System Granted Me Immortality; I Outlived Everyone

Chapter 23: The Grand Deception, the Demon Traitor

Hu Meiniang nervously pulled Chen Changsheng into the room.

Reunited with an old benefactor, emotions surged through the fox-girl’s heart. A thousand words climbed her throat, only to catch and wither there. After a long, agonizing silence, she could only manage a choked whisper.

“Senior, you shouldn’t have come to Night Moon Country. This place is a whirlpool of blood.”

Chen Changsheng offered a thin, practiced smile. “It seems my little fox has learned a few secrets during her time away.”

“But it’s quite irrelevant. My goal is simple: I’m here to marry Princess Wanyan. I have no interest in the politics of the realm.”

Seeing his deadpan indifference, Hu Meiniang grew frantic.

“Senior, you’ve never even met the Princess! I know you aren’t here for her. But whatever your true purpose, you must leave immediately. This recruitment assembly is nothing but a grand deception. If you stay, you will never leave this city alive.”

“Woof! Woof woof woof!”

Tied to a nearby chair, the bald little “mutt” suddenly erupted into a frenzy of barking, her eyes flashing with pure, royal indignation. She seemed to be screaming at the top of her lungs, cursing this fox-blood traitor.

Unfortunately, Meiniang was a fox, not a dog. To her, the Princess’s royal decree sounded like the senseless yapping of a street cur.

“A deception?” Changsheng leaned back, his tone inquisitive but fundamentally unbothered. “That’s a bold claim. Both the Fox and Tiger clans—the pillars of your nation—are participating. How could it be a farce? And more importantly, how would a minor demon like you possess such high-level intelligence?”

Meiniang bit her lip so hard she drew blood.

“Senior, if you hadn’t bestowed that Fated Chance upon me thirty years ago, I would never have reached the Foundation Establishment stage. I owe you my life. I cannot give you the details of the trap… but I can tell you this: the trial will be held in Night Moon Country’s forbidden zone.”

“If you enter that place without the ‘Key,’ it is a death sentence. The Foxes and Tigers already have their protection. You do not. If you insist on going, you must find the other humans inside.”

“Five years ago, two humans who knew too much were hunted by a Soul Formation Sovereign. They fled into the forbidden zone. If they still draw breath, they are your only hope for survival.”

Exhausted by her own treason, Hu Meiniang fled the room in a blur of silk and panic.

Once the door was shut, Changsheng picked up the barking little wolf and loosened the restriction on her vocal cords.

“Traitor! Filthy, low-born traitor!” the Princess shrieked. “I will have her flayed! I will have her entire bloodline erased for this!”

Changsheng leisurely stroked the wolf’s ink-stained skin, his fingers moving with rhythmic, clinical precision. “Xiao Bai, care to fill in the blanks? If I had to guess, those two humans driven into the abyss were the Eternal Life Fairy and Zen Master Yixiu, weren’t they?”

The wolf shot him a look of absolute, icy disdain. “Keep dreaming. You could vivisect me and I wouldn’t tell you a thing. And you better not let me go, human. The moment I’m free, I’m tearing that slut Meiniang to pieces. The Fox clan was too soft to spare her back then. To think she’d pay back the Emperor’s mercy with betrayal… she deserves a thousand deaths!”

Changsheng’s expression remained flat. “It seems Night Moon underwent a significant purge while I was napping.”

“When I first met Meiniang, she was a ninth-layer Qi Refiner who couldn’t even maintain a proper human form. She was naive. She talked like a girl who had never seen a day of hardship in her life. I wondered then how a pampered daughter of a Great House ended up wandering the wilderness alone.”

“Now it makes sense. She didn’t run away. You lot threw her out.”

The little white wolf glared at him. “Who said she was a daughter of a Great House? She’s just a common mongrel.”

“Heh. Your denial is a bit too loud to be convincing,” Changsheng replied. “But I suppose you wouldn’t understand. You’ve never lived the life of a bottom-tier cultivator. The world of Cultivation is a cannibalistic meat grinder. Friends will slit each other’s throats for a single Spirit Stone.”

“If Meiniang hadn’t been raised in the protected gardens of a noble estate, a girl with her original personality wouldn’t have lasted a week in the wild. She’s back now, isn’t she? And I suspect she’s looking for more than just a chat. She’s looking for blood.”

The wolf let out a sharp, mocking bark. “She wants revenge? As a Foundation Establishment insect? Even with you, you wouldn’t cause a ripple in this ocean.”

“I’ve told you a dozen times: I don’t care about your secrets or your wars. I just want my Master’s body back. Why is that so hard to grasp?”

“Because no one goes to this much trouble just for a corpse! I suspect this ‘chance encounter’ with me was a setup too. You’re a plant. A human operative sent to destabilize my father’s throne!”

Seeing the wolf spiraling into a grand conspiracy theory, Changsheng shook his head and tied her leash to the bedpost.

“Think what you like. I’m off the clock.”

“How dare you! You’re making me sleep on the floor? I’ll kill you! I’ll—”

With a casual flick of his fingers, Changsheng sealed her mouth. The Princess’s royal fury was reduced to a series of muffled, indignant hums. He closed his eyes and was asleep in seconds.

Morning arrived with the first clinical rays of dawn.

The little white wolf, who had spent the night fuming until she collapsed from exhaustion, was curled up at the foot of the bed. Suddenly, a large hand clamped onto the scruff of her neck, hoisting her into the air.

“Shift’s starting. Let’s go.”

The wolf opened one bleary, resentful eye, gave him a look of pure loathing, and promptly closed it again. Changsheng didn’t mind. He tucked the “mutt” under his arm and stepped out into the courtyard.

“Brother Chen, did you find our accommodations suitable?” Hu Zhan was waiting with a polite, razor-sharp smile.

“I slept like the dead. Your hospitality is top-notch, Brother Hu.”

Hu Zhan’s gaze drifted to the bald, ink-black creature in Changsheng’s arms. “Are you truly planning to bring… that… to the trial?”

“Of course. Xiao Bai and I are a package deal. We’re inseparable.”

Hu Zhan blinked, then let out a genuine chuckle. “Brother Chen, you really are a character. Naming a black dog ‘Xiao Bai’—Whitey. That’s rich.”

“The poor thing has an identity crisis. She fantasizes about having pure white fur, so I indulge her,” Changsheng said deadpan. “I assume bringing a ‘battle pet’ isn’t against the rules?”

“Not at all. The trial is ‘by any means necessary.’ That includes beasts.” Hu Zhan gestured toward the gate. “After you, Brother Chen. The forbidden zone awaits.”