Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 17

Ink lines crawled out from the dirt wall, wriggling toward Hu Li and wrapping around her in circles.

Gu Sheng watched from outside the Soul Cage Array. Once Hu Li was completely encased in a ball of ink, she whistled toward the Ink-Devouring Beast.

The Ink-Devouring Beast heard the sound, its eyes shifted, and it immediately bowed low, walking to the side of the prone Gu Sheng and respectfully helping her up from the ground.

“Watch her closely,” Gu Sheng said, pulling the arrow out of her own shoulder. She cast a cold glance at the ball of ink and turned to walk toward the exit.

But just then, firelight suddenly flared within the ball of ink. Immediately following, a powerful spiritual pressure burst out of the ink ball, savagely knocking both Gu Sheng and the Ink-Devouring Beast to the ground, the pressure so intense they couldn’t lift their heads.

Gu Sheng lay prone, her head twisting backward with difficulty to look at the ink ball.

She saw a cluster of fire erupt from the ink ball, flickering and growing larger. It then spread along the ink lines, shooting out in all directions. With lightning speed, it burned down the entire dirt wall, causing the ink lines inside to turn into smoke one by one.

Seeing the situation was out of control, Gu Sheng immediately dropped her head and played unconscious.

At the same time, Hu Li stepped out of the ink ball, mocking the Ink-Devouring Beast. “Is that all you’ve got?”

She had already pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, and the blood made her skirt even more dangerously vibrant.

“Stupid creature, you truly underestimate me.” Hu Li raised the long bow in her left hand, placed her right hand on the string, and drew it back unhurriedly.

The blood on her shoulder was still flowing, but as the saying goes: You can lose anything, but you can’t lose your composure.

Therefore, Hu Li endured the pain to maintain a nonchalant air, intending to intimidate the Ink-Devouring Beast.

The Ink-Devouring Beast had now recovered. It climbed up from the ground, twisted its neck, and secretly tried to activate the Soul Cage Array again.

However, just as the Soul Cage Array faintly responded, Hu Li snatched the golden arrow that had just pierced her shoulder, nocked it onto the long bow, and shot it directly at the Ink-Devouring Beast.

The Ink-Devouring Beast hurriedly dodged. Hu Li then grabbed the other golden arrows from the Soul Cage Array and quickly fired them at the Beast.

The Soul Cage Array, originally designed to trap them, was now being used against its creator.

The Ink-Devouring Beast was hit three times and tore off the human skin restraining it in a mad frenzy, revealing its true appearance.

It was hideously ugly. Its entire body was covered in black ink-colored fur that stood up and branched out, making it look like a mutated, bizarre porcupine.

In addition, it had a pair of twisted brown horns, crammed against its pair of sickly green eyes, inspiring chills in anyone who saw it.

“I’m going to eat you!” the Ink-Devouring Beast roared and charged into the Soul Cage Array.

Hu Li smiled slightly at the sight, held the long bow horizontally in front of her, and performed a hand seal. A fiery-red fox tail emerged behind her, splitting into nine tails in an instant, which lashed out to attack the Ink-Devouring Beast.

The Ink-Devouring Beast swiftly dodged, continuously closing in on Hu Li. It looked at Hu Li hiding behind the screen of fox tails, coldly mocking her stupidity for believing that a mere nine fox tails could restrain it.

Yet, just as it was gloating, a long sword pierced through its body.

“I told you you were a stupid creature, but you wouldn’t believe me.” Hu Li was right by its ear, her half-human, half-demon appearance intensely seductive.

She twisted the sword in her hand, then suddenly yanked it out of the Ink-Devouring Beast’s body, and said coldly, “Die.”

The cultivation world was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Operating on the principle of ‘it’s either you or me,’ Hu Li had been prepared for this life-and-death struggle the moment she accepted Gu Sheng’s mission.

“Are you not stupid?” the Ink-Devouring Beast fell to the ground, laughing.

Hu Li stepped on it, looking down from above. “What other tricks do you have? Go on and use them all.”

The Ink-Devouring Beast had never seen such a brazen person. It spat out a mouthful of blood, then secretly controlled the inky lines underground to repair its broken body.

