Ye Luqing’s hair stood on end in an instant, her whole body springing up like a startled rabbit.
This voice was exactly the same as the terrifying presence that hunted her down in her dreams!
She followed the sound, only to see a breathtakingly beautiful woman standing there.
Xiao Qingxuan.
“Gulp…”
Ye Luqing crouched beside the ice coffin, the horrifying memories making her retch instinctively.
The memories before her death and the nightmares overlapped.
That cold, stunning immortal not far away, in Ye Luqing’s eyes, was the very demon who had strangled her to death.
“Ah Qing!”
Filled with concern, Xiao Qingxuan hurried forward, but froze in place upon seeing the extreme fear in Ye Luqing’s eyes.
Her Ah Qing was actually afraid of her?
“Ah Qing, don’t be scared, your sister is here…”
Xiao Qingxuan switched to small, gentle steps, approaching slowly for fear of startling the girl inside the ice coffin.
“Si…sister?”
Upon hearing this word, Ye Luqing seemed to improve slightly, but her eyes were still filled with wariness.
“I…I don’t know you…”
The girl lowered her head, a soft, timid murmur escaping her lips, making Xiao Qingxuan’s heart melt.
“Ah Qing, it’s me, I… I’m Xiao Qingxuan!”
Xiao Qingxuan took two steps forward, and Ye Luqing inside the ice coffin seemed almost within reach.
But the only response she got was the blue-haired girl shrinking into the corner of the ice coffin, her body trembling slightly.
Xiao Qingxuan was stunned.
She recalled the first time she met Ye Luqing, when she’d gone to fetch her on her master’s orders, and found her hiding in the grass at Heavenly Sword Peak—she’d looked just like this back then.
“S-sorry.”
Ye Luqing spoke timidly.
“I don’t remember anything…”
Xiao Qingxuan stood frozen for a moment, then let her hand, suspended in midair, drop powerlessly.
Her Ah Qing had come back to life, but lost her memories.
Damn Soul-Slaying Sect…
A barely noticeable trace of killing intent flashed in her eyes, frightening the blue-haired girl in the ice coffin even further into the corner.
Xiao Qingxuan forced a weak smile, making her voice as gentle as possible.
“Ah Qing, you… you be good and stay here, I’ll go get your master for you.”
“Vice Sect Master Bai is very powerful, she’ll definitely help you recover your memories.”
Although she had reached the Half-Step Transformation God Realm, she was just a Sword Cultivator and didn’t understand the Soul Dao.
When it came to the one who understood souls best in the Xuanxiao Supreme Sect, it had to be Ye Luqing’s master, the Dao Sovereign of the Array Path, Peak Master of Biluofeng, Bai Yuhan.
She reached out to rub Ye Luqing’s head, then with a thought, a purple light barrier sealed the cave entrance, protecting Ye Luqing inside.
Xiao Qingxuan looked back at her with reluctance, then left the cave, flying toward a mist-shrouded mountain peak.
After a while, Ye Luqing cautiously poked her head out.
Confirming that Xiao Qingxuan had really left, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, her expression no longer as timid as before.
“That scared me half to death…”
She lay in the ice coffin, gasping for breath, stretching out her arms and legs, her snow-white little feet curling slightly as if still recovering from the ordeal.
Although she knew in her heart that Xiao Qingxuan was just a character in a novel, a target for the Blackening Reward System’s missions,
The memory of being killed by her was simply too real, the terror almost engraved in her bones.
After a long while, she sat up again, looking somewhat weary.
A prompt from the System appeared before her eyes: [Destined female lead Xiao Qingxuan Blackening Value: 72%]
[Remaining lives: 2/3]
“So I lost my first life just like that…”
A bitter smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Still too reckless; there was no way to reach 400% Blackening Value so easily.
After all her provocations, she hadn’t even reached 200%.
Even without the interference of Demonization Value, 400% was still too far away.
“Looks like I’ll have to take it slow,” Ye Luqing thought to herself.
At this, she raised an eyebrow and clicked her tongue:
“Stupid System, are you messing with me?”
This Demonization Value was a special setting, just as important as Blackening Value.
Although it was true that she’d interrupted the System’s basic info introduction, such an important setting should have been explained from the start!
It was like some special status in a game—you should see it the moment you open the character panel, how could it be hidden in a skippable dialogue?
Unless this game just wanted to torment players, or never intended for them to clear it in the first place.
[Hehe~]
“Hehe your head!”
Ye Luqing’s mouth twitched as she fought the urge to smash the System, “Playing cute won’t work, you have to give me an explanation—and compensate me with an extra life!”
[Alright, alright, it’s true this was my mistake. I didn’t expect the host to act so quickly.]
[But giving you an extra life really isn’t possible. Reversing cause and effect is more complicated than you imagine.]
[How about this: the rewards you gained in your previous life should have been wiped after death, but this time I’ll make an exception and let you keep them for this life. How’s that?]
“Hand them over first, then we’ll talk.”
Ye Luqing snorted twice, not about to be fobbed off with some cheap compensation.
[Received. Loading rewards…]
Ye Luqing didn’t sit idle. She climbed out of the ice coffin and walked to the cave entrance.
The area was already sealed by Xiao Qingxuan’s barrier.
When Ye Luqing reached out and touched the screen, ripples spread instantly—the barrier blocked her completely, not even a finger could get through.
“As expected.”
Ye Luqing gave up.
