I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 25

At first, Yan Yu had not recognized it because its appearance was not very different from an ordinary evil spirit. But the black hole on top of its head left a deep impression on her.

For ordinary evil spirits, advancing one rank required several years, sometimes even more than ten years of cultivation. But the one before them had gone from its initial form to Special-rank in just one short week.

That was because the “big mouth” on its head could convert the energy of every living creature it swallowed into a source of soul power. It accepted everything, refusing nothing, and expanded rapidly.

It could be said that the stronger the Beast Arts Master it encountered, the happier it became.

Its extremely high soul power rank, combined with an unsolvable self-healing speed that even the Demon-Slaying Blade could not restrain, had nearly taken the life of Guo Lu, who carried the protagonist halo.

And Guo Lu had encountered it in the middle stage of the plot, when his golden fingers were already more or less fully equipped.

But now…

“Don’t go.” Yan Yu stepped forward and grabbed Yin Beiqing’s wrist. “Take everyone and run.”

No one was perfect. Although this evil spirit could rapidly level up by absorbing energy, its enormous and cumbersome body also made its movement speed too slow.

As long as they did not face it head-on, everyone could live.

“Run?” Yin Beiqing repeated the last word of her sentence. “There is no humiliation quite like that.”

“I’m not doubting your strength. It’s just that we don’t need to make unnecessary sacrifices.”

The disordered timeline made Yan Yu a little panicked. Since a mid-stage mini-boss could appear early, did that mean there would also be unexpected plot points arriving when she was completely unprepared?

What if characters who originally could have lived several more months had their deaths moved forward because of her interference?

Yan Yu turned her head and glanced at Teng Jingjie and the other two, who still knew nothing. Her thoughts were tangled into a mess.

No. They could not take this risk.

“Sacrifices?” Yin Beiqing covered the back of Yan Yu’s hand with her right hand and gently removed the hand gripping her. “Not a single person will die tonight.”

The wild wind blew so hard that people could barely open their eyes, yet she seemed completely unaffected. Beneath her wildly dancing long hair, her back was straight. She held the Demon-Slaying Blade, still dripping blood, in one hand and aimed it at the roaring evil spirit ahead. “I am simply going to clean away some filthy trash here.”

“Don’t—”

“Right.” Yin Beiqing smiled and interrupted her. “Now, it really won’t make sense if you don’t give me a reward.”

After saying this, she did not wait for Yan Yu’s answer. She lengthened the sword and charged out. The wooden hairpin fixing her hair fell to the ground, and her long hair spread loose, filling Yan Yu’s vision.

By the time Yan Yu recovered from this moment of beauty, Yin Beiqing had already leapt high into the air, gripping the sword with both hands as she chopped toward the evil spirit’s head.

The slash was dodged when it turned its head, only cutting off one horn from the deer head on the left side of its face. Feeling the pain as if it were its own, it let out a cry and raised its hand to enter close combat with Yin Beiqing.

Yin Beiqing moved quickly and without hesitation, constantly slashing at its body. But even if she immediately cut off one of its arms, it would soon grow another one.

“Tsk. I thought only Ruan Yuemin had such a disgusting ability.” To be honest, even if Ruan Yuemin were here today, she might not necessarily defeat this evil spirit, because comparatively, its healing ability was even better.

If one of Ruan Yuemin’s arms was severed, the arm that regrew would be thinner and weaker than the original. It would need a period of training before it could recover to a combat-ready state.

But the Special-rank evil spirit before them was different. The arm that grew back after being severed was not only stronger, but even faster.

This feeling was as if its body had an endless supply of soul power, allowing it to complete this kind of ultra-high-speed regeneration anytime and anywhere.

Wait.

Yin Beiqing finally realized what was wrong.

This Beast Soul was absorbing her soul power!

Behind her, Yan Yu, who had also realized this problem, shouted a reminder. “Pull away and use long-range spiritual arts! The vortex sucker on top of its head can absorb the soul power of any living creature that gets close to it!”

Yin Beiqing frowned and, feeling somewhat annoyed, kicked its forehead, using it as a foothold to retreat.

At the same time, the butterfly wings behind her flapped with great force, stirring up violent wind to clash against the vortex on top of the evil spirit’s head.

The few old trees that had barely managed to survive in place just now finally could not hold on under these circumstances. Their tangled roots and chunks of soil flew into the air together. Trees weighing dozens of tons floated back and forth like soft cork strips under the two forces of soul power.

