I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 73

Mang Ke had assumed Xun Fangyun would help her Senior Sister, but she only showed her face before fleeing, merely instructing Xuan Ji on how to control the corpse-puppets before holding Mang Ke and leaving.

Thinking of this, Mang Ke was unhappy and puffed out her little cheeks, ignoring Xun Fangyun.

Xun Fangyun was unsure how she had offended the little girl, and she walked silently into the depths of the underground.

The further down they went, the darker it became. Xun Fangyun’s excellent eyesight meant she barely needed light, and she moved freely in the pitch-black underground space. Mang Ke, however, grew increasingly frightened, clinging tightly to the person’s chest and burying her face against her.

“Yun-Yun, aren’t you going to turn on a light?” Mang Ke whimpered.

Xun Fangyun, holding her with one hand, pointed a finger in the air and said, “I can see clearly, so why turn on a light? You don’t need to walk anyway.”

Mang Ke was a little angry, but she also felt Xun Fangyun wasn’t wrong. In her current state, she was constantly being carried, so why would she need to walk?

Yet, the thought that a fierce battle might be raging above, while she could only observe while hiding in someone’s arms, made her feel exceptionally… powerless.

Why was she so useless?

If only she could be like her Senior Sister or others, it would be wonderful. Now, she couldn’t help and was just a burden. The more she thought about it, the more miserable she felt.

“Tell me…” Mang Ke tugged at Xun Fangyun’s clothes, saying dully, “Can Senior Sister rescue those people?”

“No problem,” Xun Fangyun said naturally. “The corpse-puppets I lent her are still moving, which means the pressure isn’t too great.”

“Is that so?”

“Once your sect kin and friends are rescued and your body is recovered, we can properly say goodbye to them.”

Mang Ke tried to lift her head at this, but her vision was pitch-black. She could only continue burying her head in Xun Fangyun’s chest, saying, “Suddenly, I feel very reluctant to part with Senior Sister and the others…”

Although she had only stayed here for a few months, those people were genuinely kind to her, always saving the best things for her. She had been supremely happy as their Junior Sister.

“Tell me, after all this is done, will we have to separate again?” Mang Ke inhaled the fragrance from Xun Fangyun’s body and said dejectedly, “I truly hope that next time I open my eyes, I’ll see you standing by my side, instead of having to search aimlessly like this.”

“Little Ke…”

“The truth is, I’ve always hoped,” Mang Ke continued, “that every world would be the last. I want to introduce you to my friends. I want to introduce you to the things I like.”

“I want to go shopping and chat with you, and I also want to watch the sun rise and set with you.”

Mang Ke gripped Xun Fangyun’s clothes and sighed deeply. “But fate never seems to go my way.”

Xun Fangyun listened to the person in her arms rambling. She didn’t speak, only continued to descend the steps, moving slowly through the deep, vast, and nearly boundless corridor.

—Boom—

A muffled sound came from above. Mang Ke looked up and asked, “Have they started?”

“Probably.” Xun Fangyun quickened her pace. She told Mang Ke, “Hold on tight. We’re going down.”

“Down?”

Before Mang Ke could react, a sensation of weightlessness struck. She screamed and clutched Xun Fangyun’s neck. In the utter darkness, she couldn’t see anything and didn’t know what was happening.

What’s going on? Is there a sheer drop in the mountain!

Mang Ke tightly shut her eyes. In a daze, the feeling of weightlessness faded significantly. She opened her trembling eyelids, and what greeted her was a sea of red.

No, more accurately, it was a massive expanse of lava. Red magma churned and swelled, emitting rolling waves of heat.

In the center of the lava was a monster that resembled a blend of a cow and a horse. It was pierced all over with black spikes, and its limbs were shackled with dark iron chains. Mang Ke surveyed the surroundings and saw that the mountain walls were plastered with large and small talismans.

This must be the demon that was trapped inside the mountain.

It was the first time Mang Ke had seen something so enormous. She felt as small as a puppy next to it; the creature could crush her with a single hand.

“…Who is it?”

A deep voice echoed back and forth along the mountain walls. The monster, its voice raspy, raised its cow-like head and stared at Xun Fangyun, suspended in mid-air, and Mang Ke in her arms. It seemed utterly bewildered.

“You’re awake?” Xun Fangyun waved her hand, creating a barrier in front of herself, and then flew toward the monster with Mang Ke.

Although they were close to the lava, Mang Ke didn’t feel any heat. She turned to look at the monster. Only up close did she realize that even its fingers were larger than she was.

Xun Fangyun reached out and placed her hand on the monster’s forehead. A flash of red light passed, and the talismans on the mountain walls vanished entirely. The iron chains that bound its limbs snapped and shattered, scattering into the lava and disappearing.

The monster’s reaction seemed very slow. It looked at Xun Fangyun and only came to its senses after a long while, murmuring, “Your… Excellency?”

“It is I.” Xun Fangyun withdrew her hand and stared at it. “You’ve been imprisoned here for a hundred years. Today, I set you free. You know what you must do, right?”

The monster nodded. It looked at Mang Ke in Xun Fangyun’s arms and asked in its deep voice, “This is… the spiritual energy of those people. She is not of the Demon Race. Your Excellency, why…?”

“She is my wife,” Xun Fangyun told the monster. “The people who sealed you died long ago. Those remaining are their descendants and disciples. Do what you want once you leave the mountain; I will not stop you.”

The monster was silent for a moment, then another booming sound resonated, shattering the surrounding rock walls. The debris cascaded down and crashed into the lava. Mang Ke tightly gripped Xun Fangyun’s clothes and said, “They’re starting again!”

If this continued, the mountain would be flattened sooner or later!

