Lin Xinyi lay flat on the bed.
The bodies of cultivators were normally nurtured by spiritual energy, so even in death, she retained a hint of warmth.
Her corpse remained supple rather than stiff, and it was not yet overcome by the energy of death.
“You have turned back into this state again, a Master who does not move…”
Bai Qianqian faced Lin Xinyi, the woman who had once ground her bones to dust and scattered her ashes.
Yet, there was no joy of revenge on her face, nor was there any hatred for an enemy.
Instead, her eyes were filled with agony.
Tears streamed down one side of her face while the movements of her body continued.
“It is all your fault! Master, it is all your fault…”
Accompanied by the accumulation of spiritual energy and a surge of forceful, powerful infusion, Bai Qianqian finally finished her venting.
She slumped weakly against the other woman’s body.
The madness in Bai Qianqian’s eyes was impossible to hide, having reached a level of pure distortion.
“Ah, Master looks truly beautiful like this~”
Bai Qianqian’s fingers gently caressed those soft cheeks.
The silk-like skin was addictive and intoxicating.
Even though Lin Xinyi had lost her life, she still could not escape the fate of becoming the other’s plaything.
“The time I spent with Master this time was so short, but I must quickly prepare for the next…”
Bai Qianqian sat up once more and gently kissed the unresponsive Lin Xinyi.
Along with the flash of a sword, a line of blood instantly appeared on Bai Qianqian’s originally fair neck.
“Master… will it be you next time…”
Bai Qianqian felt the life force draining from her body, yet she felt no fear.
Instead, she lay atop the other woman, tightly embracing the already cold Lin Xinyi until the blood flowing from Bai Qianqian’s body enveloped them both.
Bai Qianqian slowly closed her eyes.
At that moment, the entire world turned to shades of black and white, and everything stopped at that singular instant.
[Death of Lin Xinyi on the Bed x4]
[Cause: Excessive absorption of spiritual energy led to an overflow within the body, rendering the Player unable to consciously deploy power. Strangled to death with a dragon tendon. After death, the corpse was used as a furnace.]
“Bai Qianqian!!!”
Lin Xinyi bolted upright, practically screaming that name in a roar.
But when she regained her senses, the scene before her was exceptionally strange.
Beside her came the sound of porcelain shattering on the floor.
“Mas… Master…!”
Hearing the voice by her ear, Lin Xinyi unsheathed the long sword in her hand simultaneously.
She held it directly against the other person’s neck.
Only when she saw the person’s face clearly did Lin Xinyi finally calm down slightly.
At the same time, her spiritual energy swept over the person and surveyed the surrounding environment.
‘I’m back again…’
Lin Xinyi confirmed that she had been reborn.
After her return, she only spoke a single cold sentence.
However, Qin Huaiyin’s eyes were filled with terror.
Even though the long sword in Lin Xinyi’s hand was touching her neck, she did not dare to offer the slightest resistance.
“I am asking you! What time is it right now?!”
“Reporting to Master, it is currently Daoyuan Year 710…”
Lin Xinyi’s guarded expression shifted after hearing the date.
She had thought she would be reborn into the same time period, but she had not expected it to be a bit later.
“Hahaha! It is ten years later than the last time? Are you joking with me?!”
Lin Xinyi threw the long sword in her hand onto the ground in annoyance.
Qin Huaiyin watched quietly from the side, not daring to make a sound.
Lin Xinyi understood why a mere mortal had been able to possess Qin Huaiyin.
‘Back then, that treacherous disciple did not even know what cultivation was. Even if her talent was monstrous, it should have been impossible for her to possess Qin Huaiyin, who was at the Golden Core stage!’
Lin Xinyi leaned against a nearby wall.
She did not even notice that her fingers had embedded themselves into the stone out of rage.
Although Qin Huaiyin stood quietly nearby, she had already pulled back to a safe distance.
‘Not only did she plot against me, she actually dared to…!’
Lin Xinyi looked at the strange panel appearing before her.
Looking at the lines of text upon it, how could she not understand?
Every time she died, this thing appeared.
Even in death, she had not escaped that girl’s clutches.
“To humiliate me like this!!”
Lin Xinyi slammed a furious fist onto the table in front of her.
The wooden table and chairs instantly turned into splinters, and the powerful force even caused a crack to appear in the floor.
“Damn it! Damn it!! This time, I didn’t even have a chance to resist!!”
Lin Xinyi recalled the feeling of despair at that time.
The spiritual energy throughout her body could not be deployed, and her entire cultivation base had become useless decor.
Furthermore, she had been strangled to death over a roof beam using nothing but a single dragon tendon.
The more Lin Xinyi thought about it, the more enraged she became.
She threw a direct punch, and the adjacent wall instantly turned to powder.
‘No, there is definitely something wrong here. A mortal possessing a Golden Core cultivator and then killing a Nascent Soul cultivator is simply too ridiculous…’
Qin Huaiyin looked at Lin Xinyi, whose eyes contained murderous intent.
She quietly picked up the pipa beside her, intending to retreat out the door.
However, after taking just one step, the sound under her feet immediately drew Lin Xinyi back.
“Hmm?”
“This disciple sees that Master is currently quite agitated, so I will not linger here to disturb Master’s peace…”
Seeing the other’s gaze turn toward her, Qin Huaiyin hurriedly bowed.
However, facing the Qin Huaiyin who wanted to slip away, Lin Xinyi did not walk up to use verbal threats or treat her as an object for venting like she usually did.
Instead, she tossed a cultivation manual over.
“From today onward, you will not only practice the Heavenly Music Code to increase your cultivation, but you also cannot neglect this Heavenly Soul Script to increase your divine sense…”
“Cultivating the divine sense?”
