The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 32

“Ugh…”

I won’t beg! Despite the tightening grip on her throat and her face flushing red, Gu Jinli’s gaze didn’t waver for a second. She refused to beg for her life. If she wanted to kill her, then let her do it!

“Don’t look at me like that!”

That cold, defiant gaze was like a thorn, piercing Shen Chigui’s fury. In that moment, she felt like she was less than trash in the other’s eyes. It was too much.

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—THUD!

Gu Jinli’s soft body was thrown to the floor. Her head struck the ground, sending her vision into a dizzying spin. She pushed herself up, gasping for air.

Shen Chigui had let go.

Why?

“Do you think I’m going to do something so futile?” Shen Chigui asked, her voice returning to that chilling, level tone.

As if sensing the doubt swirling in her mind, Shen Chigui’s eyes darkened, and she let out a mocking laugh. “Waste of my strength.”

With that, she turned away and walked toward the stone gate.

Futile effort?

Gu Jinli understood her meaning instantly. She clenched her fists, her eyes reddening with a mix of fury and hurt. Is she mocking me because I simply won’t die no matter what she does?!

“I won’t go with you anymore,” Gu Jinli stated. The searing pain in her throat was a constant reminder of the other girl’s brutality. In this moment, she achieved a rare, icy clarity.

“We’re done. We go our separate ways here,” she said.

Separate?

Shen Chigui’s footsteps faltered for a fraction of a second. The corners of her mouth twitched. “Suit yourself,” she replied, her voice flat and utterly indifferent.

Shen Chigui left.

Gu Jinli watched her push open the stone gate and vanish into the next trial. Only then did she scramble up from the floor. She knelt beside Nangong Jinyao’s body and pulled the girl into her arms.

What do I do now?

She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that the Young Mistress was gone. According to the original timeline, this was over a year too early. Did I cause this? Did my presence trigger a butterfly effect? She had long suspected that the reason the protagonist was “Reborn” was due to some interference of her own.

As her thoughts spiraled, she heard a heavy creak. The stone gate before her ground open once more. A bizarre, thick black mist instantly flooded the hall, and a strange shadow emerged slowly from the darkness.

“Welcome, My Lord.”

The figure broke through the fog and stood before Gu Jinli, bowing deeply.

“Great Deity.”

“Forgive my late arrival. The Tower of Heaven is not meant to appear before mortals.”

“I have strictly followed your designs, only daring to show myself now.”

*****

Gu Jinli was beyond stunned. The Tower of Heaven could actually manifest a physical form? Was it a sentient spirit?

She stared at the dark figure, trying to see past the swirling black mist. She was disappointed; the shadow was entirely shrouded, offering nothing but a vaguely humanoid silhouette. Even its voice was a strange, androgynous rasp.

But none of that mattered right now! Realizing she was talking to the Tower itself, Gu Jinli’s eyes lit up with desperate hope.

“Can you save her?!” She held up the lifeless body in her arms toward the shadow. “I know this Secret Realm is full of treasures. If it’s you… can’t you…?”

“Deity.” The voice was airy, sounding both distant and right in her ear. “Every soul has its destiny.”

That was a refusal.

“…Is there really no way?” The light in Gu Jinli’s eyes died out. She felt a crushing weight of sorrow. Though she hadn’t known Nangong Jinyao long, the fact remained that the girl had protected her within the illusion. She couldn’t just walk away.

“I am sorry.” The shadow fell silent.

*****

It took a while, but Gu Jinli eventually regained her composure. The past was set; she couldn’t change it. But the living had to move forward.

“You came to find me for a reason, didn’t you?” She gently laid Jinyao down and turned to the shadow. “What is it?”

“Yes, My Deity.” The shadow made a gesture of invitation, drifting back toward the gate. “Please follow me.”

Gu Jinli’s gaze instinctively fell to its feet. If she wasn’t mistaken, the thing had just floated. She gave Nangong Jinyao one last, lingering look before following the shadow into the gate.

They left the hall behind and, moments later, Gu Jinli realized they were at the very top—the peak of the Tower.

