Helian Yun clawed at the hand around his throat, his face turning white as oxygen failed him. He struggled like a madman, but those pale, slender fingers were like iron pincers; even with all his strength, he could not move them a fraction of a millimeter.
The woman spoke at a leisurely pace, her voice chilling: “Still not planning to come out? If you don’t show yourself, your fated protagonist is going to die.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Helian Yun convulsed. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with cold indifference—this was not a human, or rather, it was not the look of a creature capable of emotion.
【What do you want?】
Sang Ruo tilted her head slightly. “That’s an interesting question. If I ask for it, will you give it?”
The “Main God” replied: 【That depends on the rationality of the request. In a trade, the weights on the scales must be equal.】
“A trade?” Sang Ruo narrowed her eyes, the corners drooping slightly in a way that looked almost like a smile, yet her grip suddenly tightened. “Do you think I’m negotiating with you? What makes you think you’re in a position to talk?”
【You want something; otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to lure me out.】 The Main God’s tone was certain. 【Don’t be too greedy. You cannot actually threaten me. You can destroy this shell, and I can simply raise another, though it would be a bit of a nuisance.】
【Meaning, the value of what you want must be equal to the ‘nuisance’ of me having to replace him.】
Sang Ruo’s fingertips tightened. Helian Yun’s body shook like a leaf in the wind, but his face remained expressionless—it was profoundly eerie.
“You really are a creature that loves to frame everything in rules.”
Sang Ruo looked at it and sighed softly. “Unfortunately, the premise of everything you know is wrong.”
Silently and invisibly, something had already invaded the interior during the time they spent talking.
The expression on “Helian Yun’s” face finally changed.
Sang Ruo said, “Did you think that since you only sent a few mental threads over, you had nothing to fear? Did you think I wouldn’t anticipate this?”
The Main God hissed: 【Who is behind you! Why do you have such a thing!】
It had indeed been outplayed by Sang Ruo. It had only sent a wisp of a mental thread.
On one hand, it was a matter of caution; on the other, it sat atop so many worlds and energies that it wouldn’t bother with trifles. If the male lead hadn’t faced two uncalculated life-and-death crises, and if it hadn’t sensed that its disobedient subordinate was secretly signing a contract with a resident of a Source World, it wouldn’t have sent even a thread.
But now it saw that this was all a trap set by the opponent.
It had been infected with a poison that spread silently through the mental threads. By the time it realized, the toxin had already invaded its main body!
The main body immediately severed the connection, but it was too late; it could only use massive amounts of energy to temporarily suppress the toxin.
But how could such a poison exist in the world? And how did the person in front of it obtain it?
Sang Ruo let go. “Helian Yun” collapsed to the ground with a thud. She looked down at him. “Apologies. I don’t have the habit of explaining things to enemies.”
During the first three thousand years after losing her dear friend, Sang Ruo searched everywhere for a remnant soul but found nothing. She walked the world in a daze, wallowing in self-reproach; living was no different from being dead.
Later, by chance, she returned to the place of her birth—the deepest part of the Great North.
There, she encountered an extraordinary existence. In the System’s terminology, it was called “The Rules.”
Facing The Rules was a strange sensation; she felt It was everywhere, yet as broad and inclusive as a mother. For Sang Ruo, born from the turbid energy of heaven and earth with no parents, it was a magical analogy.
But it was the only analogy that fit.
The Rules told her that an external force had been interfering with the progress of the world—that force was called the “Main God.”
What the Main God loved most was to support its puppets in various worlds, suppress the original chosen ones, seize their providence for its puppets, and finally create people called “male leads” or “female leads” to harvest energy.
She and her dear friend were thorns in the Main God’s side. Her friend’s death was not simple.
The Rules also said that It did not always monitor the world’s progress. By the time It noticed, the Main God’s influence had completely permeated the system, and It had lost control over the world.
However, her friend was extremely important in the original world line—a darling of The Rules. Therefore, The Rules had planted a bit of “Rule Power” within her friend, which protected her remnant soul as it traveled to other worlds to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Sang Ruo asked then: Is there a way to save her?
The Rules said yes, but she had to wait.
It was as if Sang Ruo had suddenly gained the motivation to persist. Her friend’s death might have been triggered by her, but the ultimate root was someone pulling the strings from the shadows. She was to blame, but that guy deserved to die.
Furthermore, she was going to bring her friend home.
So, Sang Ruo waited for several more thousand years on the jagged rocks of the Great North, until a hesitant little System approached her and asked: 【Do you have a wish?】
Sang Ruo thought to herself: I certainly do.
For that wish, she was willing to be the blade of The Rules, the proxy of The Rules—as long as her friend could return.
