Chapter Seventeen: Reborn as the Eldest Daughter of an Immortal Sect

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Bai Ruo hurriedly continued to feign unconsciousness. She could vaguely sense a glimmer of light before her eyes, as a dark shadow loomed, claws bared and menacing.

“Bai Ruo, find a way to restrain it for now—we’re already lying in wait nearby!”

Bai Ruo’s eyes snapped open. The black shadow gradually came into focus: a face covered in markings, elongated ears and fangs, beastly claws with bulging veins, and a serpentine tail dragging along the ground.

The creature didn’t seem to realize she hadn’t been drugged at all. Seizing the orc’s moment of confusion, Bai Ruo feinted with her hand, slipped out of the sack, and spiritual energy swirled in her palm.

The orc, sensing her intent, arched its talons, tail swaying, and sprang at her!

Suddenly, spiritual power wove a net from all directions, trapping the orc inside. Its furious howls pierced the ears of all present, carrying the threat of mutual destruction.

Bai Ruo saw the orc nearly break free. She interlaced her fingers, bit through the tip of her right forefinger, and as blood welled out, her left hand formed seals while her right pointed heavenward. Instantly, the sky darkened, spiritual energy erupted, and a pillar of water descended, forming a prison that held the orc fast.

The three sect leaders, witnessing this, channeled their own spiritual energy into Bai Ruo. Along with the other disciples, they reinforced the watery seal.

Still, the orc crashed relentlessly against its bounds, attempting to shatter the barrier.

Time ticked by. The taste of iron rose in Bai Ruo’s throat.

A spurt of blood escaped her lips, staining her white robes with crimson—like plum blossoms blooming in snow.

The seal grew weaker by the moment; at this rate, the orc would soon break free.

More and more disciples collapsed, their spiritual energy drained, powerless with frustration at their own helplessness.

At the seal, only Bai Ruo and the three sect leaders remained, desperately holding on.

The orc’s roars began to pierce through the seal, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

Many disciples closed their eyes, ready to meet death; others found their happiest memories flashing before their mind’s eye.

Zhongli, Zhongli, where are you? I truly cannot hold on much longer!

Bai Ruo’s organs had already been shattered. The blood at her lips now carried clots.

Cultivators do not fear pain, yet even the heavenly tribulation was never this agonizing. Zhongli, where have you gone…

With a final roar from the orc, Bai Ruo and the three sect leaders were flung to the ground, blood in their mouths, glaring furiously at the beast.

A chilling, sharp voice sounded by Bai Ruo’s ear. Looking closely, she realized the face belonged to the “deceased” Shen Miao.

“Hmph!” Bai Ruo wiped the blood from her lips. “So, it’s you. I thought it was some demon—never expected it to be you, faking death, practicing forbidden arts. Shen Miao, you’ll never surpass me—Bai Ruo!”

“Aaah! I want you dead!”

Shen Miao’s hands clamped around Bai Ruo’s neck, her face reddening as her voice grew hoarse. “Shen… Miao, do you really… think you can… kill me…? Ha… ha ha…”

Shen Miao’s grip tightened. Bai Ruo’s hands clawed desperately at the sandy ground, her nails splitting, leaving bloody marks.

“Zhong…li…!”

A bolt of lightning, tinged with red fire, shot down at Shen Miao, dyeing the night sky crimson.

Shen Miao released her grip. Bai Ruo instantly felt the weight lift, collapsed to the ground, and greedily gulped down fresh air.

Zhongli descended like a god. Shen Miao scurried and dodged as the lightning struck her, each wound releasing a puff of black smoke.

Zhongli watched coldly, then landed beside Bai Ruo. A green light emanated from his palm, instantly healing every wound it touched.

He helped Bai Ruo up. “Forgive me, I was late.”

“You know you were late? I nearly went with the three sect leaders to the Western Paradise to meet the Buddha!”

“Sorry, I was delayed by something.”

“Enough, enough. Is Shen Miao still alive? Don’t kill her yet—I have questions.”

Zhongli pulled Bai Ruo past the scorched ground. Shen Miao lay curled like a dead fish, her beast tail, claws, ears, and fangs all but obliterated, her hair still reeking of char.

“Shen Miao, I told you—you cannot kill me.”

Shen Miao raised her head slowly, still staring at Bai Ruo like a venomous snake.

“Who gave you the forbidden techniques?”

Silence.

“All right, so you’re stubborn. You devoured demon beast cores, drank your fellow disciples’ blood—these crimes alone warrant death.”

“Aaah! Why is it you who lives? Why can I have nothing? Why!?”

“Perhaps because fortune favors me.”

“Heh… hehehe, Bai Ruo—or should I say, Lian? One day, someone will bring you to ruin, hahaha!”

Now, even she wasn’t sure whom she hated more—Bai Ruo, or Lian.

Shen Miao burst into hysterical laughter, then struck her own heart with a palm. Blood gushed from her lips, dark with fragments of her shattered organs. She was dead.

Bai Ruo brushed aside the hand before her eyes and looked at the blood on the ground. Instead of disgust, she felt an unexpected satisfaction.

In the distance, a group hobbled over—the disciples who’d come before, and the missing ones too. Bai Li Ce was among them.

“Where’s Shen Miao?”

Zhongli led Bai Ruo away. As they passed Bai Li Ce, he said, “She was consumed by hatred born of love, and now she’s reaped the consequences.”

Bai Li Ce stood in bewilderment, then walked slowly forward. Staring at the corpse, he felt a hollowness inside—as if he’d lost the person who loved him most.

Shen Miao had captured so many male disciples to drain their blood, yet kept him apart, never laying a hand on him. She truly did still love him.

How could love carved into the heart be wiped away in an instant? The days she spent with him were her happiest.

Not far off, the eastern sky was brightening. Dawn had come.

After returning, Bai Ruo seized the moment and revealed her true identity to all. Having faced life and death together, no one minded any longer who she really was.

With Zhongli’s guidance, Bai Ruo used a drop of her own blood to draw out the lotus petal rooted in her spiritual consciousness, repairing the Mirror of Three Lives.

Perhaps from exhaustion, Bai Ruo fell asleep in Zhongli’s arms without realizing it, sleeping soundly and sweetly, never to awaken again.

When she opened her eyes once more, she felt light as air—her soul had already left Bai Ruo’s body.

At this moment, even Lian did not know where she was; it seemed she was in a void.

[Mistress, make ready—we’re off to the next world!]

“Oh? And Bai Ruo’s ending?”

[The people of the Immortal Sect waited three days for you to wake, but you never did. They understood you’d gone. The sect leader preserved Bai Ruo’s body in a crystal coffin. No one knows what Zhongli said, but the three sects merged into one, now called the Immortal Sect. It’s only a union in name, but… Bai Li Ce swore never to marry. All in all, it’s a happy ending.]

“And Zhongli?”

[No one knows. It seems… there’s no record of him, as if he’s been erased.]

[…Well then, let’s head to the next world!]