The protagonist committed numerous evil deeds.

Chapter 24 Twilight Mountain Town 17

Wen Li sat down opposite him angrily. There were only four stone chairs; Xie Xiao had brought them from his house himself.

"Have you found the wolf demon?" Zhao Sicheng asked.

Xie Xiao replied, "It's all thanks to our fourth brother's reminder that powerful demons can conceal their demonic aura. I have to mention our fourth brother; he's incredibly intelligent, meticulous, and resourceful..."

"Tell the important point!"

"Tell the important point!"

Wen Li and Zhao Sicheng said in unison.

“I carried the Demon-Pointing Disc all over Mushan Town and found a grove of trees that was particularly strange. The Demon-Pointing Disc was pointing at that place, and I searched the whole area but couldn’t find anything. But I was certain that there was something wrong there.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go take a look together now,” Wen Mingzhu said enthusiastically.

“We’ve wasted too much time here, and it’s definitely time to end this sooner rather than later.”

Shen Yingsi spoke, and Wen Li looked at him. He was smiling at her. Wen Li noticed that Shen Yingsi was particularly suited to smiling. When he wasn't smiling, he just seemed aloof and unapproachable. But once he smiled, you felt that not only his mouth, but all his features were smiling. Radiant, dazzling, and captivating.

What mischief is he up to now?

An alarm bell rang in Wen Li's heart.

Wen Mingzhu chimed in, "Then why don't we go tonight!"

“Sure, but should we call Senior Qingshan?” Zhao Sicheng asked.

"Yes! Of course!"

Wen Li's excited reaction drew the attention of the other four people.

"What I mean is, this is his territory after all, and catching demons is mainly his job."

“That makes sense, then I’ll go find him now.” Xie Xiao said and ran out.

The others also returned to their rooms. They had originally planned to take the Second Master out for a nice meal, but now they had to give up on that idea.

As dusk approached, the group gathered in front of the woods Xie Xiao had mentioned.

This is a very large forest, surrounded by continuous mountains, making it impossible to see how wide or deep it truly is. The trees are tall and dense, making it difficult to see what's below from above.

"Fourth brother, let's go take a look over there." Wen Mingzhu went in first.

"You should stay with Si Cheng. My cultivation is higher than yours, so I'll take the middle path. You should each split into two groups and travel together for safety."

"You may all take your leave now." After saying this, Shen Yingsi clasped his hands in a fist salute to the others and departed.

"She's really putting on a good act," Wen Li thought disdainfully.

"Then I will go in to the left. Fellow Daoists, it's best if we go together." With that, he clasped his hands in a fist salute and departed.

"I'll go by myself too!" Wen Li said, then went straight inside, leaving Wen Mingzhu and the other two looking at each other in bewilderment.

Xie Xiao felt a little sad. Why had His Highness abandoned him again? "Then let's go together."

"Row."

Zhao Sicheng was originally thinking of an excuse to refuse, but seeing that Wen Mingzhu had agreed, he had no choice.

Xie Xiao really has no sense of propriety.

After Wen Li went inside, she walked to the left and saw Qingshan walking ahead in the distance. So she followed him with a sinister look on her face.

After searching for about half an hour without finding any trace of the monster, Wen Li's mind raced with various methods of ambush. Just as she was about to make her move, someone grabbed the back of Wen Li's collar.

Wen Li turned around and saw Shen Yingsi. What was he doing here!

What are you doing here? What do you want?

Wen Li's face turned fierce, but Shen Yingsi still smiled good-naturedly and said something rather unfriendly: "Following you means keeping an eye on you. I'm afraid you'll do bad things and waste my time, delaying my path to godhood."

"Tch, you think you can become a god? I think you're the most wicked person here," Wen Li retorted.

“Miss Wen, I mean, if we become a demon god, then everyone can die together.”

The smiling face still sent a chill down Wen Li's spine.

"madman."

Wen Li pulled his hand away and cursed.

But by then Qingshan had already left and was nowhere to be seen. Wen Li wanted to go forward, but then she heard Shen Yingsi's voice.

