Luo Yi never thought of killing Xie Qingrong. He only… wanted the one person who was good to him to always stay by his side, treating him the same as ever.
He wanted to grow stronger, to take revenge, to live freely. He was unwilling, unyielding, and so this was the only path he could take. Becoming a demon, releasing his true nature—those were his most carefree days. But he also knew, given Xie Qingrong’s character, that the path he chose would never be acknowledged.
The only way was to forcibly keep Xie Qingrong by his side, to make him his puppet, so that Xie Qingrong would never be able to leave him.
But he never imagined Xie Qingrong could be so resolute.
And how could he possibly let the only person who treated him well disappear before his eyes?
He couldn’t do it, not even if it meant sacrificing everything.
Without hesitation, Luo Yi unleashed all of his own soul essence with the mutated soul-control technique, striking directly at the array’s core. Because he had once used puppet arts to control Xie Qingrong’s soul, only he could accomplish this.
A substitution of souls.
Letting his own soul essence be torn from his body, he endured the agony of separation. The scream he let out in that instant shook everyone present to their core.
They knew Luo Yi was saving someone, and perhaps in the most brutal way possible.
His body collapsed, while his soul charged into the array core, pushing aside Xie Qingrong’s lingering split soul.
The split soul had no consciousness and drifted straight back to the main body. Without the control of a puppeteer, the main body fell limp into Jingzhan’s arms.
Everyone stared in shock. This was not what they had expected of Luo Yi. Wasn’t he the one who had set up the formation to destroy them? Wasn’t he full of schemes and sinister plots?
Yet in the end, the disaster he had created, he bore himself.
Would he die? Did he not know?
Luo Yi’s soul writhed in agony within the array, before finally collapsing to the ground. Only then did he realize—so all along, when Xie Qingrong had appeared so calm and detached, he had actually been enduring such pain.
Luo Yi crawled miserably across the ground, eyes fixed on Xie Qingrong lying in Jingzhan’s arms. He tried to reach out to grasp Xie Qingrong’s hand, but he no longer had a physical body—he couldn’t touch him.
Luo Yi froze, not knowing if it was regret or just unbearable pain, but tears began to fall—or would have, if his soul had any.
“Senior Brother… Senior Brother, did I save you? Open your eyes and look at me… respond to me, I’m in so much pain…” Luo Yi raised his head, calling out.
This kind of Luo Yi… Jingzhan turned his face away, refusing to look. But all the spiritual power he had painstakingly gathered still flowed into Xie Qingrong.
Xie Qingrong’s soul essence had already been too depleted. After splitting his soul again and again, no one could say what he would become.
Suddenly, Xie Qingrong’s eyelids stirred. Luo Yi’s face instantly lit up with joy.
“Luo Yi…” Though Xie Qingrong’s eyes remained closed, as if trapped in a nightmare, he called Luo Yi’s name. “Luo Yi… be careful…”
Luo Yi froze.
Jingzhan could tell—Xie Qingrong’s mind was intact, but there was no way he would wake anytime soon. He was far too weak.
Luo Yi understood too. He knew he would not get another word from his senior brother.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He was fading.
In the end, Luo Yi just stared blankly at Xie Qingrong, lost in thought—or perhaps not thinking at all, only feeling how absurd this struggle had been.
Then, suddenly, a gentle light flared.
Luo Yi turned to see Jingzhan take something from Xie Qingrong’s storage pouch.
Luo Yi’s pupils shrank.
“The Immaculate Immortal Sprout…”
“Your senior brother found it for you, in the Void Spirit Secret Realm.”
Luo Yi stared in a daze, his mind replaying their last conversation at the Rufeng Sect. If only he had done nothing then…
But that was impossible. By then, he had already fallen into demonhood. And he did not regret the path he had chosen—he had only never expected it to come to this. If only he had kept better hold of Xie Qingrong, he wouldn’t have fallen so far.
