Xue Chenjing crouched on the ground with his head lowered, holding a painted stone in each hand. He appeared to be carefully examining the remaining paint on the stone fragments, intently piecing together a deity statue.
But the system heard him sniffling.
The system: "..." Although it was anxious and impatient, after a moment's hesitation, it ultimately refrained from urging him again.
Its host had truly been beaten badly by the female lead. His face had been clawed up by her sword spirit, and it looked very painful—though the host deserved to be beaten.
But having witnessed the whole thing, the system was starting to doubt who the real villain was.
Damn it, what on earth had happened to its sweet, adorable female lead to make her like this?
The bone demon peeked in through the broken wall of the mountain god temple, craning its neck. Its protruding eyeballs rolled back and forth as it looked quizzically at Xue Chenjing, who was crouched on the ground with his head down.
It twitched its collapsed nostrils, sniffing the air repeatedly, as saliva began to drip from between its teeth again.
Unable to resist temptation, the bone demon slowly moved its limbs, approaching its master.
It crawled on all fours to Xue Chenjing's side, lowering its body and twisting its head 180 degrees. It stretched its head underneath him to look up, seeing the glistening teardrops on his eyelashes. Excited, it stuck out its tongue, wanting to lick his face.
Xue Chenjing grabbed a stone and smacked it on the demon's forehead with a thud. He roughly wiped his face with his sleeve and said irritably, "Get away from me."
The bone demon's neck retracted quickly from the blow. It swiftly bit onto the sleeve he had used to wipe his tears, ripping it off with a swoosh. Then it scurried back to the tangled grass in the courtyard on all fours, hugging the torn sleeve and inhaling it obsessively.
Xue Chenjing was greatly annoyed by this dog-like creature. He picked up stones and hurled them at the bone demon to vent his frustration.
The bone demon's body resounded with thuds as it was pelted, but it didn't dodge at all. This level of pain was nothing more than a tickle to it.
After finishing his assault, Xue Chenjing ordered it to fetch the stones back to the base of the shrine so he could continue assembling the unfinished mountain god statue.
Because of his barrage, the stones were even more shattered now, significantly increasing the difficulty of reassembly. Fortunately, the mountain god statue gradually took shape on the shrine, with fine threads firmly bonding the pieces together, leaving no trace that it had ever been broken.
The timing was perfect. Just as Xue Chenjing finished assembling the mountain god statue, the sound of footsteps came from outside the temple—very faint and cautious.
Xue Chenjing took a final admiring look at the mountain god statue, then circled around the shrine and climbed out through the broken wall at the back of the temple, disappearing into the thick fog.
...
At the front entrance of the mountain god temple arrived three cultivators—two men and one woman, all disciples of the Ten Thousand Joys Sect.
Leading the way was a middle-aged male cultivator with a broad-backed saber strapped to his back. His name was Zhao Tinghe, the senior disciple of the Ten Thousand Joys Sect, a saber cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage. Behind him followed his younger brother Zhao Chengfeng, at mid Core Formation stage, and their junior sister Ruan Qiutang, at Qi Condensation stage.
Nowadays, most cultivation resources were controlled by the Twelve Great Immortal Sects, and other sects could only survive by attaching themselves to them. Cultivators who could reach the Foundation Establishment stage were already considered rare, and almost all of them came from the Great Immortal Sects.
Cultivators like Zhao Tinghe, who could form their Golden Core through their own efforts, were as scarce as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. However, by the time he formed his core, he was already past his prime, so naturally, he couldn't be compared to those young Foundation Establishment disciples from the immortal sects.
The world of cultivators was led by the Twelve Great Immortal Sects, while the rest were scattered sects of little renown that could all be classified as second-rate sects.
This time, the Lishan Sword Sect was celebrating a joyous occasion. Small sects like the Ten Thousand Joys Sect, which didn't even rank among the second-rate sects, were naturally not on the guest list. But that didn't stop them from coming to Lishan City to join in the festivities.
And as it turned out, they had come at just the right time.
Taking advantage of the Lishan banquet, demons and monsters had invaded the forbidden area of the back mountain and stolen the Lishan Sword Sect's treasure, the Sword-Sealing Stone.
The Lishan Sect Leader, Juechen Zi, had publicly sent out a message to all directions, promising that whoever found the Sword-Sealing Stone could choose one divine weapon from within it. Or, they could send their own magical weapon into the stone for tempering.
