Chapter 1:

“It’s so cold.”

For some unknown reason, the entire Spirit Continent abruptly dropped in temperature.

Soon after, within the boundaries, all high-level cultivators felt an invading chill. The Northwestern Heavenly River was shrouded in frosty clouds, gathering an eerie, ghostly assembly of freezing clouds. Then, the Forsaken Abyss, imprisoned by divine will, burst into blinding light.

The ancient demons sealed deep within the Abyss seemed to revolt.

Every directional sect’s urgent transmission mirrors shattered instantly, pierced by thorn-like ice edges. The fragmented images only vaguely revealed a distorted, enlarged remnant of a fierce dragon’s spine standing tall, vanishing into the endless snowstorm and clouds. A pair of flesh-blurred silver scales and hook claws, carrying ice flames, fiercely clashed against the pervasive banishments in the sky.

“What on earth is that?” someone whispered in fear.

“The cruel devil, a deformed creature.”

The Soul Anchoring Nails were the sole divine artifacts capable of reinforcing the ancient blood array. It is also the lifesaving relic passed down generations by generations in the Wuji Sect. The Wuji Sect is the closest proximity to the Forsaken Abyss. The clamor finally subsided, and the Sect Master wiped off the cold sweat from his brow and made a decisive choice.

“Summon the Soul Anchoring Nail, choose a disciple, and enter the Abyss.”

“Pick the least skilled.”

“Yes.”

“Jao Yao.” “Ji Yao.”

“This is a sacred artifact of our Wuji Sect. Could you take it to the Sect Master?”

Yao Yao, lost in the distant clouds on the horizon, turned to look at the several men and women before her.

They surrounded a white-clad woman holding a translucent ice box containing something nail-shaped emitting a faint blue light.

Judging from the detail and intricacy of these people’s facial features and attire, Yao Yao could roughly differentiate between main characters and supporting roles. Yet, she couldn’t recall any of their names. After all, not long ago, this place had been a mobile game on her phone.

In this entire world, she only recognized her cute and gentle little demon, her loyal companion for a year.

As for accidentally slipping into a game world and becoming the infatuated fiance of the male lead in the story, Yao Yao considered it karma for trying to sneak a peek at her cute little demon bathing behind the mosaic.

“…,” Yao Yao regretfully closed her eyes.

Seeing her lost in thought, the others became anxious.

No one anticipated that, in order to suppress the rumored ancient demon—deformed, hideous, and ferocious—the sect leader would randomly place seven Soul Anchoring Nails among the least skilled disciples within the sect. But to their surprise, one of them was their junior sister, Su Yilin, who was chosen. Everyone knew this was a one-way path.

Clearly, Ji Yao was the weak and frail one in cultivation. She had joined the sect as Brother Cangyan’s fiance, now Brother Cangyan had become the Sword Saint of Lingzhou while Ji Yao remained at the initial Qi Refining Stage. Apart from her appearance, she seemed useless.

Despite the youngest apprentice Su Yilin being at the lowest cultivation level not even reach the Qi Refining Stage, the junior sister had a good-natured and diligent personality. How could the senior disciples stand by and watch her march into the Forsaken Abyss to her death?

“Ji Yao, you wouldn’t refuse such a small favor, would you?”

“Being so aloof, it’s no wonder Brother Cangyan doesn’t like you.”

“It’s surprising how close Junior Sister usually is to you.”

Yao Yao came back to reality, recalling how the main characters in the storyline had been “close” to her, and she couldn’t help but make a face that indicated disbelief.

Yao Yao possessed an incredibly unique bloodline. Just a drop of her blood could heal both mortals and gods, expelling demonic forces. Even the in-game artifacts that required spending 1888 gold coins couldn’t match this ability.

Unfortunately, she had been careful about keeping her bloodline a secret. However, after her fiance, the male lead, discovered it, she became an endless source of healing and a tool for demon-slaying. Not only did the male lead draw her blood for himself, but he also used it to save the main female lead. One was fervently fighting evil while the other was perilously on the edge of life and death. Their resilience moved the entire cultivation world.

And then, Yao Yao was drained to death, becoming a tragic, pale moonlight.

The advice from everyone means they wanted her to die.

As a baby who needed her parents to coax her every time blood was drawn, she couldn’t possibly harm herself. She detested pain more than anything else in her life.

