After My Death, the Female Lead Breaks the Heartless Path - Chapter 10

Yin Ruolan brought Xu Jingqiu directly back to the Demon Palace. It wasn’t until Xu Jingqiu saw the familiar room that she patted Yin Ruolan’s arm, signaling that she could let go.

“But I want to hold you a little longer,” Yin Ruolan whispered, looking quite aggrieved.

Xu Jingqiu took a deep breath and sighed after a moment of hesitation. “Do you realize we no longer have any ties?”

Yin Ruolan stubbornly insisted, “But we still have the Dao Companion Contract. Shouldn’t we still be Dao Companions?”

Xu Jingqiu neither denied nor confirmed this. Instead, she turned to face Yin Ruolan. “What do you think?”

Looking into Xu Jingqiu’s emotionless eyes, Yin Ruolan held her ground for a while before finally deflating, though she still didn’t let go. After a moment, Yin Ruolan asked, “Do I still have a chance?”

What chance? Of course, she meant the chance to pursue her. In principle, Xu Jingqiu should refuse. After all, she didn’t belong here, and one day, she would have to leave.

The grievances between them should have been severed cleanly with that one sword strike. They were never meant to cross paths, regardless of whether the script written by the false Heavenly Dao existed because without that script, they would never have met in the first place.

She would have continued living in that small village, perhaps embarking on the path of cultivation, perhaps not. She might have regained her memories of her previous life by chance, or she might have lived an ordinary life here before moving on to continue her travels.

“I don’t belong to this world. What you see now is essentially just a consciousness. One day, I will leave this place,” Xu Jingqiu said slowly. This, in fact, was her ultimate concern.

To say she hadn’t developed feelings during those years together would be a lie. Even though Yin Ruolan’s intentions had been impure from the start, the time they spent together and Yin Ruolan’s genuine emotions were not fake. They were both victims of fate.

The difference was that Yin Ruolan now stood in opposition to fate, while Xu Jingqiu drifted outside of it.

“There’s no need for you to waste your time on me.”

Yin Ruolan remained silent for a moment before speaking again. “Do you still hate me?”

“I wouldn’t call it hate. From the beginning, I also had the idea of using your sword strike to leave this place. It just didn’t work out,” Xu Jingqiu replied honestly. In truth, she had never been angry about that sword strike. Ultimately, it was just the frustration of being bound and unable to leave that had caused her to lose control of her emotions.

After saying this, Xu Jingqiu seemed to hear Yin Ruolan let out a sigh of relief, followed by another question: “Then, you won’t be leaving anytime soon, right?”

“No.” She still hadn’t discovered the reason she was staying here. Her intuition told her it wasn’t because of her identity as the author, nor was it because of the contract. There was another reason, and until she found it, she couldn’t leave.

“That’s good.” Yin Ruolan hugged Xu Jingqiu, a relieved yet bittersweet smile on her face. “At least I still have the present, right? I want to cherish the moment.”

Xu Jingqiu couldn’t argue with her and simply went along with it. As she was being held, she idly glanced around and realized that Xiao Bai, who had been following her, was nowhere to be seen.

“…Did you bring Xiao Bai back?”

Yin Ruolan: …

She had forgotten about that.

When Xiao Bai was brought back, Xu Jingqiu could practically feel the overwhelming resentment radiating from him. She let out an awkward chuckle, then grabbed a scrap of paper. With a flash of light in her hand, the scrap instantly transformed into a spirit stone, a top-grade one at that.

At the sight of the top-grade spirit stone, Xiao Bai’s eyes instantly lit up. Struggling free from Yin Ruolan’s embrace, he leaped down, scurried over to Xu Jingqiu, and swallowed the stone in one gulp, completely forgetting what had happened earlier.

Yin Ruolan was still a bit dazed. “What was that just now?”

“【Bing Jie】my ability. It fundamentally alters an object’s properties, transforming it into something else I’ve analyzed. This is the legendary secret art hidden within the Heavenly Ruler,” Xu Jingqiu explained. “It’s called 【Bing Jie】 because I mostly use it to create weapons, which significantly enhances their lethality.”

Yin Ruolan nodded blankly, then thought of something else. “Are the enemies you’re dealing with very powerful?”

“The ones we’re up against are Outer Gods, beings on par with this world’s Heavenly Dao. Only those deities who invade other worlds and wreak havoc are called Outer Gods, and there’s more than one, they’re impossible to completely eradicate.” Xu Jingqiu shook her head helplessly, wondering if her absence would have any impact on the front lines.

After that, Yin Ruolan fell silent, lost in thought. Xu Jingqiu assumed she was still processing the existence of supernatural abilities and Outer Gods, so she started playing with Xiao Bai. About an hour later, Yin Ruolan received a communication from a demon soldier stationed at the Demon Palace.

“Your Majesty, two humans claim to have urgent matters to discuss with you, related to that existence. One of them resembles the Consort, and the other claims to be the young master of the Duyun Sect. Should we drive them away?” the soldier asked cautiously.

Yin Ruolan instinctively glanced at Xu Jingqiu, who frowned and muttered a single phrase: “Persistent as ghosts.”