Everyone present was forced to experience a wash-cut-blow new hairstyle.

It seemed that Jiwu’s unreasonable, violent soul power had the upper hand. Dark-red spiritual arts pressed down the pitch-black miasma. Along with the evil spirit’s weakened wail, the scene gradually returned to calm.

After the other side stopped resisting, Yin Beiqing lowered her arm.

The smoke and dust gradually dispersed, but Yan Yu’s suspended heart could not be put down so easily.

She held her breath and stared tightly at the smoke screen. As expected, after a faint sound, the evil spirit swept out its long tongue, quickly wrapped it around Yin Beiqing’s arm, and pulled her toward itself.

That red figure in the air was like a kite with its string cut, drawing an abrupt arc as it arrived before the evil spirit’s large mouth.

Yin Beiqing did not seem to have any intention of resisting. If this had been before, Yan Yu might have thought she was trying to play some reversal game again. But now, she seemed a little out of breath, and her complexion was not very good. It was obvious she was not pretending.

“Yin Beiqing!” Yan Yu panicked and turned to look at Zhongpu for help.

The latter shook her head. Teng Jingjie, however, inserted a calm sentence. “She won’t die.”

“No one is allowed to come up.” Yin Beiqing’s hoarse voice came from far away.

Orange light suddenly rose in all directions, shooting through the hazy smoke. She raised her hand and stabbed the Demon-Slaying Blade into the evil spirit’s mouth. The muscles of her right hand trembled faintly. The totems all over her body moved at high speed across her skin like swimming fish. This was a sign of her soul power going berserk.

Yan Yu could tell that Jiwu did not seem very willing to cooperate with Yin Beiqing. Otherwise, her reaction speed earlier would not have been like that—slow enough to be entangled by the evil spirit’s tongue.

Yin Beiqing was very powerful. Fighting a hundred alone was not just an exaggeration. But during that great battle, she had been at the peak of her soul power, and her cooperation with Jiwu had been flawless.

Now, she was tormented by two streams of Beast Soul power and was constantly on the verge of falling into demonic corruption.

“Master, use me!” Guilian shouted anxiously.

Yin Beiqing’s stubbornness had come from who knew where. “There has only ever been what I want to do. There has never been someone else forcing me into only one choice.”

After saying this, she directly raised her left hand and forcefully grabbed the tongue wrapped around her body, gripping it tightly. Then—

“Ahhhhh!”

The evil spirit’s roar crossed Rizhao Forest, so loud that even the You tribe settlement on the other side could hear it.

Countless birds were startled into flying in every direction, only to be sucked into its vortex again.

“Go die.” Yin Beiqing curved her lips, her smile arrogant.

She had already begun to enjoy this slaughter. The rampage of her soul power could not suppress the excitement and hot blood coursing through her entire body.

Even covered in wounds, she would only grow stronger the more she fought.

After absorbing energy once again, the evil spirit rapidly grew a new tongue. Just as Yin Beiqing was about to repeat her trick, the deer head on the left side of its head suddenly opened its eyes.

Previously, Yin Beiqing had always assumed that the animal body parts on its body were only “little accidents” left behind during its swallowing process, all dead things. Seeing it suddenly come alive now, she was somewhat surprised.

That deer head suddenly stretched its neck and bit her shoulder. The three snake tails behind the evil spirit also moved, wrapping around her limbs one after another. The evil spirit’s main body gained an opening. It raised its right claw high and tore down Yin Beiqing’s left arm, the one holding the sword.

Seeing this scene, Yan Yu’s whole body turned cold and stiff. Before her brain could react, her body had already rushed out on its own.

She ran quickly, staring at the severed arm that had been thrown down. After jumping up and catching it, she held it tightly in her arms.

If a body part bearing a Beast Mark was removed, then the corresponding Beast Soul could no longer be driven by its master. The villain in the book had used this point to cut off Yin Beiqing’s arm and take it for herself.

So even if Yan Yu died, she had to protect this arm.

Warm blood slid down against her skin. Overwhelming fear made Yan Yu want to scream aloud, but a deeper voice in her mind kept madly telling her that she absolutely could not panic.

Just now, Yin Beiqing had ordered Zhongpu and the other two not to approach. First, because she disdained their help. Second, because if even she could not kill it, then their coming over would only be purely delivering their heads.

Langdie Valley had one rule that was always placed first: no one was allowed to die before the Valley Master.

Yin Beiqing had even arranged her own posthumous affairs ten years ago for the unexpected situations that might arise from this rule.

