System 037 replied, "Of course, my master. As long as you complete the system tasks, I can send you home."
Nothing was more motivating to Yu Yi than the word "home." It had been the same in her previous life, and it was no different now.
Yu Yi remembered everything. In her previous life, the prospect of "home" had kept her going, forcing her to drag her severely injured body and shattered golden core back into cultivation.
Having her heart's essence blood extracted had made her cultivation even more difficult, to the point where she could barely hold a sword.
Pei Jingchao's failure to lead the Twelve Sects in exterminating the demons had only empowered the demons further, causing chaos and demonic rampage across the land. Under the guidance of the system, Yu Yi had to carefully avoid the conflicts between the righteous and demonic factions, venturing deep into uninhabited areas to find medicinal herbs for healing.
She had gone to great lengths to gather these herbs, then raced against time to sneak into Medicine King Valley before it was destroyed by demons, to steal the valley's spiritual spring water for soaking the herbs.
Those days had been incredibly exhausting. Yu Yi had fainted by the spring, and it was the Holy Maiden of Medicine King Valley who had saved her. This Holy Maiden had once been one of Pei Jingchao's admirers, someone who had despised Yu Yi because of Pei Jingchao and even poisoned her, causing her to break out in red rashes all over her body.
But now, the Holy Maiden looked at her with only pity. She had taken Yu Yi to her cave dwelling and, at a glance, recognized the herbs Yu Yi carried and what she intended to concoct.
The Holy Maiden was astonished that Yu Yi was still alive and even more amazed that she had managed to gather such rare herbs in these chaotic times.
The Holy Maiden took the herbs and returned seven days later, handing Yu Yi a crimson pill that glowed with a soft light. "This is the Return to Origin Pill."
"Thank you," Yu Yi reached out to take it, but the Holy Maiden suddenly tightened her grip, pulling the pill back. She scrutinized Yu Yi and said, "The Return to Origin Pill can replenish the essence and blood you've lost, but it comes at the cost of your lifespan, akin to a temporary revival. Have you thought it through?"
Yu Yi nodded. "I made up my mind when I went to gather the herbs for this pill."
The Holy Maiden wasn't surprised by her answer. She raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid I might poison you with this pill? After all, we're hardly friends."
Yu Yi looked at the pill once more offered to her, took it between her fingers, and without hesitation, tossed it into her mouth. "I no longer have the strength to gather the herbs again. Even if it's poison, I'll accept it. It's just my fate."
The Holy Maiden snorted coldly, leaving behind a curt "I'm not that despicable!" before flouncing off.
After taking the Return to Origin Pill, Yu Yi, at the cost of her lifespan, re-forged her golden core. When she emerged, Medicine King Valley had been destroyed, and the Holy Maiden was nowhere to be found. Only the cave dwelling she had been in, hidden by a barrier, had survived the calamity.
System 037 chimed in her mind, informing her that seven of the Twelve Great Sects had already fallen, and demons now controlled half of the cultivation world. There was no time left for her to slowly level up. The quickest path was to go to Mount Li and seize Pei Jingchao's cultivation.
Pei Jingchao, as the chosen one by this world's consciousness, had been granted immense opportunities and mastered powerful techniques, including the Primordial Sword, all in preparation for the final splitting of chaos.
Unfortunately, he had been unworthy. Even at the last moment, his incomplete state of mind had prevented him from mastering the ninth form of the Spring-Pursuing Heart Sword.
"The ninth form," Yu Yi suddenly recalled, "the Spring-Pursuing Heart Sword's ninth form?"
The main system replied, "Yes, the ninth form of the Spring-Pursuing Heart Sword, the Sword of Compassion. Only someone with a compassionate heart for all living beings can split the chaos and restore peace to the world. All living things are part of the common people, even demons. Pei Jingchao is too divided by his views of righteousness and evil. He cares more about his status and reputation than about all living beings. Xue Mingyuan possesses divine nature and is inherently opposed to demons. During his time at Great Green Mountain, he finally softened his heart toward demons for a moment, but he never showed compassion for himself. Neither of them could master the ninth form."
