The thunder rumbled, the fierce wind howled, sweeping away the thatch from the roof.
Rustle, rustle...
Rainwater dripped through the ruined roof, splashing onto the face of the middle-aged man lying in bed.
The middle-aged man slowly shed two lines of clear tears:
"Where the hell did they go?"
Chen Ye wiped away his tears, his palm stinging painfully with a cut.
These hands were covered in calluses, with dark brown dirt embedded in the nails,
evidently the hands of someone who had toiled in the fields all their life.
He closed his eyes and opened them again.
Beyond the ruined roof, the sky was pitch-black, pouring with heavy rain.
The air was filled with a damp and sour odor, mixed with a faint, indistinct scent of herbs.
The walls around were built of blue bricks, the room cluttered and messy.
Besides the earthen bed he lay on, there were two toppled wooden racks and a solid wood chest,
the ground muddy, littered with debris and shards of wine bottles.
Chen Ye's eyes were lifeless, like a dead fish lying on the earthen bed, his heart dead and withered.
Just two hours ago, he was enjoying a rare day off from being a corporate slave.
He pulled the curtains, turned on the computer.
With a four-yuan lemon water by his side, he blissfully played a dark fantasy game.
He had finally reached the ending, watching the memory CG of the World-Ending Demoness Xu Qingjun.
Blinking, he found himself lying in this pigsty-like dilapidated house.
The scant memories flooding into his mind completely shattered his last hope.
His predecessor had the same name and surname, a legendary cultivator.
Just turned forty, he was a mediocre medicinal farmer in Yunxi District, with fourth-layer Qi cultivation.
He also had two apprentices to assist him.
By rights, his predecessor shouldn't have ended up in this predicament.
Yet his predecessor was a loafer, spending spirit stones as soon as he earned them.
Lazy, addicted to drinking and gambling, loafing around...
Adopted two apprentices merely to serve him.
He would either beat or scold them daily,
utterly despicable!
And yesterday, he even harassed a new female cultivator in Yunxi District.
No one expected the female cultivator to have a partner; he was beaten half to death on the spot by her man.
If it wasn't for them being new here and hesitant to kill, he would have been dead!
Serves him right!
Chen Ye heaved a sigh of relief, but soon realized he had become that asshole, feeling an indescribable complexity.
Moreover, the cultivation realm was rampant with demon beasts, the demon path thriving, surrounded by disasters and threats.
As a tender young man from a harmonious society, how could he survive in peace?
The cold wind brought a strong sense of loneliness upon Chen Ye.
For a moment, he was utterly despaired.
"Master... Master."
Suddenly, a weak whisper came from some corner.
Startled, Chen Ye remembered there was an apprentice in the house.
Wait...
The predecessor's vile deeds crawled into his mind.
After being frustrated yesterday, the predecessor drank himself into a frenzy; a timid little apprentice tried to sober him up with tea, only to become his scapegoat.
Chen Ye's hand trembled, his gaze instinctively darted to the corner of the room.
There should have been two rows of wooden racks there, now toppled over, mingled with debris and shards of wine bottles.
Curled up among the shattered porcelain was a silver-haired little girl.
Her lifeless eyes stared blankly at him, murmuring:
"Qing Jun, serving tea to Master..."
Fearing Chen Ye would get mad, she mustered her last bit of strength, struggling beneath the wooden rack.
But her petite body was still pinned down, unable to move.
How despicable the predecessor was!
To be so cruel to his own apprentice?
Chen Ye felt an unnamed anger surge within him.
He flung off the damp quilt, attempting to get up, but the pain of his exploding head forced him to curl up.
Instinctively, he reached for the back of his head, finding his hand covered in blood.
The injury inflicted by the cultivator was still bleeding, making Chen Ye dizzy with pain.
"Don't move!"
Suppressing his dizziness, Chen Ye shouted lowly, stumbling towards the corner.
The racks grated ominously, yet he forced them aside with his shoulder.
The little girl's thin clothing was soaked, and when Chen Ye reached out to help her, she shrank away instinctively.
"Master, Qing Jun knows she was wrong..."
Her cracked lips moved, revealing a gap in her baby teeth.
Only then did Chen Ye notice the girl was clutching half a pottery jug in her right hand, the broken spout still stained with murky tea.
"The teapot... it's broken... Master, you can't drink the tea."
Qing Jun's dull eyes shifted, the tears in her big eyes dropping into the tea with a soft plop.
Seeing the little girl's tears pour down, her clear white eyes laced with bloodshot lines, Chen Ye felt a pang of sorrow.
Such a tender girl, as delicate as a budding flower, yet ruined by the predecessor.
With a dazed look in her eyes, Chen Ye took the teapot, suppressing the headache, speaking gently:
"It's okay, broken or not, it can be drunk."
Strangely, as soon as he said this,
Qing Jun's tears stopped instantly, staring blankly at him.
Even a faint glimmer of hope appeared on her sullen face.
How on earth could the despicable predecessor deserve such a filial apprentice?
Sighing, Chen Ye brought the teapot to his lips.
Coincidentally, the child's name was the same as the World-Ending Demoness in the 'Immortal Fall' game, both named Xu Qingjun.
And in Xu Qingjun's memories,
as a mortal, she had taken her first step on the cultivation path by poisoning her wounded master with a teapot of toxic tea...
The cold tea soaked into his lips.
Chen Ye's pupils contracted, focusing on Qing Jun's dusky face.
Her eyes, though large, were somewhat narrow, with a black mole at the corner.
And the Xu Qingjun in 'Immortal Fall', the unparalleled demoness, also had phoenix eyes marked by a mole!
A ridiculous idea surfaced in Chen Ye's mind.
Could these two Xu Qingjuns be the same person!
Did he travel into the game 'Immortal Fall'?
Traveling five hundred years earlier?
Xu Qingjun poisoning her master occurred five hundred years before the main storyline!
But how could this poor little girl in front of him be the same as the aloof, world-ending demoness from the game?
The silver-haired girl noticed Chen Ye pause, her breath hitching.
Her two thin, stick-like legs quivered unnaturally, a look of terror appearing in her phoenix eyes.
Her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the muddy ground.
A puddle of murky liquid spread from beneath her, merging with the rainwater.
Upon witnessing this scene,
Chen Ye clenched the teapot, understanding everything; there was indeed something wrong with this tea!
The tea left a bitter and sour taste on his palate, his throat bobbing as he caught a glimpse of the little girl's dilated pupils.
"Cough, this tea..."
He deliberately smacked his lips, spitting out the tea with a "phoo,"
"It's too bitter, I won't drink it."