It was said that inside the Lishan Sword-Sealing Stone was a weapon-tempering platform imbued with the power of ancient gods. It was the forging platform used by the Ji Clan, the number one immortal clan of Mount Qi two thousand years ago, to temper weapons and refine tools. The Ji Clan had ruled the cultivation world for five thousand years, and even after their complete downfall, the things they left behind were still divine artifacts and immortal treasures beyond the reach of modern cultivators.
Even the revered elders of today's Twelve Great Immortal Sects, if one traced their origins, mostly came from under the Ji Clan. The three great families of Jiang, Yao, and Yun, who are now at the height of their power, were merely household servants under the Ji Clan back then.
Thus, when Juechen Zi made this announcement, cultivators all over the world couldn't help but be tempted.
The three from the Ten Thousand Joys Sect naturally couldn't resist such temptation either. They had followed the trail of a Lishan Sword Sect disciple to get here.
That Lishan disciple had taken a liking to Ruan Qiutang's beauty, and the Ten Thousand Joys Sect also wanted to establish a connection with him. The two parties had exchanged some personal items, which were perfect for performing tracking spells.
After tracking to this location, they encountered the mountain fog barrier and couldn't find the Lishan Sword Sect person. However, they were lucky enough to find a Fluorite Stone belonging to the Lishan Sword Sect.
This Fluorite Stone could sense the Sword-Sealing Stone and would glow when within a certain distance of it.
Zhao Chengfeng muttered, "There's actually a temple in this godforsaken place? Cloud Mountain God?"
Zhao Tinghe glanced at the faintly glowing Fluorite Stone in his hand. "Be careful, we're very close to the Sword-Sealing Stone now. It might be inside this temple. You two wait here while I go in to check the situation. Only come in if there's no danger."
Ruan Qiutang clung tightly to Zhao Tinghe, saying anxiously, "Senior Brother, let's go in together. This thick fog is very strange. We'd better not separate."
Zhao Tinghe thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Junior Sister speaks wisely."
Worried that monsters might be lurking in the temple, the three were very cautious, each gripping their magical weapons tightly. First, they used spying talismans folded into paper cranes to scout the mountain god temple several times. Only after confirming there was no unusual activity inside did they take action.
Zhao Tinghe pushed open the crooked gate of the mountain god temple and cautiously stepped into the courtyard amid the creaking of the door.
The fog barrier inside the temple was much thinner than outside, making the surroundings clearer and brighter.
The temple was in ruins, with weeds growing all over the courtyard, appearing to have been abandoned for a long time. The roof of the temple was full of holes, with sunlight streaming through, illuminating the mountain god statue in the center of the hall.
Many of the fine details of the mountain god statue had been eroded smooth by the wind, but the overall shape remained. However, the painted colors were incredibly vibrant, in stark contrast to the dilapidated state of the entire temple.
All three were drawn to the eerily vibrant statue in the center, their expressions gradually becoming dazed. They unconsciously walked to the front of the shrine, simultaneously looking up at the colorful deity statue standing on the pedestal.
The facial features of this statue were blurred, but its eyes were painted so vividly that they seemed lifelike. In the dim light, they were clearly reflected in everyone's eyes.
The statue's eyes were long and narrow, half-closed, with an eerie silver light gradually brightening in the depths of the painted black pupils. They gazed down at them from above with a holy compassion that seemed to pity the mortal world.
The three people maintained identical postures, their heads tilted high, expressions entranced, staring unblinkingly at the statue like the most devout believers of the mountain god.
This eerie scene lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour before the three frozen individuals suddenly averted their gaze and moved at the same time.
Zhao Tinghe, holding his saber in one arm and the Fluorite Stone in the other hand, walked around the temple, detecting the location of the Sword-Sealing Stone.
Zhao Chengfeng took out a water pouch from his storage bag and handed it to Ruan Qiutang. She reached out to take it, her gaze scanning the deity statue up and down as she said puzzledly, "The paint on this mountain god statue looks like it was applied not too long ago."
The three spoke naturally, as if they had no memory of what had just happened.
"It might have been done by nearby mountain villagers. People in these poor, remote areas like to do these things," Zhao Chengfeng said, his attention shifting to the Fluorite Stone in Zhao Tinghe's hand.
He frowned, "Is this broken stone even accurate? It's been glowing constantly since we found it. Surely the Sword-Sealing Stone can't be all over this entire mountain?"
Zhao Tinghe held the Fluorite Stone and searched around the temple, also feeling confused. He asked Ruan Qiutang, "Junior Sister, can this Fluorite Stone really sense the Sword-Sealing Stone?"
"That's what Li Xinhai said at the time, and this fluorite stone is the same as the one he secretly brought out to show me before," said Ruan Qiutang. "The fluorite stone was pried off from the path leading to the Sword-Sealing Stone. It doesn't sense the Sword-Sealing Stone itself, but rather the sword energy within it."
