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

Yan Yu had no time to dwell on Yin Beiqing’s twisted mentality. In a hoarse voice, she urged, “Then I’ll have to trouble the Valley Master to listen to one more piece of advice from me. Right now, immediately, this instant—hurry to the prison cell where Guo Lu is being held!”

If no one stopped him, the male lead was about to successfully break out of prison!

Yin Beiqing did not completely trust Yan Yu. But she was already suspicious by nature, and after seeing Yan Yu’s panicked appearance, plus the fact that she happened to have the idea of making the two “goddesses” confront each other, she still led Yan Yu to the underground prison.

…

At the same time, Guo Lu, the male lead who was waiting for help inside the prison cell, was burning with anxiety.

Earlier, he had received information from the system. Emboldened, he had taken advantage of these few days when Yin Beiqing’s soul power was weak and come to steal her Beast Soul Pearl. In order to prevent himself from being captured without anyone coming to rescue him, he had even specially left a note for his childhood sweetheart, telling her that if he had not returned by six o’clock in the evening, then he was in danger.

That childhood sweetheart was hopelessly infatuated with him. Ordinary people might not be willing to risk coming to Langdie Valley to save someone, but he guaranteed that even if Yan Yu knew she might die, she would definitely come. Counting the time, she should be arriving soon.

Sure enough, just as he thought of this, the system’s voice dinged in his head.

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

Guo Lu curled his lips into what he believed was a cool and arrogant smile. “I knew it. That woman is madly in love with me.”

System: Beep, beep—

What now?

System: Oh no! The female lead and the supporting female character are coming this way together. Host, please complete your prison break plan as soon as possible!

Guo Lu: “What did you say?”

…

Yan Yu knew the male lead would break out of prison, so she hurried there urgently. She would cough three times after every two steps, yet she still rushed faster than Yin Beiqing, the person who had nearly had something stolen from her. But before they even entered, they ran into a maidservant stumbling out in panic.

The maidservant looked flustered, the folds of her dress scattered from running. Her anxious expression stood out sharply among the steady footsteps of the people passing back and forth. Before she could speak, Yin Beiqing, who had sensed something was wrong, directly walked past her. With a dark expression, she looked inside.

Sure enough, the cell that had held Guo Lu was already empty. On the ground, there was only a beast pet lying in a pool of blood.

Like Yan Yu, Guo Lu’s own soul power was too weak to support the evolution of a Beast Soul. But people like this could still tame or raise beast pets to increase their combat ability. Such people were also qualified to take the Beast Arts Master assessment.

This B-rank beast pet named Lujia had been tamed by Yan Yu’s mother for her. It was skilled in earth-element spiritual arts, and the original owner had previously given it to the male lead.

Yan Yu turned her head and looked at the bottomless hole in the ground. It seemed that Guo Lu had managed to escape thanks to this beast pet. The four walls of Langdie Valley’s prison had all been reinforced. An ordinary person could dig for an entire year with a shovel and still fail to scrape out even one pit. It was just hard on this beast pet. In order to dig this tunnel, it had exhausted all its soul power and was now on the verge of death.

Since the man had already escaped, there was no need for any confrontation. Yin Beiqing already knew whether Guo Lu’s words had been true or false.

This was the first time someone had dared to toy with her so blatantly right under her nose!

Although Yan Yu could not hear Yin Beiqing’s thoughts, her nose suddenly itched, and she sneezed twice.

Who was talking about her?

“Chase him. I want to see him alive, or his corpse if he’s dead.”

“Don’t go yet. He probably isn’t trying to escape right now.” Yan Yu spoke very quickly while her hands moved nimbly. She tore open the hem of her dress and helped bandage Lujia’s injured, still-bleeding horn. “Don’t forget what his goal was in coming here.”

Yin Beiqing immediately understood the meaning behind Yan Yu’s words. Her expression changed drastically. Then the red figure flashed and instantly disappeared from the spot.

Yan Yu picked up Lujia after bandaging its wound. She also picked up the familiar golden jade pendant that had fallen to the side and stuffed it into her arms. Guo Lu must have been so flustered while escaping that he had even dropped this token that could command the beast pet.

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

The maidservant hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she still nodded and led Yan Yu toward the treasure vault.