However, for the sake of the storyline rationalizing her blood’s healing properties, a bug was retained in her bloodline. Once she reached adulthood, she’d endure the agonizing heat of her blood. If she didn’t release it in time, her body would burn, her meridians would ache terribly, and only staying near someone with an icy aura or in an extremely cold place could relieve it.

Unfortunately, Yao Yao felt like she was sitting over a fire, waiting for water to boil. Her blood seemed to bubble, not boiling yet, but it made her fair face flush red.

According to the plot, she was about to have her blood drawn by the male lead for the first time.

Looking at the azure nail engraved with incomprehensible runes but emitting a comforting coolness, Yao Yao pondered for a moment before reaching out.

The faces of everyone instantly lit up.

Indeed, Yao Yao had no idea that it was a Soul Anchoring Nail. As soon as she touched it, the teleportation array would instantly bind and activate, sending the nail’s holder to the focal point within the Forsaken Abyss.

As for Yao Yao encountering that terrifying ancient demon, it was indeed pitiful. But Su Yilin couldn’t bear any of it.

Su Yilin bit her lip, watching Yao Yao’s soft fingertips reaching out. Her heart raced. Brother Cangyan had promised to take her on demon-slaying adventures and make their names known, so she, she couldn’t die yet.

But just when Yao Yao’s fingertip was about to make contact, a sword aura suddenly swept in.

“Don’t touch it.”

The male lead loudly exclaimed, “That’s a Soul Anchoring Nail. If you touch it, you’ll be immediately sent to the Forsaken Abyss.”

The expressions of everyone changed drastically, and Yao Yao hadn’t expected the male lead to arrive so soon.

Inside, Li Cangyan felt relieved, he was just in time.

If Ji’s family bloodline was indeed as rumored, then her value was greater than anyone else’s. He couldn’t explain to anyone right now, but he couldn’t let her die at the hands of that monster.

However, Su Yilin couldn’t believe it, her eyes widened, tears welled up. “Brother Cangyan wouldn’t let sister Ji Yao go, does it mean you would let me go to the Forsaken Abyss?”

Everyone’s faces turned pale. If the Sword Saint was protecting Ji Yao, she would certainly become arrogant.

Li Cangyan tried to soothe her softly, “Sweetie, I know you’re scared.”

Amidst the chaos, a sudden light emitted “Snap.”

Yao Yao grabbed the Soul Anchoring Nail.

Everyone fell silent as they witness the scene.

In the cool, ethereal blue light, Yao Yao finally shivered comfortably.

“You can go to Hell. All of you!”

Then, before the male lead could rush over with eyes wide open, her body started to disappeared into the teleportation array.

The onlookers saw the background. The cold wind howled, ice and frost everywhere.

The forsaken abyss was desolate, devoid of any life, echoing with eerie silence.

“Why… aren’t you afraid?”

A disciple from the Wuji Sect trembled, wary of the terrifying creature amidst the storm, shivering. He turned to the girl, “Haven’t you heard the legend?”

Yao Yao exhaled, feeling warm, “What legend?”

The disciple saw Yao Yao’s blurry yet warm profile amidst the storm, and despite being prepared, he was momentarily stunned by her beauty. But then, remembering that they were all unlucky souls chosen by the sect to die, unless they successfully place down the seven Soul Anchoring Nails and severely injure the ancient demon, there was no hope for survival. However, that seemed exceptionally difficult.

“The ancient scroll of the Heavenly River mention that this devil was born deformed. It had one eye gouged out, its heart cut, and its spine removed after birth, but it wouldn’t die. It has been imprisoned here for thirty thousand years,” the disciple spoke, a mix of fear and resentment in his tone, “Imagine how cruel and twisted it must be.”

“Ah,” Yao Yao blinked, but the disciple had already swiftly followed the guidance of the Soul Anchoring Nail and ran away from the storm.

Thus, the latter part of Yao Yao’s sentence was also scattered in the storm.

“That must have been so painful for him.”

Yao Yao shrank her neck, somewhat relieved that her little demon had never experienced such torment.

Yao Yao had been a patient almost since birth, spending most of her time in hospital bed. Her parents loved her a lot, but she still spends a lot of time lying by herself every day. When this game appeared on her phone, although filled with exquisitely modeled characters, none of them caught Ji Yao’s eye. But just as she was about to exit and uninstall the game, her phone suddenly displayed a gray screen.