Su Bailian is the inheritor of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Art?
How is that possible?!
"Chu Yu!! Have you lost your mind?!"
Wang Yan and the Devouring Sky Spirit Ox were the first to react. Without hesitation, both charged toward Chu Yu.
"Chu Yu!! Stop this at once!!"
Wang Yan roared, his body erupting with earthen-yellow light, resembling a war god descending from the heavens. His broadsword, infused with immense force, slashed straight at Chu Yu.
Not to be outdone, the Devouring Sky Spirit Ox surged with azure energy, its hooves kicking up dust as it barreled toward Chu Yu with a furious bellow, "Moo!!"
Chu Yu, frantic, sidestepped the ox's charge and raised her sword to block Wang Yan's strike.
A deafening clang rang out as sparks flew from the clash of metal.
The battle reached a stalemate.
Su Bailian, trembling, quickly hid behind the two, whimpering, "Brother Wang Yan, Ox Ox, save me! Sister Chu Yu must have misunderstood me!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Chu Yu's expression darkened. Gnashing her teeth, she snapped, "Shut your mouth, you witch!"
"Stop pretending!"
"Eek—!" Su Bailian paled in fright.
Chu Yu finally understood.
This had to be the truth.
Why had everyone in her past life sided with Su Bailian?
Was it because she was cute?
No!
That was completely wrong!
If it came to charm or cuteness,
how could she, Chu Yu, lose to some lowly wench from the mortal world?
There was only one answer—
Su Bailian... was the inheritor of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Art, capable of bewitching minds!!!
With this realization, she glared at Wang Yan and shouted, "Second Brother, step aside!"
"Su Bailian is the inheritor of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Art! She’s already killed three disciples of the Qingyan Sect! If you keep protecting her, you’re siding with a demonic cultivator!"
Wang Yan frowned deeply but didn’t relent. Glancing back at the pitiful Su Bailian, he couldn’t bring himself to believe Chu Yu’s words.
"Chu Yu," he said gravely, "you can’t take a life based on your word alone. This is too reckless!"
"Today, we will protect Su Bailian!"
The Devouring Sky Spirit Ox stomped its hoof in agreement: "Moo!!"
Chu Yu’s heart turned to ice.
After Su Bailian’s arrival, even her own sworn brother no longer trusted her.
As she fended off Wang Yan and the ox’s attacks, she yelled, "I saw it with my own eyes! How could it be false?"
"In the stone chamber, Su Bailian drained the spiritual energy of two Qingyan Sect disciples right in front of me and another masked man!"
"Ye Qun and another Qingyan Sect disciple are also missing!"
"This is clearly the work of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Art!"
The Devouring Sky Spirit Ox snorted and suddenly lunged, its massive horns aimed at Chu Yu: "Moo!!"
Chu Yu’s eyes flashed with irritation.
Elder Gong’s spirit ox was a tough opponent. With both Wang Yan and the ox under Su Bailian’s spell, killing the witch would be difficult.
Her heart sank, but her movements remained agile. Dodging like a swallow, she brandished her gleaming sword. "You fools! Once she drains your spiritual energy, it’ll be too late for regrets!"
The three clashed fiercely, their battle growing more intense. The surrounding air seemed to ignite from the violent spiritual fluctuations, and the ground was littered with craters from their exchanges.
The onlookers watched in shock.
Su Bailian, a demonic inheritor?
Wasn’t that too outrageous?
After all... she looked like such a delicate girl.
Meanwhile, Su Bailian swallowed hard and suddenly realized what to do.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried out, "Stop! Please stop fighting!"
"I don’t know anything about this demonic art Sister Chu Yu is talking about!"
"I got separated from Brother Ye Qun and the others at the left passage and ended up outside!"
"So I have no idea what happened!"
"Sister Chu Yu—"
"Shut up!"
Before she could finish, Chu Yu cut her off. "Don’t you dare make excuses!"
Seizing an opening, she slashed a sword beam toward Su Bailian. "Today, you die!"
"!!!"
Su Bailian’s face drained of color. What the hell? Why is she still trying to kill me?!
You’re so unreasonable!
Crap!
Wang Yan’s eyes widened in alarm as he tried to shield Su Bailian, but he was too slow to intercept the attack.
The Devouring Sky Spirit Ox let out a furious roar: "Moo!!"
In the next instant, a talisman on Su Bailian—given to her by Elder Gong—flared with light. The ox vanished from its spot and reappeared in front of the talisman.
Squelch!!
"Moo!"
Chu Yu’s sword beam sliced off the ox’s thick tail.
Thud!
The spirit ox collapsed.
Su Bailian’s eyes reddened as she threw herself onto the ox, wailing, "Ox Ox!!"
"Don’t die!!"
The Devouring Sky Spirit Ox gave her a reassuring look. "Moo..."
Wang Yan sighed in relief.
The ox’s body was resilient—even a severed tail could regrow.
Just as Chu Yu gritted her teeth and prepared to strike again—
Another scream echoed from afar.
"Help!! Someone help!!"
"The inheritor of the Soul-Devouring Demonic Art!! He’s here!!"
Another inheritor?!
Chu Yu froze.
Everyone turned toward the source.
A disheveled man, limping and covered in dirt, stumbled toward them in terror. "Save me!!"
"Our elders and senior brothers... they’re all dead!!"
"I’m the only one who escaped!"
Wang Yan frowned and turned to Chu Yu. "Chu Yu, are you sure the inheritor you saw..."
He pointed at the tearful Su Bailian. "...is her?"
Chu Yu’s brow furrowed as she fell silent.
Logically, there should only be one inheritor.
So what was this new development?
Whoosh!
The Sword Immortal and Zen Master, still unable to break the formation, floated over.
They addressed the newcomer, "Young friend, is the inheritor you speak of..."
They gestured at Su Bailian. "...this one?"
The man turned and shook his head frantically, clutching his head in fear. "No!"
"It was a man with frostbite-like scars on his face!"
"He... he called himself Ye Qun!!"
Ye Qun!!
Boom!
Chu Yu’s mind blanked.
How was Ye Qun involved now?
Then who was the one she saw?
Just as she was puzzling over this—
"Fellow Daoist Chu."
A voice called out to her.
Chu Yu turned.
The masked man—who had claimed to be injured and stayed behind instead of joining her pursuit—approached.
In his hand was a glowing luminous stone and a Qingyan Sect token.
He looked at her gravely. "I checked the left passage Ye Qun mentioned."
"But there were two branching paths there."
"At one of the forks in the path, I found Li Yue's token and Ye Qun's luminescent stone."
"There were two pools of black blood."
!!!!!
Chu Yu froze.
What in the world... was going on?

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!

't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.