“Please go faster,” Yan Yu urged.

After hearing that, the maidservant stopped. While Yan Yu was still confused, the maidservant suddenly bent down, grabbed Yan Yu’s arm, and hoisted her over her shoulder. Then, with a light tap of her toes, she began moving at high speed.

The young girl’s steps were indeed very steady, but that did not stop Yan Yu’s soft abdomen from being slammed against her shoulder until Yan Yu nearly wanted to vomit blood.

By the time they arrived, Yan Yu’s entire face had turned three shades paler. She barely managed to stand upright and catch her breath, then handed Lujia to the maidservant. “Help me hold it for a moment.”

The maidservant originally did not want to take it, but after Yan Yu shoved it into her arms, she ran off. Without permission, a lower-ranked maidservant could not enter the treasure vault, so she could only stand at the entrance holding that bloody thing and wait.

The entrance to the treasure vault was guarded by heavy troops, and once inside, countless traps awaited. But since Guo Lu could enter once, he could enter a second time.

He had already transmigrated here for some time and had collected two treasure artifacts: an invisibility cloak and a Mountain-Splitting Axe.

The former allowed him to move unseen and without form. Even A-rank Beast Arts Masters would find it difficult to detect him. The latter was the heirloom treasure of the Youqi tribe, a people skilled at crafting cold weapons. Its material was hard, its axe edge sharp, and its body firm while still retaining flexibility. It could split apart all tangible things in the world: thick wood, iron blocks, and even wind and talisman formations.

However, every swing consumed a tremendous amount of strength. Guo Lu not only had thin soul power, but his physique was also extremely weak. He had to use all his strength just to barely swing it once. He had kept it precisely for the purpose of splitting open the treasure box Yin Beiqing used to hold her Beast Soul Pearl.

Although that treasure box was said to have been cast from the strongest mountain-gold stone in the world, in front of the Mountain-Splitting Axe, it was still as useless as empty air. Once he obtained this Special-rank Beast Soul Pearl, all those who had looked down on him in the past would have to kneel before him, crying and begging for mercy!

Just thinking about it made Guo Lu so excited that he could hardly contain himself.

When Yan Yu rushed in, the box had already been split into two halves and scattered to the side. Her heart jumped in alarm, and she turned her head to look at him.

Guo Lu, wearing a black hood that exposed only his eyes, was holding the axe toward Yin Beiqing with one hand while clutching the blood-red Beast Soul Pearl in the other. “Don’t come over, or I’ll crush it and make sure you suffer the consequences.”

The Beast Soul Pearl and the Beast Arts Master were originally one entity. If it shattered, the main body would die along with it. Yin Beiqing possessed two Beast Soul Pearls. If one shattered, although she would not die immediately like other people, it would still be a devastating injury that struck at her very foundation.

Not to mention that her soul power was already in an extremely chaotic and agitated period right now.

The lips under Yin Beiqing’s mask pressed into a straight line. Her fingers gripped the bone fan so tightly that blue veins rose on the back of her hand.

Yan Yu believed that if Guo Lu were not currently holding Yin Beiqing’s Beast Soul Pearl, he would have already been sliced into pieces by Yin Beiqing’s knife-like glare.

“Brother Guo Lu.” Yan Yu spoke, drawing Guo Lu’s attention, and slowly approached him. “It’s me. I came to save you.”

Guo Lu turned slightly and looked at her warily. “Little Yu? Why are you here?”

He knew Yan Yu’s strength. Forget surviving after fighting Yin Beiqing—even the gate guards were people she could not get close to. Yet now she was standing here alive and well. It was far too strange.

“Of course I came to save you, Brother… Cough! Cough, cough…” Yan Yu coughed softly, looking as if she might faint at any moment, yet the speed beneath her feet did not slow. Instead, it increased. She suddenly shortened the distance between herself and Guo Lu. “I read the letter you wrote me, Brother, and brought rescuers to find you. Now the outside is surrounded by our own people, so she doesn’t dare act recklessly. Hurry and put down your weapon, then come with me.”

“Rescuers?” Guo Lu repeated her words suspiciously.

