After Transmigrating as an Immortal Master, I Hold a Group Meeting - Chapter 79

“What is this place?” Ning Mingmei asked the system.

But Qi Miancheng spoke first. “It was once a confinement room.”

His fingertips brushed against the rough wall. He didn’t seem to be addressing anyone in particular but rather murmuring to himself. “When this door is shut, the inside is pitch black. On nights when the moonlight is dim, the child tied up in here would see nothing but darkness.

“Look at these marks. They’re scratches left by fingernails.” He pointed at the worn-down pits on the wall. “And here, where a child’s head would rest against the wall, there’s a patch that turned white long ago. Once, a child was tied up, lying flat here. He would bang his head against the wall, over and over again.”

At that moment, Qi Miancheng displayed an uncanny ability. With a calm expression, he stood there in an unfamiliar place, speaking just a few words. Yet, by tracing the dust and the marks, he was able to reconstruct an entire world.

As Qi Miancheng spoke, Ning Mingmei could almost see a room filled with ‘disobedient’ children. Some stood, some sat, screaming and clawing at the walls.

“It’s a strange feeling… Let’s try it.” Qi Miancheng’s voice was light and distant.

Try what?

The young sect master pressed his hand against the wall, fully immersed in his own world. A soft, glowing light formed in his palm and sank into the wall.

In that instant, the surroundings changed. The dark little room shifted from new to dilapidated. Strange children flickered in and out, pushed inside as if they were nothing more than unruly sacks of grain.

Their figures overlapped and finally converged into a single child.

A thin, pale child.

Unlike the others, he didn’t cry or scratch at the walls. He simply sat quietly in the darkness, leaning against the wall. Though he was so emaciated that his spine protruded sharply, he remained still, like a silent tree.

The child looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. His lips were dry and cracked, resembling a creature reduced to skin and bones in its final moments. Yet his eyes were wide open, staring at the sky. Slowly, he sucked on his own fingers.

“Lian Chengyue?”

Ning Mingmei frowned as he looked at the child. But he quickly realized that Lian Chengyue couldn’t see him.

Lian Chengyue’s face showed no extra emotion; no anger, no hatred, no fear, no unease.

Ning Mingmei heard faint curses coming from outside the small, dark room. The voices were distant, as if the speakers hadn’t expected Lian Chengyue to hear them.

“This time, we’ve locked him up for five days without food or water. Is that really okay?”

“Well, he messed up our business. He looks delicate and fair, so I thought he could sell for a good price. If he won’t take the easy way, he’ll take the hard way. The other kids don’t like him anyway. If he still won’t learn to behave, he can just live in here from now on.”

“…But was that person’s death really just a coincidence? And what about the recent things happening in the courtyard? I don’t know why but whenever I see that freak, I get chills. You don’t understand, he has so much strength…”

“But the Lian family said they’re still interested in this child. They’ll be coming in some time… Here, take this medicine and give it to him.”

“Me? Give it to him?” A female voice hesitated.

“Yes. Doesn’t he trust you the most? He even helped you chase away those troublemakers.”

Ning Mingmei finally understood what Lian Chengyue had been sucking on.

He had bitten through his own finger in hunger and was sucking his own blood.

Even though he knew it wouldn’t help.

Lian Chengyue continued to drink his own blood, expressionless, as if he hadn’t heard the conversation outside at all.

Finally, someone entered. It was a kind-looking old woman, seemingly the cook of the orphanage.

Lian Chengyue stared at her without blinking as she spoke. In the end, he rasped, “Give it to me.”

His voice was hoarse.

The old woman sighed. “Alright, alright… Sigh, why can’t you just behave? If you act obedient, you won’t be locked up anymore.”

The moment she saw him swallow the pill, the kind mask on her face collapsed. Looking terrified, she quickly turned and left.

Ning Mingmei watched her retreating figure and then turned back to Lian Chengyue.

The child remained curled up in the corner, his face showing no disappointment or anger from being betrayed.

But Ning Mingmei saw his clenched fists, growing tighter and tighter, betraying his true emotions.

“Tsk. I still have this.” He heard the boy mutter to himself.

A tiny flame flickered in Lian Chengyue’s palm, weak and unsteady, yet illuminating all his desires. He gazed at it, his one source of pride and the one thing he believed could change his fate.

As long as I have this, it’s enough.

And standing on the other side of the flame, directly in his line of sight, was Ning Mingmei.

[This is the memory of this building,] the system reminded Ning Mingmei in his mind. [Qi Miancheng used a spell that allows you to see what happened here. It’s somewhat similar to your world’s forensic profiling simulations.]

Ning Mingmei asked, [At what point in time did I travel to this world?]

The system responded, [What do you mean?]

Ning Mingmei clarified, [Was it this moment?]

The moment Lian Chengyue was trapped in the orphanage, tortured by the owners who sold children, and was deemed ‘too wild to tame.’

