After Stealing the Protagonist Gong's Dao Companion - Chapter 2

“Can you wake up already! He just wants to use you to escape the Barrens! He is a succubus, a complete liar! Don’t you remember Meng Jingxue’s fate?”

The System was furious.

“What fate? Didn’t they end up happily ever after with a HE?” Xie Shi muttered.

“He was also deceived by Song Yan,” the System said coldly. “His ruthless Dao heart shattered because of it, and he even fell into demonic corruption and was abandoned by everyone. These are all the wonderful things Song Yan did!”

In the original text, upon their reunion, Meng Jingxue recognized Song Yan at first glance.

However, Song Yan did not recognize him.

Song Yan had been imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison while in a semi-conscious state, so it was completely normal that he did not recognize him.

Meng Jingxue originally had no intention of entertaining Song Yan, who was trying to seduce him, and even wanted to find an opportunity to lock Song Yan back inside the Barrens.

But Song Yan was simply too beautiful.

A beautiful and fragile creature, a succubus who could only survive by depending on the whims of others.

Promiscuous and lowly.

Yet possessing a vibrant, unyielding vitality like a blazing fire.

Attracted by him, Meng Jingxue ultimately chose not to send him back to the Barrens, keeping him by his side instead.

As they spent time together, Song Yan gradually grew to harbor genuine feelings for Meng Jingxue.

The two developed mutual affection, but Meng Jingxue remained completely clear-headed from start to finish.

He knew very well that Song Yan was his romantic tribulation.

If he were to fall in love, there was only one way to resolve this tribulation:

Kill his beloved to attain the Dao.

Therefore, Meng Jingxue pretended to take Song Yan as his cultivation partner, while actually planning to kill him on their wedding day in order to pass his tribulation and ascend.

Yet no one expected that just as Meng Jingxue pierced Song Yan’s heart with a sword, Song Yan would also drive a blade straight through Meng Jingxue’s heart.

Dropping his weak and pitiful facade of many days, he burst into wild, crazed laughter.

On the very day of their reunion, Song Yan had recognized Meng Jingxue.

And on that same day, he learned that he was Meng Jingxue’s romantic tribulation.

He knew that it was Meng Jingxue who had imprisoned him in the Heavenly Prison, leaving him to struggle in agony and endure endless humiliation.

Furthermore, he knew that Meng Jingxue wanted to kill him to validate his Dao and ascend to immortality.

Therefore, he stayed by Meng Jingxue’s side, biding his time for days, solely for revenge.

Meng Jingxue’s mind and soul trembled violently; he refused to believe that everything had been a mere illusion, that Song Yan had never loved him and even hated him to the bone.

Overwhelmed by profound grief, Meng Jingxue’s spirit became unstable, and his tribulation failed.

His Dao heart shattered, and he fell into demonic corruption on the spot.

As for Song Yan, he was imprisoned once again, kept as a captive plaything.

Having listened to the System, Xie Shi suddenly turned cold. “He deserved it.”

The System choked. “What?”

Xie Shi said coldly, “As a cultivator, instead of refining himself, Meng Jingxue harmed others and took shortcuts. In the end, karmic retribution struck back. How is that anything other than deserved?”

The System was silent for a second before saying, “This is the setting of this novel; their romance is just like this: dog-blood, angsty, chasing after his wife. You have done so many missions already, you know this, right?”

Xie Shi fell silent as well.

Of course he knew. This was merely a setting.

Stories had to be full of twists and turns for the happiness at the end to be truly touching.

Yet for some reason, he suddenly felt a wave of immense dissatisfaction regarding Song Yan’s story.

He was a veteran employee.

He should not be making mistakes like this.

Xie Shi took a deep breath and muttered in a muffled voice, “I know.”

“Then hurry up and lock Song Yan back in the Heavenly Prison to correct the plot. You should be well aware that he is tricking you.” The System’s mechanical voice carried heavy static, and the warning in that sentence was exceptionally strong.

Xie Shi was just about to answer when Song Yan suddenly called out to him softly.

“Immortal.”

