Bai Yu sighed. This was too typical of her overbearing and unscrupulous style. Back then, he had only asked her to protect the Fengyin Kingdom as a last resort; he hadn't expected her to use such a method.
However, since she had taken their Soul Blood and hadn't killed them, the Southern Province Daoist Alliance wouldn't interfere too much. His goal had been achieved regardless.
“Your two disciples will be fine. My Tingyin Pavilion can repair their heart meridians. Just have Shengji and Linghu Ci play a melody for them, and they will wake up.”
“Fine.”
Wen Li nodded, throwing one disciple over her shoulder and cradling the other in her arms, preparing to leave.
Suddenly, Bai Yu’s voice grew solemn. “My lifespan will be exhausted in three days. Come here then and refine me.”
Wen Li’s back paused. “If Xin Feiliu and the other two found out, wouldn't they try to kill me?”
Bai Yu sighed, the look in his eyes devoid of any lingering attachments. “They won’t know the specific details of our deal. They both fear and respect you. They won’t.”
Wen Li scoffed. “What use is your broken body to me? It’s a waste of my spiritual energy. Let Shengji and the others bury you themselves.”
With that, she turned and left.
Watching her go, Bai Yu suddenly gave a soft chuckle, his gentle voice filled with a sense of relief. It seemed that having fought alongside her in the Central Province all those years ago, she still considered him a friend.
Otherwise, given her character, she would have certainly refined him into a puppet to extract every last bit of value from him.
...
The scene shifted to fifteen minutes before Wen Li went to the Western Province to save her disciples.
Flashback:
At that time, Wen Li was in the mountains of the Tingyin Pavilion, guiding Zongzheng Huangyue and Hua Cishu in their cultivation, when the system—which had been gone for half a month—suddenly came back online.
【Host, Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai are about to die.】
The sudden voice in her head gave Wen Li a start. It was like seeing a ghost. She raised a hand to pat her chest and walked to the side.
Wen Li’s focus was elsewhere. 【You’re alive? I haven't even invited the music cultivators of the Tingyin Pavilion to play mourning music for you yet. I already found the performers—what a waste.】
【...】
The system took a deep breath and eventually laughed out of pure frustration. 【Host, your disciples are about to die!】
Wen Li shrugged. 【So what can I do? I’m in the Southern Province. Calamity is their best friend.】
【Stop pretending. I’ve repaired my data.】 The lies she had used to trick it before could no longer deceive the shrewd and sophisticated system that had now returned after its upgrade.
With those words from the system, Wen Li’s eyes flickered with a lazy, cold, yet utterly composed light, as if she had expected this all along.
【Oh? So you’re not stupid anymore. Then you should know that I’m your only choice now, right?】
The system went silent, knowing exactly what she was saying. Finally, it conceded. 【Fine. I am currently bound to you, so you are my host. There’s no need for you to lie to me anymore. You can go and save Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai directly.】
Wen Li wasn't satisfied with that. 【Then you should also know my methods. If you have any ulterior motives, I’ll kill all six villains. At most, I’ll just be killed by you, but you can forget about completing your mission.】
The system asked her, 【What about my original host?】
Wen Li raised an eyebrow and gave a wicked smile. 【Her? She’s dead. How else could I have snatched you away? What, did you actually develop feelings for her and want to seek revenge?】
The system remained silent. 【You’re overthinking. I only care about the success of the mission.】
【I don’t like betrayal. Since you’ve recovered your memories, let’s make things clear: you can only choose me. If you don’t choose me, I will kill whoever you pick instead, killing them until you come crawling back to beg me.】 Wen Li scoffed.
The system, now possessing normal intelligence, understood her meaning. 【Rest assured, I’m in no mood to avenge some former host. It was her own incompetence that led to her death at your hands. You are strong enough to help me complete the mission, so I choose you.】
If the previously brain-dead system still had some semblance of normal values, the current system—restored and acting as a string of data to execute commands—was a helper that perfectly matched Wen Li’s own values.
She would do the killing, and it would hand her the knife.
Wen Li looked satisfied. 【Didn't you say Xin Jiuxian would encounter a Chosen of the Heavenly Dao who also has a system? There must be a food chain among systems like you.】
【What do you mean?】
【I don’t like allies that are too weak. Get ready; I’m going to help you level up.】
Afterward, Wen Li left Zongzheng Huangyue and Hua Cishu behind and flew back to her cave residence. She summoned Hold On and closed her eyes to perform a hand seal. Her soul stirred, and when she opened her eyes again, her aura had transformed.
Her cultivation level soared to a terrifying height, leaving the system dumbfounded. As it suspected, she had indeed knocked it unconscious by force back then!
With one hand, Wen Li ripped through space and headed directly toward the Western Province, three hundred li away from the Xuandu Sect, following the system’s positioning.
Everything that followed—killing Zhou Shuoyi, capturing Zhou Wuwei’s soul, and bringing Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai back to the Southern Province—had gone as planned.
Along the way, using the power she no longer needed to hide from the system, she dealt with the three Mid-Stage Soul Formation cultivators to eliminate the Tingyin Pavilion’s future worries.
...
The timeline returned to the present.
After leaving Bai Yu’s cave residence, Wen Li took Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai back to her own residence and laid them on the bed.
She turned around, her gaze narrowing as she contemplated something.
【Host, we’re in the same boat now. You can trick the villains all you want, but don’t keep your true power a secret from me anymore.】 The system’s lazy, punchable voice echoed in her mind.
【Trick you?】 Wen Li pursed her lips leisurely. 【Now that you’ve recovered, what’s left for me to trick you about?】
When she fought Feng Ling, she had gone to great lengths to knock this body and the system unconscious just to keep it from this fool. She had taken advantage of the fact that its data was damaged and it was somewhat idiotic—because she had killed the former host and forced the system to switch to her—to make it believe it could control her by helping her with her ten-thousand-year Foundation Establishment cultivation. That gave her the time she needed to meet the six villains and establish the deep connections she had today.
Now, even if the idiotic system had recovered, what could it do? Did it have the power to alter the memories of the six villains? Did it dare to choose another host while still bound to her?
The system was curious. 【Host, what exactly is your identity? Why were you able to snatch me from the former host? And what is your cultivation level? Is it super amazing? Can I just cling to your legs and win from now on?!】
Since it wasn't her original system, it had no data regarding Wen Li.
No wonder. No wonder it felt something was off when it first encountered her as a ten-thousand-year Foundation Establishment cultivator, though it couldn't put its finger on it. It hadn't known the host’s detailed information. It had instinctively descended into her mind, scanned her body, and made a contract plan, truly believing she was a Foundation Establishment cultivator with useless Five Elements Spiritual Roots.
Looking at it now, what kind of Foundation Establishment cultivator could live for ten thousand years?!
Damn it, even with missing data, it shouldn't have been that stupid. It had been played like a fiddle by Wen Li, and it couldn't even win an argument against her.
Rate on N.U.
