In the blink of an eye, Jiang Qingshu’s feet touched solid ground once more.
She had already been brought dozens of li away into a remote mountain valley.
“Hand over the treasure.”
White Fiend threw her to the ground and extended a hand impatiently.
Jiang Qingshu stared at the ghostly claw still stained with blood. The thought that Tang Shuangshuang might already be dead caused her fury to explode uncontrollably.
“You promised not to hurt my family, yet you killed my sister-in-law!” Her eyes turned bloodshot as all fear transformed into rage. “You want the treasure? I’d rather die than give it to you!”
White Fiend let out a cold, sinister laugh filled with absolute contempt.
“The weak are not qualified to negotiate. Since you want death, we’ll gladly grant it.”
Jiang Qingshu knew perfectly well she could not defeat them.
For Linbao’s sake, she had to survive.
The moment White Fiend revealed killing intent and prepared to murder her for the treasure, she immediately tried activating her teleportation to escape.
But to her shock, it failed.
Not only that—she suddenly felt her consciousness beginning to slip out of control.
A sharp pain at the back of her neck made her realize something instantly.
On the way here, they had pricked her neck with something.
Poison again?
The spirit spring water could detoxify poison, but it had already neutralized the hallucinogenic toxin earlier. To cure this new poison, she needed to drink it again.
But the part of her mind that still belonged to herself was rapidly fading.
“Wait first,” Black Fiend said leisurely. “She’s already been infected with our Puppet Poison. Once it fully takes effect, she’ll willingly hand over the treasure herself. Then we can kill her afterward and return to clean up the rest of her family.”
No!
She absolutely could not lose the space.
That’s right—the space!
Although she could only remain inside for thirty minutes each day, it was her only remaining hope.
Summoning her last shred of clarity, she willed herself inside the space and vanished before the Black and White Fiends.
The instant she entered, she rushed directly to the spirit spring and desperately drank from it before losing consciousness completely.
Several minutes later, the agonizing sensation of her mind splitting apart finally subsided.
Her awareness gradually returned.
Time passed second by second.
Only ten minutes remained before she would be forcibly ejected from the space—
—and returned to the exact same location where she had entered.
If the Black and White Fiends were still outside, how could she possibly protect the blood pearl?
She could already tell those two relied on far more than illusionary toxins.
Their martial cultivation itself was terrifyingly powerful.
Although she had trained with weapons in her previous world, she had never practiced internal energy techniques. Against masters in this world with profound inner power, she simply could not win.
The space contained abundant living supplies—
—but no firearms.
Otherwise she could at least try fighting back.
If she teleported away immediately upon exiting, could she escape?
Just as she was thinking, the thirty minutes ended.
One moment she stood inside the shopping mall space.
The next moment she reappeared exactly where she had vanished.
And of course, the worst possible outcome happened.
The Black and White Fiends were still there.
And they noticed her instantly.
She immediately activated teleportation and fled.
Though her speed was almost impossible to track with the naked eye, the poisonous mist of the Black and White Fiends had already spread across dozens of li around the area.
After inhaling the poison mist, the distance of her teleportation had noticeably shortened.
Combined with the fiends’ incredible qinggong, she simply could not shake them off.
Was there truly no way left?
Clutching the blood pearl tightly in her palm as the fiends closed in behind her, a desperate thought suddenly emerged.
Swallow it.
Even in death, she would never let them have it.
The instant the thought formed, she no longer hesitated.
She tossed the blood pearl into her mouth.
The pearl was roughly the size of a coin. Though smooth and glossy, it still lodged painfully in her throat.
Ignoring the suffocating sensation in her chest, she swallowed over and over again.
Only after more than ten painful attempts did she finally force the blood pearl completely down before choking to death herself.
Ahead of her lay a cliff.
The opposite mountain wall was over a hundred meters away.
There was nowhere left to run.
As if disaster never came alone, a fierce burning sensation suddenly erupted inside her abdomen.
At first she could endure it.
But the temperature rose rapidly until she could no longer remain standing.
“It hurts…”
She collapsed to the ground, feeling as though her body had fallen into molten lava.
At that moment, she no longer cared that the fiends were already nearly upon her.
Her face twisted in agony as she curled up and rolled across the ground, while sweat poured from her body only to evaporate instantly.
The Black and White Fiends, now back on solid ground, showed no concern for her suffering.
White Fiend stepped forward, intending to rip open her clothing and search for the treasure personally.
“Enough tricks. Your death has arrived!”
Black Fiend shot into the air violently, extending razor-like claws straight toward her back.
“Shhk—!”
The moment her back was pierced through, Jiang Qingshu’s world finally fell silent.
A thick scent of blood spread through the air.
The raging inferno burning inside her body gradually began to extinguish.
Within the depths of her consciousness, she vaguely saw a glowing red sphere of fire.
Her body began drifting uncontrollably toward it.
As her form fused with the fiery sphere, she entered a crimson world and continued floating forward involuntarily.
Ahead appeared a fountain.
No—
It was the spirit spring.
The instant the spring collided with her, it vanished completely.
Yet she could hear the sound of flowing water as though it now coursed through every vein in her body.
She continued drifting onward.
Soon, a woman’s back appeared before her.
The woman wore pearl-white gauze robes, her hair casually pinned up with a wooden hairpin while loose strands flowed freely behind her.
Her fluttering sleeves carried an aura of cold pride and isolation.
Jiang Qingshu finally stopped moving.
The woman slowly turned around.
Her skin was white as snow, yet her cold eyes were sharp as blades. A sinister, wicked smile curved across her thin lips.
Jiang Qingshu froze in stunned disbelief.
Why did she look exactly like herself?
“Who are you?”
The woman flashed before her instantly and lifted Jiang Qingshu’s chin with icy fingers.
Her voice was soft as silk, yet chillingly seductive.
“I am you.”
“You’re lying. How could you possibly be me?”
“I am the darkest evil hidden in your heart.” The woman smiled coldly. “I am your shadow self.”
“My name… is Ye Nanxing.”
After Jiang Qingshu swallowed the blood pearl, Ye Nanxing was born as an independent dark personality.
Not only did she possess all of Jiang Qingshu’s abilities, but because she had absorbed most of the blood pearl’s energy, she now wielded unimaginably terrifying combat power.
Meanwhile, outside—
Seeing Jiang Qingshu’s life aura fading away, White Fiend revealed a corpse worm hidden in the palm.
They intended to force it into her mouth and use it to dissolve her body into liquid.
They already knew she had swallowed the treasure.
And this method was the easiest way to retrieve it.
Since the treasure possessed spiritual power, it naturally would not be destroyed by corpse-melting poison.
White Fiend extended a claw to pry open Jiang Qingshu’s mouth—
—but the next instant, her eyes suddenly opened.
“How is this possible?!”
White Fiend’s expression changed drastically.
“BOOM—!”
A terrifying burst of true qi erupted from Ye Nanxing’s palm, blasting White Fiend over thirty meters away instantly.
“Xiao Bai!”
Black Fiend immediately rushed over to catch and support the fallen partner.
“So powerful…” White Fiend clutched the chest painfully. “That woman… she’s become like an entirely different person.”
When they looked toward her again, they discovered she had already risen to her feet.
Cold killing intent radiated from her razor-sharp eyes.
“How would you like to die?”
“You arrogant little bitch! Let me see what abilities you’ve gained!”
White Fiend screamed furiously and slashed a claw through the air.
Instantly, countless poisonous corpse insects poured from the sleeves.
These flying corpse bugs had been specially bred using deadly toxins.
An ordinary person touched by even a single one would immediately dissolve into a puddle of flesh and blood…