But Ye Luqing paid no attention to the System, nor did she check the so-called reward. She just stared down at Xiao Qingxuan’s eyes from her superior position.
She planned to directly push Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value to 400%, then safely return to Earth. A small stage reward meant little to her.
“Give me back the jade pendant.” Ye Luqing pressed aggressively.
“No!”
As if refusing to accept this reality, Xiao Qingxuan bowed her head in avoidance, like a puppy abandoned by its owner.
Tears uncontrollably streamed from her eyes. She felt her heart ache intensely, as if being torn and trampled by something.
The last time she felt such pain was just after learning of Ye Luqing’s death. But this time, it was even worse.
She couldn’t accept such extreme swings from great joy to utter sorrow. Her thoughts were a chaotic mess.
[Blackening Value has risen to 111%.]
[Blackening Value has risen to 129%.]
Listening to the continuously rising Blackening Value, Ye Luqing was very satisfied.
But seeing Xiao Qingxuan trembling convulsively, in such pain she seemed about to shatter completely, a trace of pity rose within Ye Luqing.
Yet, thinking that this was her only chance to return to Earth, she steeled her resolve.
“This isn’t real. She’s just a fictional character from a novel,” Ye Luqing mentally hinted to herself.
“When I get back, I’ll definitely send the author a box of razor blades. It’s all that bastard’s fault for writing this…”
Ye Luqing used such excuses to rationalize her actions. Moments later, her expression returned to cold indifference.
She leaned down, cupping Xiao Qingxuan’s bloodless face in her hands. The exquisite, stunning face was smeared with utter despair.
“A-Qing… you said we’d be together forever…” Xiao Qingxuan’s voice was choked with sobs. She had already become a tear-stained mess.
She recalled fragments of the past, as if she could still feel the warmth from the girl’s palm when that vow was made.
“That was before.” Ye Luqing’s tone was flat, as if utterly indifferent to the Xiao Qingxuan before her.
“The original Ye Luqing is already dead.”
This sentence slammed into Xiao Qingxuan’s heart like a heavy hammer. Her world lost its color once more, leaving only an infinite, endless black.
[The Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 150%.]
[Warning! Detected that the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value has risen to 37%. Host, please be careful.]
Hearing the System’s alert, Ye Luqing instantly froze.
“Devilification Value?”
This was the first time she had heard this concept.
The original novel didn’t mention Xiao Qingxuan becoming a Devil Cultivator in its plot.
As if sensing Ye Luqing’s doubt, the System explained:
[During the battle three days ago against the Spirit Transformation Stage Devil Cultivator from the Soul-Slaughtering Sect, Xiao Qingxuan was contaminated by Devil Qi. Coupled with the inner depression caused by Ye Luqing’s death, signs of initial Devilification appeared.]
[According to the original World Line, Xiao Qingxuan’s Shizun would soon emerge from closed-door cultivation and suppress the Devil Qi within her, which wouldn’t affect the main storyline.]
[Xiao Qingxuan’s initial Devilification Value was 24%. It has now risen to 43%. Upon reaching 100%, she will lose her sanity. Host, please be cautious in your response.]
“How… why was this kind of intelligence only told to me now?!”
Ye Luqing roared at the System in her mind, while desperately maintaining her outward composure to prevent Xiao Qingxuan from noticing anything amiss.
[The Devilification Value was part of the Destined Female Lead’s basic information briefing. You interrupted my introduction at the time.]
“I…”
Ye Luqing was stunned, recalling instantly.
At the time, Xiao Qingxuan had already entered within a hundred-meter radius of her. In her hurry to hear the method for doing the tasks and returning to Earth, she had skipped the seemingly useless basic information introduction.
[The Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 158%.]
[Warning! Detected that the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value has risen to 50%. Host, please be careful.]
Listening to the System’s cold voice, Ye Luqing was extremely anxious.
At this rate, Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value would reach 100% before her Blackening Value hit 400%.
She definitely did not want to face an insane Xiao Qingxuan.
