I’ve Led the Villain Astray, How Do I Fix It?

“But I have to remind you, everything in this world comes with a price. I can give you the box. But are you sure you want it? If you are, press the box in the second to last painting. If not, you can give up. After all, my gift is a little special, not everyone can handle it. So think about it on your own. If you don’t make a choice I’ll assume you’ve given up and everything will return to place. There will also be no possibility of this painting opening up again. What about that? Think about it long and hard.”

“Oh, and about the gain and loss thing. Of course you’ll be gaining my box. As for the price, I’ll play the suspense card and just say you’ll find out when you get the box. And finally… did I get you with the painting or not? Hahahaha… I thought a long time to come up with this idea, even asked a brother to help me make the painting. Hahaha… you must be cursing me right about now. Well, it doesn’t matter anyways if you go home with the box. Plus, I can’t hear you anyways. Hahaha…”

Hearing the final whooping laugh, both Xu Ziyan and Xu Zirong were exasperated. This elder really loved to play pranks. Given the “sense of humor” of this cultivator, Xu Ziyan was worried he left some kind of surprise in that box too.

“Brother, do you want the box?”

“Yep.” Xu Ziyan nodded. The cultivator’s words were correct. Not just everyone could be able to handle the contents of that box. But now he had the right conditions, if he didn’t take the box he would regret it forever.

In terms of gain and loss, he didn’t have too much concern about it. That’s the thing about opportunity. Having two birds in the forest wasn’t worth much compared to one bird in his hand. As long as he could figure out the “gain”, he could figure out the rest of the situation too.

Reaching out, he pressed the box in the painting next to him.

The cultivator in the final painting raised a hand slowly with a thumbs up. Then he pointed below him. In the direction he was pointing there was a thud as a green brick popped out of the corner of the wall.

Bending over, Xu Ziyan pulled the green brick away, revealing a dark opening. He reached inside and grabbed a box about the size of his palm.

Looking at the little black box, he smiled. In his previous life he’d never experienced something like this. Seems like even if he didn’t follow the path laid out for him he still had decent luck.

“Congratulations on obtaining the inheritance,” Xu Zirong said with a grin.

“Haha, let’s celebrate together.” Xu Ziyan couldn’t help but laugh with the box in his hands. Who would think that just looking at a wall painting was enough for him to get this inheritance that was perfect for him?

“Aren’t you going to open it up?”

“Why not? There’s no one here anyways.” Laughing, he opened the box.

And that’s when it happened. A shadowy figure shot out of the wooden box. Xu Ziyan only had to gesture for a small thunder streak to shoot out after it.

Boom!

The shadow fell on the floor.

When the two brothers looked down to see what it was, both of them were immediately exasperated. Lying on the floor was a lovingly carved wooden mouse. There was an additional lid inside of the box with a spring trap. The moment someone opened the box the mouse would jump out, scaring anyone who opened the box.

Due to the thunder Xu Ziyan had released, the mouse had been burnt black and was good for nothing more than trash.

“Haha, did you like that? Relax, this is the final surprise!” A man’s voice suddenly rang from the box.

Xu Ziyan didn’t know what to say anymore to this humorous cultivator…

Whatever. They’d taken his inheritance, after all. It wasn’t anything to get up in arms about.

Comforting himself like this, he opened up the second lid on the box. When he saw what was inside, he couldn’t disguise his excitement. He had been right after all. What was in the box was a Green Spiritual Thunder. It was tied to the bottom of the box with a red string. How odd was that, the cultivator had been able to find such a string to contain the thunder.

After inspecting for a while, he tucked it away.

A single streak of purple lightning was incredibly valuable. Thinking about how such a large sect as their own only had one Green Spiritual Thunder made this evident.

Proofread by V.