Hu Li narrowed her eyes, observing it. She felt something was wrong but couldn’t place it. Therefore, she chose to wait and see what the Ink-Devouring Beast would do next.

During this time, she didn’t forget to stab the Ink-Devouring Beast again. She quickly realized that this creature was like a cockroach; it simply wouldn’t die.

Since the Ink-Devouring Beast’s healing speed couldn’t keep up with Hu Li’s stabbing speed, after trying to repair itself for a while, it could only suppress the urge to spit blood and give up. It tried to distract Hu Li. “Don’t you want to know where the Ink Heart Inkstone is?”

Hu Li gave the Ink-Devouring Beast another stab, then stopped her hand, considering the question. She then pulled the sword out, stabbed it back down, shook her head, and said, “No, I don’t. You’ll be dead soon, and I’ll have all the time in the world to find it.”

I can’t refute that. I absolutely cannot refute that. The Ink-Devouring Beast spat out blood, closed its eyes, and lay still.

Gu Sheng, outside the Soul Cage Array, sensed the Ink-Devouring Beast’s surrender and sent a spiritual warning.

The Ink-Devouring Beast received the signal and was forced to open its eyes again. It spoke to the tirelessly stabbing Hu Li. “Aren’t you afraid you won’t find it?”

Hu Li was impatient. “It doesn’t have legs, so what’s there to be afraid of? What about you? Why aren’t you dead yet?”

Ink-Devouring Beast: “…”

[Ink-Devouring Beast: I want to swear.]

[Ink-Devouring Beast: Got it. I’m just a part of the little lovers’ play.]

[Ink-Devouring Beast: Kill me, quickly.]

[Ink-Devouring Beast: I was so foolish, truly. I only knew to take the mission, but not how difficult it would be.]

[Ink-Devouring Beast: I quit.]

Hu Li: ?

She looked at the book reviews and put up a huge question mark. Little lovers’ play? Who was she in a relationship with? What kind of random CP was this review shipping, and what lies were they spreading?

Absolutely outrageous! Hu Li angrily stabbed the Ink-Devouring Beast again.

Gu Sheng, at this point, couldn’t watch any longer. She opened her eyes and said to Hu Li, “Little girl, help me up.”

Hearing the voice, Hu Li finally remembered Gu Sheng outside the Soul Cage Array.

She remembered that Gu Sheng had also been wounded by the Ink-Devouring Beast. If the wound was fatal, her remaining five hundred spirit stones of payment would be gone.

Thinking this, Hu Li sucked in a cold breath. She quickly pulled out a bottle of external injury medicine from her storage bag. Clinging to the iron pillars surrounding the Soul Cage Array, she first took one pill herself, then took out another and precisely tossed it into Gu Sheng’s mouth just as she was about to open it.

“Elder Qi, take this one for now. Once we’re out, you can ask Shopkeeper Feng for some better ones.”

Though this pill was a low-grade one, it had cost her ten spirit stones, so she had to use it sparingly.

Gu Sheng was forced to swallow the pill. She choked a few times, her face flushing from red to white. “Little girl, I see the Ink-Devouring Beast is incapable of resisting now. Why don’t you quickly think of how to break this Soul Cage Array?”

“Oh, right.” Hu Li thought that made sense. She needed to figure out how to break the array.

She walked over to the Ink-Devouring Beast, and the moment the Beast’s wound healed, she slowly stabbed it again. “Tell me, how do you break the array?”

Ink-Devouring Beast: “…”

Gu Sheng: “…”

“Little girl, why would the Ink-Devouring Beast tell you how to break the array?” Gu Sheng asked, her expression ugly.

Hu Li glanced at her, continuing to stare at the Ink-Devouring Beast, pressing, “Tell me, how do you break the array?”

The Ink-Devouring Beast felt like an ant on a hot pan, utterly miserable.

“I’ll tell you,” the Ink-Devouring Beast finally conceded under Hu Li’s reign of terror. “Fire. Burn it with fire.”

Hu Li: “Why didn’t you just say so earlier?”

She smiled brightly, but this sight, in the Ink-Devouring Beast’s eyes, was like a child laughing while listening to a ghost story, severely traumatizing its young heart.

