Black Lotus Female Lead, Don’t Love Me Too Much - Chapter 2

The Halls of the Twelve Ghost Kings turned to dust in an instant, before the nearby demonic cultivators could even react.

However, the mountain of lotus-shaped spiritual energy atop the Ghost King’s palace—solid as a physical mass and towering several times higher than any mountain peak—filled them with such profound dread that none dared to approach.

This gave Song Shenshi the time she needed to rescue the boys and girls imprisoned by the Ghost King and to hunt down the King’s lingering soul fragments.

“Ah—!”

A startled cry echoed from the depths of the dungeon. A woman dressed in plain cloth jolted awake from a nightmare, clutching her sweat-drenched collar, her eyes scanning her surroundings in sheer terror.

“I… succeeded? Oh, man.”

This was the newly resurrected Lu Xiangyu. She had plenty to say, but for now, she had to focus on running for her life.

Panicked and disoriented, Lu Xiangyu threw open the cell door and peered into the darkness. She recalled the dungeon’s layout: a long, narrow tunnel buried beneath the mountain that led straight to the human realm.

This path had been built to facilitate the Ghost King’s abduction of beautiful youths, but Lu Xiangyu had already ordered her subordinates to move the remaining children to cells closer to the palace. That way, the female lead would encounter them immediately upon entering, buying Lu Xiangyu enough time for her escape.

Nodding to herself as she recalled the route, she dashed into the darkness without looking back.

As long as she left the Demon Realm, she would surely live!

In truth, Lu Xiangyu’s escape wasn’t guaranteed. Because the dungeon’s structure was so simple, Song Shenshi could easily catch up once she finished securing the prisoners.

Furthermore, Lu Xiangyu’s resurrected body couldn’t travel too far from her original self, meaning her current position was still a long way from the entrance to the human realm. Lu Xiangyu was now inhabiting a truly human body; while she could forcibly ignite the demonic qi in her soul fragments to fly briefly, doing so would be tantamount to exposing her location prematurely.

She had to rely on her own two feet to finish this journey.

The agony of her soul being torn apart was unbearable. Though she couldn’t physically feel it, she could sense the pain and extreme terror radiating from the half of her soul that had just experienced death.

Fortunately, Lu Xiangyu was a demon. Such injuries couldn’t break the core of a True Demon. Leaning against the wall for support, she pressed on with grim determination, her goal unwavering.

“In the novel, I’m just a whetstone for the female lead to sharpen her sword. Once she’s done with me, I’m meant to be tossed aside…” Lu Xiangyu smiled coldly, imagining the light of the human world peering through a distant cave entrance.

“But I’m not some evil-to-the-core demonic cultivator… I’m just a useless intern. At most, I’d just be a little office clerk slacking off at work.”

“So please, let me live. It’s fine—once I reach the human realm, I won’t do anything evil ever again…”

This romance novel, titled The Immortal-Slaying Sword, told the story of the female lead Song Shenshi’s rise to power and the various adventures she encountered on her path to immortality.

Song Shenshi was the ultimate “Strong Female Lead.” She had a vast harem of followers, and she was incredibly powerful.

In this book, the cultivation ranks were simplified by the author into: Awakened — Immortal Forging — God Transformation — Godhood. For demonic cultivators, the “Immortal Forging” stage was known as becoming a True Demon.

There were insurmountable chasms between each stage. Even for the protagonist, killing someone of a higher rank was impossible because one’s very nature changed upon crossing into a new stage.

Take the “cannon fodder” villain Lu Xiangyu, for example. Born to slaves in the Demon Realm, she possessed the seed of a demonic soul from birth. It was easiest for demonic cultivators to cultivate a True Demon soul; Lu Xiangyu had reached this stage a hundred years ago and had simultaneously forged a True Demon body.

Much like Immortal Forging, a demonic cultivator needed a True Demon body, soul, and bone to completely transcend into a demon.

So, how could Song Shenshi—who had only just touched the Immortal Forging stage and possessed only an Immortal Body—kill her as easily as crushing an ant?

