countryside girls who haven’t seen the world… . If the two of you can tolerate this for one night…”

His words were broken up and fragmented, distracted by the voices of the woman and children inside . He hadn’t finished speaking when the loud crying of a child sounded out, and Yun Xie let him return to their rooms first . When Yun Xie turned around, however, he saw Jiang Xunyi lifting his foot to block the door of one of the inner rooms, looking at him with his arms crossed .

Yun Xie understood his meaning, but pretended to be ignorant: “Is young master Du tired? Let’s rest early then . ”

Jiang Xunyi was completely blunt and straightforward: “I am not rooming with you . ”

Yun Xie smiled bitterly: “This is the countryside, there aren’t any spare rooms . Just tolerate it this one time . ”

Jiang Xunyi: “Matters of housing can be tolerated, but matters of life and death cannot . I’m afraid that I’ll get chopped by you overnight, and die an unjust death . ”

　　This was the unspeakable entanglement between the two . Yun Xie felt like the softest place in his heart had been abruptly pinched, and his smile nearly collapsed . He forced the corners of his mouth up: “Why do you think this? I would not…”

Jiang Xunyi spoke with underlying meaning: “It’s not my own thinking . Isn’t this exactly how things are?”

Yun Xie opened his mouth to speak but stopped again . He finally laughed bitterly and silently turned away .

Seeing how he immediately stopped his rascal antics, Jiang Xunyi was still a little unused to his behavior . He kept the posture of his foot stepping on the door and his arms crossed on his chest as he watched Yun Xie’s silhouette disappear, an indescribable sense of wrongness in his heart . Still, he couldn’t call Yun Xie back to sleep together . After a long time, he finally let out a scoff and stood up to go to sleep in the room .

Seeing how he immediately stopped his rascal antics, Jiang Xunyi was still a little unused to his behavior . He kept the posture of his foot stepping on the door and his arms crossed on his chest as he watched Yun Xie’s silhouette disappear, an indescribable sense of wrongness in his heart . Still, he couldn’t call Yun Xie back to sleep together . After a long time, he finally let out a scoff and stood up to go to sleep in the room .

When he got up the next morning, Yun Xie was already waiting outside his door . When the two of them met face-to-face, they both had equally dark circles under their eyes . The one who had slept outside of course lacked energy, but the person who slept inside that room did not appear to have gotten much rest either . Yun Xie was a little distressed, and his fingertips couldn’t help but stroke across Jiang Xunyi’s eyelids: “Didn’t sleep well?”

Jiang Xunyi arched his head back to avoid his fingers, and humphed: “Who said that, it was extremely comfortable . ”

With the sound of heavy overlapping footsteps, Xu Da walked over towards the two of them, followed by several other villagers . Yun Xie swallowed the words on his tongue . He put his signature warm smile back on display once again, and nodded at the arriving people in greeting . Jiang Xunyi nodded with him .

One white-haired old man in the middle of the group appeared to have a temperament that stood out from the crowd of ordinary villagers . He moved forward and said: “This old man is endlessly grateful for how these two young n.o.blemen are willing to lend a helping hand . It’s just that the thing in this river is very dangerous, and you two are of such a young age . We don’t want to let you two throw your lives away for no reason, so… . if you two young n.o.blemen go back now, this old man understands . ”

Jiang Xunyi raised an eyebrow: “Old man, you have no need to be so overly concerned . ” He was not worried at all . In any case, even if it was a demonic G.o.d descending upon the world, all he had to do to avoid death in times of danger was hide behind Yun Xie .

So when one thought about it more carefully, the System making him escort Yun Xie back to Solar Envy Mountain was truly rather unnecessary .

Jiang Xunyi strode forward to leave towards the river, when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him . He looked back to see one of Xu Da’s two little daughters tottering out of that simple earthen house, opening her arms as she chased over to throw herself at him .

Jiang Xunyi was originally somewhat of a clean freak and disliked casual contact with other people . But out of the fear that the little girl would fall over, he subconsciously opened his hands and caught her in his arms .

Yun Xie watched sourly from the side .