So if Yan Yu placed her hopes on the other three, it would be very unrealistic.

She could only do it herself.

Right. Healing Arts.

After making up her mind, Yan Yu tremblingly raised her arms and began continuously forming hand seals in coordination with incantations. Her hands kept changing, and she almost tried every spiritual art she had seen in books.

A transparent barrier formed in a thin layer in her hands, then quickly disappeared. The effect was minimal.

Why was it not working? Why couldn’t it work?

At this moment, Yan Yu wished she could exchange everything she had for a “protagonist halo” capable of creating a miracle.

A sourness uncontrollably rose at the tip of her nose. She finally understood how unrealistic her previous thought had been: that she could stay out of things and be a “goddess” who only moved her lips and pointed the way.

If she remained this weak, what qualifications did she have to fulfill the promise she had once made to Yin Beiqing?

She was helpless even against this evil spirit that did not even count as a named character in the book. When the great villain appeared in the future, who would block that sword?

To help Yin Beiqing become empress, she had to become stronger.

“But for now, can you please not die first…” Only after those choked words left her mouth did Yan Yu realize that at some unknown point, tears had already wet her eyes.

She wiped away her tears and lifted her head, looking through her blurred vision at Yin Beiqing hanging in the air.

The instant their gazes met, Yan Yu did not know if it was an illusion, but she seemed to see Yin Beiqing curl her lips and reveal a smile.

Yan Yu blinked hard. After ensuring her vision was clear, she raised her eyes to look again. With her vision strengthened by soul power, she could clearly see the expression on Yin Beiqing’s face.

In the next second, she distinctly saw Yin Beiqing tug the corner of her mouth and mouth three words to her.

“You cried.”

?

The enormous butterfly wings flapped again. At the same time, countless poison needles flew out from Yin Beiqing’s hair and densely pierced into the evil spirit’s body.

After those needles pierced the skin, they began burning rapidly. Blue-purple flames carried a pungent, scorched smell. Once a hole was burned into the skin’s surface, the three-chi-long needle bodies gradually sank into the flesh.

This was Yin Beiqing’s self-created spiritual art technique—the Cotton Bone Needles. The needle tips carried direct fire, while the needle tails carried butterfly poison. They reveled bloodthirstily. After entering the human body, these needles would continuously wander and shuttle along the scent of blood until the host’s butterfly poison flared and fire poison attacked the heart, causing the body to explode and die.

No matter how powerful one’s self-healing ability was, it could do nothing to the Cotton Bone Needles. As long as the host was still alive and the blood still flowed, they would have the power to continuously shuttle around.

At first, this evil spirit did not care about the small pain of these needle pricks. But as it breathed and moved, tens of thousands of Cotton Bone Needles traveled through its blood vessels. That pain was strong enough to choke off its breathing.

It began constantly scratching its body, but it could not pull out a single needle. The shaking “meat lump” collapsed onto the ground and twisted nonstop. Amid its mournful wails, Yin Beiqing, long hair loose, returned bathed in blood.

When she was about three steps away from it, the right hand hanging at her side lightly snapped its fingers. In that instant, an energy fluctuation powerful enough to shake mountains and split the earth was set off.

Rumble— A snow slope in the distance collapsed. Meanwhile, the evil spirit, which had been trying to repeat its trick and sneak attack from behind, happened to be blocked outside by a flame barrier that suddenly rose behind Yin Beiqing. In pain, it turned to ashes.

Teng Jingjie whistled. “Told you. No need for us to act.”

Having completed the mission, Jiwu could not wait to emerge from Yin Beiqing’s body and plunge headfirst into Yan Yu’s Soul Domain.

Only then did Yan Yu recover from the shock that felt like a lifetime had passed. She watched Yin Beiqing walk toward her with a smile lingering at her lips.

Yin Beiqing still seemed to have no sense of pain. She shook her empty sleeve and crouched in front of Yan Yu, pointing at the severed arm she was clutching tightly. “You should return it to me now.”

“Here…” Yan Yu blankly handed it over.

Reading about Yin Beiqing slaughtering everything in all directions in written words was not even one percent as stimulating as seeing it with her own eyes. Only at this moment did she truly realize the fundamental difference between Beast Arts Masters and ordinary humans.

And just how powerful the woman before her was.

“Can you still stand?” Yin Beiqing reached out her right hand toward her.

Yan Yu nodded and placed her hand, already cold through and through, into Yin Beiqing’s. Borrowing her strength, she straightened her softened legs and stood properly.

