Ying Ran.
Xu Liling toyed with the Dao Pearl, a smile on her lips tinged with clear mockery.
“So, you came to find me after a thousand years. For what purpose?”
“I know your past. I want to help you escape from the Holy Demon’s grasp…”
Ying Ran wanted to say more to Xu Liling.
Suddenly, Da Hua’s voice echoed in her mind: “Xuan Dao cultivators have reached the dungeon outside Xu Li City and are breaking into the eastern dungeon. Host, hurry over!”
Da Hua sent her the route.
Ying Ran could only hastily say to Xu Liling, “I have something to do. I’ll come back for you later.”
After taking two steps, she heard Xu Liling burst into laughter, as if she’d heard a joke.
Ying Ran turned back solemnly and said, “I will definitely come to take you away.”
Time was short; she couldn’t say more and ran toward the dungeon.
As she ran, she began to float.
Ying Ran was astonished and tried to speed up. Her body moved like a phantom, swift as the wind, reaching the eastern dungeon entrance in the blink of an eye.
Demon guards stood at the entrance. Ying Ran hid in a corner, troubled about how to get inside. Leaning against the wall, she somehow slipped into it.
She had truly become a ghost.
Ying Ran’s eyes gleamed with curiosity, but fearing delay, she stayed hidden in the wall, heading to her destination—the deepest cell on the dungeon’s third floor.
The cell held a group of people in tattered gray Daoist robes, all in disarray and heavily injured.
A person dressed as a demon guard was trying to open the cell door, while another kept watch.
Ying Ran approached, pondering how to convince them she was there to help.
One of the prisoners stared at her and whispered, “A ghost cultivator!”
The monk opening the door examined her and said joyfully, “You’re the one the Goddess said would help, right?”
The Goddess had already informed them.
Ying Ran thought to herself that the Goddess was quite thorough, having arranged everything, and nodded.
The monk said, “You came just in time. This dungeon is under an array; we can’t use spells to break it, or it’ll alert the city’s demon guards. Please find the array’s core and disable the formation.”
Ying Ran hesitated, “I don’t understand arrays.”
The monk was also troubled, “Well…”
He didn’t know how to teach Ying Ran to identify the array.
Ying Ran secretly asked Da Hua, but Da Hua didn’t understand either.
So Ying Ran asked the Goddess.
The Goddess said, “You haven’t cultivated the Dao?”
Ying Ran replied, “I’m just a mortal.”
The Goddess explained, “The array’s core is at the fire bronze furnace on the second floor. First, take water from the water bronze furnace(On the third floor, then go to the second floor to extinguish the fire bronze furnace.
“After extinguishing the fire furnace, you must reach the first floor within ten breaths and close the demon furnace’s opening. If you exceed ten breaths, the demon furnace will summon the demon guards.”
Ying Ran thought, “Ten breaths… can I make it to the first floor in time?”
It felt so complex, like a game quest.
The Goddess said, “You’re a ghost now. As long as your mental focus is strong enough, you can pass through walls and float upward. But a ghost’s mental energy is limited, so you need to manage it carefully.”
Ying Ran agreed, floating outward.
The water bronze furnace was in the dungeon’s center.
The third floor’s demon guards had already been dealt with, so Ying Ran easily took the water.
But as she floated up, she saw two demon guards constantly stationed by the second floor’s fire bronze furnace, with shift changes every incense stick’s time.
If she extinguished it, wouldn’t the guards notice even without the demon furnace’s alarm?
Ying Ran thought it over and returned to the dungeon to ask the monk opening the door, “Do you have any sedative drugs?”
“Yes.”
They had used sedatives to knock out the third floor’s demon guards.
The monk immediately gave her the sedative.
Ying Ran took it, quietly floated behind the two second-floor guards, and sprinkled the powder on them.
The guards stiffened and collapsed with a thud.
Ying Ran quickly extinguished the fire bronze furnace and floated to the first floor.
Four demon guards stood by the first floor’s demon furnace, with shift changes staggered from the second floor.
Ying Ran couldn’t wait for an opportunity. She rushed in front of them, scattering all the sedative before they could react.
The demon furnace burned with eerie black flames.
She held her breath to close the furnace’s opening, then remembered she was a ghost and didn’t need to hold her breath. She rushed back to the third floor and told the monk, “You only have half an incense stick’s time. Hurry.”
The monk said, “Thank you!”
As he spoke, he and his allies broke open the cell door, freeing the imprisoned monks.
But the prisoners’ spiritual powers were sealed, leaving them a group of weak, injured, and slow-moving people.
Ying Ran helped support two severely injured female cultivators as they moved out.
Their weight pressed heavily on her, and she struggled to hold them up. After a short distance, she felt like she was sweating.
But as a ghost, she couldn’t sweat—she could only emit smoke.
Ying Ran found it fascinating, but this wasn’t the time for amazement.
The rescuing monks saw her struggle and encouraged her, “Hold on! The Goddess set up a teleportation array in Xu Li City before the Holy Demon emerged. There’s one just outside the dungeon. We’ll reach it soon!”