The Li Xinhai she mentioned was the Lishan Sword Sect disciple who admired her, one of the disciples guarding the stone at the back of the mountain.
"The fluorite stone has been glowing continuously, which means we've always been close to the Sword-Sealing Stone. If we hurry, we can definitely find it before the others," a young man's voice naturally chimed in. In the dilapidated temple hall, a fourth person's figure had appeared at some point.
This additional fourth person stood right next to Zhao Chengfeng, yet didn't arouse any of his suspicion. Instead, he raised his hand and patted the young man's shoulder, regaining his spirits as he said, "Junior brother is right!"
Ruan Qiutang finished drinking her water and turned her head to ask the silently appeared fourth person, "Junior brother, would you like some water?"
"I'm not thirsty," Xue Chenjing shook his head, his gaze slowly sweeping across their faces.
The three people's gazes all focused on him, affectionately calling him "junior brother" one after another, as if this young man had been there from the beginning, one of their companions.
Xue Chenjing stared at them and asked, "Do you like me?"
His question came out of nowhere, causing Zhao Tinghe and Zhao Chengfeng to be stunned for a moment. They put their hands on his shoulders, one on each side, and joked, "Is there really something wrong with this mist? Why is little junior brother suddenly asking such a question? It's too strange for men to ask each other if they like one another."
Xue Chenjing said, "Answer me."
Seeing his serious expression, Zhao Tinghe and the other dropped their playful smiles and nodded, "Of course we like you."
"What about Senior Sister Ruan?" Xue Chenjing looked towards Ruan Qiutang.
Being a young woman, Ruan Qiutang blushed when asked so directly, stammering, "You're our junior brother, of course I like you too."
Having received the desired response, Xue Chenjing showed no signs of happiness. His brows furrowed slightly as he raised his hand to touch his eyes, his fingertips directly contacting the black eyeballs.
— So, his function wasn't impaired. Why was it ineffective on her?
While the other three were discussing continuing their search for the Sword-Sealing Stone, Xue Chenjing kept pondering this question. Hearing Ruan Qiutang call him "junior brother," he suddenly understood.
Ruan Qiutang said he was their junior brother, so they naturally liked him.
However, when he had previously tried to "tame" Yu Yi, he had forgotten to add an identity for himself.
Xue Chenjing abruptly stood up from the ground and strode out of the temple hall, walking into the mist without looking back. Startled by his sudden action, Zhao Tinghe and the other two hurriedly chased after him, but how could they find any trace of him?
Seeing its host finally pull himself together, the system quickly asked, "Master, are you going to find the female lead now?"
Xue Chenjing nodded, "Mm."
The system rejoiced, "That's great! But I suggest that when trying to increase the favorability of your conquest target, you still need to proceed step by step. We should go from meeting, to getting acquainted, to understanding each other, and then to falling in love. We can't rush things."
Xue Chenjing tilted his head back, his gaze seeming to pierce through the mist to see the cranes flying in the sky above. He confidently said, "I understand."
The system praised him approvingly, "Master is so smart."
...
The clouds and mist on the mountain had formed a barrier, trapping all living things inside, allowing entry but no exit.
Whether it was Pei Jingchao or Xue Chenjing, Yu Yi didn't want to get involved in their storylines. She now only wanted to find a place to hide with Crane Senior Brother, wait for the mist to clear, and then run to a place where the villains couldn't find her to continue lying low.
Lying low until the second female lead halo above her head shattered.
Damn it, why couldn't she have transmigrated into a carefree background character? Even if she had to be the female lead, couldn't her arranged marriage candidates be a bit more normal?
Yu Yi lay on Crane Senior Brother to recover her spiritual energy, resignedly saying, "Crane Senior Brother, tell me, you're clearly a celestial crane, so why can't you cultivate a human form? If you could turn into a human, I'd just be with you and be done with it."
Hearing this, Crane Senior Brother hurriedly let out a series of urgent cries, declaring that its preferred mate would have snow-white beautiful feathers like its own, a bright red crown, long legs, and a resounding call - the crane spirit in Yu Yi's Green Bamboo Sword.
Cranes are faithful birds. Whether it was the sword spirit's previous master, the Qingxuan Daoist Priest, or the current master Yu Yi, Crane Senior Brother wasn't interested in either of them. It only loved their sword spirit.
The crane's call echoed through the mountains, showing how eager Crane Senior Brother was to preserve its pure bird status.
