Dan Ding Pavilion, the deepest chamber of the underground secret room.
Gazing at her master’s defenseless, unconscious face, Gong Shangyu carefully helped Lu Li up, letting him lean against the medicine cabinet where he had previously hidden.
Then Gong Shangyu sat down on the floor, gently moving Lu Li’s head to rest on her lap, her movements delicate as if handling a priceless treasure.
The faint blue glow of the protective barrier softly illuminated both Lu Li and Gong Shangyu, as if draping this strange scene in a veil of unreality.
Gong Shangyu lowered her eyes, her slender, fragrance-tinged fingers tenderly combing through Lu Li’s messy black hair.
Her pale fingertips lovingly brushed over his sharp brow bones, closed eyelids, and straight nose — tracing the contours she remembered so clearly.
Staring at her master’s unguarded face, memories from her past life surged like a tide, relentlessly crashing against Gong Shangyu’s fragile heart.
She slowly took Lu Li’s hand and gently placed it against her cheek.
“As expected, Master’s hands are still just as warm~”
Gong Shangyu whispered softly, suddenly recalling the warmth her master had given her when he saved her in her previous life, and the gentle, clear gaze he had once cast upon her.
She vaguely remembered that their first meeting had been in the winter when she was seventeen.
That year, heavy snow blanketed the Capital of Jin Kingdom, the thick flakes covering her body.
The crescent moon hung like a hook in the sky, and the sound of falling snow was exceptionally clear.
She had been shivering in the street corner, waiting for death.
Suddenly, a young man squatted in front of her, his face carrying a warm smile, his black eyes bright and clear.
His icy skin was even more dazzling than the snow.
All the world’s beings seemed dim in comparison to him.
Gong Shangyu was momentarily lost in him.
Before her mind could react, his warm palm had pulled her out of the snowbank.
He then removed his cloak and quietly draped it over the young girl, softly asking for her name.
At that time, Gong Shangyu had no name, nor did she understand what a name was.
All she knew was that people around her always called her “little beggar,” so she didn’t know how to answer.
Seeing that she didn’t reply, the man was unbothered and simply said,
“My name is Lu Li. I practice cultivation. Do you want to come with me to the mountain to cultivate?”
Gong Shangyu nodded mechanically and, without hesitation, embraced the first—and only—ray of light that had ever shone into her life.
Because that warm light was so important to her.
That was why, when her senior sister Feng Lingshuang ruthlessly tore apart and trampled on that precious light, Gong Shangyu felt such intense fury.
Therefore, when she was reborn, she made a silent vow.
This life, she would live solely to save Lu Li!
And now, it was finally over.
The reborn Gong Shangyu had once again found her beloved master.
Countless nights after rebirth, she had been awakened by nightmares of her master’s death in her past life.
So she constantly honed her skills, tirelessly refining alchemy day and night, strengthening her own forces!
Everything she had done was only to allow her master to live an ignorant but happy life.
Recalling their first encounter on the street, her master’s cold yet pitying gaze like the moon…
His patient guidance on Duanqing Peak, teaching her to identify spirit herbs and control the alchemy flame…
The barely perceptible worry in his brow when her own essence was failing and time was short…
And finally… when she emerged from seclusion and learned that Lu Li had been killed by her senior sister—the earth-shattering moment and the long years of bone-deep hatred and despair that followed…
The scenes from her past life flashed continuously, and without warning, cold tears rolled down Gong Shangyu’s cheeks like raindrops, falling onto Lu Li’s face, sliding over his skin like morning dew in the forest.
“Ah~ Master…”
Gong Shangyu choked back her sobs, her voice filled with endless grievance and sorrow.
“Do you know how long I searched for you…”
“Do you know how helpless and powerless I felt when I learned of your death but couldn’t strike down the traitors to avenge you…”
“How deeply that despair made me hate everything…”
She paused suddenly, the sorrowful sobbing gradually ceasing.
