This world was just a massive, melodramatic romance novel.
She was merely an NPC scurrying around the gossip field, playing a minor role to push the key plot points forward.
“Once you reached eighteen and your host body matured, the Mayfly Wood would begin draining the essence of your blood relatives. In this lifetime, I am your blood relative, and I've stumbled onto the path of cultivation. Therefore, I must be the most suitable living human pillar for you.”
Nan Zhi expressionlessly pulled her hand out of Immortal Danxia's grasp, her face cold.
“So you anticipated long ago that the eldest daughter of the Nan family would become your living human pillar and put an end to your suffering?
If those wretched relatives of the Nan family hadn't exposed the anomaly in your soul this time, you wouldn't have suddenly grown this weak. No wonder...”
She finally understood why, on her Favorability panel, Nan Yi's Favorability was the only one at ten-heart.
Immortal Danxia viewed her as the sole redemption and hope in her agonizingly long wait.
Honestly, if she were Immortal Danxia and had been targeted by a lunatic like Daoist Qinglong, she would have broken down and wanted to die too.
What romance, what forced love, what overbearing tragic romance? Regardless of gender, as long as one party was unwilling, it was essentially a ruthless exploitation where the superior viewed the inferior as mere resource.
When mortal relationships fell apart, they still had the option to part ways amicably and wish each other well.
Immortal Danxia did not.
She was truly trapped, unable to find release generation after generation.
Unable to live, yet unable to die.
The moment she opened her eyes, it was her next life.
Parents, relatives, spouses, children—anyone with a blood relation to her met a miserable end.
If she reincarnated as a girl, Daoist Qinglong would bring her back to the Demon Suppression Monastery, where she would be harassed from childhood, and once she grew up, she would likely be locked up to bear children under the guise of “love.”
In countless dramas and novels, there were tragic, multi-lifetime xianxia romances where, after endless cycles of reincarnation, the lovers would always find their way back to each other.
But if placed in reality, what kind of horror story would that be?
It was practically a rule-based horror story.
“So, you're hoping that after hearing your tragic tale, I'll be moved by sympathy and willingly agree to become your living human pillar, nourishing you until death?”
Nan Zhi raised an eyebrow. If the person before her showed even the slightest hint of wanting that, she would immediately wrap herself in her Spirit Swallowing Grass blanket and flee.
Daoist Qinglong was far too arrogant.
Although she was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, her escape skills were superb. If she hadn't wanted to see what these two were plotting, she would have fled long ago.
“No, no, no.”
Immortal Danxia's eyes reddened slightly, her face displaying an unnatural madness and excitement as the rootlets on her lower insect body flailed in the air.
“I want to ask you to kill me.”
Nan Zhi: “...”
Both of you are sick.
And very seriously so.
You need treatment.
...
The very instant Immortal Danxia spoke those words, Nan Zhi sensed an overbearing pressure rapidly approaching from midair. In just a flash, Daoist Qinglong's formidable aura appeared outside the courtyard.
“Do not be afraid, he dares not enter.”
Immortal Danxia sneered, calling out loudly, “For three hundred years, whenever he appeared before me, I would immediately end my own life.”
Standing outside, Daoist Qinglong remained silent.
“Wait, let me wrap my head around this.”
Nan Zhi massaged her forehead and could not help but ask in earnest:
“So, three hundred years ago, Daoist Qinglong made a deal with the monk Huiyuan to steal your soul from the Underworld and place it inside the Mayfly Wood for reincarnation.
Because you were unwilling to drain the life force of mortals, you chose to end your own life before the age of eighteen in every lifetime, dying young. In response, Daoist Qinglong refined evil pills and gathered wicked items to extend your life.
But because you practiced some secret technique of your Qingjing Sect, you wishfully believed that I could kill you right in front of a Nascent Soul Great Circle cultivator, which is why you hinted for me to send our parents away so you could make an end of it?”
Without waiting for a response, Nan Zhi threw out another question:
“Do you know the background of the monk Huiyuan?”
“I do not know much. I only know that he was originally an eminent monk of the Jin Dynasty and the abbot of a Buddhist temple with a hundred monks. One night, bandits raided the temple. To guide and convert the bandits, Huiyuan sat in the main hall and chanted scriptures without cease.
Yet, the bandits were not converted; instead, they set fire to the temple. Huiyuan led his monks in chanting scriptures amidst the raging flames, after which he ascended to immortality.”
Immortal Danxia sighed softly, her eyes desolate.
“He, too, was once an accomplished eminent monk, but now he has fallen into the demonic path because of his obsession, becoming a fallen immortal. This shows how deeply obsession harms people. If one cannot let go, it will inevitably become a heart demon.”
“Then your life and death is Daoist Qinglong's heart demon.”
Nan Zhi sensed waves of killing intent permeating the air, hurriedly saying:
“Even a Nascent Soul cultivator cannot destroy the Mayfly Wood, a treasure capable of transcending reincarnation. Not even the ghost messengers can do anything to you, so what can I possibly do?
I heard that Master Mo is also from the Qingjing Sect. Why don't you seek his help? Wouldn't that be much safer?”
