Pulling Together A Villain Reformation Strategy Chapter 7

More hilarious character interactions! I'm churning these chapters out as fast as I can before exam season hits again, so please let me know if any translations can be improved!

Chapter 7 – Dense Obscuring Fog

Jiang Xunyi blurted out: “Ah, I've recognized it, this sword is that blue-clothed big brother's! You stole his sword, and now even want to hack at me… Once he knows, he'll definitely become a ghost and come find you!”

Yun Xie's entire body trembled. His facial expression wavering and volatile, he looked back at Jiang Xunyi.

Jiang Xunyi was originally just offhandedly venting; he didn't actually expect that his own departed spirit would be able to shake this dignified protagonist. He was going to continue talking about something else when Yun Xie had already swiftly re-sheathed the sword.

Yun Xie picked him up from the ground and straightened him up. He then took a handkerchief from his clothes and moved to wipe away the smudges on Jiang Xunyi's face.

Jiang Xunyi was first taken by surprise, but after considering it over, he felt he should trust the disguise skills of his cheap stepmother.

As expected, Yun Xie did not notice the second mask layer. He had never seen Du Li before, so he now inspected Jiang Xunyi's face. He did not find anything from this examination, and thus said: “Speak clearly, what exact relationship do you have with that person? Why did he previously pa.s.s this palm method to you, and why would he be angry if I killed you? And… How… how do you know that he is no longer alive?”

“If he didn't die, how could he give his sword to another?” Jiang Xunyi brightened up: “He pa.s.sed his palm method to me because he likes me of course~ That big brother said he had a friend called Yun something something. He said I look just as cute as that friend of his, so he taught me awesome skills to beat people up!”

He said this purely to disgust Yun Xie. As he talked, he constantly watched Yun Xie's face, eagerly looking forward to him showing an expression like he'd eaten s.h.i.t. He didn't expect Yun Xie to abruptly lower his head.

Jiang Xunyi froze. One of Yun Xie's teardrops had already fallen onto the back of his hand.

His tears were cold as ice, but Jiang Xunyi recoiled like he had been burned. He abruptly took a step back, his mood churning with complex feelings.

Yun Xie quickly raised his head again. If his loss of self-control was seen by other people, he would certainly kill them without blinking an eye. But this time since Jiang Xunyi was an idiot who didn't understand anything, Yun Xue simply wiped his face calmly. He spoke as if nothing had happened: “Very well, I won't kill you. Come over here and carry me."

Jiang Xunyi: "……" All his emotions and sympathies just now were a G.o.dd.a.m.n waste.

Yun Xie grew impatient: "What are you standing there all distracted for? I am injured. You carry me and I'll tell you how to go home.”

Acting the fool was not as cool as he had imagined. At the very least, seeing Yun Xie pull this bulls.h.i.t but having no way to expose him was unimaginably miserable.

Jiang Xunyi slowly walked over and reluctantly carried Yun Xie on his back, walking in the  direction he pointed.

After their kerfuffle, both people now remembered: they were at the bottom of the Imprisoned Demons Valley, the most sinister place in legend. But after being here for a long time now, don't even mention any great demons, why had they not even seen a single ghostly shadow?

However, since things had already reached this point, they could only go forward one step at a time.

After walking for a while, Jiang Xunyi was too lazy to continue. He felt that Yun Xie was a complete dead-weight on his back.

Normally, the two of them would squabble with each other and call out each other's bulls.h.i.t——he had actually ordered a dignified novel protagonist around like a close manservant. He had never expected times to change like this; he had even been stabbed to death by this "servant" once, and had now fallen to this extent. Thinking of this reversal in fortunes, Jiang Xunyi immediately felt an acute sense of unfairness. He purposely made his strides uneven, bobbing back and forth just to keep Yun Xie from staying comfortable.

Yun Xie yelled: "Walk more steadily!"

Jiang Xunyi giggled: “Are you dizzy? It's okay, I'll twist your b.u.t.t and you won't be dizzy anymore.” While he spoke, his right hand really did give Yun Xie a twist behind him.

