Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 36

The Fudi Demon still couldn’t figure out how he’d ended up in the bridal chamber. Whether he’d been carried or dragged was irrelevant now.

He stared at the two figures standing before him, his eyes devoid of hope, and pleaded again, “Can’t you take me with you?”

Hu Li glanced at the Fudi Demon, who was bound hand and foot by the Ye Family. After dressing in the unconscious maid’s clothes, she shook her head. “If you leave, the City Lord will notice something’s wrong.”

The Fudi Demon fell silent.

His gaze dropped to the two maids lying unconscious at his feet. “And the City Lord won’t notice anything’s wrong with them lying here?!” he hissed.

Hu Li pondered for a moment. “You’re right. They’re innocent.”

The Fudi Demon fell silent again.

He tried to stand, crawling forward in the dim light, wriggling as he pleaded, “Am I not innocent too?!”

But Hu Li gave him no chance to resist.

She casually grabbed the white cloth the Fudi Demon had been sitting on and stuffed it into his mouth. Then, she draped the red bridal veil over his head, completely concealing him.

“Gu Sheng, do you have a Teleportation Talisman?” Hu Li asked.

Gu Sheng understood immediately. She reached into the Storage Bag at Hu Li’s waist and rummaged through it, pulling out a slightly yellowed Teleportation Talisman. “It’s been a while since I used it. It’s a bit old.”

*******

Hu Li pinched the Teleportation Talisman between two fingers. “It’ll do.”

She silently chanted the incantation and tossed the talisman between the two maids. In a flash of silver light, they were instantly teleported outside Evernight City.

The reason Hu Li didn’t leave them inside the city was because she noticed the flickering red lanterns outside the bridal chamber. She instinctively sensed that the lights were about to be extinguished.

After leaving the bridal chamber, Hu Li and Gu Sheng disguised themselves as maids and kept their heads bowed low. In the City Lord’s Manor, which was unusually busy that day, no one noticed anything amiss.

They moved cautiously, stopping and starting along the way, until they finally slipped into the City Lord’s study after about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The City Lord was still entertaining guests in the main hall, and all the study’s staff had been called away to assist. The room was currently empty, providing the perfect opportunity to act.

Hu Li and Gu Sheng split up, each taking a side of the bookshelf to flip through the volumes, searching for a method to reach the Demon Abyss.

They started on the first shelf, moved to the second, and continued down layer by layer. The stack of books at Hu Li’s feet grew taller and taller, while the glow of the red lanterns outside gradually dimmed into silence.

Oblivious to the fading light, she frantically flipped through the books, discarding each one after a quick glance.

It wasn’t until she opened the very last book on the bottom shelf that Hu Li finally slowed her pace.

********

“Demon Abyss Year 631: The City Lord opened the Demon Abyss Teleportation Gate, releasing one Evil Cultivator and one Demon Cultivator.”

“Demon Abyss Year 697: The City Lord opened the Demon Abyss Teleportation Gate, releasing the fifth Demon Venerable of the Demon Race.”

“Demon Abyss…”

Hu Li flipped through page after page, discovering that the entire book consisted of records of the City Lord releasing people, but not a single word mentioned any specific details.

She set down the final book and turned to Gu Sheng, intending to ask about her findings.

But just as Hu Li was about to speak, a red string suddenly appeared on her wrist, trembled briefly, and then snapped as a red line stretching from the study tightened and broke.

Gu Sheng saw this as well. She looked up and met Hu Li’s gaze, saying, “The Fudi Demon is dead.”

The breaking of a Puppet String meant either the master or the puppet had died.

Since Hu Li was sitting here unharmed, it was clear who had met their end.

The two women immediately stopped what they were doing, rose to their feet, and cautiously approached the study door.

In Hu Li’s hand, the Red Jade Hairpin transformed into a longsword, guarding them as they moved.

She used the sword to lift the latch on the study door, then pointed the blade outward, took a deep breath, and stepped ahead of Gu Sheng.

Outside the study, the red lanterns hanging on either side hadn’t gone out as Hu Li expected. Instead, the red candles within had been replaced by white ones.

********

The pale green candlelight flickered within the paper lantern, its flame dancing erratically. A gentle breeze swept through, causing the light to momentarily extinguish before reigniting, like a ghostly will-o’-the-wisp.

