Qin Wanwan instinctively hugged Jian Xingzhi and kissed him twice on the cheek. It was meant to express gratitude, but when Jian Xingzhi smiled and looked over at her, she inexplicably felt somewhat embarrassed.
She feigned composure as she straightened up and put some distance between herself and Jian Xingzhi. Jian Xingzhi also pretended nothing had happened and turned his head to examine the bed curtains.
Qin Wanwan sat to one side. The bed curtains had turned the entire bed into an enclosed space. With a man and woman alone together, they had things to talk about and matters to attend to just moments ago, but now that everything had suddenly quieted down, the atmosphere felt somewhat too intimate.
Such an atmosphere was rare for them. Qin Wanwan said nothing either, lowering her head to play with the jade pendant at her waist, waiting for Jian Xingzhi to speak first.
Jian Xingzhi looked around for a while, then turned back and asked her hesitantly, “Do… do you feel like it’s a bit hot with these bed curtains down?”
Qin Wanwan’s movements paused. She felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her head, making her much more clear-headed.
She nodded. “Mm, a bit.”
“Then… should I pull them open?”
Jian Xingzhi asked tentatively. Qin Wanwan nodded sullenly. Jian Xingzhi went to the window to pull aside the bed curtains. He opened a gap, letting light and fresh air flow in, completely dispersing the previous atmosphere. Jian Xingzhi’s movements stopped, and Qin Wanwan looked up at him, only to see him lower the bed curtain again and turn back to look at her. “Can… can I not open it?”
“You want to open it then open it, you want to keep it down then keep it down,” Qin Wanwan was completely baffled by his question and frowned. “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Don’t be angry,” Jian Xingzhi said guiltily. “I’ll open it then.”
For some reason, this made her even more annoyed.
Jian Xingzhi pulled up the bed curtains. Moonlight spilled in as the two of them sat cross-legged on the bed. Fresh air permeated the space between this young couple who had just vaguely established their relationship. After a long silence, Jian Xingzhi began searching for a topic. “So, let’s sort through what’s been happening recently.”
“Mm.” Qin Wanwan responded coolly. “Go ahead.”
“I think I roughly understand why we came here,” Jian Xingzhi analyzed. “Looking at the current situation together, it should be like this: over nine hundred years ago, Su Tanyin and Bai Wei cultivated the Thousand Lives Dream Transformation Path together. Bai Wei cultivated to her five hundredth life, which was around five hundred years ago. She gave up the Thousand Lives Dream Transformation Path for a sword cultivator from the Heavenly Sword Sect. As a result, she fell into demonic deviation. Su Tanyin fought against the Heavenly Sword Sect and took Bai Wei away. Then Su Tanyin went through her reincarnations until her thousandth life, which was two hundred years ago, when she met the twenty-year-old Lin Yanzhi. To repay a debt of gratitude, Su Tanyin gave Lin Yanzhi her golden core and used a strand of divine consciousness to protect Lin Yanzhi. Then she reincarnated into the immortal realm.”
“No,” Qin Wanwan interrupted him to make a correction. “Su Tanyin added one more life for herself. She reincarnated into the twenty-first century and became me. When I was twenty-six years old, I finally achieved enlightenment. I thought it was transmigration, but it should actually have been that the time had come, and the ghost messenger arranged for me to become an immortal fetus and reincarnate into the immortal realm, becoming the Nujun of Jishan.”
“The twenty-first century?” Jian Xingzhi didn’t understand, but guessed it was another small world. He was quite curious. “What did you become enlightened about?”
“Probably…” Qin Wanwan pondered. “Nothing in the world is difficult if you’re willing to give up?”
“That’s the meaning of the Heavenly Dao?” Jian Xingzhi couldn’t believe it.
Qin Wanwan sighed. “It might still be because I worked too hard in the twenty-first century. Before I ascended, I was coordinating with a large company. It was two in the morning at the time, and I specifically waited until three in the morning to send the data so he wouldn’t have a chance to refute me. Ten minutes later, just as I was preparing to sleep, he sent an email telling me the data was wrong. At that moment I had a heart attack. I felt that if I were given another chance, I must live well!”
“This…” Jian Xingzhi pondered. “Although I don’t understand, I’m guessing what you finally became enlightened about was probably the meaning of the Heavenly Dao. Because living well is also a kind of vitality!”
These words left Qin Wanwan completely stunned. She stared blankly at Jian Xingzhi spouting nonsense, and after quite a while finally said, “You cultivation people really know how to talk…”
“Then later you reincarnated as an immortal fetus,” Jian Xingzhi continued thinking, bringing the topic back. “You had no golden core and couldn’t cultivate. Your parents, in order to find an opportunity for you, came to this world a hundred years ago. Then they encountered Lin Yanzhi. By that time, Lin Yanzhi had already become a demigod of this world. He was full of merit and still owed Su Tanyin a golden core, so your parents needed his help to return a golden core to you. For your sake, they helped Lin Yanzhi seal the Evil God. As a result, Lin Yanzhi was devoured by the Evil God. Under Su Tanyin’s protection, the Evil God split Lin Yanzhi’s soul in two. The evil part…”
“Is Mei Suihan.”