Yan Yu was now so destitute that not even a maidservant was willing to follow her. Where could she possibly have found rescuers? Moreover, Yin Beiqing, who could fight a hundred people alone, was not someone a few rescuers could suppress.

Could Yan Yu be lying?

But they had known each other for so long, and he was familiar with Yan Yu’s personality. She was so wholeheartedly infatuated with him that she would absolutely never lie to him. Besides, at such a dangerous moment, what reason would she have to deceive him?

In just that moment of distraction, Yin Beiqing caught the opening. Unlike her earlier careless state, this time her attack was swift and ruthless. Her raised left arm swept up a massive whirlwind. The fabric on that arm was instantly torn to shreds in the violent wind, revealing a slender arm wrapped in smooth, powerful, beautifully defined muscle.

Yan Yu watched this scene from the side. Because she was very close, she could instantly feel the chilling killing intent coming from Yin Beiqing, a force that made her whole body shudder. At a very inappropriate time, she remembered a passage from the original novel.

There had once been a wealthy and arrogant person who offered ten thousand gold pieces as a bounty for Yin Beiqing’s head. This happened thirty years ago. More than a hundred elite Beast Arts Masters charged up Langdie Mountain to take her life, but Yin Beiqing dismissed all her subordinates and faced them alone.

In the chaotic battle, she was stabbed several times and covered in wounds. She was even pierced in the back by a spear more than two meters long. Yet she herself seemed completely unable to feel pain. Her movements and expression only became increasingly excited and wild. All 108 people died beneath her fair and beautiful bare hands.

A passing villager saw her walking out of the pile of corpses covered in blood. With her long black hair, blood-red eyes, and the eerie smile at the corner of her mouth, she looked like a malicious ghost crawling out from underground to claim lives. The villager was so frightened that after returning home that night, they had nightmares for three days straight and fell unconscious with a high fever.

Even now, the stench of blood on that land piled with corpses had not yet dispersed. It was also because of that battle that people gave Yin Beiqing the title “Living Yama.” No one had ever seen the face beneath her mask, because everyone who had seen it was already dead.

People had only used the few vague words spoken by the feverish witness to draw a hideous portrait comparable to a hellish evil ghost, and it spread from there.

No one knew whether Yin Beiqing herself truly looked like the portrait. But they did know that she was definitely an extremely dangerous person. The farther one stayed from her, the better.

Yan Yu suddenly felt a wave of lingering fear. Facing such a terrifying existence, where had she found the courage just now to spout nonsense and pretend to be mysterious in front of her?

Only after sensing this woman’s danger up close did Yan Yu realize that it was a thousand times more terrifying than the rumors.

From her upper arm to her wrist, Yin Beiqing had a large, complex, dazzling dark-blue totem. That was the Beast Mark belonging to Yin Beiqing’s first Beast Soul, Guilian.

Ordinary Beast Arts Masters needed complicated incantations and hand seals to cast spiritual arts. But Yin Beiqing, who had countless real combat experiences, no longer needed such cumbersome steps.

“Guilian, tear him apart for me!” At her command, the Beast Soul inside her body emerged in response.

Streams of icy-blue mist rose from the Beast Mark on her left hand and rapidly condensed in the air. A white giant python seven zhang long floated in the air. With just a slight lift of its head, one could feel the terrifying pressure that seemed capable of shattering a person.

Every scale on its body was filled with killing intent, carrying a faint iridescent purple sheen. Its sharp fangs were like icicles hanging from the eaves in winter.

“Hiss—”

Under that gaping, blood-red mouth, Yan Yu shuddered.

This also snapped the dazed Guo Lu back to his senses. Facing the giant python charging toward him, his first reaction was naturally to protect his own life. He threw away the Beast Soul Pearl in his hand, then violently dragged Yan Yu beside him in front of himself as a shield, while he tightly shut his eyes and hid behind her.

Yin Beiqing saw that something was wrong and wanted to stop, but under the drive of her anger, she had poured ten-tenths of her killing intent into this strike. She had not held back at all. If she rashly withdrew it now, she herself would suffer backlash. Most importantly, it was already far too late.

Yan Yu’s breathing stopped. Staring at the ferocious giant mouth so close before her, she finally felt the real sensation of death approaching. Her body uncontrollably turned stiff and cold.

