Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 69

Gu Jinghe never expected Gu Sheng to smile at him.

A chill ran down his spine, and he involuntarily swallowed hard, instinctively backing away. But before he could retreat more than a few steps, a sword suddenly pierced the ground behind him, halting his movement.

Hu Li’s eyebrows arched at the sight. Her muddled mind, previously clouded, now seemed to clear slightly.

“So, you can control the Red Jade Hairpin too?” she asked Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng nodded, reaching out to cradle Hu Li’s abdomen. She gently lowered her from her shoulder, cradling her in her arms once more. “After the Soul Swap with you, I gained control over the Red Jade Hairpin,” she explained.

“I see,” Hu Li murmured in understanding, leaning against Gu Sheng’s chest. Her eyes slowly closed, and she drifted into unconsciousness.

With Hu Li unconscious, Gu Sheng turned her gaze back to Gu Jinghe. She raised her hand, flipped her wrist, and the sword behind Gu Jinghe flew back into her grasp.

“What do you intend to do?” Gu Jinghe demanded, his heart pounding. He immediately raised his sword, pointing it at Gu Sheng, his voice desperate and his composure shattered. The dignified, solemn demeanor he had maintained earlier had completely vanished.

“What do I intend to do?” Gu Sheng repeated, gripping the sword. Listening to the faint rumble of thunder in the distance, she smiled at Gu Jinghe. “Why don’t you try to guess?”

With a flash, she teleported behind Gu Jinghe, the sword in her hand drawing a shallow, bloody line across his neck.

Gu Jinghe felt a sharp pain on his neck, his breath catching in his throat. He tried to resist Gu Sheng, but she had already immobilized him with a spell, rendering him utterly powerless.

The sword in her hand, having sliced across his neck, reverted to its hairpin form. Gu Sheng manipulated the hairpin, pressing its pointed tip against her palm. With a swift thrust, the Red Jade Hairpin pierced through her flesh, slicing along the meridian lines until it reached the base of her palm.

Blood mixed with Demonic Qi surged forth, gushing from the wound.

Gu Jinghe caught the faint metallic scent of blood behind him, his gaze mechanically shifting to his side. Then he saw Gu Sheng press her bloodied palm against the wound on his neck.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Gu Jinghe finally asked, his voice tinged with fear as he felt his Spiritual Power draining relentlessly from the neck wound. His own daughter was far more ruthless than he had ever imagined.

Hearing his words, Gu Sheng tightened her grip, her fingers digging into his neck. “I told you,” she murmured, her voice like a whisper, “guess.”

Gu Jinghe struggled to meet her gaze, wanting to retort, but the combined agony of the piercing pain and suffocating pressure left him speechless. As time stretched on, his eyes gradually glazed over, his consciousness fading into darkness. He thought Gu Sheng would simply strangle him to death.

But just as his mind slipped into oblivion, she suddenly released him.

Immediately afterward, Gu Jinghe heard a deafening boom, and the ground vanished beneath him as he was hurled into the sky.

The ground receded rapidly below. Gu Jinghe’s eyes widened as he followed Gu Sheng’s gaze to look behind him. There, a bolt of violet-gold Heavenly Thunder hurtled directly toward him.

The thunder’s overwhelming force shook the world around him. Gu Jinghe felt his surroundings blur as the lightning coursed through his body, searing his internal organs. Even in his prime, Gu Jinghe had struggled to withstand the tempering power of Heavenly Thunder. Now, with his spiritual power completely drained by Gu Sheng and his Spiritual Meridians withered, he stood no chance against the celestial onslaught.

The Heavenly Thunder struck Gu Jinghe, leaving him charred and blackened. He staggered and collapsed to the ground, his Soul threatening to tear free from his body.

Gu Sheng glanced at him before turning her attention to the Tianyan Sect Elders, who had been knocked unconscious by Gu Jinghe’s earlier attack and were now stirring awake. She let out a soft scoff.

