Chapter 27: I’m a Demon Cultivator, Not a Wanted Criminal

Xu Gu had just made up his mind to leave the Demonic Abyss to find some famous chefs to bring back as alchemists when Huan Caiyi called out to him.

“Senior Brother!”

As soon as she spotted him, she practically bounced over. Today she wore a light pink dress; her face was already stunning, her figure slender and graceful. When she smiled, she was like a peach blossom in full bloom, dreamy and unreal, enough to make anyone lose themselves.

“What a coincidence, Junior Sister Caiyi.”

Xu Gu turned back, a little surprised, and smiled.

“It is a coincidence.” Huan Caiyi looked a bit embarrassed.

Her talent was too freakish; she had never really calmed down to sit and cultivate in her life. Even here in the Demonic Abyss, she couldn’t sit still and was constantly looking for fun.

And if she was going to look for fun, it was obviously most fun to do it with Senior Brother Xu Gu.

So this “coincidence” did not exist at all.

She’d been waiting at the exit for him to come out of seclusion.

“Senior Brother, what mission are you going to do? Want to go together?” Huan Caiyi asked eagerly.

“Of course.” Xu Gu nodded readily. “I’m going to look for some cooks. The better their culinary skills, the better. Do you know where we can find top-notch chefs?”

With her background, she absolutely should know where to find good cooks.

“Eh…”

Once she got close, Huan Caiyi didn’t rush to answer. Instead her fine brows knit, her cute nose twitched, and she stared seriously at Xu Gu, studying him up and down.

Xu Gu was baffled.

A moment later,
Huan Caiyi raised her head, eyes wide with surprise.

“Senior Brother, you’ve broken through again? You’re at the eighth level of Qi Training now, right?”

Xu Gu corrected her seriously.

“Eighth level of Qi Training, late stage peak.”

All thanks to Heavenly Demon Art.

Totally worth carrying the huge karmic burden of being “the guy who proposed pay-to-enter demonhood”!

“For real? That’s way too fast.” Huan Caiyi gasped.

She really was shocked.

Xu Gu’s talent wasn’t great, just a three-spirit-root. On top of that, something in the Demonic Abyss was clearly suppressing righteous-path cultivators’ talent.

By all logic, his cultivation should have been crawling.

But right now, Xu Gu’s advancement speed was already surpassing her, a so-called immortal physique.

Just thinking about it made Huan Caiyi’s heart fill with resentment.

All that damned unknown suppression’s fault.

Xu Gu watched a strand of resentment as thick as his wrist float out from above her head and drift onto him, and his mouth twitched.

He still smiled as he explained,

“I started cultivating a demonic-path technique.”

That was impossible to hide anyway, so he might as well be upfront.

They were both “undercover” righteous cultivators—she’d understand.

“Demonic-path technique? Senior Brother, you’ve really suffered.”

Huan Caiyi’s respect deepened even more. In her mind, all demonic techniques were crude and sloppy. Once you practiced them, they would damage your potential and drag down your future achievements.

She never imagined that for the sake of the light of the righteous path, Senior Brother Xu Gu would sacrifice so much.

Xu Gu’s mouth twitched again.

He felt like something about her reaction was off.

If you and I are both righteous undercover agents, then after hearing that I’ve started practicing a demonic technique, shouldn’t your reaction be: utterly shocked, worried, heartbroken, and then yelling—

“Senior Brother, you’ve actually been tainted by demonic arts?!”

“No wonder the Five Great Immortal Sects sent them here as undercover agents.”

After watching Huan Caiyi’s expression carefully, Xu Gu shook his head.

These five didn’t care at all whether a technique was righteous or demonic.

If a demonic technique was strong, they’d practice it without a shred of hesitation.

The only reason they hadn’t was because they looked down on them.

“Let’s go quickly.”

After expressing her heartfelt admiration, Huan Caiyi suddenly seemed to remember something.

She looked around nervously, then urged, “Senior Brother, I know where the very best chefs are.”

At the same time,
In the secret transmission channel of the righteous undercover agents, Li Shaobai’s excited voice rang out.

