After Being Struck By The Love Gu, I Reached A Happy Ending With My Frail Best Friend - Chapter 11

Before Ning Ruyue could react, the saber cultivator recuperating beside her abruptly rose to her feet, her eyes filled with hatred.

“Cheng Che, you actually dare come back!”

At last, an almost imperceptible flicker passed through Cheng Che’s seemingly frozen eyes.

But it vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

She coughed quietly.

Unlike Ning Ruyue, who had entered the illusion alongside her companions, Cheng Che had been alone after being dragged inside. She had nearly been trampled to pieces by the countless black souls.

The saber cultivator who had always taken the lead at Huizhou Pass was now curled among a pile of black rocks, thick black blood seeping from the corner of her lips.

She did not seem to have any chance of surviving.

Cheng Che said nothing.

The saber cultivator was both furious and anxious. She drew the long saber from her waist, hatred filling her eyes, as though she wished to kill Cheng Che with her own hands.

But the instant the blade flashed, a swift sword intercepted its path.

Clang—

The heavy saber fell to the ground.

The saber cultivator raised her head and stared blankly at Ning Ruyue, disbelief filling her voice.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Ning Ruyue said solemnly,

“I haven’t.”

“Then why are you stopping me?”

The saber cultivator pointed without hesitation at the opponent she had once admired, her rage almost tangible.

“It was all because of her! If not for her, Sword Venerable Shen’s strike would have succeeded!”

“If not for her, why would you and I have fallen into this place? Why would Sword Venerable Shen and Sect Master Xie have suffered this undeserved disaster?”

“I’m not stopping you!”

Ning Ruyue said stubbornly.

“I only want to understand what happened.”

With that, she abruptly turned and desperately dragged Cheng Che out of the ruins.

She stared hard into those familiar eyes.

“Cheng Che, tell me. Tell me why you tried to kill Shen Fangzhou!”

The answer she received was a hand.

Cheng Che cleanly knocked Ning Ruyue’s hand away, her voice as cold and sharp as ever.

“There was no reason.”

No reason.

Even now, although Cheng Che knew that the black-robed figure had deceived her and led her down the wrong path, when she searched her own heart, had she truly harbored no other thoughts that day as she watched the green-robed swordswoman beneath Huizhou Pass?

Perhaps the unwillingness in her gaze had simply been too obvious.

That was why, among thousands of cultivators, she had been chosen as a pawn that could be discarded at any moment.

Her hand was knocked away with a smack.

Ning Ruyue stared fixedly at the red mark across the back of her hand.

She could hardly believe that the person before her was the same Cheng Che who had spent every day beside her for an entire year.

Never before had Cheng Che seemed so unfamiliar.

“I failed to kill her. A loss is a loss.”

Cheng Che’s gaze drifted toward Shen Fangzhou in the distance, where she was being knocked away again and again by the black souls.

Yet her words carried a shocking indifference.

“If you want to kill me, then kill me.”

“Kill you?”

Ning Ruyue stood silent for two seconds before nearly leaping to her feet.

She seized Cheng Che by the collar and roughly forced her to meet her eyes.

“Kill you? Cheng Che, do you think dying will settle everything? Huh? Answer me!”

Cheng Che closed her eyes and did not respond.

“Bastard.”

Ning Ruyue’s eyes reddened as she cursed softly.

Cheng Che could feel the hand clutching her finally loosen.

Yet an inexplicable trace of disappointment passed through her heart.

Cheng Che was tired.

But in the next instant, she suddenly realized she had been lifted onto someone’s back.

Ning Ruyue grabbed hold of her sleeves.

She was about the same height as Cheng Che, so carrying her was extremely difficult. She staggered as she tried to drag Cheng Che inside, every step unsteady.

“Even if you die, you’re going to die inside Huizhou Pass.”

Gritting her teeth, Ning Ruyue stood up and wiped her blurred eyes with her right hand.

“You tried to kill the acting city lord and violated the Immortal Alliance’s laws.”

“I’m taking you back so you can openly and properly accept punishment—not remain uninvolved and die here as though death were some kind of release!”

At last, Cheng Che’s expression cracked.

She weakly tried to pull her hand back.

Her powerless fingertips brushed across Ning Ruyue’s shoulder and clearly felt a patch of scorching blood.

Then, beside her ear, came a breathless voice so faint it was nearly inaudible, utterly exhausted.

“Why?”

Ning Ruyue’s tears fell endlessly.

“In barely a dozen days, we could have left Huizhou Pass. We could have happily returned to our sects.”

“You asked me to visit your hometown and see the flowers. You also asked me to go to the Eastern Sea and sharpen our blades.”

“When we first met, someone told me you were the finest saber cultivator in the city. They praised you as the only person in Huizhou Pass who practiced with her saber every single day…”

Cheng Che whispered,

“Stop talking…”

“No! I insist on saying it!”