Yin Beiqing held her hand and walked back.

Yan Yu followed a few steps, then lowered her head to look at their clasped hands. Even without deliberately feeling it, the raised texture of the knife scar was extremely obvious.

It indirectly explained just how deep the cut had been.

“Please wait—” The You tribe girl ran toward them, panting. Her dark eyes shone as she looked at the two of them. “Thank you for saving me!”

Yan Yu stopped and turned back. “It’s nothing. Remember to be more careful if you go out at night next time.”

The girl nodded and reached out to hold her hands. “You’re the legendary Beast Arts Masters, right?”

“…They are.” Yan Yu silently removed herself, this useless person, from the honored group.

“That’s wonderful!” The girl’s eyes grew wet with happiness. Then she unexpectedly knelt directly before them and, without another word, kowtowed three times with thuds. “Please, save my mother too!”

“Don’t, don’t kneel.” Yan Yu was so frightened she immediately helped her up. “If something happened, speak properly.”

“Hey.” Yin Beiqing, beside her, tugged Yan Yu’s sleeve and rested her chin on her shoulder, pressing down. “I’m in so much pain. Why doesn’t the goddess save me first?”

“Ah, sorry.” Only then did the girl realize that Yin Beiqing was a patient whose hand had just been severed. At a loss, she said, “I-I-I…”

She thought for a long time, not knowing what she should use to compensate.

“Stop ‘I’-ing.” Teng Jingjie hooked one arm around this little girl who did not know how to read the room. “Come with Big Sister to the carriage behind us. Big Sister will send you home. You obediently return to your mother’s arms and sleep. When you wake up tomorrow, forget everything that happened tonight.”

Yan Yu helped Yin Beiqing back into their carriage.

Zhongpu and Xueji drove the carriage, and the group continued their journey.

The wheels rolled quietly over the ground, as if the terrifying slaughter just now had never existed.

Inside the first carriage, Yan Yu opened the medical kit and was using Ruan Yuemin’s bone needles to stitch Yin Beiqing’s arm back on.

The latter’s clothes were half removed, exposing her bare shoulder. Yan Yu had only stitched halfway around the arm, yet a good deal of fine sweat had already seeped from her forehead. Still, she held her breath and carefully confirmed every point before steadily making each stitch, lest the scar left after healing become too large and ugly.

Yin Beiqing propped her chin with her right hand, narrowing her eyes as she admired Yan Yu’s serious, focused expression, as if what Yan Yu was stitching were not her own arm, but merely a random piece of clothing.

“Sickly weakling, you look quite good when you cry.” Her brows and eyes carried amusement. “Better than when you keep a stiff face.”

Yan Yu had long since trained herself to treat Yin Beiqing’s shocking words as passing wind. Her movements remained detailed and steady.

Yin Beiqing was also long used to her ignoring people and continued, “You care about me so much. If I really had died just now, what would you have done?”

Yan Yu finally finished tying the last knot, cut the thread, and put the tools away.

“If you really died, I probably would never forgive myself.”

Yin Beiqing had originally only wanted to tease her, but she had not expected such a serious answer. She paused for half a beat, then said just as seriously, “You are now also one of Langdie Valley’s people. According to the rules, even if I, as Valley Master, truly died for you all, that would be part of my duty. I would only have fulfilled my promise to you. You would not need to feel the slightest guilt.”

“When did I ever say I would obey Langdie Valley’s rules?” Yan Yu moved her gaze away and brushed the sentence off lightly. She pointed at Yin Beiqing. “Take off the clothes on that side too. Let me check the place where you were bitten.”

Yin Beiqing had no taboo about exposing herself in front of her. With a casual tug, her upper garment piled around her waist. She leaned back, her long neck drawing a beautiful curve, yet her eyes remained fixed on Yan Yu’s face.

“This time, I finally personally experienced your stitching skill.” She nodded her chin toward her left hand, expressing her approval of Yan Yu. “I’m very satisfied.”

Unlike Ruan Yuemin’s rough method, Yan Yu’s stitches were fine and neat. One look showed that she had practiced seriously.

Yan Yu paused in applying medicine and looked her over. “You didn’t deliberately get injured just to use this as a reward, did you?”

Thinking of that earlier smile, she suddenly felt that this kind of thing, absolutely unbelievable on someone else, was not so impossible.

“Do you think I’m crazy?”

Yes, you are.