Song Yan leaned bonelessly against Xie Shi, his fine, soft strands of hair brushing into the crook of Xie Shi’s neck, spreading out like a giant web to trap him and making him feel as though he had walked into the spider cave.

“My feet are chafed.” Resting his head against Xie Shi’s shoulder, Song Yan whimpered pitifully, “It hurts.”

That cry of pain took many tender turns, melting right down to the bones.

It was enough to make anyone’s bones turn to mush.

Xie Shi looked down.

He saw that Song Yan’s bare feet, smooth, delicate, and resembling white jade, were now covered in bloody scratches.

When he had treated Song Yan earlier, he had clearly healed all the wounds on his body.

It was just that the Barrens were littered with shattered bones everywhere, and sometimes these bone fragments still retained lingering resentment and would attack people. If one was not careful, they would get scratched.

Not to mention that Song Yan was not even wearing shoes.

The identity the System had forged for Xie Shi was an Essence Soul stage rogue cultivator, and his sleeve universe contained several sets of dharma robes.

Xie Shi had just taken out a pink dharma robe for Song Yan to wear, hurriedly trying to cover up the man’s gorgeous physique.

Song Yan’s body was simply too fair, so fair it was almost cloying; every inch of exposed skin exuded temptation and allure.

Finding it truly difficult to resist such stunning beauty, Xie Shi had turned his back after taking out the dharma robe.

In that moment of distraction, he had completely overlooked Song Yan’s feet.

Xie Shi felt a bit annoyed. Why had he not given him a pair of shoes?

He crouched down, his fingertips touching the wounds on Song Yan’s ankles. Gentle spiritual energy gathered in his palms, quickly healing the injuries on Song Yan’s feet.

Xie Shi retrieved a pair of white cloud boots from his sleeve universe, preparing to slip them onto Song Yan.

However, Song Yan moved his feet away. Xie Shi looked up and cast a puzzled look at him.

Song Yan remained silent.

A gust of wind blew by, sweeping a few strands of long hair across his cheeks. He extended a pink-tinted fingertip, tucking the unruly hair behind his ear while lowering his head to smile at Xie Shi.

Xie Shi felt his face flush red from the smile, yet he also understood what the succubus meant.

The demon race did not like wearing clothes.

This race was passionate about displaying their powerful and perfect physical forms. Although a succubus’s physical body was not as mighty as those of other demons, tending instead toward slenderness and softness, they possessed an equally high desire to display their bodies.

Xie Shi realized that making Song Yan wear a dharma robe just moments ago must have already been quite difficult for him.

Asking him to wear shoes would probably be even more difficult.

Yet not wearing shoes would mean getting scratched again.

After thinking for a moment, Xie Shi crouched down, turned his back to Song Yan, and said, “Shall I carry you?”

Song Yan’s eyes curved happily as he climbed onto Xie Shi’s back, looped his arms around his neck, pressed close to his ear, and whispered softly, “Thank you, Immortal.”

Whenever he spoke, he was never serious, his voice carrying a damp warmth as every single word was uttered with ambiguous lingering affection.

Xie Shi’s earlobes turned bright red as well.

The System sneered: “What a pushover.”

Xie Shi pretended not to hear, carrying Song Yan on his back as he walked into the distance.

Evening was approaching.

Unlike the dead, desolate land of the Barrens, the sky here was always exceptionally beautiful.

The blood-red setting sun half-sank into the ground, with gorgeous clouds piled up beside it like burning fire.

Xie Shi looked into the distance, and the clouds there had faded into a dim blue-purple hue, tinged with a hint of pink.

It looked very dreamy.

Stars poked out from these dim clouds, twinkling brilliantly.

Nighttime in the Barrens was far more dangerous than daytime.

Yet Xie Shi did not possess any immortal artifacts that could provide shelter.

Fortunately, however, the two of them had encountered another bone spirit just a moment ago.

This bone spirit was a colossal beast, as large as a small mountain.

It was far harder to deal with than the previous bone spirits. After Xie Shi expended a great deal of effort to kill it, he discovered it was a tiger demon.

