After Switching Bodies with the Villainous Demon Lord - Chapter 18

“Don’t go yet. I know the person outside.”

Chi Xiuzhu retracted his divine sense and stepped forward quickly, blocking the two in front of him.

He glanced at one of the maids beside him.

“Hurry, let him in.”

The maid nodded slightly, pulled an axe out from her storage ring, and strode to the city wall. In the next instant, BOOM—the entire wall exploded. Dirt and stone flew in every direction, yet not a single piece hit anyone standing nearby.

The force control was on point.

On the other side of the wall, Xie Qingyu stood covered in dust, gripping a blood stained sword, warily watching the maid. But the moment he spotted Chi Xiuzhu, his eyes lit up and he ran over.

“Brother Chi! What are you doing here?”

But as he got a few steps closer, one of the two figures in front of him, dressed in a brown robe and with a thin, sickly build, slowly turned around.

The man’s face looked gloomy, sickly—very ordinary, and easy to bully. At that moment, he tilted his head and lazily waved. “What a coincidence, huh?”

The smile that had just lifted on Xie Qingyu’s lips froze instantly. His face went pale as all color drained away. The bones that had once been broken and healed now throbbed with dull pain.

Why is Brother Zhu here?!

His grip on his sword tightened, and it felt like a giant stone was pressing on his chest, making it impossible to breathe. Only now did he realize how naive his earlier thinking had been.

Even though he now had his life-bound weapon, just seeing that face, locking eyes with that person… his entire body instinctively recoiled. He couldn’t muster up a single bit of fighting spirit.

Chi Xiuzhu immediately sensed the strange tension between the two and subtly reached out, trying to tug Xiao Wuchen’s sleeve to pull him away—just in case he got caught in the crossfire.

But Xiao Wuchen casually raised a hand and slid his sleeve out of reach. Then, hands behind his back, he turned around to face Duan Ze and Xie Qingyu. From start to finish, he never spared Chi Xiuzhu a single glance.

Chi Xiuzhu took a deep breath, trying to suppress the strange tingling at his tailbone. He really didn’t want to sprout his tails again.

Compared to merely hearing about Duan Ze from others or catching a glimpse from afar, this was the first time he’d been this close in person, in human form. The man’s faint, cold scent kept brushing past the tip of his nose—it was almost enough to make him shift back to his original form.

Xiao Wuchen and the panicked-looking youth locked eyes. There wasn’t a trace of hatred or blame in his gaze.

Xie Qingyu’s eyes brightened slightly. It seemed Duan Ze still didn’t know who was behind what happened earlier. Big Brother Zhu hadn’t exposed him.

His eyes reddened with emotion. He flicked the blood from his sword, sheathed it, and hurried forward, sneaking glances at Duan Ze standing silently nearby.

“Shizun, I finally found you.”

Xiao Wuchen raised an eyebrow. The boy’s shamelessness was really something else. But Duan Ze didn’t react, so he played along, feigning ignorance.

“The poison—it’s gone?”

Xie Qingyu’s nerves finally eased a bit, though he still put on a distressed expression. “While I was looking for Shizun, I accidentally fell into a pit. There happened to be an antidote there. When I followed the path deeper, I ended up here.”

Xiao Wuchen nodded calmly.

Chi Xiuzhu glanced between them. He’d long known that Xie Qingyu was Duan Ze’s most pampered little disciple. Back when the boy left the sect for his first mission, Chi Xiuzhu had orchestrated a meeting just to get close to Duan Ze. They’d gotten along fairly well. The last time they met had been half a month ago.

But the boy had changed a lot since then—even seemed to forget their first encounter.

Not that it mattered. Chi Xiuzhu had only ever approached him to fish for information about Duan Ze. What happened to the boy personally didn’t concern him.

“So that means, if we follow the path you came from, we can head back up?” Chi Xiuzhu asked Xie Qingyu casually, though his body had already drifted closer to Xiao Wuchen’s side.