But Yin Beiqing’s slowed reaction in the middle had truly not been deliberate. It was because she had not combined beast form with Jiwu for too long. Their cooperation was insufficient, and she had been tripped up.

This feeling was like in a three-legged race when your partner suddenly fell, leaving you alone to drag the “weight” forward at a snail’s pace. Naturally, you could not run at full speed.

“But if you think this alone is enough as a reward, aren’t you looking down on me too much?”

Yan Yu closed her mouth, planning to end the conversation.

Avoidance was shameful, but useful.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to renege again.” Yin Beiqing’s face darkened.

“What do you mean, ‘again’? This only counted as one time to begin with.”

“Fine, then it only counts as one time. Make it up to me now.” Yin Beiqing smiled as though she had succeeded.

Yan Yu pressed her lips into a line. “Then what do you want?”

Yin Beiqing did not speak, but straightened and leaned toward her.

When they were almost close enough for their noses to touch, Yan Yu sensitively leaned back and asked in confusion, “What are you doing?”

Yin Beiqing still did not speak. She grabbed Yan Yu’s hand and placed it on top of her own head.

Feeling the soft, smooth sensation beneath her palm, Yan Yu’s limbs became stiff.

She had originally thought that for someone with such a stubborn temper, her hair would feel coarse and hard. She had not expected it to be fine and soft.

“Touch.” Yin Beiqing was a little dissatisfied and grabbed her wrist, moving it twice. “Do I have to teach you this too?”

“Oh, all right.” Yan Yu answered dryly and experimentally rubbed the fluffy top of her head twice. Her hand was moving, but her brain did not quite understand what she was doing. It only moved mechanically.

“Does it feel nice?”

“Actually, it really does.”

Yin Beiqing’s hair quality was very good. It was fine and soft but did not tangle. When her fingers passed through the long hair, it gave a feeling of being wrapped in all the softness in the world.

It formed an enormous contrast with Yin Beiqing herself.

And…

For some reason, Yan Yu felt that in this second, Yin Beiqing, quietly staying there and letting her touch her head, looked very pleasing and obedient.

Fine, “obedient” could perhaps be crossed out.

Yin Beiqing raised her eyes and met her gaze. Her lashes blinked lightly, as if she were thinking about something.

Because before, whenever she saw Guipan and Lujia being patted on the head by Yan Yu, they always looked happy with silly smiles. Out of curiosity, she had made this request of Yan Yu.

But what exactly was good about this?

Although she did not dislike it, it was not to the point of being very happy either. Wasn’t using this as a reward a bit of a loss?

But when she saw Yan Yu curve her eyes and look at her with a smile so gentle it was almost doting, while proactively increasing the strength of her strokes, Yin Beiqing suddenly felt a tingling sensation travel from the top of her head all the way through her body.

Her mood inexplicably became good.

So good she wanted to wag her tail.

She seemed to understand a little. This was a feeling she had not felt in a long time: being cherished and valued.

Although the price for receiving it today was one arm, she actually felt it was quite worth it.

“Hey, sickly weakling. If you had to choose between your Beast Souls and me, who would you choose to live?”

Hearing this, Yan Yu thought, wasn’t this an ancestral life-threatening question? “You’re different.”

“How are we different?” Yin Beiqing softly pondered. “That’s true. I am indeed much more useful than them, so you would definitely choose me.”

“…” As long as you’re happy. “The medicine is applied.”

“Mm.”

Yan Yu pressed her forehead and sighed, pointing at Yin Beiqing’s disheveled state. “So you can put your clothes back on now.”

Yin Beiqing ignored this sentence. Instead, she suddenly said to herself, “I feel like this seems to be letting you off a little too cheaply.”

Yan Yu clenched her molars. The words were practically squeezed out from between her teeth. “What else do you want?”

Yin Beiqing casually pulled her clothes back up over her shoulders, moved Yan Yu’s hand away, then turned sideways and lay down on Yan Yu’s lap. After finding the most comfortable sleeping position, she placed Yan Yu’s hand back on top of her head.

Yan Yu looked at her, not knowing what this meant.

After waiting a long time without Yan Yu moving, Yin Beiqing opened her eyes. “Coax me to sleep.”

“H-how do I coax you?”

“That’s for you to think about. In any case, I’m very tired right now and need to sleep.” She thought for a moment and remembered that the little fatty had more than once bragged about Yan Yu’s lullaby in a tone so proud it deserved a beating. “Singing is fine too.”

“…?”

“Sing.”

“Mm, all right.”