Qin Huaiyin looked at the manual in her hand, not understanding why the woman would suddenly make her cultivate her soul.
Lin Xinyi looked at the confused expression on Qin Huaiyin’s face.
She knew this was something she would never have done in the past, but right now, she had no desire to explain herself.
“I know your talent is outstanding. Cultivating this kind of technique should not be a problem for you, right…?”
“But…”
“There are no ‘buts.’ Unless you are planning to rebel against me!”
The question Qin Huaiyin had intended to ask was instantly stifled.
This was because a look of impatience had begun to appear on Lin Xinyi’s face.
Seeing this, Qin Huaiyin naturally would not go looking for trouble, so she sensibly shut her mouth.
‘I didn’t expect her to actually make me cultivate my divine sense…’
Although Qin Huaiyin said nothing else, her eyes remained devoid of light.
After all, from the moment she began practicing the Heavenly Music Code and felt the spiritual energy in her body becoming purer day by day, she had understood the purpose behind her Master taking her as a disciple.
Despite neither side ever speaking it aloud, Qin Huaiyin had reached her current realm; how could she not know her own end?
Those with outstanding cultivation became furnaces for others to refine, and those with beautiful faces were provided for others’ amusement.
This was the cruelty of this world.
“This disciple understands…”
Qin Huaiyin simply nodded slightly and accepted the task.
She put the manual into her storage space and stood quietly to the side with her pipa.
Even if she was given a technique to cultivate her soul, she could not make any real changes.
‘It seems that when she refines my cultivation, she will also need to absorb my soul…’
Qin Huaiyin thought silently to herself.
She did not believe for a second that the other woman had any other motive for giving her a divine technique other than the fact that Lin Xinyi needed it.
Seeing how obedient she was, the suppression in Lin Xinyi’s heart eased considerably.
“As expected, it is best to have you by my side~”
Lin Xinyi did not say much more.
She simply walked over, lifted a strand of the girl’s pale purple hair, and after feeling the silk-like texture, she walked past her.
‘If it were truly for that bit of possibility, I would be quite reluctant to kill you…’
After passing her, Lin Xinyi spoke a faint sentence, though Qin Huaiyin did not hear it.
Lin Xinyi could not guarantee that if she killed Qin Huaiyin, the target of the possession would not change to someone else.
Instead of creating more uncertainty, it was better to keep her controlled by her side.
Lin Xinyi was not sure if giving her a soul cultivation technique would stop Bai Qianqian’s possession, but it was ultimately just for her own peace of mind.
‘It seems I cannot go and kill that treacherous disciple directly yet…’
Although Lin Xinyi wished she could cut the girl into a thousand pieces, the thought that the disciple would still keep her from being at peace even after dying made her hesitate.
‘Is there really no way to deal with that girl?’
Lin Xinyi’s heart was currently very irritable.
After pushing open the door, her figure flickered as she stepped outside.
It was only then that Lin Xinyi realized she had been staying in Qin Huaiyin’s room the entire time.
‘I am truly going to live in that girl’s shadow…’
Lin Xinyi walked to the edge of the pond.
She looked at the dark shadow swimming slowly beneath the water.
Just as Lin Xinyi took a single step, the peaceful pond suddenly erupted into a massive surge of water.
A Black Flood Dragon, dozens of feet long, instantly burst from the surface.
Its sharp fangs could shred anything.
Its hard scales could even defend against attacks from any iron weapon.
Boundless spiritual energy flowed through its body.
It opened its massive maw, lunging to bite the human who had kept it captive here.
“You have grown so long already…”
Lin Xinyi looked calmly at the Black Flood Dragon she had kept in this pond since it was young.
Originally, she had intended to raise it to adulthood to serve as a spirit pet, but she hadn’t expected the creature to be so vengeful.
It wanted to kill her at every moment, so she could only cultivate it as a source of materials.
“To be killed by your dragon tendon… it really makes me feel unpleasant…”
When Lin Xinyi thought about how Bai Qianqian had killed her using this creature’s blood and tendon after possessing Qin Huaiyin, she felt exceptionally foul.
She slowly drew the sword at her waist.
The giant beast, dozens of feet tall, did not even have time to react before a flash of sword qi sliced its head off cleanly.
“I am reluctant to kill Qin Huaiyin, but you are not nearly as precious…”
Lin Xinyi gently dipped a finger into the single drop of blood remaining on her blade and put it in her mouth to taste.
The boundless spiritual energy circulated through her body and was instantly absorbed and converted.
“Truly nourishing…”
She recalled back then when she had charged into the dragon’s nest, skinned and cramped the mother dragon, and brought this small one back to raise for decades, only for it to be wasted in the end.
“A beast is a beast after all. However, it did give me a good idea~”
Lin Xinyi looked at the blood-stained sword in her hand, a demonic smirk appearing at the corner of her mouth.
The massive head of the Black Flood Dragon crashed into the water, kicking up a huge spray and dyeing the surface a deep blood-red.
Following closely was the body, dozens of feet long, which smashed into the water and caused a rain of blood to scatter from the sky.
Lin Xinyi stood in the center of the bloody rain, spreading her arms and laughing wildly.
“If you are a mortal now, I shall suppress you so that you can never raise your head for all eternity. What will you do then~?”
At this moment, Lin Xinyi looked more like a demonic cultivator than an actual one.
Her pupils had turned blood-red due to her technique.
Hiding inside the room, Qin Huaiyin heard the commotion and quietly pushed open a crack in the window.
Looking at that maddened scene, she instinctively covered her mouth to keep herself from making a sound.
“Is… is Master insane…?”