I Ruined the Long Ao Tian Script-Chapter 39

"They are! They’re all alive!" The Xuan Goat burst into frantic tears. "Please don’t eat me!"

"……" His pitiful sobbing almost made Xu Shulou feel like she was bullying him.

Seeing her silence, the goat monster stiffened his neck defiantly. "I’m not taking a bath! If you’re going to eat me, you’ll have to do it while I’m dirty!"

Xu Shulou massaged her temples and turned to her junior sister. "Keep interrogating him. Go to the village entrance and sound the gong—gather everyone."

Bai Roushuang nodded and obeyed. Fed up with the villagers, she struck the gong with such force that it echoed like thunder, instantly rousing every person, chicken, and dog in the village.

Assuming the "immortal" had summoned them, the villagers hastily threw on clothes and shuffled to the gathering spot in their slippers. When they saw Bai Roushuang holding the gong, some immediately began cursing.

Bai Roushuang wasn’t about to tolerate it. Rolling up her sleeves, she launched into a fiery verbal duel with the lead villager, a middle-aged man, matching him insult for insult.

The commotion only ceased when Xu Shulou arrived, dragging the goat monster by one hind hoof. The village square fell into a stunned, fearful silence.

The curses died in their throats, replaced by trembling voices: "H-how dare you disrespect the immortal?"

One villager wailed at Xu Shulou, "You wicked girl! Your disrespect will bring disaster upon us all!"

Xu Shulou suddenly had an idea. "What if I told you I’m an even greater immortal, one who demands you sacrifice a grown man every year to boil and eat? Would you switch your offerings to me instead?"

The middle-aged man’s face darkened instantly. "Nonsense! Who would believe you?"

Xu Shulou touched her cheek. "At least I look more like an immortal than this goat, don’t I?"

The man immediately turned to the crowd. "Don’t listen to her! She’s just a traveler who can’t even drive an ox-cart properly. How could she be an immortal?"

Xu Shulou chuckled, leisurely retrieving a teaching rod from her Qiankun Bracelet. She pointed it at the goat monster. "Let me educate you: any so-called ‘immortal’ who demands human sacrifices is a fraud. If this happens again, report it to the nearest cultivation sect immediately. Don’t just blindly offer up your children!"

A brave villager spoke up. "But the first year we didn’t make offerings, our fields really yielded no harvest. How do you explain that?"

Xu Shulou motioned to the goat monster. "You answer."

Thoroughly cowed, the Xuan Goat mumbled, "That year… I snuck out at night with buckets of salt and sprinkled them over your fields."

"……" The villagers exchanged bewildered glances.

"I didn’t use too much—didn’t want you starving," the goat added sheepishly. "By the next year, the soil was fine again. After you started making offerings, I even fertilized your fields at night. During the drought, I diverted water from the mountains too."

"……" The truth was absurdly simple—their so-called "divine blessings" and "cursed famines" were all the result of a hardworking goat monster working manual night shifts. The villagers struggled to process it.

Watching their silence, Xu Shulou asked curiously, "He barely has any real power—just some cheap illusions. Did you never even try resisting before agreeing to sacrifice your girls?"

Hearing that the "immortal" was powerless, the crowd erupted. The same man who’d defended him earlier snatched up a manure fork and lunged at the goat, shouting, "Everyone, attack! Kill him! Avenge our girls!"

A few others joined, screaming "Deceiver!" and "Monster!" as they charged.

With a flick of her folding fan, Xu Shulou froze them in place. "Aren’t you going to ask about the girls first?"

A woman pushed forward. "Erya—is my Erya still alive?"

The goat reluctantly nodded.

The woman promptly kicked the immobilized man. "Worthless bastard! Drop that fork and come with me to bring Erya home!"

The group cast nervous glances at Xu Shulou, who had just demonstrated her powers. When she didn’t object, they marched the goat monster toward his lair to retrieve the missing girls.

The "divine abode" turned out to be nothing more than a spacious cave, its entrance flanked by a small vegetable patch growing scallions and cabbage.

A woman in her twenties lounged at the cave mouth, legs crossed, idly spitting sunflower seed shells. She blinked in surprise at the approaching crowd.

The middle-aged man at the front burst into tears. "Guihua! I’ve come to save you!"

Guihua spat out a shell and shook her head. "I’m not going back."

The villagers gasped, assuming she’d been bewitched. They raised their weapons again, only for Xu Shulou to stop them.

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Guihua sneered coldly, "Back then, you all thought the Mystic Sheep ate people, so you sent us out without hesitation. And now you’re acting like some grand hero? I’m not going back. At least here, I’m well-fed and clothed."

The sheep monster whimpered pitifully, "Please go back. If you don’t, they’ll kill me!"

"..."

The leader of the men brandished his manure fork fiercely. "Hmph! Guihua has turned out like this because you’ve defiled her and addled her mind. I’ll kill you first!"

"I didn’t do anything!" The sheep monster hid behind Xu Shulou, looking aggrieved. "I may have a bit of a lustful streak, but at most, I just admire from afar. If a natural-born monster like me were to couple with a mortal without spiritual power, they’d die. The fact that she’s still alive proves I didn’t do anything!"

Xu Shulou sighed and vouched for him, "Legends say the Mystic Sheep was born of chaos, with no distinction of gender or morality. It’s possible he’s picked up some lustful or wicked tendencies in the human world, but he wouldn’t… commit such an outrageous act. There’s no need to question the virtue of these young women."