A pervert! Terrifying!

“Now, can you let me go?” the Ink-Devouring Beast trembled.

Hu Li leaned on her sword, shaking her head. “I still haven’t found the Ink Heart Inkstone.”

Ink-Devouring Beast: “…”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to know?!” it wailed in agony.

Hu Li’s ears hurt from the noise, so she stabbed it again. “You already told me how to break the Soul Cage Array. What’s the problem with telling me the whereabouts of the Ink Heart Inkstone?”

What’s the problem? It’s a huge problem! The Ink-Devouring Beast wretchedly felt the surging killing intent from Gu Sheng’s direction and had a premonition that it wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sunrise.

But looking at the still-gleefully-stabbing Hu Li, it figured it should worry about surviving today first.

“The Ink Heart Inkstone is my horns. If you pull them off, they will turn into the Ink Heart Inkstone.”

After saying this, the Ink-Devouring Beast lay down, waiting for death.

Hu Li: “Won’t that hurt?”

The Ink-Devouring Beast, perhaps having been thoroughly gaslit, actually felt touched. “Be gentle, and it won’t be too—”

“Wooohooo!” Before it could finish, Hu Li yanked one of the horns off in one go, the pain nearly ripping the Beast in half.

Hu Li: “Better short and sharp than long and drawn out. Bear with it.”

With that, she pulled off the Ink-Devouring Beast’s other horn in one go.

Having lost its two horns and its beauty, the Ink-Devouring Beast broke free of Hu Li, crawled into a corner, and curled up in self-pity.

Hu Li glanced at it, placed the two horns together, and the Ink Heart Inkstone appeared in her palm.

Tucking the Ink Heart Inkstone into her storage bag, Hu Li looked up, scanned the Soul Cage Array, performed a hand seal, and then balls of fire erupted from beneath her feet, rapidly spreading and clinging to the golden arrows and iron pillars.

This was an ink wash world; everything was illusory. The flames quickly burned away the Soul Cage Array.

Hu Li lifted her foot, ready to leave with Gu Sheng. Unexpectedly, in the sealed chamber, as soon as the flames died down, an overwhelming sense of suffocation rushed over them.

Gu Sheng was frail and quickly passed out.

The Ink-Devouring Beast, seeing this, quickly transformed into a dot of ink and scurried away, vanishing without a trace.

Hu Li shook her head to stay conscious. She quickly pushed Gu Sheng out of the cave, then followed right behind, carrying her up the cliff.

On the cliff face, Hu Li gasped for fresh air, the thrill of surviving rushing through her body.

But soon after, the mountain beneath her began to shake violently, and then started to collapse in chunks.

Hu Li quickly hoisted Gu Sheng onto her shoulder. The system also warned her in her Sea of Consciousness.

 [Host, this world is about to collapse!]

Hu Li urgently asked, “System, how do we get out of here? I don’t know the way!”

The system flashed a red warning. [I don’t know either!]

Both human and system fell silent, frantic but unable to find a solution.

“I’ll take you.” The Ink-Devouring Beast, who had previously vanished, suddenly reappeared.

Hu Li looked at it, frowning. “You’re being so kind?”

The Ink-Devouring Beast pursed its lips, remembering its current owner, who now wanted to kill it. It replied, “There’s a condition.”

Hu Li: “Spit it out.”

Ink-Devouring Beast: “Take me as your Spirit Pet.”

The atmosphere was still for a moment. Hu Li: “Fine, I accept.”

The Ink-Devouring Beast, having received a satisfactory answer, immediately threw both Hu Li and Gu Sheng onto its back and carried them flying out of the ink wash painting.

Outside the ink wash painting, the Ink-Devouring Beast turned into a small coal ball and jumped into Hu Li’s storage bag.

Hu Li slumped onto the ground. The ink wash painting, which was severely burned, lay by her hand, and the still-unconscious Gu Sheng lay by her feet.

She took a moment to recover, her gaze falling upon Gu Sheng, whose hood had fallen half off. She pursed her lips in silence for a while, then reached out her hand and pulled the hood all the way down.

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