The monster looked up at the ceiling. Its deep voice held a hint of displeasure. “Thank you, Your Excellency, for releasing me. Once I break through this mountain and kill all those people, I will return to the Demon Realm!”

With that, Mang Ke saw it shoot up high. Amidst a burst of screeching cracks, it tore an opening directly through the mountain’s dome!

Large chunks of rubble began to fall. Mang Ke saw a slab of rock about to crush them and instinctively closed her eyes—

—Clank—

The stone shattered loudly above their heads. Xun Fangyun said impatiently, “It truly is a reckless fellow.”

Mang Ke opened her eyes. Ruzhong Mountain had been half-destroyed. Half of the palace was pulverized, and the once-beautiful river at the foot of the mountain was half-blocked by debris. Fortunately, the town across the way was far enough to remain unscathed.

“Yun-Yun!” Mang Ke widened her eyes, pointing at a figure on the open ground. “Look, isn’t that my Senior Sister?”

On the wind-swept, snowy mountaintop, a vast blue-white light enveloped an area, acting like a protective shield.

The monster that Xun Fangyun had just released was pounding at it repeatedly, as if trying to shatter the shield with sheer brute force…

“Xuan Ji,” the exhausted Sect Master sat behind her. Some of the disciples who could still move quickly supported him to prevent him from falling.

“Master.”

Xuan Ji only slightly tilted her head to look at him, then refocused on the massive creature before her. The monster’s eyes were blood-red, and it persistently sought to kill them all, utterly disregarding the violent blizzard on the mountain.

She had arrived a step too late, and many of her sect mates had already perished at its hands. Xuan Ji could not stand idly by. The Demon Subduing Pestle, too, seemed to be clamoring for battle, struggling fiercely in her grasp.

“Master,” Xuan Ji said, “The Imperial Guard has suffered heavy casualties, and the demon has been released. I think we no longer have a reason to endure this.”

“Xuan Ji,” the Sect Master gasped, saying calmly, “All things have their own destiny. This calamity is a cycle that our sect was destined to encounter. You…”

Xuan Ji turned her head to look at him. “Master, you once taught us that all things in the world are subject to reincarnation. Then shouldn’t this demon also have its cycle?”

Sect Master: “…”

Xuan Ji: “Their lifespans can reach ten thousand years, while ours are only a hundred. To be slaughtered like this by these beasts, do you not feel resentful?”

“All things have their own destiny…”

“Master.” Xuan Ji turned around and looked at the demon. “Today, this disciple wishes to break this destiny.”

With that, Xuan Ji raised the sword in her hand, her gaze fierce.

—Boom—

A tremendous sound tore through the air. The blue-white barrier instantly fractured into pieces, dissolving into smoke and dissipating.

“Ha—Today, I will wipe away my century of shame! I will return this hundred years of solitude and torment to all of you!”

The cow-headed monster roared and sneered. It looked down at the group of old, weak, and sick people, laughing wildly. “Heaven truly helps me! I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for so long. After I kill you all, I will butcher the nearby villages. I haven’t tasted human flesh in so long. I wonder if it’s still as delicious as before.”

Xuan Ji frowned. “What is your name?”

The monster mocked, “Little girl? Why do you ask my name?”

Xuan Ji channeled spiritual energy into the sword blade and said calmly, “I never kill the nameless.”

“!!!!”

The monster roared. “How dare you speak to me like that!”

As the heavens and earth seemed to howl, the Cold Light of the Demon Subduing Pestle flashed in Xuan Ji’s hand. Spiritual energy burst from the blade, and a clear, cold shout was heard—

“Behold, Ten Thousand Swords—”

Up in the air, Xun Fangyun glanced at the scene and said to the slightly stunned Mang Ke, “Your Senior Sister is more formidable than I thought.”

Mang Ke held her small fists and shrank her neck. “You have some nerve! If she knew that you were the one who let that thing out, she’d be furious.”

“Then you must not tell her,” Xun Fangyun said. “Lest those ten thousand swords stab me.”

It looked extremely painful, and she definitely didn’t want to be turned into a hedgehog.

The battle on Ruzhong Mountain lasted half a day. The enormous beast was eventually stabbed in the heart with the Demon Subduing Pestle and re-sealed within the mountain.

The Emperor who sought immortality left without a sound for unknown reasons. The following year, he could no longer hold on and died in the spring season.

With the help of the Sect Master and Senior Sister, Mang Ke successfully recovered her body. She formally bid farewell to her sect and descended the mountain to seek her ‘Daoist friend.’

The human-demon battle was recorded in tales and passed down by word of mouth. A hundred years later, the Lingyun Sect vanished mysteriously between heaven and earth. No one ever saw the sect again, and it disappeared along with Ruzhong Mountain. It was rumored that the entire sect achieved ascension due to the blessings of an immortal.

Whether this was true or false, no one could ever know.

Mang Ke awoke from her hundred-year dream. When she opened her eyes again, she saw sunlight streaming into a rented apartment, quiet and gentle.

She didn’t feel much psychological burden. She recalled her time exploring mountains and rivers with Xun Fangyun, capable of anything across heaven and earth. It had been a truly fascinating few years.

Her fluffy long hair was messy from a lack of care. Mang Ke took a shower, picked up her bag, and went out. As she walked, she called her friend.

“Si Nan, I’m back from my business trip,” Mang Ke said happily. “I’m heading to your hospital now. Are you there?”

“I am.”

Si Nan glanced at the person sitting on the hospital bed in the room. She said to Mang Ke on the phone, “Do you remember the patient you were quite concerned about?”

“I remember. What about her?”

“She woke up.”

I want to introduce you to my friends. I want to introduce you to the things I like.

I hope every world is the last.

Xun Fangyun looked out the window at the unfamiliar scenery and couldn’t help but close her eyes.

She, too, felt the same way.