Chapter 73

Lin Du was in great pain. The sensation of her heart aching was not new to her, but this time, as she forcibly mobilized her spiritual power, the surging energy coursed through her meridians, making her heart veins precariously unstable, on the brink of collapsing.

The medicinal power of the Ningbi Dan continuously filled the cracks, trying to repair the damage caused by her forcibly violent actions.

At this moment, Lin Du realized that indeed, this body was of the cultivation world. Even the heart was different from a regular human’s. She had seen the hearts of small mice, rabbits, and humans; they were just a lump of bloody flesh.

But now, when she looked inside her body, the heart seemed to emit a glass-like hidden glow, showing no trace of flesh at all.

So this was what Jiang Liang meant when he said it was different from an ordinary person’s.

Lin Du felt a metallic taste in her throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

When Xia Tianwu arrived and saw this scene, his usually cold and indifferent voice instantly rose in pitch, calling her by name, “Lin Du!”

Lin Du was still standing, one hand instinctively pressing on her heart, a vulnerable scene reminiscent of Xi Shi holding her heart. Yet, her pale face showed undeniable hostility. She remained standing, her back straight, looking at the woman on the ground with bleeding orifices and weak breath.

She asked, “Did you not want to use our hands to devour the master? Then don’t hold me back.”

She actually knew that this was not Sha Fei’s fault. At most, it could be blamed on Mo Lin’s clumsiness with his sword staff. The rural land and the night meant Sha Fei didn’t know her energy would hit the last piece of active formation stone. The inner formation was already highly risky, and one mistake could lead to a drastic change. At most, it could be blamed on fate.

But she truly hated this damned fate.

Just moments away, this person would have died, but then Mo Lin and Sha Fei arrived.

One saying of “fate playing tricks” could cover up many of the world’s tragedies and disappointments.

Lin Du frowned, no longer looking at the person on the ground drawing an eerie formation with her own blood. She slowly looked up at the misty moon in the sky, “Ah, Second Master Nephew, why are you here? The moonlight is nice tonight.”

Xia Tianwu didn’t look at the person on the ground and missed the hand reaching out to grab her robe. “Didn’t I say not to recklessly use spiritual power?”

Standing in front of Lin Du, Xia Tianwu’s usually cold face now bore a hint of anger. “If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have seen you honorably spitting blood. Extend your hand.”

Lin Du slowly moved her gaze from the sky to meet those cold and fierce eyes. She had intended to say something flippant but was frozen into silence by the icy gaze.

She lowered her head obediently and extended her hand.

Xia Tianwu grasped her wrist firmly and injected spiritual power, then laughed in frustration.

“I wondered why Uncle Junior Master had me look after that mother tonight, not allowing me to stay with you in the same guest room. It turns out you were planning to trick me. How could a doctor like me not even detect a reckless use of spiritual power?”

Xia Tianwu rarely smiled, even when a bunch of rascals joked around; her lips would only curve slightly. But now, Lin Du had made her laugh, and her words left no room for excuses.

Mo Lin looked at the sky, the ground, and the corpse, but avoided looking at Uncle Junior Master and Second Master Nephew.

Second Junior Sister calm demeanor could be terrifying if truly provoked, more so than the fire in her body.

Lin Du, of course, did not dare to speak. Just moments ago, she had been using her fan to heroically reverse the situation, but now she was behaving properly, with her legs tightly closed and her tail between her legs.

Xia Tianwu examined her pulse with a frown. “Do you know what happens if your heart is not protected by medicinal power and if the spiritual power erupts further? Heart veins shattered, beyond salvation. Neither I nor my master can save you. Why do you never listen?”

Lin Du thought she could hold on a bit longer, after all, the system’s products were reliable.

She pondered, “What’s the point of constantly restraining myself? Can’t I just be reckless once…”

“I was wrong.”

She met Xia Tianwu’s sharp gaze and admitted her mistake decisively. The two large pills were forced into her mouth, which she swallowed whole.

After swallowing, she couldn’t catch her breath for a long time and dared not speak a word.

She resembled a cat caught doing something wrong, with her neck stiff and tail between her legs, remaining silent.

Xia Tianwu was genuinely angry, as a healer dealing with a patient who ignored medical advice was both frustrating and urgent.

