When a Yandere Cannon Fodder Meets a Dark, Twisted Villain - Chapter 55

Seeing the two of them embracing tightly and their misunderstandings dissolved, Ruo Ying—who had been hiding among the branches outside the cave—leapt lightly from the treetop. She revealed her form and landed steadily on the ground.

She tidied her red sleeves, which had been ruffled by the mountain wind, her face showing a rare hint of bashfulness.

“Ahem… well… Fellow Daoist Shu Mo…” Her voice was slightly uneasy, but her tone was sincere. “I didn’t mean it earlier. I apologize to you.”

She took a few steps forward, approaching the cave entrance, and looked at Shu Mo with a candid gaze.

“I just saw the two of you; one brooding in silence and the other frozen without asking questions. I was getting anxious just watching… so I thought I’d give you a push to help you take the initiative and clear things up…”

She scratched her head, looking somewhat annoyed with herself.

“But I was in a hurry and didn’t know my own strength. I forgot that you currently have no spiritual power to protect your body, and I almost made you fall… I am truly sorry…”

Hearing this, Shu Mo gently released the embrace of her beloved, though she still held one of her hands. She turned to Ruo Ying and shook her head slightly. There was no anger on her face; instead, there was a trace of faint warmth.

“Senior acted out of kindness for the sake of Ning’er and me. Why the need for an apology?”

At this point, she paused briefly and looked back at her beloved. Her originally cold eyes were now filled with tenderness. “Furthermore, Senior’s actions truly did help me and Ning’er…”

If it hadn’t been for Ruo Ying’s “divine intervention” that caused her to stumble, how could Ning’er have rushed forward so unhesitatingly to hold her tight?

To her, that embrace broke more than just her physical balance; it shattered the invisible barrier between them that had been born of misunderstanding.

Shi Yining remembered her instinctive reaction just now. The tips of her ears gradually flushed crimson. She pursed her lips and smiled, acknowledging the sentiment without saying a word.

With the knot in their hearts untied, the previously oppressive and stagnant atmosphere inside the cave eased considerably.

Seeing that they truly did not blame her, Ruo Ying felt a weight lift from her heart. The awkwardness dissipated, and her gaze immediately fell upon the small fox lying listlessly on the stone platform, trying its best to minimize its presence. Her eyes grew sharp.

“This little fox—how do you two plan to deal with her?”

Her tone was crisp and decisive, even carrying a hint of icy killing intent: “She previously harbored ill intentions and tried to sow discord. Now, she knows too much about our affairs… Should we kill her directly to eliminate any future trouble?”

On the stone platform, the little fox, who had been drooping her head listlessly, felt her fur stand on end the moment she heard those words.

Hu Ying instinctively wanted to flee and resist, but although the Spirit-Binding Rope was slightly looser, it still firmly imprisoned her demonic power. She couldn’t even summon basic protective Qi, let alone escape.

Ultimately, as if resigning to fate, she slumped dejectedly onto the cold stone surface, burying her head deep between her front paws. Her fluffy tail curled up tight as her entire body trembled, waiting for her impending tragic end.

The atmosphere in the cave, which had only just relaxed, grew stagnant once more due to this sudden question of life and death.

Shi Yining looked at the shivering little fox for a moment and said thoughtfully, “Hu Ying told me that it was the Demon Lord who sent her into this Taixuan Dao Realm and ordered her to find a way to separate Mo’er and me… From that perspective, although she was the executor with ill intent, the root cause is that she was following orders under the Demon Lord’s drive. She is guilty, but the crime does not warrant death.”

Outside the cave, Ruonian, who had been watching quietly, maintained her keen insight. She caught the key information in Shi Yining’s words. Her usually gentle eyes narrowed slightly with deep thought as she looked at the little fox and asked softly:

“Why would the Demon Lord specifically order you to separate Fellow Daoist Shi and Fellow Daoist Shu?”

Her voice was not loud, but it reached clearly into the cave.

Hearing this, a look of curiosity appeared in Ruo Ying’s eyes; clearly, this question had piqued her interest as well.

Hu Ying felt a moment of relief when she heard her crime didn’t warrant death, but seeing the focus return to her—especially regarding a question she couldn’t fully explain—she panicked.