“Senior Brother Xu is out of seclusion. Is he heading your way?”

This transmission channel was supported by a treasure provided by their sects, so they didn’t have to worry about being detected by the demonic cultivators.

Kong Haoran: “Nope, not at the training arena.”

Zhao Jingang: “Not at the Scripture Pavilion either.”

Mi Suhui: “He’s not at the pill distribution area.”

The others all waited for Huan Caiyi to reply.

It wasn’t just Huan Caiyi who couldn’t sit still and wanted to find fun—they all did.

In their minds, if you wanted something interesting to do, you obviously did it with Xu Gu.

As long as you followed him, fun was guaranteed.

Huan Caiyi glanced up sheepishly at Xu Gu—since he was also in the channel—then her bright peach-blossom eyes blinked, and she said into the channel with a straight face,

“Not at the Mission Hall either.”

Xu Gu didn’t find anything strange about it.

He was indeed no longer at the Mission Hall.

“Let’s go.” Xu Gu said to her.

Huan Caiyi lit up instantly.

She grabbed him and sped out of the Demonic Abyss, terrified the others would see her hogging him all to herself.

“Right, Senior Brother, what do you need chefs for?”

Only now did she remember to ask.

“Alchemy, of course.” Xu Gu said as if it were obvious.

Why else would he be looking for cooks? To cook?

“Huh? Chefs… to refine pills?”

Huan Caiyi was so shocked she took a step back, her pretty face full of confusion.

How could you possibly connect chefs with alchemy?

Never mind whether the chefs could produce real pills—
Even if they did, could anyone eat them?

Wouldn’t they be worried about poisoning people?

“Oh! I get it!”

Huan Caiyi’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she looked thrilled.

“Senior Brother Xu, you’re doing this to undermine the Demonic Abyss from the inside!”

“Having chefs pretend to be alchemists and refine pills for demonic cultivators is no different from asking a scholar to go fight on the front lines.

“The pills they make will definitely be problematic.

“In the short term, the demonic cultivators might be fine, but after taking them for a long time, they’re guaranteed to be in trouble.

“When the demonic path rises, they’ll look strong on the surface, but in reality their bodies will be full of pill poison, completely vulnerable.”

Her reverence and admiration for Xu Gu grew even deeper.

To think of something like this—if that wasn’t genius, what was?

“…”

Xu Gu frowned slightly and stared at her for a while.

To be able to spin that kind of conspiracy theory from just a few lines… if that wasn’t genius, what was?

“That’s right, exactly.” Xu Gu said calmly.

Once they left the Demonic Abyss’ territory, Huan Caiyi expertly changed her appearance, put on a disguise robe, applied some sun-blocking pill oil, then pulled out a flying sword and prepared to take off.

The guilty look was strong.

Anyone who saw her would probably wonder if she was a wanted criminal.

Xu Gu didn’t know why someone who was a direct heir to a righteous immortal sect and a top noble clan was so practiced at this routine, but he still stopped her.

“Here.”

He took two slips of talisman paper from his robe and handed them to her.

“What’s this?” Huan Caiyi blinked.

“Flying boat tickets,” Xu Gu said. “We have flying boats—why are you planning to fly there yourself?”

These were unlimited world-pass flying talismans he’d already arranged in advance, allowing him to ride any flying boat owned by Don’t-Earn-Money Commerce. Very handy for business trips.

“Ah?” Huan Caiyi raised her brows, stunned.

“Our current identities… aren’t we demonic cultivators? We can still take flying boats? Aren’t you afraid of being exposed?”

Demonic cultivators taking a flying boat?

That went against her worldview. Weren’t demonic cultivators supposed to sneak around like thieves on the run?

Xu Gu looked at her in surprise.

“I’m a demon cultivator, not a wanted criminal. Why couldn’t I take a flying boat?”

Huan Caiyi’s mouth twitched, and her fine brows knitted.

Her eyes spun a few times.

She felt like something about that line was wrong—but she couldn’t say exactly where.

“Now that you put it that way… it kind of makes sense.”

She thought and thought, and in the end discovered—

It really did make sense.

(End of this chapter)