When the Villain is Bound to the Female Lead System

Chapter 83

Yu Yi first found an inn to settle her crane senior brother, then returned to the rocky beach by the sea.

She rarely had opportunities to temper her lightning spiritual root before, and now with such a natural lightning field, she certainly couldn't miss this chance.

As for the matters concerning Xue Mingyuan and Xue Chenjing, they were merely external affairs, not worth her worry to the point of missing an opportunity to strengthen herself.

Yu Yi closed her eyes, silently reciting the Heart Purification Technique to clear her mind of complicated thoughts. She leaped into the crisscrossing lightning like a sharp sword, cutting through the fierce sea winds straight into the depths of the lightning.

The lightning energy coursed through her meridians throughout her body, finally gathering in her lightning spiritual root in her dantian, before being refined and sent into her golden core. Her lightning spiritual root gradually grew stronger, progressing from initially only being able to absorb the power of one lightning strike to gradually being able to withstand two, then three strikes.

This rocky beach was shrouded in lightning strikes; the closer one got to the Immortal Ascension Platform on the reef island in the sea, the larger the lightning pillars became, and their might grew more terrifying. The thunderstorm had periods of intensity and times when the clouds dispersed and lightning ceased.

During these times, one could rest and digest the lightning energy within before preparing for the next round. Yu Yi decided not to return at all, staying continuously in this lightning field, becoming entranced by her growing spiritual root, the surge of spiritual power within her golden core, and her increasing strength.

In the dense lightning, it became impossible to distinguish between day and night. When the lightning ceased, sometimes it was daylight, sometimes deep night. Yu Yi had lost track of how many days had passed.

All cultivators who came here to temper their spiritual roots were the same, sharing an unspoken understanding not to interfere with each other, focusing solely on themselves.

At the base of the Immortal Ascension Platform, the lightning pillars were no longer ordinary lightning, containing hints of heavenly might. Though compared to true tribulation lightning, their power was naturally far inferior. But few people could make it this far.

Climbing the Immortal Ascension Platform on a clear day wasn't particularly difficult, though on such days it was merely an ordinary stone platform. Only during thunderstorms did this stone platform truly become the Immortal Ascension Platform.

Dense clouds pressed overhead, with lightning illuminating all four sides, making it not dark at all, allowing clear visibility of the platform's surroundings. Called a platform, it was actually a rather large reef island, bare on top and no different from other reefs.

When Yu Yi stepped onto the Immortal Ascension Platform, the thunder suddenly quieted around her ears. She hadn't expected this place to be like the eye of a hurricane - lightning and thunder outside, but extraordinarily calm at the center.

Though no lightning pillars struck here, the air was compressed with dense lightning energy, which surged toward her the moment she stepped onto the Immortal Ascension Platform.

Yu Yi summoned her green bamboo sword, forming hand seals behind it, accepting all incoming energy into her spiritual root without resistance.

Having reached this point, she had no possibility of retreat - either she would consume all the lightning energy here and make it her own, or she would fail to absorb it and be struck down to charred bones, dying in both body and dao.

She admitted there was an element of gambling in this. But as cultivators who defied heaven's will, every step upward was a gamble.

Yu Yi's lightning spiritual root began rapidly growing again. Each time she felt her dantian was about to burst, her spiritual root would, in that desperate moment, struggle to sprout new branches to digest the lightning energy flooding into her body.

Small electric arcs began appearing on the green bamboo sword, gradually growing stronger, developing from formless energy into vague outlines.

Perhaps sensing something, the Vermillion Crane Sword Spirit within the green bamboo sword began to vibrate, emitting clear crane calls from within the blade.

The sword mark on Yu Yi's brow resonated with the green bamboo sword. Her dark pupils reflected the flashing arcs on the sword, where scales and claws emerged from the lightning, forming a golden dragon coiling around the green bamboo sword.

The lightning dragon took shape, sprouted eyes, raised its head and roared like thunder, as all the lightning energy poured into its eyes. The surrounding lightning energy suddenly thinned, the lightning pillars on the rocky beach gradually decreased, the dense clouds dispersed, and a pillar of heavenly light shone down, perfectly encompassing the Immortal Ascension Platform.

