After the Second Playthrough, the CP-Less Female Lead Kneels and Begs Me for Forgiveness [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 9

The moment Shao Xibei fell into the secret realm, she heard the sound of a mission completion.

Immediately after, a new task popped up:

[Ding! Protect Zhao Shuangbai from one fatal blow. (Time Limit: Inside the Bone Secret Realm). Reward: 10,000 Real-World Currency.]

“Ten thousand? That’s a massive payout,” Shao Xibei thought. Given the “scammy” nature of these tasks, the higher the reward, the more she’d likely have to pay in blood and sweat.

Shao Xibei found a relatively clean patch of open ground and sat down. She wasn’t in a hurry to find Zhao Shuangbai just yet. Since she was already here—and since she had a “cheat code” in this world—she might as well loot some treasures first.

She scanned her surroundings. The place was no different from her first visit: nothing but bones everywhere. Legend had it this was once a battlefield where humans, demons, and monsters fought a chaotic war. The humans eventually won a pyrrhic victory, but the land, having soaked up too much spiritual energy and blood, eventually vanished from the world. By the time cultivators rediscovered it, it had formed its own pocket dimension—the Bone Secret Realm.

Shao Xibei pulled a small medicine bottle from her robes. Seeing it triggered the memory of a recent conversation. This was truly the only thing giving her a headache right now—how was the “side effect” of that medicine any different from an aphrodisiac?

[System, I’ve contracted a very serious illness.]

The system silently scanned her body before concluding: [Poverty?]

[…System, since when did you learn to tell jokes? I’ve got… the “Kissing Disease.” I need the System to give me a kiss to get better.]

Shao Xibei had hesitated for a long time, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to explain the actual side effect to the system, so she tried to bluff her way through with a joke. The system seemed sufficiently disgusted and didn’t reply. In reality, back in the digital space, the system was actually searching for a definition for “Kissing Disease.”

“Fellow Daoist, are you alone?”

The voice appeared so suddenly that Shao Xibei’s heart skipped a beat. She had clearly extended her magic power to scout the area; how could someone have gotten so close without her noticing?

And that voice…

Shao Xibei looked back. Sure enough, it was Shen Yunyan.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Shen Yunyan among the Qionghua Sect group outside. She had assumed Shen wasn’t coming this time. Watching the woman approach, Shao Xibei felt a surge of bitterness. Talk about bad luck—who would want to run into this she-devil?

Shen Yunyan stopped at a polite distance, a smile on her face. She had rejected everyone who wanted to travel with her, only to encounter a rogue cultivator shortly after starting out.

Shao Xibei put on a display of wariness and dislike. Currently, she wasn’t “Shao Xibei”—she was “Bai Nan.”

She spoke bluntly, “What if I am? What if I’m not?”

Shen Yunyan’s smile remained unchanged. Her voice was soft and gentle. “Yunyan simply wishes to make a friend. I mean no malice.”

“Well, I don’t. You’re so ugly you’re hurting my eyes.”

Shao Xibei looked at Shen Yunyan’s face and marveled inwardly: She really can endure an insult.

“Beauty is but an external shell. How can a fellow Daoist reject someone based on appearances?” Shen Yunyan frowned slightly. She was naturally beautiful, and this expression made one feel pity, as if they wanted to reach out and smooth the worry from her brow.

But to Shao Xibei, this was like “winking at a blind man.”

Shao Xibei knew she couldn’t be too targeted in her hostility. Given Shen Yunyan’s suspicious nature, being overly specific would trigger her instincts, and she would chase Shao like a dog on a scent. So, she simply ignored her and began walking away.

Normally, Shen Yunyan wasn’t the type to chase after someone who had insulted her. But looking at the thin, weak back of this rogue cultivator, something stirred in her heart, and she followed anyway.

“Daoist, this realm is fraught with danger. It is too risky to be alone.”

Being near you is the real danger, Shao Xibei grumbled internally. Because Shen had dragged her into a secret realm once before, she was still salty—even if it had helped her complete a mission, being forced was different from choosing to go.

“Daoist, your silhouette is very similar to an old friend of mine.”

