The Ice-Cold Beauty Senior Sister Keeps Falling for Her Own Theories - Chapter 23

Hearing Feng Jie’s voice, Gongsun Muhan looked up, only to see Feng Jie’s long lashes lowered, her nearly unmoving lips now stilled into a calm line. Her face was serene as she floated mid-air, allowing the blood threads to recklessly drain her vitality.

Her complexion was as pale as paper, like a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering…

At that moment, the little butterfly on Gongsun Muhan’s shoulder emerged. “Sister Su Meng, please don’t hurt yourself… Sob, sob…”

Feng Jie paid no heed, still clenching her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, blood dripping in thin streams.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced her heart, causing her entire body to tremble violently. With shaking hands, she swiftly infused a drop of her heart’s blood into the talisman. The blood sacrifice complete, the golden talisman materialized. In an instant, she flashed to mid-air, hurled the talisman, and traced the final seal with her fingertip, directing it straight at the Bone-Sacrifice Rift Formation.

“Break!”

The golden-red talisman expanded with a whoosh, carrying an overwhelming force that distorted the surrounding air.

“Boom!”

Inside and outside the array, a hurricane erupted. The flowing-patterned barrier seemed torn apart by bare hands, instantly covered in dark cracks, while the dense curtain of blood threads twisted and contorted… Xie Qisang, struck by the backlash of the same sacrificial energy, coughed up a mouthful of blood uncontrollably.

Gongsun Muhan cast a cold glance at Xie Qisang and soared forward, intending to enter the array and catch Feng Jie. During the array’s fluctuations, she had noticed Feng Jie’s form slightly descending.

Xie Qisang raised a hand, using her thumb to harshly wipe the blood from her lower lip, then raised an eyebrow in response. “Why not join my demon clan? I’ll grant you an overseer’s position.”

Gongsun Muhan casually picked up a fragment of the talisman, channeled spiritual energy into a blade, and flung it backhanded.

Xie Qisang chuckled and sidestepped the attack.

Such a stubborn temperament, it suited her taste, but what a pity…

With a spinning flip, Xie Qisang struck a palm toward both Feng Jie and the barrier.

The taut blood threads wrapped around Feng Jie instantly loosened, and the barrier shimmered with light, splitting open a gap just large enough for one person to pass through.

Seeing that any further delay would mean Feng Jie’s death not from vitality loss but from the fall, Gongsun Muhan flashed into the array, catching the unresponsive Feng Jie and gently spiraling down to the ground.

Simultaneously, the gap in the barrier sealed shut instantly.

A few nearby disciples, who still retained consciousness and considerable cultivation, watched Gongsun Muhan with confusion. The blood threads continued to fall, entangling her as well.

Voices of blame arose around her: “Why did you come in? Couldn’t you have gone to seek reinforcements?”

“Exactly! This array clearly requires time to set up. Instead of staying outside to find the sect masters or elders, you chose to throw your life away…”

“Are you in league with this demon woman? You must be!”

Gongsun Muhan ignored the increasingly harsh curses and complaints around her. Gently, she laid Feng Jie on the ground.

It seemed this array was powered by sacrificial energy, sharing the same origin as her blood sacrifice technique. Like repels like. Combined with the external disruption and the array’s pre-established influence, she couldn’t break it.

Perhaps someone’s words had reminded Xie Qisang. She cast one last glance toward the Cliff, her gaze detached and profound, carrying a flicker of relief.

“Boom!”

A bolt of lightning struck, shattering Xie Qisang’s mask into two halves that fell from the sky.

“Ah!” With a cry of agony, Xie Qisang’s entire body bulged with veins. In an instant, the vibrant young maiden transformed into an eighty-year-old crone.

Suddenly, dark clouds churned, demonic energy gathered, and a rift was violently torn open in the sky, revealing the fully cracked sacrificial bone.

As the surrounding disciples of the immortal sects fell one by one, turning into desiccated corpses, the torn rift gradually widened, and the view inside became clearer.

Flames spread across the land, demonic spirits swarmed, and their roars deafened the ears.

It seemed Xie Qisang had no intention of leaving herself any way out.

“It’s… done.” The voice of the little butterfly, Huahua, sounded weak and faint in Gongsun Muhan’s ear.

“Thank you.”

Gongsun Muhan tucked Huahua into her sleeve and stood up.

She pressed her palms together, rubbed them, and pulled them apart, summoning the Bixin Sword.