With her current Golden Core Realm cultivation, there was no way to break through a Half-Step Transformation God Realm barrier.
She returned to the ice coffin.
Strangely, the cold, hard coffin gave her an odd sense of security.
[Rewards loaded. Please check and receive.]
A blue screen flashed before Ye Luqing’s eyes.
“Since I can’t escape, let’s see what rewards I got…” she muttered.
***
On the other side.
Xiao Qingxuan gathered all her true qi and flew toward the summit of Biluofeng.
As one of the three main peaks of the Xuanxiao Supreme Sect, Biluofeng was guarded by a Dao Sovereign in the Integration Realm, and disciples were not allowed to fly by controlling their qi.
But Xiao Qingxuan’s cultivation had reached the Half-Step Transformation God Realm, equivalent to an elder in the Xuanxiao Supreme Sect.
Plus, as the Sect Master’s personal disciple, no one dared to lay down the rules for her.
But at that moment, a sky-covering array descended from above.
Xiao Qingxuan’s eyes narrowed.
Her natal spirit sword shot out from her heart in an instant, slicing through the array bearing down from the sky.
The moment the array shattered, several streams of pure Gengjin Qi burst out, locking onto Xiao Qingxuan from all directions.
Xiao Qingxuan’s movement paused, her heart tightening.
If she had Ah Qing’s array support, this sword could have destroyed both the array and the Gengjin Qi in one strike.
“To charge onto the mountain with such fanfare—does Junior Sister Xiao think Biluofeng is unguarded?”
A slightly stern voice rang out from above.
Hearing this, Xiao Qingxuan, who had been about to break through the array, stopped in her tracks.
Realizing she couldn’t defeat this Transformation God Realm cultivator in a short time, Xiao Qingxuan withdrew her spirit sword and offered a respectful salute upward.
“Senior Sister Bai, I have urgent matters to discuss with the Vice Sect Master. Please grant me passage.”
The one confronting her was none other than Biluofeng’s Grandmaster Sister, daughter of the Integration Realm Peak Master—Bai He.
“Grant passage?”
Bai He arched her brows. Ever since Junior Sister Ye Luqing’s corpse had been sent back, she’d harbored resentment toward Xiao Qingxuan.
According to the reports, Xiao Qingxuan had accomplished her mission beautifully—even killing a Magic Cultivator of the Transformation God Realm above her level—but she’d left an exhausted Array Cultivator to cover the retreat alone.
How could the Chief Disciple of Heavenly Sword Peak do such a thing?
Even if Xiao Qingxuan practiced the emotionless sword path, Bai He couldn’t accept her so casually sacrificing Ye Luqing.
Especially since Ye Luqing was someone who spent every day at Xiao Qingxuan’s side.
“Junior Sister Xiao, please leave. Master is not seeing guests today.”
With a thought, the Gengjin Qi surrounding Xiao Qingxuan let out sharp, threatening whistles, like an unspoken order to leave, ready to strike at any moment.
Xiao Qingxuan bit her lip and said:
“Ah Qing… Junior Sister Ye has woken up, but because of the Soul-Slaying Sect’s Magic Cultivator, she’s suffering aftereffects and has problems with her memory.”
“What!”
Bai He was startled, looking at Xiao Qingxuan with suspicion, as if judging the truth of her words.
After a moment, she waved her hand and the Gengjin Qi surrounding Xiao Qingxuan instantly vanished.
“Come with me.”
Bai He flew toward the peak, Xiao Qingxuan following close behind.
A few breaths later, the two of them landed lightly at the summit of Biluofeng.
Inside the pavilion at the peak, a beautiful, elegant woman with loose hair and a voluptuous figure sat draped in gauze.
From a distance, she exuded a cold and aloof beauty.
“Vice—”
Xiao Qingxuan dropped to one knee, but before she could finish her greeting, a mysterious force lifted her up.
Instinctively, she looked up. At some point, Vice Sect Master Bai Yuhan had already appeared before her.
“I already know what happened.”
As a Dao Sovereign in the Integration Realm, the entire Biluofeng was within her perception.
Bai Yuhan stood up and walked slowly toward the edge of the peak.
“Let’s go.”
Xiao Qingxuan and Bai He quickly followed, not noticing the flash of coldness in Bai Yuhan’s eyes.
“The Soul-Slaying Sect’s techniques can indeed destroy a person’s soul, but… they’re also adept at possession.” Bai Yuhan thought to herself.
Three days ago, when Ye Luqing’s corpse was returned to the Xuanxiao Supreme Sect, she had examined and even attempted to treat it herself.
At that time, the body had lost all signs of life—even an Immortal Lord at the Tribulation Crossing Realm would have been unable to revive her.
So she’d placed her in the Mystic Ice Immortal Coffin to keep the body from decaying.
Now, however, Ye Luqing had suddenly awakened—there must be more to the story.
If Ye Luqing had been possessed by a Magic Cultivator from the Soul-Slaying Sect, as her master, Bai Yuhan would never let the culprit go, even if the Soul-Slaying Sect had the power of an Immortal Sect.
Hearing this, Xiao Qingxuan trembled, her breathing quickening.
“No… impossible.”
“We’ll know for sure after I examine her,” Bai Yuhan sighed.
Hearing this, a look of resolve flashed across Xiao Qingxuan’s face. She would never allow such a thing to happen. If Ye Luqing had been possessed by someone else, she would never let the person who took over her beloved go unpunished.