Yu Yi, fearing that its cries would attract that pervert, quickly reached out to clamp its beak shut, soothing it, "Yes, yes, I know, I was just joking. This junior sister is too ugly to be worthy of you."
Crane Senior Brother flew around these nearby mountains every day and had a much better sense of direction than Yu Yi. Even with Cloud Mountain shrouded in mist, it could still find its usual resting place by instinct.
The human and crane landed in an extremely secluded mountain hollow. Two mountain ranges formed a very deep valley ravine, where the trees grew exceptionally well, their canopies like clouds, appearing as a vast dark mass in the mist.
Crane Senior Brother carried her down into the forest. Beneath the dense canopy, there was actually a deep, small lake hidden away. A faint smell of sulfur permeated the air - this was actually a hot spring lake, with many tiny flowers blooming around its edges.
This was Crane Senior Brother's secret bathing spot, which even Yu Yi had never visited before.
Unable to leave the misty barrier, they could only stay here temporarily. Crane Senior Brother jumped into the water to preen its feathers, while Yu Yi only scooped up some water to wash her face before sitting cross-legged under a tree, wanting to recover her spiritual energy as quickly as possible.
With her current cultivation at the newly formed Golden Core stage, forcibly summoning the Nascent Soul realm sword spirit left by her master was still a bit too much for her. Just calling out the sword spirit for that brief moment had completely drained her dantian.
At times like these, Yu Yi would deeply doubt her female protagonist halo. Why could other protagonists reach Qi Condensation in one year, Foundation Establishment in two years, Golden Core in three years, and rush straight to Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation in four or five years?
While she, with the spiritual foundation laid by her master's lifelong cultivation, starting directly from the Foundation Establishment realm, had painstakingly cultivated for five years in the Bamboo Grove Secret Realm, swinging her sword ten thousand times every day, nearly draining the small spirit spring in the secret realm dry, only to barely crawl up to the Golden Core stage.
Could it be that her female protagonist halo was all spent on those bizarre romantic entanglements?
Little did she know that reaching Golden Core in five years was already an unimaginable feat for countless cultivators.
Yu Yi was inwardly indignant but had no choice but to cast aside distracting thoughts and meditate quietly, circulating her energy. However, after meditating for half a day, not a trace of spiritual energy had recovered in her body. Her meridians were as dry as a desert.
Spiritual energy flowed throughout the world. Although Cloud Mountain had no spirit veins, it was still connected to heaven and earth. While drawing in spiritual energy was more difficult, it shouldn't have been impossible to draw in even a little.
Just as Yu Yi was at her wits' end, she suddenly felt a spiritual shock, sensing an extremely powerful pressure bearing down from above.
The surrounding tree canopies rustled as if swept by a fierce wind, and Crane Senior Brother suddenly let out a shrill cry.
Yu Yi opened her eyes to see a blood-red shadow descending from above. The thing was enormous, seemingly human but not human. Its chest cavity was split open into two halves, with ribs stretching out the blood-red sinews of its body like sturdy palace pillars, deeply embedded in the ground on either side of her, enveloping her within its abdomen.
It was the Bone Demon, Xue Chenjing's Bone Demon!
The instant Yu Yi opened her eyes and saw it, she instinctively wanted to swing her sword and attack. But her spiritual energy was depleted, and she couldn't unleash the Green Bamboo Sword's energy. The bamboo sword alone clashing against the bones inside the Bone Demon couldn't cause it any harm.
Crane Senior Brother, anxious, flew onto the Bone Demon's body and pecked forcefully at its back again and again. The beak of a red-crowned crane was as sharp as any sword, and dazzling sword light burst forth from its beak, making the Bone Demon's back resound with loud thuds.
The vibrations transmitted into its abdominal cavity, exploding like muffled thunder next to Yu Yi's ears.
Given that it had wiped out dozens of Golden Core disciples from the Lishan Sword Sect, it was obvious that neither Yu Yi nor Crane Senior Brother were a match for it.
Her entire body was swallowed into the bone demon's abdominal cavity, once again sinking into that crowded mass of soft flesh. At first, she thought it was the bone demon's internal organs, until the familiar tentacles crawled up her neck, cold and sticky, clinging to her skin.
Hands as cold and damp as the tentacles cupped her face. In the darkness, a pair of familiar eyes emerged, glowing with an eerie light like cat's eyes in the night.
Yu Yi's gaze was immediately captivated. Xue Chenjing's gentle voice resonated in her ears and echoed in her mind.
He said, "From now on, I am your husband."
The System: "............"
What happened to the gradual progression?! Host, didn't you say you understood? You don't understand a damn thing!
