ILDV Chapter 61.2

Yin Lang reminded him, “You were the one who first randomly wrote my story book. That’s why Qi Zheng came to investigate.”

Xu Rong felt even more guilty.

When writing it, he hadn’t thought much of it. After all, on the original Blue Star, that’s just how novels were written. But he’d forgotten that in the Lantian Realm, the actual person could come knocking on his door…

A major mistake.

Feeling guilty, and deceived by Yin Lang’s friendly attitude, he rapidly forgot the other’s formidable killing power displayed during his rampage all the way here. He said awkwardly, “Well… the system needs time to repair the space, and it prioritizes repairing the defense and attack portions. There probably won’t be a place to sit for a while yet.”

“That’s fine, I don’t mind.” Yin Lang had never spoken so amiably to anyone using this identity in his entire life. He casually swept aside some rubble and sat cross-legged on the ground, lazily propping up his chin and making a casual joke. “So now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, would it be convenient to release my subordinate? Without the Left Envoy, the matters needing attention are piling up so high they’re about to break through the hall ceiling.”

Xu Rong hastily released Qi Zheng from the system storage. The next moment, he thought ‘oh no!’

When he’d tossed him in, he hadn’t thought much of it—just casually stuffed him into the system storage that could hold living things. Though time stood still there so he couldn’t die, his injuries couldn’t recover in the slightest either!

Think about what state Qi Zheng was in when thrown inside! Just one breath away from death!

Xu Rong’s scalp exploded. Before Yin Lang could get angry, he retrieved a sacred healing medicine from system storage and at his fastest speed stuffed it into Qi Zheng’s mouth. Watching Qi Zheng’s injuries close at a visible rate, he finally let out a huge breath and explained with his neck shrunk, not realizing at all that he had no need to be so deferential to Yin Lang in his own domain.

One could only say that the aura of the Demonic Path’s Venerable was definitely not something this naive youth, raised in a completely safe environment, could withstand.

“Um… how did you guess my identity?” After a while, Xu Rong asked again hesitantly. “Today is the first time you’ve seen me, right? How were you so certain I’m…”

As he spoke, his face reddened. He couldn’t say the words ‘Lord Creator’ no matter what.

The red-robed youth stared at him with a smile but said nothing. He stared until Xu Rong uncontrollably blushed before magnanimously shifting his gaze away, saying with a smile, “Because of the story book you spread. Other than the person who created me, who could understand me better than I understand myself?”

Xu Rong waved his hands repeatedly, stammering his explanation. “No, no no, I, I’m not… Those were all made up. I’ll have the system retract them immediately!” His reaction was unusually intense—he nearly jumped up. “Those were all wild guesses I wrote without understanding the real you. Please don’t take them seriously!”

As he spoke, he felt his behavior of invading someone else’s privacy was truly too excessive. He repeatedly apologized to Yin Lang, expressing that he would absolutely never again write unauthorized fanfiction without the person’s consent.

Yin Lang shook his head to indicate he didn’t mind. “After all, we’re only characters you created. Being granted a real life is already perfect. As long as you’re happy, what harm is there in writing some harmless little story books?”

Xu Rong’s guilt deepened. Yin Lang smoothly asked, “Speaking of which, I’m quite curious—in the story book where you created me, how did you write about me? You just said you didn’t understand the real me…”

The youth’s expression, without even realizing it himself, was easily pleased by phrases like ‘you created me’ and ‘I respect you.’

Yin Lang sneered inwardly. What respect, what lack of understanding—to put it bluntly, who wouldn’t enjoy the taste of controlling another’s life and death? This was the evil of human nature, but also humanity’s innate instinct.

Xu Rong made an “ah” sound, his expression visibly growing flustered. His eyes darted around, his hands twisting his robe hem—clearly working hard to fabricate a lie.

“Actually, it’s nothing much. Just… when initially creating you, I thought the Venerable of the Demonic Path should be powerful and fierce, so I didn’t think it through carefully. When actually writing, the character image might have been a bit one-dimensional… Actually, you don’t need to worry about this! Once the story book is finished, you all become independent people. All I can do is stay here quietly watching everything happening in the outside world. I can’t interfere with anything.”

His expression quickly turned dejected. Recalling how Yin Lang had earlier dismissed his spear, the undisguised envy was vivid—one could easily guess what this child was thinking now.

Unfortunately, Yin Lang had no intention of comforting him.

Venerable Yin said slowly, “Now that I think about it, your name is Xu Rong, right? No wonder it sounded so familiar. When considering just the pronunciation, your name is quite similar to a little disciple I recently took on. No wonder I felt it was familiar earlier.”

Xu Rong’s eyes flew wide open.

“Eh?” Yin Lang tilted his head. “Don’t tell me you forgot I have two identities? Or are you unclear about when the ‘plot’ takes place in the Lantian Realm? Surely you haven’t forgotten the plot you wrote yourself?”

