How could anyone be willing to get close to someone like me

"Where are you going? I'll go with you." Jiang Xinyao pulled at Qin Hao's sleeve, her eyes full of reluctance. Su Qingyue beside her was also looking at him with expectation, clearly hoping that Qin Hao would take her along as well.

Qin Hao glanced at the two of them and put on a stern face. "I don't like women who are too controlling."

His words made the two women freeze. Jiang Xinyao quickly withdrew her hand from his sleeve, blinking her large eyes as a layer of aggrieved mist quickly gathered in them. Su Qingyue's reaction was more restrained, but her trembling eyelashes revealed the disappointment in her heart.

Seeing their pitiful and aggrieved looks, Qin Hao's heart softened. He rewarded each of them with a kiss. "Be good and wait for me to come back. Whether we can take things a step further will depend on your performance."

His words made a bright light burst forth in the two women's eyes. Take things a step further? Was it what they were thinking?

Jiang Xinyao was the first to express her stance. "I will be obedient."

Not to be outdone, Su Qingyue quickly followed up, "As long as it's what you say, I will obey unconditionally."

Seeing them like this, Qin Hao finally relaxed. He spoke to the system in his mind: "Dog System, take me to Liu Ruyan."

[Ding! Order accepted successfully. Congratulations to the host for obtaining Liu Ruyan's identical Nine-Turn Samsara Supreme Body.]

[Ding! This teleportation requires crossing the river of time. Please wait patiently, host.]

"Buzz—"

Qin Hao felt an ancient and powerful shackle within his body instantly shatter, fully awakening some supreme power slumbering deep within his bloodline.

Every drop of his blood, every inch of his bones, and every single cell began to violently vibrate and roar. His dantian's spiritual sea, already vast as an ocean, expanded madly.

Spiritual energy surged like raging waves, undergoing another qualitative leap to become even more condensed and pure.

After fusing with the Nine-Turn Samsara Supreme Body, Qin Hao's Dual Pupils also underwent a transformation. Deep within his pupils, amidst the scenes of chaotic creation and destruction, countless tiny, continuously cycling rings appeared—the marks of samsara.

The resonance between his Innate Dao Body and the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth became even clearer, as if he himself was a materialized node of the Great Dao within the cycle of reincarnation.

His Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart beat even more powerfully, each throb aligning with some profound truth of the universe, doubling his deduction capabilities.

The majestic vitality of the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Body also absorbed a trace of the immortal, indestructible, and nirvanic true meaning of samsara. His life force and recovery abilities reached an appalling level.

"Is this Liu Ruyan's Nine-Turn Samsara Supreme Body? How terrifying! The physical changes are only secondary. The most exaggerated part is that this Nine-Turn Samsara Supreme Body possesses nine lives. Every time I die, I can be reborn and return to the point in time when the physique was awakened!"

"With the nine lives of the Nine-Turn Samsara Supreme Body, plus the nine lives of the Nine Tribulations Sword, I now have eighty-one lives! Haha, I probably couldn't die right now even if I wanted to!"

"Boom—!"

The aura around Qin Hao rose uncontrollably.

Third level of the Soul Formation Realm, fourth level, fifth level, sixth level...

He continuously broke through three minor realms before finally stabilizing the momentum of his breakthrough under his own suppression.

[Ding! Teleportation commencing.]

Qin Hao felt himself enveloped by an invisible power that transcended the laws of time and space. He saw countless fragments of the past and even faintly glimpsed some shadows of the future. This sensation left him feeling indescribably profound.

......

Late Immortal Ancient Era, the Lower Three Heavens of the Three Realms and Nine Heavens, Northern Region's Sea of Clouds Kingdom, Starfall City.

A faint smell of blood permeated the air. The city square was packed with a dense crowd of people. Everyone's gaze was focused on a temporary altar erected in the center of the square, which was carved with eerie, blood-red runes.

Kneeling in the center of the altar was a young girl.

She looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a plain, washed-out cloth dress. Her figure was so thin and frail that it seemed a gust of wind could blow her over.

Her jet-black hair hung down messily, and her delicate, peerless little face was completely devoid of color. Her beautiful large eyes were filled with numbness and unwillingness.

Liu Ruyan's hands were tied behind her back with coarse hemp rope, leaving bloody marks on her slender wrists.

"Jinx! Ever since she was born, she first cursed her parents to death, and then her grandparents. She even caused our Starfall City to never see a single drop of rain again, making the spiritual energy thin out! She's a complete jinx!"

"Smack!"

Someone in the crowd threw a rotten egg at her head. The foul-smelling yolk flowed down her pale cheeks, dampening her messy black hair.

"Jinx! My son just showed some kindness and threw her a steamed bun, and the very next day he suffered a qi deviation during his cultivation! It was all caused by her curse!"

"Splash—"

A basin of dirty water, mixed with who knows what and accompanied by a strong stench, was splashed from the side. It completely drenched half of Liu Ruyan's body. The cloth dress clung tightly to her, making her look even more emaciated and frail.

The foul dirty water seeped into her wounds, making her break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

"The Liu family should have sacrificed her long ago. Keeping her alive is just a disaster!"

Curses washed over like a tide, one wave higher than the last, mixed with vicious hexes and cathartic roars. People with contorted faces pointed at the shivering Liu Ruyan on the altar, as if she were the root of all misfortune.

It wasn't just words; their actions grew increasingly vile. More filth was thrown up—stinking eggs, rotten fruit peels, and even excrement found from who knows where fell like rain upon Liu Ruyan's body, head, and face.

Liu Ruyan numbly endured it all. At first, she had felt humiliation, anger, and indignation, but as time passed, the last faint spark of hope supporting her in her heart was completely extinguished by this endless malice and coldness.

"Yes, I am a jinx. Everything they say is true."

Her parents had both contracted a strange disease and passed away while she was still a baby. Her grandparents had exhausted their family wealth to raise her, fell ill from overwork, and passed away just a few days ago.

Perhaps she really was a jinx, a mistake that shouldn't have been born. Perhaps her death would be a relief for everyone.

"I really shouldn't be alive."

"For someone like me, living is a sin in itself."

"It'll be fine once I'm dead. Once I'm dead, everything will be over."

"Being sacrificed... is fine too. At least I can still be of some meager value. It's just that I still want to see what that person who said he would be my rental Dao Companion looks like."

A few days ago, when Liu Ruyan was beaten by the Liu family, dizzy from hunger, and curled up in the corner of a dilapidated woodshed, she had picked up a jade pendant. The jade pendant transmitted a message saying that someone was willing to be her temporary Dao Companion and could solve any trouble for her.

Thinking of this, Liu Ruyan revealed a self-deprecating and bitter smile. A Dao Companion?

How could anyone be willing to get close to someone like her? Wanting to become her Dao Companion was even more impossible. Even a temporary one would be impossible, right?