Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Happy Marriage

CW: attempted suicide

Zhongli Qian was prepared to be tortured every which way by Xuanyuan Sect, to be forced to do things that violated his morals, and maybe even lose his life and soul. He had already decided that, no matter what Wenren È did to him, he'd choose a path that would not violate his Dao.

On his second day at Xuanyuan Sect, though, he was taken to the Hellfire Pavilion, without having seen Wenren È once in that time. Shu Yanyan handed him over to a pale and sickly-looking man, who she called Altar Master Shi. He was apparently the new master of the Hellfire Pavilion.

"He needs to be taken to my place?" said Altar Master Shi, coughing harshly. "Cough, cough, the Hellfire Pavilion is under Ghost Peak, and I'm too scared to go there myself. You want me to take him there? There's no way."

"You're the master of Hellfire Pavilion. You can't even handle your own estate, yet you tried to compete for the position of Sect Master with the other Altar Masters? What were you thinking?" Shu Yanyan was experienced at reading people, but she now realized that she still hadn't figured out this previously unknown subordinate of Qiu Congxue's.

"Cough, cough, it's because I'm scared to go back there that I went with Altar Master Yuan's plan to sabotage Altar Masters Miao and Ruan." Altar Master Shi's face turned paler. "With my power and status, how could I become the Lord of Demons? I just have a tiny wish, just to change altars—I didn't think it would turn out to be such a mess! Cough, cough, cough!"

He hacked out a couple of bugs. They were Altar Master Miao's gu insects, which had been put in him as punishment.

"You even killed Altar Master Miao's bugs with your sickness, so how can you be scared of the Hellfire Pavilion?" Shu Yanyan said, backing away a few steps. She was quietly glad that Wenren È had showed up before she could enjoy Altar Masters Ruan and Shi. She might've ended up catching some sort of illness.

Altar Master Shi gave her a sullen glance. "Protector Shu, I heard you got along well with Altar Master Qiu. In that case, you should know what kind of subordinates she kept at the Hellfire Pavilion."

"Who says I got along with Qiu Congxue? She was a ghost cultivator, so of course all her subordinates are ghost cultivators, aside from you..." At that point, Shu Yanyan understood Altar Master Shi's problem.

Altar Master Shi was at Void Boundary but could even sicken Mahayana stage cultivators, so he wasn't to be underestimated. No Altar Master would feel secure with him as a subordinate. But at the Hellfire Pavilion, everyone was either dead bodies or ghosts, and the one with the best-preserved body was a thousand-year-old drought zombie, so who could Altar Master Shi sicken? How could he bring his subordinates in line?

"Back when the Venerable took control of Xuanyuan Sect, he visited me just once, and Protector Yin came down with illness because of that. After that, he sent me to Hellfire Pavilion, for the 'unity' of the sect..." Altar Master Shi wiped away some fake tears. "After becoming Altar Master, I went through a lot of trouble to force a couple of injured ghost cultivators who were Body Unity and under into obedience, and now, for the Venerable's orders, I had to send off some to dual cultivate with Altar Master Ruan. Protector Shu, does my job sound easy?"

Shu Yanyan didn't speak. Altar Master Shi looked at Zhongli Qian and said, "Young Master Zhongli, you're an upstanding man, and you know how they say, 'If you don't do crooked deeds during the day, you won't fear ghosts knocking at night'. This one is counting on you to protect him in the Hellfire Pavilion, okay?"

Zhongli Qian: ...

Like that, he followed Altar Master Shi Congxin to the Hellfire Pavilion under Ghost Peak. Altar Master Shi managed to find a non-haunted room to tidy up for him. Zhongli Qian couldn't tell how old the building was, but the pillars had oracle bone script written on them. Altar Master Shi had heard Zhongli Qian liked literature, so had somehow gotten a pile of bamboo scrolls to send to him.