With a choked laugh that turned into unrestrained madness, he cried out: “Senior Brother, I really did lose to you…”
Luo Yi’s soul gradually lost all vitality, his image fading into nothing. Silent, and no one knew at what moment he truly scattered, body and soul.
He disappeared too quickly. Because he did not have a cultivator’s constitution, even though he became a demon, his soul was still like that of a mortal.
And how could a mortal’s soul withstand the collapse of a Spirit-Gathering Array?
He could only save Xie Qingrong, but he could not suppress the array.
Perhaps to him, suppressing it had never mattered.
So when the array exploded in an instant, Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing had already foreseen it.
Without Xie Qingrong’s help, the difficulties ahead would only worsen.
Spiritual power raged like a hurricane, as if the entire town of Linxun would be ripped from the earth.
Gu Baiqing immediately shouted: “Three Bean, take everyone and go! Xuanli—”
Mo Xuanli nodded, just as if they had already agreed beforehand.
Gu Baiqing was about to breathe easier, but then suddenly felt a warmth at his back.
Spiritual Power Value +1
Gu Baiqing was stunned—Mo Xuanli was hugging him!
What on earth? He wasn’t Little Xuanli. Why were two grown men hugging each other?!
And not just hugging—Mo Xuanli was holding him tightly in his arms.
This wasn’t right at all!
Gu Baiqing instinctively tried to break free, but then felt that embrace tighten suddenly, the force so strong their bodies pressed together without a gap. Gu Baiqing’s heart was suddenly weighed down by a heavy feeling—but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was like a gentle sense of safety, as if wrapped in a thick, warm quilt on a winter’s day.
A sigh came by his ear.
“Master… this disciple doesn’t need you to protect me like this. I swore—I will definitely grow stronger, I will protect Master from all harm. If this disciple can’t even do that, then what right do I have…”
“Mo Xuanli, you…” Gu Baiqing instantly realized—Mo Xuanli definitely wanted him to leave. But Gu Baiqing didn’t believe it. With his cultivation, could Mo Xuanli really force him away?
Yet in the blink of an eye, the scenery before Gu Baiqing changed. Before he could react, the embrace behind him vanished.
Turning back, he found himself already at the edge of Linxun Town. Mo Xuanli’s figure was nowhere in sight.
Void spirit space?
He had used spatial arts to throw him to the edge of the array.
Gu Baiqing’s face darkened, rage surging. “Morning Snow!”
Morning Snow immediately transformed into a sword, ready to carry its master back into the fray.
With lightning arts and Morning Snow, he refused to believe he couldn’t make it in time.
But just as he was about to leap onto Morning Snow, his feet were tripped, followed by the sensation of being bound.
Looking down—God Nine Transformations.
God Nine Transformations had taken the form of a whip, coiling tightly around him, restraining his movements.
Mo Xuanli had even resorted to this move.
Gu Baiqing roared, furious: “You… God Nine Transformations, release me!”
The red cords of God Nine Transformations floated up, brushing lightly against his cheek, as if to soothe his anger—but it would not let go.
Morning Snow seemed to sense something, bringing a crackling blue glow of lightning down, only to be blocked by the whip’s tail.
And by then, it was already too late. From the array’s core, a blinding red light flashed.
Gu Baiqing saw his system’s cultivation progress bar climbing rapidly.
He cursed aloud, even as the frightened screams of townsfolk echoed around.
There was no choice. He could only, as in the original text, suppress the surrounding spiritual energy from leaking further.
“Let me go. I’m not going back,” Gu Baiqing snapped.
Only after some hesitation did God Nine Transformations release him, looping itself like a belt around his waist—only for Gu Baiqing to tear it off, shouting angrily: “Don’t slack off—go protect your master!”
God Nine Transformations seemed aggrieved. It hadn’t been slacking—it had no choice. It was obeying its master’s command. And besides, it too didn’t want this man to get hurt.
It transformed into a bracelet, which Gu Baiqing charged with lightning power before shooting it toward the array’s core.
