The Ice-Cold Beauty Senior Sister Keeps Falling for Her Own Theories - Chapter 18

She was so thin and light that carrying her felt unexpectedly effortless…

As the demonic energy dispersed, Gongsun Muhan could see more clearly. Her eyes were brimming with crystal-clear tears, and even her long, delicate eyelashes were damp with moisture, so much wetness…

Was she… worried that I might get hurt?

Did she feel sorry for me? Sorry… for me? No, I mustn’t think like this anymore.

[Evil thoughts value decreased by 19 points. Current value: 80 points.]

[Congratulations, Host. Keep up the good work!]

A string of cold, mechanical tones echoed in Feng Jie’s mind, causing her brain to freeze for a second.

What?! If it weren’t for the inappropriate timing, she would have jumped for joy! In that instant, she felt as though her tear ducts had cleared.

Drop by drop, the tears made the warmth in Gongsun Muhan’s palm feel strange. She instinctively wanted to pull her hand back, to stop all those chaotic, wild thoughts.

Suddenly, Feng Jie firmly grasped that slender, pale wrist.

Gongsun Muhan tried to tug it back slightly, but it was useless. She lifted her gaze, a trace of confusion and nervousness in her eyes.

Feng Jie roughly wiped away her own tears and put on a deeply concerned expression. “Eldest Senior Sister, this isn’t a safe place. Let me take you away.”

Gongsun Muhan’s mind went blank, and she replied dazedly, “Alright.”

I’ll go with you…

Feng Jie didn’t notice the gentle look in Gongsun Muhan’s eyes. If she had, she would have realized that this gaze was entirely different from Gongsun Muhan’s usual demeanor, as if all her defenses had been shed, all pretenses cast aside.

Adjusting her posture, Feng Jie still felt a pang of reluctance. “Eldest Senior Sister, please bear with it a little.”

The restraint on Gongsun Muhan’s wrist suddenly loosened. Feng Jie picked up the buzzing, persistently attention-seeking Bixin Sword beside them and pressed it into her hand.

“Eldest Senior Sister, take this. It’s for you.”

After saying this, she slid one arm under Gongsun Muhan’s back and the other beneath her knees, lifting her horizontally into her arms.

She was so thin and light that carrying her felt unexpectedly effortless.

She must have lived a very austere life before. It seemed that from now on, Feng Jie could find more nourishing things to help her become plump and fair-skinned…

Just then, the ground beneath them began to shake violently. A large, visible fissure appeared ahead, from which several beams of dark purple light shot out.

Not good, the demon heart was probably about to emerge.

Feng Jie quickened her pace, heading toward the outer edge of the demonic array.

Unexpectedly, the tremors grew even more intense. She could no longer keep her footing. With no other choice, she found a nearby tree stump and gently set Gongsun Muhan down.

Gongsun Muhan’s dark blue eyes widened slightly, her brows furrowing as she bit down hard on her lower lip. She suppressed even the slightest gasp, not letting a hint of pain escape.

“Eldest Senior Sister, I’ve heard that divine swords can reshape the dantian and sea of consciousness. They should also be able to heal some wounds. Why don’t you try forming a contract with the sword now? It might… ease the pain a little.”

Did she notice?

Gongsun Muhan looked at her with a heart full of complicated emotions, only to see her frowning as she channeled all the spiritual energy from her dantian to set up a protective barrier around her. It was clear she intended to leave. Unable to hold back, Gongsun Muhan asked, “What about you?”

“Me? I’m going to check out the situation over there.” After a pause, Feng Jie added, “Otherwise, I’m worried they might harm you, Eldest Senior Sister.”

You must understand that the demon heart amplifies desires and tempts one to become a demon. If Gongsun Muhan were to be possessed by the demon heart, she would not only endure the torment of demonic energy but also face condemnation from the entire world. How could this not be considered a severe blow to her?

Feng Jie would never admit it, but she had deliberately spoken this way to increase her favorability.

Hearing this, Gongsun Muhan clenched her right hand into a tight fist. She wanted to grab Feng Jie, but the latter turned away too quickly, leaving her no chance.

The hand she had just stretched out was withdrawn again. “Alright, be careful.”

Feng Jie left in such a hurry that she didn’t hear Gongsun Muhan pause for a moment before adding softly, “I’ll be there soon.”