Xie Qingyu glanced at Chi Xiuzhu and gave a confirming nod.

Chi Xiuzhu’s love for Duan Ze was no secret in the cultivation world. Everyone knew about it. The fact that a demon beast who despised humans had ultimately sided with the cultivators instead of the demons… yeah, Duan Ze had a lot to do with that.

They chatted briefly. Xie Qingyu looked calm on the surface, but his brows were constantly furrowed with worry, like he was afraid something would happen at any moment.

Xiao Wuchen didn’t like the uneasy energy coming from him. He quickly lost patience and turned to walk toward his destination.

Xie Qingyu let out a quiet sigh of relief and quickly followed.

“Shizun, wait for me!”

Just as they turned a corner, a hulking beast with the body of a lion and wings of an eagle silently descended behind the broken wall. Its thick, barbed tongue snaked out and licked up the blood Xie Qingyu had left behind—earth and all.

A foul stench rolled across the ground in its wake, kicking up a layer of dust.

Semi-transparent eyelids blinked over predatory eyes. The pupils narrowed into slits, locking onto the direction Duan Ze’s group had left. Its wings spread wide, casting a massive shadow.

Xiao Wuchen moved fast, clearly annoyed. He finally stopped in front of a door and beckoned to Duan Ze behind him.

Xie Qingyu had been walking beside Duan Ze, and it wasn’t clear what they had been discussing, but Xie Qingyu’s expression was completely awful.

“Huh?” Duan Ze looked up, but still made his way over.

Xiao Wuchen gave the group behind him a quick glance, then wordlessly grabbed Duan Ze’s hand and swiftly traced a line across his palm. A cut opened, and he pressed Duan Ze’s hand to the door.

Immediately, a web of glowing runes spread across the surface. Duan Ze glanced at them—most of the symbols were ancient and complex, hard to understand, but they didn’t affect him much. However, behind him, the others all groaned in pain, clutching their heads. A few of Chi Xiuzhu’s maids even coughed up blood.

“Go.”

Before Duan Ze could say anything, Xiao Wuchen yanked him forward. The two of them jumped through the door and fell into a deeper pit.

As Duan Ze fell, he caught a glimpse of a giant lion head emerging where they had just stood. Two of the Out-of-Body Stage maids were torn in half and devoured. Xie Qingyu and Chi Xiuzhu quickly leapt in after them.

Duan Ze used divine sense to question Xiao Wuchen, who still had him by the arm.

“Did you see that spirit beast earlier?”

Xiao Wuchen looked at him. “Your disciple brought it here.”

A roar echoed from above, along with the dying screams of a few maids.

Xiao Wuchen glanced toward a specific direction, then looked at Duan Ze, who was falling beside him. His grip subtly tightened.

His father had brought him to this underground city many times. He knew every step of this place like the back of his hand. The artifact hidden here had been left by his father—only he could unlock it.

But now he had to bring his enemy here… together.

Duan Ze, wincing from the pressure on his arm, didn’t look up. He sent his divine sense downward. The bottom held a deep pool. “The artifact’s underwater? And could you not break my arm, thanks.”

“…One, two—” Xiao Wuchen muttered under his breath, clearly reluctant.

Suddenly, Duan Ze’s vision spun—Xiao Wuchen had thrown him.

He crashed into an outcropping on the cliffside before he could even react.

Xiao Wuchen, using the momentum, plummeted downward like a wounded bird.

Duan Ze didn’t think—he summoned a Binding Rope from his storage ring, lashed it out, and snagged Xiao Wuchen mid-air, yanking him back up with a grimace.

As soon as Xiao Wuchen hit the ledge, Duan Ze stormed up, grabbed him by the collar, and screamed via divine sense, “Are you out of your damn mind?! That’s MY body!”