God Nine Transformations returned to find its master seated cross-legged at the core, torrents of spiritual energy surging into him, his whole body glowing crimson, on the verge of exploding. In a panic, it flew back onto his wrist to help him absorb the energy. After all, it was a celestial-grade spirit tool; absorbing spiritual energy benefitted it as well.
And if its master were blown apart by the energy, wouldn’t it perish too?
As it thought this, its master suddenly spoke.
“Why are you back? Didn’t I tell you to protect Master?”
Sensing the lingering lightning energy on the bracelet, Mo Xuanli curved his lips faintly. “Master… Master…”
As if chanting those two words alone could help him suppress the pain tearing his body apart.
But unseen by anyone, under the shadow of death, Mo Xuanli’s eyes gradually turned red.
“Master… don’t be angry with me later.”
…
Half an hour later, Linxun Town finally calmed.
Everyone had collapsed to the ground, falling into unconsciousness.
With Jingzhan lending his aid, Gu Baiqing didn’t stop to manage the aftermath of the energy leakage, but rushed straight to the center to find Mo Xuanli.
【Cultivation Progress: Early Core Formation 30%】—still short of reaching the mid stage.
【Demonization Value +1, Total: 20】 Facing life and death, the fluctuation was understandable.
The task had yet to be judged—a small relief for Gu Baiqing.
But… the system was warning him: Mo Xuanli was in mortal danger.
He had braced himself for it, but when he finally rushed in and saw Mo Xuanli’s condition, Gu Baiqing froze, his heart pierced with pain as if stabbed through.
Mo Xuanli’s entire body was crimson, as though flames burned inside him, boiling his very blood. Yet his lips were deathly pale from the agony, veins bulging on his forehead from prolonged torment, still standing out even without external pressure.
His robes were tattered, blood seeping from everywhere visible—too much spiritual energy had flooded in, too little absorbed, so it tore through his body, leaving countless wounds.
If this had been the original text, the breakthrough state would have sharply increased his ability to absorb energy. But now, being short of that level, the result was this horrific state.
Seeing Mo Xuanli like this, Gu Baiqing’s chest throbbed with sharp, aching pain.
Even the original Mo Xuanli hadn’t endured such suffering. Why, in his hands, had it become like this…?
The system’s warnings continued. Gu Baiqing knew the cause, so he placed a hand on Mo Xuanli’s shoulder, intending to draw out the spiritual energy.
But it was as though the energy had been locked inside him, refusing to come out.
Was he really going to be burst apart alive?
By then, Jingzhan and Three Bean had arrived as well.
“Master, how’s Xuanli?” Three Bean asked anxiously.
Jingzhan, after settling Xie Qingrong down, came over to check. His face darkened. “The energy’s wrapped around his core, but the core can’t absorb it. Either we find a way to help the core absorb, or we draw it out. Otherwise…”
Gu Baiqing already knew this. But he had tried—the energy simply wouldn’t come out.
Was he really going to gamble on Mo Xuanli’s demon body pulling him through at the last moment? Even if he survived, his core would surely be damaged by the excess energy, leaving endless troubles for his future cultivation.
Gu Baiqing immediately exchanged for a “strategy pouch.” Though the pouch was always unreliable, it always gave a solution.
This time—it had to work…
But when he heard the solution, Gu Baiqing’s face went pale, overcome with fury.
This time, not only did the pouch demand 100 points from him, it even only offered a single option.
No exporting, only absorption. If he couldn’t absorb it himself, then someone else would have to help him absorb it, and there was only one way.
Dual cultivation!
The moment Gu Baiqing saw those two words, he was so furious that smoke nearly poured out of him.
It was the feeling of being in the most serious of situations, yet still being mocked by the system.
What the h*ll kind of method was this?
And it even specifically stipulated that only someone whose cultivation was higher than Mo Xuanli’s could succeed in helping.
Wasn’t this just blatantly implying that he…? Why don’t you just write my name down outright!