Jiang Xunyi only felt a tightening force around his waist, and he had already been hugged . At a loss, he looked down to see the little girl’s pale face and emaciated limbs . Only her big eyes were watery as she stared at Jiang Xunyi: “Beautiful big bro, don’t go, you’ll die . ”

These were obviously the unwitting words of a little girl, and her voice still carried a hint of childish sweetness . However, as Yun Xie stood by Jiang Xunyi’s side, he felt his heart inexplicably leap in his chest, with a vague sense of fear and trepidation .

These were obviously the unwitting words of a little girl, and her voice still carried a hint of childish sweetness . However, as Yun Xie stood by Jiang Xunyi’s side, he felt his heart inexplicably leap in his chest, with a vague sense of fear and trepidation .

Footnotes:
1 .  要饭的 lit . “asking for food” is a somewhat more polite term for beggar
2 .  The villager refers to himself as 俺 (ǎn), which is how Northern dialects say “I” .
3 .  许大: 许 is his surname, while 大 literally means “big/eldest/boss” . Xu Da therefore means something like “eldest of the Xu family . ” Sometimes commoners in ancient times would not get proper first names, but instead be referred to with their “sibling order” (ex: “Da” for eldest, “Er” for second, “San” for third)

Chapter 24 – Deathly Village.

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Faced with this unexpected trouble, Jiang Xunyi impatiently stopped and frowned . At the same time, the System popped up once again to reinforce that it still existed:.

[Task 2: Find out the truth . ].

Jiang Xunyi was momentarily thrown off: “Find out the truth? Find out what truth? Can’t you speak clearly just once? …System, did you run out of power? Hey!!”.

The system did not say anything more . By this time, the villager who had called out “Monk” had already rushed in front of them, panting for breath: “Wait… wait a moment… monk… and beggar1, can you two catch monsters?”.

Jiang Xunyi: “…… ” He looked down at his own clothing and immediately understood who was being referred to by “beggar” . Seeing his expression, Yun Xie almost laughed out loud . He only held himself back by quickly coughing into his sleeves a couple times

You’re the beggar, okay?! Your entire family are all beggars!.

Jiang Xunyi glimpsed Yun Xie out of the corner of his eyes and immediately knew what he was thinking . He rolled his eyes at Yun Xie, before turning his head to look expressionlessly at that villager: “I’m a beggar? If I dare to beg, do you dare to give in return?”.

Of course, he was not idle or bored to the point of haggling with a mere countryside villager . He was only dissatisfied with the other’s rudeness, and just offhandedly shot back . However, that villager originally did not hold any hopes for Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi in the first place purely because their figures were not the tall and burly type . Although Yun Xie was wearing the uniform of a cultivator, his face was pale and his manner refined, making him appear like he didn’t have long to live . While Jiang Xunyi… Cough cough, just based off his current “style,” the villager didn’t even give him a proper glance

But now once Jiang Xunyi opened his mouth to speak, his voice was clear and cold, actually indescribably nice on the ears . The villager couldn’t help but look at him properly . He was first shocked by Jiang Xunyi’s good looks . Then upon being stared down by Jiang Xunyi’s knife-like gaze, his heart trembled with fear and timidity . The villager immediately recognized this was not a lowly person, and his words turned polite: “It’s because this insignificant one is too clueless, may you two young masters please refrain from blaming me, refrain from blaming me . ”.

With Jiang Xunyi by his side, Yun Xie’s heart was satisfied and his behavior became gentle in turn . He shook his head with a smile on his face: “You mentioned catching ghosts and monsters just now . What ghosts exactly?”.

On the side, Jiang Xunyi sank into deep contemplation . He originally was not a nosy person by any means, but this person’s appearance was too timely to be a mere coincidence . It was not clear if the System’s incongruous “Find the Truth” just now was connected to the haunting in this village . It wasn’t that Jiang Xunyi’s level of understanding was too low, but because the System had never released a task for this level of minutiae before

While considering the situation, he listened in on the conversation between the villager and Yun Xie . Through this multi-tasking, he achieved a general understanding of what was going on

To sum it all up, there wasn’t anything particularly extraordinary . The village had a nearby river, where villagers would often go to catch fish and bathe . These past years, it had always been calm and peaceful, without anything happening . But starting a short while ago, anyone who entered the water never came back up . Not even a single corpse was found——in other words, even all those who went down to salvage the bodies had also died

From listening to this, it could be deduced that some underwater spirit or monster had newly come to this river . Since it had to hide in order to hurt people and couldn’t come ash.o.r.e to expand the range of its haunting, its cultivation was clearly not very high . Given Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi’s ample experience killing demons and monsters since childhood, they had seen far too many situations similar to this and neither one took it particularly seriously

A thousand hopes rose in Yun Xie’s heart at the possibility of continuing to interact with Jiang Xunyi, so he naturally jumped at the chance to stay here for a few more days . He therefore whispered: “Young master Du, from my perspective, slaying demons and monsters is my generation’s responsibility . Since we have run into this situation, how about we help out and solve this problem?”.

