After the Second Playthrough, the CP-Less Female Lead Kneels and Begs Me for Forgiveness [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 17

A sharp, violent pain radiated from her heart, spreading like an explosion through her limbs and bones; her spiritual power was vanishing at a terrifying speed.

Her limbs were suppressed by a fearsome will. Shen Yunyan struggled with all her might, but her strength felt like it was being poured into a boundless void—disappearing without a trace, unable to stir even a single ripple.

[Give your body to me. You really are too weak.]

The voice inside Shen Yunyan whispered, its tone carrying a sense of absolute certainty.

[Why are you still holding on? Even after returning for a whole second life, you still can’t see clearly.]

[Give it to me. I will snatch Ah Xi back.]

These words seemed to strike a nerve. Shen Yunyan’s eyes flickered, and she stole a deep, lingering look at Shao Xibei.

[…Fine.]

Shao Xibei stood up from the ground and used her demonic power to move behind Zhao Shuangbai.

Seeing Shen Yunyan’s dying state allowed Shao Xibei to breathe a sigh of relief; the Demon-Sealing Array cast by a Soul Transformation stage cultivator was enough to seal another of the same level.

Zhao Shuangbai had gathered all her spiritual power into this one strike. It was a seemingly ordinary sword thrust, yet it contained immense power. The icy spiritual energy surged into Shen Yunyan’s body, freezing her meridians, her primordial spirit, and her spiritual bones.

Shen Yunyan tremblingly reached out and grasped the long sword. She lifted her blood-stained lips, letting out a strange, distorted laugh.

“Long time no see, Zhao Shuangbai.”

“In the last life, I killed you. In this life, I will do the same.”

With those words, Shen Yunyan’s hand suddenly tightened, and she actually forced the sword out of her chest by hand. Even Zhao Shuangbai couldn’t stop her.

Blood continued to flow from her chest, but the aura radiating from Shen Yunyan became increasingly terrifying.

“I’ve had enough of living. From the start, I never planned to let any of you leave here alive,” Shen Yunyan declared.

Shao Xibei suddenly spoke, her voice flat: “You aren’t Shen Yunyan.”

The figure inhabiting Shen Yunyan’s body shook its head.

“I am Shen Yunyan, but I am the dark side that festered during those hundreds of years. I know everything about your past. In the last life, Shen Yunyan grew tired of living and killed herself. But I didn’t expect her to return to this moment—and I didn’t expect myself to still exist.”

“But, I can’t stand her constantly doing stupid things. She loves you too much… so, stay behind and be buried with her! Hahahaha!”

Shen Yunyan laughed maniacally as power began to condense at her dantian. Shao Xibei and Zhao Shuangbai felt the very space around them begin to shake.

It was collapsing.

Shao Xibei glared at Shen Yunyan. She was going to self-detonate!

The force of a Soul Transformation stage self-detonation was too massive. Both Zhao Shuangbai and Shao Xibei’s first instinct was to protect the other.

Shao Xibei gritted her teeth. “Zhao Shuangbai! You must live!” She was just a “transmigrator”; if she died, she could return to the system space. But Zhao Shuangbai only had one life.

Zhao Shuangbai had an array on her body—if she took fatal damage, the array would teleport her out.

Zhao Shuangbai realized this as well. Her pupils contracted as she watched Shao Xibei suddenly shield her. A massive wave of terror rose in her heart.

“Stop it!!!” she screamed, her emotions spiraling out of control.

Shao Xibei flashed a smile. “Heehee, Bai-bai… I’m a little sorry.”

[She’s going to self-detonate! Stop her!!!] the voice in Zhao Shuangbai’s head screamed.

No one understood Shao Xibei better than the System. The System guessed that Shao Xibei intended for her own Golden Core to self-detonate at such close range—hoping the impact would trigger Zhao Shuangbai’s protective array and force her out of the collapsing realm, even if it caused her severe injury.

Self-detonation is impossible to stop; it is a self-destruction that begins from the internal core. No external force can stop someone determined to blow themselves up.

The System never expected this “idiot” to think this way. It tried to retreat into Shao Xibei’s sea of consciousness at lightning speed.

But in the next second! Shao Xibei’s body shattered before their eyes.

Zhao Shuangbai had no defenses against Shao Xibei. The impact of Shao Xibei’s detonation dealt massive damage to Zhao Shuangbai, triggering her protective array instantly.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Shuangbai vanished from the secret realm. In the moment of her disappearance, she could no longer see the twisted jealousy or the hidden pain in Shen Yunyan’s expression.

“Look, it’s the Eldest Senior Sister!” someone shouted.

Qing Si flew over, finding Zhao Shuangbai lying on the ground, her body mangled and her life hanging by a thread. She immediately took a high-grade healing pill from her storage bag and fed it to her. The external wounds began to heal at a rapid pace.

