When those words, steeped in coldness and killing intent, fell into her ears, Bai Xiaoxiao almost thought she was going to die right then and there.
After all, if she hadn’t guessed wrong, the person before her was bound to be the protagonist Rong Qingqing’s master, the peak master of Moon Gazing Peak, the Bright Moon Sword Venerable herself, Shen Zhiyue.
The sealed artifact inside Wuxu Valley was extremely sensitive, yet she, a tiny snake, had recklessly barged in without fear of death. With just a moment’s thought, it was obvious the other party would show no mercy, even if this little snake had once stayed by her side for a while and could be considered her pet.
Bai Xiaoxiao drooped her snake head, not daring to make eye contact, nor was she able to answer the question.
Her fate seemed to be sealed.
The disparity in strength between them was far too vast, she didn’t have the slightest power to fight back. She had originally wanted to ask the system what to do now, since it was the system that had forced her to do tasks and made her wait here to meet Shen Zhiyue.
Unfortunately, the system didn’t seem reliable at all. She called out to it several times, but received no response.
Thus, Bai Xiaoxiao stopped resisting altogether. She lay on the ground obediently and pitifully, awaiting her final judgment.
After an unknown amount of time, Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly noticed a change in her perspective. Only then did she realize, belatedly, that she seemed to have been lifted up by a gentle force, before coming to rest lightly on a fair, delicate palm.
Shen Zhiyue’s indifferent voice resounded above her. “Not to happen again.”
Bai Xiaoxiao snapped her head up, her eyes filled with shock.
Shen Zhiyue actually let her off? Why?
However, under Shen Zhiyue’s indisputable, almost tangible icy gaze, Bai Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment before nodding her head and weakly shaking the tip of her tail.
Only after shaking it a few times did she freeze, falling into thought that her action didn’t quite look like a snake’s, but rather like a puppy wagging its tail.
But right now, she didn’t have the energy to think so much. After being injured, she felt extremely sleepy, a faintness that felt like severe blood loss. At one point, Bai Xiaoxiao truly thought she was going to die from her heavy injuries.
Yet, just as she was drifting off into a daze, her mouth was suddenly forced open. Before she could react, a pill melted the moment it entered her mouth. Almost simultaneously, her heavy body became light and nimble.
Obviously, the person who fed her the pill was Shen Zhiyue.
Bai Xiaoxiao looked up at her, flicking her snake tongue, and rubbed against Shen Zhiyue’s wrist to express her gratitude.
Truth be told, she was quite surprised by Shen Zhiyue’s actions. She hadn’t expected that despite her cold nature, Shen Zhiyue was surprisingly good to her pet.
Not only did she let go of such a major offense as trespassing into a forbidden area without punishment, but she even gave her a spirit pill to heal her injuries.
As for how this injury came about…
Bai Xiaoxiao sighed inwardly. She felt that the attack was actually quite understandable. Although it was the system’s fault, she was bound to it and the two were currently inseparable. It seemed she really had no choice but to bear the consequences herself.
After mulling it over, Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly felt a deep sense of drowsiness washing over her from the depths of her soul. It was likely that even though her injuries were newly patched up and she had taken the pill, she hadn’t fully recovered. Thus, she instinctively coiled herself around Shen Zhiyue’s wrist.
She was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open and didn’t want to bother thinking anymore. In any case, since Shen Zhiyue hadn’t killed her immediately, she was safe for now. Whatever came next could wait until she woke up…
Her consciousness gradually blurred, and Bai Xiaoxiao soon fell into a deep sleep. She naturally didn’t know how deep and profound Shen Zhiyue’s gaze was as it rested upon her after she drifted off.
In fact, while she was completely off her guard, Shen Zhiyue had already used her spiritual sense to perform a thorough probe on her.
“Interesting. The aura has changed, yet the soul and body are seamlessly fused… It isn’t body-possession after all.”
The voice echoed briefly in the air before quickly dissipating, while the fast asleep creature remained entirely unaware that she had just brushed past death.
