Chapter 79
“That person was me,” Yu Tai said with certainty.
Shu Li nodded.
After listening to Shu Li’s worldview-shattering explanation, Yu Tai suddenly remembered something.
When she finished reading the novel, she had been so busy flooding the comments with insults about the saintly male lead that she seemed to have overlooked one detail.
Hadn’t there been a line of tiny print on the final page?
[Yes… That’s right.]
The voice that suddenly appeared made Yu Tai’s eyelid twitch.
[System?]
The System’s weary voice sounded in her mind. [It’s me, Host.]
[Time is limited, so I’ll keep this brief.]
[The line you just mentioned actually said: To be continued.]
[The entire first half of the book took place in the false world. From the very beginning, the male lead was already the ruler of the Three Realms. The second half, which you transmigrated before you could read, was about the male lead killing the supposed heroine and finally returning to reality.]
Yu Tai was shocked. [He killed Xia Mo? Why?!]
After a moment of silence, the System explained, [Because he grew bored…]
[You actually noticed it while reading the first half, didn’t you? The male lead and the supposed heroine never even held hands. For a romance novel, their relationship was far too platonic.]
[In truth, the male lead never fell in love with the heroine. When the false world completed its hundredth cycle, he killed everyone and returned to reality alone.]
[I can’t stay with you anymore, Host… This world is far more dangerous than the main system anticipated. I have to leave…]
Yu Tai: [Oh. I won’t see you off.]
System: [???]
During that brief conversation with the System, the emotion in Shu Li’s previously tranquil eyes abruptly changed. “Who are you talking to?”
Yu Tai met his gaze without changing expression. “Who else is here besides you?”
Sure enough, after Shu Li spoke, Yu Tai clearly felt something being stripped out of her body before disappearing completely.
She rose and looked down at Shu Li. “The two of us aren’t suitable for each other. Besides, I have a high-grade Demon-Concealing Pearl now, so I don’t need you-”
Crack.
The sound of something breaking at her neck made Yu Tai freeze.
She looked down. The blood-red pearl that had hung around her neck had split in two and fallen to the floor.
“Now you need me.” Shu Li pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her lips.
The instant Yu Tai recovered, she swung another slap at him without hesitation.
This time, however, Shu Li seemed prepared and caught her wrist.
Yu Tai narrowed her eyes, visibly angered.
Shu Li sighed softly. “Please don’t be angry.”
“If you’re unhappy, you may throw a tantrum or hit me.”
“But please don’t think about leaving me, and don’t say that you don’t need me.”
He lowered his eyes, sorrow lingering between his brows. His damp gaze made him look rather pitiful.
Yu Tai expressionlessly pushed him away and walked toward the door.
The sorrow on Shu Li’s face abruptly vanished as scarlet instantly crept into the whites of his eyes. “Yu Tai?”
Without looking back, Yu Tai said, “Don’t talk to me. I’m throwing a tantrum.”
The man radiating a terrifying aura instantly returned to his former appearance as an elegant gentleman.
He followed Yu Tai, a smile playing on his lips. “As you command, my wife.”
…
Yu Tai hadn’t expected to encounter someone so unexpected while merely taking a walk.
Shu Li had stuck to her like glue these past few days, but for once, he wasn’t with her today. Shihua had said that some problem had apparently arisen among the cultivators again.
None of that mattered. What mattered was that Yu Tai finally had time to take a walk and relax.
Unexpectedly, she ran into that person.
A black-robed young man stood at the other end of the pebble path, backlit so that his features couldn’t be seen.
Yet that single glance was enough for her to recognize him. “Jiang Li?”
When he heard her call his name, the previously motionless young man abruptly walked toward her.
Compared with the last time she saw him, Jiang Li now carried a distinct air of maturity and composure.
After examining Yu Tai, Jiang Li nodded. “You seem to be doing well.”
Yu Tai replied, “You seem well too. At least you no longer tell everyone they smell delicious.”
Hearing the mockery in her words, Jiang Li’s gaze shifted uneasily. In the end, he still explained, “You should have heard from my lord that I voluntarily yielded the position of Demon Lord to him.”
“At the time, my lord didn’t trust me. To demonstrate my loyalty, I implanted myself with the Thousand Threads Gu.”
“The person who possesses the mother gu must use their own flesh and blood to nourish the child gu. If it isn’t fed, the host of the child gu will inevitably die of bloodlust.”
At that point, he raised his eyes to Yu Tai. “I had no memories in that world. When we first met, you carried my lord’s aura, so naturally I couldn’t restrain myself.”
Yu Tai raised an eyebrow. “Why did you yield the position of Demon Lord to Shu Li?”
A feverish, almost pathological fanaticism abruptly appeared on Jiang Li’s face. “I merely wanted to see what changes someone so powerful would bring to the world after ascending that throne.”
“Pervert,” Yu Tai said succinctly.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Jiang Li replied modestly.
After a brief conversation, neither of them mentioned their delicate blood relationship.
