After My Death, the Female Lead Breaks the Heartless Path - Chapter 23

Some time ago.

“Request: Activate the treatment room.” Xu Jingqiu clutched her left eye as she gave the order, her voice trembling slightly.

The environment quickly shifted. A cylindrical structure emerged in the center of the room, then slowly opened.

Liu Ruichu’s injuries were mostly healed by now. Noticing Xu Jingqiu’s unstable condition, she reached out to help her up, but Xu Jingqiu stopped her.

Xu Jingqiu said, “First, place her in the treatment pod inside the cylinder. She’ll recover soon.”

“What about you?”

Xu Jingqiu took a deep breath, enduring the sharp pain radiating from her brain. “I’m used to it. I just need to rest over there for a while.”

With that, Xu Jingqiu walked to the side, closed her eyes to recuperate, and began soothing the injuries sustained during her confrontation with the Heavenly Dao faction. The Heavenly Dao hadn’t harmed her much, but the aggravation of old wounds was somewhat troublesome.

After a moment’s thought, she added as a precaution, “Request: Generate a log.”

{System generating. Generation complete. Abnormal condition detected. Would you like additional treatment services?}

“No need. Focus on treating the two of them. Also, extend care to the other demons in the secret realm.” She estimated that when the Heavenly Dao constructs appeared earlier, the demons must have encountered them as well and likely suffered injuries.

Watching the demons on the monitor rejoice as their wounds healed, Xu Jingqiu breathed a sigh of relief and settled down to tend to her own injuries. Even if she forgot something now, it didn’t matter, she could always check the system log later. As for treatment, it wasn’t necessary. Her wounds were etched deep into her soul, and sometimes, forgetting was for the best.

During the earlier battle, Ai Yanran had used some method to appear directly in the control room where Xu Jingqiu was and launched an attack. Juggling control of the secret realm’s systems while fending off Ai Yanran’s assault had temporarily put her at a disadvantage.

But intuition told Xu Jingqiu that this wasn’t the real cause of her old injuries flaring up. Yet, she couldn’t recall any details of the fight, and even her earlier memories were beginning to fade.

Well, if she could still remember after waking up, she’d just check the log. With that thought, Xu Jingqiu slowly drifted into sleep, only waking when she felt someone touching her.

Opening her eyes to a somewhat unfamiliar yet familiar scene, Xu Jingqiu felt momentarily confused about why she was there. Seeing Wen Banxia standing frozen, still bearing the marks of injury, it took her a while to recall what had happened earlier.

How much time had passed in the secret realm? Xu Jingqiu instinctively pulled up the panel and saw that full control had been restored, meaning she could now open the path to the next level directly. “Hiss, it seems we can leave now. I’ll have it open the door to the middle layer. What’s wrong?”

Xu Jingqiu noticed Wen Banxia staring at her with a pale face and thought her injuries might not have healed.

But Wen Banxia only forced a faint smile. “It’s nothing. Could you stay and rest with me a little longer?”

Xu Jingqiu thought for a moment, then summoned a screen with a wave of her hand. “Query: Current time.”

{Midnight, 1:00 AM.}

“Is it night already? Time really flies.” Xu Jingqiu stood up. “Request: display surveillance of all rooms with living occupants.” She enlarged the screen so Wen Banxia could also see the images clearly.

Many demons were scattered across various rooms, mostly in a state where one kept watch while others rested. Surprisingly, Yin Ruolan was in the same room as Ai Yanran, with the two keeping a considerable distance between them. Ai Yanran bore numerous wounds, and a closer look revealed bloodstains on Yin Ruolan’s clothes.

These two Xu Jingqiu’s eyes darkened. She hadn’t expected them to end up together again. She instructed the secret realm’s system to monitor this room closely. However, after that, the two in the room simply sat apart. Aside from Ai Yanran frequently glaring at Yin Ruolan with venomous eyes, there was no interaction between them.

After confirming everything was fine, Xu Jingqiu thought for a moment and agreed: “Yes, it’s night. Let’s rest for the evening and set out again tomorrow. Sleep well, it’s absolutely safe here.”

Wen Banxia didn’t lie down immediately. After hesitating for a while, she resolved to ask one last time: “Xiao Qiu, do you still remember what happened back at Duyun Sect?”

Xu Jingqiu happened to not feel sleepy. Upon hearing this, she pondered but found no relevant memories likely unimportant. “I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s all in the past and not important.”

“Could it be related to that strange incident when you were injured before? I recall you seemed disoriented for a moment. The Heavenly Rule Ruler told me you were trapped in an illusion for a while, which caused your injury. When I’m not around, the Heavenly Rule Ruler’s power diminishes significantly. If your will isn’t firm, its strength decreases too.”

“That’s why the defense broke suddenly earlier.”

Wen Banxia was somewhat surprised: “You know, what happened here? Weren’t you absent?”

“The Heavenly Rule Ruler is damaged too, I can feel it.” Xu Jingqiu shook her bracelet, revealing a crack on it.

