Chapter 30: A Useless Waste That Can’t Be Helped

Chapter 30: A Hopeless Waste

Azhi—

It was the first time Xue Youtan had ever called him that.

Pei Zhi was so thrown by the nickname that he froze for a solid two seconds. By the time he snapped back to reality, Nightfang had already launched another attack.

Pei Zhi stood rooted to the spot—not running, but not fighting either.

Back at the Yuan Estate, he'd seen Xue Youtan flatten an entire estate with a single move. He knew that with that level of skill, even another decade of cultivation at Cangya Mountain wouldn't bring him close. Let alone stomping Xue Youtan into the dirt to get revenge for his past life.

But now, the chance was right there.

Xue Youtan's qi was all messed up, his cultivation useless.

If—hypothetically—

If he joined forces with Nightfang, Xue Youtan might actually die here today.

The killing intent flashed for just a split second, but Xue Youtan caught it. He gazed at Pei Zhi's deep, dark eyes, thinking the murderous vibe meant the kid was about to go after Nightfang. A "good disciple" was caught in his throat, about to slip out—when Pei Zhi grabbed the broken sword off the ground with a wave of his hand and thrust it straight at him.

!!!

This wasn't how the script was supposed to play out.

Nobody told him the male lead was cross-eyed. At a critical moment like this, even his eyesight could go off-target.

Xue Youtan pressed his lips tight, torn over whether Liguang should dodge Nightfang's attack or Pei Zhi's to stay alive—when Pei Zhi's sword came down right next to his ear.

Low-rank disciples at Cangya Mountain hadn't forged their life-bound swords yet, so they used peach-wood swords issued by the sect. Infused with the user's cultivation, even wood could slice through iron like butter. Xue Youtan could clearly see the stray strand of hair at his temple get sliced off by Pei Zhi's sword aura—and stuck on the broken blade's tip was the head of a rainbow-striped snake.

At the same time, Xue Youtan's Liguang knocked Nightfang back.

Xue Youtan exhaled in relief. So his choice had been right. He knew it—based on his experience from two lifetimes back, he wasn't supposed to die today. No way the male lead would kill him this fast.

So the male lead had been trying to kill the snake for him. Going after a snake with the stance of a killer—that had scared him for nothing.

Xue Youtan looked at Pei Zhi. The kid seemed still stuck in the aftermath of killing the snake, staring at the smashed snake head, his brows nearly scrunched into a knot.

"Hey..." Xue Youtan couldn't help speaking up. "If the snake's dead, can you get off? You're crushing my leg."

Pei Zhi looked like a scrawny bean sprout, but he was surprisingly heavy. Especially when he'd climbed on with his knees and elbows to kill the snake—digging into Xue Youtan's thigh, all sharp and uncomfortable.

Only then did Pei Zhi snap out of his thoughts and push himself off Xue Youtan. But the two of them were up in a tree, and the slightest movement sent the branches swaying violently. Pei Zhi's flailing didn't get him up—instead, he tumbled right back onto Xue Youtan's chest. His hand slipped, pulling the loosely draped outer robe off Xue Youtan's shoulder, revealing skin whiter than snow underneath.

Pei Zhi caught a glimpse, and his face went bright red in an instant. He grabbed his sword, scrambled down from the tree, and charged at Nightfang.

Xue Youtan pulled his robe back on, sitting in the tree and leaning against the trunk to watch the fight. After Pei Zhi got slammed to the ground and coughed up blood a few times, Xue Youtan finally figured it out: "Its weak spot is its belly button. Go for the belly button."

"Cough, cough, cough..." Pei Zhi felt like every bone in his body was about to fall apart. He struggled to see where this so-called "belly button" was, but the beast in front of him had a dragon's head, a lion's body, and was covered in long fur. With all that fur, he couldn't even spot the monster's eyes, let alone its belly button.

Before he could catch his breath, Nightfang charged again. Pei Zhi blindly stabbed at the beast's lower half a few times—not only missing the weak point, but pissing off Nightfang, who whipped its tail around his body, hoisted him up, and lifted him to its mouth.

This was it. Nightfang hadn't been taken down, and the male lead was about to die first.

Male lead dies = he restarts.

2484, even now, you're still not going to restore my cultivation?

The system gave no response.

Seeing Pei Zhi about to get eaten by Nightfang, Xue Youtan panicked, jumped down from the tree, and summoned Liguang.

But he didn't charge in with the sword. Instead, using his weak, flickering spiritual energy, he flew up on his sword and shouted right in Pei Zhi's ear: "You piece of trash! Is that all you've got? Looks like you really are a hopeless waste—just like your demon whore of a mother. She was a slut who got ridden by a thousand men, and you're a useless piece of garbage. Like mother, like son. I suggest you go die already and pray for a better life next time around..."

Xue Youtan kept cursing, watching as Pei Zhi's whole body started giving off black smoke, the demon mark on his forehead flickering on and off. He didn't shut up—he cursed even harder, going on and on about Pei Zhi's mother.

Sorry, sorry, male lead. Cursing someone's mom is a seriously low blow—he didn't want to do it either. But with the system playing dead and his cultivation sealed, this was the only trick he had left.

Xue Youtan remembered that in *Senior's Split Personality*, the protagonist shou had used this exact dirty trick to force out the other power within Pei Zhi. He didn't know if it would work, but at this point, he had to treat a dead horse as a living one and give it a shot.

Xue Youtan kept cursing until Pei Zhi's murderous aura exploded, violently blasting free of Nightfang's grip and hovering in midair.

Xue Youtan was thrown to the ground by the overwhelming killing intent, sword and all, coughing up a mouthful of blood. He couldn't speak anymore. He struggled to lift his eyes and saw Pei Zhi manifesting a pitch-black life-bound sword, his voice low and cold: "Wang Wu, execution order!"

The black sword split into countless copies in an instant, all streaking toward Nightfang.

"Break!" With Pei Zhi's final command, Nightfang let out a mournful howl. Its massive body crashed to the ground, instantly reverting to its original form—a snow-white puppy that looked suspiciously like a husky.

Pei Zhi paid no attention to Nightfang on the ground. His figure, shrouded in killing intent like a phantom, appeared before Xue Youtan in a flash. He grinned with a sinister smile. "Now. It's your turn."

Wait, male lead, I think I can still explain!

Xue Youtan opened his mouth, but his throat was full of blood—no words would come out. Liguang sensed the danger and rose from the ground, but before it could block in front of him, Pei Zhi flicked it with his finger, and it was forcibly forced back into Xue Youtan's divine sense.

See, he'd always said this broken sword was useless. If this were Yueli's Kongshang, it would've been much faster for escaping.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Xue Youtan coughed a few times, ready to accept his fate and restart—when the stagnant pressure in his chest suddenly dissolved, and his cultivation instantly surged back.

He quickly formed a seal with one hand to block Pei Zhi's attack, while the other hand pulled a nine-section whip from his waist and lashed it viciously at the boy.

Pei Zhi was driven back by the whip, his dark eyes glinting with frost.

"So you were faking it all along!" Pei Zhi gritted out, the words practically seeping through his back teeth.