The lightning dragon spirit emerged from the sword body, circled around Yu Yi once, then raised its head and shot straight up toward the sky, crashing into a white jade gate that had appeared in the clouds at some unknown time.

Unexpectedly, that legend turned out to be true?

Those with destiny could see the heavenly gates open a crack on the Immortal Ascension Platform, glimpsing the wondrous sights of the immortal realm beyond.

Yu Yi stood on the reef island, looking up at the layered dense clouds overhead, her divine consciousness leaving her physical body to shoot skyward with the sword spirit.

Passing through that magnificent white jade gate, Yu Yi beheld the scene beyond the heavenly gates. However, what she saw could hardly be equated with the legendary "ten thousand paths of golden light rolling with red rainbows, thousand streams of auspicious energy spurting purple mist" of the celestial palace.

Yu Yi saw only dilapidated palaces, broken celestial pillars, shattered rainbow bridges, sparse auspicious clouds, dried-up heavenly pools, withered flowers, and sacred beasts reduced to bones.

Not a single deity could be seen in the celestial palace.

Yu Yi's divine consciousness plummeted from the clouds with the sword spirit, unknowingly entering another realm where all she could see were grim skeletons - human forms, beast forms, half-human half-beast forms, and many things she couldn't even identify.

These skeletons were all enormously huge. Yu Yi's consciousness weaved through them as if traveling through a forest of white bones.

Where the wind passed, sand scraped across the scattered skeletons with a rustling sound. Looking closer, she realized the flowing sand was actually bone dust from weathered remains, with armor and weapons half-buried in the bone sand reflecting cold, sharp light.

This was a battlefield, and an extremely brutal one at that. Residual demonic energy and divine power still entangled in this realm occasionally formed mirages like heat haze, recreating that fierce battle between gods and demons from ten thousand years ago.

Yu Yi's consciousness passed through one such mirage, coming face-to-face with the nine-headed demon god Xiangliao.

Its massive heads were like small mountains, opening huge mouths with fangs like celestial pillars, flicking out bright red snake tongues with forked tips thicker than her waist. And this was just one of its heads.

Just before Yu Yi's consciousness was about to crash into its mouth, a ji halberd suddenly thrust down from above, severing the snake head. Blood poured down like a waterfall, raising steaming bloody mist.

Yu Yi's consciousness was drenched by the snake blood, and for a moment, she seemed to feel its warmth.

Through the blood waterfall, she looked up and saw the armored deity wielding the ji halberd, standing against the light, incomparably tall. The struggling nine-headed demon snake coiled around the deity's body as they fought until heaven and earth darkened, finally crashing into the ground together, becoming bones on the battlefield.

Countless such battles took place on this battlefield, with Yu Yi's consciousness moving through them, as tiny as a speck of dust.

But in the depths of this battlefield, there emerged a jade-green pool. The light reflecting off the water caught Yu Yi's eye, drawing her consciousness toward it, passing through wind and sand and bones, through the mirages of fierce battles, floating toward that pool as tiny as a speck of dust on the battlefield.

Here, the energy of gods and demons was no longer so sharp, but rather intertwined and merged, settling to form a pool of primordial chaos.

The small pool, only about the size of a bath, was like a dewdrop the size of a fingertip floating on a vast lotus leaf compared to this battlefield of gods and demons.

Yu Yi sat atop her newly formed sword spirit, scooping up a handful of clear water, which turned to mist in her hands before recondesning into droplets in mid-air and falling back into the pool.

This was no mirage, but a real pool of water. The water was incredibly clear, without a trace of impurity, nor any sign of life within it.

Whenever she tried to scoop up the water, it would immediately turn to mist in her palms before falling back into the pool. Unable to hold the water, Yu Yi straightened up and dipped her foot in to stir it, wanting to see if anything unusual would happen.

At the Carefree Sect.

Xue Mingyuan seemed to sense something, his soul suddenly rippling as if an invisible hand in the void had directly grabbed hold of his soul.

