Inside the enormous pit, Wen Xian slowly climbed to her feet. She moved one arm to test its joints, and the piercing pain made her frown.
She looked at the fox-spirit villain sitting nearby. A hint of admiration entered her eyes.
The woman had already been badly injured before falling from such a great height. Her wounds had only grown worse. The pain must have been terrible, yet she had not made a sound or shown the slightest trace of suffering.
If not for her deathly pale face, Wen Xian might have believed that she could not feel pain at all.
The villain was treating her wounds, so Wen Xian gathered her courage and openly studied her.
She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her cold, striking features held a frightening chill that warned strangers to stay away. A wooden hairpin secured her ink-black hair behind her head, while her dark-purple dress made her look even more commanding. Her long, upturned eyes were gently closed, their exquisite shape so perfect that they seemed to have been carved by heaven itself.
If her eyes were this stunning while closed, how beautiful would they be when she opened them? The sight might take a person’s breath away.
She truly deserved to be the greatest villain in this world. Her face was beautiful, her figure was lovely, and everything else about her was just as impressive. The only problem was the powerful *stay away from me* air surrounding her. Perhaps centuries of ruthless killing had turned her into a thorn-covered bramble that no one dared approach.
Wen Xian propped up her chin and stared without blinking at the villain’s exquisite face. If this woman ever smiled, she would surely captivate every living soul.
As though sensing the stare, Feng Lingruan abruptly opened her eyes. A sharp, murderous gaze locked onto Wen Xian, as if she planned to slice her into a thousand pieces in the next instant.
Wen Xian shuddered. A bone-deep chill swept over her entire body.
She took back what she had just thought. Opening her eyes did not make the fox spirit so beautiful that Wen Xian forgot to breathe. It simply made breathing difficult.
“Don’t be so petty. You won’t lose any flesh if I look at you a little longer.”
Feng Lingruan was too badly injured to move. That gave Wen Xian courage, and her words became even bolder.
[You certainly know how to find creative ways to die!]
The system finally lost its patience and spoke up. Wen Xian answered it silently.
*If I flatter her as carefully as I can, she’ll still want to kill me. I might as well show some backbone. At least then she’ll remember me.*
[As someone who doesn’t know the difference between life and death?]
*That’s still better than being remembered as a coward.*
Wen Xian’s quick tongue defeated the system. It glanced at the villain’s killing-intent score toward its host, which had already climbed above one thousand, and silently wished Wen Xian good luck. Then it vanished into the depths of her mind. No matter how she called for it, the system refused to answer again.
*What a useless system!*
After cursing it, Wen Xian focused once more on the villain. This woman was the target of her mission. Wen Xian had to leave a powerful impression during their first meeting. That would make future developments easier.
Feng Lingruan frowned as she examined Wen Xian.
She had intended to kill this witness and silence her. However, one of the people she had slain earlier had only pretended to be dead. He had waited for the perfect moment, then destroyed himself in an attempt to take her with him.
Feng Lingruan had stood at the center of the explosion. There had been no time to escape, so she had used every drop of her spirit-beast energy to withstand the blast.
Her great strength had kept her alive, but she had been gravely wounded. In her present state, the weak human before her could kill her with ease.
She could never let Wen Xian realize that she could not move. If the mighty Feng Lingruan died at the hands of such a feeble human, she would become the greatest joke in the world.
Yet Wen Xian stared directly at her without the slightest attempt to hide it, then spoke with such reckless disrespect. Feng Lingruan wanted nothing more than to kill her on the spot.
Ever since Feng Lingruan became the Demon Lord, who had dared disrespect or dishonor her? For centuries, everyone had treated her with reverence. Now an insect she could normally crush between two fingers dared offend her so openly. It was unbearable.
If Feng Lingruan could move, she would have snapped this weak human’s neck at once.
Her killing intent was impossible to miss. Wen Xian had never endured such a terrifying gaze before. Of course she was afraid, but what choice did she have? This fox spirit, who killed without blinking, was the target of her mission.
No matter how frightened she was, she had to force herself to make contact.
If she lost this chance, the possibility of another private meeting was almost nonexistent.
Wen Xian swallowed so faintly that no one would notice. She stood and examined their surroundings.
The pit appeared to be a natural underground cavern. The explosion had torn open the ground and dropped both of them into it. In return, the depths had sheltered them from the remaining force of the blast. One could call that a blessing born from disaster.
No, that was not quite right.
Only Wen Xian had received the blessing. The villain had been at the very heart of the explosion, so her injuries had to be severe. Otherwise, she would have killed Wen Xian already.
Feng Lingruan could hardly believe that Wen Xian appeared completely unharmed. Even if an insect at the fifth level of Energy Refining had escaped the center of the explosion, a fall from such a height should still have injured her. How could she look perfectly fine?
She did not know that several of Wen Xian’s cheat abilities were working together to protect her. The truth lay so far beyond anything Feng Lingruan could imagine that she would never guess it.
She could only assume that Wen Xian possessed some life-saving magic artifact.