No. There had to be a way.

In less than a second, countless thoughts and possible methods of saving herself flashed through Yan Yu’s mind. The book had indeed described in detail how Beast Arts were used and cultivated, but the Beast Soul inside her body was currently half-dead, her tamed beast pet was severely injured and unconscious, and even if that were not the case, she did not have the soul power to drive her Beast Soul or beast pet at all.

Was she really forced to just stare helplessly and accept all this?

She refused. She refused!

Just as the giant python was about to bite down on Yan Yu’s exquisite and beautiful head, the Beast Soul Pearl that Guo Lu had thrown to the ground seemed to sense something. It suddenly bounced high into the air. A red afterimage flashed, then shot straight into Yan Yu’s forehead with a whoosh. It was so fast that even Yin Beiqing had no time to react.

Yan Yu only felt an enormous surge of energy rushing into her body. It invaded her brain from her forehead, then quickly expanded to her entire body. Like wildfire catching the east wind with gasoline behind it, it burned along her meridians at an unimaginable speed all the way to her limbs. The intense pain and scorching sensation made her knees buckle, and she knelt on the ground, panting heavily in a low voice.

This Special-rank Beast Soul was something even Yin Beiqing could not withstand. How could a sickly weakling with half a foot in the coffin like her easily control it?

Yan Yu’s face turned as white as paper. Her slender fingers supported her body on the ground in a sorry state. Her ten fingers unconsciously clawed hard. Soon, her skin split open and her nails cracked. People said that pain in the fingers pierced straight to the heart, but compared with the torment that seemed about to burn her very soul to ashes, it was hardly worth mentioning.

The Beast Soul rammed wildly and violently inside her body. Only then did it seem to find the correct entrance, rushing all at once toward her chest. The torturous pain slowly faded. Some color returned to Yan Yu’s face, and immediately after, a blood-colored lotus Beast Mark appeared between her brows.

At the same time, a thick transparent dome appeared out of thin air around her, enclosing her within it. And when Yin Beiqing’s full-force attack struck this protective shield, it vanished as though it had disappeared into empty air with a bang.

Yan Yu, kneeling on the ground, finally could not support herself anymore. She turned her head and spat out a mouthful of blood, then collapsed softly.

Before her consciousness vanished, she thought:

Help. She had dirtied two of Yin Beiqing’s carpets with blood in one day. She was going to die miserably, wasn’t she?

Author’s Note:

Golden finger No. 1 acquired.

P.S. Since some readers feel that arranging for Yan to obtain Yin’s Beast Soul Pearl is not very different from the original novel arranging for the male lead to steal it, I’ll explain a little. But this explanation involves spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled, just know that what this plot is meant to express is that under the same opportunity, Yan-mei will make a completely different choice from the original male lead. She does not harm Yin’s interests. On the contrary, she gives her more.

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Why must Yan be allowed to obtain this golden finger?

Because Yin’s current body cannot bear two Beast Soul Pearls. If it drags on any longer, she will die. This is the key point. Plot-wise, this Beast Soul Pearl must temporarily be taken over by a person or object, but the treasure artifact has already been destroyed by the male lead.

Also, after Yan-mei obtains the Beast Soul Pearl, what she thinks about is how to heal Yin’s body as quickly as possible and return the Beast Soul Pearl to her. It is not just a thought—she really does it. The Beast Soul Pearl is returned to Yin after the trip to Yaochi, and Yan contributes the most during that trip.

Also, this golden finger does not simply refer to the Beast Soul Pearl itself. What truly takes effect is the Soul Domain that Yan unlocks after this Beast Soul Pearl enters her body, because Yin would not allow it.

Finally, the medicinal herbs grown in the Soul Domain are also an important condition that makes the divine physician agree to save Yin. So this golden finger truly achieves its greatest effect only when obtained by Yan, who knows Healing Arts. Moreover, she never intends to monopolize it. She returns it—voluntarily.

Yan-mei clearly knows that Yin at this time is very dangerous. Even while being threatened with a hand around her neck, she still firmly says she wants to stay in Langdie Valley, because she wants to save Yin. She is very clear about the meaning of her coming to this world. This is a major difference between her and the original male lead.