Watching the young man walk away, Yu Tai felt somewhat emotional.
Who could have imagined that Jiang Li was the older half-brother of this body?
Shu Li had been the one to tell her. Apparently, the former Demon Lord had two favored concubines. One gave birth to Jiang Li, while the other gave birth to Yu Tai the following year.
The Demon Lord treated Jiang Li as his heir and gave him his father’s surname, while Yu Tai could only take her mother’s surname.
Claiming to owe his daughter a great deal, the Demon Lord placed his entire inheritance in a ring before his death and told her to flee with it.
Unfortunately, the original owner assumed it was worthless and threw it away along the road. Somehow, it eventually fell into the System’s hands and, through a strange twist of fate, returned to Yu Tai.
After disposing of his father’s killers, Jiang Li successfully ascended to the position of Demon Lord. He held it until Shu Li appeared, at which point he willingly handed over the throne.
After reflecting on the strange turns of fate, Yu Tai decided it was about time to return.
The moment she turned around, she saw one large and one small figure standing behind her.
The young man whose features combined both of theirs waved at Yu Tai. “Yu Tai! Come home for dinner!”
For some reason, the word “home” touched something in Yu Tai’s heart.
When she didn’t move, the young man tilted his head. After receiving permission from the man beside him, he ran over, embraced Yu Tai, and acted spoiled. “Yu Tai?”
The man also approached. He pulled down the young man’s overly clingy arms and wrapped his own arm around Yu Tai’s waist. “You saw Jiang Li.”
It was a statement, not a question.
Yu Tai lifted her eyelids and glanced at him. “Didn’t you have something to do?”
Shu Li’s lips curved into a smile. “No matter how busy I am, I must still come back and accompany my wife for dinner.”
Xia Mo pouted in dissatisfaction and hugged Yu Tai’s other arm. “That’s right. No matter how hungry this panda is, I still have to come and get Yu Tai for dinner.”
Dragged back between the two of them, Yu Tai froze in surprise.
The luxurious room from before was gone. In its place stood a simple, old-fashioned house.
A small cottage stood beside the larger house. A fence surrounded it, with a little table and chairs in the courtyard. Nearby, an enormous, ugly demon beast was dozing.
Without question, this was Yu Tai’s cave dwelling.
Xia Mo ran in front of Yu Tai and announced with a smile, “Surprise!”
Shu Li also reached out and touched her cheek. “Do you like it?”
He had noticed that Yu Tai wasn’t accustomed to living here, so he had found a way to recreate her home from the false world.
Yu Tai pursed her lips and looked away. “Mm… It’s certainly a surprise.”
“Where’s dinner? I’m hungry.”
At the sound of Yu Tai’s voice, the illusion beast opened its enormous, bell-like eyes and called out as though welcoming her home.
Yu Tai hadn’t expected Shu Li to bring this creature out as well.
Everything in the false world had been fabricated, but whether human or beast, their souls were real.
Yu Tai praised the illusion beast for “becoming prettier,” making it so excited that the sparse hairs on its head trembled.
Shu Li’s cooking remained so delicious that it practically melted on the tongue. After scolding Xia Mo, who nearly ate his bowl along with the food, and telling him to mind his table manners, Shu Li expertly served Yu Tai another bowl of porridge.
Everything seemed to have changed, yet nothing had changed at all.
That night, Yu Tai, for once, didn’t drive away Shu Li when he secretly climbed through her window.
Shu Li embraced her and kissed her cheek. “You’ve ignored me for so many days. Has my wife’s anger finally subsided?”
Yu Tai snorted. “I never agreed to become your wife.”
Shu Li chuckled and held her tighter. “We have already done everything husband and wife do. How could it not count?”
Ignoring his teasing, Yu Tai suddenly said, “I told you before that because I failed to retrieve your sword, you could ask me for anything you wanted. That offer still stands.”
Shu Li brushed his lips against her earlobe. “My answer has remained the same from beginning to end.”
“I want you, Yu Tai.” Though his raised eyes were calm, they were filled with undisguised desire and absolute determination to possess her.
Yu Tai patted his cheek. “Oh? If you want me, you’ll have to pay a price.”
As though he had prepared long ago, Shu Li smoothly placed something into Yu Tai’s hand.
Yu Tai looked down. It was an entirely black object faintly streaked with threads of blood.
Seeing her confusion, Shu Li explained, “This is my heart.”
“Crush it, and my soul will immediately be destroyed.” His voice was exceptionally gentle, carrying even a hint of temptation.
He pulled the still-stunned Yu Tai into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I offer you my life as the price.”
“If I am ever unfaithful to you or make you unhappy…”
“Then kill me,” he said earnestly.
Holding that dangerously precious object, Yu Tai suddenly laughed. “You madman.”
Then she seized the man’s collar and pushed him down onto the bed.
Straddling him, Yu Tai swept her overly long hair behind her, lowered her eyes, and kissed Shu Li’s heart in her hand.
“Then it shall be as you wish.”