Wen Banxia lowered her eyes, full of remorse: “I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize, it’s not your fault. Besides, I asked it to protect you. If you fell for a trick and got hurt, that’s its failure.”

The Heavenly Rule Ruler vibrated indignantly but to no avail, soon quieting down, its luster dimming considerably.

Wen Banxia: “Earlier, I suddenly saw the scene from that day again, but from your perspective. I was distracted for a moment and got injured.”

Xu Jingqiu nodded in understanding: “So that’s what happened? That’s His usual method targeting people’s minds, altering their perceptions or dragging them into illusions before striking, since His own actual power isn’t much to speak of.”

Altering perceptions? No wonder the situation always leaned overwhelmingly in Ai Yanran’s favor at Duyun Sect. It seems it was all the doing of this Heavenly System. But Xu Jingqiu back then certainly wouldn’t have known that. So, what was she thinking when facing those people?

And that elder back then Wen Banxia later heard he went berserk during cultivation. Probably the work of the Heavenly Dao too, since he was the only one who still sided with Xu Jingqiu at the time.

Xu Jingqiu could tell at a glance that Wen Banxia had sunk into deep thought again, lost in memories of the past. She sighed and spoke to her earnestly, “You need to look forward, Sister.”

Wen Banxia jolted, staring at Xu Jingqiu in disbelief, as if she had heard something unimaginable. “What did you just call me?”

“Wen Banxia,” Xu Jingqiu lied without batting an eye, though her gaze wavered slightly.

Wen Banxia chuckled softly. Just like when they were children whenever she lied, her eyes would dart away, unable to meet Wen Banxia’s gaze. Look forward, huh…

It suddenly dawned on her that forcing Xu Jingqiu to recall the past wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Aside from a few early childhood memories, most of the past was bitter.

“Xiao Qiu, has anyone ever told you that you’re too kind, too gentle?” Wen Banxia said. “Forgetting the past might be for the best. Xiao Qiu, from now on think more about yourself.”

Xu·often called a lunatic by her enemies·Jingqiu: ?

Since when was she that kind of person? She felt like she had always been thinking of herself. Wasn’t it better for both of them to let go and move on?

“By the way,” Wen Banxia suddenly smiled and looked at Xu Jingqiu, “Can you call me that again?”

Xu Jingqiu: ? “Call you what?”

“You must have misheard earlier,” Xu Jingqiu insisted firmly.

Wen Banxia smiled. Hearing Xu Jingqiu call her “sister” once more was enough she didn’t dare ask for more.

And so, the night passed without sleep.

Earlier.

Yin Ruolan moved expressionlessly through the black sand, casually crushing the head of an oncoming Heavenly Construct and tossing it aside.

This was the last one here. Watching the black sand dissipate, Yin Ruolan nodded to the demons nearby and continued forward, leaving no Constructs in her wake unscathed.

Finally, she stopped in an empty room, watching the door behind her slowly close before turning her gaze to the disheveled figure kneeling on the ground.

“Who would have thought our esteemed Divine Maiden would end up like this?” Yin Ruolan sneered mercilessly, the crimson in her eyes undiminished, demonic energy roiling around her.

Ai Yanran struggled to lift her head despite the excruciating pain in her mind, blood-streaked tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. She could feel the killing intent radiating from Yin Ruolan. Frantically calling for her system to find an escape route, she remained on guard.

She hadn’t forgotten the day Yin Ruolan, Wen Banxia, and Chen Yulan had joined forces to kill her. She had sworn to take revenge but not like this, powerless and defenseless.

Once she recovered, she would definitely…

“Which hand did you use to hurt her? This one?” Yin Ruolan crouched in front of her, grabbed her right wrist, and twisted it until it snapped.

“Ah!” Ai Yanran cried out in agony, collapsing halfway to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Yin Ruolan stood up as if nothing had happened, a slight upward curve on her lips, looking every bit like a demonic asura from hell.

Lunatic. She was a complete lunatic, utterly indifferent to others’ suffering! Ai Yanran glared at Yin Ruolan with pure hatred, nearly grinding her teeth as she spat out, “What have I done to offend you this time?”

“You hurt her,” Yin Ruolan said coldly, mercilessly crushing the sword that had charged at her from nowhere.

“Tsk, still no improvement. All you know are these underhanded tricks utterly useless. After all these years, you truly haven’t grown at all.”

Ai Yanran had not expected it to be because of that good-for-nothing Xu Jingqiu. She immediately gnashed her teeth in fury and exclaimed, “Her again! Why? Why do you always side with her? What right does she have? She’s nothing but a commoner!”

Yin Ruolan’s gaze sharpened. “So that’s how it is? As expected, you’re no different.”

Ai Yanran’s expression stiffened. She abruptly raised her head and glared at Yin Ruolan. “It’s you! So, you’re that coward! What, now that you’ve changed your identity, you dare challenge me? How enlightening.”

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