When she woke up after a long sleep, Bai Xiaoxiao clearly felt much more energetic, no longer feeling groggy like before. It was just that when she opened her eyes, she was dazed for a moment, thinking she had transmigrated again.
It wasn’t until she looked left and right that she finally confirmed she hadn’t undergone a second transmigration, it was merely that she was suspended in mid-air and surrounded by mist, which had given her that illusion.
Suddenly, a beast’s roar echoed abruptly, interrupting Bai Xiaoxiao’s train of thought. Looking down, she saw that an influx of wild beasts had gathered on the ground below at some point.
“Those aren’t wild beasts, they are spirit beasts.”
Bai Xiaoxiao froze for a second. “System? You’re back online?”
“Mm, I disconnected for a bit just now and switched lines. Everything is fine now, it shouldn’t drop again.”
Bai Xiaoxiao paused, swallowing back her interrogation regarding the system’s previous act of playing dead.
“So what’s the situation now? Why are so many spirit beasts gathering here?”
While talking to the system, Bai Xiaoxiao checked to make sure she was still coiled around Shen Zhiyue’s wrist.
So, it was Shen Zhiyue who had brought her to this place.
“It’s a spirit beast tide. There’s an abnormality in Wuxu Valley, and Shen Zhiyue came over to investigate. A demonic beast is sealed here, and likely due to long-term erosion by demonic qi, these spirit beasts have become partially demonized. Their sudden movement is probably because that demonic beast is trying to break free from the seal.”
Bai Xiaoxiao was startled. She remembered that this scene didn’t seem to exist in the original novel.
Recalling carefully, the character she had transmigrated into was actually just a cannon fodder existence in the novel. After being picked up and brought back by Shen Zhiyue, she failed to realize her place, frequently teasing and troubling the protagonist, she was both foolish and malicious.
If that were all, the little snake wouldn’t have met such a tragic death. However, her fatal mistake was attempting to steal the Yin-Yang Life Extension Lamp.
In other words, the exact time point Bai Xiaoxiao transmigrated into was terribly awkward, it was precisely the plot point where the little snake was destined to die.
Yet for some reason, Shen Zhiyue hadn’t killed her, and had even healed her wounds.
Now, here was another deviation: the spirit beasts of Wuxu Valley had actually undergone a demonic mutation due to the influence of the sealed demonic beast.
“This is somewhat different from the novel’s plot,” Bai Xiaoxiao knitted her brows slightly.
“It is indeed different. Host, I suggest you only use the original plot as a reference. Once a novel’s world takes shape and begins operating, it becomes a real world. Simply put, anything is possible.”
Bai Xiaoxiao fell silent.
Then what was the point of her transmigrating into a book?
For a transmigrator, the greatest golden thigh was supposed to be foresight regarding the plot. Yet now the system claimed that anything was possible, which increased the difficulty by far more than just a little bit.
“Keep it up, Host.”
The system slowly chimed in with this sentence.
Bai Xiaoxiao felt genuinely speechless. She no longer bothered to pay attention to this system, which offered no help and only spouted sarcastic remarks, and instead turned her gaze back toward the ground.
The spirit beasts were gathering at an extremely fast rate. Before long, what had initially been a small clearing of beasts had now crammed into a dense mass. The tightly packed sight was enough to make one’s scalp go numb.
However, Shen Zhiyue didn’t make a move, she merely watched the gathering beasts cold eyedly, seemingly… waiting for the right moment.
With a brief thought, Bai Xiaoxiao understood. Shen Zhiyue possessed profound cultivation, and the spirit beasts on the ground were practically no match for her.
To her, the fastest way to resolve a spirit beast tide was to wait until they had all assembled before wiping them out in one fell swoop.
Having guessed Shen Zhiyue’s intention, Bai Xiaoxiao stopped peeking around secretively and quietly attached herself to her arm.
For such a slender, pale wrist to be wrapped by a bright green snake created a remarkably strong visual contrast. Moreover, Shen Zhiyue’s skin was of a cool, pale tone, forming a stark difference with her.
Looking at the almost dazzling patch of white before her eyes, Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t even need to feel it carefully to know that the skin pressed against her snake body was exquisitely delicate and tender.
