Jiang Qiran and Chi Yuan were both bundled up and thrown into a stinking pigpen. Back at Wuhan Mountain, He Yumian looked ashen-faced, his guts thoroughly twisted with regret.
The reason was simple: the system had fled.
A real, literal flight: it had completely gone offline, dammit.
To make a long story short, the previous night the man and the system had still been fantasizing about the future.
Once the mission was completed and He Yumian successfully resurrected, there might even be hope of winning back his goddess.
System Xiao Jiu, on the other hand, would ascend to the absolute peak of its system existence. This was supposed to be its final mission at the Novel Management Bureau, after which it could step into the management tier and no longer have to risk its life on the front lines.
The man and the system had spent the deep hours of the night fired up with excitement, a bright future seemingly within touching distance.
That bubbling fighting spirit, however, had come to an abrupt halt in the second half of the night.
System Xiao Jiu suddenly started acting up.
Wuwuwu wuwuwu, why did you have to treat me this way…
Xiao Jiu, perfectly fine just moments before, suddenly clutched its head and wailed bitterly, babbling endlessly about how a girlfriend it had chased for hundreds of years had dumped it.
Xiao Hong, a term Xiao Jiu had previously avoided mentioning, was brought back into the open.
Wuwuwu Xiao Hong, why… why did you have to treat me this way…
Where on earth am I inferior to Little Handsome? What makes you choose him over me…
He Yumian lay on the simple wooden bed he had recently moved into, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Inside his sea of consciousness, the system’s weeping sounded like a dual-channel 3D surround sound setup. The racket was practically like ghosts howling, and his head felt fit to explode.
So even an artificial intelligence’s heartbreak could be this soul-crushing and agonizing.
Unable to take it any longer, He Yumian smacked a hand down toward Xiao Jiu and roared, Stop howling at me!
Wawawa wuwuwu…
Xiao Jiu cried even harder.
I knew you were dating someone! The more He Yumian thought about it, the angrier he grew. He bolted upright from the bed, his sleepiness vanishing entirely.
How is it that an artificial intelligence like you can have a girlfriend, while I can’t even touch Yangyang’s hand?
He could not understand it; he just did not get it.
Clearly, he was a caring, considerate guy, so why could Miao Yangyang never accept him?
Dizziness washing over it from that earlier blow, Xiao Jiu immediately shrieked and hollered back:
You deserve to never find a partner! You dense straight guy, you’ll never have a girlfriend in your life! Even if you get resurrected, your goddess definitely won’t accept you!
What caring guy? You’re just a total simp!
He Yumian flew into a rage.
This was his ultimate taboo, his reverse scale, the eternal unhealed scar deep within his heart.
Clenching his fists tightly, he sneered, Heh, you’ve said so much, but aren’t you a simp yourself?
Your Xiao Hong didn’t want you, dumped you, and ran off with Little Handsome.
Xiao Jiu completely suffered a mental breakdown, emitting a piercing, shrill shriek.
I hate you! Xiao Hong will definitely change her mind, just you wait and see!
Flashing an enraged death flag, Xiao Jiu vanished without a trace.
It was suspected of dereliction of duty, having run off in pursuit of love.
Once He Yumian calmed down, he discovered that Xiao Jiu had actually meant what it said and cut off all contact entirely.
No way… He pinched the bridge of his nose, his expression a complete mess.
Damn it, when on earth was that system coming back, hey?! He shouldn’t have started bickering with it just then! A simp is a simp: everyone’s a simp anyway, trading a few jabs wouldn’t have changed anything.
He Yumian felt he desperately needed an oxygen mask; being driven to near cerebral hemorrhage in the middle of the night was no joke.
Hoo…
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Everything would be fine! He had carefully read through the original work over the past few days, and as long as he followed the plot, nothing major would go wrong! It had to be this way!
He Yumian decided to go look for Chi Yuan ahead of schedule.
He set off early the next morning, recalling the village location described in the original book, and flew on his sword toward it.
The village was actually located right at the foot of Lingxiao Sect’s mountain, connected to the sect by a stretch of forest.
Flying on his sword, He Yumian simultaneously used his spiritual energy to probe the surroundings.
He had to hand it to Mahayana cultivation: it was truly amazing. Closing his eyes, he felt as though he had merged with heaven and earth, making every single rustle within a hundred miles crystal clear.
It was like possessing the eyes of the Heavenly Dao.
Even with his eyes blindfolded, he could perceive things perfectly. Was this what approaching ascension felt like? Truly way too cool!
He Yumian quickly used his divine sense to locate the target village. Continuing deeper, he searched for Chi Yuan’s figure.
Finally, he discovered a lean, small child inside a pigpen, who figured to be Chi Yuan.
Though he had known in advance that the protagonist’s childhood was tragically wretched, He Yumian had not expected it to be this miserable.
A stinking pigpen, lying on the ground tortured to the point of near death with his life status unknown.
…How could these people bring themselves to abuse him?
For some reason, looking at that filthy figure, He Yumian unexpectedly thought of Jiang Qiran.
Of the same age, one was dressed in fine silks and pampered by his parents, while the other was curled up in a pigpen being abused.
Who wouldn’t grow misanthropic seeing this? Abandoned as an infant right from the start, and even the blind old grandmother who cherished him had passed away.
The more He Yumian thought about it, the angrier he grew. This was simply too tragic; he wasn’t going to wait for the beast tide to arrive: he was going to take Chi Yuan back right now.
He Yumian quickly flew on his sword to the village, put away the Star-Plucking Sword, and walked forward with a furrowed brow and a heavy, oppressive aura.
Ma Dacai was basking leisurely in the sun outside his house, lazily humming an out-of-tune ditty, when he happened to look up and see an immortal in white appearing under a halo of light.
The immortal wore a jade crown binding his hair, possessed sword-like brows and starry eyes, and carried a sword at his back that gleamed with an intimidating, chilling radiance.
His entire demeanor of icy coldness and stern murderous intent created a stark, jarring contrast with the rustic village environment.
Ma Dacai rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.
Blinking hard, he realized that the immortal was indeed real, walking toward him with a chilling expression on his face. Panic surged within him, and he instantly leaped up from his chair.
Could this be a passing master of the great path? A heaven-sent immortal affinity, with even the heavens favoring him! If Dajun caught his eye, their whole family would rise to prosperity!
At this thought, Ma Dacai’s heart pounded furiously.
Flattering all over, he hurried forward and smiled, asking, …Welcome, Immortal Master, to this humble dwelling, this lowly one is overjoyed!
He Yumian glanced sideways at Ma Dacai, raised a finger, and pointed at the household right next to the pigpen: Is this your house?
Yes, yes, yes! Ma Dacai nodded like pounding garlic, the smile on his face growing even brighter. I wonder what brings the Immortal Master here?
He Yumian sneered: Here to find someone.
With those words, He Yumian released a fraction of his pressure. Ma Dacai instantly felt dizzy and his ears rang, his spine rattling with creaks as he nearly buckled under the weight and dropped to his knees.
A thud echoed in his heart. Combining the other’s tone and expression, an extremely ominous premonition rose within him.
Could it be that the child who claimed to be the young master of the Jiang family was telling the truth, and the Jiang family had really tracked him down?
Rolling his eyes, he fawningly laughed: Find someone? Uh haha… Are: Are you looking at the wrong place?
He Yumian looked at him coldly, a layer of frost creeping around him as he sternly said, Since I was able to find this place, I naturally haven’t made a mistake.
The person I’m looking for is right inside your pigpen!