I Am the Fated Villain

Chapter 1728. The Envoy Team Heading to the Faction of Heaven-Slaying Was No Different from Courting Death

Lan Xin had a delicate and attractive face and a graceful figure. She wore a water-blue long dress, her cloud-like hair pinned up into a bun with a simple wooden hairpin, looking elegant and dignified.

“Senior Sister Lan Xin.”

Gu Xian’er walked over obediently and stood beside her.

Lan Xin’s other companions could not help but frown slightly when they saw Gu Xian’er approach. Quite a few of them deliberately stepped aside to avoid her. More people, out of respect for Lan Xin, did not say anything, but the coldness and disgust in their eyes were still hard to conceal.

There were many disciples in the Slanted Moon Sect, but someone like Gu Xian’er—who, because of her rare talent, had been personally summoned by the Sect Master only to be sent away afterward—was a unique case.

At the beginning, many elders had believed the Slanted Moon Sect might have produced an unparalleled prodigy. Yet who would have thought that after the Sect Master met Gu Xian’er, although he accepted her, he bluntly stated that she was tainted with misfortune and should not have too much contact with others, lest many karmic entanglements arise.

At the time, this matter caused a huge uproar within the Slanted Moon Sect and stirred tremendous waves. Gu Xian’er also became well known among the young disciples and elders because of this.

Although the Sect Master did not wish to take her as a personal disciple, he was also conflicted and reluctant to let such a good seedling go. Thus, he told the other elders to think of a way to accept her instead. However, at that time, all the elders refused without hesitation. No matter how outstanding Gu Xian’er’s talent was, none of them were willing to agree.

At their level of cultivation, they valued karma very heavily. Even the Sect Master, with such profound cultivation, was unwilling to take Gu Xian’er as a disciple—how could they dare? They might end up inviting disaster upon themselves, and their many years of arduous cultivation could go up in smoke.

This incident became a huge joke within the Slanted Moon Sect back then. In the end, after deep consideration, the Sect Master reluctantly allowed Gu Xian’er to remain in the sect, but only as an ordinary disciple.

After this, the disciples and elders all avoided her like a plague, unwilling to have any association with her. This was because Gu Xian’er had been brought to the Slanted Moon Mountain by that mad old woman.

Stories about that mad old woman were well known throughout the Slanted Moon Sect. It was said that she had once been an ancient mighty expert, but for unknown reasons had lost her sanity and now acted crazily, rarely clear-headed.

No one in the sect knew how she had come to Slanted Moon Mountain. They only knew she liked to appear in desolate wildernesses and steep mountain ranges. Some of the sect’s ancestor-level figures had once tried to drive her away, but all failed. Instead, with a light flick of her sleeve, she sent them flying millions of miles away, shocking and terrifying everyone present to the extreme.

Because of this, the people of the Slanted Moon Sect no longer dared to casually expel her. Later on, some disciples and elders even became interested in her, believing that since her mind was unclear she might be easy to fool. They frequently searched for her whereabouts, hoping to observe her movements and Dao aura, and some even wished to receive her guidance.

Although the mad old woman was not sane, she had never harmed anyone and bore no malice. Occasionally, when her mind was slightly clear, she would casually give some pointers to disciples or elders, allowing them to benefit greatly.

However, before long, those disciples and elders who had interacted with her began to encounter problems one after another. Some failed breakthroughs in seclusion and died; some were invaded by heart demons, their minds collapsing into walking corpses; others were caught in the aftermath of battles between supreme beings while traveling and died on the spot; still others were found and killed by enemies. In short, none met a good end.

Either they became crippled or went mad. Those who died outright were considered the luckiest, because they did not have to endure inhuman suffering.

This incident caused shock and terror throughout the entire Slanted Moon Sect. It was simply too bizarre. Even the ancestor-level figures felt chills down their spines, breaking out in cold sweat in broad daylight.

Those who had once interacted with the mad old woman were filled with fear, believing it was an invisible curse that would claim their lives when they least expected it. Subsequent events proved their suspicions—no one was spared. Anyone who had received her guidance or observed her Dao principles eventually met calamity and had no good ending.

For a time, the entire Slanted Moon Sect regarded this existence—whom they could neither defeat nor drive away—as a venomous snake. Many even considered whether they should relocate and evacuate altogether.

Numerous ancient figures ultimately concluded that the mad old woman’s insanity was likely because she had been tainted by an ominous force. Anyone who came into contact with her would likewise be stained with misfortune and bad luck. As long as one did not interact with her, there was no need to worry about inviting disaster.