Xu Rong’s lips trembled as he forced out a smile. “Haha, how could that be? I liked you so much that I wrote a homophone of my own name into the novel as your disciple.”

In his heart, the words ‘oh no’ were already flashing across the screen.

With Yin Lang’s casual reminder, he only now remembered what kind of tragic backstory he’d written when setting up the character to make readers sympathize with the villain.

Parents both dead.

The person who saved him coveted his appearance.

His Shizun was one of the masterminds behind his parents’ deaths.

The sect’s greatest old ancestor used him as a blood-extraction tool—he couldn’t resist.

Because he was hunted, his resemblance to his father’s appearance was discovered, forcing him to change his face and step into the muddy waters of the Demonic Path.

…

All told, even Xu Rong himself felt that being able to write such a background meant he’d lost his humanity.

——Though at the time, he’d simply thought that when writing fiction, naturally the more miserable the better.

The red-robed youth’s slightly cold expression slowly eased, returning to that initial gentle smile. “So that’s how it is. Then I’m truly delighted. To be favored by the Lord Creator—surely in the original story, I must have been a very important person.”

Xu Rong nodded repeatedly while breaking into a cold sweat. He couldn’t help but say to the system, ‘raise the temperature,’ muttering quietly about why it was so cold.

Yin Lang said again, “Let me teach you cultivation? Earlier, seeing your expression, you seemed quite envious of us cultivators. Haven’t you had time to go out and find a sect to join as a disciple? As the Lord Creator, you surely can’t lack spiritual roots?”

“Really, I can?!”

Xu Rong was so happy he nearly jumped up. Ever since being brought to this world by the system, he’d always wanted to experience the exhilarating feeling of those cultivators with spiritual or demonic qi traversing heaven and earth in cultivation novels. But the system had never allowed him to leave, so he could only squat here watching the outside through the electronic projection screen. Besides envy, there was nothing else he could do.

“I, I want to learn!” His face flushed bright red, his excitement visible to anyone. After a while, he shrank back somewhat timidly, hesitantly doubting himself. “Can I really… The system has never allowed me to cultivate. I’m afraid I don’t have spiritual roots, which is why…”

“How could that be? Extend your hand and I’ll check for you. Don’t be afraid—it won’t hurt, and it’ll be quick.”

Yin Lang coaxed him gently while rapidly extracting many necessary pieces of information from Xu Rong’s words.

In the ‘original work,’ Xu Rong had not become a disciple under ‘Shen Muxuan.’

This person’s initial impression of him wasn’t high. In the ‘original work,’ he should have been the protagonist’s opposing force, the ‘final villain’ who would ultimately be killed to elevate the protagonist to ascension. His temperament was vicious and cruel—exactly how ‘Yin Lang’ appeared to the outside world.

His time in the Lantian Realm wouldn’t exceed half a year. Otherwise, constantly watching the outside through light screens, he couldn’t possibly not know that Xu Rong had already become his disciple.

He knew many secret techniques long lost in the Lantian Realm, yet possessed not a shred of spiritual qi himself. They should have been deployed through the ‘system.’

He was brought here from his original world by the thing Qin Xun once mentioned called a ‘system.’ He’d lost the ability to alter the Lantian Realm and currently appeared no different from a mortal.

He himself couldn’t leave this space, but could release certain things outside.

The ‘system’ didn’t prohibit him from telling Yin Lang anything about the ‘original work’ or matters from other worlds, nor did it care about this person’s life or death. Despite Yin Lang’s obviously coaxing behavior, it hadn’t triggered any reaction. It should have nothing to do with the Heavenly Dao.

Most importantly——

He was another disgusting face-judging creature.

Yin Lang withdrew his hand. Xu Rong asked expectantly, “What spiritual root do I have?”

The red-robed youth showed a hint of distress. Xu Rong’s heart immediately rose to his throat. He stammered, “It, it can’t be that I don’t have any…”

“It’s not quite that bad.” The other seemed to be considering how to say it without dealing too much of a blow. Finally, he sighed lightly and enunciated clearly, “Five spiritual roots.”

The most useless five spiritual roots. Destined to never advance beyond the Golden Core stage in one’s lifetime.

Yin Lang had expected to see disappointment on the other’s face, but unexpectedly, after brief dejection, Xu Rong inexplicably showed an excited expression.

He observed carefully and repeatedly—it wasn’t an act. He was genuinely thrilled.

Venerable Yin fell into confused bewilderment…

Five spiritual roots!

The best configuration for underdog protagonist novels!

Xu Rong nearly wanted to laugh at the sky. This answer instantly swept away months of depression from being kept under system surveillance like a prisoner. His mind immediately began fantasizing about a future life of white-robed sword-wielding wandering through the martial world, commanding the wind and clouds.