Lu Xiangyu knew that if the original version of herself had known this calamity was coming, she might have gathered her strength to face the female lead head-on. But anyone who had read the book knew that if you hadn’t reached the complete Immortal Forging stage, you were still human—neither immortal nor demon.

And an Immortal Body was at its absolute strongest at the very beginning, when its source spiritual power was most abundant.

Dammit… Song Shenshi is a lunatic…

A century had passed since Lu Xiangyu obtained her True Demon body. Without a True Demon bone to maintain it, her realm had long since regressed. Song Shenshi had taken advantage of the moment her own Immortal Body was at its peak to charge into the Demon Realm alone and slay Lu Xiangyu just as she was about to become a full True Demon.

Game over.

Or it should have been.

However, the price Lu Xiangyu paid for her “Golden Cicada Shedding its Skin” escape plan was immense.

Back when she was reading the serialized version of The Immortal-Slaying Sword before it went on hiatus, she knew almost the entire plot. Thus, after transmigrating, she immediately began searching for materials to nurture this physical body in a hidden paradise.

Later, she spent a vast amount of time engraving her soul signature. Even so, Lu Xiangyu still suffered from frequent dizzy spells, as if her soul were being pulled away.

That was because a portion of her soul fragments, slain by Song Shenshi, was being absorbed by the abyss of the Demon Realm and was calling her back.

“I need to hurry. I have to get out of here.”

Lu Xiangyu panted heavily in the dark tunnel, mindlessly pulling a large clump of moss from the damp wall.

Staggering, she struggled toward the light of the entrance.

Finally, Lu Xiangyu saw the daylight of the human world.

The horizon was bright white, the air still, and the mountains were filled with the songs of birds and the scent of flowers. A stream flowed quietly, brushed by the gentle leaves of willow trees.

“Waaaaahhhh!”

As if her health bar had instantly refilled, Lu Xiangyu began jumping for joy. She greedily gulped down the fresh air, her feet splashing into the stream, sending up sprays of water.

Lu Xiangyu was truly happy.

“I’m alive! I’m alive! Hahaha!”

She played gleefully in the stream, heading downward until she found a deep pond.

Lu Xiangyu got herself completely soaked. She stripped off her clothes, tossed them onto a rock, and waded in to bathe. Little fish, unafraid of humans, brushed against her body; she caught them with practiced ease and tossed them onto the bank. The fish flopped about.

“Hahaha! That was easy! Looks like I’ve got dinner tonight!”

“I’m gonna eat another one!”

“And another!”

“…”

Lu Xiangyu caught ten fish. She picked four to keep, three managed to flop back into the pond, and she satisfiedly gathered her remaining prizes. The last three were destined for the gutting knife.

“Not bad, not bad at all. I’m in for a treat…”

Lu Xiangyu prepared to put on some clothes and find some branches in the woods to start a fire. After all, she was in a human body now, and she was hungry.

“Hungry? They should pay me for the sponsorship!”

She let out a strange yelp, turning back only to find nothing but a dark damp patch on the rock where her clothes had been. Her outfit was nowhere to be found.

“What’s going on? Did a wild monkey snatch them? Surely there isn’t a pervert around here…” She tilted her head slightly and caught sight of a cyan figure perched atop a willow tree by the stream.

A female cultivator in a cyan Taoist robe sat there quietly, idly playing with something in her hand. A few sets of ordinary civilian clothes hung from a nearby branch, swaying gently in the breeze.

Realizing Lu Xiangyu had spotted her, Song Shenshi raised her sword, hooked the clothes with the tip, and draped them over Lu Xiangyu’s soaking wet head.

Lu Xiangyu’s entire face flushed scarlet.

She wouldn’t be kind enough to wait for me to finish bathing just to kill me, would she? she thought nervously.

In the original world of the novel, demons were cruel and inhumane, and cultivators lived by the creed of exorcising evil; the two sides were utterly irreconcilable. To make matters worse, the woman standing before her was the story’s legendary protagonist.

Yet, despite the odds, Lu Xiangyu’s will to live remained fierce. Even a mayfly treasures its brief life; fearing a violent death is a biological instinct.