Just as described in the book, Shen Zhiyue was indeed a nearly perfect person.
It was truly hard to imagine that such a person would treat Rong Qingqing with special favor.
Ever since she started reading the book, Bai Xiaoxiao could never quite relate to the protagonist. Instead, she was fond of several side characters in the book, and Shen Zhiyue was one of them.
There was probably no one who wouldn’t like her, her mind was powerful, her cultivation was profound, she could easily obtain whatever she desired, and she was an existence revered by countless people.
Bai Xiaoxiao knew she could never become such a person, so whenever she saw characters of this type, she liked them exceptionally well.
Of course, if she hadn’t transmigrated into the book herself, she would have liked her even more.
After floating through a mess of random thoughts, Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly realized that her perspective was shifting. She tried to look up at Shen Zhiyue, only to sense a much more piercing, bone chilling frost aura suddenly burst forth.
Bai Xiaoxiao tried her best to look toward where that aura originated, surprised to find that Shen Zhiyue had condensed a crystal-clear longsword in her palm, radiating a chilling mist of cold air.
Before she could process what was happening, Bai Xiaoxiao felt a chill envelop her whole body. In the next second, a fierce wave of sword qi shot straight toward the swarm of spirit beasts. Even though the sword qi wasn’t aimed at her, it still sent a shiver down her spine.
With just a single strike, the dense horde of spirit beasts collapsed and died before they could even let out a cry of agony. The few surviving, lucky beasts let out terrified roars, pacing back and forth anxiously on the spot.
This unprecedented sight caused Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes to widen uncontrollably. Only then did she clearly see the longsword held in Shen Zhiyue’s hand.
The blade was crystal clear, its radiance restrained within, forged from a thousand-year-old deep ice core, its name was Gu Xue (Solitary Snow).
It was Shen Zhiyue’s natal sword.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes gradually lit up. She had never dreamed that she would be able to witness Shen Zhiyue’s natal sword, Gu Xue, from such a close distance.
Sure enough, reading the descriptions in a novel was far less shocking than seeing it with her own eyes.
Just as she was marveling, Shen Zhiyue unleashed a second sword strike, directly clearing out the remaining spirit beasts. The world suddenly fell eerily quiet without the roaring of those beasts.
Such a terrifying beast tide had actually been resolved so effortlessly.
Bai Xiaoxiao felt as though she could no longer find the words to describe the shock in her heart.
The cultivation world was indeed full of danger everywhere, but being able to witness Shen Zhiyue make a move with her own eyes made it seem like coming here wasn’t so bad after all.
“Hiss, hiss!”
Bai Xiaoxiao forgot that she currently couldn’t speak, and only remembered she was currently a snake when she heard her own hissing sounds.
However, this didn’t dampen the excitement in her heart in the slightest.
Unfortunately, immersed in her excitement, Bai Xiaoxiao failed to notice the searching, probing gaze coming from right above her head.
Shen Zhiyue could feel that the little snake had changed, yet it wasn’t a case of body possession, which sparked a bit of interest in her.
If before she had only intended to raise it as an insignificant, dispensable pet, her thoughts had now shifted slightly.
Shen Zhiyue was somewhat curious about this snake’s origin, and she had an intuition that its background would bring her a few surprises. A cultivator’s intuition was never just a random hunch, she trusted her judgment.
However, all along, she had taken a free range approach toward the little snake. Picking it up in the first place had already been a departure from her original intention.
After waking up from her closed door seclusion, Shen Zhiyue had gained much. Thus, when she saw this little snake, frozen to the point where only its eyeballs could move, yet still stubbornly staring at her, a sudden thought crossed her mind, and she saved it.
Yet after escaping danger, the little snake didn’t leave. Instead, it tentatively slithered up her wrist, carefully coiling itself into a neat circle.
It actually wanted to follow her.
The little snake was of unknown origin, so leaving it alone should have been the best course of action. But just as Shen Zhiyue was about to shake it off, she noticed the little snake looking at her innocently, its eyes carrying a trace of reliance.