Guihua, unfazed, cracked melon seeds and continued mocking, "Question my virtue? Oh, put down that manure fork already. If you’d had even half this bravery back then, we wouldn’t have been sent up the mountain in the first place. I haven’t forgotten—you were the first to agree to the idea of offering us up! If I’d really lost my virtue, it’d be on you to make up for it!"

The man, embarrassed, ignored her and turned to the others. "Fine, you won’t come down? What about the rest of you? Are none of you coming back either?"

Guihua rolled her eyes. "Then go ask them one by one."

"Mother!" Another girl emerged from the depths of the cave and immediately spotted a woman in the crowd.

"Erya!" The woman rushed forward and embraced her daughter.

The man with the manure fork shot a smug glance at Guihua, who promptly rolled her eyes again.

Two more girls came out, reuniting with their families—one with warmth, the other with indifference, clearly still resentful for being sacrificed without hesitation.

"Erya," a woman sobbed an apology, "I never agreed to it, but your father insisted on tying you up and sending you away. I couldn’t stop him!"

"It’s not so bad here," the girl reassured her. "We just had to pretend to be terrified and cry in front of our ‘husband’ every few days. He liked seeing us cry, so we’d put on a show, and then he wouldn’t scare us anymore."

The sheep monster choked back tears. "So that’s why I was always hungry? You mean your suffering was all an act?"

Guihua munched on seeds, watching the drama unfold. "Obviously. No matter how scary you look, you’re not terrifying enough to make us burst into tears every time we see you."

The deeply deceived sheep monster wailed, "I’m not keeping them anymore! Take them home, wu wu wu!"

Guihua snapped impatiently, "Stop howling. Fine, next time I’ll cry more convincingly."

"Wu wu wu… I’ll give you the cave. I’ll leave, alright?"

Xu Shulou looked up at the sky. What kind of mess was this?

Erya showed some affection for her mother but barely acknowledged her father beyond a curt greeting. When she learned the commotion today was sparked by another family secretly helping their daughter escape, the contrast in parental love left them all silent and somber.

In the end, all four girls—including the stubborn Guihua—chose to return to the village. Living with the Mystic Sheep had been a spiteful fantasy; they longed for normal lives and knew staying in the mountains wasn’t sustainable. But their relationships with the villagers would never be the same, especially for Guihua, who had already decided to leave Seven Bamboos Village for the town.

Xu Shulou took the Mystic Sheep with her. He was currently hauling an ox while sighing heavily.

Bai Roushuang watched him and sighed too. "The girls were innocent, but while the sheep monster is at fault, I can’t help feeling the real blame lies with the villagers who agreed to the sacrifice without hesitation. Did you see their faces when you threatened to demand grown men as offerings? It’s always easy when the suffering isn’t yours."

Under ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‍Xu Shulou’s direction, the sheep monster moved the ox to a wider path and adjusted the cows’ direction.

Back when they first met in the mountains, the villagers had promised to help retrieve their carriage, but not only had they failed, one of the white jade wind chimes hanging from its corners had even been stolen.

Guihua asked Xu Shulou to wait while she stormed back to the village, packed her things, and proceeded to bang on every door, cursing until she recovered the missing wind chime.

Xu Shulou was momentarily stunned, impressed by the girl’s fiery spirit. "Since you retrieved it, it’s yours. If you ever need money, pawn it."

Guihua, unwilling to linger in the village, hitched a ride on Xu Shulou’s oxcart to town. Xu Shulou treated her to a hotpot meal, where Guihua vengefully devoured three plates of fresh mutton while the sheep monster trembled outside.

Before parting, Guihua asked, "Miss Xu, are people like you the legendary cultivators? Do you think I could ever become one?"

Xu Shulou pressed a hand to Guihua’s dantian, sensing her meridians and inner energy, then shook her head regretfully. "No. But it’s not entirely impossible—some people don’t awaken spiritual energy until their sixties or seventies."

Guihua nodded, disappointed but undaunted, her face alight with anticipation for her new life in town.

Xu Shulou smiled. "If you ever do step onto the path of cultivation, come find me. I’m Xu Shulou of Dustless Island."

Guihua didn’t recognize the name, nor could she yet grasp the weight of that promise.

After they bid farewell, Xu Shulou lingered a few more days to ensure Guihua found work and shelter before leaving with her junior sister.

The sheep monster sniffled and asked, "What about me? Can I stay with you?"

"Why?" Xu Shulou countered. "We’ve no suffering for you to feed on."

He sniffed her. "You carry the clarity that comes after enduring pain. That’s intoxicating to my kind."

Xu Shulou pushed his face away. "You don’t deserve death—yet. I’ll take you to Dustless Island for a year’s imprisonment. If you ever deceive people into sacrifices again, I’ll kill you myself."

The sheep monster perked up. "Prisons must be full of suffering to feast on!"

Xu Shulou sighed and said to Bai Roushuang, "We’re heading back to Dustless Island."

Bai Roushuang glared at the sheep monster. "Because of this nuisance."

"Not just that," Xu Shulou admitted pragmatically. "I’m running low on spirit stones."

Bai Roushuang eyed the sheep monster mischievously. "Maybe we could put on a show for money."

"That might work," Xu Shulou mused seriously. "I've seen street performers in the mortal world—I could do a vocal imitation, or sword swallowing, or even lying on a bed of nails while someone smashes a boulder on my chest."

"No, no, no…" Bai Roushuang hastily intervened, feeling that even the mere thought of such vulgar acts was a disgrace to her senior sister's elegance.