Hu Li’s heart froze in her chest. She felt as if she were about to bid farewell to this beautiful world.

[Li Li, don’t chicken out! Your wife is right behind you.]

[The Fox Spirit climbed a pillar the moment she saw a lecherous ghost. How could she not be scared?]

[This time we’re playing a horror scenario. Li Li’s in deep trouble.]

[Requesting a high-energy protective charm!]

[Just how terrifying is this chapter? Someone tell me!]

Hu Li stared intently as the last comment floated across her vision, her eyes brimming with tears. “I second that request!”

This damned Demon Abyss! Shouldn’t it be swarming with Demon Cultivators and Demonic Beasts, with constant battles erupting? Why, why has it turned into a bedtime ghost story?!

Hu Li didn’t understand, and she certainly didn’t respect it.

“Something’s there,” Gu Sheng said, appearing behind Hu Li as if from nowhere. She pointed toward the shadows before the house.

Hu Li followed her gaze, her eyes rolling back in her head. She frantically pinched her philtrum.

What the hell is that?! She stared at the humanoid figures crawling out of the shadows, their necks twisting mechanically. Memories of her ill-advised Silent Hill binge flooded back.

Great. I guess it’s my turn now. Hu Li wanted to cry, but no tears came. Her legs had completely given out.

********

If Gu Sheng hadn’t been there, Hu Li would have kowtowed to these elder brothers.

“Behind us too!” Gu Sheng called out again.

Hu Li glanced back, her grip on her sword instantly loosening. The sword clattered to the ground.

Just end it all! she thought, staring at the humanoid figures closing in around her. She was exhausted.

Beside her, Gu Sheng noticed Hu Li’s deathly pale face. She swiftly picked up the fallen sword, pressed it back into Hu Li’s hand, and said, “They’re not ghosts. They’re Shadow Demons.”

“Shadow Demons?” Hu Li felt a little better knowing they weren’t ghosts. She re-examined the humanoid figures, realizing they were solid stone statues, perhaps not as terrifying as she’d initially thought.

Just as she had this thought, a Shadow Demon hanging upside down from the eaves, its head tilted at an unnatural angle, suddenly loomed into view, its face inches from hers.

Hu Li: ……

Her mind froze for a moment before she unleashed a string of colorful curses.

[Hu Li has completely lost face in the Demon Abyss.]

[Actually, after Hu Li drank the Demon Heart Powder, according to the original Gu Sheng storyline, she was supposed to develop an Inner Demon in the Demon Abyss.]

[Other people’s Inner Demons: love, hate, grudges, and desires.]

[Hu Li’s Inner Demon: ghosts, still ghosts.]

Hu Li, staring at the Shadow Demons, screamed: “Don’t come any closer!”

Hu Li skimmed the comments, pursed her lips, and slowly regained her composure.

Hu Li had finally gotten a clear look at the Shadow Demon’s true form: nothing more than a stone carved with a human face, lacking any other terrifying features.

With a swift flick of her wrist, she cleanly decapitated the Shadow Demon before her with a single sword strike. Then, with a powerful kick, she sent the headless body flying into the swarm of Shadow Demons ahead.

The Shadow Demons surged forward relentlessly, wave after wave.

Hu Li and Gu Sheng stood back-to-back, Hu Li repelling nearby Shadow Demons with her sword while Gu Sheng unleashed ranged magical attacks.

Yet as time wore on, the Shadow Demons showed no signs of thinning out. Instead, they came in ever-increasing numbers, wave after wave.

“A gauntlet battle,” Hu Li gritted her teeth, a thin sheen of sweat forming on her forehead. She finally understood why no one had ever survived this place.

Gu Sheng was also nearing her limit. The magic she used drained her spiritual energy rapidly, and her soul hadn’t fully synchronized with Hu Li’s body. Each time she drew upon the Demonic Power within Hu Li’s body, her soul suffered a backlash.

Despite their growing exhaustion, they dared not stop.

The Shadow Demon numbers continued to swell. Realizing this couldn’t continue, Hu Li transformed her sword into a longbow and switched to ranged attacks.