(And smashing the Main God’s dog head was a personal bonus she looked forward to.)
Her vision blurred, and the sensation of her soul leaving her body became painfully clear. Sang Ruo dissipated the demonic energy in her hand and pressed her palm to her forehead.
System: 【Host! Host, are you okay!】
Sang Ruo’s movements just now had been so fluid that it thought the suction of the merger had no effect on her.
“Not good.”
Sang Ruo felt she had lost control of her body; her senses were a blur. The System was flashing a bunch of red exclamation marks in front of her eyes, making the atmosphere quite intense.
Before she lost consciousness completely, she seemed to hear the sound of someone running toward her from the distance.
There was no pain of hitting the ground; she was enveloped by a soft scent of camellias. Then she sank into total darkness, her senses severed from the outside world.
In the darkness, she and the little System light-ball sat side by side. Both looked weathered and weary. Insert Cigarette.JPG.
“Let’s be honest?”
【Let’s be honest.】
Sang Ruo had thought the System belonged to the Main God, so she hadn’t trusted it from the start. She had even tried to bait the System into sending messages to the Main God several times, but they all vanished without a trace. She had assumed the System was just too stupid.
The System, on the other hand, had no idea Sang Ruo was with The Rules. Its motivation was actually quite surprising.
It called itself Xiao Qi, but its serial number was actually 007—one of the original ten systems. However, because it didn’t support the Main God’s actions, it had been marginalized.
The Main God wanted to support puppets and strip energy; Xiao Qi did the opposite, seeking out those affected by such actions to help them change their tragic fates.
The Bureau of Spacetime had regulations for both the Main God and the Systems, so the Main God couldn’t directly dispose of Xiao Qi. Since Xiao Qi usually saved minor characters and didn’t threaten the male leads, the Main God let it be.
Not long ago, while flipping through dossiers, Xiao Qi accidentally saw the record of the Heavenly Demon in one of the Source Worlds. Under the Main God’s interference, they had become background noise for the male lead’s struggle, their entire lives summarized in a few sentences. Xiao Qi couldn’t stand it, so it went to sign a contract with the Heavenly Demon.
The Main God was sensitive to anything regarding the Source Worlds. Xiao Qi didn’t want interference, so it hid the contract. Preparing a new body for Sang Ruo was partly to prevent the merger and partly to hide her from the Main God.
According to its plan, they would smoothly travel through the worlds, collect the remnant souls of the friend, and fulfill the contract. To avoid complications, it hadn’t communicated this to Sang Ruo.
It never expected that Sang Ruo’s target was the Main God itself. Their goals were worlds apart; Xiao Qi’s actions had essentially taken them on a giant detour.
One demon and one system sat looking at each other in silence.
There was another, more pressing issue.
Sang Ruo hadn’t had time to clean up the mess before being forced into the merger. And before she fell asleep, it seemed she had been discovered by Rong Ji.
In Rong Ji’s eyes, at best, she could be seen as chasing Helian Yun into the Place of Divine Worship. At worst… who knows if she would be seen as having designs on the God?
Rong Ji had no idea that Sang Ruo was “The God” herself.
“How long will this merger take?”
The System said sheepishly: 【Since there is no precedent, it cannot be calculated. Maybe a few months, maybe a few years.】 It paused. 【But I adjusted the merger method slightly for you! You will merge with the fragment’s Divinity, but your physical shell will be the one exchanged with energy points. In other words, once the merger is done, you can move freely!】
“…I thank you very much.”
Trapped in the sea of consciousness with nothing to do, one demon and one system started watching movies.
Just as they were about to finish watching the entire movie library copied by Xiao Qi, the merger finally reached its conclusion.
Xiao Qi first gave Sang Ruo a brief overview of everything that had happened over the past few years before she officially entered her new physical shell.
Among the five senses, touch was the first to return.
Sang Ruo felt herself lying in an extremely cold place, the chill biting deep into her bones. She snapped her eyes open and realized she was lying inside a four-sided box. Her fingers gradually regained sensation; she moved them tentatively, then raised her hand and gave a sharp push outward.
It moved.
“Xiao Qi,” Sang Ruo asked the system, “where exactly am I?”
Xiao Qi answered: 【Without a doubt, this is an ice coffin.】
Sang Ruo: “Well, that’s…”
【During the time you were merging, all your life signs vanished. You should be glad she didn’t choose burial, cremation, or a burial at sea.】
Sang Ruo felt a massive headache coming on.
According to the summary of events Xiao Qi provided, after she fell asleep, the male lead activated one of his trump cards—a teleportation scroll. Fueled by the residual prestige of the Main God’s suppressed divine power, he managed to escape.
