I Just Wanted To Live but I Somehow Became Better Than the Protagonist

Riding the Tiger

“There weren’t many opportunities before, but now let me make things clear.” Just after flying a short distance, Keke suddenly turned her head, completely ignoring Jia Bi’s presence, and said to Ye Yong, “Perhaps you have great potential, but I still believe my lady isn’t worth your attention as a human.”

After all, you destroyed my lady’s secret realm, tricked her into fighting the Demon Sect, and caused her injuries, making her recuperate for a long time before recovering. You’re too cunning, too insidious. I can’t stop my lady’s thoughts, but if you dare to do anything detrimental to her in the future, even if she can forgive you, I will do everything in my power to kill you, even if it means we both perish.”

No one understood Keke’s loyalty and protectiveness better than Ye Yong, who had once been a reader. Although her words were filled with threats, Ye Yong didn’t find them frightening. Once he successfully captured Ye Qingwu’s heart and gained the approval of this temperamental bird, she would also be loyal to him.

Keke possessed the bloodline of the Bi Fang bird, excelling in poison and fire. With proper training, her combat power could be quite impressive, but in the novel, she died protecting Ye Qingwu and never reached that level. In reality, Ye Yong was confident he could intervene and help her avoid that tragic fate.

“What’s wrong? Are you too scared to speak?” Seeing Ye Yong’s silence, Keke mocked him.

“Yes, I’m quite scared.”

“You…” Keke was taken aback by Ye Yong’s response. If he had boasted about himself, she could have retorted, but now it felt like hitting a fist against cotton—frustratingly ineffective.

Seeing Keke snort and turn away from him, Ye Yong found it somewhat amusing. There were countless ways to deal with a bird like you.

The purple light emitted by the purple lotus treasure lamp quickly dissipated, revealing a nearby forest. From the air, one could see that a certain area had been leveled, even pockmarked, as if it had endured some great catastrophe.

Two graceful figures stood on the ground, while six black-robed individuals, their faces obscured by hoods, knelt on the ground, entangled in vines, unable to move.

“Well, here we meet again,” Ye Yong said, giving a slight nod to Ye Qingwu. Just standing there, without any movement, she exuded an aura of elegance and commanding presence.

“Why do you always attract such strange people?” A woman, clearly a wooden spirit with a wooden hairpin, yet possessing certain features larger than those of an ordinary mammalian human, named Song Song, was currently manipulating the vines to lift the hoods of the black-robed figures, revealing their faces. “Let’s see if you recognize them.”

Some of the black-robed figures looked tense, while others frowned seriously.

Seeing this, Jia Bi’s eyes flickered with a hint of panic, but he quickly concealed it, adopting a very calm expression. Unfortunately, he could not escape Ye Qingwu’s keen gaze, though she chose not to say more.

“I don’t recognize them; they must be lawless scoundrels eyeing the treasures on me,” Ye Yong replied, not intending to let them off easily. These individuals were invaders in the Kunlun realm, and their actions had been extremely vile and cruel.

“Yes, yes, yes! They must be! I know them!” Jia Bi interjected eagerly. “They are notorious ruffians in the area; our Song Wo Sect has a bounty on them. May I ask, Young Master Ye, who are these three heroines?”

Having just experienced a battle, Jia Bi could sense the lingering powerful demonic energy, and combined with the earlier reference of Ye Yong as a human by Keke, it would be suspicious if he failed to recognize that these three veiled women were demons.

“You don’t need to know their names,” Ye Yong’s tone was icy. Jia Bi’s heart sank; he regretted following them. The young master of this hidden family might very well kill to silence him, fearing that any connection to the demon clan would be exposed.

“I was too presumptuous!” At this point, Jia Bi could only take a gamble. “Since the three heroines have captured these lawless ruffians, could you hand them over to our Song Wo Sect in exchange for a generous reward of spirit stones?”

The captured individuals included one in the Transformation stage and five in the late Nascent Soul stage. If they lost them, their strength would be greatly diminished. Wealth is but an external matter; the Song Wo Sect could afford to bleed a little financially, as long as they could save their companions. After all, the resources required to cultivate such combat power anew far exceeded the bounty in spirit stones.

Ye Qingwu looked at Ye Yong, seemingly deferring the decision to him, as she was unaware of his calculations and feared that her influence might disrupt his plans.

Ye Yong nodded at Ye Qingwu in gratitude; dealing with intelligent people was indeed comfortable. He turned to Jia Bi, “What is your bounty?”

Jia Bi did not dare to haggle, even inflating the amount, and finally said in a pleading tone, “Please, hand them over to us for our Song Wo Sect to deal with.”

“Why?”

“Because they have a great enmity with our sect! They must be tortured sufficiently before being killed for it to be satisfying!”

“I see.” Ye Yong nodded, the corners of his mouth beginning to curl upward beneath his mask. “No wonder the bounty is so high. Here’s the deal: reduce the bounty by half, and you can directly kill half of them right here. That way, you can take revenge on your enemies and pay half the bounty. Isn’t that a good deal?”

Jia Bi’s eyelids twitched violently, and he held his breath.

“Is there a problem?”

—

“No, it’s just not very good.” Jia Bi reacted quickly, immediately thinking of a suitable response: “They don’t have a grudge against me, but against our Fourth Elder, because they robbed and killed the Fourth Elder’s only son, and even discarded his corpse in front of the sect, so…”

“So vicious?” Ye Yong pondered for a moment, “Then call your Fourth Elder here. If he personally slays his son’s murderer right here, we can reduce the bounty by half. I’m sure your Fourth Elder would be very pleased.”

Upon hearing this, Jia Bi and all the kneeling people changed their expressions.

Because the Fourth Elder was among those captured, and having them die at the hands of their own people was simply too unjust, right?

Ye Yong seemed to notice nothing and continued, “Is there still a problem? Feel free to speak.”

“No, no.” Jia Bi forced a smile; he dared not say anything more. He was already in a precarious position. He took out a communication stone and contacted his companions within the sect: “Fourth Elder? The madman you’ve been thinking about has been captured by Young Master Ye Wu and the three heroines. Yes, six of them, not a single one missing.”

He briefly recounted the situation, ensuring that all hidden information was conveyed. Jia Bi put away the communication stone: “The Fourth Elder asked me to convey his gratitude for Young Master Ye Wu’s kindness, but he happens to need to enter seclusion and cannot afford to be distracted, so he asked me to act on his behalf.”

Jia Bi considered the worst outcomes: either Ye Yong already knew their intentions and was deliberately trying to make things difficult for them, or he was simply acting out of the capriciousness of a young master, indifferent to the reward, wanting to sell them a favor with the Songwa Sect.

In any case, at this moment, there was no way to backtrack. The three powerful demon women were watching closely, and with only Jia Bi at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage, he truly couldn’t stir up much of a storm. If he hesitated, he would suffer; it was better to take a gamble and do as Ye Yong suggested, perhaps he could still save the other half of the people.

Five at the late Nascent Soul stage, two at the eighth level, two at the ninth level, and one at the tenth level.

Drawing his weapon, Jia Bi began to kill starting with the weaker ones, as if he knew his fate. The three being killed accepted their deaths calmly, but before dying, they still pretended to hate the Songwa Sect fiercely, frantically recounting how they had “killed” the Fourth Elder’s son. The other three were not idle either, declaring that if given the chance, they would definitely turn the Songwa Sect upside down, causing chaos and turmoil, fully embodying the role of madmen.