In the next instant, the Red String on her wrist flickered with a faint glow, reappearing in its entirety. Countless crimson threads trembled along its length before roughly ten strands detached themselves, extending toward the Red Strings bound to the Elders’ wrists. The Puppet Strings burrowed deep into their Souls. With a flick of Gu Sheng’s fingers, the Elders lost all control over their bodies, becoming mere marionettes, moving mechanically toward her like puppets on strings.

“Gu Sheng, what do you plan to do to us?!” The Cowardly Elder, who had been so afraid of death earlier, was the first to speak up again. He no longer feared Gu Sheng exposing his past misdeeds. After all, he feared death even more than losing face.

“What do I plan to do?” Gu Sheng smiled faintly, her eyes narrowing. “You woke up while I was dealing with that old fool, didn’t you? You must have heard everything I said to him.”

The Cowardly Elder swallowed hard, then burst into tears. “Gu Sheng, my Young Sect Master, my dear niece! Please spare your uncle! I—” I don’t want to die yet!

His words were cut off by a thunderclap overhead.

Gu Sheng glanced at the sky, then lightly tapped her toes, levitating above the river beside them. Beneath her, the river flowed gently, its surface reflecting her figure, the oppressive sky, and the flickering lightning.

She raised her hand, and a Magic Seal materialized in her palm. The seal, shaped like a Black Lotus, drifted down and enveloped Hu Li, forming an impenetrable barrier around her.

With that done, Gu Sheng turned back to the group on the shore, a slight smile playing on her lips. “Everyone, thank you for your cooperation. The real work begins now.”

Her expression turned fierce. Grasping the red threads extending from the Red String on her wrist, she made a hand seal, summoning a Formation.

Within the formation, Gu Sheng stood at the central point, while the Elders and the half-dead Gu Jinghe each occupied a cardinal direction, connected to Gu Sheng by crimson threads.

The Cowardly Elder, who happened to be an expert in formations, lowered his head for a closer look and swiftly identified the ancient demonic formation Gu Sheng had summoned: the Blood Soul Formation.

“My Lady, I beg you! I beg you to spare me!” he cried out, pleading for mercy.

Hearing his plea, Gu Sheng glanced at him, her eyes narrowing into a faint smile. “Don’t worry, Martial Uncle,” she reassured him. “It won’t hurt too much.”

As she spoke, she raised the hand she had injured earlier, clenching her fist to reopen the wound. Blood dripped from the crevice of her fist, each drop seeping into the crimson thread. The blood flowed through the thread, activating the Blood Soul Formation.

Though Gu Sheng controlled the people within the formation with her Puppet Strings, each still retained their sanity. Thus, as they were enveloped by the blood mist of the Blood Soul Formation, their Souls being stripped away and burned, they could clearly feel the agony. Wails, sobs, and desperate pleas for mercy mingled with the thunder, rising and falling in an endless cacophony.

Gu Sheng gazed down at them from above, a Demonic Mark surfacing on her forehead, transforming her into a veritable god of slaughter. She no longer suppressed the Demonic Qi that had been surging wildly through her Spiritual Meridians and Sea of Consciousness. Simultaneously, as Gu Sheng succumbed to demonic transformation, the burning Souls within the Blood Soul Formation spontaneously converted into wisps of Demonic Qi. These tendrils surged into her body, fueling her descent into darkness.

Overhead, the Heavenly Dao was clearly stunned by Gu Sheng’s actions. After a moment of stunned silence, it realized it couldn’t let the Female Lead continue down this path. It swiftly unleashed a third Heavenly Thunder, aiming directly at Gu Sheng to prevent her descent into demonic transformation.

But just as the thunderbolt was about to strike, Gu Sheng suddenly turned her gaze upward. Gathering the Demonic Qi from the Blood Soul Formation, she conjured a Blood Blade and blocked the Heavenly Thunder.

Gu Sheng manipulated the Blood Blade to completely exhaust the Heavenly Thunder. With a swift flip of her hand, she released the blade, sending it hurtling toward the direction from which the thunder had descended.

