After Switching Bodies with the Villainous Demon Lord - Chapter 4

Xiao Wuchen was someone Duan Ze found really hard to put into words.

In the novel, Xiao Wuchen was cold-blooded and paranoid, treating human lives like grass—your classic villain who couldn’t possibly be redeemed.

He inherited the entire Demon Realm before he even turned a hundred, somehow surviving the deadly ambitions of a pack of wolves in human skin.

Sure, mo xiu cultivated faster than the righteous path, but Xiao Wuchen’s pace? Other than the male lead, no one in history had ever grown that fast.

If he remembered right, Duan Ze had been cultivating for over two thousand years. During that time, the original host was obsessively focused on his cultivation, going at it like he didn’t care for his life. He even practiced forbidden techniques just to reach his current level.

But Xiao Wuchen started cultivating over a thousand years after him. In the beginning, back when the old Demon Lord was still alive, Xiao Wuchen hadn’t even had a shred of cultivation awareness. It wasn’t until he got shoved into the position of Demon Lord that he began cultivating in earnest—and he still managed to catch up in just a fifth of the time Duan Ze had spent.

The original host’s beef with Xiao Wuchen wasn’t just about their opposing factions or the Demon Lord’s provocations—it was also out of sheer jealousy at how fast the guy was improving.

In the early stages of the plot, to highlight how tragic the male lead Xie Qingyu was, the author had deliberately created two powerful antagonists—one internal and one external. The “internal” one was the male lead’s Shizu, Duan Ze, who specialized in psychological damage.

Just when the male lead had started to develop emotional dependence on him, it was revealed that all the “care” Duan Ze showed him was just to exploit his special constitution.

The “external” threat was Xiao Wuchen, who focused on physical harm.

Because Xiao Wuchen had a personal grudge against Duan Ze, he hated the rest of the Cangyu Sect by association. Naturally, he ended up targeting the most promising seedling of the sect—the male lead. He’d randomly pick fights, bully the protagonist’s team, and throw all kinds of hurdles on his path to ascension. Later on, he even nearly lost control and almost killed the still-growing male lead.

By comparison, Duan Ze didn’t really see himself as a villain. He was more like a glorified tool and a disposable stepping stone. Sure, he was written as a powerful character, but in the end, he was just used to weaken Xiao Wuchen and pave the way for Xie Qingyu.

Now that he had transmigrated into Xiao Wuchen, there was no need to worry about that tragic “mutual destruction” scenario anymore. Plus, after all these years of raising the male lead with painstaking care, the kid had finally grown into a well-rounded, top-tier youth with moral integrity, intelligence, physical ability, aesthetic sense, and a strong work ethic. All he needed was one more year to fully stabilize the medicine that had soaked into his body from the original host.

As long as he didn’t provoke the male lead, he wouldn’t be walking into a path of self-destruction.

Duan Ze stood up from the stone steps, brushed the dust off his clothes, and looked up. The night sky over the Demon Realm was pitch black, with not even a sliver of light—like some monster that devoured brightness was crouching up there, pressing down on everyone below.

Yet this place… was the most peaceful and relaxing for Duan Ze.

Ever since he’d learned that breaking character meant getting struck by lightning, he’d been forced to play the role of a Shizu completely unlike his real self. But now? He no longer had to worry about getting zapped for being out of character.

Maybe even the heavenly law couldn’t figure out Xiao Wuchen’s character design, so no matter what he did, no lightning would come.

Thinking that, Duan Ze suddenly found the mulberry hazel tree in the courtyard kind of… pleasing to look at.

He stood there a bit longer. Just when he was about to turn back into the house, he suddenly felt like he’d forgotten something.

Out of habit, he touched the storage ring on his hand.

Xiao Wuchen’s ring was slightly bigger than his own. It didn’t feel quite right to wear, and now, it was basically useless to him.

The Cangyu Sect might be vast and full of resources, but it still had borders. His original body would be found sooner or later.

If he was found after three days—once he recovered from the weakened state and returned to normal—it’d be fine. But if it was within three days, the fact that he’d practiced forbidden techniques would definitely be exposed. He had to find his other body and bring it back.

Now that he was the Demon Lord, sure, but he’d been Shizu for fifty years—he didn’t really want his legacy to be slandered after death.

Not to mention, back when he was shizu, he’d stashed quite a bit of wealth inside that storage ring. He couldn’t use the Demon Lord’s ring, but he definitely couldn’t afford to lose shizu’s.

Now that he’d made up his mind, Duan Ze’s steps toward the room paused.

He knew exactly where the incident had happened. Compared to people from the Cangyu Sect, he’d definitely be faster at finding his body.

Prepared, Duan Ze took out a teleportation talisman and a substitute talisman he’d pulled from Xiao Wuchen’s storage ring and slowly activated them.

In the next instant, Duan Ze appeared in a small alley near a town by the Cangyu Sect. The sect had set up a boundary, so outsiders couldn’t just teleport inside using talismans.

When he stepped out from the alley, the tall and graceful figure had transformed into an average-looking, slightly chubby middle-aged man.

Besides the cultivators from all the major sects, the Immortal Ascension Ceremony also attracted rich folks who bought tickets to watch—ordinary people and nobles from powerful families. They came to scout talented cultivators to sponsor.

