Chapter 4: Senior’s Split Personality

Chapter 4: "Senior's Split Personality"

"This is..." Xiao Yiheng looked at the anomaly before them, somewhat wary, stepping forward and placing himself in front of Xue Youtan. "Master, something's off."

Now you sense something's wrong—where was this awareness when you picked the Withered Wood Forest for a fight?

Xue Youtan pursed his lips, eyeing the dark mist warily, holding his ground. Then, from the fog, a serpent twice a man's height burst out.

Xiao Yiheng gasped. "A snake—a freaking huge one!!"

The giant python flicked its blood-red forked tongue and lunged at Xue Youtan with jaws wide open.

"Congratulations, host! You've triggered a side quest: subdue the Ten Directions Realm's guardian beast to boost your prestige. Reward: 30 points and 200 prestige points."

The name "Ten Directions Realm" rang a bell—wasn't this the boss that randomly popped up in the Combat Tournament dungeon? In the original story, Pei Zhi and Xiao Yiheng teamed up in the Combat Tournament, and it was exactly this shared victory over the divine beast that sparked their mutual respect, letting them bury the hatchet and start down the road to... well, becoming a couple. If he took this thing down, what would those two have left to bond over?

2484, don't you dare mess this up!!

Speaking of which, he should explain the gay novel he'd read, "Senior's Split Personality." It was all about the love-hate saga between Pei Zhi and the transmigrated Xiao Yiheng. Yep, not just gay—it had transmigration too. A mashup of all the hot tropes, an absolute trainwreck.

So, in this setup, Xiao Yiheng was a programmer for the game "Emperor's Legacy." In the game's story he'd coded, the male lead Pei Zhi started out as a nobody. With no power, no connections, and his beast ears out in the open, he got bullied all over the realm. But later, through sheer grit and grind, he rose to demon lord, crushed his rivals, built a harem, and bedded ten women a night—hitting the absolute peak of success.

Classic male power fantasy.

But since the second male lead, Xiao Yiheng, was a fan favorite, the programmer got flamed to death by fans and woke up as the popular villain Xiao Yiheng. To dodge the fate of getting his tongue ripped out and tendons sliced, he latched onto the male lead's coattails with the system's help, and eventually managed to turn the stud protagonist gay.

Sound familiar? Same programmer, same transmigration, same system (except his system was a total idiot).

But same setup, different luck—Xiao Yiheng was the second male lead, so he could rack up favor; he, on the other hand, was just cannon fodder, and the male lead's favor wasn't even available to him. Even if he tried, it was pointless—when his number was up, he'd still kick the bucket.

All of this flashed through Xue Youtan's mind in an instant. By the time the serpent lunged, he'd already formed a golden light seal with his hand gestures and shoved it out like a shield.

The golden seal blocked the serpent's strike, then morphed into golden ropes the moment it touched the beast, coiling tightly around its body. The serpent let out a roar and crashed down, its massive body kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Master is amazing!" Xiao Yiheng was dumbstruck but still managed to suck up.

Xue Youtan waved a hand to clear the dust, staying on high alert.

First, the book had gone on and on about the Ten Directions Realm's beasts—there was no way the big boss would go down in one hit. Second, his system hadn't sent a mission-complete notification yet.

"Liguang!" Xue Youtan hesitated briefly, then summoned his life-bound sword from his divine sense, gripping it tight to finish the job.

But the second he took a step, Pei Zhi suddenly reached out and grabbed him.

Xue Youtan glanced over and saw the guy who'd been sitting on the ground like a good little boy moments ago, now with flushed cheeks and parted lips, gasping for air like he was having an asthma attack.

What the hell? Wasn't the male lead of a stud novel supposed to have an iron body, unkillable like a cockroach? Did he secretly have asthma or something?

But Pei Zhi didn't look like he was faking it.

Xue Youtan sheathed his sword, dropped from his attacking stance, and crouched down to loosen Pei Zhi's collar. He recalled that in first aid, the way to ease asthma was to help the patient breathe easier. After yanking open the collar, Xue Youtan reached for his belt.

The second his fingers touched the belt, a hand clamped down on his.

Pei Zhi was still a kid at this point, his hand a whole size smaller than Xue Youtan's, but the grip on his wrist was shockingly strong.

Meanwhile, the dust settled, and from the black mist, the serpent that hadn't been finished off came roaring back, its tail whipping straight at Xue Youtan's vitals.

"Master, watch out!!" Xiao Yiheng scurried behind a tree to hide, doing jack squat except yelling that one warning.

See? What had he said? Not finishing off a foe was no better than being a bleeding-heart fool.

Liguang back in hand, Xue Youtan got ready to fight, forming hand seals to cast a spell, but Pei Zhi—whether scared or what—still had a death grip on his left hand, making it impossible to pull off the Art.

Desperate, Xue Youtan glanced at the sword in his hand.

The male lead losing an arm or something shouldn't mess with his future plot, right?

He only hesitated a second over whether to chop off Pei Zhi's hand, and by then the beast's tail had already come sweeping in. Xue Youtan's sword, aimed at Pei Zhi's arm, suddenly veered and slashed at the giant serpent instead.

The two forces collided, and the sheer sword energy sent the spiritually frail Pei Zhi flying, blood spraying from his mouth.

Xue Youtan steadied himself with his sword and stumbled back two steps, blood dripping from the arm the serpent's tail had grazed.

"Ding—congratulations, host, on completing the disciple-taking quest. Reward: 50 points and 300 prestige. Current points: 50, prestige: 300, quest progress: 2%."

What disciple? Whose disciple? Who the hell is the disciple?

Xue Youtan was a walking question mark, about to ask the system when he caught a glimpse of a glowing jade token on the ground.

The jade token was stained with blood, the emerald patterns dyed crimson into a distinct character: "Pei."

Cangya Mountain's jade tokens required not just spiritual power to seal the contract, but also the blood of both parties to be poured over them. Once the token recognized its master, it would automatically show the surname tied to that person's identity.

And just now, when he was slashing at the beast, Li Luoshu's jade token had fallen from Xue Youtan's robes, and both he and Pei Zhi had happened to bleed.

Fine. Okay. Very forceful. System, you really know how to exploit loopholes.

"Ding—congratulations, host, on completing the master-point quest. Reward: 30 points and 200 prestige. Current points: 80, prestige: 500, quest progress: 3%."

As the system notification faded, the subdued Ten Directions Realm guardian beast let out a howl and vanished on the spot.

Could this serpent's role as a plot device be any more obvious?

The only response was Xiao Yiheng's unrestrained praise beside him. "Two moves—just two moves, and Master subdued such a fierce beast. Master truly is Master!"

Xue Youtan suppressed the urge to lose his temper, sheathing Liguang back into his divine sense. He curled his index finger toward the glowing jade token on the ground, and it rose into the air, hovering above his palm.

"Pei?" Xiao Yiheng stared at the character on the token, confused. "Didn't Master's disciple have the surname Li? Why does the token show 'Pei'?"

"Pei, Pei, Pei..." He repeated the surname three times, then suddenly widened his eyes at Pei Zhi, who was sprawled on the ground. "Could it be that during the fight, Master's blood accidentally mixed with this little brat's, and the contract was successfully formed?!!"

Not too stupid after all.