“There’s something strange in the woods; they’ll probably be back in half an hour.”

Upon hearing this, Wen Li immediately stopped and turned back in confusion: "Then why didn't you stop them?"

"What do they have to do with me?"

"Then I..."

"I have to keep an eye on you, who knows where you'll stab me next."

The boy laughed flippantly, the wind ruffling his hair, stray strands flying across his forehead. At this moment, the usually dignified crown prince revealed a hint of childishness. Yet, his star-like eyes were filled with mockery.

Just as Shen Yingsi's lips curved into a smile and he was about to speak, a sword suddenly appeared in front of him, freezing his smile in place.

"Shen Xianzhi, I admit I'm sorry. Why don't you stab me a few times to vent your anger?"

Seeing the other person's serious expression, Shen Yingsi instantly lost all interest. He stopped talking and silently found a tree to lean against.

"Hey! I'm serious. If you can resolve some of the grudges from our past lives, I don't mind being stabbed a few times by you."

Wen Li chased after him and ran up to him, trying to persuade him that if he did this, his "darkening" level should decrease a little.

Shen Yingsi, his face as cold as ice, turned to look in another direction. Wen Li appeared in front of him and handed him a sword, repeating this several times. Shen Yingsi, unable to bear it any longer, said, "You think you can just die before you've paid back what you owe me? Dream on. Jiang Xunzhi, let me tell you, your death will not make up for any harm you've done to me. If you dare to die, I'll even dig up your grave."

Seeing this, Wen Li could only put away her sword and sit down next to him.

"Then you're just going to let me go like this?"

Did I say I was going to let you go?

"What do you want?"

"I want you to live with guilt towards me for the rest of your life." Shen Yingsi's voice was devoid of any emotion.

To live with guilt for a lifetime—that must be a terrible test of her conscience. But she's never really had a conscience anyway. How could she be so foolish even after turning evil?

How did you realize there was something strange about this?

"I'm just guessing. Xie Xiao searched the whole forest but couldn't find any demons, yet the Demon-Pointing Disc pointed here. And don't you think this forest is too symmetrical?"

Wen Li had been preoccupied with figuring out how to get back at old man Qingshan the whole way, so she hadn't paid much attention to the forest. Only now did she realize that starting from that tree ahead, the forest was divided into two parts. The two parts were like mirror images, with the positions of the trees and weeds corresponding perfectly.

"This is a mirror barrier."

"clever."

The Jiang family's books on illusion magic recorded that people entering a mirror barrier would enter an illusionary realm, and continuing forward would not lead to the exit, but would only return them to the entrance. Unfortunately, the books did not describe a way to break this illusion.

"Do you know how to break this?" Wen Li asked anxiously. If there really was a demon, with the wolf demon's power, Qingshan would be crippled even if he didn't die.

"Yes, but we have to wait until they come back, and someone needs to act as a catalyst."

The prelude? She had a feeling it wouldn't be anything good, but she was also somewhat looking forward to seeing what would happen.

Wen Li's eyes lit up: "What's the catalyst for?"

"The one who got beaten up!"

Wen Li's eyes lit up even more: "Can I cripple him?"

“Miss Wen, there’s no need to be so brutal just to break a formation.”

"Oh." Wen Li sighed and slumped down next to him.

He also closed his eyes to rest, but secretly planned how to drive Qingshan to this position where he would be beaten.

The forest was quiet, with only the rustling of leaves as accompaniment. Wen Li felt sleepy. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Xie Xiao and the others were slumped down opposite her.

She actually slept for half an hour!

Xie Xiao saw Wen Li open her eyes and said, "Miss Wen Li, you're finally awake. We've all had a good rest."

"You managed to get out of there?"

"After walking around and not seeing you and Fourth Brother, I went back in to look for you. I was exhausted, but you just fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow." Zhao Sicheng had wanted to wake her up for a while to avoid wasting time.

"However, I wonder how Miss Wenli knew about the mirror array?" Qingshan asked with a look of inquiry.