To be honest, Jiang Xunyi had always been a clean freak and never liked other people getting too close to him. But Yun Xie was an exception. Since childhood, the two of them had constantly swapped cultivation pointers and slain monsters together. They had eaten and slept together too many times to count. Despite the break in their relationship, this habit had long since been ingrained into Jiang Xunyi's behavior, so he did not feel there was anything wrong with his action just now. But Yun Xie did not know the truth. His entire body shook from outrage. If it wasn't for how he had not yet cleared up the relationship between Ah-Xun and this brat, he would have already killed this kid seven or eight times over!

Yun Xia fiercely slapped away Jiang Xunyi's groping hand. Jiang Xunyi wasn't put off by the pain, and instead cheerfully said: “White-clothed big bro, what's wrong with you? Last time my elder brother carried Xiao Wei, I saw him do this too, and then Xiao Wei immediately stopped shouting she was dizzy!"

After the “Ah-Hu” just now, Yun Xie absolutely did not want to know what this “Xiao Wei” was!

But even though he didn't want to know and didn't ask, Jiang Xunyi continued on his own: "Xiao Wei is the most popular girl in our area's 'flower house'1, though she doesn't look as pretty as you~”

He even casually badmouthed this cheap elder brother of his who he'd never met!

“……” Yun Xie took a deep breath. After Jiang Xunyi's death, he had originally thought there was nothing left to love in his life and everything else would appear as meaningless as mist and smoke. But at this moment, he genuinely felt a deep and profound emotion from his very core: rage!

The arms looped around Jiang Xunyi's neck abruptly tightened into a stranglehold. Yun Xie was just planning to teach him a lesson when Jiang Xunyi had already let out an exaggerated shout and stumbled to sit down on the ground, incidentally throwing Yun Xie off his back.

Yun Xie elegantly balanced on his tiptoes, sweeping his body horizontally and then standing firm. His face flushed with anger: “What are you doing?!”

Jiang Xunyi made a pitiful woebegone face: “My foot hurts, I can't walk.”

Yun Xie: “……If I strangle your neck, your foot will hurt?”

Jiang Xunyi: “Ever since I was little, I've had a disease: the 'when someone moves my neck, my foot will hurt' disease.”

Yun Xie: "……"

Yun Xie inwardly thought: Will I really be able to hold myself back from beating him to death? I'm actually spending this much time wrangling with this madman?!

Jiang Xunyi looked pitiful, his entire body shivering… because he was about to faint from choking back his laughter.

Yun Xie's face alternated between blue and white with rage. He finally flicked his sleeves and turned around, taking the lead to walk in front.

Pleasure rose in Jiang Xunyi's heart and he agilely stood back up. In high spirits, he loyally followed behind Yun Xie with dexterous movements.

Yun Xie seemed to have completely conceded defeat. He no longer bickered with him and walked silently in front. His injuries were not light, so he was very easy to walk behind. After following him for a while without anything happening, Jiang Xunyi finally had the spare time to make sense of this recent series of events.

Up until now, the System had been as silent as the dead, without any news whatsoever. He didn't know if this was a bug. To be honest, this thing not making its usual clamor wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it was just that he had no way of knowing what plot events would happen next. Right now he could only first observe the situation with Yun Xie.

Currently what made him most uneasy was…….Why was the inside of the Imprisoned Demons Valley actually this calm? Not just calm——he could even sense the faint aroma of food and the hawking shouts of street vendors coming from the distance.　

Yun Xie minded his own business to walk on his own. Upon hearing that the man by his side had quieted down, he instead felt unused to this silence. He turned around slightly to see Jiang Xunyi walking half a pace behind him, a frown on his face.

When this person was silent, he actually looked decent, without a trace of idiocy. Despite the ragged clothing draped over his body, his height and slenderness on top of his elegant posture actually gave him a slight air of gracefulness. Cleaned of bloodstains, that handsome face at this moment had a rare depth to it, with some…… indescribable and inexplicable familiarity.