Yu Yi was surprised. She had always thought that Xue Mingyuan failed to master the ninth form because he had been too soft-hearted toward Xue Chenjing, leading to his own downfall. She hadn't expected that his inability to master the ninth form was because he was too harsh on himself.
The main system continued, "Only you, from a different world, are not bound by the concepts of righteousness and evil. You are kind-hearted and possess self-respect and self-love. Therefore, after analyzing the main system, we believed you could succeed."
"Unfortunately, despite being in this world for so long, you have never developed any sense of belonging. Instead of compassion for the world, you harbor a stronger desire to destroy it. Your desire to destroy the world outweighs your compassion, so you ultimately failed as well."
Yu Yi pressed her hand against her forehead, closing her eyes as memories of her past life flooded her mind. She saw herself plunging a sword through Xue Chenjing's heart, and a sharp pain shot through her own heart.
However, even that sword had failed to cleave through chaos.
Yu Yi's head was pounding from the overwhelming memories. Irritated, she asked, "So, why are we starting over? Do you expect me to master the ninth form this time?"
A soothing force flowed into Yu Yi through the Sword Realm, easing her headache.
The main system spoke gently, "Of course not. The main control system doesn't make meaningless repeated attempts. This time, the system is bound to another person."
"You just need to be the one holding the sword. When the affection reaches one hundred percent, they will willingly sacrifice themselves for you."
The lightning lines connecting to the sky disappeared, and the thunder dragon wandered around Yu Yi, coiling around the suspended green bamboo sword. The lightning condensed, and its body transformed into a thick broad sword.
It turned out to be the sword spirit of the Primordial Sword.
It seemed that this life, too, was following someone else's arrangement.
Eventually, the Primordial Sword and the Qingzhu Sword merged and flew into her hand. Yu Yi gripped the sword, recalling the main system's final words in her mind.
— You just need to be the one holding the sword. When the affection reaches one hundred percent, they will willingly sacrifice themselves for you.
What did that mean? Was it implying that Xue Chenjing would willingly offer himself as a sacrifice for her sword?
Yu Yi stood still for a moment, then tossed the sword into the air and leaped onto it, transforming into a streak of light shooting toward the treetop island. The light descended into the lush canopy, and she landed on the wooden balcony of the building. She quickly stepped inside.
Both the upper and lower floors of the wooden building were empty. Yu Yi searched around the surrounding wooden houses and even checked inside the Imperial House Carriage, but there was no sign of him.
She took a deep breath, infused her voice with spiritual energy, and shouted, "Xue Chenjing, where are you!"
Her voice echoed across the treetop island, startling the flocks of birds, which flapped their wings and burst out of the canopy.
A familiar cry of a crane came from one of the branches. Yu Yi immediately summoned his flying sword, weaving through the intertwined foliage, heading toward the direction of the call from his senior crane companion.
After a short while, she arrived at a pile of wooden logs the size of a small hill. The red-crowned crane was lying on top of the logs, boredly pecking at the wood and loudly complaining.
It accused Xue Chenjing of neglecting it, not feeding it, and spending all his time carving these worthless wooden pieces, only to disappear without a trace. It hadn't seen him for seven or eight days, and the crane had lost weight from hunger.
Yu Yi approached the pile of logs and touched the carved runes on them, full of doubt. What was this?
She cautiously infused spiritual energy into the rune, and the rune on the wood immediately lit up.
Yu Yi paused, then continued to pour spiritual energy, until all the runes on the pile were illuminated. The wooden mountain suddenly collapsed, and all the logs floated into the air. The crane senior fell from the top, rolling down to Yu Yi's feet.
It looked up in astonishment at the logs flying in the air.
Under the traction of the runes, the logs began to fit together like building blocks, gradually forming a contour. Yu Yi's eyes widened as she watched the giant swing take shape.