Feng Jie was extremely anxious. She had to deal with the demon heart as soon as possible and prevent it from getting close to Gongsun Muhan. Otherwise, all her previous efforts would be in vain!

However, the changes in Gongsun Muhan’s malevolence value had truly surprised her.

She clearly remembered that when she was still in the tree hollow earlier, the malevolence value had already reached ninety-nine. After all this time, despite suffering severe injuries in the demonic array and being invaded by so much demonic energy trying to corrupt her, Gongsun Muhan had somehow managed to retain a sliver of rationality. What could be so powerful that it could even suppress the malevolence of a villain?

“Hey, looks like you didn’t forget the reward you promised me. I almost thought the two of you were going to fly off together, leaving me alone to spend the winter in this gloomy demonic array.”

Xiezhi’s teasing interrupted Feng Jie’s thoughts, and she didn’t dwell on it further.

“Has the demon heart emerged?”

“Right there, it’s already taken form.” Xiezhi pointed toward the center of the fissure, where a faint, shadowy heart could be seen, continuously absorbing the surrounding demonic energy.

“Should I wait here?”

“No, you come with me. When the demon heart appears, demonic creatures are bound to accompany it. I’ll lure them away, and you seize the chance to retrieve the demon heart.”

“Me? How do I retrieve it?”

Xiezhi’s eyes darkened, a flicker of cunning passing through them. “Just go over and grab it with your hand.”

Feng Jie gave him a puzzled look. This was the first time she had heard of such a method. In novels, wasn’t there always some kind of box or magical artifact for containing such things?

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Several streams of dark purple demonic energy shot up into the sky, instantly covering the entire firmament. Countless demonic clouds swirled, devouring all traces of light, creating an apocalyptic scene that struck fear into all who looked up.

A roar echoed as a colossal creature emerged from the fissure, a body like a sheep, enormous eyes, tiger-like fangs, and dragon-like claws. It was the ancient demonic beast, Taotie.

Waves of demonic energy rippled outward. Xiezhi leaped lightly to evade them and headed straight for the demon heart.

“I’ll lure it away. Seize your chance.”

Taking a deep breath, Feng Jie suppressed the flicker of fear inside her. For some reason, she felt inexplicably excited, perhaps because it was her first time seeing the legendary Taotie.

Glancing in Gongsun Muhan’s direction, she quickly circled around from the side toward the location of the demon heart.

Xiezhi and the demonic beast were locked in a fierce battle. He seemed to have successfully provoked the creature’s rage. With one swipe of its claw, the ground caved into a massive pit; with a sweep of its tail, everything in its path was shattered to pieces… Xiezhi leaped and dodged, flipping and sliding with remarkable agility.

Suddenly, the Taotie froze in place, its purple eyes bulging and rapidly rotating. Threads of demonic energy spread out like a net in all directions.

It was the demonic skill of Gluttony, Soul Siphon. Wherever demonic energy reached, any sentient being would be affected, their hidden desires for evil drawn out, gradually losing their self-will until completely controlled by Gluttony, becoming either its food or puppet.

However, in this state, aside from using Soul Siphon for control, Gluttony could not launch brute force attacks. Doing so would interrupt the demonic skill, leaving it disoriented for a moment.

Xiezhi’s heart tightened. Quickly, he formed a protective demonic seal and cast it into his own chest, while signaling to Feng Jie to take this opportunity to approach the Demon Heart. Gluttony was a demonic beast born alongside the Demon Heart, and the area near the heart was beyond its control.

Feng Jie nodded to show she understood. She hadn’t expected him to use his own body to block an attack, buying her time to retrieve the Demon Heart. It seemed the Demon Heart was truly of extraordinary importance to him.

Xiezhi, meanwhile, moved in front of Gluttony. Gluttony fed on greed and evil desires, its nature violent and cruel. He didn’t believe it could resist the urge to strike him. Sure enough, its movements slowed, even showing signs of halting.

Seeing this, Feng Jie sped toward the Demon Heart. She was only a few dozen meters away, yet the expected sounds of combat never came.

The demonic beast had appeared within her line of sight!

It swiftly snatched the Demon Heart, turned, and fled.

In that direction,

It was heading toward Gongsun Muhan!

Feng Jie had no time to think; she was already in hot pursuit behind Gluttony. Xiezhi quickly reacted as well, rushing to follow.

