That pure white figure, wreathed in a biting sword aura, crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and a shockwave that forced Yue Qi back several paces.
Lin Qiyou stood with her sword in hand, white robes pristine beneath the moonlight, the teardrop-shaped birthmark beneath her left eye starkly visible. Her gaze was as cold as frost, fixed dead on Yue Qi, and the killing intent radiating from her was even fiercer than when she had faced Nong Li.
“You dare lay a hand on him? Courting death!”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but carried the weight of absolute resolve, as if Yue Qi’s actions had just touched upon a reverse scale she could never allow anyone to offend.
Yue Qi steadied herself, surprise flashing in her eyes at Lin Qiyou’s sudden appearance, but it was quickly replaced by a deeper gravity. “Another… Outsider! You’ve come at the perfect time—saves me the trouble of hunting you down!”
She said no more. The dark glow on her dagger surged again, and her form blurred into an afterimage as she took the initiative to attack Lin Qiyou! She knew that against an opponent like Lin Qiyou, even the slightest hesitation was fatal.
Lin Qiyou snorted coldly, drawing her longsword. Sword light poured out like flowing mercury, precisely blocking every cunning and ruthless thrust from Yue Qi.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Dagger and longsword clashed at high speed, sparks flying everywhere. Yue Qi’s movements were bizarre, and her strength far surpassed the norm, allowing her to temporarily stand against Lin Qiyou. But Lin Qiyou’s sword style was like a relentless tide, gradually enveloping Yue Qi, forcing her to keep retreating into peril.
Qingmu endured the searing pain, using the opportunity to circulate his energy art to staunch his bleeding while closely watching the fight. Only one thought echoed in his heart—why had Lin Qiyou appeared so suddenly?
Wasn’t she supposed to be clashing with Nong Li right now in the Sacred Land of the Deepwood?
No matter what, though, Lin Qiyou’s arrival had resolved the immediate danger. “Lin Qiyou!” Qingmu seized a brief gap when Yue Qi was forced back by a wave of sword aura, and shouted, “Why are you here? What about Nong Li?” He was, of course, referring to the Nong Li of this world.
In front of the chapel, he’d noticed something interesting: in this world, Lin Qiyou didn’t know Nong Li at all—clearly something strange had happened in the simulated world.
Lin Qiyou had forgotten Nong Li?
Forgotten that deep-seated hatred?
Just like how Nong Li had forgotten him?
Lin Qiyou’s sword paused for a barely perceptible moment before she instantly regained her composure, but that flicker of panic didn’t escape Qingmu’s eyes. She didn’t look back, her voice deliberately steady: “Nong Li? Who’s that?”
“Nong Li—the one you were fighting in the Deepwood, the one always laying traps for you, the one who took Yue Lan away from you.” Qingmu’s sense of unease only grew stronger.
“Who? I was fighting in the Deepwood?” Lin Qiyou parried Yue Qi’s thrust, then countered with a backhanded slash that left a deep gash on Yue Qi’s shoulder guard, forcing her to stagger back. “What are you talking about? I was in the Deepwood covering your retreat.”
“What did you say?” Qingmu’s heart sank.
Just then, Yue Qi seized upon Lin Qiyou’s brief distraction. The dagger in her hand condensed a dark light into a single point—like a viper striking—stabbing toward Lin Qiyou’s side at a viciously tricky angle! This strike was several times more powerful than before; it was obviously her long-prepared killing move!
“Watch out!” Qingmu shouted, ignoring his wounds. He forced his energy art, grabbed a broken piece of wood from the ground, and hurled it with all his might at Yue Qi’s face!
Lin Qiyou snapped back instantly, her sword spinning to just barely deflect the dagger. Still, the sharp blade grazed her sleeve, leaving a bloody scratch. Qingmu’s thrown branch forced Yue Qi to dodge aside, momentarily slowing her assault.
Xiao Ya gathered her courage as well, chanting a hymn of holy light. A faint but steadfast healing spell fell upon Qingmu, soothing his pain and wounds.