It was the look of a creature whose intelligence had just begun to awaken, viewing her as its sole reliance.
After a moment of silence, Shen Zhiyue didn’t drive it away again, implicitly permitting the little snake to follow her.
It was only after bringing it back that Shen Zhiyue realized this little snake’s mind didn’t seem quite normal. It only reacted to her, and spent the rest of the time looking dazed and silly.
Although it was a bit foolish, since she had already brought it back, Shen Zhiyue had no intention of abandoning it.
Now, however, it seemed it had actually brought her some unexpected surprises.
Bai Xiaoxiao was entirely unaware that Shen Zhiyue had already noticed her anomaly. Having just witnessed that battle, even she couldn’t help but feel a rare surge of hot-blooded excitement.
It was just that this surge of excitement came fast and left even faster.
Because out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that those spirit beasts, who were supposed to be dead, were actually swaying and standing back up.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes slowly widened. She anxiously tapped Shen Zhiyue’s arm with the tip of her tail, signaling her to look at the ground.
However, Shen Zhiyue had noticed the beasts’ anomaly even earlier than she had. Looking at the spirit beasts standing back up, there wasn’t a single trace of surprise in her eyes.
“Demons… really are disgusting creatures.”
Her words were light and gentle, yet her tone carried a chilling, lethal intent.
Hearing these words, Bai Xiaoxiao was taken aback, instantly recalling a segment of the original plot.
In the later stages of the novel, another conflict erupted between the cultivation world, the demon race, and the monster race. The Shangqing Sword Sect bore the brunt of the attack, and the root cause lay in the fact that the demonic beast sealed within the sect had long been secretly unsealed. It had been lurking in ambush until the demons launched their assault, appearing from Wuxu Valley and inflicting heavy casualties on the Sword Sect’s disciples.
Even though the Sect Master and Elders reacted swiftly, they were still unable to prevent the casualties from mounting, and thus the Second Great Inter Species War commenced.
During that war, the protagonist Rong Qingqing shone brilliantly, displaying extraordinary prowess on the battlefield and even slaying the demon leader at a crucial moment. In the end, as the war concluded, she ascended to immortality on the spot, becoming a legendary tale.
So there were already signs of it as early as now?
While Bai Xiaoxiao was lost in thought, her vision suddenly blurred. By the time her sight recovered, she realized that Shen Zhiyue had already brought her down to the ground. Directly ahead of them were the demonized spirit beast hordes, surrounded by towering black qi, rising from the dead.
Facing the demonized spirit beasts at such a close distance, Bai Xiaoxiao’s mind went completely blank, she was unable to think of anything at all. Her nostrils were filled with a foul, nauseating stench, so stinky that she quickly closed her eyes.
However, in the very next second, she felt a light pinch on the tip of her tail. Bai Xiaoxiao forced her eyes open, only to find that it was Shen Zhiyue tugging at her tail tip.
This sensation was far too intense. Bai Xiaoxiao almost couldn’t stop herself from turning around to bite her, but fortunately, she held back at the critical moment.
She raised her head up high, looking at Shen Zhiyue in confusion, unsure of what she meant by this.
“How come you’ve learned to be obedient this time? Didn’t you use to charge out straight away in the past?”
Shen Zhiyue spoke in a flat, indifferent tone.
Yet to Bai Xiaoxiao, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck her right where she stood.
Did Shen Zhiyue’s words mean… that the original snake was a warlike creature that recklessly charged forward every single time?
Chaos erupted inside Bai Xiaoxiao’s mind, with countless thoughts flashing past in an instant. Yet she was completely uncertain whether she should take this opportunity to charge out, or…
She looked hesitantly at the demonized spirit beast horde, a flicker of terror passing through her eyes as she couldn’t help but shrink back slightly.
What made Bai Xiaoxiao’s heart pound even faster was Shen Zhiyue’s gaze. For some reason, it hadn’t shifted away at all, seemingly waiting for her reaction.
That gaze was as light as a feather, yet the pressure it brought was immeasurably heavy.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s breath hitched.