“Should I refuse them, then?”

“No,” Xu Jingqiu shook her head. “Let them in, but separate them. Ai Yanran is probably still here for you. As for Wen Banxia, it’s hard to say if she really has something important. It’s best to go see her.”

Yin Ruolan immediately replied, “I’ll go talk to her. You’ve been out all day, do you want to rest?”

In other words, she didn’t want her to meet Wen Banxia. Did she really need to come up with such an excuse? Xu Jingqiu rolled her eyes but agreed verbally. “Mm.”

She really didn’t want to have any further entanglements with Wen Banxia either.

Yin Ruolan promptly gave the order and only left after Xu Jingqiu repeatedly assured her she wouldn’t go anywhere. The moment the door closed, Xiao Bai jumped onto the table, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. “What’s going on between you two? Made up? Are you still leaving?”

Xu Jingqiu wordlessly pushed the nosy Xiao Bai aside. “We just cleared the air. I still have to leave, after all I don’t belong here.”

“She should be at the Demon Palace now. Do you want to go see? I think I still remember the way to the Demon Palace,” Wen Banxia asked with a smile.

Ai Yanran didn’t notice why someone who claimed to have never been to the Demon Palace would “still remember” its location and urged, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Wen Banxia chuckled softly and said gently, “It’s fine, no need to rush. I can take you there by flying on my spirit sword. We’ll arrive very quickly.”

After speaking, Wen Banxia summoned her spirit sword. Ai Yanran naturally stepped forward to board it, but unexpectedly, the sword dodged to the side. If she hadn’t steadied herself by holding onto Wen Banxia, who was standing nearby, she would have surely stumbled.

A flicker of disgust passed through Wen Banxia’s eyes, but she quickly concealed it. Stepping onto the spirit sword first, she extended a hand to Ai Yanran. “Come, I’ll help you up.”

Suppressing her rising anger, Ai Yanran followed and boarded the sword.

However, as soon as they reached the entrance of the Demon Palace, they were stopped. Wen Banxia held Ai Yanran back and addressed the demon soldiers, “We wish to pay a visit to the Demon Sovereign and the Sovereign’s Consort. Would it be possible to announce our arrival?”

The Demon Sovereign was Yin Ruolan, and the Sovereign’s Consort was naturally Xu Jingqiu, who had been the subject of widespread rumors after emerging from the Demon Palace that day. Hearing this title, Ai Yanran gritted her teeth in frustration according to her system, that title should have been hers.

It was only then that Ai Yanran realized her system had been unresponsive for a long time. Frantically, she tried to call out to it in her mind, completely missing the hushed discussion between Wen Banxia and the demon soldiers.

“I know it’s not the most appropriate time, but there is an urgent matter I need to discuss with her,” Wen Banxia said earnestly. “It’s about the Heavenly Dao.” By the end, her voice had dropped to almost a whisper.

The demon soldier was startled. After giving her a look, he signaled to another soldier, then stepped aside to contact Yin Ruolan using a communication stone. A moment later, the soldier put away the stone and said to Wen Banxia, “Someone will escort you inside shortly. Do not resist.”

Wen Banxia nodded and retreated to Ai Yanran’s side. Noticing that Ai Yanran still seemed distracted, a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips. For a while now, that system had been incapable of causing any trouble.

She hoped Yin Ruolan would appreciate this gift, though she wasn’t sure if there would be a chance to see Xiao Qiu in the Demon Palace.

Unaware of what Yin Ruolan had instructed, when the attendants came to receive them, one of them promptly knocked Ai Yanran unconscious and dragged her away. The other attendant eyed Wen Banxia warily, but she calmly extended her hands and asked, “Do you need to bind me?”

The attendant shook his head. “No, the Sovereign instructed that only one person needs to be securely confined to prevent any trouble. This way, please.”

As expected, only one person came to meet her in the room Yin Ruolan. Noticing the disappointment on Wen Banxia’s face, Yin Ruolan couldn’t resist issuing a sharp warning: “Don’t even think about it. You two have nothing to do with each other anymore.”

Wen Banxia paid no heed to Yin Ruolan’s warning. “But I am still her sister, am I not?”

“I thought you severed ties after that day, especially since you haven’t seen her for so long to avoid any complications,” Yin Ruolan retorted sarcastically, taking a seat opposite Wen Banxia. “What do you want to say?”

“About a newly established organization in the cultivation world called ‘Heavenly Order.’ Have you heard of it?” Wen Banxia asked, accepting the cup Yin Ruolan pushed toward her.

Yin Ruolan pondered for a moment. Over the past few years, she had been entirely focused on resurrecting Xu Jingqiu and was unaware of such developments. “What about them?”

“The strength of Tianzhi is formidable. Penglai once launched a targeted strike against them, yet Tianzhi did not lose a single soldier or commander. On the other hand, none of the immortals sent by Penglai to subdue them ever returned. I think you could try reaching out to them. They must have extended an invitation to you.”

Yin Ruolan pondered silently for a moment before replying, “Why should I trust you?”

“Our goals are the same, aren’t they?”

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