But this was a patient who was the only one who confirmed the value of her waste pills, the sharp-tongued but soft-hearted child.

She was clearly aware of the consequences, knowing what should not be done but doing it anyway, just to eradicate the demon.

Xia Tianwu was at a loss for where to vent her anger and turned to Mo Lin, “Didn’t you come to save Uncle Junior Master? Is this your method of saving? It’s Uncle Junior Master who saved you, right?”

Mo Lin did not dare to speak, stammering for a while. Worried about Uncle Junior Master’s injuries, he wanted to ask but was too embarrassed. Suddenly, he had a flash of insight and pointed to the person on the ground, “It’s all their fault! If it weren’t for them and their accomplices, Uncle Junior Master wouldn’t have been captured, nor would she have been in such danger. Let’s capture them and interrogate them properly!”

Xia Tianwu then noticed the two other “corpses” on the ground.

Lin Du almost wanted to applaud Mo Lin because, with his shout, the system finally appeared.

[Current Task Progress: 30%, Reward: Qingbi Pill × 1]

Lin Du was quite satisfied with the pill, “You are sensible.”

The system was about to express thanks when the host countered, “Why only 30%? Is Mo Lin waiting for me to die to love him?”

[……]

[Current Task Progress: 50%]

Lin Du raised an eyebrow. Before she could speak, the system quickly added a comment.

[No more progress, dear. According to calculations, the partial deviation has not been completely severed. The target completion value is tentatively 50% and may fluctuate.]

“Adjustments can be made at any time, and even you can’t predict it, right? So how do you determine if the plot is complete?”

【After all the biased fates are cut off, one will naturally welcome their true fate.】

“Is there no one who is destined to be without a partner?”

【There are, but Mo Lin is not that kind of person.】

“So who is Mo Lin’s true fate?”

【The system doesn’t know either.】

Lin Du took a deep breath. “I’ll deal with you later.”

She was currently powerless and distressed; one of the two pills was for warming and supplementing, and the other for pain relief, but they were insufficient for her broken body. The pain tore at her sanity, leaving her unable to think much.

Lin Du suddenly understood why the evil path craved flesh and blood and why the mind was chaotic: it was because the pain was overwhelming.

The pain was so intense that rational thought was impossible, driven only by instinct.

Qi Zhun forgot he was once a righteous sword cultivator in the Fourth Stage of the Huiyang Realm. He forgot that he had participated in that meeting with the idea of saving the world. He only remembered waiting for a thousand years, his sole obsession with survival growing into a thousand-year-old resentment. After seeing a glimmer of hope to escape, he and others tore at each other, waiting a full five hundred years before finally seizing an identity to leave.

In such circumstances, he could only live, must live.

Lin Du suddenly realized that she was being influenced by that resentment.

Xia Tianwu was observing the person on the ground. Shao Fei still had anger, or rather, in the critical moment of her life hanging by a thread, miraculously coming back to life, her anger had returned. Xia Tianwu leaned in to look.

Mo Lin frowned, subconsciously loosening his hold, trying to stop her. “Junior Sister, that’s a Gu Master. Don’t touch her; be careful, it might be a trap.”

Lin Du unexpectedly looked up, her gaze landing on Mo Lin’s profile.

The young man’s eyes were filled with righteous responsibility and concern. When his gaze fell on the woman in the blood formation, it clearly showed a sense of scrutiny and detachment.

Lin Du didn’t understand how this could be the case.

She instinctively felt something was wrong. Though Mo Lin was straightforward, his straightforwardness also meant he had the same sense of responsibility and justice as any righteous senior brother. From the beginning, he had been displeased with Shao Fei, the Gu Master.

She asked the system in her mind.

“Is this plot not from an all-knowing perspective? Perhaps the plot is incomplete and there are other things unknown to us?”

The system was silent for a long time, long enough for Lin Du to think it had stopped working.

【The story of a novel is itself viewed from a one-sided perspective, isn’t it?】

Some things seem strange only because of the different angles from which they are viewed.

Lin Du understood this principle, which is why she asked the system to confirm it.

But for the first time, she sensed something odd because the system’s serious tone felt somewhat familiar.

It was as if she and the system were in the same car, with her driving and the system in the passenger seat. Despite their different perspectives and the information they received, they were on the same road.