The baby Tiantian lying in the grass heard, by her ear, the incomparably seductive voice of the inner demon: “He killed your father, caused your mother’s death—don’t you want to kill him for revenge?”

Shu Tiantian: =。=

Whether she could beat him or not, let’s not even talk about that for now.

Although Shu Tiantian had fallen into the inner demon tribulation, her mind muddled and hazy, she would absolutely not forget that her scumbag father and scumbag mother were living just fine in the real world.

Shu Tiantian had always felt that, with those exquisitely selfish parents of hers, it was very possible for them to be a scourge that would last a thousand years.

And besides, those two disasters who had ruined the old man’s life and hers for a lifetime—if Shu Tiantian didn’t go pull out their oxygen tubes, that was already proof that true feelings still existed in this world. Avenge them? At most she could call 110¹110: China’s emergency police number. for them, but for her to face the great demon head-on for the sake of her scumbag parents…

Baby Tiantian flailed her little arms in her swaddling cloth, cursing that voice back in furious baby babble.

Probably because it couldn’t understand baby talk, that voice finally fell silent.

Later, Shu Tiantian was picked up by Chixiao Immortal Lord and brought back to the sect…

But whether it was the muddle-headed Shu Tiantian or Dao Xuzi who controlled the inner demon, neither of them noticed that, within this accelerated stretch of memories, some real memories had been mixed in by an invisible hand.

—Including how, when Shu Tiantian had still been an infant, the sect elders openly discussed in front of her how to deal with this Heavenly Yin body; including all the ulterior things the sect had done over the years, and the truths that had been exposed because she was young and unguarded…

If Dao Xuzi could tamper with things within the inner demon tribulation, then Ji Wushu could naturally do the same.

This belated truth was his gift to the little spy.

Only, this small gift—probably even Shu Tiantian herself, trapped within the inner demon tribulation, hadn’t noticed. But once she woke up and searched through this memory again, she would see the true face of Tianji Sect clearly.

Ji Wushu withdrew his hand, lowered his eyes, and looked at the little girl lying with closed eyes on his knee.

According to the plan, Dao Xuzi continued to begin fabricating memories for Shu Tiantian.

In the memories, little Tiantian had no father or mother since childhood. Whenever she saw others acting spoiled beside their parents, she would feel especially envious, and often secretly cried, saying she missed her parents;

Little Tiantian heard someone tell her that, if they wanted to kill that great demon, the sect needed a drop of his heart’s blood. Then they could slay the demon and avenge her parents.

Little Tiantian heard that the great demon had killed again—this time another pair of husband and wife—just like a reenactment of what had happened back then. The sect master-uncle earnestly told her that if the Sinful Dragon were not exterminated, there would be tens of thousands of such parents in the world.

The memories kept playing, and that voice continuously tempted and lured beside Shu Tiantian, constantly intensifying her longing for her parents, constantly telling her that only by taking the heart’s blood and killing Ji Wushu could she let her parents rest in peace and bring peace to the world.

Little Tiantian: =。=

If it were the parents of this lifetime, she did indeed have expectations and attachment toward them—after all, they were different from her scumbag parents. They had never thought of abandoning her and truly loved their child.

If Dao Xuzi had randomly created a man and woman who somewhat resembled Shu Tiantian and told her they were parents who died protecting her, Shu Tiantian might really have been persuaded by the inner demon.

But who told Dao Xuzi to rummage through Shu Tiantian’s sea of consciousness—being clever only to outsmart himself—and forcibly paste the faces of her scumbag parents onto them.

He even designed a storyline where Shu Tiantian secretly shed tears because she missed those scumbag parents.

Little Tiantian: …？

If you want to mess with me, just say it directly—why go through all this acting!

If that were all, then fine—young little Tiantian was only forced to cry for her parents under the covers a few times; it wasn’t entirely unbearable.

But as if her scumbag parents weren’t already disgusting enough, within the inner demon tribulation, Shu Tiantian was also forcibly made to review once more the years she spent in Tianji Sect—because she was foolish—being treated like a tirelessly working little yellow ox…

Elixirs, swish swish swish, all sent out; spirit stones—not a single one; starving, gnawing on bigu pills; finally Chixiao returned so she could mooch a meal, only to have her spirit herbs cheated away again afterward.

So poor—like a little cabbage turning yellow in the field; knock on the bowl, and there isn’t even a single drop of oil in it.

Because in this life she was poor to the point of jingling, and even went hungry from time to time, Shu Tiantian was, just a little bit… somewhat stingy.

Fine, she admitted it—she really minded!!!

She had clearly tried desperately to forget the countless spirit stones she had given away, yet those memories had been forcibly reactivated. It was equivalent to reciting once again the accounts she had already memorized by heart during the more than ten years she had spent as a drifting ghost.

It was as if someone were saying to her—see those spirit stones? Such a huge pile of spirit stones!

Want them? Tempted?

Heh, I’ll throw them into the water, toss them into pits, and just refuse to give them back to you!

Even a clay figurine has three parts temper!

The voice that had been endlessly tempting Shu Tiantian stopped abruptly.

Because Dao Xuzi knew—the inner demon had finally taken shape, and even faster than he had expected.

The people in the council hall saw his expression and knew that the inner demon had reached completion. They all straightened up, gathered their focus, and looked toward the water mirror with anticipation.

Someone even sighed, “It seems she really is a child who values affection and filial piety… what a pity…”

As long as she hated Ji Wushu and fell under the inner demon’s temptation, she would soon work for them.