This was the final trial, the place where the protagonist was destined to find her natal sword. The longsword standing upright in the center of the room was proof enough.

“My Lord, this sword belongs to you.”

Noticing her gaze on the weapon, the shadow moved toward it. As the ultimate stage of the Tower, the 36th floor’s trial was famously grueling. Every step forward usually triggered a different challenge; only those who survived the gauntlet were worthy of choosing a blade from the central array.

Gu Jinli remembered writing that Shen Chigui spent over a month on this floor alone before she finally reached the center and pulled out her sword. Yet here she was, walking across the “death trap” as if it were level ground.

“This is…” She noticed the arrays beneath her feet flickering, yet they remained inert.

“Indeed, My Deity,” the shadow chuckled softly as if reading her mind. “In truth, had you not chosen to enter with that human, you would have faced no danger from the very first floor. This is a place of your creation; how could it possibly obstruct its own Creator?”

If Shen Chigui hadn’t been by her side, the Tower would have appeared to her much sooner. It would never have allowed her to experience so many deaths and so much pain. As the consciousness of the Tower, it had been watching her since the moment she stepped inside. But because of the fundamental rules of the world, it could not manifest before “outsiders” or reveal any anomalies.

Shen Chigui was, quite clearly, an outsider.

“I see.” Gu Jinli paused. If she had known this earlier, she might have felt rage or regret. But now, she was just too exhausted to be angry.

“Everything here is yours!” the shadow declared. “No one has cleared the Tower yet; the treasures are all intact. And they are all yours!”

It was born because of Gu Jinli; therefore, the treasures belonged to her.

******

Without the interference of arrays or floor guardians, the walk to the central sword array was incredibly simple. Gu Jinli stood before the hundreds of blades thrust into the ground.

As the Author, she immediately recalled her settings. This array contained the most famous swords of the cultivation world. To take one, a person usually had to earn the sword’s recognition. At the very center, the undisputed king of the array was the legendary sword “Night Moon”—the lead’s future weapon.

Legend had it that this blade was forged by a grandmaster from the four realms and possessed terrifying power and ferocity. In her original story, this sword was the catalyst that turned the protagonist from a survivor into a god-tier powerhouse.

Gu Jinli’s gaze swept over the dark-gold hilt and the intricate engravings before settling back on the shadow.

“No thank you,” she said softly. “I’m not interested in the sword. But I do have one thing I’d like to ask of you.”

“Please, name it.” The shadow sounded almost disappointed that she didn’t want the legendary blade, but it perked up at the mention of a request.

“Send me away,” Gu Jinli stated. “Not just out of the Tower. I want to leave the Secret Realm and Gu City entirely. I know you can do it.”

For anyone else, this would be an impossible task. but for the spirit of the Tower and the Realm itself, it was child’s play. As the one who wrote the settings, Gu Jinli knew this realm better than anyone. There were several hidden exits; once the realm “recognized a master,” the outer gates would close, but the secret passages remained.

In her original plot, Shen Chigui used these passages to launch surprise attacks across the four realms. This place was the protagonist’s ultimate secret base.

“I understand.”

The shadow nodded slightly. It didn’t pry further, but it brought up another matter: “Then, My Deity, do you require me to… eliminate her for you?”

Though no name was spoken, they both knew exactly who it was referring to. The Tower of Heaven clearly sensed why Gu Jinli was making this choice, and it offered a rare touch of personification: “If she is someone you dislike, I am willing to make an exception for you.”

“No need.”

Gu Jinli shook her head in refusal. After a moment’s thought, she added protectively, “Don’t do anything unnecessary. Don’t let her discover that you possess consciousness—that is the greatest help you can give me.”

The female lead was the protagonist, after all—the core of this world. The Tower was a “cheat” meant for her; in a way, it belonged to Shen Chigui. Being able to slip away through the back door was already the best possible outcome. She had zero desire to challenge the authority of the protagonist’s destiny.

“Deity.”

The shadow paused, then took two steps forward to stand directly before her. It bowed respectfully and said, “I will do as you command.”

“But before that, please allow me to help you remove the shackles upon your soul.”

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