Qin Wanwan stated definitively. “Mei Suihan devoured Lin Yanzhi back then, but my mother kept pursuing him. As long as his spiritual power exceeded a certain range, my mother’s spell would appear. To avoid my mother’s appearance, he could only keep hiding his strength and use others to do things for him. So he went to find Yan Wushuang and had Yan Wushuang kill Old Ancestor Ning for revenge in his place. He also reached an agreement with Shen Zhiming—he would raise the Azure Dragon, Shen Zhiming would seize the Linglong Jade, and using Su Yueli as a medium, they would change their constitutions together and ascend through the Dengxian Gate.”
“Tsk,” hearing this, Jian Xingzhi frowned in disgust. “How revolting.”
“If Mei Suihan is the one raising the Azure Dragon,” Qin Wanwan thought, “then Ji Wuyou, whom we encountered in the Heavenly Sword Sect’s secret realm back then, should be him.”
“This…”
Jian Xingzhi hesitated. Qin Wanwan looked up. “You don’t think so?”
“It’s like this,” Jian Xingzhi explained. “Have I told you before that I can see other people’s favorability toward you?”
Qin Wanwan nodded. “Yes, what about it?”
“If Mei Suihan is Ji Wuyou, then I’ve actually seen him in four different identities: Ji Wuyou, when he possessed his subordinate’s body in Ghost City, when he disguised himself as a scholar in the Desolate City to read my fortune and guide me, and finally as Mei Suihan. At the Heavenly Sword Sect and in Ghost City, I could see the favorability rating above his head. But after the Desolate City, whether it was the scholar or Mei Suihan, I never saw his favorability rating. Are they really the same person?”
“This…” Qin Wanwan pondered. “Under what circumstances can’t you see the favorability rating?”
“When the system is broken.”
“And?”
“Well…” Jian Xingzhi paused. “I can’t see my own favorability rating.”
As Jian Xingzhi said this, he understood. Qin Wanwan might be thinking this proved Mei Suihan was him, so he added another question. “Then why could I see it at first?”
Qin Wanwan fell silent. She thought for a moment and asked, “In the Desolate City when he read your fortune, what did he predict?”
This question made Jian Xingzhi freeze. Qin Wanwan observed his expression. “Is it related to me?”
“Well…” Jian Xingzhi braced himself. “He told me that what I feel for you is romantic love.”
“Then why did he later compete with you for me?”
Qin Wanwan grew more and more confused. Jian Xingzhi paused and added, “Oh, and actually, what Yan Wushuang said to me at the end was that Lin Yanzhi came back and told him I had fallen in love, so he wanted to kill me.”
Hearing this, Qin Wanwan repeated these words over and over in her mind, then asked, “In Ghost City, why did Ji Wuyou deliberately make you become a male consort and enter that formation? Did he say anything?”
“He said he really liked this body of mine?”
As Jian Xingzhi spoke, Qin Wanwan froze.
Body?
Why had “Lin Yanzhi” kept changing identities all this time? It seemed he had never once used his own original body to meet them.
According to what Bai Wei said, back then her parents had crushed Lin Yanzhi’s body, and the Evil God relied on Lin Yanzhi’s two souls and three ethereal souls to escape into heaven and earth. In other words, the Evil God might still not have a body of his own to this day.
The Evil God only had two souls and three ethereal souls. Was Jian Xingzhi’s soul complete then?
Last time she had tried to examine Jian Xingzhi’s soul, only to be forcibly repelled. This clearly meant someone had placed a restriction forbidding anyone from prying into Jian Xingzhi’s divine soul.
Qin Wanwan looked up at Jian Xingzhi. “I have a guess.”
“Mm?”
Jian Xingzhi was curious. Qin Wanwan said calmly, “From the current perspective, we came to this world to resolve the matter of the Evil God.”
“It should be so.”
Jian Xingzhi nodded. Qin Wanwan pressed on. “But have you noticed why we couldn’t come directly, but instead had to bring a system and inhabit other people’s bodies to come to this world?”
Jian Xingzhi froze. Qin Wanwan stated definitively, “Because your body cannot enter here. If it entered here, it might become the best body for the Evil God. If the Evil God can possess your body, then your soul,” Qin Wanwan stared at him, “might also have the possibility of merging with Lin Yanzhi.”
“At first you could see his favorability rating because you had no connection whatsoever. But in Flower City, he specifically selected you to become a male consort and enter that formation. That formation might not only be for suppressing or reviving Lin Yanzhi—it could also be a formation for establishing a connection to fuse your souls together. So from that moment on, your souls began establishing a connection. Because your souls started merging, you can’t sense his favorability rating, but he can sense your emotions. That’s why he told me that however much you like me, that’s how much he likes me.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi’s eyes widened.
“As for why he first transformed into a scholar to remind you, then wanted to kill you because you fell in love, there are two possibilities. The first is that throughout this process, he cognitively always saw himself as separate from you, so he became jealous of you. The second is that your falling in love caused some unforeseen change he couldn’t predict.”