*This insect is truly lucky!*
Feng Lingruan glared at her. She watched the human carefully, afraid that Wen Xian might try something dangerous. Although Feng Lingruan was badly wounded, she refused to be killed so easily by a mere insect.
The spirit-beast races healed quickly. If she had a little more time, she would regain enough strength to move. The moment that happened, this insect would die.
Wen Xian sensed the villain’s killing intent rise another level. Her expression remained calm, but her heart pounded wildly.
She had not even done anything. Why did this woman want to kill her so badly?
So Wen Xian had run her mouth a little. So she had learned that the woman was a fox spirit. Foxes were adorable! Were those really good enough reasons to kill her?
This woman had to be addicted to murder.
Someone should take her to Wen Xian’s former world and teach her about the power of the law. She should be forced to copy the twenty-four-character Core Socialist Values slogan a thousand times—until she never dared kill another person on a whim.
Of course, that was only Wen Xian’s fantasy. Once she escaped, she could return to the inn and dream about it. She could not defeat this fox spirit in the real world, but nothing could stop her from teaching the woman a lesson in her dreams.
Feng Lingruan saw the suspicious smile on Wen Xian’s face and thought she was about to attack. She decided to strike first.
The back of her dress rose without a breath of wind. Eight tails emerged behind her. Their soft tips sharpened in answer to their owner’s killing intent, then whistled toward Wen Xian from every direction.
Wen Xian’s instincts were exceptionally sharp. The instant she sensed danger, her body moved by itself. She threw herself into an awkward roll and tumbled toward the one blind spot the tails could not reach.
All eight tails stabbed deep into the earthen wall.
The force of the attack sent cold sweat pouring down Wen Xian’s back. She gasped for breath. Her heart hammered so violently that her whole body went numb. Unable to stop trembling, she collapsed onto the ground.
Feng Lingruan had never expected Wen Xian to be so lucky. She had gambled the last of her spirit-beast energy on a surprise attack, only for Wen Xian to dodge it. Forcing out that power made Feng Lingruan’s injuries rebel against her. Blood sprayed from her mouth, adding a vivid streak of color to her pale lips.
Wen Xian had barely escaped death. Shock and fury filled her, and she no longer cared about the fox spirit’s beauty. Her anger overwhelmed her fear.
She jumped to her feet, stormed over to Feng Lingruan, and seized her by the collar.
“Will you die if you go five minutes without killing someone? You almost murdered me! What is wrong with your head, you lunatic?”
Feng Lingruan’s beautiful eyes widened. She stared in disbelief at the furious Wen Xian.
This insect dared humiliate her so openly. Feng Lingruan had to…
She had to kill her!
Perhaps the surge of rage was too much. Feng Lingruan spat out another mouthful of blood, then fainted.
Wen Xian had no time to react before the blood struck her face. She wiped it away, shaking with anger. She was about to teach the hateful demoness a proper lesson when she realized that Feng Lingruan had lost consciousness.
With nowhere else to release her fury, Wen Xian punched the nearby earthen wall.
It collapsed at once.
Dust billowed through the cavern and swallowed everything.
“Cough! Cough, cough!”
Wen Xian choked. She hurriedly drove her spiritual energy outward, scattering the dust so that she could breathe again.
“Damn it… When bad luck knocks, it doesn’t just come inside. It moves into your house!”
Still cursing, Wen Xian raised her head. A passage had appeared before her, clearly revealed by the furious punch she had thrown.
“I suppose that makes me lucky in my bad luck.”
She stared into the endless darkness. The passage extended beyond sight, and she had no idea what dangers might wait at the other end. But she could not remain here and wait for death.
Climbing out of the pit was impossible. This passage was her only path to survival. She would have to move forward to discover what lay ahead. Staying still would truly mean waiting to die.
Wen Xian lifted a foot to enter the passage. The system, silent until now, suddenly shouted inside her mind.
[You have to bring the villain! If she dies here, your mission dies with her. Then you’ll never return to your original world. Do you want to die a second time?]
Wen Xian snapped, “She tried to kill me, and now I’m supposed to save her? Do I look like some softhearted saint? Where were you just now? What good is it to appear now and spout this nonsense?”
The system knew that Wen Xian was too angry to listen. It changed to a gentler approach.
[There’s a reason the villain became this way. She is pitiful too… Never mind. No explanation will feel as real as seeing it yourself. I’ll show you her memories.]
“I don’t want to see them! I’m not—”
Wen Xian’s stomach was full of anger with nowhere to go. The system ignored her and sent a stretch of Feng Lingruan’s memories directly into her mind.
Wen Xian froze. The anger left her face, and she fell completely silent as she experienced the demoness’s memories.
A long while passed before the vision ended.
Wen Xian turned toward the unconscious Feng Lingruan and let out a long breath. Accepting her fate, she walked over, lifted the woman onto her back, and carried her toward the passage.
“You win. I give up.”
Whether Wen Xian meant the words for the system or the unconscious Feng Lingruan was impossible to tell. She continued into the darkness with Feng Lingruan on her back, murmuring as she walked.
“It seems we’re both poor, miserable fools.”