Yue Qi, her killing blow thwarted, quickly withdrew, putting distance between herself and the others. She watched the seamless teamwork between Qingmu and Lin Qiyou, her gaze growing colder.
Lin Qiyou ignored Yue Qi’s taunts. She glanced at the wound on her arm, then at Qingmu’s pale but stubborn face. That questioning look in his eyes left her no way to avoid it.
She took a deep breath and spoke softly, “What are you talking about? There’s no such person as Nong Li. Ever since I arrived in this world, I’ve never heard of her.”
Just a simple sentence, but it was like a thunderclap in Qingmu’s ears.
Something was wrong.
How could Nong Li possibly not exist?
Lin Qiyou had no reason to lie to him—she wasn’t the type to spin wild stories.
That could only mean… Nong Li really didn’t exist in this world?
How could that be?
Could it be that when he was forcibly pulled from the simulated world back to reality, Lin Qiyou’s history had changed as well?
“Did someone cast a spell on you? Get out of here first!”
A sharp light flashed in Lin Qiyou’s eyes. Spiritual power surged around her, stirring up the debris and dust, and before her stood the first person in this world who had ever made her feel threatened—she dared not let down her guard.
Qingmu’s expression darkened. Yue Qi had forcibly dragged him out of the simulated world, which had triggered this disaster. Nong Li must have died at Lin Qiyou’s hand, and then something must have happened to Lin Qiyou, causing her to lose all memory of Nong Li.
This couldn’t go on.
Yue Qi watched coldly, sneering: “Someone’s missing? I remember her too! See, this is the chaos and tragedy you Outsiders bring! You even kill each other! Pathetic and laughable!”
Qingmu ignored Yue Qi’s mockery, his gaze locked on Lin Qiyou, his chest heaving. Anger, disappointment, and a hard-to-name sense of loss tangled within him. He knew the simulated world wasn’t just an illusion—it was the past itself, and every small action could ripple forward into a storm in the future. Still, he had no reason to hate Lin Qiyou.
But the fact that Lin Qiyou had killed Nong Li with her own hands was like a thorn, stabbing deep into his heart.
Nong Li’s every smile and frown echoed in his mind. He simply could not accept her death.
He glanced at the re-poised Yue Qi, then at the worried Xiao Ya and the guilt-ridden Lin Qiyou. An idea began to form.
This couldn’t go on—reality’s crisis was closing in fast, Yue Qi, this “Cleaner,” wouldn’t stop, and the knot of life and death between Nong Li and Lin Qiyou had been tied because of him.
He had to return to the simulation—no, to the past. He had to pick up from the moment before he was pulled out and resolve the conflict between Lin Qiyou and Nong Li. That was the only way.
“Xiao Ya!” Qingmu suddenly shouted, “You and Lin Qiyou, hold her off! Whatever happens, buy me time!”
“Lord Qingmu?” Xiao Ya didn’t understand, but nodded resolutely and raised her staff.
Lin Qiyou also looked at Qingmu, a hint of doubt in her eyes, but even more, a sense of duty. “What are you planning to do?”
“Just do what you need to do!” Qingmu said no more. He gave Lin Qiyou a long, searching look. “Before I get back, protect yourself—and protect Xiao Ya too.”
With that, he ignored his wounds, spun around, and sprinted deeper into the forest. He needed to find a completely quiet, undisturbed place.
“Trying to run?” Yue Qi’s eyes flashed and she prepared to give chase.
“Your opponent is us!” Lin Qiyou raised her sword, sword aura surging, locking firmly onto Yue Qi.
Xiao Ya chanted her holy light, her power faint but her will unyielding.
Blocked by the two, Yue Qi could only watch as Qingmu’s figure disappeared into the thick woods. She snorted coldly, “Struggling before death! No matter what you do, you can’t change your fate as prey for cleansing!”
Qingmu tore through the forest, ignoring the pain from whipping branches, searching for a suitable spot. At last, he stopped before a vine-shrouded crack in a mountain wall. It was hidden enough that his presence would be hard to detect.
He sat cross-legged, ignoring his bleeding wounds, forcing himself to calm the surging energy and chaos within.