She had only one chance, she must succeed!

Gripping the hilt firmly, she severed the blood-red threads entwined around her, leaped into the air, and landed directly beside Xie Qisang.

Holding the sword upright, she traced two fingers along its blade, causing it to blaze with golden light. She planted the sword before her, her hands moving swiftly as she formed seals and channeled spiritual energy into the blade. “Two Energies!”

The blood threads in the array were only half a meter away from connecting with the demonic spirits within the rift. Now was the moment!

“Ten Thousand Spirits Shatter!”

With a loud cry, thousands of sword shadows materialized behind her, all slashing toward the blood threads in the array.

The threads shattered upon impact, but it wasn’t enough.

Pointing her sword toward the sky, she rushed to the edge of the rift and formed seals once more. “One Origin, Azure Expanse’s End!”

She slashed out two hurricane-like sword shadows, charging straight into the rift.

“Boom!”

Demonic clouds dispersed, black smoke dissipated.

Xie Qisang, swept aside by the sword energy, fell like an autumn leaf, her fate uncertain.

In that moment, all who witnessed it could only vaguely recall the image of a woman in green robes, sword in hand, ascending to cleanse the world before her eyes, her divine bearing reminiscent of the celestial sword immortals from storytellers’ tales…

Who was she?

They stared intently at the figure descending gracefully from the sky.

The disciples of the Bixia Sect were the first to recognize her, Gongsun Muhan!

She had returned?

The once-feared prodigy who struck terror into hearts…

After unleashing her final two sword strikes, Gongsun Muhan’s arms went limp. She drifted slowly downward.

Perhaps the wind understood her heart, carrying her to Feng Jie’s side.

Staggering to steady herself, she dropped her sword and gently cradled Feng Jie in her arms.

Junior Sister, I’ve broken my promise.

She gazed down at Feng Jie, tenderly brushing aside the stray strands of hair on her forehead, silently speaking these words in her heart.

Though Feng Jie was beautiful even with her eyes closed, without her captivating, smiling eyes, she seemed lifeless, stirring an inexplicable fear in Gongsun Muhan’s heart.

“Huahua, why hasn’t she awakened?”

“…”

Huahua, having mustered every ounce of her strength, finally managed to crawl out of the intricate layers of sleeves, her slender butterfly legs trembling as she panted heavily.

Why doesn’t Sister Su Meng treat me like a person anymore…

“She…”

Huahua hesitated, unsure whether to speak the rest, given the dire circumstances…

“She’s asleep.”

Huahua’s murmur was so soft that Gongsun Muhan wasn’t sure she heard correctly. “Hmm?”

“She’s asleep!”

“Mm.”

Pouting, Huahua shook her tiny antennae vigorously and crawled back into the sleeve to recuperate.

Gongsun Muhan breathed a sigh of relief. Picking up the Bixin Sword beside her, she finally turned her gaze to the crowd.

Their gazes were far too intense, shock, disgust, predatory stares… but most of the attention was fixed on the Bixin Sword in her hand.

Many didn’t even bother to tend to their injuries before urgently asking:

“Is that the Bixin Sword?”

“Did your cultivation recover because of the Bixin Sword?”

“Where did you find the Bixin Sword?”

“If it weren’t for the Bixin Sword saving us, we would surely have died today!”

“She was originally a good-for-nothing, yet with the Bixin Sword, she has such cultivation. If it were me…”

Suddenly, Gongsun Muhan realized she had misunderstood her junior sister earlier. She had lived for 103 years, yet she understood human nature less than her junior sister did. Perhaps there was nothing unusual about her junior sister, maybe the problem lay with herself.

Because of her junior sister’s kindness, she had cast aside the malice of these people and her hatred toward them.

That really shouldn’t have been…

If she just killed them all, then the worries her junior sister had wouldn’t come to pass, and she wouldn’t have broken her promise, right?

She tightened her grip on the sword hilt, silently channeling spiritual energy. The white jade blade of the Bixin Sword glowed once again as spiritual energy flowed into it.

[Malice value increased by two points. Current value: 80.]

[Critical danger value restored. Preparing lightning strike!]

Feng Jie groggily opened her eyes, vaguely making out the elegant line of her senior sister’s jaw, but her ears were assaulted by a thunderous roar.

What was going on now? Who had bullied Senior Sister again?

