Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

Wait!

’Could this scholar be a fake?’

’But that can’t be right. My sister didn’t sense any trace of cultivation from these two. That big fellow from earlier, on the other hand, was terrifying.’

’Good thing my sister helped lure him away...’

The young woman pondered this, but her mind wasn’t quite sharp enough to figure it out.

After all, among her sisters, she was widely considered the dumbest ghost.

So dumb that even the Old Witch said she had been dumb enough to get herself killed in life, and she was still a dumb ghost in the afterlife.

’No, I can’t just give up like this.’

’This is my first time. It would be too embarrassing to go back empty-handed.’

’I’ll just have to keep trying to seduce him.’

"It doesn’t hurt anymore. Thank you, Young Master."

The young woman forced out these words through gritted teeth, having already cut Jiang Mu into a thousand pieces a hundred times over in her mind.

She took a deep breath and composed herself.

She stood up, pretending to be unsteady because of her foot. Her body swayed again, and this time, she threw herself directly at Jiang Mu.

She moved with incredible speed, with an air that defied refusal.

’Today, you’re going to let me have my way with you!’

At the same time, a faint pink glow appeared in her eyes as she activated her Bewitching Skill.

"Young Master~ I’m so cold. Won’t you hold me?"

Her voice was like a dream, ethereal and mesmerizing.

Jiang Mu’s vision blurred, and his head spun for a moment.

’What a potent Bewitching Skill.’

Faced with the fragrant, soft body lunging at him, Jiang Mu remained expressionless and abruptly raised his right hand.

SMACK!

A thick copy of the *Spring and Autumn Annals* slapped Nie Xiaoqian right across the face.

"Ouch!"

Nie Xiaoqian was sent reeling backward. A sharp pain shot through her nose, and tears immediately streamed from her eyes.

"Miss, please have some self-respect!"

Jiang Mu admonished her righteously,

"Men and women should not touch! For you to throw yourself at me like this, what has become of propriety? Are you some woman from a brothel, trying to ruin my cultivation?"

Nie Xiaoqian clutched her nose, staring at Jiang Mu with tear-filled eyes, feeling wronged and utterly broken.

’I’m a respectable ghost!’

’And tonight, I was slapped in the face with a book by a mere scholar?’

"You... you..."

She pointed at Jiang Mu, too furious to speak.

But Jiang Mu ignored her. He picked his book back up, dusted it off, and said calmly,

"Miss, if you are truly cold, you should move closer to the fire. If you are lonely, there’s a Scholar’s Attendant over there you can talk to. He snores, though, so you’ll have to put up with that."

Nie Xiaoqian stared at the utterly impervious Jiang Mu, grinding her teeth so hard she could have shattered them.

’If the soft approach doesn’t work, I’ll use force!’

Her gaze turned icy, and Ghost Qi began to surge around her.

’Since I can’t seduce you, I’ll just drain you dry!’

The Ghost Qi swirled around her as her fingernails shot out three inches long, glowing with a faint green light, and she lunged for Jiang Mu’s throat.

"You damn scholar, you refused the easy way, so now you’ll get the hard way! I’m going to drain you dry today!"

However, just as her fingertips were about to touch Jiang Mu’s skin,

A sharp glint of sword light suddenly erupted from the spot where Yan Zixiao had been sitting.

The light was as fast as lightning, its momentum like a crack of thunder.

PFFT!

It pierced straight through Nie Xiaoqian’s back and out her chest.

"AH—!!"

Nie Xiaoqian let out a piercing scream, her body pinned in mid-air by the sword light as she struggled in agony.

"Hahaha!"

A hearty laugh echoed from outside the hall.

Yan Zixiao strode in, a wine gourd in hand and a triumphant look on his face.

"Just as I expected! You seductive ghosts can’t resist coming out to feed when you smell the scholarly air on this foolish kid. I’ve been waiting outside half the night, and I finally got one!"

"Weren’t you... lured away... by my second sister..."

The young woman’s face twisted in pain.

Yan Zixiao snorted. "You think you can fool me with your petty tricks?"

He turned his head to Jiang Mu, a hint of pride in his eyes.

"Little scholar, scared you, did she? Relax. You’ve got me, Yan Zixiao, to protect you. This ghost’s cultivation wasn’t very deep. One strike was enough."

Jiang Mu was speechless.

’Damn it, I was fishing for the big one.’

’What’s the point of killing a small fry? Are you an idiot?’

But since the man had, after all, just saved him, he couldn’t really say anything. Just as he was hesitating over whether to reveal his Cultivation Level, his brow suddenly furrowed.

The supposedly dying Nie Xiaoqian’s form suddenly distorted.

In the next instant, she vanished into thin air.

Only a dissipating cloud of black smoke remained.

The longsword that had pierced her fell to the ground with a CLANG.

"Not good!"

Yan Zixiao’s expression changed drastically.

BOOM—

Countless thick tree roots, like giant pythons, burst from the ground, shattering the hall’s floor.

Yan Zixiao grabbed Jiang Mu and retreated, simultaneously kicking the sleeping Xu Fu out of the way to dodge the attacking roots.

The roots crisscrossed, forming a massive cage.

"Such dense demonic energy!"

Yan Zixiao’s face was grim; he didn’t dare be the slightest bit careless.

With one hand, he slammed the giant Sword Box from his back onto the ground before him. He formed a sword-finger with his right hand and slapped it against the box.

CLANG!

A clear cry, like a dragon’s roar, echoed through the hall.

The Sword Box opened, and a broad, heavy sword shot into the air.

Yan Zixiao snatched it out of the air.

Crimson runes flowed along the blade, emitting a scorching Pure Yang Qi that forced the approaching roots back several feet.

"Old Witch, after hiding for so long, you’ve finally decided to show yourself?"

Yan Zixiao sneered.

The young woman, already outside the hall and still shaken, cried out, "Old Witch!"

A figure was hovering in mid-air.

It was a woman dressed in a magnificent black and red robe.

She looked to be about thirty years old, with a bewitching face. Her eyes and brows exuded a seductive charm with a hint of an exotic flair.

Her long hair cascaded down like winding vines, almost coiling around her feet.

Strange flowers of various colors were dotted throughout her hair.

Though she was a Tree Demon, her figure was quite voluptuous, curvy in all the right places.

Jiang Mu had been watching the show from the side,

But now his eyes suddenly lit up, and he murmured, "This Old Witch... she’s still quite a looker."