Reborn as the Novel’s Villain: Cultivation Lost, Female Leads Take Control - Chapter 95

Qingming Hall.

Little Flower raised its little paw, its feline face full of indignation, and let out a sharp “Meow meow!!!”

Ji Hongluan’s face flushed slightly. She knew very well that Little Flower wasn’t to blame—it was her inability to control herself that led to her impulsive surrender. But admitting that was out of the question. Instead, she conveniently placed the blame on the innocent cat.

“Little Flower, how could you say that? You could’ve pushed the door open and interrupted us. It’s entirely your fault this time!”

Little Flower was speechless.

Push the door open?

‘When someone casually sealed it with a restriction as strong as the ones a Venerable cultivator could set?’

‘How was a mere little civet supposed to break through that?’

‘Even if, by some miracle, it had managed to push the door open, wouldn’t it just have been thrown out again?’

‘Answer me!’

“Meow meow…” Little Flower mewed softly, feeling deeply wronged.

The cat’s reproachful gaze seemed to say, ‘You’re tarnishing my reputation as the most reliable feline strategist. How could you let this happen?’

Ji Hongluan immediately sensed Little Flower’s unspoken discontent and hastened to mollify the situation.

“Don’t be like this, Little Flower. It was just one mistake—I promise it won’t happen again. Next time, even if that idiot calls me Master, I won’t give in!”

Little Flower rolled its large, expressive eyes as if to say, ‘You don’t even believe yourself.’

Ji Hongluan faltered for a moment, then sighed. She didn’t believe it either.

Still, a declaration had to be made!

“Forget it, Little Flower. Come here and help me with my back. That idiot has no sense of tenderness whatsoever!”

She lay down on the bed, her brows furrowed.

Reluctantly, Little Flower hopped up and began kneading her back with its freshly sharpened claws, grumbling internally the entire time.

Meanwhile, at Heavenly Thunder Peak…

Following the revelation that their peak lord, Master Wanjun, had fallen into demonic cultivation, the entire Heavenly Thunder Peak descended into panic. Everyone—whether inner disciples, personal disciples, or elders—lived in constant fear, worried they’d be implicated in the scandal.

Some frantically sought ways to dissociate themselves from the peak, hoping to join other peaks instead.

But at this sensitive time, who would dare to accept anyone from Heavenly Thunder Peak, now seen as a pariah within Qingming Sect? Other peaks avoided them like the plague.

“Why did Master fall to the demonic path?”

“Don’t call him Master! He’s a demonic cultivator and unworthy of that title!”

“It’s horrifying to think Old Wanjun and that lunatic Xiao were working together. One injured people, the other refined them. Such malicious methods!”

“Senior Brother, what do we do now? Without a leader, Heavenly Thunder Peak is in chaos.”

“What else can we do? We’re like stray dogs or rats in the street. No other peak will take us. We’ll just have to keep our heads down and hope the sect doesn’t abandon us altogether.”

The speaker was a brooding young man surrounded by a group of disgruntled disciples—those who hadn’t participated in the Qi Yuan Cave Mansion.

Nearby, a wiry disciple pounded his chest in regret. “If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve joined Purple Cloud Peak. Xu Yang, their peak lord, is terrifying now. I heard from an elder in my family that his power rivals that of a Venerable. He’s beyond belief!”

“Junior Brother, stop daydreaming. With our talents, we wouldn’t even qualify to be farmers on Purple Cloud Peak!”

“Exactly! Everyone wants to join Purple Cloud Peak, but they wouldn’t have us.”

“I’m not dreaming! Even that guy over there almost joined Purple Cloud Peak. If he could, why couldn’t I?”

The wiry disciple jabbed a finger toward a figure in the distance, a young man feeding a massive ghostly hawk.

The youth was none other than Li Cangxuan.

Since joining Heavenly Thunder Peak, Li Cangxuan had been relentlessly bullied by his senior disciples. Every month, his cultivation resources were confiscated, his cave residence stolen, and he was forced to do all manner of chores, from watering spirit fields to feeding spirit beasts.

Whenever he resisted, he was beaten black and blue. His cultivation, once at the fourth level of Foundation Establishment, had regressed to the second stage due to lack of practice.

Late at night, lying exhausted on his crude stone bed, he couldn’t stop replaying the events of the Ascension Gathering in his mind.

If only he hadn’t hesitated back then—would everything be different now?

The thought tormented him endlessly, leaving him huddled on his stone bed, clutching his knees as tears silently streamed down his face.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me! Are you looking to die?”

The wiry disciple, incensed by Li Cangxuan’s silence, stormed over and grabbed him by the collar. He slapped him hard across the face.

Smack!

Li Cangxuan crumpled to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth along with several teeth.

Dazed, he looked up at the wiry disciple, his gaze vacant and unresponsive.

The other disciples tried to intervene.

“Junior Brother, calm down!”

“It’s not worth getting angry over a fool.”

“Let’s focus on figuring out how to survive this crisis at Heavenly Thunder Peak.”

“Bah!” The wiry disciple spat disdainfully at Li Cangxuan, sneering.

“You’re born to be a slave, nothing more. Be grateful we let you feed the spirit beasts!”

With that, he turned and walked away, laughing smugly.

But the next moment—

A fierce wind surged behind him!

Li Cangxuan, like a cornered beast, exploded with wild energy. His thin frame radiated unrelenting ferocity as he lunged at the wiry disciple, shrieking hoarsely through his bloodied mouth:

“Slave? You’re the slave! I’ll kill you!!!”