Jian Xingzhi stood there dumbfounded, not speaking.
Qin Wanwan knew this matter had quite an impact on him. She raised her hand to pat his shoulder comfortingly. “This is just a guess. You don’t need to take it too much to heart.”
Jian Xingzhi didn’t respond. His whole being was in a daze.
Seeing him too shocked, Qin Wanwan couldn’t help but feel curious. “Jian Xingzhi?”
“If he can sense what I sense…” Jian Xingzhi murmured, turning to look at Qin Wanwan. “Then when I kiss you, can he feel it too?!”
Qin Wanwan froze. She hadn’t expected that what Jian Xingzhi would think of at this moment would actually be this.
Jian Xingzhi suddenly snapped alert. He grabbed his sword and was about to get off the bed. Qin Wanwan quickly grabbed him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to kill him!”
Jian Xingzhi declared furiously, “I’m going to kill him right now!”
“Calm down, with souls it’s just sensing emotions,” Qin Wanwan stopped him. “Your physical sensations… he can’t feel those!”
“Emotions?”
Jian Xingzhi turned back and exclaimed angrily, “When I kiss you I’m so happy I could explode—why should he get to share that kind of happiness with me?!”
“Uh…”
Hearing these words, Qin Wanwan felt inexplicably pleased yet also somewhat embarrassed. Seeing Qin Wanwan’s expression, Jian Xingzhi also became embarrassed and turned his head away. “Anyway, I’m going to kill him.”
“Kill, we definitely need to kill him,” Qin Wanwan pulled him back and made him sit down. “But I need to plan this properly. Killing him is our mission, isn’t it?”
Hearing that Qin Wanwan wanted to kill Mei Suihan, Jian Xingzhi felt much more comfortable. He sat down. “Fine, then plan quickly. How do we kill him?”
“First step, tell me—what did you see in Liu Yiyi’s divine soul?”
“I saw your parents crush Lin Yanzhi’s body. Your mother chased after the Evil God. Your father put Lin Yanzhi’s remaining soul into a Soul-Locking Pouch and followed in pursuit. Liu Yiyi followed behind them and saw the Evil God escape. Your mother was severely wounded and told your father that the Formless Sect had a blessed land where she could recuperate. She would leave behind a tracking spell, and as long as the tracking spell injured the Evil God, she would awaken. Your father then took her away.”
“So that means…”
Understanding dawned on Qin Wanwan as she looked up. “My mother’s body is in the Formless Sect.”
“Correct.”
Jian Xingzhi nodded. “And you also said that in the book, Su Yueli was involved with five men in total. Now four are all demonic seeds, and Lin Yanzhi must have relied on Su Yueli to ascend. So the last remaining one, the young Old Ancestor of the Formless Sect—”
“It must be him.”
Qin Wanwan stated with certainty. She pondered. “So we just need to go to the Formless Sect, find that young Old Ancestor, and directly force him to act. As soon as he uses spiritual power, my mother’s tracking spell will arrive. Once the tracking spell injures him, my mother will wake up.”
“Exactly.”
Jian Xingzhi nodded and looked up at Qin Wanwan. “So our next target—”
Before he could finish speaking, a “ding” sounded in both their minds, followed by a long string of system notifications.
38 spoke somewhat worriedly. “Apologies, [Task Five: Flower City Wedding] has failed. Task completion progress 80%, points earned 0, current total points 8053. Reminder to host: when points reach 10,000, a mysterious grand gift package will be awarded. Please continue to work hard and strive for your career!”
“[Task Six: Immortal Alliance Conference—uncover the ultimate truth, earn 2000 points. Do you accept?]”
Seeing that phrase “uncover the ultimate truth,” Qin Wanwan decisively clicked “accept.”
Looking at the reminder about the “mysterious grand gift package,” she asked curiously, “What’s the mysterious grand gift package?”
“It’s called mysterious,” 38 muttered. “I don’t know either.”
As 38 issued the command, 666 also spoke with some excitement. “[Task Thirteen: Assist the female lead in obtaining the Flower City Linglong Jade] has failed. Total points 6535.”
“Bonus romance quest [Confession] completed, points +500”
“Bonus romance quest [Establish couple relationship] completed, points +200”
“Bonus romance quest [Wedding ceremony] completed, points +100”
“Bonus romance quest [Proactively request kiss from female lead] completed, points +100.”
“Bonus romance quest [Receive female lead’s affectionate kiss] completed, points +100.”
…
A succession of romance-related task points rained down with dings and clangs, making Jian Xingzhi’s head buzz.
Finally, 666 tallied the total score. “Congratulations to the host, current total points 8000! At 10,000 points the system will present a mysterious surprise gift package. Please strive for the gift package! Please accept the next task—
“Task Fourteen: Assist the female lead in attending the Formless Sect’s Immortal Alliance Conference and help the female lead become the most dazzling star of the Immortal Alliance Conference!”
Seeing this task, Jian Xingzhi raised his eyebrows.
Having him pave the way for the male lead was unacceptable, but having him make Qin Wanwan the most dazzling star—
He liked it!