Gu Baiqing clenched his teeth, his lips trembling as he looked at the system, which had even thoughtfully prepared a dual cultivation manual for him. He practically couldn’t breathe, his forehead breaking out in cold sweat.
He didn’t immediately refuse—because there was no other option to choose from.
Watch Mo Xuanli fall into life-and-death peril, or… step right into the trap.
Neither was right! He was straight, how could he possibly…
At that moment, Xie Qingrong was also faintly stirring awake. When he opened his eyes and saw not far away that only Luo Yi’s husk remained, his gaze flickered, but he said nothing. Then, glancing at Mo Xuanli, he spoke: “There’s no other way. Unless it’s the method of dual cultivation, it’s the only way to help him absorb the spiritual power.”
Jingzhan exclaimed with surprise: “You’re awake? Wait—can you see?”
Xie Qingrong froze. Right—how could he see? But before him, everything was clear. This wasn’t spirit-sight—it was truly seeing.
He sharply turned back to look at Luo Yi, his pupils trembling. After closing his eyes and steadying himself, he said to everyone: “I’ve seen this kind of situation before. It must be resolved through dual cultivation, otherwise Mo Xuanli is sure to meet disaster.”
Jingzhan didn’t have time to ask about Xie Qingrong’s matter. Just this dual cultivation… Jingzhan’s face flushed red, and he instinctively looked at Gu Baiqing.
Though they were master and disciple, between them…
Xie Qingrong also turned his gaze to Gu Baiqing.
Gu Baiqing, faced with everyone’s eyes, spoke as though to them, but also to himself, a final struggle: “I… am his master.”
Jingzhan felt awkward, Xie Qingrong paused, then seemed to understand, speaking gently: “Elder, there are actually two types of dual cultivation. One is the common kind known to the outside world. The other is our Rufeng Sect’s secret method. If Elder trusts me, I can pass the secret method to you. You may let your spiritual sense enter Xuanli’s sea of consciousness. Of course… the prerequisite is that he must willingly allow you in—that is the hardest step. Once inside, you can cultivate together within, which is dual cultivation of the spiritual sense.”
“How is it I never knew such a method existed?” Jingzhan was shocked.
“It’s a secret art, not passed to outsiders. Only direct disciples know it. But right now the situation is critical, there’s no time to fuss over that.” Xie Qingrong didn’t explain further, and asked directly: “Elder, will you try?”
Try, try—he practically wanted to kneel down and beg to try.
Gu Baiqing nodded, though inwardly he was shouting—he had almost been tricked by the system’s ploy. Who would have thought Xie Qingrong was more reliable than the system itself, practically a star of hope!
Not long after, Gu Baiqing sat cross-legged before Mo Xuanli, grasping his hands in both of his own. A circle of light encased the two of them.
The dual cultivation of spiritual sense began.
“The hardest step… is entering his sea of consciousness. If he fails…” Xie Qingrong frowned.
“If he fails, does that mean they’ll really have to… dual cultivate that way?” Jingzhan asked.
For a moment, embarrassment flickered across Xie Qingrong’s face. From there, it would be up to them.
Xie Qingrong turned his head toward the lifeless little junior brother lying on the ground, and couldn’t help wanting to go to him.
But although his awareness had returned, his body seemed to have lost all function—he couldn’t move for now.
Seeing this, Jingzhan lifted him directly into his arms, carrying him to Luo Yi’s corpse.
Xie Qingrong gazed at him sorrowfully, unable to stop the tears from falling.
“At least, in the end, he did one right thing. He saved you, so he’s not completely beyond redemption,” Jingzhan comforted. “And besides, he cured your eyes.”
Looking into Xie Qingrong’s eyes, they were as breathtaking as the first time he had seen them in youth, as if the beauty of autumn itself was contained within—gentle, warm, suffused with light.
Surely those eyes had been Luo Yi’s eternal pain, which was why he had done everything to heal them.