The killing intent remained powerful, but it noticeably lessened.
“Dragging you into being wanted by the Demon Suppression Division is also because of me.”
Immortal Danxia loathed her current appearance to the extreme, unwilling to look at herself even a moment longer.
“The sins on my body can no longer be cleansed. In my current state, I have no face to meet my former sect.
I know Qinglong will surely force your hand. But you can rest assured. The only reason I stayed until now was to say these words to you—”
Before he could finish, he gave a brilliant smile, suddenly produced a broken pottery shard, and sliced it forcefully across his neck, his eyes shining brightly.
He whispered:
“Eldest Sister, I beg of you... you must... you must find a chance to kill me.”
He had used almost every ounce of his strength.
Blood gushed out, dyeing the world red.
“Get lost!!”
Qinglong's figure suddenly appeared inside the room. With a sweep of his large hand, a gust of wind threw Nan Zhi out of the house.
“Boom—”
“Boom, boom—”
“Boom!”
Like an ant picked up and casually discarded, Nan Zhi flew back several zhang with her body bent, crashing through over a dozen rooms before barely coming to a halt.
Inside the room, the Taoist cradled Nan Yi, whose neck was gushing blood, his eyes filled with sorrow.
“Xia Niang! Why must we come to this?”
“You and I are Dao companions, a divine couple recognized by heaven and earth.”
“I offer my heart to you, offering it to you entirely. What more could you possibly be unwilling about?”
“Mayflies shaking the heavens, transcending reincarnation... I offered you the supreme Great Dao for your own good. Cultivation brings freedom, and the Great Dao brings longevity. This is something countless people can only dream of!”
“Stop fooling around.”
As he spoke, his gaze was like that of someone looking at an unruly child, and he let out a soft sigh.
“Xia Niang, stop fooling around.”
“Hahaha... Bullshit! Qinglong! You and I severed all ties long ago!”
Nan Yi's blood drained rapidly, yet his eyes were filled with the sheer pleasure of revenge.
As he lost blood, the youth's face grew paler and paler, yet he felt incredibly liberated.
“To hell with your Great Dao! To hell with your Dao companions! Turning me into this state, where I can only survive by draining flesh and blood—even I find myself disgusting!
I do not seek immortality! I do not seek longevity! I only wish for death!”
He shrieked, as if using the last of his strength. Two trails of bloody tears seeped from the corners of his eyes, making him look as hideous as a vengeful ghost as he turned to shout in Nan Zhi's direction:
“Eldest Sister! Kill me!!”
“Nan Zhi! Kill me! Kill me, ahhh!”
“Eldest Sister! Eldest Sister! You promised me!!”
Nan Zhi stood up from the ruins, the expression on her face obscured.
...
...
In the end, Nan Yi did not die.
Daoist Qinglong was, after all, a Nascent Soul powerhouse. When Nan Yi had committed suicide in the past, no perfect living human pillar had appeared yet anyway, so Qinglong had simply let him be.
Only this time, there was Nan Zhi.
He seemed certain that Nan Zhi, who had achieved Foundation Establishment in less than a year, was the absolute perfect living human pillar.
“Three days from now, I will plant the Mayfly Wood in you.
Once the Mayfly Wood matures in the future, This Venerable can make an exception and accept you as my closed-door disciple. You may choose any cultivation techniques and resources as you please, and I will assist you all the way to ascension.
As long as you are alive, Xia Niang will no longer be angry with me.”
Daoist Qinglong cradled the unconscious, insect-bodied Nan Yi, hovering in midair as he looked down at Nan Zhi, seemingly trying very hard to suppress the killing intent in his eyes.
“If you are still unwilling by then, do not blame me for capturing those mortals one by one. I will skin them and extract their bones right before your eyes, using their flesh to make candles and refining their souls into human puppets—”
“Does the Temple Master truly believe that Immortal Danxia's resistance all these years, using death to show her resolve, is nothing but her throwing a tantrum?”
Nan Zhi truly could not comprehend Daoist Qinglong's train of thought and could not help but question him:
“She is so resolute, with her heart set on death. Why won't you grant her wish?”
“How could you mortals possibly comprehend the deep affection between Danxia and me?”
Qinglong lowered his eyes, looking at the unconscious Nan Yi in his arms with utmost tenderness. The fake smile finally slipped from his face, and a trace of soft affection flashed through his phoenix eyes.
“Danxia and I are destined Dao companions. No matter what she becomes, in my eyes, she will always be the Immortal Danxia of old—bright as the moon, with the posture of an immortal and the grace of a phoenix.
She does not understand This Venerable's painstaking efforts and has grown distant from me. But one day, when she and I ascend in a cloud of light, she will surely change her mind and realize that everything I did was for her sake.”
Nan Zhi did not find it touching; she only felt a dull ache in her stomach.
Ten lifetimes, unable to live, unable to die.
Such a suffocating and despairing emotion.
Mingled with countless human lives, thousands of innocent commoners, under Qinglong's so-called “love,” had been turned into nutrients for the Mayfly Wood, nourishing a heart demon.
It did not move her in the slightest; it only made her want to vomit.
Rate on N.U.