She instinctively looked toward Shi Yining as if seeking protection or confirmation, saying urgently, “I already told Ning’er before… I repeated exactly what the Demon Lord said to me, but… but I really don’t understand those words… and I can’t explain them in detail…”

The moment those words left her mouth, Shu Mo suddenly looked up. Her gaze shot straight toward the fox, filled with chilling coldness.

“Ning’er… is not a name you are allowed to call her.”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the little fox’s cowering form. Her tone was flat but brooked no argument. “You and Ning’er are neither kin nor kindred spirits. According to etiquette, calling her ‘Fellow Daoist’ will suffice.”

This was not a simple matter of address, but a clear definition of boundaries.

She was reminding Hu Ying that Ning’er was someone she cherished. Such intimate forms of address, aside from Ning’er’s sect elders, could only belong to her.

Hu Ying lowered her head even further and whispered her assent, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s hum.

Shi Yining felt the grip on her palm tighten slightly. She understood that this pressure contained not only Mo’er’s undisguised possessiveness but also a subtle layer of wariness.

She gently stroked the back of that jade-like hand with her thumb, offering wordless comfort.

“Mo’er, Hu Ying told me that the Demon Lord mentioned we have shared three lifetimes of predestined love, and said… that the celestial art of reversing time was not something Mo’er used for the first time… Do you know if this is true or false?”

As she asked this, Shi Yining’s heart hung high in suspense. Her eyes were locked onto her beloved’s beautiful gaze, unwilling to miss even the slightest flicker of change.

Shu Mo’s eyes trembled imperceptibly, but she did not evade the question.

“The Demon Lord spoke the truth. Ning’er, you only know that we have both been reborn, but you do not know that we have already been reborn twice…”

“What?!”

As soon as these words were spoken, not only Shi Yining but even Ruonian and Ruo Ying outside the cave were visibly shocked. The little fox, who had been lying on the ground, sat bolt upright, ears pricked to hear the unfolding secret.

Ruo Ying was so startled she lunged forward half a step, her face full of disbelief. “How is it possible to be reborn twice?! Neither my sister nor I have any such memories, and the Demon Lord never revealed this before. What is going on?”

Her voice cracked slightly from the sheer shock.

Although Ruonian did not cry out, her usually calm eyes suddenly constricted, and her knuckles turned slightly white.

“Reborn twice… meaning, we are currently living in the world of the third rebirth?”

Shi Yining stared blankly at Shu Mo. She knew Mo’er would never lie to her, but this sudden, reality-shattering information still shook her soul, leaving her unable to recover for a long time. She instinctively gripped Mo’er’s hand tighter.

In the deathly silence of the shock, Shu Mo’s cold voice rang out again.

“The Demon Lord is a strand of evil thought born from the Heavenly Dao, influenced by the Nine Profound Reincarnation Mirror. Both Ning’er and Senior Ruonian already know this.”

Ruonian nodded in confirmation: “Indeed. After my resurrection, I sensed this truth through some unseen connection.” Her voice had regained some composure, but ripples of emotion remained deep in her eyes.

Shi Yining struggled to recover from the massive mental impact and followed with a slow nod.

Shu Mo looked at her beloved. “Ning’er, do you have a memory… of living in a world of technology, plagued by an innate chronic illness, where ten-odd years passed in a flash? And in the last month of your life, you discovered a book related to me…”

Shi Yining nodded blankly. “That is… the life I had before I ‘transmigrated’ into the book… Mo’er, you actually knew?”

Shu Mo raised a hand, cupping her jade-like face, and explained softly: “In truth, that memory isn’t real. The so-called ‘book transmigration’ never existed… Ning’er, from beginning to end, you have always been in the Canglan Realm. You never left.”

“What…?”

“That memory… was a spell forced upon you by the Demon Lord…”

“But… that book…”

“That book was a fabrication the Demon Lord created according to her own whims, including the ‘System.’ All of it came from her hand. Her goal was to turn us against each other.”

“Why would the Demon Lord do such a thing?”