The reason Gu Xian’er was now ostracized and avoided like the plague within the Slanted Moon Sect was precisely because of this. No one wanted to be tainted with misfortune. Many disciples and elders even wished she would leave the sect soon or die an early death.

“Senior Sister Lan Xin, we all know you’re kind-hearted and a great good person, but that doesn’t mean you should be so close to this girl.”

“Don’t forget, she’s someone who attracts misfortune and bad luck. You stay with her all the time—who knows when you’ll get contaminated too…”

A woman wearing a pink outer robe and a plain inner dress walked over. Looking at Lan Xin standing beside Gu Xian’er, she frowned slightly, her tone playful and mocking.

“Xu Hui, stop talking. Junior Sister Xian’er has been in the Slanted Moon Sect for so long—have you ever seen anything happen to her?”

“She’s obedient and well-behaved. That doesn’t mean you can bully her like this.”

Lan Xin looked at the approaching woman, her expression darkening, undisguised disgust in her eyes.

The surrounding young disciples saw this scene and tactfully stepped away, unwilling to get involved between the two.

Xu Hui let out a disdainful sneer. “I’ve never bullied her. When I see her, I walk away as fast as I can. An unlucky thing like her staying in the Slanted Moon Sect is just an eyesore.”

“If you have something to say, say it to me. Why humiliate Junior Sister Xian’er like this?”

Lan Xin’s face was like water, her eyes cold.

Xu Hui and Lan Xin had always been at odds, like fire and water. This was also related to their respective masters, who bore a deep and irreconcilable grudge against each other. Previously, Lan Xin had always suppressed Xu Hui, who would retreat whenever she saw her. It was impossible for her to be this confrontational before.

Lan Xin suspected Xu Hui’s master was behind this, and that Gu Xian’er had been innocently dragged into it.

“Hehe, Senior Sister Lan Xin sure talks big. Let’s see whether you can still smile after today.”

Xu Hui revealed a meaningful, teasing smile, then ignored Lan Xin’s angry glare and turned to leave. As for Gu Xian’er beside her, Xu Hui never even looked at her, as if she were nothing but air.

“Sorry for dragging you into this, Junior Sister Xian’er. She was aiming at me.”

After Xu Hui left, Lan Xin spoke apologetically.

Gu Xian’er still wore her obedient expression and shook her head. “Senior Sister Lan Xin, you’re too serious. You know I don’t care about these things.”

Lan Xin smiled. “I don’t know what kind of madness Xu Hui is in today, saying things like that.”

Gu Xian’er pondered for a moment and softly said, “Senior Sister Lan Xin, don’t you think what she said just now had another meaning?”

“It feels like she knows the purpose of why the sect gathered all the elders and disciples here today.”

Hearing this, Lan Xin finally reacted and frowned. “You might be right. What does Xu Hui mean by that?”

Suddenly, a commotion arose in the distance, interrupting her thoughts. She looked over and was slightly stunned.

A young man in a white robe with cloud patterns, handsome and elegant, was walking over surrounded by many young disciples. He was tall and upright, wearing a gentle, refined smile. His gaze was warm, as if water shimmered in his eyes, giving off the aura of a jade-like gentleman.

“Senior Brother Xu Yu…” Lan Xin murmured, a flash of admiration and complexity passing through her eyes.

Xu Yu was the undisputed number one of the younger generation in the Slanted Moon Sect—extraordinarily talented, blessed with great fortune, and unfathomably powerful. Even a proud and confident heavenly daughter like Lan Xin admired him greatly, knowing she was far inferior.

Moreover, Xu Yu truly lived up to his name—warm as jade, gentle and approachable, with an excellent reputation in the sect. Almost all the elders appreciated him.

“Senior Brother Xu Yu is back…”

“I heard he went to the extremely chaotic Shaking Light Ancient Domain for training. Even Supreme Ancestor-level beings can fall there.”

“I wonder what opportunities he obtained there. His cultivation feels even more profound and unfathomable now.”

Many disciples whispered in awe and admiration as they watched him pass. Even Xu Hui, who had just clashed with Lan Xin, revealed a hint of admiration in her eyes.

“The number one of the Slanted Moon Sect’s younger generation…” Gu Xian’er withdrew her gaze and murmured inwardly. She was adept at hiding her strength and had almost never revealed her true power in front of others. Yet when she had just sized up Xu Yu, she had felt a faint sense of danger. It seemed Xu Yu was not as simple as he appeared.