Without changing expression, Yun Xie watched him for a while. Before Jiang Xunyi could notice, he turned his head back and fiercely shut his eyes.

Jiang Xunyi had not heard wrong just now. After walking for a long while, they really did come to a bustling town, with people coming and going on the streets. There was no hint of demonic energy whatsoever. Yun Xie's dashing eyebrows arched slightly. He seemed to also feel some uneasiness. He gently pressed an area below his collar and hesitated for a moment, before finally signalling Jiang Xunyi to follow him forward.

Jiang Xunyi saw this action and quietly thought: I don't know what precious treasure is hanging on Yun Xie's neck. I've only been with him for such a short period of time and this fellow's already touched it three times. Hmph, I'll have to grab it over and make Yun Xie anxiously jump around for it! 

He narrowed his eyes to glance at it again, but the pendant was blocked by Yun Xie's collar. No matter what, he couldn't see it clearly. Instead, he noticed that Yun Xie's face seemed to be getting worse and worse, to the point where he looked like he was about to bite the dust.

Jiang Xunyi certainly knew Yun Xie had been badly wounded, but how could Yun Xie call himself a protagonist without having a little endurance? As a result, Jiang Xunyi had avoided paying attention to him all this time. Now watching Yun Xie endlessly walking forward like a zombie, he was finally overcome with helplessness. He let out a low sigh and then plopped straight down to sit on the ground.

Jiang Xunyi called out loudly: “White-clothed big bro——”

The pa.s.sersby surrounded them to watch. His face blue with anger, Yun Xie turned back and said coldly: "What are you doing?"

Jiang Xunyi pointed to the shop next to him: “I'm hungry, I wanna eat~”

A nearby onlooker wanted to laugh, but was swept by Yun Xie's gaze like cold lightning and immediately choked it back.

Yun Xie did not say a word. He turned back, stepped up, and swept the curtain aside to enter the restaurant!

Jiang Xunyi smiled happily and stood up from the ground to follow him in.

The shop's waiter greeted them with a face full of smiles and an attentive manner. However, he didn't speak and only handed a menu to Yun Xie.

Jiang Xunyi couldn't help but look the waiter over, quietly guessing: "Could this person be a mute?"

Yun Xie did not ask him what he wanted. He instead adeptly ordered a table of dishes on his own, most of which were Jiang Xunyi's favorite foods. The two of them had extremely different dietary preferences. In the past, every time they went out to eat, Yun Xie would order dishes favoring Jiang Xunyi's tastes. Now that Jiang Xunyi was no longer here… he didn't know if it was just out of habit or something else, but he still followed those old rules to order food.

Originally, Jiang Xunyi didn't actually want to eat anything; he had only planned this stop to let Yun Xie rest for a while. But now looking at the dishes in front of him, his interest rose. He lifted his robes to sit opposite to Yun Xie, picked up his chopsticks, and went to select a Jade Marrow Snow Baby2.

Unexpectedly, Yun Xie suddenly extended his chopsticks to block him. He used internal strength to instantly snap Jiang Xunyi's chopsticks into two broken pieces: “These are not for you to eat.”

“……” Jiang Xunyi mustered his patience to 'ask for guidance': "Then what should I eat?”

Right at this time, the waiter carried over a bowl of white rice and placed it on the table. Yun Xie pointed his chopsticks at it: "You eat this.” After a pause, he took a tiny saucer of complimentary pickles from his own side and put it between them: "You may also pick from this.”

Jiang Xunyi: "……"

Before he transmigrated, he had been a dandy son of rich parents. After transmigrating over and becoming a member of a prestigious sect, he had grown even more accustomed to living a life of luxury3. How could these kinds of things even enter his eyes? He simply threw his broken chopsticks onto the table and sulkily refused to eat.

Footnotes:

1. 花楼 lit. "flower house". Usually means a fancy and exquisite building, but in this context it refers to a place for high-cla.s.s escorts.
2. 玉髓雪婴儿: I don't know what this is, or even what real food it might be based off of. Please let me know if you have any idea lol
3. 锦衣玉食 lit. "brocade garments, jade meals"