Rong Ji, contrary to her usual nature, had become iron-fisted. She bloodily suppressed the City Lord’s Manor and other local factions, reshuffling the power dynamics and taking complete control of Ganmu City.
In the third year of her reign, she chose to open Ganmu City to the central cultivation world. After a period of development and expansion, she launched a relentless offensive against… the male lead’s sect. By now, she had almost completely devoured his forces.
If the system hadn’t repeatedly guaranteed that this wasn’t fiction, Sang Ruo would have found it hard to believe that the person who did all this was her gentle, moderate “student” who always left a way out for others.
【Host!】 Xiao Qi suddenly shouted, 【I’ve detected a sharp drop in the target character’s health! It’s about to fall below the critical threshold!】
With a loud bang, Sang Ruo shattered the coffin lid completely and sat up. “Where is she?”
As Sang Ruo rushed out, she realized she was in the depths of a towering palace. Because she was in such a hurry, she terrified the Divine Attendants guarding the exterior.
But she had no time for them. Guided by the system, Sang Ruo transformed into a cloud of black mist and raced toward Rong Ji’s location at maximum speed.
It was the headquarters of Helian Yun’s sect.
The ground was littered with corpses and black blood. Helian Yun’s men were a broken army, fleeing in all directions. Flames licked at the eaves and walls; plaques crashed down, ignited by sparks.
Rong Ji was leaning against a wall that hadn’t yet caught fire. A sword was thrust into her chest, just to the right of her heart, and blood was gushing out. Helian Yun was nearby, struggling to hold his own sword, limping toward Rong Ji step by step.
Sang Ruo regained human form and fired a mass of black energy directly into Helian Yun’s back.
“Ugh!” Helian Yun’s face filled with shock as he slowly turned his head.
He had escaped death every single time before; this time was supposed to be the same. But… how could someone be here? The world began to shake and spin. He collapsed with a heavy thud, his eyes wide, watching the black-clad woman—who should have been long dead—walk toward him.
The stone tablet in his mind that had been there since birth cracked inch by inch until it shattered completely. The large characters on it were glaringly obvious: 【Unknown being, extremely dangerous, unfathomable, stay away, STAY AWAY.】
He died with his eyes wide open. The person he was staring at didn’t even give him a glance, walking straight past him.
Sang Ruo knelt beside Rong Ji.
“How are you?”
No response.
Rong Ji’s eyes were half-closed, her lashes trembling. It was unclear if she simply lacked the strength to speak or if she was no longer fully conscious. The sword was still embedded in her. Sang Ruo asked Xiao Qi in a panic, “What do I do?”
A Heavenly Demon is the antithesis of “life.” Her destructive power is peerless, but she is utterly unskilled at healing. Should she take Rong Ji to a doctor? She didn’t dare move her.
Xiao Qi processed the data rapidly: 【Do you remember the item you won in the lottery? That ‘Small Pill.’ It has incredible healing properties, though there might be a random side effect. If not for that side effect, its quality would have been Yellow…】
Sang Ruo didn’t stay to hear the rest. As soon as Xiao Qi mentioned the pill, she pulled the “Small Pill” from the system inventory.
Rong Ji’s teeth were clenched tight. Sang Ruo frowned, gripped Rong Ji’s chin, and passed the pill into her mouth with her own lips.
The process wasn’t easy, but she finally managed to feed it to her. Rong Ji’s throat moved as she swallowed. Sang Ruo pulled back slightly and drew the sword from Rong Ji’s chest.
The fire grew more intense, and beams began to collapse. Sang Ruo didn’t forget to finish the job; she flicked a wisp of demonic flame to incinerate Helian Yun’s corpse completely. Then she picked up Rong Ji. After a moment’s thought, she didn’t look for Rong Ji’s subordinates. Instead, she took her to a nearby mountain.
As far as everyone knew, she was a dead person. Not many of the confidants Rong Ji brought with her knew Sang Ruo; most were part of recently absorbed factions. It was better to wait for Rong Ji to wake up.
Guided by the system, Sang Ruo found a cave.
The moonlight was cold. Sang Ruo spent energy points on credit at the system shop to exchange for some daily clothes. She began to change Rong Ji out of her blood-stained garments.
As she used a damp cloth to wipe away the blood, she saw the hideous wound on Rong Ji’s chest heal instantly. Not even a scar remained; her skin was as white as jade.
Sang Ruo finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Great Demon had experienced countless battles and survived wounds far worse than this, but seeing it happen to her dear friend left her at a loss.
Her friend’s beautiful curves were now fully exposed. Sang Ruo belatedly felt her face heat up. She averted her gaze slightly and reached out to fasten the buttons on Rong Ji’s new clothes.
The next second, her wrist was caught in a firm grip.