On the main plaza of the Slanted Moon Sect, as the elders and disciples all gathered, the Sect Master and the Great Elder appeared at the front.

The Sect Master was an elderly man who looked like an immortal sage—thin-faced, holding a whisk, surrounded by an indescribable mysterious aura. If one looked carefully, the space behind him was blurred, with strange streams of light rising and falling.

Beside him stood a man with narrowed eyes, wearing a cloak and bearing a long slanted scar across his face. He seemed to be sizing up the elders and disciples below. The other elders all treated this man with noticeable politeness.

“This is an envoy from the Zhengyi Alliance. He has come to the Slanted Moon Sect today to announce a matter. That is why I have gathered you all here…”

The Sect Master slowly swept his gaze across everyone and spoke in a weathered voice, introducing the man’s identity and purpose.

Recently, the Dark Creatures had become increasingly fierce and were no longer as disorganized as before, but instead orderly and coordinated. In recent days, various squads of the Zhengyi Alliance had successively suffered ambushes, with heavy casualties. Even Ancestor-Dao-realm beings had fallen, surrounded and killed by great figures among the Dark Creatures, with no chance for rescue.

This caused a huge shock and unrest within the Zhengyi Alliance. To deal with this, the various forces within the alliance discussed and unanimously decided that each orthodoxy would dispatch powerful elders to form an envoy team.

This envoy team would then head to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance to negotiate, set aside mutual grudges and prejudices, and establish a joint alliance to resist the Dark Creatures together. After all, neither the Zhengyi Alliance nor the Heaven-Slaying Alliance alone could eliminate this calamity sweeping across the vast cosmos. The only solution now was to unite against the common enemy.

“What?”

After hearing the Sect Master’s explanation, almost all elders and disciples were stunned.

“Form an envoy team to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance?”

“That Heaven-Slaying Alliance?”

The elders’ faces turned ugly, filled with fear and unease. In their eyes, the Heaven-Slaying Alliance was not much different from the Dark Creatures. During this period, it had taken advantage of the chaos and swallowed numerous worlds. Any orthodoxy that opposed it was almost entirely destroyed and buried in the river of time.

Moreover, there were many terrifying rumors about it. Its leader was said to possess unimaginable powers and mysterious methods. Any being who had contact with him—no matter their cultivation or status—would be enslaved or converted into his believer. Even ancient sages who had once resisted the dark calamities were now said to have been converted and were working for him.

Within the territory of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, temples and shrines dedicated to its leader could be seen everywhere, incense burning day and night. Even amid the raging dark calamity, the Heaven-Slaying Alliance continued expanding its territory through war.

In the eyes of other worlds, it had already become demonized—no different from a den of devils. Few who approached ever returned alive. Under such circumstances, sending an envoy team there to negotiate was nothing short of a joke—like sheep walking into a tiger’s den.

The elders of the Slanted Moon Sect all looked extremely grim, cursing inwardly. Whoever came up with this idea must be insane—or perhaps even a spy of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance.

“The envoy from the Zhengyi Alliance has already arrived. They’re probably selecting people. There’s no turning back unless our sect defies the alliance…”

“But isn’t this just sending people to their deaths?”

“Is there any chance of survival?”

The elders’ mouths were dry with bitterness. No matter how angry they were, it was useless. They could only pray they would not be chosen.

Once they left the sect for the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, even surviving the journey past Dark Creature attacks would not guarantee returning alive. Judging by the Heaven-Slaying Alliance’s style, they would not care about the Zhengyi Alliance at all.

“How could this happen?”

“Isn’t this just each orthodoxy sending an elder and their disciples to die?”

Among the disciples, Lan Xin was also stunned in disbelief. She had not expected today’s gathering to be for this reason.

Gu Xian’er’s clear eyes widened slightly, looking a bit dazed. This was already the countless times she had heard the name “Heaven-Slaying Alliance.”

Was this the same one she knew?

Lan Xin suddenly noticed a mocking gaze. Turning her head, she saw Xu Hui looking at her with undisguised schadenfreude.

“What does she mean?”

A bad premonition arose in Lan Xin’s heart.

The vast plaza was strangely silent. No one spoke.

After finishing his explanation, the Sect Master’s eyes were filled with helplessness and guilt. Finally, he looked towards a woman in front wearing a gray gauze dress, her hair styled in a green spiral bun beneath a light veil…