How to Be the Perfect Junior Sister to a Reborn Villain - Chapter 13

The streets of Ang City were unusually lively that day.
Crowds gathered to celebrate the slaying of the demon beast, laughter and cheers echoing through every alleyway.

Tao Wen was stopped several times while pasting protective talismans on the east and west city gates each time surrounded by a throng of excited citizens eager to thank him.

After three days of rest, Lin Shan decided he’d recovered enough to move again and insisted on returning to the Yunxiao Sect.

There was far too much to do: broken trees to clear, fallen walls to rebuild, bloodstains to scrub clean.

Thankfully, the City Lord’s Manor sent people to help. Soon, a whole group armed with tools marched off toward the Yunxiao Sect grounds.

Meanwhile, in the guest courtyard of the Li Residence, Yan Jiuzhi was leaning back against the soft couch by the window.

Outside stretched a world of pure white branches heavy with snow, and blossoms of winter sweet wrapped in delicate layers of ice.

His gaze seemed to rest on the frost patterns on the windowpane, yet drifted further somewhere distant and unnameable. A faint smile tugged at his lips.

He had seen through Xia Mengxue’s calculations and fear, and finally understood what she meant by those words I’m returning this to you.

He had truly been reborn at the time when he was sixteen, when his sect still stood.

That woman. She’d actually managed to wield an artifact capable of reversing time itself.

In his past life, he’d hunted her for three hundred years. He’d seen countless strange and terrifying things, rare treasures, mysterious arts, and endless cultivators willing to throw their lives away for her sake.

He had never figured out how she managed all that.

But it didn’t matter anymore. Whatever her origins, she had paid the price for her life this time. He no longer had any reason to chase her down.

Still, if the opportunity ever arose again, he wouldn’t hesitate to settle old debts.

He was certain Xia Mengxue felt the same way. Given the chance, they’d both gladly kill each other.

Third Senior Brother! What are you doing sitting by the window, letting the cold wind in?

Li Xi entered, carrying a bowl of ginseng porridge. She set it down on the table, marched straight over, and shut the window tightly before helping him up.

You were unconscious for three days! You need proper rest,” she scolded, thoroughly displeased.

“Come on—back to bed, now.”

It seemed their master had been right to leave her in charge of caring for him.

Just look at him injured so badly that his spiritual power and divine sense were unusable, yet still refusing to take it easy.

Yan Jiuzhi wasn’t the least bit offended by her nagging. Obediently, he leaned back against the bed.

Li Xi slipped a cushion behind his back, then lifted a spoonful of porridge, clearly intent on feeding him herself.

He quickly intercepted both the bowl and the spoon.

He wasn’t crippled just in some pain. He’d long grown used to worse.

The porridge was savory with a hint of ginseng, obviously prepared to aid recovery.

A faint warmth spread through his chest, though he couldn’t help feeling a little helpless watching his earnest little junior sister fuss over him.

He’d suffered far worse injuries before and never needed such care.

When he refused to cooperate, Li Xi sighed and gave up, setting the bowl aside. She then mentioned their master’s return to the Yunxiao Sect.

Honestly, Master’s so stubborn, she muttered. “He can’t even rest properly with wounds like that.

At least Elder Gao and Senior Sister have more sense they’re still recovering.

Our master’s just too responsible, Yan Jiuzhi said with a small smile.

With his second senior brother around, their master would likely just stand by and supervise anyway.

Finding nothing else to do, Li Xi thought for a moment. “Senior Brother, do you want to read some storybooks? It’s boring just sitting here healing.

She was speaking from experience how could anyone recover without a bit of entertainment?

“No need,” Yan Jiuzhi said, a dark line forming on his forehead. “Why don’t you tell me about any problems you’ve encountered in cultivation instead? I’ll help you work through them.”

Storybooks had never existed in his world.

Just then, the door creaked open.

Lin Zewu poked his little head inside, and upon seeing his third senior brother awake, ran in with tiny, hurried steps.

“Senior Brother, you’re okay now?”

That day, when everyone had been carried back, especially his third senior brother, unconscious and pale, the child had cried so hard his face turned blotchy.

It had taken everyone’s reassurance to calm him down.

Since then, he’d been visiting several times a day to check if his senior brother had woken up.

Yan Jiuzhi looked at him, his expression softening slightly. After a pause, he said,
“I’m fine. Once the New Year passes, you’ll start formal cultivation. I’ll explain things to your senior sister, you can listen in too.”

