When Yan Minhui came too, there was no sign of the system. He was just flat on his back, in a position he had been in many times; straight. The position the medics always put their patients in, if they remained unconscious after the check up.
Which, presumably meant he was alive.
Birds chirped in the fresh morning of the mountain, unaware of the tempest of broken thoughts that filled Yan Minhui's mind.
How am I still alive?! I should be in the afterlife, maybe even in the line for lady Meng Po's soup! This is the second time, I should really not be-
[Welcome, User 00- 004], a mechanic voice chimed.
Immediately on alert, he stiffened and sat up.
What happened? He asked urgently, Why didn't I...die?
[This SYSTEM hopes to provide esteemed user with the benefits,- benefits - benefits of- of-]
[TRANSMIGRATION.], it suddenly boomed, and Yan Qingshan covered his ears.
"What the fuck's going on," he muttered under his breath. This was, or it seemed like, the system was malfunctioning on him. He wasn't even dead! Which meant He Xiaotong would come to catch him again, and enact revenge!!!
Wait, he frozen, as he realised exactly where he was.
The Xue house! On Xueshan!
Which meant Linglian sect must've been still- was still fine!
But if he had been transmigrated back in time... At what point? Was it like last time, just before the destruction of the sect? Was there any point, then!
Yan Minhui, also Yan Qingshan, leaned back onto the covers, in a more comfortable position. If he was gonna die anyway again, so soon, why not just get some few winks first.
See, but before he could more than close his eyes,he heard the door being slammed open, with a relieved cry of "Shidi!"
He got up so quickly that he tangled up the sheets. No matter. He would have to pretend he wasn't stuck in the sheets for now.
Because that was the master of Zandoushan.
Xiong Meng.
In his previous life, he hadn't really had a chance to get to know this shixiong. He was rather the bubbly type, and not at all battle hungry like his name implied. But he did always duel with his martial brothers and sisters when he got the chance.
When He Xiaotong sook Yan Qingshan's blood, he was one of the first to stand against him. As harsh as Yan Qingshan was, he had always maintained pleasantries within the sect seniority. Even if he secretly wished to kill anyone, he never let it show. He just wrote it down somewhere, a habit Yan Minhui had continued to release stress.
The moment Xiong Meng caught side of him, he was met with the relief shining through his, oh, big brown eyes.
Xiong Meng was a man of beauty, like many other cultivators of his caliber. His hair, as dark as raven feathers, was tied atop his head, a Guan to keep it in place and mark his status within the sect. His outer robes were ochre, with gold highlights, and his inner robes were darker in shades. His smile was friendly, and he was the teddy bear type.
Truly a friend.
Yan Qingshan struggled to remember manners. He had been in a prison, and died just before that, so he felt that's he deserved some slack. "This Yan shidi greets his shixiong with respect-"
"Oh, drop all the pleasantries for now, Qingshan! You've been in a...what did he call it...ah! A vegetative state for nearly a week! I don't think anyone will mind if you don't refer to them with the titles and all!"
So you switched too downright directness?! At least pretend to maintain pleasantries on your half! Why that intimate,man! He thought, slightly vindictively.
Then he remembered he was not the original goods. And he didn't hate Xiong Meng in the slightest. Where did that come from?
So, instead he said,"Still, this gives no reason for this shidi to forget his status."
Xiong Meng grinned, a goofy smile on his face.
"And for shixiong to not refer to this one that intimately," he added. Xiao Mengmeng was immediately crestfallen, like a pup denied treat.
Yan Qingshan was once again, surprised. Mister fierce was always so soft. He wasn't his girlfriend to be referred to that intimately!
".... I'll come over for tea next week,"Yan Minhui conceded. It came out as a mumble, but Xiong Meng perked up.
"I'll fetch Wen- shixiong!" he says, as he runs out to do just that without even bidding farewell. Yan Qingshan sighs in dismay. Just at what point of the timeline was he?
_________________
Let me tell you of the demon lord, He Xiaotong.
Perhaps one that just lost his the one man he hated the most.
He Xiaotong, howlee in anger and frustration, and all his bottled up agony, at how the man, Yan Qingshan has finally died; of his own accord, not even by his hand!
Yan Qingshan...was first and foremost a despicable man.
Then he was also disgusting.
He Xiaotong did his research; he gathered proof of his traitorous nature, his many affairs, his illicit dealings...!
Only for that bastard to escape before he even drew up the trial.
....
"GAH!!!" He slashed at the nearest tree. It was torn to strips of ribbon in an instant.
"Your highness..." Tan Yusheng warned, his tone on edge. Of something.
He Xiaotong didn't care.
"Agh...!" He grunted as he punched another tree.
Well, it was now snapped in half, the thick bark splintering. It fell backwards.
The Xue house was still slightly intact, if now part of the wildlife. Xiaotong wanted to reduce it to dust as well, or what remained of it. It was now scorched black, a thick layer of ashes surrounding it, and probably in it too.
And somewhere among those ashes, were also Yan Qingshan's ashes, peacefully passed onto the afterlife...!
He Xiaotong very nearly burst a vein.
Tan Yusheng said evenly, "The man is now dead, your highness, there is no use in harming the vegetation..."
Tan Yusheng did know about revenge, so he wasn't really saying it from his heart. But he'd rather not deal with a child throwing a tantrum at the crack of dawn.
So far as he had seen, Yan Qingshan wasn't that much of an asshole. He wasn't even half as rude as He Xiaotong. The lineage of demon lords kept growing, each new one stronger but more childish! What about the times, when one reached the throne of cunning and wits?!
"Why can't I ever get my revenge?! That bastard always, ALWAYS, keeps slipping away, that snake of a man!" He threw, perhaps referring to Yan Qingshan, but he was looking at the heavens.
Oh. A demon looking to the heavens for guidance.
Tan Yusheng absent mindedly began rubbing one of his yaopeis in his palm. Whenever the lord got in a mood like that, the surroundings trees were sure to suffer...
Another tree met its doom to The Demon Lord's fist.