She had only mentioned it briefly, but Xue Chenjing had actually built it!
The Crane Senior Brother suddenly let out a distressed cry, clutching its stomach with its wings and trembling. Yu Yi quickly looked down at it. "Crane Senior Brother, what's wrong?"
Something slid down the red-crowned crane's long neck and emerged from its mouth, a small wooden block the size of a fist, dripping with saliva, flying toward the giant swing and embedding itself into it.
Yu Yi: "..." Are you a bird or a pig? How can you swallow anything and everything?
Brother Crane had just caught his breath when another wave of nausea hit, and another piece of wood shot out of his mouth. After spitting out four or five such pieces, Brother Crane finally hugged his empty stomach and collapsed to the ground.
With the last tiny component in place, the giant swing was fully formed, looking exactly like the ones in amusement parks. All it needed was a bit of spiritual energy to be injected, and it would swing just like a real one.
Yu Yi stared at the swaying giant swing for a moment before vanishing from her spot. She searched all three spiritual islands but couldn't find Xue Chenjing, which meant he must have left.
Without hesitation, Yu Yi summoned her sword and headed toward the boundary of the barrier.
This barrier concealed the spiritual islands but didn't hinder her exit. Yu Yi felt as if she had passed through a layer of water-like membrane, and the clear sky instantly disappeared, replaced by a sea of fog that blocked out the sky and sea.
Deep within the fog, a massive shadowy figure could be seen moving menacingly. Yu Yi looked up at the several soft and thick tentacles waving in the air and for a moment, wondered if this could be Xue Chenjing's true form.
But then a tentacle broke through the fog and shot toward her at high speed. As it drew near, she finally saw the deep brown skin and blue rings on the tentacle.
Different from Xue Chenjing's tentacles, this wasn't him.
Yu Yi immediately raised her sword, but the tentacle stopped just short of her, lifting its thick end, which was even bigger than her waist, and swayed left and right. It seemed as if it was "examining" her.
The tentacle was indeed examining her, not only that but also sniffing her.
Cang Cang twisted its massive body, feeling troubled. Its father had only told it to guard the gate and not let anyone enter the spiritual island, but he hadn't told it what to do if someone came out.
— Xue Chenjing didn't allow it to call him "dad," so it obediently changed the term.
But soon, this question was answered. It smelled Xue Chenjing's scent on this person, very strong, as if marking her entirely.
Its huge and intelligent brain instantly understood this person's identity. It obediently softened its tentacle and slowly crept closer, afraid of scaring her.
It called out cautiously, "Mom."
Yu Yi: "???" She touched her ear, her eyes alertly scanning the fog around her. She thought she had just heard a little girl calling "mom."
The tentacle gently swayed and mimicked a human voice, calling again, "Mom, it's me calling you. The big octopus with pretty blue rings in front of you, I'm the beautiful daughter of the master of this spiritual island, my name is Cang Cang. You must be the bride dad found for me."
Yu Yi: "..." Daughter? What a huge daughter!
She fell silent for a moment, then coldly said, "I'm not."
From deep within the fog, a loud shout suddenly rang out, "Quick! Form the sword array, cut off its tentacles first!"
The massive shadow of the octopus swayed, and a pillar-like tentacle rose from the fog, crashing down with a thunderous roar. At the same time, a voice bellowed, "How dare you touch my tentacles! I'll beat you until you poop!"
The tentacle in front of Yu Yi swayed peacefully, coquettishly saying, "Mom, these people are so annoying, they want to destroy our home. It's not safe out here now. You should go back. Cang Cang and Earth's Pollution will protect you. We won't let anyone in, or dad will cut off my beautiful hands."
"Is Xue Chenjing outside?" Yu Yi reached out and stirred the fog in front of her. "Earth's Pollution, take me out to see him."
The surrounding fog stirred, and white mist condensed from it, attaching itself to Yu Yi, turning her body into mist and disappearing from the spot.