Then she slowly lifted her head, tear-streaked but with a pair of pink eyes burning with a twisted, nearly mad heat.
Gong Shangyu tightened her slender arms around the unconscious Lu Li, pulling him closer into her embrace as if she wanted to meld him into her very flesh and blood.
“Heh heh~ But it doesn’t matter anymore…”
“Mm… none of this matters anymore!”
Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a near-pathological excitement and an unwavering obsession.
“All those things are in the past! Now, none of the tragedies have happened yet!”
“Everything can still be undone! This life, I found you earlier than anyone else!”
Gong Shangyu lowered her head, pressing her cold cheek against Lu Li’s warm forehead, smiling crazily as a ghostly laugh echoed through the empty chamber.
Along with the surrounding groans of the reanimated corpses, it sent a chill down one’s spine.
“And ah~ Master…”
Her voice dropped to an eerie whisper, like a demon’s murmur, filled with an inexplicable, chilling pride.
“This lifetime, we have ‘time’…”
“Heh heh~ Do you know?”
Gong Shangyu tilted her head slightly, her gaze growing more unfocused, as if sharing a sweet secret with her master.
“Shangyu, I can stop time…”
“In a frozen world, it’s just you and me. We can have endless moments, infinite time…”
“No one will ever disturb us again, no more damned responsibilities, sects! And… no more bothersome senior sisters and junior sisters…”
Her fingertips lightly tapped Lu Li’s lips, her eyes shining with the madness of control.
“I will protect you, guard you… so that you belong only to me forever… We can take our time. I have all the ‘time’ in the world to be with you…”
Having said that, Gong Shangyu summoned her system.
“System! Activate Time Stop!”
[Ding! Time Pause has been activated!]
***
Just minutes before Gong Shangyu activated time stop, Gu Qingying, who had previously been trapped outside by the secret chamber’s defensive array, finally broke through the formation and entered.
Seeing the reanimated corpses inside the chamber, as well as the Dan Ding Pavilion’s low-level workers and Qi Refining alchemists transporting them, fury instantly overwhelmed Gu Qingying’s mind.
Damn it… the real culprits are indeed them!
Those bastards are using civilians to create undead!
Although City Lord Zhao Zongchang had ulterior motives, his accusations had been accurate!
Her overwhelming anger instantly flooded her.
But immediately after, an even stronger wave of panic gripped her heart!
Ah… this is bad!
Master!
Master entered here just before me!
Where is he now?
The hellish scene before her made it impossible for Gu Qingying to imagine how dangerous it would be for her master to face all this alone!
“Ah! Master…”
Gu Qingying’s face turned pale, her back soaked in cold sweat.
At this moment, Gu Qingying could no longer care about the risk of exposing herself by moving hastily.
She craned her neck, anxiously scanning the terrifying underground space with frantic eyes, desperately searching for that familiar, reassuring figure among the groaning undead, the busy alchemists, and the countless prison bars.
However, just as Gu Qingying was desperately searching for her master’s whereabouts…
Suddenly, a sound very similar to the gear-meshing noise from her cognition modification system activation rang in her ears—but with a distinctly different tone.
At the same time, a strange, indescribable sensation suddenly gripped her!
The chamber, previously filled with the undead’s wails, suddenly seemed paused, as if the entire world had been frozen in place.
Gu Qingying clearly saw the alchemists and reanimated corpses all stiffen instantly at the sound of the gears, motionless.
Then, even more terrifyingly, the medicinal liquids being poured into the corpses’ mouths by the Dan Ding Pavilion’s alchemists froze midair, suspended as if held by an invisible force.
Like a moment frozen in time, halted just before falling.
Gu Qingying’s eyes widened, taking in the bizarre scene around her, filled with confusion.
“Hm? What… what is going on?”
“Master…!”
Realizing that her master might be in danger, Gu Qingying no longer hesitated, gripping the Emotional Silk Sword tightly and sprinting deeper into the secret chamber.