From their conversation, it was clear it wasn’t the first time Lian Chengyue had been locked in this room. Before coming to the orphanage, he hadn’t been so skilled at faking obedience. He had once been untamed at playing tricks on his peers, until he suffered brutal beatings from the orphanage owners.

And from that point on, he changed.

The system confirmed, [Yes. Based on the timeline I originally set for you, you would appear at this exact moment—]

Ning Mingmei interrupted, [And then slash open the roof with my sword, descending right in front of him?]

Physics descended from the sky.

…

The system: [You didn’t actually have to slice open the roof with your sword.]

After responding, the system finally realized what a bizarre question Ning Mingmei had just asked. It widened its eyes. [Wait a minute. If I heard correctly, are you asking about Lian Chengyue’s childhood?]

As the saying goes, understanding each other is the beginning of a good relationship.

The system had always been frustrated with Ning Mingmei for not doing his assigned tasks, running around all day and even tagging along with Qi Miancheng. But who would’ve thought there’d be an unexpected gain from this?

[In the past, he was just a vague silhouette in my eyes. I only treated him in the way I was familiar with. But now, I finally understand why he looked at me like that when we first met,] Ning Mingmei said. [Clenching his fists so tightly and having such confidence in his own abilities, that extraordinary determination to rise above and force the world to recognize him.]

The system ignored the phrase ‘the way I was familiar with’ and suddenly realized an incredibly exciting possibility. It was ecstatic. [Are you starting to feel sorry for him?]

Feeling sorry was a great start!

As everyone knows, the emotional foundation of all ‘redemption arc’ villain CPs begins with that exact feeling; sympathy. Soon enough, that sympathy would deepen and Ning Mingmei would develop even stronger emotions for Lian Chengyue.

He would dislike his current personality, be frustrated by his incorrigible nature, yet also be charmed by his childlike passion and innocence. At the same time, he would pity the past that shaped him into who he was today. All those complex emotions intertwined and then…

Ning Mingmei: [I’m going to reform him.]

Thus, he would pour his heart and soul into healing Lian Chengyue’s wounded spirit, taking him on a journey across the lands. Yet, since righteousness and evil were destined to oppose each other, Lian Chengyue would inevitably face the fate of the Heavenly Fiend’s fragment. When that time came, despite his internal suffering, Ning Mingmei would still have no choice but to raise his sword…

Ning Mingmei: [I’m going to squeeze every last bit of value out of him.]

A coldhearted severance with a dramatic misunderstanding, it would rake in a wave of emotional value for the system… Wait, hold on?

Squeeze every last bit of value??

The system: [And then what??]

Ning Mingmei: [After wandering for half his life, all Lian Chengyue will have left is a house he still hasn’t finished paying off and a temporary job with no chance of tenure. The wheel of fortune turns, so never underestimate a young man’s struggles. At 350 years old, he will eventually leave in anger and funnel talent into the fiend realm.]

[That way, I will have made full use of his most productive years while also voiding his social security benefits, pension, and medical insurance due to his defection, pocketing the funds for myself. Meanwhile, by breaking his non-compete agreement and switching companies, he’ll give us grounds to sue him and launch a Ponzi scheme within his organization.] |34|

The system: [You’re joking… right?]

Ning Mingmei: [Mm-hmm.]

The system: [Why don’t you have even a shred of emotional attachment? You do realize that aside from altering the world’s timeline, one of our main KPIs is extracting emotional value from you, right…?]

Ning Mingmei: [Hm?]

The system: [Nothing.]

The system swiftly changed the subject but this time, it was both rushed and a little guilty.

For some reason, despite being a master of deception and flawless in its calculations, the system always seemed to slip up in front of Ning Mingmei.

Fortunately, Ning Mingmei didn’t seem to take its words to heart.

[I’m now 90% certain I can fully exploit him. I’ve already prepared his research project for when he joins the team. Just need to wait another twenty years.] Ning Mingmei crouched down. [Don’t you think our relationship has made a breakthrough?]

The system: [You…]

It wanted to retort but then it saw that Ning Mingmei had actually crouched down in front of Lian Chengyue’s phantom.

And in that moment, it held its breath.

The young Lian Chengyue was still curled up in the cold corner of the dark room, drowsy from the drug he had taken. His half-lidded eyes watched the flickering flame in his palm, growing bright, then dim, and then bright again.

A long and lonely life had given him glory, ambition, arrogance, and the unwavering courage to believe he would eventually escape his suffering.

Lian Chengyue’s worst qualities, as well as those that aligned with the world’s definition of ‘good,’ were all intertwined by the same power.

And so, he watched it. He kept watching it. Sometimes, going all in was nothing more than a hollow display of strength.

Lian Chengyue would never know that in the dark room he considered the turning point of his life, another cold-hearted person had suddenly crouched down and gazed at the past he regarded as shameful.

For that other person, it was a fleeting whim, an unspoken moment of sentiment. But for him, it was an unforeseen stroke of luck, a rare and unexpected coincidence in the long passage of time.

