The Reincarnated Villain Can Break the Fourth Wall!-Chapter 216: Hunting Dark Tab!

"A race of wood spirits known for their alchemy...."

"Let me guess…" Su Xiaobai folded his arms. "...They exploded."

"Corrupted," Zhu Qing corrected. "A spiritual blight. Ninety percent of their land turned to poison. Clan wiped out. Now the remnants barely survive in the Misty Vale Basin—sheltered behind the barriers of the Cloudwood Forest."

Su Xiaobai squinted at the map. "Sounds charming. Definitely a vacation spot."

Zhu Qing ignored the sarcasm. "Right now, the Weeping Moon Festival is underway. The silver rains fall continuously for forty-nine days—the only time when the Cloudwood Forest opens its gates."

She leaned closer. "That's where the Dark Tab was last seen—with a surviving Yunmu clan member. And during the festival, the forest barriers shift. You can cross into the corrupted wildlands through the Vale's Mist Gate."

Su Xiaobai sighed. "So it's not a death mission. It's a romantic fog walk into a cursed swamp."

Zhu Qing nodded sagely, ignoring the venom in his voice. "This is the only window we'll get. The wildlands are filled with lost relics, ancient beasts, and rare death Qi. Which reminds me..."

She gestured behind her. "You'll go disguised as a mercenary. There'll be others. Treasure hunters, sectless vagabonds, cursed cultivators. No one will look at you twice."

"Except all of them will, because I'm me."

"Exactly. So be careful."

The snow fox twin sisters, Hu Jiao'er and Hu Mei'er, were still innocently loading crates nearby.

Su Xiaobai narrowed his eyes.

"...Why them?"

Zhu Qing didn't answer immediately, she lowered her voice.

"They'll guard you until the edge of the Vale Basin. After that, you'll go alone with Yu Feng."

"...I hate that you added her name last."

"She's useful... And already knows far too much. So do the fox twins."

Her eyes turned sharp. "This is your chance, Suppress them...One way or another. If they return from this trip without being firmly under your control... we're taking a risk."

Su Xiaobai glanced back at the snow fox twins.

White hair, fox ears hidden under elegant robes, curves in all the right places.

They were human in all features, but their instincts? Still fox...They've seen too much. Heard too much. And definitely peeked too much.

He turned back to Zhu Qing.

"...Qingqing."

She raised a brow.

"How long have you been planning to throw me into the wildlands to die?"

Her expression didn't change.

But her silence?

Said everything.

"You—" he muttered. "You've been planning this for weeks."

Zhu Qing sighed dramatically. "You've been bored. You've been moody. You keep trying to cultivate by spanking me. And the Sword Fairy STILL hasn't returned to help shoulder the burden."

She rubbed her back.

Knowingly.

"So yes. I planned. I schemed. I borrowed a flying ship. I sealed your chicken. I bribed the fox girls. I prepped your route. I prepared a cover identity. I even packed you clean underpants. You're welcome."

Su Xiaobai was speechless.

"Besides," she added. "You were planning to sneak off to Baihua Plains anyway. Don't think I didn't catch you looking at travel scrolls."

"...So you were spying on me now?"

"Please. I sleep next to you. Your sword gets twitchy when you're hiding something."

As for Yu Feng, they didn't need to say more.

Bound by a slave seal, born of the Dark Church. Sharp, cunning, and halfway between ally and future betrayal.

Zhu Qing had prepared her for this very purpose.

"You're sending me into a corrupted dead zone," Su Xiaobai muttered, finally grabbing his cloak.

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"Yup."

"With women who may kill me if I don't tame them."

"Uh-huh."

"To steal a cursed tablet and grow my army of dead generals."

"Now you're getting it."

"...I hate how turned on I am by this plan."

Zhu Qing smiled, kissed his cheek, and whispered:

"Make me proud, my future Warlord."

Zhu Qing's voice carried that same dangerous sweetness she used before slipping a formation seal under your pillow.

Su Xiaobai groaned.

Because unfortunately, it was working.

That line?

Too effective.

Truthfully, he was already tempted.