Ying Ran nodded, thinking to herself that the Goddess’s knowledge of the plot was so detailed that she even knew where these people would be imprisoned and had prepared in advance.
She tentatively asked the Goddess.
If the plot was that detailed, she wanted to ask about Xu Liling.
The Goddess chuckled ambiguously, “The affairs of the world are ever-changing. Even with a script in hand, it’s no match for the demon’s unpredictable nature and deep schemes.
“I’ve only been to this world nearly a hundred times, failing against the demon for nearly ten thousand years. My preparations are the result of countless retries.”
Ying Ran was shocked, “Is the demon that hard to deal with?”
The Goddess asked, “Can’t you see the plot?”
Ying Ran said, “The plot I have is incomplete.”
“Incomplete is right… This world is ever-changing, and it’s hard to predict what will happen next.”
The Goddess continued, “The Holy Demon is a fragment of spiritual will, immortal and indestructible. Even if the demonic path is eradicated and the world is at peace, as long as one person harbors a demonic thought, the Holy Demon will revive. He is the demonic will, the faith of all demons, the origin of the demonic path.”
“Defeating him isn’t something that can be achieved through killing or scheming.”
Ying Ran’s heart sank, strengthening her resolve to save Xu Liling from the Holy Demon’s grasp as soon as possible.
While talking with the Goddess, she and the cultivators reached the dungeon’s exit, dug out by the rescuers.
The cultivators filed out one by one in an orderly manner.
Ying Ran stayed behind, watching for demon guard movements.
With half an incense stick’s time left, Ying Ran finally escorted the last cultivator out.
She exhaled, feeling an unusual exhaustion in her body. Instinct told her this was due to overusing her mental energy.
Ying Ran refrained from using her mental energy to pass through walls and climbed out through the gap instead.
Emerging from the dungeon, cold raindrops fell on her.
The outside was eerily quiet, and she sensed something was wrong.
Looking up, she saw a group of demon guards forming an impenetrable wall, surrounding the Xuan cultivators.
The cultivators, protecting their injured comrades, had ashen faces.
Among the demon cultivators, the leader wore a blood-stained Confucian robe, his long hair loose, looking down at her as she crawled on the ground.
He walked up to her and bent down.
“My wife from a thousand years in the future, didn’t you say you came to save me?”
His pale, slender hand pointed at the cultivators. “So why are you saving these people?”
“Holy…”
A burly demon general among the demon cultivators stepped forward, about to ask how to proceed.
Xu Liling raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
He couldn’t be called the Holy Demon.
After all, this woman claiming to be his wife from a thousand years later didn’t even know he was the Holy Demon.
As his wife, she was unaware.
Xu Liling laughed aloud. “I thought it was some brilliant scheme, but it turns out—”
“Ignorance.”
Xu Liling glanced at Ying Ran with contempt, then laughed and turned away with a wave of his sleeve. “Take them back. I want to see how long it takes for the Xuan Dao to fill my dungeon.”
“Yes!”
The demon guards stepped forward to seize the cultivators.
Some moved to grab Ying Ran.
Ying Ran stood, sidestepping and floating past the guards.
The guards felt a breeze pass by, and she was gone, leaving them stunned.
“She’s a ghost cultivator; ordinary methods can’t catch her.”
The guards immediately reported to the demon general.
The general moved to capture her himself.
Ying Ran floated toward Xu Liling. “Huai Zhen!”
Xu Liling paused.
The general halted, unsure whether this woman was like those who tried to seduce the Holy Demon with beauty in the past or if she truly knew him.
In the past, when beauties called out to the Holy Demon, he ignored them.
Ying Ran caught up to Xu Liling.
Xu Liling looked at her with disinterest.
She knew clearly that this Xu Liling wouldn’t listen to her or treat her kindly like the Xu Liling from a thousand years later.
She asked, “What will it take for you to let them go?”
Xu Liling countered, “In your current situation, do you think you can negotiate with me?”
His tone dripped with sarcasm.
Ying Ran suppressed her displeasure and said calmly, “For you, isn’t having fun more important than imprisoning them?”
Xu Liling’s smile faded, and he looked at her directly.
Ying Ran didn’t want to believe that the Xu Liling before her was almost a thrill-seeker.
But his earlier words made her realize that, compared to killing or imprisoning, he preferred watching living people struggle.
Ying Ran said, “Just imprisoning them won’t create any fun for you.”
Xu Liling replied, “So?”
Ying Ran proposed, “Why not let them play a game? If they escape, you let them go. If they can’t, you kill them.”
The cultivators’ eyes widened at her words, but then their gazes grew resolute.
Dying in an escape attempt was better than endless torment in the demons’ hands.
Xu Liling stared at her, his half-smiling eyes seeming to see through her thoughts, making Ying Ran instinctively nervous, clutching her dress.
Xu Liling took out a hairpin.
It was a peach blossom bamboo hairpin, the one Ying Ran had shown him, claiming he had carved it himself.
He said, “Play a game with me first, and then I’ll play this game with them.”
Ying Ran nodded. “Fine.”
He toyed with the hairpin. “Come closer.”
Ying Ran approached him.
“Guess,” he said, staring at her with a gentle demeanor, “will I stab this hairpin into your throat?”