Ahead, Gongsun Muhan sat cross-legged under a tree, enveloped by a golden spiritual barrier. She was in the process of contracting the Bixin Sword, at the critical moment of subduing the sword spirit. Her consciousness was trapped within the sword’s absolute domain, unable to break free.

Her brows were deeply furrowed, clearly indicating something had gone wrong midway.

As Gluttony drew closer to her, Feng Jie urgently shouted a warning:

“Senior Sister, dodge quickly!”

But Gongsun Muhan remained unresponsive, seemingly completely unaware of her surroundings.

In truth, Gongsun Muhan could see what was happening outside, but she was trapped. She had thought the Bixin Sword resonated with her and that the contract would proceed smoothly. She had drawn a drop of heart’s blood to establish a life-bound contract, but at the final moment, as she was about to imprint her spiritual mark, a sudden change occurred, she couldn’t imprint it no matter what.

The sword spirit explained that her consciousness was too cluttered with impurities, meaning her Dao heart was impure, filled with too many distracting thoughts.

If she couldn’t clarify her Dao heart, her will would remain trapped within the sword forever, unable to escape.

Meanwhile, Gluttony also noticed something unusual. No matter how it tried, it couldn’t get past the barrier formed by the Bixin Sword’s spirit, blocked outside.

It attempted to charge several times, but the golden barrier showed not even a hint of shaking. Frustrated and agitated, it stood outside the barrier, clawing wildly in fury.

Just then, the two arrived behind it. Seeing the scene, Feng Jie breathed a huge sigh of relief. As expected of a divine sword, it clearly possessed formidable power.

But beneath his mask, Xiezhi’s expression grew increasingly grave. If his guess was correct, the woman under the tree likely harbored extremely strong evil desires, enough to attract the demonic beast’s intent to claim her as its master.

“Boom, boom, boom!”

The demonic beast changed tactics, condensing demonic power into its claws, forming fists, and pounding them down again and again.

With such force, it seemed it might truly manage to smash a hole through the barrier.

No, Feng Jie felt she still had to get to Gongsun Muhan’s side quickly, and it would be best if she could drive it away.

The demonic beast was extremely focused, its eyes fixed solely on Gongsun Muhan as its target. Whether Feng Jie struck it with spiritual energy spheres, bound it with spiritual energy transformed into a whip, or leaped onto its head to pull its fur and kick its horns… it remained completely unmoved.

Feng Jie herself was panting heavily, drenched in sweat, but to the Taotie, it was nothing more than a light scratch.

Just as she was about to call for Xie Zhi to come and help,

“Thud!”

The Taotie suddenly swung its long tail, sweeping her away. She crashed heavily into a tree stump with a loud thud, a sharp pain surging in her chest as her blood and energy churned violently. She spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Feng Jie!” Gongsun Muhan’s heart clenched as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand when she saw this. Even though she knew Feng Jie couldn’t hear her, she couldn’t help but cry out.

Feng Jie’s vision began to blur, and a heavy sense of dizziness washed over her again. Staggering, she pushed herself up, one hand pressed to her forehead and the other braced against the tree. Just as she was about to catch her breath.

A dazzling ring of light instantly snapped her back to alertness.

She saw that the Taotie had retreated several meters away from the barrier at some point. A vortex had formed between the two horns on its head, and endless streams of demonic energy, entwined with dark purple spiritual power, surged toward the demon heart floating in mid-air.

The ring of light surrounding the demon heart and the illusory heart shadow grew increasingly radiant.

A sense of foreboding enveloped Feng Jie. She glanced around but realized Xie Zhi had already disappeared.

Unbeknownst to her, Xie Zhi was standing in the shadows of the trees behind her, wiping away the green blood trickling from the corner of her mouth with one hand while placing the final array marker.

As the illusory heart solidified, the Taotie shook its head and sent the last surge of demonic power toward it.

“Hiss!”

A sharp sound tore through the air as the demon heart shot straight toward Gongsun Muhan within the barrier.

Feng Jie rushed toward Gongsun Muhan, hastily gathering the last of her spiritual energy and throwing it at the demon heart at a 60-degree angle, hoping to deflect it.

Cracks began to appear on the barrier, and a crisp shattering sound echoed in Feng Jie’s ears. She closed her eyes in despair.

“Ah!”

What was happening?