“In honor of the warning you gave me and the fact that you had your neck crushed,” Ning Mingmei said, “let’s see what happens, Lian Chengyue.”

He gently blew, snuffing out the small flame in Lian Chengyue’s hand just before he closed his eyes.

In that instant, the illusion dissolved like mist and water. The system looked around and before it could even process Ning Mingmei’s mischievous act, it noticed another presence.

Qi Miancheng stood on the other side.

He lingered by the wall, watching Ning Mingmei and the phantom of Lian Chengyue. The fire’s glow flickered in his dark eyes, concealing whatever thoughts he held.

But the system noticed something unusual. Qi Miancheng, who always carried a gentle smile, was no longer smiling.

***

“So, Senior Brother performed a secret technique in that dark room to gather evidence of the orphanage’s abuse?”

“Yes. I’ve already informed the appropriate people. Someone will come to handle it.” Qi Miancheng’s voice was calm.

The two of them sat in a carriage, though instead of horses pulling it…

It was two donkeys.

The carriage drivers were both talisman cultivators from the Ice Quenching Pavilion. Each held a brush and heads pressed together as they scribbled something.

“Talk about bad luck. There were no horses in town, only these two donkeys.”

“These donkeys are way too slow! I remember there’s a talisman to speed up vehicles. Let me draw it real quick.”

“That talisman’s meant for horses. Can we even use it on donkeys?”

“They’ve both got four legs and the same class specification, it should be fine… Oh, look, there’s even a flying horse function! Let’s add that.”

“Flying horse??”

“It lets the horse stir the air with its hooves and fly forward. It’ll be much faster…”

Outside, the talisman cultivators were enthusiastically working, while inside, Ning Mingmei leaned back in the carriage. He said, “I didn’t expect Senior Brother to have such a kind heart.”

Qi Miancheng replied, “Since we passed by, there was no reason to ignore it.”

“Oh?” Ning Mingmei’s tone was amused. “Senior Brother, as the sect master of the Supreme Clarity Sect, if the world knew of this good deed, they would surely admire you even more.”

“Fame is unnecessary. Those people bullied the weak. It was disgusting.” Qi Miancheng’s voice was indifferent.

His usually gentle and calm eyes now held an unmistakable trace of disgust.

For once, Ning Mingmei didn’t mock him. “Senior Brother is right.”

The donkey-drawn carriage was far from the comfort of an immortal carriage, bumping along the road. Ning Mingmei, prone to motion sickness, felt dizzy and kept staring at Qi Miancheng, sensing something odd about him.

The usually composed and handsome sect master leaned against the window, gazing outside. Without his usual cryptic remarks, his eyes seemed like a still, deep pond.

Quiet and unfathomable.

Ning Mingmei stared for a moment before losing interest. He leaned back, intending to take a nap.

“That little house… that place… It gave me a strange feeling,” Qi Miancheng murmured. “As if I’ve been there before.”

Ning Mingmei said, “Senior Brother, aren’t you the esteemed eldest son of the Qi family? How would you have ever been to a place like that?”

Qi Miancheng smiled faintly. “True.”

He didn’t bring it up again but his brows remained furrowed.

It seemed less like the orphanage itself had triggered that feeling and more like it had confirmed a suspicion he already had.

Meanwhile, he glanced at Ning Mingmei.

Even the most cold-hearted people get tired. And Ning Mingmei was not just cold-hearted. He was also prone to donkey-induced motion sickness. As he was about to drift off, he suddenly heard Qi Miancheng say, “Junior Brother, do you like children?”

“Hmm?” Ning Mingmei didn’t quite catch it.

Qi Miancheng said, “In the illusion, I saw you crouch down and blow out the fire in a child’s hand… That flame was odd. I’ve never seen that kind of technique before.”

And the child in the illusion gave Qi Miancheng an indescribable feeling.

Ning Mingmei ignored the first question and said, “The flame technique in his hand is indeed rare…”

Wait a second.

So, in other words, his trip to Ye Province caused a butterfly effect that led Sect Master Qi Miancheng of the Supreme Clarity Sect to discover Lian Chengyue’s extraordinary talent ahead of time?

Wait a minute. What was Qi Miancheng’s purpose in coming to Liuyue Lake again?

He wasn’t the type to… randomly pick up disciples, was he?

A sudden change in the plan jolted Ning Mingmei awake. He adjusted his glasses and said, “I wonder if Senior Brother—”

Before he could finish, an unusual commotion came from outside the donkey-pulled carriage.

“It’s done!”

“Did you double-check it? Did you remember to change ‘horse’ to ‘donkey’?”

“They’re basically the same, so it should be fine. I’ll stick it on now and make it take off.”

Moments later, Ning Mingmei suddenly felt the world flip upside down beneath him.

Then came the screams from outside.

“Holy—holy crap, this donkey! This donkey is flying with its neck spinning!!”

“It’s so fast!!”