He plunged his consciousness into his sea of awareness, trying to connect to that familiar simulation interface.
—Go back! Go back to the moment when Lin Qiyou and Nong Li fought to the death!
—Go back! Change that damn ending!
Back to… Benji City…
He recited the words in his heart, focusing all his will on this one intent.
A familiar dizziness swept over him, the world around him twisting and blurring…
The crisis of the real world, Yue Qi’s pursuit, Lin Qiyou’s intervention… all faded away for now.
Prepare. Prepare again.
Qingmu knew that the moment he was pulled out of the simulation was exactly when Nong Li was at her most defenseless, and Lin Qiyou was most likely to act—so as soon as the simulation began, it would be the most critical moment.
He absolutely could not let Lin Qiyou succeed!
*****
…
……
“Urgh!”
She clutched her head, crying out in agony. Seven fox tails drooped weakly to the ground, her tall frame curled up, golden vertical pupils unfocused and dazed from the piercing pain in her skull. Her bean-shaped brows knit together, filled with torment and confusion. All those memories of Qingmu—warm times in the pill chamber, patient teaching, steady companionship, and finally that gut-wrenching regret from losing control and devouring her master on a rainy night—sealed away by the yokai kings—now surged like a tidal wave, battering again and again at the past she had forced herself to forget.
“Monster, die!”
A cold shout rang out as Lin Qiyou’s longsword exploded with dazzling light once more. Man and sword became one, transforming into a white rainbow that tore through the air, thrusting straight at Nong Li’s undefended heart! That strike was swift, merciless, precise, containing all her lifetime’s cultivation as the Ghost Sword Immortal, determined to kill in one blow!
“She’s coming—!”
Qingmu’s pupils shrank. Back in the simulation world, he barely had time to think—his body moved by instinct alone!
His feeble energy art began to burn at unprecedented speed, overdrawing the potential of his young body. He made no move to block that world-shattering sword—he knew that would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Instead, he hurled himself forward with all his strength, shielding the kneeling, agonized Nong Li with his back!
“Pshk—!”
The sound of a blade piercing flesh, dull and clear.
Time seemed to freeze.
The determination on Lin Qiyou’s face instantly dissolved into shock and disbelief. She tried to pull back her sword, but it was too late. The tip pierced below Qingmu’s thin shoulder blade, barely an inch from his heart. Scalding blood sprayed out, staining her white robe red and splattering a few drops on Nong Li’s pale cheek.
That warm blood, laced with a familiar scent, was like the final key, slamming open the long-sealed doors deep within Nong Li’s memory!
“Aaah—!!!”
Nong Li let out a shriek, even more piercing and anguished than before. But this time, it wasn’t just from the headache—it was from a pain so deep it tore at her soul, mingled with regret, terror, and an indescribably vast sorrow!
All the fragments of memory snapped into place at that moment!
She remembered!
Everything!
The master who taught her to refine pills, to transform, who named her, who helplessly shook his head when she was mischievous, who gently patted her head when she was down—Qingmu!
The one who, on a rainy night, was devoured alive by her out-of-control fox form—her master!
The one she had, after regaining clarity, knelt in the ruins for, wishing she could dig out her own belly, but could only survive by having the other yokai kings seal her memories… all because of that!
“M…aster…?”
Nong Li trembled, her golden pupils contracting sharply, reflecting the small figure impaled by the longsword, shielding her. That form overlapped with the Qingmu of her memories. Their size was different, but that gaze, that presence, that desperate protection—
It was him! It was him again!
A hundred years ago, she devoured him.
A hundred years later, she almost… once again caused his death!
But this time, he had taken that fatal blow for her!
The immense shock and boundless remorse stabbed through every layer of her disguise as a yokai king like a billion steel needles. Her demonic power, roiling from the turmoil of her emotions, exploded outward, but the moment it touched Qingmu, it became gentle as a whisper.
Qingmu’s lips trembled. He looked at Nong Li, then turned his gaze to Lin Qiyou behind him, gritting out, “I’ve said it a thousand times—stop fighting!”
He couldn’t die yet. He still hadn’t finished speaking!