Now, nothing was left except bare, hollow bones.

Xie Shi planned to sleep leaning against it tonight, and the lingering aura on the tiger bones could also deter other bone spirits, reducing the risk of them being attacked.

“If you flew on a sword to the Heavenly Prison, it would only take a quarter of an hour,” the System said. “And you would not run into bone spirits.”

“I have never carried anyone on a sword,” Xie Shi said with a wooden expression. “What if I drop him and break him?”

The System responded simply with silence.

This reason sounded absurd, but what was even more absurd was that it was not entirely impossible.

Despite fabricating the identity of a rogue cultivator for Xie Shi, he had never undertaken missions in a cultivation world before and was not skilled in the technique of sword flight.

In fact, his skills were so abysmal that he had crashed several times just flying by himself. If he were to fly while carrying Song Yan, there would indeed be a very high risk of a crash.

The System had no counter-argument.

Song Yan sat on the ground, leaning against the pale, ghastly bones of the tiger demon, raising his head to look at Xie Shi.

Xie Shi stood to one side, gazing into the distance with a blank expression, as if lost in thought.

The magnificent glow of the sunset washed over his face, casting a warm, gentle radiance across his features.

Xie Shi’s pupils were quite light in color, and when illuminated by the bright sunlight, they looked as clear and translucent as glazed glass.

Song Yan watched him for a moment before parting his lips to ask, “Immortal, will you not sit down and rest?”

Only then did Xie Shi snap back to reality.

After going through a fierce battle, he was indeed somewhat tired.

According to the settings of Myriad Entanglements, cultivators possessed a total of ten levels:

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Essence Soul, Spirit Severing, Soul Division, Out-of-Body, Void Training, Mahayana, and Tribulation Transcendence.

He was currently only at the Essence Soul stage, whereas within the Barrens Heavenly Prison, there were plenty of powerful masters who had surpassed the Essence Soul stage.

Even though the cultivation bases of the bone spirits formed from these masters would drop, it was impossible for them to fall as low as Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining.

The Barrens were fraught with danger. The bone spirits that had chased Song Yan earlier were at the Golden Core stage, and Xie Shi had been able to handle them with ease.

But the tiger bone spirit from just now was at the true Essence Soul stage.

It had taken Xie Shi a tremendous amount of effort to kill it.

At this moment, his spiritual energy was overdrawn, and a deep sense of soreness pulsed from within his body.

Hearing Song Yan’s words, he simply crossed his legs and sat down beside Song Yan.

“My name is Xie Shi,” he said, imitating Song Yan as he leaned back against the tiger bones behind him. “I am no immortal; you can just call me by my name.”

“Mn.” Song Yan followed the flow without any extra hesitation. The moment Xie Shi spoke, he obediently changed how he addressed him.

As if lacking bones entirely, he leaned over toward Xie Shi, draped himself across his shoulder, and whispered softly, “Brother Xie.”

Xie Shi’s face instantly flushed crimson to the roots.

Brother Xie.

That was clearly what a young maiden would call her lover.

His heart hammered like a drum, and heat was practically radiating from the top of his head.

“Do not call me that!” Xie Shi’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly as he stammered. “Just call me by my name.”

His shy appearance drew a muffled chuckle from Song Yan. “Alright.”

Teasing people required a sense of moderation; if you teased too much, it would not be good.

Song Yan’s eyes curved into smiles as he asked, “Then shall I call you A-Shi, is that alright?”

A-Shi?

Xie Shi thought with a blushing face that it was alright too.

At least it was better than Brother Xie.

Hesitatingly, he nodded.

As if unable to wait a moment longer, Song Yan parted his lips and called out to him, “A-Shi.”

“Mn.”

“A-Shi.”

“Mn.”

“A-Shi,” Song Yan sighed, rubbing gently against Xie Shi’s shoulder. “You are so good.”

Xie Shi pressed his lips together in silence.

How was he good?

Xie Shi curled his fingers, thinking with bitter self-mockery that he was clearly planning to push Song Yan right back into hell.

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