Shao Xibei stopped abruptly. It wasn’t because of Shen Yunyan’s words, but because something was coming.

Shen Yunyan clearly felt it too. She suppressed her aura and drew her natal weapon, the Thousand-Face Fan. Her current cultivation was weak, and secret realms never lacked powerful monsters.

The environment shifted suddenly. Shao Xibei didn’t even have time to react. Shen Yunyan’s vision blurred, and she realized the rogue cultivator had vanished, and her surroundings had transformed.

She had a rough idea of what she was facing.

A “Chan” (Craving).

It was a type of demon with no physical attack power. Instead, it specialized in creating illusions to trap people inside until it could feast on their divine sense. To anyone above the Nascent Soul stage, its illusions were useless. But Shen Yunyan was currently only at the Golden Core stage, not strong enough to resist the Chan’s weaving.

However, these demons usually wove illusions of a person’s deepest, most beautiful desires. Shen Yunyan didn’t believe she had any “beautiful” memories left that could trap her.

She raised the Thousand-Face Fan to cover the lower half of her face, leaving only her beautiful eyes exposed. She looked up, and the scene before her made her entire body tremble.

It was a bridal chamber.

A red “Double Happiness” character was pasted in the center of the wall. A small round table was draped in red cloth, holding a jug of wine and two porcelain cups. The warm yellow candlelight gave the crimson room an atmosphere of lingering intimacy.

Red bedding covered the bed entirely, and a bride wearing a red veil sat primly on the edge.

Shen Yunyan looked down at herself. She was wearing the same wedding robes. This was a wedding night, and she was currently in the middle of a ceremony with someone.

The bride seemed to sense someone’s arrival. She raised a hand to lift her veil, but paused and lowered it again, clearly restless.

Shen Yunyan didn’t move for a long time. The bride called out in a small, anxious voice: “Yanyan… is, is that you?”

Yanyan… Shen Yunyan’s breath hitched. Her fingers curled instinctively. She spoke, her voice trembling in a way no one could ignore: “Ah Xi, it’s me.”

Hearing the voice, the bride let out a massive sigh of relief. “Yanyan, come here quickly. It’s time to lift the veil.”

“Alright.” Shen Yunyan walked toward the bride with agonizingly light steps, as if afraid the person would vanish.

She slowly reached out. Her fingers hovered over the red silk for a heartbeat before she gently lifted the veil from the bottom up.

“Yanyan, we are finally cultivation partners.”

The bride’s face was revealed—it was the face of Shao Xibei.

She broke into a smile, her round dimples looking as sweet as honey. Her fair cheeks glowed beautifully under the candlelight, and her dark, bright eyes were filled with unshielded joy.

Shen Yunyan stared blankly at the person before her. Her breathing grew heavy. “Ah Xi, today… is our great day. It’s ours.”

The “Shao Xibei” in front of her didn’t seem to understand why her partner looked like she was about to cry on such a happy day. After a moment of thought, she reached out and hugged Shen Yunyan.

“Yanyan, are you not happy? Do you not want to be with Ah Xi?”

“How could that be? I’ve wanted this for two lifetimes,” Shen Yunyan whispered the last few words.

Silence fell for a moment, then Shen Yunyan heard Shao Xibei say: “Yanyan… um, so, when are we going to… consummate the marriage?”

Shen Yunyan jerked back from the embrace, her gaze fixing on Shao Xibei. Her direct, burning stare made the other girl bashful; her pale ears had already turned a deep red. Shao Xibei glanced at Shen Yunyan briefly before closing her eyes.

Shen Yunyan looked from the girl’s brow down to her lips. Those beautiful lips were painted with bright red rouge, looking like a delicate fruit ready to be plucked. Her throat moved; she felt a searing dryness.

Her Ah Xi. Right here, sitting in their bridal chamber, looking perfectly ready to be hers.

It was Ah Xi… but it wasn’t the AhXi she had spent two lifetimes yearning for.

At some point, Shen Yunyan’s eyes had turned bloodshot. A sudden, violent aura erupted from her.

The scene shifted instantly… back to the day she discovered AhXi’s soul had vanished.

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