Ye Luqing woke from the dream.
“Nngh…”
She opened her eyes. What met her gaze was a familiar face.
“Sis… ter?”
As if still in the dream, her mouth spoke before her brain could catch up.
Xiao Qingxuan looked at her with a gentle smile, her starry eyes brimming with tenderness.
“I’m here.”
One hand lightly stroked Ye Luqing’s forehead, while the other was still gripped tightly by Ye Luqing, just as she had done in the dream.
Ye Luqing pushed herself up from the bed, her mind a chaotic blur.
For a moment, she couldn’t distinguish which memories were real and which were from the simulated dream.
She had expected the Dream-Building Lotus’s effect to be like “watching a movie in a cinema,” but she hadn’t anticipated such an immersive experience.
‘As expected of a Heavenly Rank Immortal Plant…’
‘Even a derivative of it holds such high status…’
She turned to look at Xiao Qingxuan’s face and, for a moment, felt an urge to throw herself into her arms.
“Sis…”
But the next moment, an icy voice echoed in her mind.
【Warning: Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has dropped to 78%】
Thump!
The system’s warning struck Ye Luqing’s heart like a heavy hammer.
78%?
If she remembered correctly, Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value was 111% before last night.
It dropped 33% in a single night?
How was she supposed to accept this?
At the start of her second life, Xiao Qingxuan’s starting Blackening Value was 72%.
This meant all her days of effort, all her work to raise the Blackening Value, had been almost completely wasted!
“A-Qing?”
Seeing Ye Luqing’s pupils suddenly contract and her body begin trembling uncontrollably, Xiao Qingxuan instinctively reached out a hand.
However…
Slap!
With a crisp sound, her hand was smacked away.
“Don’t touch me!”
Ye Luqing’s eyes flashed with inexplicable anger, unable to accept the reality of the Blackening Value dropping by a third.
Thinking of the 400% Blackening Value target, and the risk of being killed if it dipped below 200% midway, her breathing grew heavier.
She clenched her silver teeth, cursing the system’s damn task in her heart.
A moment later, the system’s cold voice echoed in her mind again.
【Detected Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 88%】
She subconsciously looked up and was met with Xiao Qingxuan’s panicked face, a hint of despair rising in her eyes.
【Detected Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value has risen to 94%】
Hearing the rapidly increasing numbers, she cursed inwardly.
In her previous life, Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value had risen just as fast before she fell into devilification.
She took a deep breath, lowered her head, and said softly:
“Sister, I’m sorry…”
“Too many memories flooded in at once, my mind is a bit chaotic.”
“Let’s stop here for today, I’m a little tired…”
To save her own life, she couldn’t let Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value spike too quickly just yet.
Weakly, she walked to the doorframe and leaned lightly against it, presenting Xiao Qingxuan with a frail silhouette.
Xiao Qingxuan stood up and walked to Ye Luqing’s side with a complicated expression.
“A-Qing, I should be the one to apologize…”
“You rest well first. Tonight… no, tomorrow night, I’ll come back to reshape the other memories.”
“If you think it’s too much, next time we’ll only do six months’ worth, okay?”
She looked at Ye Luqing with a hint of heartache. Pouring a year’s worth of detailed memories and emotions into her overnight, especially when Ye Luqing had the Sect Grand Tournament to prepare for, was indeed a significant burden.
This was also one of the drawbacks of the “Desireless Emotionless” state: once she fixated on a year’s worth of memories, it had to be exactly a year, with no flexibility.
“Mm…”
Listening to Ye Luqing’s noncommittal hum, Xiao Qingxuan sighed softly and then left the courtyard.
Despite everything, the Dream-Building Lotus was having an effect.
Once all six years of memories were completely reshaped, her A-Qing would return.
Thinking this, Xiao Qingxuan’s heavy heart lightened slightly.
…………
Inside the Courtyard.
Ye Luqing looked exhausted and dejected as she stared at Xiao Qingxuan’s panel.