In his sea of consciousness, Xue Chenjing also felt the same disturbance, which quickly intensified until it felt as if his soul had been violently kicked several times, leaving him dizzy and his ears ringing.

Xue Mingyuan's vision spun as he fell backward, but Yi Heng quickly caught him, exclaiming in surprise: "Hey, Uncle, what's wrong with you?"

"Lingwei!" Lady Lotus suddenly stood up and rushed to grab his wrist. A spiritual talisman quickly shot from her fingertips and crawled onto Xue Mingyuan's body, attempting to bind his soul and physical form together.

Although Xue Mingyuan came to see her hoping she wouldn't interfere in their conflict, wishing that after his disappearance, she wouldn't pursue Xue Chenjing to the death—at least not until he completely turned into a demon, not to judge him for crimes he might commit in the future.

He actually believed that the little demon would change because of a woman. How much righteousness could a woman who falls in love with a demon possess? Wouldn't she be just as bad as the demon?

To be honest, Lady Lotus was very disappointed in him. Even after reincarnation, her brother still showed such poor judgment and indecisiveness. In his previous life, he had shown the same weakness toward that little demon, ultimately being devoured by him and causing great catastrophe.

In this life, he hadn't improved at all.

Xue Mingyuan, slightly recovering from his dizziness, shook his head and said, "Sister, it's useless."

Lady Lotus gritted her teeth and said, "I won't agree to your request. Either you accept my help to suppress him like in your previous life, using the heart sword to weaken his power—as long as he doesn't emerge, I won't harm him. But the moment he takes control of the body, I will kill him, even if it means killing you along with him."

"My Yi family has declined to this state, and though he didn't do it directly, it was all because of him. You're asking me to forgive him? That's impossible."

Xue Mingyuan's soul became increasingly unstable, feeling as if someone was stirring his mind with a rod, making it impossible to think clearly. Seeing this, Lady Lotus's expression worsened, believing the demon was fighting for control of the body.

She swept her sleeve, flying with Xue Mingyuan out of the Nine-Layered Lotus Tower into a mountain, arriving at its peak beneath a massive bronze bell. She brushed her hand over a talisman, causing light to flow from it and quickly climb up the Demon Suppressing Bell.

Yi Heng followed in pursuit, and seeing Lady Lotus about to throw Xue Mingyuan under the bell, he hurriedly said, "Mother, don't be rash. If you lock Uncle inside, he might never come out."

Lady Lotus's expression remained cold, showing no signs of impulsiveness. She pushed Xue Mingyuan under the bell, and before the heavy bronze bell descended, she looked at him and said disappointedly, "Lingwei, a demon is a demon, and can never become our family."

As the bronze bell fell, everything around them plunged into darkness.

Xue Chenjing, curled up in the sea of consciousness, hugged his unstable soul and laughed mockingly, "Xue Mingyuan, your sister is much more clear-headed than you."

The threads around his body had grown fainter and fewer; the prison formed by his parents' thoughts could barely contain him anymore.

"Brother, what should we do? If your sister wants to kill me, should I fight back?"

Xue Mingyuan lay in the darkness and softly said, "You can't."

He didn't answer whether he should or shouldn't, but rather that he couldn't. They both knew that as long as he existed in this body, Xue Chenjing couldn't harm their blood relatives, even if that relative didn't acknowledge him.

Xue Chenjing snorted coldly, grinding his teeth in anger, "Did you deliberately come to the Carefree Sect, deliberately get imprisoned? Do you think this will separate me from Yu Yi? Xue Mingyuan, what a vicious heart you have."

Even if he had to break through this cursed Demon Suppressing Bell, he would escape and find Yu Yi.

Xue Mingyuan replied in a gentle tone, "I'm sorry."

Xue Chenjing opened his mouth, ready to unleash the most venomous curses he could think of, when suddenly an electric current struck his soul, forcing back all his intended insults.

His eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply before dilating again, his soul trembling. After a long while, he finally squeezed out through gritted teeth, "Xue Mingyuan, what have you done now?"

Xue Mingyuan pressed his forehead, his soul equally damaged and suffering, and frowned as he said, "It wasn't me, it was the Return to Void, the place where we were born."