However, Qing Si noticed something was wrong. This woman, usually as cold as ice, was staring blankly at the void—the direction where the entrance to the secret realm had been.

Qing Si looked up. Perhaps it was an illusion, but the trembling void had now returned to a deathly silence.

Zhao Shuangbai was the last person to exit the secret realm. Given her condition, now was not the time for questions. More importantly, Qing Si realized she could no longer discern Zhao Shuangbai’s cultivation level.

Qing Si tried to help her up, but Zhao Shuangbai stood up silently on her own.

She said hoarsely, “Elder, this disciple shall return first.”

Qing Si nodded and said no more. She checked the other disciples; although they had gained nothing this time, there were no casualties. It was a learning experience.

“All disciples, hear my command: Return to the sect.”

The Qionghua Sect departed, but others remained, still observing the anomaly of the secret realm.

The Aftermath

Upon her return, Zhao Shuangbai immediately reported to the Sect Leader. She disclosed her current cultivation but remained completely silent about everything else that had transpired.

The Sect Leader was overjoyed, as he truly regarded Zhao Shuangbai as his own daughter.

On her way back, she encountered Wan Qianci—Shao Xibei’s uncle—who had come out of seclusion. His eyes were bloodshot, frantically searching for something, clutching a broken jade rabbit carving in his hand.

But this had nothing to do with her.

Returning to her residence, she saw the stone bed and slowly ran her hand over it. Thinking of something, the corners of Zhao Shuangbai’s mouth curled into a faint, gentle smile.

Yet, starting from the roots, Zhao Shuangbai’s hair began to turn white.

As if sensing her own condition, she murmured, “Now I have white hair, just like you.”

The disciples soon discovered that their respected Eldest Senior Sister’s hair had turned completely white. She sat like a jade statue, her gaze toward others devoid of any emotion. She was as cold as the personification of a glacier.

Everyone sensed that something was wrong after she returned from the secret realm, but her pressure grew more immense by the day. Even Fang Si and Fang Nian, the siblings closest to her, dared not ask.

The Sect Leader tried to inquire, but Zhao Shuangbai only looked at him with emotionless eyes. He was powerless to do anything.

Li He was healed, but he remembered nothing. Zhao Shuangbai visited him once; she wondered if she could use a similar technique to bring Shao Xibei back, but she feared that the person resurrected would be a monster.

Ming Zhu noticed that Shen Yunyan was nowhere to be found. When she mentioned it to an elder during training, Zhao Shuangbai immediately pointed a sword at her throat. The pressure was staggering, and her icy eyes finally showed an emotion—one of pure, terrifying hostility. Ming Zhu was forced to her knees by the sheer weight of the aura.

From then on, no one in the Qionghua Sect dared to mention the name “Shen Yunyan.”

The Wedding

One day, a thunderous announcement shook the Qionghua Sect: Zhao Shuangbai was to hold a Dao-companion ceremony.

The Sect Leader was initially delighted that his prize pupil had finally found a loved one. He asked her to bring the person for a visit, saying background didn’t matter as long as their character was good.

Zhao Shuangbai smiled, a light returning to her eyes. She said, “You will see her when the contract is sealed.”

Taking her word for it and seeing her happy state, the Sect Leader joyfully ordered the preparations. The Eldest Disciple of Qionghua Sect was getting married.

The ceremony was grand. The entire cultivation world, including rogue cultivators, attended.

On that day, word spread through the cultivation world that Zhao Shuangbai, the genius of Qionghua Sect, had gone mad.

On that day, Zhao Shuangbai was dressed in vibrant red wedding robes. With a smile on her face, she was beautiful enough to make all of creation lose its luster. She tilted her head slightly, as if listening to someone beside her, her eyes filled with deep, doting affection.

But there was clearly no one beside her.

Yet, Zhao Shuangbai acted as if she were holding someone’s hand, her right hand slightly raised and curled in a translucent grip from beginning to end.

This eerie and absurd ceremony, with only one visible person, concluded nonetheless. From then on, a rumor persisted: Zhao Shuangbai was insane, driven mad by the events of the secret realm.

However, another rumor whispered that Zhao Shuangbai had lost her true love and her hair had turned white from grief; the wedding was held solely out of an unbearable longing.

Years later, the disciples of Qionghua Sect no longer saw their Eldest Senior Sister. Whenever they asked the Sect Leader, he only sighed and said nothing.

But occasionally, news would drift through the cultivation world.

They spoke of two white-haired rogue cultivators who often helped those in distress. Both were likely wearing disguises, possessing ordinary faces that one would forget in a crowd. But their bearing was anything but ordinary.

One always had eyes curved in a smile; the other was always expressionless.

If one didn’t see the expressionless one kneeling down to tidy the other’s skirt, they might think she hated the smiling one.

Perhaps only the one with the sweet dimples knew that the cold, icy woman… wasn’t cold at all.

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