Once these cultivators grew stronger, the sponsors could hire them at way lower costs—or even for free—compared to those who didn’t get funded.

This gave a chance to those gifted cultivators who could barely afford sect tuition and offered normal people a way to connect with the world of cultivation.

So every time the ceremony came around, the crowd was huge. Shops in the town would stay open all three days just to rake in the profits.

After switching bodies, Duan Ze was flat broke.

To get into the Cangyu Sect, you needed a ticket. Duan Ze didn’t have the money to buy one, so he pawned a few accessories from the Demon Lord’s body and exchanged them for some cash.

Once he got his original storage ring back, he’d just buy those accessories back.

With money in hand, Duan Ze quickly bought a ticket from the black market and slipped into the Cangyu Sect.

The route was lined with outer sect disciples acting as security, making sure outsiders wouldn’t wander around. Thankfully, Duan Ze had lived here for years and knew every path like the back of his hand. He soon found a weakly guarded spot and slipped into the nearby forest.

As soon as he entered, a damp, chilly wind blew in his face, clearing his fuzzy mind.

The trees were dense, barely letting any light through. It was pitch-black, but cultivators had great night vision, so walking in the dark wasn’t a problem.

Still, Duan Ze felt a strange unease, like this body rejected being here.

But time was tight. He suppressed the discomfort and hurried in the direction where he remembered being struck by lightning.

All the while, he kept his senses sharp.

It hadn’t been long since he left. Chances were, Cangyu Sect disciples were still around in the forest. He had to find the body before they did, without being spotted.

He poured all the spiritual power he could spare into his legs and darted through the forest. In no time, he reached the place where lightning had struck him before—but as expected, he saw no trace of himself.

It rained yesterday. The ground was still wet, and anyone who passed would’ve left marks. In his field of vision, the footprints were messy, nearly wiping out the ones he left.

Clearly, his lightning strike had drawn people here.

According to what Mo Han said, his body hadn’t been found. Right after getting struck, his soul was transferred into the Demon Lord’s body. So logically, his original body should’ve been left soulless on the ground, discovered by someone drawn to the noise.

But now, no one had found it?

Could it have… run off on its own? Was it the original host back from the dead? Or did someone get there before everyone else and take it away?

Duan Ze shivered from the chill running up his spine. He squatted down and narrowed his eyes, studying the ground carefully. If the body had really run off, there had to be some clue left behind, even with all the trampled tracks.

Sure enough, after checking for a long time, he finally spotted a set of footprints that were clearly half a size smaller than the others.

It was his body that had run off.

With that conclusion, Duan Ze’s heart thumped. He furrowed his brows and forced himself to stay calm. He followed the direction of the small footprints and expanded his divine sense as far as his current strength would allow to search for matching tracks.

He weaved through the forest for quite a while, turning left and right until he came to the mouth of a cave.

As he withdrew his divine sense, his spiritual sea pulsed with a rare ache.

If he remembered correctly, a third-rank twin-tailed bear used to live here.

Why would his body come here? What was this? Delivery with extra service? No delivery fee?

Duan Ze was a bit confused. He took a moment, picked up a branch nearby, strengthened it with spiritual power to use as a weapon, and stepped inside.

The moment he entered, a strong scent of blood hit his nose. He wrinkled his brow and slowed down. As he reached the back of the cave, he saw his body lying motionless on a pile of hay, soaked in blood. Next to him lay the twin-tailed bear—its status unclear.

He ran to the bear first. It was already dead. Then he rushed to his body and checked it over.

The body still looked like a three-year-old toddler. After a full inspection, there were no wounds—the blood on it all came from the bear. As he moved the little body, Duan Ze noticed its tiny stomach rising and falling, puffs of warm breath touching his skin.

His eyes sharpened. He placed two fingers on the wrist.

There was a pulse.

Duan Ze’s scalp tingled. He slowly set the body down and backed up a few steps.

Still alive.

The original host had really come back?

Or… was it the Demon Lord’s lost soul in there now?

Duan Ze thought it over. Not impossible.

Just then, noise came from not far outside the cave. A warm firelight flickered at the entrance.

He frowned, quickly pushed the body deeper into the cave, crouched down behind a rocky outcrop, and readied his branch-turned-sword, peeking out.

The cave entrance was narrow, and given his position, he could only see a few pairs of pristine cloud-patterned boots—standard wear for Cangyu Sect’s inner disciples. Most likely, the sect had sent them to search for him.

“Where did shizu go? Are you sure you saw him near here?” someone asked.

The person being questioned didn’t sound confident. “Yeah, and this is the only place we haven’t searched yet… but the shizu I saw looked a bit younger than I remember…”

They’d cast a barrier while talking. While Duan Ze’s divine sense wasn’t affected thanks to his cultivation, he didn’t have enough spiritual power to keep listening for long.

But it was enough.

Duan Ze took out a substitute talisman from his waistband. Based on what that inner disciple just said, with his status and reputation, no one would believe it easily. But if he just ran away now, rumors would definitely fly.

The best way to break all that doubt was to show up looking perfectly fine, even during his weak period.

Unexpectedly, just as Duan Ze was about to activate the substitute talisman, he suddenly felt a chill on his neck.

A childish but murderous voice snapped out, “Who are you? Why are you wearing Benzun’s clothes?”

⸻

Author’s note:

Chen Zai finally gets a line. I’m emotional.