Chapter 6
The sensation of righteous qi fusing with her own spiritual qi was extraordinarily pleasant, in a way even Yu Tai could not describe.
Inside her dantian, the tiny figure identical to Yu Tai narrowed its eyes in bliss, apparently enjoying the nourishment of the righteous qi just as much as she did.
[Host! Host! Wake up!] The System’s voice abruptly shattered Yu Tai’s concentration.
She stopped circulating her spiritual qi and opened her eyes. [What is it?]
[Nothing…]
Yu Tai was baffled.
What?
The sound of shallow breathing behind her brought her sharply back to her senses. She turned.
Shu Li had awakened at some point. He sat behind her, watching in silence.
His gaze was utterly still, devoid of either sorrow or joy.
As though he were not the prisoner of his own enemy.
The sight of his emotionless face irritated Yu Tai so much that she forgot to question the System.
A smile curved her lips. “Senior Brother is awake. Do you like the gift your Junior Sister gave you?”
Shu Li moved. The chain around his ankle clinked with a clear metallic sound.
“What is the meaning of this, Junior Sister?”
Yu Tai kept smiling. She rose and planted one knee on the edge of the bed, then hooked a fingertip frivolously beneath Shu Li’s chin. The malice in her eyes was impossible to conceal.
“Didn’t I already tell you? I’ve been pining so desperately for Senior Brother that I had no choice but to bring you back. Now I can ‘wring you dry’ day and night.”
Shu Li tilted back his head, exposing the long line of his neck. Blood loss had left his face pallid, sharpening his fine features and giving him a fragile beauty.
“A useless cripple like me could never satisfy Junior Sister. You should find someone else.” His voice was low and soft. He sounded like a saint earnestly guiding a lost young woman back to the righteous path, moving enough to bring anyone to tears.
Unfortunately, Yu Tai was not just anyone.
She was a beast.
She immediately stepped back and looked down at him with icy disdain. “Whether you’re useful is for me to decide. You may as well submit obediently and wait for me to come dote on you whenever the mood strikes.”
With that, she turned and walked away without a shred of mercy.
The System reached its verdict:
A scumbag woman beyond all doubt!
After Yu Tai left, Shu Li raised a hand and rubbed his chin. He did not stop until he had chafed the skin red, then lay down.
It had been a very long time since he last slept on soft bedding.
His eyelids gradually grew heavy, and his thoughts blurred. Shu Li rolled onto his side, found the most comfortable position, and fell deeply asleep.
—
The day the Bishui Secret Realm opened was fast approaching. Yu Tai had to use the remaining time to cultivate diligently and integrate more fully with this body.
The Bishui Secret Realm was a minor secret realm meant to train Foundation Establishment disciples. As a Nascent Soul cultivator, Yu Tai should have had nothing to fear.
But she knew that this seemingly low-risk secret realm would effortlessly claim the lives of countless prodigies from many sects.
Years of painstaking effort from those sects would be wiped out in one stroke.
Yu Tai had circulated her spiritual qi through one minor cycle when a tremendous crash abruptly broke her concentration. Had she reacted a moment later, the energy would have run wild and blown her body apart.
She opened her eyes, fury blazing within them.
The door to her room had been smashed open. A bound panda rolled across the floor, chirping urgently.
Yu Tai did not keep it tied like this every day. Given its destructive power, however, she had fashioned the rope into a collar around its neck. The moment the panda grew violent, the rope would activate.
This was no longer the shoddy rope she had used before, but a supreme-grade artifact she had dug out of her Demon Lord father’s inheritance.
It was perfectly suited to restraining the heroine.
“You’d better have a genuine emergency!” Yu Tai strode over, grabbed the panda, and lifted it with an angry glare.
Thoroughly aggrieved, Xia Mo cried out frantically toward the room beyond, both furious and anxious.
Once Yu Tai calmed down, she realized it was indicating the place where Shu Li was being held.
Had something happened?
Yu Tai carried the panda over.
When the rope around Xia Mo loosened, it transformed back into a plain collar around the panda’s furry neck.
Xia Mo immediately wriggled free of Yu Tai’s grasp and pounced toward the bed.
Yu Tai walked over and stared for two seconds.
Shu Li lay curled on his side.
An unhealthy flush stained both his usually pale cheeks. His lips were far too vivid, his breathing ragged, and cold sweat beaded across his forehead.
He had a fever.
An ordinary human without the slightest cultivation had been soaked in river water, bitten by a monster, and gone to sleep without a quilt. It would have been strange if he *hadn’t* developed a fever!
Yu Tai frowned. Nothing could happen to the male lead.
She needed to take him into the Bishui Secret Realm in a few days. After thinking it over, she had concluded that a supporting character who lacked the Heavenly Dao’s favor could never find the male lead’s special opportunity without trouble. She might as well bring him along, wait for Shu Li to find it, then swoop in and reap the rewards.
“Be quiet. He’s already sleeping poorly.” Yu Tai grabbed the noisy panda by the scruff and lifted it away from the bed.
Though displeased by her scolding, the panda actually fell silent. It merely watched Shu Li with wet eyes, looking rather pitiful.
Yu Tai viciously yanked the quilt Shu Li had kicked aside back over him. She tested his forehead with one hand and ground out, “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
What kind of male lead kicked off his covers in his sleep!?
The System fell silent.
That damned line… Had she picked up the wrong script?
Shu Li seemed to return to that day.
The young woman’s vicious smile. His master’s disappointed eyes. The shock on the familiar faces of his Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers, slowly curdling into revulsion.
Rain poured down as if it would drown the entire world. Each heavy drop battered his body, refusing him even the slightest chance to breathe.
The pain of having his Dao foundation torn away was cataclysmic. It dragged at every nerve in his body. Even Shu Li had wanted to collapse, screaming and rolling on the ground in agony.
But he could not.
Everyone was watching.
Every gaze scraped across him like a poisoned blade.
Shu Li’s pride would not allow him to break.
Yet numbness could not erase the pain drilling into his heart and gouging at his bones. That agony was indelible.
It seemed determined to crush his very soul.
If I die, I’ll finally be free…
As long as I die, everyone will go back to the way they were, instead of becoming ugly beasts with such hideous faces that the sight of them makes me sick.
This must be my fault…
I’m the one who turned them into this, aren’t I?
Pain gradually swallowed his consciousness. His thoughts became increasingly muddled, and something seemed to drift out of his body and float upward.
Let it end like this…
“Shu Li! I’m not even dead yet! The culprit who reduced you to this hasn’t died, so what the fuck are you setting yourself free for?”
His breath caught. Consciousness and pain crashed back into him at once.
Shu Li opened his eyes.
His slowly focusing gaze revealed Yu Tai’s furious face.
He suddenly gave a soft laugh.
The feverish man’s sudden smile brought an allure to his eyes and brows that had never graced his face before. For a moment, Yu Tai wondered whether the fever had cooked his brain.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Yu Tai raised four.
“Two,” he answered earnestly in a dry, hoarse voice.
Yu Tai stared at him.
It was over. The male lead had become an idiot.