Outside the island, the sea was a scene of devastation. The Immortal Gate warship had been torn apart and sunk, with only fragments of the hull floating on the surface of the blood-stained sea.
Pei Jingchao lay on a piece of the deck, his body and limbs pierced by long arrows, pinned to the wooden board.
His right eye had a large hole, leaving only a bloody eye socket, and his mouth had a long gash, with blood staining half of his face, making his once-handsome face look terrifying.
Xue Chenjing stood on top of a fish-like demon beast, drawing his bow and aiming an arrow at Pei Jingchao's heart.
Suddenly, golden threads sprouted from Pei Jingchao's body, connecting scenes like a lantern of life before death, showing the highlights of Pei Jingchao's life.
Xue Chenjing saw Yu Yi's figure in the scenes, but the Yu Yi in the images wasn't the one he was familiar with. He paused his arrow and stared intently.
"This is the life I and she should have! This is the life I should have!" Pei Jingchao opened his mouth and spat out a large amount of blood, his remaining eye staring fixedly at the scenes above.
He was infatuated with the image of himself rising step by step to the pinnacle of power and, by extension, fell in love with the person who should have stood by his side. Despite the slight differences in reality, Pei Jingchao believed everything could return to the right track.
He struggled with his wrist, and even now, he felt he wouldn't lose. He was the chosen one of fate, and Xue Chenjing was nothing more than a stepping stone for him.
The system, watching the scenes, confidently said, "This is the plot of 'Jingchao,' Pei Jingchao's original fate line."
In the original story, Pei Jingchao indeed rose step by step, winning hearts, becoming the leader of the righteous path, and finally killing the demon, ending the demonic chaos, becoming a divine lord revered by the people, and enjoying human incense offerings.
Xue Chenjing looked at the scenes in the air, where golden threads connected the images. In the scenes, Yu Yi wore a phoenix crown and bridal veil, marrying Pei Jingchao. The two held hands, walking on a carpet of flowers, with fairy children leading the way and fairy maidens scattering flowers for blessings. The hall was filled with guests, joy overflowing, and gifts piled up in the palace.
He could never give her such a blessed wedding.
Xue Chenjing's gaze was cold, his eyes fixed on the veiled figure in the scenes, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth as he said, "How boring. Even if this is the original fate line, even if you were her original husband, what does it matter? Unfortunately, your fate is now in my hands. I'll kill you now, grind your bones to dust, scatter your soul, and see how you can marry her."
Pei Jingchao mocked, "She can ascend to the divine platform and receive incense offerings from the world with me. With you, a demon, she'll only be despised, insulted, and condemned to eternal infamy."
Xue Chenjing tightened his grip on the bow, his knuckles cracking, and veins bulging on the back of his hand. Undeniably, Pei Jingchao's words had struck a nerve.
He knew better than anyone what it felt like to be rejected, hated, and abandoned by everyone, and he had experienced it in every life.
"Shut up! Shut up!" Xue Chenjing roared in anger, his breath heavy, his hand trembling as he pulled the bow. The arrows he shot went astray due to his shaking hand, embedding into the wreckage of the deck. Demonic energy spread from the tip of the sword, corroding the ship, causing more collapse and splashing water into the air.
The water droplets fell, washing over Pei Jingchao, rinsing the blood from his body and flowing into the sea.
His remaining eye still stared unblinkingly at the scenes in the air, laughing, "You love her, don't you? Then have the guts to let Yu Yi choose herself. Does she want to ascend to the divine platform as a goddess, or does she want to follow you into the abyss of hell?"
The system, seeing its host on the verge of losing his mind, quickly comforted, "Master, calm down. Yu Yi already knew the plot. Even knowing the outcome, she didn't choose Pei Jingchao."
Yu Yi emerged from the fog and heard Pei Jingchao's mocking question. She raised her voice and said, "Alright, I'll choose."