“What’re you so mad about? Didn’t you just save it?” Xiao Wuchen replied flatly. He knew Duan Ze wouldn’t let his own body out of sight, which is why he’d done it.

He pried Duan Ze’s hand off and didn’t bother explaining further. Without looking back, he dragged Duan Ze toward a part of the stone wall connected to the ledge.

“What now?” Duan Ze grumbled.

“I need blood from my own body. Otherwise, you’d be up there playing tag with that lion-griffin.” Xiao Wuchen looked over coldly, his eyes filled with deadly hostility, like someone crawling out of a mountain of corpses.

The wound on Duan Ze’s hand was pressed to the wall again. The stone wasn’t cold—it felt oddly warm, like skin. Soon, he felt his blood being drawn in.

Red runes started appearing, and Duan Ze’s vision blurred from blood loss. His stomach turned. Behind them, cries for help echoed.

He tried to look back, but Xiao Wuchen cupped his cheeks and turned him forward.

“Focus.”

Duan Ze obeyed, shutting his eyes. The wall began to ripple, and then—whoosh—they were sucked in.

Elsewhere, Chi Xiuzhu found his artifacts useless and had to shift into his true form mid-fall. His long fox body managed to latch onto the wall, claws digging in to stop the descent.

Xie Qingyu wasn’t far behind. He stabbed his sword into the wall and barely held on—but it wouldn’t last long.

Of the remaining four maids, two had stayed behind to distract the lion-griffin. The other two followed them down, but were slower. Just as they were about to hit the water, they transformed into foxes and clung to the wall.

Then—

Bloop. The surface of the pool rippled. A huge fish leapt up, grabbed a fox by the tail, and dragged her underwater.

“Master! Save me—!” Her wails echoed, but she was already gone.

The other fox disappeared soon after.

At the height of despair, Duan Ze’s voice echoed out. He lit a candle on a stone wall and said flatly, “Here’s the exit. Figure it out yourselves.”

And then he vanished.

——

When Duan Ze opened his eyes again, he was blinded by dazzling sunlight. Once he adjusted, he found himself standing on a vast green prairie. The sky was bright, but strangely—both the sun and the moon hung overhead, with a river of stardust forming a galaxy between them.

…Pretty nice, actually.

Xiao Wuchen stood beside him. The disguise talisman had been removed. His thick brows were furrowed, and killing intent swirled in his peach blossom eyes. His lips were pale from blood loss. He paused to calm himself before popping a blood-red pill into his mouth.

“We switched back?” Duan Ze asked.

Xiao Wuchen shook his head. “No. Just temporary.”

Duan Ze sounded a bit disappointed. “Oh. What’s this place?”

“A graveyard,” Xiao Wuchen said quietly. Pain churned in his gut. He still didn’t look at Duan Ze—he was afraid if he did, he might lose control and kill him on the spot.

This was the one place Duan Ze had no right to enter.

Xiao Wuchen opened his palm. Though the bleeding had stopped, the wound reopened. He tossed a string of blood beads into the air, and the sky above the prairie began to shrink and compress into a glowing orb. It dropped into his hand and gently healed the wound.

As the warmth spread through his hand, his eyes turned red, and overwhelming grief washed over him.

The world dimmed again.

Once his emotions calmed, he tucked the orb into the storage ring on Duan Ze’s hand, then plunged his hand into the darkness and tore it open. A rift appeared, and the two of them stepped through it.

The next second, they were back on the barren land where they’d entered the core.

The sky outside was pitch-black, stars twinkling above.

“How did Xie Qingyu and the others get out?” Duan Ze asked. He’d only heard sounds while falling, not seen anything. But both Xie Qingyu and Chi Xiuzhu were important characters—if they died suddenly, the world might fall out of balance.

Xiao Wuchen replied coldly, “Depends on their luck.”

⸻

Author’s Note:

Xiao Wuchen, “I’m so pissed I could explode!”

Duan ‘Walking Blood Bag’ Ze, “…Huh?”