Shu Tiantian opened her eyes. Those beautiful apricot-shaped eyes were now covered with a layer of black mist, not a trace of white visible—clearly she had been completely controlled by the inner demon.

Everyone in the council hall held their breath, incomparably tense as they listened to the sounds coming from the water mirror.

They had just fabricated the deep blood-sea hatred of her parents being killed, repeatedly hinting that as long as she took the blood she could take revenge—so her inner demon must surely be…

“Spirit stones! My spirit stones!”

Council hall crowd: …..

No, after experiencing all those tragedies of flesh-and-blood separation within the inner demon tribulation, after experiencing her mother dying to protect her, after enduring the hardship of growing up without parents and suffering others’ scorn—

She had been tempted for so long, and in the end, what she was thinking about was… spirit stones????

For a moment, the council hall fell into speechless silence. Everyone’s gazes toward the several Tianji Sect elders became somewhat subtle—wasn’t she supposed to be a filial child?

Yet at this very moment, the people of Tianji Sect still had not realized that, from the instant Shu Tiantian’s inner demon reached completion, this was no longer a public execution of Shu Tiantian—those who should feel something was wrong were actually them.

As if that shock weren’t enough—

Shu Tiantian said something earth-shattering: “Tianji Sect owes me spirit stones and won’t repay them!”

Everyone was frozen on the spot.

The little girl’s voice trembled with grief and fury, like every worker whose wages had been withheld by a heartless boss, filled with dense resentment.

Just how much money did they owe this child, that even her inner demon was demanding repayment?

Everyone’s gazes swept in unison toward the several Tianji Sect elders. The elders were unable to explain themselves, their faces flushed red.

Dao Xuzi’s face turned ashen, yet he still manipulated the inner demon, coaxing step by step,

“Do you not care about the tragic deaths of your parents? Do you not want revenge? If you take Ji Wushu’s heart’s blood, you will become a great hero of the world—when that time comes, what are mere spirit stones?”

The already deranged Shu Tiantian raised her voice, “Mere? You actually said mere!”

Her tone was trembling, as if if he dared to say mere one more time, her fragile glass heart would shatter on the spot for him to see.

Dao Xuzi’s brow twitched. He realized that Shu Tiantian was the type who would die for money, and the strange looks from the crowd felt like thorns at his back. But Dao Xuzi was an old fox. Immediately, the inner demon’s tone shifted—

“As long as you take the blood and avenge your parents, and become a hero in the end, Tianji Sect will naturally give you spirit stones. Do you want one hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?”

The moment these words came out, everyone understood—she was greedy for money. This so-called debt was naturally just an excuse to extort more.

The Tianji Sect elders let out a breath of relief. Feeling that the sect’s reputation had been preserved, faint smiles appeared on their faces. Some even felt a little regretful about making things so complicated.

If they had known money alone could buy her off, why go to such lengths, even using the inner demon tribulation?

Who knew Shu Tiantian would angrily shout, her voice cracking, “Only two hundred thousand? Tianji Sect clearly owes me twelve million spirit stones!”

The elders who had just been thinking of buying her off with money: …？

Twelve million???

Forget the elders—even for great figures like envoys from the Upper Realm, that amount was astronomical!

At its richest, Tianji Sect’s treasury only held a few million spirit stones. She really dared to name such a price?

The inner demon choked, then continued coaxing patiently, “How could Tianji Sect possibly owe you that many spirit stones? You’re still so young—you must know that greed without limit—”

The deranged Shu Tiantian let out the cold laugh unique to a shattered glass heart.

To others, that laugh meant nothing, but it made the Tianji Sect elders’ hearts jolt. They vaguely sensed something was wrong. Dao Xuzi almost immediately decided to stop her, but Shu Tiantian had already begun speaking.

Starting from the day Shu Tiantian entered the Medicine Hall at age eight—when on her very first day a senior brother cheated her out of a pill worth three hundred spirit stones—without pausing for breath… she recited, word for word, the long, long, long ledger recorded in her sea of consciousness.

At first, the Tianji Sect elders still clung to a hopeful mindset of let’s see how you fabricate this. But once they realized she remembered clearly the exact year, month, day, place, and even who owed what, their expressions gradually stiffened, growing more and more twisted the longer they listened.

One had to know—in order to publicly prove they had done nothing underhanded, Tianji Sect had invited half the cultivation world. They saw nothing inappropriate in letting everyone watch a little girl be tempted by her inner demon, watching her expose all her inner weakness without dignity. On the contrary, they had unhesitatingly invited major figures from all eight great sects.

Only when, under everyone’s watchful eyes, in front of all eight sects, Shu Tiantian chattered on and laid everything out did they realize just how embarrassing a thing they had done.

How the entire sect, top to bottom, had preyed on a child; how they bullied someone young by quoting random prices; how they wouldn’t even spend a few spirit stones on a pill… originally it had just been treatment without payment, but as Shu Tiantian recited it, that list looked as if it could contract out the entire Tianji Sect—like this group of sword cultivators were freeloaders living off others while pretending otherwise.

Dao Xuzi’s face grew darker and darker. He tried to control Shu Tiantian and make her shut up, only to find that he could not move.

It was as if something had locked onto him. A silent terror seized his mind, making his hair stand on end in an instant. He could only watch helplessly as Shu Tiantian continued chattering on.

Footnotes

• 1
  110: China’s emergency police number.