Chapter 347: Don’t Care
His internal monologue roared, a dark, freezing wave of killing intent threatening to burst from his core. ’I do not care if you freeze to death here. You are slowing me down and are irrelevantly noisy. I want to shatter you into a million red ice crystals, scatter you to the winds, and resume my search for the only person in this universe that matters.’
He raised his hand, half a second away from summoning Winter’s Sigh and mercilessly clearing his aggro by eliminating the entire fan club.
But then, a horrifying thought stayed his hand.
WWJD?
What Would Ji’an Do?
Wangchen remembered the lectures in the outdoor kitchen. He remembered Ji’an ranting about the trashy romance scrolls Zhiwei and her Master Jiu Zui loved to read so much.
"I hate toxic male leads," Ji’an had declared, waving a spatula aggressively. "You know the ones. The brooding, edgy psychopaths who treat every woman except the main character like garbage. It’s a massive red flag, Wangchen. Indiscriminate slaughter is not romantic. It’s just poor emotional regulation. A real man is polite to the waitstaff and doesn’t murder people just because they’re annoying."
Wangchen’s hand froze mid-air.
The panic was absolute.
If he slaughtered these innocent, shivering maidens simply because they were annoying him, he would be exhibiting peak toxic-male-lead behavior. He would be a red flag. If Ji’an found out he had murdered a fan club instead of helping them, she would be disgusted. She would look at him with disdain. She would ban him from the kitchen, and might even revoke his vegetable-chopping privileges.
’I must be that thing, what Ji’an calls a green flag,’ Wangchen resolved, fighting a horrific, internal battle against his own sociopathic nature. ’I must project the aura of a stable, supportive, emotionally regulated partner. I will not murder the maidens. I will be polite. Only for Ji’an.’
Wangchen forcefully smoothed his terrifying scowl into a mask of flawless, breathtaking, incredibly strained immortal serenity.
He lowered his hand, offering a shallow, polite bow that practically cracked his spine with the effort it took to fake it.
"Please, Maidens of the Azure Lotus," Wangchen murmured. His voice was smooth and melodic, completely bellying the rage boiling in his blood. "Mind your footing. The ice is treacherous. Do not stray too far from my aura, lest the cold breach your meridians."
The twelve maidens collectively swooned, practically melting into puddles of romantic adoration.
"He is so cold, yet his heart is so warm!" a junior maiden whispered to Fairy Xue, clutching her cheeks. "He is the perfect, tragic immortal! He protects us without asking for anything in return!"
"He is a true gentleman," Fairy Xue sighed dreamily, gazing at his broad back.
Wangchen turned around and resumed walking.
His ruby eyes twitched. His fists were clenched so tightly his fingernails dug crescent moons into his palms.
’I am a gentleman,’ Wangchen chanted internally, his sanity fraying at the edges. ’That’s right. I am a green flag. I am walking slowly so the frail women do not trip. Ji’an will be so proud of my emotional regulation. I will not turn them into popsicles. I swear I will not.’
He was enduring the psychological torture of his long twenty-year existence. He was a god of death, forced to play the role of a polite tour guide.
"Well, well, well. Look what the blizzard dragged in."
The loud, grating, and incredibly obnoxious voice cut through the howling wind, shattering the tense, forced politeness of Wangchen’s escort mission.
Wangchen stopped as he slowly raised his head.
Through the blinding snow, two figures emerged, stepping into the clearing of solid ice directly in front of him.
The first was Hu Yanlie.
The feral Beast Lord was shirtless despite the sub-zero temperatures, his scarred musculature radiating an intense Yang energy that melted the snow before it even touched him. He carried a massive, jagged bone-cleaver resting casually over his shoulder, his amber eyes glowing with a dark, predatory thrill.
The second figure seemed to detach itself from the shadows of a nearby ice pillar. It was Mo Wuchen.
The Shadow Assassin wore sleek, form-fitting black armor that absorbed the light. His face was half concealed by a dark metallic mask, save for his eyes and lower half of his face, which locked onto Wangchen with cold, calculating intent.
The two most aggressive, combative protagonists in the sect had formed a temporary alliance to hunt in the Tundra.
"Ohh! Look at this! The great Ice Demon," Yanlie barked a laugh, resting his free hand on his hip. His feral gaze swept past Wangchen, landing on the shivering, terrified group of Azure Lotus maidens huddled behind him.
Yanlie let out a loud, mocking snort.
"What is this, Brother Wangchen? Did you start a daycare?" the Beast Lord sneered, his voice dripping with condescending malice. "I thought you were a lone wolf. But here you are, babysitting a flock of weak, useless little birds. Tsk, tsk, tsk, how pathetic."
Mo Wuchen didn’t speak, but he smoothly drew twin, jagged daggers from his belt, spinning them expertly in his hands, his silence radiating an undeniable threat.
"And where is your little pet?" Yanlie continued, taking a step forward, his amber eyes narrowing as he intentionally poked the most sensitive nerve in Wangchen’s psyche. "Where is the loudmouthed cook? Did you lose him? Or did he finally realize you’re nothing but a boring, frozen block of ice and run off to find a real man in the woods?"
The twelve maidens behind Wangchen gasped in horror, clutching each other, terrified by the overwhelming killing intent of the Beast Lord and the Shadow Assassin.
"Sovereign Xie, be careful!" Fairy Xue cried out, drawing her rapier. "They are too strong! We must flee!"
Xie Wangchen did not flee.
He stood perfectly still in the snow.
For three seconds, the howling blizzard seemed to hold its breath.
And then... a slow, beautiful, absolutely terrifying, and unhinged smile spread across Xie Wangchen’s flawless face.
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