Ning Ruyue roared, interrupting her as though venting everything in her heart.

“I don’t know what made you do something like this. I refuse to believe you are this kind of person.”

“I keep feeling as though something rewrote the course of your fate.”

“I clearly—clearly saw that you had such a bright and beautiful fut—”

Blood erupted.

In an instant, the dark-golden Daoist formation shattered.

The roars of the black souls overwhelmed heaven and earth.

Cheng Che watched clearly as a pair of sharp claws tore straight through Ning Ruyue’s chest—

and ripped apart the hot, beating heart within.

Cheng Che froze where she stood.

Xie Guiwan gave a muffled groan and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The corner of her robe embroidered with immortal cranes was instantly stained a brilliant, magnificent reddish brown.

Shen Fangzhou whipped her head around.

When she saw the pool of blood on the ground, her face turned as pale as paper.

“Ning Ruyue! Sect Master!”

There was no time to consider anything else.

The final trace of spiritual power gathered in Shen Fangzhou’s dantian.

She flew in front of Xie Guiwan and abruptly formed a sword seal with both hands, hurriedly using her own body to withstand the attacking remnant soul.

The force of the impact pressed through her chest.

Shen Fangzhou could barely breathe.

She desperately pushed forward as blood slowly began seeping from her nose and mouth under the enormous pressure.

Shen Fangzhou gritted her teeth and reached for her sword.

But before Longming could leave its sheath, a wave of scorching saber qi split the remnant soul apart.

Boom—

The two forces collided, releasing astonishing baleful energy.

When the dust filling the sky finally dispersed, Shen Fangzhou saw Cheng Che’s swaying figure.

In truth, Cheng Che could not hold on much longer.

Essence leaked from her damaged meridians.

She dropped weakly to her knees, Ning Ruyue’s cold body lying directly before her.

She coughed as though her heart and lungs were being torn apart.

No one could tell whether the droplets scattering through the air were blood or tears.

Shen Fangzhou looked at her, her jaw clenched painfully tight.

Cheng Che heard her voice, heavy as a thundercloud.

“I truly should have killed you from the beginning.”

It had happened too suddenly.

No one had expected Cheng Che to attack her.

Cheng Che no longer had the strength to answer Shen Fangzhou.

She could only listen to the sound of Shen Fangzhou’s boots as she walked away.

Cries of varying pitch rose in the distance.

The remnant souls were becoming increasingly powerful.

Without the protective formation, their group of peak Foundation Establishment disciples might all die in the next instant.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

Cheng Che lowered her head deeply.

She had not known that killing Shen Fangzhou would drag them into this place.

She had always believed that the person responsible should bear the consequences alone.

If she succeeded, then she succeeded.

If she failed, she would die beneath Shen Fangzhou’s sword.

She had never intended to implicate Sect Master Xie.

She had never intended to implicate Xiaoyue.

She had never intended to harm anyone else…

But what exactly was happening?

The black-robed figure had told her that if she pursued what she wanted, she would naturally succeed.

It had never told her that everything would end like this!

“You should have anticipated it.”

A familiar voice spoke in a low tone.

Cheng Che’s eyes flew open.

She anxiously searched her surroundings, as though trying to find its owner.

“It’s you? Is it you? Where exactly are you?”

The emotionless voice laughed.

“I am nowhere, yet I am everywhere.”

“Outside Huizhou Pass, I heard you say you wanted a pair of Sword Bones, so I appeared.”

“Inside this illusion, I heard your wish to end everything, so I appeared again.”

“You deliberately made me deceive everyone into entering?”

Cheng Che suddenly understood.

She trembled, as though realizing something terrible.

“How can you call it deception?”

The voice was eerie and distant.

“Every choice was your own.”

“You were the one who wanted to kill Shen Fangzhou.”

“As for Ning Ruyue—oh, she died beneath the claws of a remnant soul. What does any of that have to do with me?”

“No! That isn’t true!”

“The black mist you separated whispered to me day and night, urging me to kill her!”

“You didn’t tell me we would be dragged into an illusion!”

“You said it! You said that as long as I killed Shen Fangzhou when the black mist appeared, you would protect Xiaoyue. You would…”

Cheng Che’s voice gradually weakened.

Then it vanished entirely, becoming inaudible.

There was no point.

Saying any of this was useless.

The voice hummed with satisfaction.

“It seems you now understand what is effective in my presence.”

Cheng Che loosely gripped the saber hilt with her right hand and pleaded,

“Tell me. Tell me how to end all of this.”

“When you die, everything will end.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Is that not difficult enough?”

The voice sounded surprised.

“According to your predetermined fate, you would break through to Golden Core in one month and become the youngest deputy city lord in Huizhou Pass.”