Even if the Dark Tab turned out to be a myth, the Hidden Shade Wildlands were still overflowing with Death Qi—perfect nourishment for his dormant Warlord Generals.

If he could revive them...

"With those monsters at my back, would I even need to fear anyone?"

Sword Fairy or not.

Zhu Qing, seeing him mentally buckle, celebrated inwardly.

Outwardly?

She maintained a cool, composed facade.

Too much glee would make him suspicious—and this villain was prone to changing his mind out of sheer spite.

He once cancelled a cultivation plan because someone said "good luck."

'No way I'm letting him stay here another month,' she thought.

Ever since his soul fusion breakthrough, Su Xiaobai had become a spiritual furnace without an off switch. And since he didn't need more Yin Essence right now—having refined more than most sects could store in a decade—

He had to release that energy somehow.

Mostly on her.

And on Huo Lingxue.

On alternating nights.

Sometimes the same night.

The truth was...

Zhu Qing had become like one of those overly enthusiastic wives in old plays. The ones who cheerfully packed her man off to war just because she couldn't afford another broken bedframe.

This trip?

It wasn't just a mission.

It was a cooldown period.

'He's strong, he's smart, and he's a walking disaster,' she thought. 'Better he causes one out there than in my bedroom.'

She also did it to keep him away from Baihua Plains.

Su Xiaobai had been acting restless lately. Bai Yujian had gone missing for four months. No news. No signal.

He'd begun researching travel routes. Rerouting flying beasts. Plotting paths to the plains.

It was cute.

But suicidal.

"If there's something Bai Yujian can't handle, what makes him think he can?"

Sure, he had talent.

Sure, he had charm.

Sure, he had warlord ghosts, fox girls, chicken gods, and sword intent that could part rivers.

But he also had the survivability instincts of a suicidal squirrel.

No. The Southern Ridge was safer.

Relatively.

Zhu Qing would've loved to go with him herself, but—"The sect needs three Great Ascension Realm experts present," she said aloud. "We can't weaken our defense."

What she meant was: "If I leave, this sect becomes a brothel or a crater. Possibly both."

Su Xiaobai finally sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Fine. I'll go."

Zhu Qing beamed.

Internally. 'Good. Now I can finally sleep without reinforcing the mattress with spirit iron.'

____

While Su Xiaobai and Zhu Qing were off discussing his little romantic treasure hunt into one of the most cursed locations in the continent…

Somewhere far... In the shadow of night.

A girl sighed with elegance, melancholy, and absolutely zero awareness of the spiritual projectile hurtling her way.

Yu Feng.

A former genius of the Dark Church.

An adopted daughter of the Pope himself.

Bearer of cursed Yin, ice-cold pride, and thighs that made inner sect disciples doubt their path.

She stood on the rooftop of a small inn inside Yunnan city, cloak fluttering, watching the silver mist drift across the horizon of the Southern Ridge.

"Sigh… I should just leave."

Her fingers plucked off her black feathered mask.

She stared down at it with eyes as blue as midnight sins.

"Two years. And still nothing. The Dark Tab is gone, my mission is meaningless, and I'm definitely cursed by that demon man and his silver-haired bitch."

She glanced toward her inn room bed.

Groaned again.

"There's probably a seal on me. Maybe a mark. Maybe spiritual handcuffs. Whatever."

She paused.

Then, smiled faintly.

"Not like it matters. Once I return to the Church, they'll strip it off. I'll explain everything. All is forgiven. Maybe they'll let me murder him."

She yawned, utterly unaware of her fate. Then turned toward the bed—

And got exactly 0.5 seconds of peace.

BANG!

Her head kissed the floor.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Her elegant ice-princess face slammed into the floorboards with projectile precision.

Definitely not because someone had thrown a spirit-sealing sleep talisman at the back of her head.

Nope.

Must've been an inner ghost.

Yes. Yes, definitely spiritual fatigue. Nothing suspicious here.

And certainly no mysterious shadow dragging her unconscious body across rooftops like a sack of turnips, muttering things like:

"Tsk. She's heavier than I remembered."