Gu Qingying saw Gong Shangyu suddenly freeze, still staring fixedly at her, her lips silently moving as if chanting some kind of spell.
Yet there was no sensation at all on Gu Qingying’s body, and she couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
“Hey! Are you going to fight or not? If not, then give me back my master! Stop pretending to be some kind of ghost!”
At those words, Gong Shangyu was completely stunned!
Huh?
How could she still move?
That’s impossible!
Her Time Pause system was clearly working perfectly!
Everything around her was supposed to be in absolute stillness!
So why wasn’t Gu Qingying frozen?
Unwilling to give up, Gong Shangyu canceled the Time Pause.
Instantly, the howls of the living corpses around them echoed out.
Confirming her system still functioned, she quickly reactivated the Time Pause ability.
But in the end, the result was the same: everything around her was frozen by her system—except Gu Qingying, who was still lively and moving.
Damn it… what on earth was going on?
Her system wasn’t broken!
The energy was sufficient!
All statuses were perfect!
Then why… why couldn’t she freeze Gu Qingying right in front of her?
At this thought, Gong Shangyu’s gaze suddenly refocused sharply on Gu Qingying, her eyes filled with suspicion, confusion, and an utterly incredulous sense of “I must be seeing things.”
She scrutinized Gu Qingying from head to toe, as if trying to find some kind of treasure on her that granted immunity to Time Pause.
Gu Qingying felt chills running down her spine from the burning, strange look from the pink-haired demon girl, and instinctively stepped back half a pace, tightening her grip on the Qing Si Sword in her hand.
“You… why are you looking at me like that? I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks!”
Gong Shangyu remained silent.
The two senior disciples, both reborn from different future timelines, stood frozen in this strange standoff.
Gu Qingying:
“Damn it… what kind of tricks is this demon girl trying to pull? How can she still see me? My system is clearly working fine!”
Gong Shangyu:
“Damn… how can my Time Pause have no effect on this girl?”
At this point, slightly older and with a sharper mind than Gu Qingying, Gong Shangyu recalled the same shocked expression on Gu Qingying’s face earlier, then inferred that Gu Qingying very likely possessed a special rebirth ability like herself!
Realizing this, Gong Shangyu’s expression instantly darkened.
Because she suddenly remembered some unpleasant memories after her own rebirth!
A few years ago, after rebirth, Gong Shangyu had just established the Dan Ding Pavilion relying on memories and experience from her previous life.
While doing business in Wei Kingdom, she encountered a girl who looked exactly like her Fourth Junior Sister.
Gong Shangyu sent her subordinates to contact the girl.
But days passed, and none of the subordinates sent by Gong Shangyu returned any messages.
When she saw them again, they were already corpses.
What’s worse, investigations later revealed that her subordinates had all died by killing each other!
As for the girl who looked like her Fourth Junior Sister, she had vanished without a trace within the borders of Wei Kingdom.
Since then, this incident became a thorn in Gong Shangyu’s heart!
Remember, the people she sent to contact that girl were all top-tier experts.
If that girl really was her Fourth Junior Sister, given her understanding of her sister’s strength and talent, it would have been impossible for her to so easily take down all of them under her nose!
Unless, like herself, that girl also possessed a system with some special power.
And over the years, through various hints related to the Time Pause system, Gong Shangyu had gradually guessed that she might not be the only system holder in the world.
With that in mind, the faintly kind gaze she had when looking at her junior sister turned serious in an instant.
At this moment, she completely changed her mind.
Her only thought now was how to capture her junior sister and uncover all the secrets Gu Qingying was hiding.
As for Gu Qingying, whose mind was relatively simple, she didn’t think about such twists and turns.
Taking advantage of Gong Shangyu standing still and pondering, she immediately raised her sword and stabbed straight at her.
But her sudden thrust landed right into Gong Shangyu’s hands.
Watching Gu Qingying’s attack coming at her, Gong Shangyu’s lips curled into a smug smile.
Then she lightly waved her long sleeves and silently scattered the prepared medicinal powder onto Gu Qingying.
Gu Qingying was completely unaware and just chopped at Gong Shangyu’s sleeve, tearing it apart.
Just as she raised her Qing Si Sword, ready to split Gong Shangyu in two…
Huh?
Strange… why did this demon girl suddenly become three?
Gu Qingying was puzzled when she suddenly felt her spiritual power in her dantian stall, and an irresistible heaviness and numbness spread throughout her limbs.