Her lips trembled before she bit down on them. With tears welling in her eyes, Lu Xiangyu quickly pulled on the clothes—which had been flash-dried by spiritual energy—and looked up at the figure in the tree.

“Thank you for drying my clothes! You’re a good person!” Lu Xiangyu shouted.

She then scurried back to the pile of half-dead river fish with her ears still burning red.

“I have to get home now,” she said hurriedly. “These fish are for dinner for me and my father. My house is just at the foot of the mountain. I’ll leave three for you as thanks for the clothes.”

She gathered four fish into her arms and turned to leave.

Song Shenshi remained silent for a moment.

Lu Xiangyu knew it wouldn’t be that easy to slip away. Sure enough, on her fifth step, a sword descended from the sky. A sharp burst of spiritual energy split the stone at her toes clean in half.

“Wah!” Startled, Lu Xiangyu fell back onto the river stones. It hurt—so much so that tears actually squeezed out.

“Waaa… Immortal Sister, why are you doing this to me? If I don’t make dinner, my father will beat me, waaa…”

Seemingly unable to watch the act any longer, Song Shenshi leaped lightly from the willow branch and walked slowly toward the sword hilt. She tilted her head, looking at Lu Xiangyu with a gaze filled with deep pity, as if she were looking at an ignorant insect.

Then, she spoke. Her voice, more melodious than the stream or the birdsong, reached Lu Xiangyu’s ears.

“There are no homes at the foot of the mountain. Every last villager was slaughtered by your subordinates.” She looked at Lu Xiangyu and gripped her sword.

“Wait!” Lu Xiangyu shielded her face with her hands in terror. “That was Zeng Hongfei’s doing! I never ordered him to kill anyone!”

“Heh.” She heard a soft, mocking chuckle.

“So, you are that demoness?”

Trapped.

Lu Xiangyu snapped awake, a chill running through her body. But within half a second, she performed a seamless transition into a sliding kneel, prostrating herself deeply at Song Shenshi’s feet.

“Exalted Immortal, I just want to live! I only have a remnant soul now, and this body is strictly human—you can see that, can’t you! I don’t want to be a demon. Before, I had no choice, but now I want to…”

“Be a good person?”

“Yes, yes, exactly…”

“Do you think that’s possible?” Song Shenshi asked back mildly.

“It is! I swear to the heavens!”

Lu Xiangyu looked up with an expression of martyrdom, her gaze remarkably firm. She frowned and raised her palm. “I swear that I, Lu Xiangyu, am absolutely a good person! And I will continue to be a good person forever!”

“…”

Song Shenshi watched her and slowly crouched down. Her beautiful face drew closer, the gentleness in her eyes almost tangible.

She reached out softly, stroking Lu Xiangyu just as she had right before Lu Xiangyu “died”—with that same gentle, pitying touch one might give a child.

“This face isn’t as beautiful as the one you had then,” Song Shenshi evaluated fairly. “It’s a bit rounder.”

“…” A lump of frustration caught in Lu Xiangyu’s throat. Of course it is! I even shaved down my jawbones so I wouldn’t be recognized!

“Then… will you let me go?” Lu Xiangyu blinked her innocent eyes as wide as possible, asking timidly.

Song Shenshi slowly nodded.

Lu Xiangyu finally breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could move, she froze in place.

Her breath hitched. Invisible spiritual energy surged around her, pinning her entire body down, while that warm hand continued to touch her skin.

It was itchy, but she couldn’t move an inch.

Song Shenshi’s stunning eyes gazed at her with intense focus and a strange sense of treasuring her. Meanwhile, thin threads of spiritual energy passed through Lu Xiangyu’s flesh and hooked into the soul embedded within the body.

Thump-thump… Thump-thump…

Ignoring Lu Xiangyu’s pained expression and the trembling of her twisting soul, those three threads of energy carved profound, bone-deep restrictions into her very being.

“You shall not kill again, or you shall die of guilt.”

“You shall not stray more than one mile from Song Shenshi, or you shall die of sorrow.”

“You shall not usurp the body of another, or you shall die of grief.”

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