She fired three arrows in quick succession, targeting the thinnest part of the Shadow Demon formation. Before the gap could close, she grabbed Gu Sheng around the waist, stepped onto the shoulder of a Shadow Demon on the stone steps, and used the momentum to leap outward, escaping the swarm.

********

Having escaped the courtyard, they were immediately confronted by an even greater, denser swarm of Shadow Demons.

Worse still, these new demons moved far faster than those in the study, as if freed from restraints and now able to act with unrestrained ferocity.

Back-to-back, Gu Sheng formed the orchid finger seal, silently chanting an incantation to summon an Immobilization Array. She trapped the Shadow Demons before her within the array, then hurled an Explosive Talisman, blasting them apart.

Behind her, Hu Li raised her sword, barely parrying a strike from a Shadow Demon that had suddenly emerged from beneath her feet. This is it, she thought grimly. I’m going to die here.

Remembering her role as the protagonist, she began mentally pleading with the System within her Sea of Consciousness.

“Activate the Protagonist’s Halo! Activate the Protagonist’s Halo…” she droned, hacking at the demons while simultaneously tormenting the System, which had gone dark the moment the Shadow Demons appeared.

The System, its eyes closed, curtly replied, “Function not available,” before immediately blocking Hu Li’s communication.

Hu Li: …

She realized that the total time they had spent blocking each other far exceeded the time they had actually spent communicating.

Without the System’s useless “cheat,” Hu Li had no other external advantages. Wielding her longsword, she parried the seemingly endless waves of Shadow Demons, secretly praying for divine intervention.

But divine intervention wasn’t something one could simply summon with wishful thinking.

*******

The Shadow Demon’s Demonic Sword plunged straight down from overhead. Hu Li raised her sword, straining with all her might to block the blow, but a second Demonic Sword pierced forward, aimed directly at her lower abdomen.

I knew the Protagonist’s Halo couldn’t be trusted, Hu Li thought with self-deprecating amusement as she stared at the approaching blade.

Before she could dwell on her self-mockery for another second, a brilliant golden light erupted beneath her feet. In an instant, the ground vanished beneath her, and she plummeted into the radiant glow.

When the light faded, Hu Li and Gu Sheng tumbled to the ground in a heap.

Gu Sheng landed beneath her. Hu Li scrambled off the other woman, her face flushed, and helped her up.

Nearby, Shang Miaoyun’s eyes widened in shock as she witnessed the scene. “Senior Sister, you and her?!”

She remembered the Fox Demon had tried to harm Senior Sister, scheming to take her place. Yet now, Senior Sister seemed deeply concerned for the Fox Demon.

Could they be hiding some secret from me?

Moreover, she recalled the Fox Demon being imprisoned in the Floating Life Pagoda. Now, not only had the Fox Demon escaped, but she had become Senior Sister’s Spirit Pet!

Putting it all together, Shang Miaoyun reached a conclusion: her Senior Sister had been bewitched by the Fox Demon!

Narrowing her eyes at Gu Sheng, she pulled Hu Li away and hissed coldly, “Stop seducing Senior Sister!”

Gu Sheng: ……

Hu Li: “?!”

Shang Miaoyun used the wrong word, but she wasn’t entirely wrong.

********

[Miaoyun used the wrong words, but she was talking to the right person.]

[In conclusion: Brilliant!]

Hu Li pulled Shang Miaoyun closer, her voice a mix of embarrassment and helplessness. “Junior Sister Miaoyun, that’s not the point right now. Tell me first—how did you end up here?”

Shang Miaoyun looked up at Hu Li, then squatted down to meet her gaze. “Well, it’s just that—”

Before she could finish, a sudden knock-knock-knock echoed through the pitch-black room.

Hu Li gripped her sword again, cautiously moved to the door, and peered through the crack.

But there was no one outside.

Immediately, the knocking resumed. Hu Li listened closely and realized the sound was coming from inside the room.

Gu Sheng and Shang Miaoyun clearly noticed this too. The three exchanged glances. Finally, Gu Sheng took the lead, guiding the one afraid of ghosts and the other afraid of people, to a dressing table in the room.

Their eyes fell on the bronze mirror resting on the table.

The knocking was coming from within the mirror.

Support Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration]