I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 3

Yan Yu had no time to dwell on her twisted mindset and urged with a raspy voice, “Then I must trouble the Valley Master to listen to me once more. Go to the cell where Guo Lu is being held, right now, immediately!”

If no one stopped him, the male lead was about to succeed in his prison break!

Yin Beiqing did not entirely trust Yan Yu, but she was naturally suspicious. Seeing Yan Yu’s panicked expression, coupled with her own intention to have the two “Goddess” confront each other, she led her toward the underground cells.

…

At the same time, in the cell, the male lead Guo Lu was waiting for rescue, burning with anxiety.

Earlier, he had received news from his system. Taking advantage of Yin Beiqing’s weakened Spirit Power over the past few days, he had emboldened himself to come and steal the Animal Spirit Pearl. To prevent himself from being caught with no one to save him, he had specifically left a note for his childhood friend, telling her that if he wasn’t back by six in the evening, he was in danger.

This childhood friend was utterly infatuated with him. Ordinary people might not be willing to risk entering Langdie Valley to save someone, but he bet that Yan Yu would come even if she knew she might die. By his calculations, she should be arriving around now.

Sure enough, just as the thought crossed his mind, the system’s voice chimed in his head.

System: [The female supporting character has gone to assassinate the female lead for you!]

Guo Lu curled his lips into what he thought was a cool, arrogant smile. “I knew it. This woman is hopelessly in love with me.”

System: [Beep beep—]

What is it now?

System: [Bad news! The female lead and the female supporting character are heading this way together. Please complete the prison break plan as soon as possible, Host!]

Guo Lu: “What did you say?”

…

Yan Yu knew the male lead would escape, so she was in a great hurry. She coughed three times for every two steps she took, scurrying faster than Yin Beiqing, whose belongings had nearly been stolen. But before they could enter, they collided with a maidservant rushing out in a panic at the entrance.

The maidservant looked frantic, her dress disheveled from running. Her anxious appearance stood out sharply among the steady-paced crowd. Before she could speak, Yin Beiqing sensed something was wrong and bypassed her. With a darkened face, she looked inside; the cell holding Guo Lu was indeed empty. On the ground, there was only a beast pet lying in a pool of blood.

Like Yan Yu, Guo Lu’s own Spirit Power was too weak to support the evolution of an Animal Spirit. However, such people could still improve their combat capabilities by taming or raising beast pets. These individuals were also qualified to take the Animal Art Master examination.

This Grade-B beast pet, named Lu Jia, was something Yan Yu’s mother had tamed for her. It specialized in Earth-type Spiritual Techniques and had previously been gifted to the male lead by the original owner of the body.

Yan Yu tilted her head to look at the bottomless hole in the ground. It seemed Guo Lu’s escape was thanks to this beast pet. The walls of the Langdie Valley prison were reinforced; an ordinary person couldn’t even chip out a pit with a shovel in a year. It was a pity for this beast pet, which had exhausted its Spirit Power to dig this tunnel and was now on the brink of death.

With the prisoner gone, there was no longer any need for a confrontation. Yin Beiqing now knew clearly whether Guo Lu’s words were true or false.

It was the first time someone had dared to play her so blatantly under her very nose!

Though Yan Yu couldn’t hear her inner thoughts, her nose suddenly itched, and she sneezed twice.

Who was thinking about her?

“Pursue him. I want him found, alive or dead.”

“Don’t go yet. He shouldn’t be trying to flee right now.” Yan Yu spoke quickly, her hands moving nimbly as she tore her skirt to bandage Lu Jia’s injured, bleeding horn. “Don’t forget his goal for coming here.”

Yin Beiqing immediately grasped the meaning behind Yan Yu’s words. Her expression shifted drastically, and with a flash of red, she vanished from the spot.

Yan Yu picked up Lu Jia after finishing the bandages and scooped up a familiar golden jade pendant lying nearby, tucking it into her robes. Likely due to his frantic escape, Guo Lu had even lost this token used to command beast pets.

She stood up and looked at the white-clad maidservant standing behind her. “Could I trouble you to lead the way?”

The maidservant hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded, leading Yan Yu toward the treasury.

“Faster, please,” Yan Yu urged.

Hearing this, the maidservant stopped. While Yan Yu was still confused, the woman suddenly bent down, grabbed Yan Yu’s arm, hoisted her onto her shoulder, and then kicked off the ground, traversing the distance at high speed.

The girl’s pace was steady, but that didn’t stop Yan Yu’s soft abdomen from being jolted against her shoulder to the point where she wanted to vomit blood.

By the time they reached the destination, her entire face had turned several shades paler. She struggled to stand straight and catch her breath, handing Lu Jia to the maidservant. “Hold this for me.”

The maidservant didn’t want to take it, but Yan Yu ran off the moment she shoved it over. Lower-class maids were not allowed into the treasury without permission, so she could only stand at the entrance holding the bloody mess.

The treasury entrance was heavily guarded, and countless traps awaited inside, but since Guo Lu could enter once, he could enter a second time.

He had been transmuted here for some time and had already collected two treasures: an Invisibility Cloak and a Mountain-Splitting Axe.

The former allowed him to move unseen, making it difficult for even a Grade-A Animal Art Master to detect him. The latter was the heirloom of the Youqi Tribe, who specialized in crafting cold weapons. It was hard in texture, sharp at the tip, and resilient in its body, capable of splitting any physical substance in the world—thick wood, iron blocks, and even wind, talismans, or formations.

However, every swing was an immense drain. Guo Lu not only had thin Spirit Power but also a very weak physical constitution. He had to use all his strength just to manage one swing. He had saved it specifically to split the treasure box Yin Beiqing used to house the Animal Spirit Pearl.

Though the box was forged from the world’s strongest Mountain Gold Stone, it was useless before the Mountain-Splitting Axe. Once he obtained this Special Grade Animal Spirit Pearl, all those who used to look down on him would have to kneel before him, crying and begging for mercy!

Just thinking about it made Guo Lu incredibly excited.

When Yan Yu burst in, the box had already been split in two, discarded to the side. Her heart jumped, and she turned to look at him.

Guo Lu, wearing a black hood that only revealed his eyes, was holding the axe toward Yin Beiqing with one hand while clutching the blood-red Animal Spirit Pearl in the other. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll crush it and make sure you pay dearly.”

The Animal Spirit Pearl and the Animal Art Master were one. If the pearl shattered, the host would die. Yin Beiqing possessed two Animal Spirit Pearls; if one shattered, although she wouldn’t die immediately like others, it would still be a devastating blow that would shake her to her core.

Not to mention her Spirit Power was currently in a state of extreme chaos and agitation.

The lips under Yin Beiqing’s mask thinned into a straight line. Her fingers gripping the bone fan were so tense that veins bulged.

Yan Yu believed that if Guo Lu weren’t holding Yin Beiqing’s Animal Spirit Pearl right now, he would have already been sliced into pieces by her gaze.

“Brother Guo Lu.” Yan Yu spoke up to catch his attention and slowly approached him. “It’s me. I’ve come to save you.”

Guo Lu turned slightly, looking at her warily. “Xiao Yu? Why are you here?”

He knew Yan Yu’s strength. Forget surviving an encounter with Yin Beiqing, she couldn’t even get past the guards. Yet here she was, standing alive before him. It was truly strange.

“Of course I came to save you, Brother… Cough! Cough cough…” Yan Yu coughed lightly, looking like she might faint at any moment, yet her pace didn’t slow; instead, she surged forward, abruptly closing the distance between them. “I saw the letter you wrote me and brought reinforcements. The outside is surrounded by our people, so she won’t dare to act rashly. Put down your weapon and come with me quickly.”

“Reinforcements?” Guo Lu repeated her words suspiciously.

The current Yan Yu was so destitute that not even a maid wanted to follow her. Where could she have gotten reinforcements? Moreover, was Yin Beiqing—the woman who could take on a hundred alone—someone who could be suppressed by a few “reinforcements”?

Was Yan Yu lying?

But they had known each other for so long, and he was familiar with her character. She was so single-mindedly infatuated with him that it was impossible for her to lie to him. Besides, why would she deceive him at such a dangerous moment?

In that brief moment of distraction, Yin Beiqing seized the opening. Unlike her previous casual state, her move this time was fast and ruthless. Her raised left arm whipped up a massive whirlwind, and the fabric of her sleeve was instantly torn to shreds by the fierce wind, revealing a slender arm corded with smooth, powerful muscle.

Watching from the side, Yan Yu could instantly feel the bone-chilling killing intent emanating from Yin Beiqing due to their proximity. She inappropriately recalled a description from the original book.

Someone wealthy had once placed a massive bounty on Yin Beiqing’s head. This happened thirty years ago; over a hundred elite Animal Art Masters charged up Langdie Mountain to take her life. Yin Beiqing dismissed all her subordinates and faced them alone.

During the melee, she was stabbed multiple times and covered in wounds; a two-meter spear even pierced her back. Yet, she seemed unable to feel pain, her actions and expression growing more excited and wild. All 108 people died at her fair, beautiful hands.

A passing villager saw her walking out from the pile of corpses covered in blood. With her pitch-black hair, blood-red eyes, and a twisted smile, she looked like a vengeful ghost crawled out from the underworld. The villager was so terrified they had nightmares for three days and fell into a coma with a high fever.

The scent of blood still lingered on that patch of land where the bones were piled. Because of that battle, the commoners gave Yin Beiqing the title “Living Yama.” No one had seen the face beneath her mask because those who had were all dead.

Only based on the blurred words of that feverish witness, a hideous portrait resembling an underworld demon was drawn and circulated.

No one knew if Yin Beiqing actually looked like the portrait, but they knew she was an extremely dangerous individual to be avoided at all costs.

Yan Yu felt a sudden surge of lingering fear. How had she found the courage to talk nonsense and act a part before such a terrifying existence just now?

Sensing this woman’s danger up close, Yan Yu realized she was a thousand times more terrifying than the rumors suggested.

From Yin Beiqing’s upper arm to her wrist was a large area of complex, dazzling deep-blue totems. That was the Animal Mark belonging to her first Animal Spirit, Gui Lian.

Ordinary Animal Art Masters required complex incantations and hand seals to perform Spiritual Techniques, but Yin Beiqing, with her countless combat experiences, no longer needed those tedious steps.

“Gui Lian, tear him apart!” With an order, the Animal Spirit within her body surged out.

Wafts of icy blue mist rose from the Animal Mark on her left hand, quickly condensing in the air. A seven-zhang-long white giant python floated in the sky; one needed only to look up slightly to feel the soul-crushing pressure.

Every scale on its body radiated killing intent, shimmering with a faint violet light. Its fangs were as sharp as icicles hanging from eaves in winter.

“Hiss—” Facing the gaping maw, Yan Yu shuddered.

This also snapped the dazed Guo Lu back to his senses. Faced with the incoming giant python, his first reaction was naturally to save his own life. He threw the Animal Spirit Pearl away and then violently pulled the nearby Yan Yu in front of him as a shield, while he hid behind her with his eyes tightly shut.

Seeing this, Yin Beiqing wanted to stop, but driven by rage, she had put ten-tenths of her killing intent into that strike. She hadn’t held back at all. To stop it now would cause her to suffer a backlash, and more importantly, it was already too late.

Yan Yu’s breath hitched. Staring at the hideous maw inches away, she finally felt the reality of approaching death. Her body grew uncontrollably stiff and cold.

No, there must be a way.

In that fraction of a second, Yan Yu’s brain processed countless thoughts and possible methods of self-rescue. The book had indeed detailed the use and cultivation of Animal Arts, but the Animal Spirit in her body was currently half-dead, her tamed beast pet was heavily injured and unconscious, and even if they weren’t, she had no Spirit Power to drive them.

Was she really supposed to just stand there and accept this?

She wouldn’t! She refused!

Just as the giant python was about to bite off Yan Yu’s delicate, beautiful head, the Animal Spirit Pearl that Guo Lu had thrown onto the ground seemed to sense something. It suddenly bounced into the air, and with a flash of red, it shot into Yan Yu’s forehead. It happened so fast that even Yin Beiqing couldn’t react.

Yan Yu felt a massive surge of energy flood her body. It invaded her brain through her forehead and rapidly expanded to her entire being. Like fire meeting gasoline, it raced through her meridians to her limbs with unimaginable speed. The intense burning pain forced her to drop to her knees, gasping for air.

How could a sickly person with one foot in the grave easily manage this Special Grade Animal Spirit that even Yin Beiqing struggled to endure?

Yan Yu’s face was as white as paper. Her slender fingers clawed at the ground in distress, her ten fingers digging in unconsciously until her skin broke and her nails split. They say the pain in the fingers is linked to the heart, but compared to the agony of her soul being burned to ashes, it was negligible.

The Animal Spirit crashed wildly and violently inside her before finally finding a proper entrance and surging toward her chest. The torturous pain slowly receded, and a hint of color returned to Yan Yu’s face. Following this, a blood-colored lotus Animal Mark appeared between her eyebrows.

At the same time, a thick, transparent circular barrier manifested around her. When the attack carrying Yin Beiqing’s full strength hit this protective shield, it vanished into thin air with a “bang.”

Kneeling on the ground, Yan Yu’s strength finally failed. she tilted her head, spat out a mouthful of blood, and collapsed softly.

Before her consciousness faded, she thought:

Help. Spat blood on two of Yin Beiqing’s carpets in one day… I’m going to die a horrible death, aren’t I?

The author has something to say:

Gold Finger #1 obtained.

PS: Since some readers feel that having Yan Yu get Yin Beiqing’s Animal Spirit Pearl is not much different from the male lead stealing it in the original book, let me explain. This involves spoilers; if you don’t want them, just know that this plot point shows that under the same opportunity, Yan Yu makes a completely different choice from the male lead. She didn’t harm Yin Beiqing’s interests; instead, she gave her more.

.

.

.