Only by Devoting Myself to You

"I am stepping on you not to fulfill your Dao, nor to satisfy your twisted desires."

Gu Yang looked into her eyes, emphasizing every word with a coldness that induced despair:

"It is simply because you are in my way."

"Furthermore..."

"What I want are valuable chess pieces."

"Not a piece of trash that only knows how to grovel on the ground, begging for mercy, and finding a sense of existence through being abused."

Boom!

These words were far more ruthless and venomous than the kick from moments ago.

They directly negated all of Ji Shuanghua's value as a cultivator, and as a human being.

Ji Shuanghua's pupils contracted violently, her face instantly turning as pale as a sheet of paper.

Rejected...

Swatted away like an annoying fly...

"Ha... haha..."

She lay sprawled on the ground, letting out a low laugh as tears mixed with blood dripped down.

"Trash..."

She muttered to herself, her body going limp on the ground as if drained of all its strength.

Gu Yang stood up, not sparing her another glance.

"Do not follow me."

...

Gu Yang ignored the crazy, self-deluding woman behind him.

He walked to the center of the crystallized ground.

The power of the Great Sun True Fire was too overbearing; Lin Junchang had been reduced to nothing, not even leaving ashes behind.

Yet, amidst the ruins, there was a broken, semi-transparent blood-colored eggshell.

It was the remains left behind after the Blood Demon Fetus broke out of its shell.

And deep within those remains curled a naked, battered body.

Lin Qingwan.

She actually had not died.

Logically speaking, the formation of the Blood Demon Fetus would suck dry the last trace of the mother's life force.

But at this moment, although Lin Qingwan's breath was as weak as a gossamer thread and her heartbeat had almost stopped, there was actually a faint yet stubborn vitality circulating within her body.

Gu Yang stepped forward and reached out to press his fingers against Lin Qingwan's wrist to sense her condition.

So that was it.

He sensed that a trace of the Great Sun True Fire aura, which the host had injected earlier, remained in Lin Qingwan's body. It had protected her heart meridian, allowing her to luckily survive when the Blood Demon Fetus was forcibly extracted.

Gu Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, she was an NPC that handed out rewards.

Previous intelligence indicated that after the Strange Fire Conference, the placenta of the Blood Demon Fetus was left in Lin Qingwan's body. Later, the City Lord of Crimson Flame City absorbed the placenta, increasing his cultivation by a margin and saving years of bitter training.

If she died, the loss of the 50 Destiny Points for intercepting the reward would make Gu Yang's heart ache.

But here came the problem: how should he extract this placenta to obtain the Destiny Points?

Better to save her first.

Gu Yang took out a Rejuvenation Pill from his storage bag, crushed it, and sent its medicinal power into Lin Qingwan's mouth.

He then transferred a trace of extremely weak, diluted supreme yang spiritual energy to protect her heart meridian.

Taking a loose gray robe from his storage bag, he covered her exposed, alluring figure.

Afterward, Gu Yang picked Lin Qingwan up and left.

...

The Crimson Flame Floating Platform returned to a dead silence.

A long while later.

Ji Shuanghua, lying sprawled in the muddy water, finally moved.

She slowly climbed up from the ground, her movements as stiff as a marionette.

She lifted her head and looked in the direction where Gu Yang had disappeared. In her previously unfocused pupils, a terrifying light gradually gathered.

It does not matter.

Since you refuse to take me in, I will just follow you myself.

Wherever you go, I will follow.

...

Crimson Flame City, Western District, a low-profile inn named Yuelai.

Inside the Heaven-grade room, the formations were fully activated, isolating all the noise and prying eyes from the outside world.

The lighting in the room was dim, with only a night-luminescent pearl emitting a pale, cold glow.

The air was filled with a faint scent of blood, along with a unique lingering fragrance left behind after the Immaculate Spirit Source was devoured.

Gu Yang sat cross-legged on an old armchair, his fingertips tapping rhythmically against the armrest.

Tap, tap, tap.

His gaze landed calmly on the unconscious woman on the bed.

Lin Qingwan.

The Daoist robe looked baggy on her petite body, the collar slightly open, revealing a breathtakingly pale collarbone.

She was trembling.

Even in her coma, her brows were tightly furrowed, and her hands unconsciously gripped the bedsheets beneath her so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Gu Yang summoned the system panel, his eyes fixing on the incomplete task reward.

[Intercept Reward: Destiny Points 50.]

[Condition: Obtain the placental essence left behind by the Blood Demon Fetus.]

"This is a bit troublesome."

Gu Yang frowned slightly.

Earlier, to save her life, that trace of Great Sun True Fire had protected Lin Qingwan's heart meridian.

But precisely because of this, when the Blood Demon Fetus was forcibly extracted, the last bit of foundation connecting to the mother—which the system judged as the placental essence—was forcibly left inside Lin Qingwan's body.

This thing was now stuck deep within her dantian, entangled with her origin.

If he forcefully extracted it, given Lin Qingwan's current weak state, she would definitely die.

If he killed the goose that laid the golden eggs...

Gu Yang shook his head.

Although he was self-serving, he was not a psychopath.

Killing an innocent person for 50 Destiny Points was something he could not do.

Just as Gu Yang was pondering.

On the bed, those two rows of long eyelashes, like raven feathers, suddenly fluttered violently.

Lin Qingwan woke up.

She did not let out a scream, nor did she look around in confusion.

Those eyes, which had once been as hollow as stagnant water, slowly opened, revealing a clarity that followed dead silence.

She turned her head, her gaze landing precisely on Gu Yang.

There was no fear, no shyness.

There was only a feeling akin to a drowning person seeing the only piece of driftwood in the dark... clinging to it desperately.

"You're awake?"

Gu Yang's voice was flat. He poured a cup of cold tea and casually waved his hand.

Supported by spiritual energy, the teacup hovered steadily near Lin Qingwan's lips.

Lin Qingwan struggled to prop her body up. She did not drink the tea, but instead stared straight at Gu Yang.

"Fellow Daoist Li..."

Her voice was hoarse, as if polished by sandpaper, "No, perhaps I should call you... Benefactor."

Gu Yang raised an eyebrow: "You're much calmer than I imagined."

"Calm?"

A miserable smile tugged at the corners of Lin Qingwan's mouth. Tears slid silently down her cheeks, dripping onto the gray Daoist robe and spreading out into a dark flower.

"My father wanted to use me to refine pills, and my brother wanted to eat my flesh and blood."

"Inside that blood cocoon, even though I couldn't move or speak, I could hear and feel everything..."

She raised her hand and pressed it against her flat lower abdomen.

A man-eating monster had once been a parasite there, and that monster was her entire family's hope.

"That home is gone."

"That eldest miss named Lin Qingwan was also personally killed by Lin Zhennan yesterday."

She suddenly threw off the blanket, ignoring her body's weakness, and stumbled out of bed.

With a thud.

She knelt before Gu Yang, her forehead knocking heavily against the cold floor.

"Benefactor saved my life, a grace greater than the heavens."

"Now Qingwan has no family to turn to and possesses nothing of value, I only have..."

Lin Qingwan straightened up, and with trembling hands, untied her sash.

The gray Daoist robe slipped off.

That body, like mutton-fat white jade, emanated a fragile and holy luster in the dim lighting.