And so, the next few days passed with Li Xi and Lin Zewu studying under his guidance.

Between lessons, the two even competed to serve tea or fetch water, terrified of tiring their injured senior brother.

The Li family’s hospitality toward the Yunxiao Sect disciples was impeccable.

Partly because Li Xi was now one of them and partly because the entire city had heard the terrifying commotion from that battle.

Even now, many people were still visiting the site to see the aftermath.

The crater left behind was massive, with deep cracks still running through the ground.

Just standing near it filled one with an instinctive sense of dread.

Now, protective talismans were plastered along the upper walls of both the eastern and western gates, giving the citizens a sense of long-awaited peace.

Everyone was deeply grateful to the Yunxiao Sect immortals. The Li family, therefore, treated them like honored guests.

And Old Master Li was practically strutting these days, his steps light, his chest puffed out.

After all, immortal cultivators were living in his residence.

Even the City Lord himself treated him with newfound respect let alone anyone else.

He even secretly asked Li Xi which sects were the best.

Li Xi couldn’t be bothered to humor him. She lazily rattled off the names of the top ten sects and left it at that.

Two more days passed before the snow finally stopped. Ice crystals clung to the treetops, glittering like glass in the pale light.

After packing their things, the group bid farewell to the Li family. They were finally heading back to the Yunxiao Sect.

The City Lord of Ang City, upon hearing the news, hurried over with his officials to see them off. Bowing deeply, he said solemnly,

“On behalf of all the people of Ang City, I thank the immortals of Yunxiao Sect for your great compassion and righteousness. You have saved us from fire and flood, and freed us from the suffering of demonic beasts!”

Then, straightening, he raised his voice:

“May your immortal paths be smooth and your lifespans eternal!”

The important figures who had come along followed his lead, all bowing in unison. Their voices rose together in a powerful chant:

“May the immortals’ paths be smooth, and their lifespans eternal!”

Lin Shanlai quickly used a wave of spiritual energy to help them up, flustered as he waved his hands.

“Please, please, this we cannot accept! Protecting the people is our duty as cultivators. We dare not receive such grand courtesy.”

After much polite back-and-forth and enthusiastic insistence from the townsfolk, he eventually had no choice but to accept a mountain of gifts.

And as they made their way out of the city, the streets filled again—citizens lining both sides of the road to see them off.

People kept pressing their tokens of gratitude into their hands vegetables, cuts of meat, even live poultry.

Before long, every member of Yunxiao Sect was walking with a chicken in one hand and, quite often, a duck or goose in the other.

At that point, the chickens didn’t even look out of place anymore.

If it hadn’t been winter, they probably would’ve received baskets of fruit as well.

And so, Li Xi’s dignified “young lady” image finally collapsed completely.

Because right now, she too was walking with a chicken in her left hand, a duck in her right, and her chubby younger brother was still trying to hang slabs of cured meat over her shoulders.

If her hands hadn’t been full, she would’ve beaten him on the spot.

Li Nan even shoved a handful of roasted peanuts into her pocket before waving cheerfully.
“Big Sis, cultivate well! Don’t bother coming back anytime soon!”

Li Xi glared at him, her expression flat and deadly, dried meat dangling from her shoulders.

That brat had better pray I forget this.

News of the Yunxiao Sect’s victory in the slaying of the demon beast and the salvation of the city spread like wildfire.

In teahouses, storytellers began retelling the tale, embellishing it with flair.

They even added a tragic backstory: the disciples of Yunxiao Sect were all orphans taken in during times of war.

Of course, Li Xi was the only exception.

Even Granny Wu made it into the story, since she’d taken it upon herself to “testify,” passionately recounting how the sect had taken in and cared for a lonely old widow like her.

Soon, Yunxiao Sect’s name spread throughout Ang City and the nearby towns.

Everyone praised them for their righteousness and compassion.

By the time spring came, a wave of hopeful apprentices arrived at their gates, eager to join.

Unfortunately, most of them turned right back around the moment they saw Yunxiao Sect’s crumbling entrance.

Yes, the sect was righteous. But heavens above it was poor.

Still, that only strengthened people’s admiration.

Why were they so poor?
Because, of course, they’d spent everything doing good deeds!

And among the few who didn’t turn back well, not a single one had spiritual roots.

Yunxiao Sect finally returned to its former quiet.

Everyone, without exception, breathed a long sigh of relief.