He rapidly rushed over. At this moment, he had not a trace of fear toward Yin Lang—only felt the other was a walking golden thigh, beautiful and kind-hearted. He grasped Yin Lang’s hand and looked up at him, eyes shining like lightbulbs. “I’m not afraid of hardship! Five spiritual roots can’t discourage me! Please believe in my sincere desire for the Great Dao! Please don’t hesitate and teach me cultivation immediately right now at once!!”

Venerable Yin, hit in the face by this declaration with no logic, jumbled word order, and abundant emotion: ……..Where did this great fool come from?

“It’s possible, but not right now.” Yin Lang patiently coaxed. “You yourself said the ‘system’ has always forbidden you from cultivating. If I teach you here, no matter how talented you are, I’m afraid there won’t be much progress. Moreover…”

He raised his hand and formed a hand seal. A string of small flames sprouted from his fingertips. “This space has not a trace of spiritual qi. Even summoning black flames, I can only rely on what I stored in my body previously.”

As he spoke, he carefully observed Xu Rong’s reaction.

“Then let’s leave!” Xu Rong didn’t even think, grabbing his hand and urgently trying to run outside. “If there’s no spiritual qi here, we can just go outside! You were able to break through the defenses from outside to get in—going from inside to outside should be even easier, right!”

The corner of Yin Lang’s lips curved up a fraction more.

“Wait a moment. My subordinate hasn’t woken yet. I need to bring him out together.”

Unable to drag Yin Lang along, Xu Rong could only sigh and stomp his feet while circling around Qi Zheng, wishing he could check on him three times per minute.

“Why hasn’t he woken up yet?”

“Why isn’t he awake…”

“Aiya, let me feed him more medicine. Hurry up and wake up…”

Pills with efficacy comparable to Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pills were stuffed into Qi Zheng’s mouth as if they cost nothing. Yin Lang sat to the side watching, then suddenly said, “Be patient and wait. Don’t feed him more medicine. Such excellent life-saving medicine—one pill is enough to restore his injuries. Feeding more is just a waste.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Xu Rong waved his hand carelessly, pulling out several bottles from his chest to demonstrate. “The system store has tons of these. I can exchange for them anytime—they’re not scarce at all.”

Yin Lang continued smiling. “I see.”

Qi Zheng’s injuries were purely physical. After seven or eight spiritual medicines at the level of Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pills, he should have awakened no matter what.

The moment he opened his eyes, he jumped up and restrained Xu Rong, who had been circling him. At Yin Lang’s rebuke, he quickly released him. Though still unclear about the situation, he immediately knelt on one knee before Yin Lang, head nearly touching the ground. “…This subordinate is incompetent. Please punish me, Venerable!”

“What punishment is needed? You’ve allowed me to meet this… young friend. Both you and Li Sun deserve great rewards.”

Qi Zheng’s eyebrow twitched sharply. Not understanding what game their Venerable was playing now, he could only continue kneeling in silence.

Xu Rong was anxiously waiting. Having finally waited for the person to wake, only to have this scene unfold, he immediately grew agitated. He rushed forward and grabbed Qi Zheng’s sleeve, trying hard to pull him up. “Aiya, what are you doing! He already said he doesn’t blame you, yet you’re still kneeling and wasting time. Hurry up and get up—we need to leave!”

Qi Zheng was shocked by this extremely disrespectful and utterly brainless behavior. But seeing the Venerable showed no intention of blame and instead smiled in agreement, “Get up—don’t kneel. We really should be leaving.”

He summoned the God-Slaying Spear once more.

Xu Rong’s envious gaze drifted over, also carrying some hesitation. “Spears look really cool too… Ah, it’s so hard to choose…”

Qi Zheng, the kind of subordinate who would retreat a step when black flames appeared, truly couldn’t understand Xu Rong’s thought process of moving closer instead.

“Hold tight to Qi Zheng—we’re going out.”

The God-Slaying Spear that had destroyed an entire Nine-Curve Myriad-Ravine Maze Array not long ago struck again with full force under its master’s control.

With Xu Rong not under life threat, the system’s operational speed was noticeably much slower. Not until all three had broken through the barrier and departed did it belatedly emit the familiar mechanical voice.

[Defense system damaged… defense system repairing…]

[Damage level ten percent, requires ten percent energy consumption… repairing…]

[Energy detection in progress…]

[Transporting host through spacetime consumed twenty percent… repairing defense system consumed ten percent… repairing attack system consumed twenty percent…]

[Remaining energy: fifty percent.]

[Warning: Once stored energy drops below twenty percent, the system will be unable to transport the host back to the original plane.]

Unfortunately, the three had already departed. With Xu Rong’s hearing, there was no way he could hear the system’s alert.