If the Heavenly Dao is shaped by human consciousness, then it must share human weaknesses. And humans, for the most part, fear death. So she was staking everything on that fear.

The Blood Blade soared into the sky, exploding mid-air into billowing clouds of Demonic Qi that blotted out the heavens.

Faced with annihilation, the Heavenly Dao couldn’t simply stand by and watch. However, Gu Sheng was the Female Lead, blessed with extraordinary destiny. Even as the Heavenly Dao, it couldn’t truly harm her. After a moment of agonizing deliberation, the Heavenly Dao reluctantly withdrew the Heavenly Thunder, deciding to turn a blind eye to the Female Lead’s desperate pursuit of a happy ending with the Second Female Lead. After all, the Male Lead and Second Male Lead had been dead for eight centuries. A little more chaos wouldn’t make much difference.

As the Heavenly Thunder vanished, the dark clouds overhead dissipated completely.

Gu Sheng glanced upward, feeling the Heavenly Dao’s oppressive aura recede. She exhaled deeply, then with a wave of her hand, recalled the Demonic Qi swirling above, condensing it back into the Blood Blade she now gripped. Within the blade pulsed boundless Demonic Qi.

Gu Sheng cradled Hu Li in her arms, her feet touching the ground. She glanced at the Blood Blade, pondering for a moment before her gaze shifted to the Elder lying within the Blood Soul Formation, and then to Gu Jinghe. She didn’t want to kill them, but she also didn’t want them to get off easy.

After a brief moment of contemplation, an idea formed in her mind. I’ll use them to purify the Blood Blade, she thought.

With this resolve, Gu Sheng placed the Blood Blade on the ground and silently chanted an Incantation. The unconscious figures on the ground transformed into streaks of silver light, merging into the Blood Blade. Next, she cast a Restriction upon the Blood Blade, ensuring that those trapped within couldn’t break free. Only then did she seal the Blood Blade a second time, submerging it in the river before her to prevent its Demonic Qi from leaking out.

Having completed these preparations, Gu Sheng finally relaxed, collapsing onto the ground with Hu Li still in her arms. At that moment, the Blood Soul Formation beneath her flickered once before vanishing without a trace.

With the dust settled, Gu Sheng carried Hu Li back to the Demon Palace.

Behind her, the System, which had been hiding for half the day, cautiously followed. After walking some distance and confirming that Gu Sheng wouldn’t harm it, it tentatively landed on her shoulder.

Gu Sheng glanced at it. “How long have you been with Li Li?”

The System pondered for a moment before replying, “Exactly ten years.” As soon as it spoke, its bird-like neck retracted in shock. “You can understand me?”

Gu Sheng hummed in acknowledgment. Under the System’s astonished gaze, she didn’t say another word to it.

In front of the Demon Palace, Min Yaxing was still lounging in her deck chair. Gu Sheng walked over, glanced at her, and sat down beside her.

“Waiting for me?” Gu Sheng asked Min Yaxing, then slowly began stroking the fur of the still-unconscious Hu Li.

Min Yaxing responded with a hum, leaning halfway out of her chair to face Gu Sheng. “Exactly. Waiting for you.” She lowered her head, revealing half her eyes from beneath her sunglasses as she stared at Gu Sheng, her expression frank.

“What are you waiting for me to do?” Gu Sheng asked.

Min Yaxing smiled. “To take my place.” While Gu Sheng had been locked in a battle of wits and courage with the Heavenly Dao, Min Yaxing’s System had received a message: the villain’s designation had been transferred to Gu Sheng, allowing Min Yaxing to retire with honor.

Hearing this, Gu Sheng didn’t ask Min Yaxing for an explanation. She simply said, “I refuse.”

Min Yaxing let out a meaningful “Oh,” then added, “What if I told you there’s a method in my Demon Palace’s private treasury to restore my dear sister to human form?”

Gu Sheng: …

After a moment of silence, she said, “I accept.”

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