“What do I do now!” Ye Luqing urgently asked.
[Host, please do your best.]
“Damn it, how the hell do I do my best?!”
[The Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 169%.]
[Detected that the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value has risen to 76%. Host, please be careful.]
Damned System!
Ye Luqing’s scalp tingled. Though she didn’t know what Xiao Qingxuan would be like at 100% Devilification, she knew all too well what she was like after blackening.
To save the original host, Xiao Qingxuan would even dare to kill fellow sect sisters who tried to stop her.
[The Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 178%.]
[Detected that the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value has risen to 93%. Host, please be careful.]
“Guess I’ll just have to go for broke…”
That line, “The original Ye Luqing is already dead,” was simply too devastating. Even if she said nothing now, Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value and Devilification Value would keep skyrocketing.
Ye Luqing gritted her teeth and reached into Xiao Qingxuan’s embrace.
She had to push the other toward blackening as much as possible before her Devilification Value hit 100%.
“Give me the jade pendant!”
Ignoring the soaring Devilification Value, Ye Luqing forcibly snatched the jade pendant.
She had to practically pry it from Xiao Qingxuan’s fingers, staggering backward several steps from the effort.
She needed to secure the key item, the jade pendant, first and lock down Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value for now.
“There. From now on, you walk your open road, I’ll cross my single-log—”
But before Ye Luqing could finish her words, her vision went black.
A figure taller than her had pounced on her—none other than Xiao Qingxuan, who had already lost her reason.
[The Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Devilification Value has reached 100%. Blackening Value: ???%]
But Ye Luqing no longer had the attention to hear the System’s voice. Xiao Qingxuan, her eyes completely crimson, had already tightly seized her by the throat.
“Give me back A-Qing’s jade pendant!”
The jade-skinned, celestial fairy, her mind invaded by Devil Qi, had transformed into a man-eating Devil Cultivator, her mind solely occupied by the jade pendant the original host had given her.
“Urk…”
Facing Xiao Qingxuan at the Half-Step Spirit Transformation Stage, Ye Luqing could offer absolutely no resistance.
“Guh… wake…”
“I… am… Ye Luqing…”
Her taut feet lightly kicked against the other’s shins as Ye Luqing tried to use her faint voice to bring Xiao Qingxuan back to her senses.
“You are not her…”
“You are not her!”
Xiao Qingxuan’s Devil Qi had nearly materialized into substance. Her face was ferocious, veins bulging on her forehead. Her violet eyes, usually like a brilliant starry river, had now turned into a savage, murderous scarlet.
The fear of death shrouded Ye Luqing. This was the first time she had experienced death so vividly.
With no chance to explain further, Ye Luqing’s life force thus dissipated.
The jade pendant was snatched back, but in this state, Xiao Qingxuan couldn’t control her Devil Qi. The moment the pendant touched her hand, it crumbled into ashes.
She stared blankly at Ye Luqing’s corpse on the ground, then burst into loud, mournful wails.
“Ah— ahh—”
A long while later, Xiao Qingxuan took the verdant jade hairpin from Ye Luqing’s hand, examined it for a moment, then, filled with Devil Qi, fiercely stabbed it toward her own heart.
…………
Ye Luqing had a dream.
She dreamed she had fallen into a river, and some terrifying monster underwater was chasing her.
She couldn’t articulate what it was, but instinct told her this fear originated from the deepest part of her heart.
So she could only swim desperately upwards, as if the moment she broke the surface, that thing wouldn’t be able to harm her anymore.
In the last instant before being caught, Ye Luqing finally escaped the water.
Then she sat bolt upright in the ice coffin.
“Hah… hah…”
Cyan strands of hair stuck to her cheeks. Unbeknownst to her, cold sweat had soaked through her clothes.
It was still that cave. The scene before her was incredibly familiar.
But Ye Luqing understood clearly: she had just “died” once.
She panted heavily, the memory of being chased by that great terror still vivid in her mind.
In the next moment, a slightly trembling call pulled her back to reality.
“A… Qing?”