Jiang Xunyi praised him with a faint imitation of a smile on his face: “Sect Master Yun is truly a highly principled and righteous person . ” Without waiting for Yun Xie to speak, he briskly added: “Since this is the case, then let’s go check it out . ”.

In accordance with Jiang Xunyi’s personality, he did what he said with vigor and resolve . But that villager refused to lead the way no matter what, stating that after nightfall he would absolutely never dare to approach the river . Since he was not in a hurry, Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi were in even less of a hurry, so they followed him back to the village to stay the night

Outside of the village, there hadn’t been any very noticeable abnormalities . But as soon as the two of them stepped foot into the village, they quickly sensed an extremely strong atmosphere of death wreathed around the area, like that of a graveyard . Jiang Xunyi and Yun Xie met each other’s eyes in slight surprise . Although Du Heng’s body did not have the same level of spiritual sensitivity as his original one, Jiang Xunyi did not think this was an error in his judgement . According to reason, inside such a heavy aura of death, there should not be a single living person here . However, the people here were all in high spirits and very much alive and kicking——a truly incomprehensible phenomenon

Yun Xie was obviously somewhat perplexed about this matter too . Without changing expression, he took two steps forward to grab the wrist of that villager leading the way and smiled: “Brother, I still don’t know what your name is?”.

The man had not expected a character of such refined appearance and temperament would actually call him brother, and was overwhelmed by this unexpected favor: “I don’t dare, don’t dare . I2 am my family’s eldest, so you… you can call me Xu Da3 . ”.

Yun Xie let go of his wrist and smiled: “Good, this humble one’s surname is Yun, while this young master is surnamed… . Du, and he is my s.h.i.+di . ”.

Jiang Xunyi did not speak up to refute him . Still, he couldn’t resist secretly glaring at Yun Xie, thinking “who the h.e.l.l is your s.h.i.+di . ” However, when Yun Xie received Jiang Xunyi’s gaze, he shook his head with dignified solemnity . Jiang Xunyi couldn’t help but momentarily freeze

With this one action, he already understood Yun Xie’s meaning: “no abnormalities found at all; it’s unclear how the people in this village survived in such a strong atmosphere of death . ”.

Sure enough, the System would not send him tasks so casually, and especially would not give him any easy work to do . Jiang Xunyi frowned, vigilance secretly rising in his heart

When Yun Xie chose to kill him back then, that was the end of their brotherly bond . Although it was unclear why upon being reborn, all Jiang Xunyi saw was Yun Xie’s remorse, guilt, and nostalgia towards himself as well as this task to “escort the protagonist back to his mountain”… in the end, he could not trust the other person like before . This current situation therefore involved both a dangerous environment as well as a person who he did not know whether to consider a friend or enemy . The only thing Jiang Xunyi could truly count on right now was himself

Jiang Xunyi avoided Yun Xie’s gaze, bowing his head to fix his own sleeves as he followed the other two into Xu Da’s courtyard

Upon entering through the door, the hall and rooms did not count as large . The s.p.a.ce had been cleaned up very tidily, but there wasn’t much for furnis.h.i.+ng . Two skinny little girls peered out timidly from behind some curtains . When they came into contact with Jiang Xunyi’s gaze, they hurriedly retracted their heads back

The embarra.s.sed Xu Da said: “Countryside girls who haven’t seen the world… . If the two of you can tolerate this for one night…”.

His words were broken up and fragmented, distracted by the voices of the woman and children inside . He hadn’t finished speaking when the loud crying of a child sounded out, and Yun Xie let him return to their rooms first . When Yun Xie turned around, however, he saw Jiang Xunyi lifting his foot to block the door of one of the inner rooms, looking at him with his arms crossed

Yun Xie understood his meaning, but pretended to be ignorant: “Is young master Du tired? Let’s rest early then . ”.

