The Reincarnated Villain Can Break the Fourth Wall!

Her lips burned at the mere thought. She instinctively touched them, wondering if he already had. The sensation was so vivid it betrayed logic.

The disguise is still on. Then why...?

She looked up—and froze.

Those eyes.

Those cursed golden eyes. Slit-pupiled, serpentine, filled with mischief and madness and somehow still beautiful enough to ruin generations of maiden cultivators.

Before she could retreat, his hands cupped her face—gentle, almost reverent.

"No. No, no, no—"

Too late.

Her lips puckered in shock—

And he plucked them with his.

It wasn't a kiss.

It was a robbery.

Su Yiran's eyes widened, like someone who just witnessed a Sect Master streaking through the alchemy gardens.

INSANE.

LUNATIC.

But it was too late to resist.

His lips moved against hers—not demanding, but dangerously curious. As if each motion was him studying her like a scroll of forbidden martial arts.

"Hiss.."

Her cold breath mixed with his heat, creating steam where their lips met. The contrast sparked like Yin meeting Yang.

And it hurt.

Because deep down, it felt…

…real.

He tasted like frost lotus and trouble. A fleeting hint of Ice Qi—nostalgic, familiar. His mother had wielded the same type. Was that why this felt like touching an old memory?

"Cough! COUGH—GET AWAY FROM ME!"

She shoved him back, staggering, panting, spitting like he'd shoved a spirit pill down her throat without consent.

Who shoves their tongue halfway into someone's lungs during a first kiss?!

She turned, stormed to the stream, dropped to her knees—and stared.

Her reflection blinked back at her—pale, shaken, like a ghost in mourning.

Her lips… wet, bitten red, swollen with heat.

Marked by madness.

Branded by a felonious bastard.

Her ice Qi trembled—an ice phalanx shattering at the touch of flame.

Splish.

She had never even held a man's hand.

Never leaned close beneath lantern light.

Never once imagined—

Splash.

And today—her first kiss? Stolen.

By him. The devil with golden eyes.

She'd rather drown in this stream than admit her lips had touched his.

Her heart pounded—thump, thump, THUMP—like a war drum echoing through a chastity hall.

That vile rogue BIT my tongue?!

Splash...

She scrubbed her face, fingernails digging into skin, as if peeling it off could unwrite what just happened.

Erase this stain… erase it!

She couldn't breathe—air too thin, or her chest too full. Or her shame that was trying to claw its way out through her ribs?

Was she crying?

No, maybe...Just water.

Just the stream... That's all.

It wasn't real, it didn't happen. He's mad. He doesn't count.

But the warmth, the scent, and worst of all...

That feeling—of being seen, of being touched like that, sent uneasy crawls down her spine.

She wanted to scream.

But all she could do was stare.

At the cursed girl in the water.

Why… why had he held her like that?

Like a mad cultivator clutching a soul lamp in a storm—reckless, unafraid, as if she were something rare… something real.

Like the feeling that someone—finally—had seen her.

Not her beauty, not her identity... But her.

She looked up, and he was behind her again, because of course he was. Creeping like a ghost with an evil face.

"I could help you find the key…" Su Xiaobai offered, almost too casual to be genuine.

She stiffened.

"...Why?" she whispered.

"Oh," he smiled, "I think I fell in love with your pretty face."

Her heart skipped—not a whole beat, but half of one.

"...I look ugly, don't I?" she said flatly, half expecting mockery, half daring him to confirm her fear.

He grinned, hand gesturing like a shameless immortal courtier. "Perfectly beautiful."

He was lying. She knew it.

But he said it like it was truth. Like he could carve it into jade.

No one's ever said that to me before...

Her disguise still held. She didn't realize he saw through it hours ago. She didn't realize the man in front of her had already tasted the truth.

And he was licking his lips like it had been delicious.

She turned her head. "Jest," she muttered.

He's joking. He has to be.

But the seed was planted.

A tiny, treacherous sprout.

Could it be? Could someone love her—not for her beauty — but for this version?

This broken, bruised, disguised girl?

A breeze stirred, carrying the scent of spirit grass and river mist.

She didn't say another word.

She just watched her reflection ripple.

And for the first time in years… she wished it were real.

Ah, how simple life might have been…

Had there been no Sun Dynasty, no Sun Liang, no massacre written in the blood of the innocent.

If fate had shown a sliver of mercy, perhaps she would be preparing for the Star Guardian Tournament, laughing with her sect sisters, wielding a blade for glory—not survival.

A normal life.

A path lit by moonlight and applause.

Rising through the ranks like any other brave soul, chasing titles, not ghosts.

Maybe… even fallen in love.

Maybe… married someone. Such things once seemed like silly ornaments in stories told by starry-eyed disciples.

Now, they felt like luxuries stolen by Heaven itself.

But of course, fate never asked for permission.

And Su Xiaobai—this devil in mortal form, wasn't here to soothe dreams. He didn't even know what he was doing. He just poked things, interrogated strangers, broke laws, and, a few years later, would proudly declare:

[Yep. That was the day I earned my Bastard Badge. And I wear it with pride.]

___

Tap...

Tap..

Footsteps approached, Su Xiaobai turned his head, still chewing a spirit peach pit, and called out:

"Oh, you're all back! Took you long enough—I nearly died of boredom."

The returning group carried bundles of herbs and supplies, among them the rare frostleaf and scarlet bellroot he'd told them to find.

But not all faces were accounted for.

"Where are Xue and Kai?" Wen Luli asked, glancing around. Her voice held the unmistakable note of bad premonition.

Su Yiran's heart clenched, each beat loud as war drums echoing through her chest—so fierce, she feared others might hear the thunder within her ribs.

Was this the moment?

Kill them all…?

Her grip tightened—but Su Xiaobai spoke before she could act.

"The lake swallowed them."

A lie. So casual, so confidently delivered it practically sprouted a Dao aura of its own.

Wen Luli's eyes widened. She stepped forward in panic, but just then—HISSSSSSS!

A green vine shot out from beneath the lake's surface, unfurling into a serpent with shining emerald green scales and eyes like venomous pearls.

Its fangs extended, mouth open.

Death, Su Yiran thought. Real death. This time it's real.

PUCHI!

A single hand moved. Flames burst. The serpent's head exploded into scorched meat.

Su Xiaobai lowered his hand, "We should leave."

The tone was light, the effect was not.

Everyone felt it.

That strange, creeping chill in the soul—like something ancient had just looked their way and decided they weren't interesting enough to eat. Yet.

Their gazes dropped toward the lake, and their souls nearly fled from their bodies.

Coiled below the surface… were thousands of snakes.

Slumbering, swaying like underwater plants. A hidden den of serpents. One wrong step and, death. Game over.

Su Xiaobai spoke again, as if giving a casual gardening tip:

"This river's a mating ground. They don't attack unless you disturb them. But if you do... even Beibei couldn't save you."

And the terrifying part?

He wasn't even joking.

You'd have to seriously offend these things to make them come for you. Like singing off-key or touching their eggs or—oh, yes—committing ritual murder on the shore.

But no one suspected that.

Only Su Yiran knew.

Only she saw through the lie—that Meng Xue and Meng Kai had not drowned, but had died by her trembling hands. Their blood was still in her pores, no matter how much water she used to scrub it.

And yet—

The others believed him.

They swallowed the story whole.

What a liar…

A devil with a silver tongue.

A bastard wrapped in moonlight and madness.