In the end, everything went black before her eyes, and she collapsed weakly onto the floor in front of Gong Shangyu.
At this moment, not even a fingertip could move.
Only her purple eyes, burning with fury, remained fixedly glaring at Gong Shangyu.
Looking down at her junior sister collapsed on the ground, Gong Shangyu tilted her head, and a teasing glint flashed in her pink eyes.
As expected, compared to that unreliable Time Pause system, this old trick was still the most effective!
Tossing the white porcelain bottle in her hand, she looked at Gu Qingying with a proud gaze.
“Sigh… Junior sister~ Didn’t expect that after being reborn, you’re still as easy to deal with as in your last life!”
“Hmph~ And I was so worried, afraid you might have left some hidden trump card~ Didn’t expect that just a low-grade Spirit Seal Powder would take you down~”
“Shut up! You demon girl! Who’s your senior sister!”
Gu Qingying, burning with rage, had completely lost her reason.
In contrast, Gong Shangyu was calm and even stepped in front of Gu Qingying, mischievously pinching her little nose.
“Sigh~ You child~ So naughty~ How can you call your senior sister a demon girl~”
Gong Shangyu said, puzzled why her junior sister kept cursing her like that.
After all, in her previous life, Gong Shangyu was quite good to all her junior sisters.
Gu Qingying had no reason or logic to harbor hatred toward her!
While still wondering, the corner of Gong Shangyu’s eye caught her reflection on the blade of Gu Qingying’s Qing Si Sword.
She saw her carefully styled pink hair was now utterly disheveled from the intimate encounters with her master earlier and the fierce fight with Gu Qingying just now.
Her naturally falling cherry-colored bangs covered her flawless face so completely that no one could see her true appearance.
Seeing this, Gong Shangyu suddenly froze and only then realized why her junior sister was hostile to her.
Sigh… no wonder little junior sister acted like a frightened, bristling porcupine just now, refusing to recognize her and repeatedly calling her demon girl!
After all, which senior sister looks like this?
Gong Shangyu couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.
Her moment of grievance and frustration instantly vanished, replaced by an “Ah, so that’s it” feeling.
“Sigh… silly child~”
she sighed deeply with infinite feeling and slowly released the pinch on Gu Qingying’s nose.
Gu Qingying immediately gasped for air and didn’t forget to glare sharply at her.
“Hmph! Shameless demon girl! If you want to kill me, then kill! Don’t humiliate me like this!”
Gong Shangyu ignored her, instead leisurely—and even somewhat disdainfully—brushing her messy pink hair back with her fingers.
Her smooth forehead, delicate eyebrows, and pink eyes full of helplessness were revealed.
After tidying herself up a bit, Gong Shangyu straightened her back, trying to restore some of the dignified senior sister demeanor in front of her junior sister.
Then she bent down again, leaning close to her junior sister who lay on the ground, only able to express anger through her eyes.
Gong Shangyu poked Gu Qingying’s forehead lightly with a finger in a teasing manner.
“Hmph! You little dummy! Open your eyes wide and look carefully, okay?”
Her tone was filled with helplessness and affection.
“Look closely—who am I? Which demon girl is as pretty and graceful as me?”
Gu Qingying’s head jerked back from the poke.
Just as she was about to continue cursing, her gaze involuntarily focused on Gong Shangyu’s face, now finally clearly revealed.
Her curses stuck in her throat.
Her dark purple pupils instantly dilated, wider than at any other time.
Her small mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape from sheer shock!
Looking at this familiar face, memories of her previous life surged in her mind like a tide.
The medicinal fragrance in the Danfang…
The sugar pills gently given to her…
The Ning Shen Pills secretly placed at her door when she was tormented by her inner demons…
And finally, the last tearful words from her Second Senior Sister before she was killed by Gu Hongchen:
“Protect yourself well…”
Recalling all this, Gu Qingying’s barren chest heaved violently, but she had no strength at all, only managing to stammer out through clenched teeth.
“Ah?! Ba… Bajie, it’s you?”
The moment Gu Qingying said this, Gong Shangyu’s carefully maintained “dignified senior sister” facade instantly shattered.
Huh?
Ba… Bajie!?
Ah, my, it’s been so long!
Looks like little junior sister’s teasing mood has come out again~
Gong Shangyu forced a smile, a vein twitching at her temple.
She swung her pink fist and gave Gu Qingying a hard knock on the forehead.
“Hmph! Call me Second Senior Sister! No disrespect!”