Jiang Xunyi was completely blunt and straightforward: “I am not rooming with you . ”.

Yun Xie smiled bitterly: “This is the countryside, there aren’t any spare rooms . Just tolerate it this one time . ”.

Jiang Xunyi: “Matters of housing can be tolerated, but matters of life and death cannot . I’m afraid that I’ll get chopped by you overnight, and die an unjust death . ”.

　　This was the unspeakable entanglement between the two . Yun Xie felt like the softest place in his heart had been abruptly pinched, and his smile nearly collapsed . He forced the corners of his mouth up: “Why do you think this? I would not…”.

Jiang Xunyi spoke with underlying meaning: “It’s not my own thinking . Isn’t this exactly how things are?”.

Yun Xie opened his mouth to speak but stopped again . He finally laughed bitterly and silently turned away

Seeing how he immediately stopped his rascal antics, Jiang Xunyi was still a little unused to his behavior . He kept the posture of his foot stepping on the door and his arms crossed on his chest as he watched Yun Xie’s silhouette disappear, an indescribable sense of wrongness in his heart . Still, he couldn’t call Yun Xie back to sleep together . After a long time, he finally let out a scoff and stood up to go to sleep in the room

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When he got up the next morning, Yun Xie was already waiting outside his door . When the two of them met face-to-face, they both had equally dark circles under their eyes . The one who had slept outside of course lacked energy, but the person who slept inside that room did not appear to have gotten much rest either . Yun Xie was a little distressed, and his fingertips couldn’t help but stroke across Jiang Xunyi’s eyelids: “Didn’t sleep well?”.

Jiang Xunyi arched his head back to avoid his fingers, and humphed: “Who said that, it was extremely comfortable . ”.

With the sound of heavy overlapping footsteps, Xu Da walked over towards the two of them, followed by several other villagers . Yun Xie swallowed the words on his tongue . He put his signature warm smile back on display once again, and nodded at the arriving people in greeting . Jiang Xunyi nodded with him

One white-haired old man in the middle of the group appeared to have a temperament that stood out from the crowd of ordinary villagers . He moved forward and said: “This old man is endlessly grateful for how these two young n.o.blemen are willing to lend a helping hand . It’s just that the thing in this river is very dangerous, and you two are of such a young age . We don’t want to let you two throw your lives away for no reason, so… . if you two young n.o.blemen go back now, this old man understands . ”.

Jiang Xunyi raised an eyebrow: “Old man, you have no need to be so overly concerned . ” He was not worried at all . In any case, even if it was a demonic G.o.d descending upon the world, all he had to do to avoid death in times of danger was hide behind Yun Xie

So when one thought about it more carefully, the System making him escort Yun Xie back to Solar Envy Mountain was truly rather unnecessary

Jiang Xunyi strode forward to leave towards the river, when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him . He looked back to see one of Xu Da’s two little daughters tottering out of that simple earthen house, opening her arms as she chased over to throw herself at him

Jiang Xunyi was originally somewhat of a clean freak and disliked casual contact with other people . But out of the fear that the little girl would fall over, he subconsciously opened his hands and caught her in his arms

Yun Xie watched sourly from the side

Jiang Xunyi only felt a tightening force around his waist, and he had already been hugged . At a loss, he looked down to see the little girl’s pale face and emaciated limbs . Only her big eyes were watery as she stared at Jiang Xunyi: “Beautiful big bro, don’t go, you’ll die . ”.

These were obviously the unwitting words of a little girl, and her voice still carried a hint of childish sweetness . However, as Yun Xie stood by Jiang Xunyi’s side, he felt his heart inexplicably leap in his chest, with a vague sense of fear and trepidation

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Footnotes:. 1 .  要饭的 lit . “asking for food” is a somewhat more polite term for beggar. 2 .  The villager refers to himself as 俺 (ǎn), which is how Northern dialects say “I” 3 .  许大: 许 is his surname, while 大 literally means “big/eldest/boss” . Xu Da therefore means something like “eldest of the Xu family . ” Sometimes commoners in ancient times would not get proper first names, but instead be referred to with their “sibling order” (ex: “Da” for eldest, “Er” for second, “San” for third).

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