“If you guess correctly, you win.”
Ying Ran’s steps faltered, her face paling instantly.
More than fear, she felt grievance and confusion in her heart.
The Huai Zhen from a thousand years later would never treat her this way.
But this Huai Zhen from a thousand years ago was so cruel.
If he truly stabbed the hairpin at her—
Ying Ran continued walking toward him, biting her lip lightly.
Xu Liling urged her to answer. “Will I, or won’t I?”
Drawing closer, looking at his familiar face, she thought of the Xu Liling who set the table for her before bed, warmed her, and held her in his arms… Ying Ran couldn’t help but tear up.
“I can’t help but… start to hate you.”
She stood before him, lifting her gaze, tears glimmering in her eyes.
Her petite, delicate frame, now a wandering soul, seemed so fragile that a gust of wind could scatter her.
Her long, loose hair, slightly damp from the rain, clung to her pale face, her eyes red-rimmed as she said again:
“I will hate you…”
Xu Liling silently watched her, the hand holding the hairpin drawing closer.
She flinched, closing her eyes.
Something was tucked into her hair.
His cool fingers brushed her earlobe unintentionally.
Ying Ran froze, then opened her eyes.
Xu Liling had already passed by her, walking toward an open area nearby. “Let’s play a game, then.”
The demon guards and cultivators followed in succession.
Ying Ran stood rooted, feeling countless eyes drifting toward her.
She touched the hairpin in her hair, smiled through red-rimmed eyes, but still pursed her lips in grievance.
He had scared her.
The group followed Xu Liling to the eastern city gate.
Xu Liling sat on the city tower, legs dangling outside the wall, as if he might fall at any moment, making Ying Ran dizzy with fear.
He didn’t care, looking bored. “Run. All of you, run. Reach the western gate, you live. Fail, you die.”
By “all run,” he meant the demon guards and cultivators running together.
The demon guards would chase, and the cultivators would flee.
Ying Ran stood among the cultivators, her heart tense, secretly contacting the Goddess: “Can you reach those cultivators now? Tell them not to run to the western gate but to find the teleportation arrays you set up in the city.”
The city was vast, so vast that Ying Ran couldn’t see its boundaries.
Even Xu Liling had come to the eastern tower via a teleportation array. Only a fool would run from east to west.
The Goddess asked, “Western gate? What happened? Why are they going to the western gate?”
Ying Ran replied, “They were caught. Ask them for details when they return. It’s about to start.”
She didn’t have time to explain to the Goddess; she needed to leave time for the Goddess to notify the cultivators.
The Goddess agreed thoughtfully. “Alright. Once they escape, I’ll settle the mission, and you can return.”
Ying Ran: “Mm.”
At the demon general’s command, the guards and cultivators began running.
Ying Ran stayed in place, but the demons consciously avoided her.
The Holy Demon’s earlier actions were too unusual. They couldn’t tell if this person could be killed, so they left her alone.
When the demons and cultivators were far off, the demon general and Ying Ran stood awkwardly, staring at each other.
Feeling uneasy, Ying Ran’s body flickered, and she floated to the city wall, landing beside Xu Liling.
Xu Liling toyed with the Dao Pearl, gazing at the rainy horizon. “Why aren’t you running?”
If she ran, no demon would dare chase her, and she’d surely escape the city.
“Huai Zhen, come down.”
Ying Ran grabbed his hand. “It’s too dangerous sitting here.”
Xu Liling turned, her gentle eyes full of concern as she looked at him.
With his temperament, he should have grabbed her neck, dangled her in midair, and asked, “Dangerous?”
But if he did that, she’d probably tear up again and say, “I will hate you.”
Xu Liling looked away, gazing down at the ant-like figures below, some fleeing, some chasing.
They ran toward hidden arrays in the city, vanishing in flashes of light.
Ying Ran saw it too.
Breaking the game’s rules so blatantly was her goal. Feeling guilty, she asked Xu Liling nervously, “By letting them go like this, will the Holy Demon punish you?”
Xu Liling: “Yes.”
Ying Ran frowned, worried. “How will he punish you?”
Xu Liling: “Probably dragged to the dungeon for a hundred lashes of the Demon-Scourging Whip.”
Ying Ran’s eyes widened, and she quietly cursed the Holy Demon, knowing it was futile. “Is there a way to stop him from punishing you?”
Xu Liling: “No.”
Ying Ran’s throat tightened, guilt weighing on her. “Will a hundred lashes hurt a lot? Will it injure you badly?”
Xu Liling brushed her off. “It hurts. It’s bad.”
His words cut off abruptly.
A pair of delicate arms wrapped around him from behind, her soft cheek resting against his shoulder. “Huai Zhen, come with me.”
She would discuss with the Goddess, ensuring that even if he couldn’t regain his immortal body yet, he could hide in the Xuan Dao’s territory, living safely until they defeated the Holy Demon.
Xu Liling looked down at the arms around his waist, soft as untouchable mist. “Go where?”
Suddenly, the mist dispersed.
The arms vanished.
No one answered where they would take him.
Xu Liling turned, finding no one behind him.