My Treacherous Disciple Becomes Someone Else's Problem Chapter 1

Aria Hawthorne, the disciple I carefully nurture, ascends to the position of Demon Empress. However, she sets a trap and kills me.

After my death, she even has my skin and bones stripped away. She ensures that my name is disgraced throughout the Three Realms for thousands of years.

This is all because I executed the person she had wanted to become her mentor. From that moment on, her hatred for me runs deep.

When I open my eyes again, I am reborn on the day of the selection ceremony.

This time, I give Aria exactly what she wants. I introduce her to my seemingly refined but actually brutal and incompetent junior, Kalix Frostwind.

* * *

The world spun around me. Slowly, my vision came back into focus.

"Your Grace, please choose the disciple you wish to take on this time."

One of my attendants handed me a list of candidates.

I was seated on the throne at the great hall with Kalix Frostwind sitting beside me. The disciples waiting below stood perfectly still, holding their breaths with nervous anticipation.

The familiar scene stirred strong emotions deep inside my heart that had become still from centuries of cultivation.

I had been given a second chance at life.

In my previous life, this was the moment my nightmare had begun.

My beloved disciple, Aria Hawthorne, had risen to become the Demon Empress with my help. Joining forces with her subjects, she set a trap for me. She had tricked me into drinking a glass of wine that rendered me unconscious.

When I woke up, I found myself strapped to a pillory. Heavy iron chains restrained my arms and legs, cutting deep into my flesh until I could no longer feel my limbs. Aria had gouged both my eyes out. The metallic stench of blood filled my nose.

When I heard her voice, I spoke with immense difficulty, "Why?"

Her voice was filled with madness and hatred.

She drove a knife into my chest and snarled, "Why? You ask me why, Caelus Auclair? You executed Kalix! You both trained under the same mentor, and he was your junior! How could you be so heartless? You killed him! You robbed me of the person I loved the most!"

Sharp pain tore through my body. I couldn't help groaning in agony.

Only then did I realize that Aria had been in love with Kalix all along. Even so, I still felt a trace of kinship toward her.

Fighting through the pain, I explained, "Aria, Kalix did something unforgivable. He had to be punished. Don't do something you'll regret."

Not heeding my words, Aria grabbed one of my wounds and pressed into it viciously. Blood poured from the reopened wound like a torrent.

She screamed, "What could he have done? It was all your fault all along! Even if he was in the wrong, you were his senior! Why didn't you save him? Why did you have to kill him?"

Because of my blood loss, I no longer had the strength to answer. Two streams of bloodied tears ran down my cheeks.

However, Aria seemed liberated. It was as though she had finally vented the years of resentment she had kept buried inside.

She ranted, "You are the source of all of my suffering! I never wanted you as my mentor in the first place! You ruined my chance to be Kalix's disciple! You pushed me relentlessly to train, but you never once cared about what I actually wanted.

"Only a gentle, refined immortal like Kalix was worthy of being my mentor. Now, you'll die by my hand and seek him to atone for your sins."

There was a twisted satisfaction in her voice. She sounded elated, like she had finally gotten revenge for a lifelong grievance.

The pain in my heart, combined with the agony tearing through my body, caused me so much anguish I felt like I'd been thrown into the fiery pits of hell.

Suddenly, Aria's voice softened. I heard a hint of bashfulness and regret in it.

Aria said, "Do you know what Kalix told me? He said he'd wanted me as his disciple at first, but you destroyed my chance with your own hands. Why did you choose me? What right did you have to choose me?"

I had never imagined that the disciple I had devoted myself to teaching and protecting had never truly appreciated or acknowledged me as her mentor. It turned out she had always blamed me for taking Kalix away from her and robbing her of the chance to become his disciple.

I let out a bitter laugh inwardly as my soul gradually faded away with my consciousness.

Fortunately, because of my years of cultivation, a fragment of my soul remained and wandered between the realms for years.

I watched helplessly as Aria nailed my name to the Wall of Shame that was visible to all Three Realms. She spread lies that I had abused my disciples and was a lecherous man.

Aria claimed my righteous and dignified appearance had all been an act. She lied that I was cruel and demanding toward those around me and that I had taken advantage of countless disciples who came to train under me.

She even went around saying on the day she was supposed to choose her mentor, I had noticed her extraordinary talent and used underhanded means to snatch her away from Kalix.

After that, everyone in the Three Realms came to despise me. They were enraged to learn that the Celestial Supreme they revered was nothing but a shameless fraud.

So, they tore down every temple and statue dedicated to me. They even built monuments bearing my name so people could gather there to insult and curse me.

However, I could do nothing. I couldn't even defend myself.