“She wants to replace the true Heavenly Dao of the Canglan Realm. To achieve this, she must first weaken the Providence of the Heavenly Dao…”

Outside the cave, Ruonian began to piece it together and added: “Although the Providence of the Heavenly Dao is related to all living things, it is centered on the human race—especially the younger generation with exceptional talent and pure hearts. They carry great Providence. In the Canglan Realm, among the younger generation, it is Fellow Daoist Shu and Fellow Daoist Shi who possess the greatest talent. If she cannot eliminate you, the Demon Lord’s goal of replacing the Heavenly Dao can never be achieved.”

Shi Yining’s brow furrowed. “No… there are still many things that don’t make sense. With the Demon Lord’s strength, it would have been easy to eliminate me when I was still weak. Why go through such trouble? And… that System. In the previous life, it was always finding ways to make me pursue Mo’er. If the Demon Lord’s goal was for us to become enemies, why would she have the System do that?”

Ruo Ying, having recovered from her shock, spoke up at the right moment: “Fellow Daoist Shi, you are mistaken there. In the previous life, the Demon Lord’s design to turn you and Mo’er against each other was actually achieved. Before you fell off the cliff, didn’t you use the Soul-Dispersing Bell to heavily injure Mo’er? At that time, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you were enemies.”

At this point, she realized too late that she was treading on thin ice and tried to mend it: “Wait, I didn’t mean to reopen old wounds. I know there must have been misunderstandings. I’m sorry, what I meant was…”

Shi Yining turned her head slightly toward the figure in red, a forced smile touching the corners of her lips. “Senior Ruo Ying, Mo’er and I understand what you mean… you don’t need to apologize for it.”

She hadn’t realized it before, but thinking carefully, while the System mostly told her to pursue Mo’er, it would occasionally leak small bits of malice toward Mo’er. It appeared to be standing up for her, but the actual intent was now clear. She had simply been too close to the situation to see it…

Now, one doubt remained: Why did the Demon Lord use such complex methods to deal with her?

The cave fell silent. Shi Yining lowered her head, her fingertips unconsciously curling as she sank deeper into the fog of thought.

Since the Demon Lord had such heaven-defying power, why not just strike her down? Why expend so much effort to create a System and weave a discord spanning three lifetimes?

She believed this was not a redundant move. There had to be a deeper reason—a rule that even that incarnation of evil thought had to follow or fear.

Before she could untangle her thoughts, Shu Mo’s voice rose again, slowly revealing the truth.

“Those who carry great Providence have their life paths intertwined with Heaven and Earth. To some extent, they are protected by the Heavenly Dao. Until the timing is right and the karma is complete, she cannot directly use lethal moves against us… However, if you and I harbor suspicion, turn against each other, and become enemies, that becomes our own choice and karmic fruit. The Heavenly Dao… will not intervene in that.”

At this point, she paused slightly, her gaze sweeping over her beloved’s enlightened yet pale face. Suppressing the pity in her heart, she continued: “Because of this, she needed to use external tools to meticulously construct a System. That System seemed to help you, but in reality, it guided you step-by-step, planting seeds of suspicion and resentment in your heart at the right moments, enticing us to become foes…”

Shi Yining’s mind dazed for a moment. When she looked up again, a rare look of bewilderment appeared in her eyes.

“The memory of my ‘transmigration’ was a fiction created by the Demon Lord’s spell… Then, in the first life, in the very beginning before everything was twisted… what was I actually like?”

Not the descriptions in a few chapters of a book, not a character defined by a System, but the real, living her. In that first life, what kind of personality did she have?

Shu Mo slowly raised her hand, her warm fingertips gently touching the space between Shi Yining’s furrowed brows, smoothing them out bit by bit.

“In the future, when Ning’er reaches the realm of Crossing Calamity and Ascension, and your soul is complete—enough to break free from the negative effects of the time-reversal technique—all those sealed and interfered memories will be fully restored. Until then, even if I were to describe everything about the first life in detail, it would feel like looking through a layer of mist to you. It would be hard to truly touch the state of mind you had then.”

She paused, her fingertips lingering at the corner of her beloved’s flushed eyes, stroking them gently. “Of course, if Ning’er wants to know now, I will tell you everything without reservation.”

Shi Yining looked into those eyes filled with tenderness and remained silent for a long time. Finally, she slowly shook her head.

“Mo’er, I want to remember it myself…” The confusion in her eyes faded. “I believe that day will come…”

Support