“At that time, you would receive special permission to train at the Hidden Saber Sect.”

“Another ten years later, you would formally become one of the city lords guarding the Four Passes.”

“You would be an outstanding peak Golden Core cultivator, a pillar of the Immortal Alliance.”

“To stain the name of such a brilliant future cultivator and make her take her own life in Two Realms Mountain—is that price still insufficient?”

But Cheng Che no longer cared what the voice was saying.

She raised her head and looked toward Shen Fangzhou, who was still fighting in the distance.

She clearly saw a layer of golden light appearing around Shen Fangzhou’s body, signaling an imminent breakthrough.

So the Golden Core realm that those so-called geniuses could reach so easily had never been quite so distant from her after all.

Shen Fangzhou remained completely unaware of everything happening behind her.

With the system’s help, her dantian was drained and refilled again and again.

The black mist and remnant souls had carved countless bloody wounds across her body, yet the battle still seemed endless.

Exhaustion filled every limb and bone.

Yet after hundreds and thousands of exchanges, her meridians had been tempered wider and deeper than before.

Shen Fangzhou lowered her eyes.

She could sense the surging spiritual energy within her rejoicing.

The bottleneck at peak Foundation Establishment that had troubled her for so long had finally begun to loosen.

She was about to break through to Golden Core.

Unfortunately, she would have to temporarily bid farewell to the realm she had longed for day and night.

Shen Fangzhou stepped backward.

Using her restraints at a time like this would only waste such a perfect opportunity for advancement.

But there was no other choice.

Xie Guiwan stood behind her.

The longer Shen Fangzhou delayed, the fewer people she would be able to save.

“System?”

This time, the system did not respond immediately.

Perhaps it was silently opposing its host.

Only after a long while did it speak quietly.

“Do you really want to do this, Zhouzhou? That’s the Golden Core realm. This is such a good opportunity.”

“Even the best opportunity means nothing if I don’t save them first.”

Shen Fangzhou’s voice was heavy, her expression resolute.

She sensed her body filling once more with abundant spiritual power.

Within the Nine Songs Sword Case, the third sword, Chenshan, was ready to strike.

Even Longming had begun to tremble and hum.

Zhou Xu turned toward her.

“That aura again. Shen Fangzhou, what exactly is your Sword Pavilion hiding?”

“Can’t it simply be hiding a genius like me?”

Shen Fangzhou joked as she drew Chenshan, yet her next words sounded as though she were entrusting her life to Zhou Xu.

“I cannot maintain this state for long.”

“So if this strike fails to split apart the black mist, I’ll have to trouble Your Highness to handle the rest.”

Before Zhou Xu could reply, the spiritual power granted by the restraint finally surged beyond Nascent Soul.

Shen Fangzhou gripped the sword.

Her shoulder moved only slightly, yet Chenshan, which weighed as much as a thousand jun, glided forward like a stream of clear water.

The blazing sun overhead burned fiercely.

Shen Fangzhou showed no fear.

She clasped both hands tightly around the sword hilt.

At that moment, heaven and earth seemed to fall silent.

Her back curved like a drawn bow.

Her arms stretched like a dragon’s bowstring.

She brought the sword down in a vertical slash—

a strike that split heaven itself!

The black mist surged forward to meet it.

The world abruptly darkened.

Yet the instant the two forces collided, Shen Fangzhou sensed that something was wrong.

She could not cut through her opponent.

What in the world was this damned black mist?

Shen Fangzhou showed no intention of giving up.

But under the force of Nascent Soul spiritual power, bloody cracks were already beginning to split across her skin.

The eleventh restraint faintly appeared.

The system roared,

“Shen Fangzhou, have you lost your mind?”

If she released the eleventh restraint while still at Foundation Establishment, even if she survived, she would be crippled.

“There is no other way.”

Shen Fangzhou spoke softly.

Being crippled was still better than letting everyone die here.

Even if she could not bring Ning Ruyue back alive, she would at least take Ning Ruyue’s body home.

The black mist surged across heaven and earth, changing the color of the sky.

Just as the eleventh restraint was about to shatter, Shen Fangzhou suddenly felt towering waves erupt behind her.

Cheng Che charged straight toward them!

The change came so abruptly that Shen Fangzhou had no time to react.

She reached out, trying to seize Cheng Che, but caught only something as empty as a fading illusion.

Then she heard a pleading murmur.

“Save Xiaoyue.”

“Save… more people.”

Cheng Che spoke quietly, the fragmented words dissolving completely into the air.

In the next instant, her already broken body transformed into countless streams of light.

Pure spiritual energy poured madly into Shen Fangzhou’s dantian.

The eleventh restraint abruptly sealed itself again.

Spiritual power howled in delight and condensed into a dazzling sphere of golden radiance.

Early Golden Core—

Breakthrough.