A shimmering light flashed before her eyes. Just as she tried to get a clearer look.

Zzzzt…

She unconsciously grabbed at the shimmering light, her head drooping as she trembled from the electric shock.

The shock seemed to last an eternity, every second unbearable, until she lost control of her tear ducts, tears streaming down her face.

When it finally ended, she lifted her head and met Gongsun Muhan’s slightly shocked and flustered gaze. Only then did she realize she had been gripping her senior sister’s hand on the sword hilt.

No wonder it felt so cold…

She tried to blink, but the tears still welling in her eyes moistened the tear tracks on her cheeks again. “Senior Sister~”

She sniffled, “That hurt so much… Waaah…”

Gongsun Muhan froze for half a second, then reached out a hand, clumsily wiping the tear stains from the corner of Feng Jie’s eye. She tossed the sword aside and, seeing the tears still glistening in Feng Jie’s eyes, hesitated for a moment before awkwardly embracing her.

“It’s alright now.”

This time, it was Feng Jie’s turn to be stunned.

She hadn’t been the one crying, and the whining was only because of the lightning strike and the malice value threat. But now, this senior sister, who was supposed to be aloof and unapproachable, was actually comforting her?

What in the world?

Could it be that my previous accidental cannon-fodder behavior actually moved her…

Feng Jie’s eyes darted around several times, but before she could figure it out, her senior sister had already released her.

Gongsun Muhan stood up, cast a cold glance at the cultivators across from them, and with a flick of her sleeve, she recalled the Bixin Sword. She reached out a hand to help Feng Jie up.

Feng Jie naturally took her hand and stood, dusting off her clothes. Only then did she notice the crowd of people not far away.

No wonder it had felt so noisy while she was sleeping. Combined with the change in Gongsun Muhan’s malice value earlier, they must have been the ones bullying her senior sister.

Thinking this, she reached out and pulled her senior sister behind her, adopting the protective stance of a mother hen guarding her chicks.

Seeing her wide-eyed fury, Gongsun Muhan felt a warmth in her heart. If her junior sister truly had any ulterior motives, she couldn’t possibly act like this… She was sincere…

Gongsun Muhan didn’t plan to linger. She leaned in slightly and whispered by Feng Jie’s ear.

“Let’s go, junior sister.”

Feng Jie turned around, her eyes wide as she stared at her, a trace of confusion in her gaze.

She was silently asking with her eyes: Are you really okay? Do you really not need me to help you get revenge?

Gongsun Muhan didn’t speak, only quietly watched as Feng Jie’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Feng Jie conveyed that as long as Gongsun Muhan gave the word, she would do her best to help her seek revenge using the system’s power, for the sake of her malice value. As long as it didn’t involve killing, she would curse anyone to vent Gongsun Muhan’s anger, even if it were a dog!

Seeing the determination and readiness to sacrifice in Feng Jie’s eyes, Gongsun Muhan was momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

How could her junior sister be so adorable… After a long pause, she finally spoke.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh, okay then.”

Feng Jie beamed, hopping naturally to Gongsun Muhan’s side and linking arms with her.

She’s being so kind, it looks like there’s hope for the malice value to drop… Feng Jie thought gleefully.

Little did she expect that as soon as they took two steps, someone called out, telling them to stop.

“You can’t just leave like this!”

“Why not? The road doesn’t belong to you. Why can’t we go?”

The person was momentarily stumped by Feng Jie’s question but quickly recovered. “This demonic array incident is no small matter. You must stay with us.”

“…”

What kind of illogical reason is that? Feng Jie really wanted to ask if this person’s brain had been slapped during a fight, causing them to act so erratically…

“And what if I insist on leaving?”

The person hadn’t expected her to be so difficult to persuade. Shouldn’t most cultivators understand his meaning and voluntarily stay?

Just then, someone else chimed in, his eyes flickering. “You can go, but she cannot.”

Before Feng Jie could retort, the person continued on his own.

“She’s the one who broke the demonic array. If she leaves, how will we explain to the elders when they ask? We’re injured and can’t move easily. What if the… the demonic cultivators return?”

Feng Jie clenched her fist, ready to argue back, but Gongsun Muhan stopped her.

“They can’t defeat me. Let’s go.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Feng Jie shot him a fierce glare and turned around, about to whisper something to Gongsun Muhan.

A sudden whistling sound cut through the air, interrupting her unspoken words.

Someone was coming!