【Name: Xiao Qingxuan】
【Cultivation: Half-Step Spirit Transformation】
【Blackening Value: 85％】
【Devilification Value: 8％】
【Corruption Value: 65％ (First Stage)】
The most important stat, Blackening Value, had ultimately stabilized at 85% after a series of fluctuations.
The Devilification Value dropping to 8% was also within her expectations. After all, according to the original plot introduced by the system, Sect Master Feng Linyi would intervene to purge Xiao Qingxuan’s Heart Devil.
Now that Feng Linyi had emerged from seclusion, a single intervention had reduced the Devilification Value by 20%.
That was good news; at least she wouldn’t be killed by a devilified Xiao Qingxuan.
As for the drop in Corruption Value, she guessed it was due to the “Desireless Emotionless” state. She was now a step further from copying Xiao Qingxuan’s talent.
“Corruption Value is secondary…”
“The key is, what am I going to do about the Blackening Value…”
She buried her head in her hands and sighed deeply.
This major drop in Blackening Value happened mainly because the Dream-Building Lotus had worked, showing Xiao Qingxuan hope and a clear direction.
Even if she tried her best to control it, she couldn’t override the influence of the dream constructed by the Dream-Building Lotus.
That year’s worth of memories had immersed her completely, like a brand-new segment of memory forcibly inserted into her dozen-plus years of life on Earth, yet without any sense of dissonance.
Just one year of memories was enough to make her feel significantly closer to Xiao Qingxuan, even a strange sense of attachment.
She had to find a way to counter the Dream-Building Lotus.
Otherwise, once the six years of memories were assembled, that other “Ye Luqing” would truly awaken within her body.
“System.”
“Give me a way to deal with the Dream-Building Lotus.”
A derivative of a Heavenly Rank Immortal Plant was absolutely not something her mere Golden Core Peak Stage could handle.
Heaven Rank wasn’t just a title. Back then, that single Heaven-Tier Soul-Molding Pill had helped deceive Bai Yuhan at the Dao Integration Stage.
She had read the detailed description of the Dream-Building Lotus. If the small flower’s full power was unleashed, even a Divine Lord at the Void Comprehension Stage would be helpless. Only a Dao Venerable at the Dao Integration Stage could seal it using the power of rules.
Something of a higher tier could only be countered by another thing of a higher tier.
【Calculating countermeasures…】
【Calculation complete.】
【To counter the Dream-Building Lotus, Xiao Qingxuan must be pulled into the dream.】
“Pull Xiao Qingxuan into the dream as well?”
Ye Luqing frowned. Firstly, there was already a Xiao Qingxuan inside the dream. Secondly, even if she pulled the real Xiao Qingxuan into the dream constructed by the Dream-Building Lotus, what effect could it have?
As if hearing Ye Luqing’s inner thoughts, the system explained:
【Under Xiao Qingxuan’s control, the Dream-Building Lotus has an owner.】
【This system cannot interfere with possessions of the Destined Female Lead. Therefore, the Host must pull the Destined Female Lead into the dream, causing a brief “ownerless” state for the Dream-Building Lotus.】
Hearing this, Ye Luqing understood why she needed to pull Xiao Qingxuan into the dream instead of dealing with the Lotus directly.
The system couldn’t directly act against the Destined Female Lead. Otherwise, there would be no need for her to subtly manipulate Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value; the system could just create various coincidental plot events.
“Once Xiao Qingxuan is pulled into the dream, what can you do?”
【While the Dream-Building Lotus is ownerless, this system can temporarily control it.】
【It can create conditions advantageous to the Host, and in turn, increase the Destined Female Lead’s Blackening Value and Corruption Value.】
Ye Luqing nodded slightly. If it could do that, she wouldn’t just be countering the Dream-Building Lotus—she would be turning it to her own advantage.
Thus, she only needed to consider one question.
Deep within the dream herself, how could she pull Xiao Qingxuan in as well?
