Chapter 80: Sleeping on a Stone

Within the sealed Tao County.

Zora stood frozen in place. After the demonic cultivator dodged her sword strike, he paid her little mind; in his eyes, this was merely the occasional struggle of the weak.

Suddenly, the demonic cultivator looked toward a distant point. Sensing a fluctuation in the seal, he ignored Zora and flashed directly toward another part of Tao County, unwilling to entangle further with her, acting with utter fearlessness.

The girl’s spine was trembling, yet she held it perfectly straight. The blood was too viscous, flowing slowly from her forehead across the surface of her eye. Her skin was usually cool, but the blood beneath the shell was warm.

With the demon gone, Zora messily rubbed her eyes. She turned back to look at the street, which lay in ruins. She couldn't defeat him, so she went to the boundary to seek a solution. The demonic cultivator’s cultivation was far superior to hers; naturally, the boundary was not something she could break.

She went to find the enemy again—only to discover she couldn't even enter the area where the seal was located. The demon had likely prepared in advance, breaking the array masters' formations, a skill Zora lacked. She tried repeatedly to break through until her fingertips were a bloody mess and her sword edge shone bright. Upon reaching a certain threshold of error, the array actually hid itself before her, leaving her unable to even find the entrance.

Zora felt a bit lost. In her previous life, she would have fought for survival until the very last moment, but now she couldn't find the demon and couldn't break the boundary. Standing alone in the deserted space, she momentarily didn't know what to do.

She took a few steps toward the city gate, then stopped. She turned back and took a few steps toward the seal, then stopped again. Blood soaked her pupils, and her vision grew blurred; she lowered her head and rubbed her eyes.

...I should find my friends.

This thought, like a blade of grass after a spring rain, suddenly sprouted.

The closest one was Song Zhihuai, lying beneath a ruined wall. Enduring the sharp pain in her bones, Zora crouched down to check his breathing. Mhm, not dead. Her fingers were bloody; as she left, she left a streak of blood above Song Zhihuai’s upper lip, like a red mustache.

After feeding him a pill, Zora lifted him, wanting to move him out. Her spiritual power was depleted and her injuries were severe; she couldn't muster the strength, so she could only drag him along. Halfway there, Song Zhihuai suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, his injuries clearly worsening.

Zora glanced at him, feeling that if she dragged him further, he really would die, so she decisively let go. She truly lacked the quality of gentleness; Song Zhihuai’s upper body slammed back onto the ground. Fortunately, cultivators are thick-skinned; he only knit his brows in his coma before his expression relaxed.

Hiding him would be safer. Zora buried him under the ruins, leaving only his nose out for breathing, then set up a simple array. Remembering his location, she went to find the next one.

Yiling Ke's spiritual power was exhausted, and she had collapsed among the puppets. Lacking human intelligence, they picked her up and surged toward a bonfire that had been erected at some unknown time.

Suddenly, a flash of sword light passed. Puppet heads rolled to the ground, crowding together and scattering around. Another flash of sword light followed, and puppet limbs shattered, losing their ability to move.

Yiling Ke fell, and the impact jolted her awake. The moment she opened her eyes, the pure white of the sky was too piercing, forcing her to squint. Zora leaned over, examining Yiling Ke’s body: "Not dead."

"Cough, cough," Yiling Ke coughed a few times. She didn't even have the strength to move her fingertips; her spiritual power was spent, her limbs were powerless, and her internal organs throbbed with pain. "...Of course not."

Zora fed her a pill. Yiling Ke’s voice was weak: "We won't just die here, will we..."

Zora thought for a moment: "It's possible."

"..." Yiling Ke was silent for a while, struggling to squeeze out a sentence. "What if Senior Sister Turi finds help in time..."

Zora: "It's possible."

"..."

"..."

"Where's the demon?"

"He went to the seal."

Yiling Ke didn't know Zora had already tried to find him, nor did she know there was another array around the seal. "You absolutely must not go over there. Don't believe in that nonsense about breaking through in a moment of crisis; it's all a lie. People only do that when they're already on the verge of breaking through and have no mental obstacles. Just hide; maybe that demon will be too lazy to kill us."

"Hide where?"

"I don't know, anywhere."

"Mhm... I'll think about it."

"Just move me so I'm leaning there. Hurry and check on the others."

Zora moved Yiling Ke to lean against the eaves and set up a simple array. Faced with what seemed a fatal deadlock, neither had the habit of saying emotional parting words; they said goodbye just like any other day.

Zora finally added a serious line: "Rest assured, as long as I haven't died, you won't die, because there is a promise."

Yiling Ke’s heart stirred slightly. "Thank you..."

Zora: "If I die, I won't care anymore."

Yiling Ke couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Fine. Anyway, if you die, I won't live either."

Zora nodded and headed toward the mountain where Vane was, according to her memory. Yiling Ke watched her back. During their meeting just now, Zora was visibly disheveled and strained, her injuries even more severe than her own, yet Yiling Ke didn't mention it, knowing well that words were unnecessary.

Throughout those plain bits of dialogue, she had been staring at Zora’s blood-stained eyes. Once Zora vanished, Yiling Ke looked toward the sky.

...If she really perished here, wouldn't it be another way of dying while guarding the seal? At least she had friends for company. Cultivation was inherently full of danger. She lowered her lashes, thinking of her family in Drunken Lu Bay, then of Zora's bloody eyes. Despite being heavily injured, the girl seemed not to notice.

Did it not hurt? Certainly not. It was truly strange; Yiling Ke couldn't move with injuries of this degree, yet Zora was clearly in worse shape but could still hold on, her face still bearing that wooden, adorable expression. That look of the girl’s somehow lessened Yiling Ke’s fear, as if death had become just another small, insignificant matter.

...Just a small matter. Yiling Ke smiled soundlessly, slowly closing her eyes. With every breath, she tried her best to nourish her spiritual power and repair her internal injuries. She decided: if the demon came, she would definitely try to take him down with her.

The place where Vane was was easy to find because the mountain had been smashed through by him. Carrying the demonic Qi of the cultivator, the entrance was almost like a cavern.

Zora stumbled as she stepped inside. She was already weak, holding on entirely by willpower. The stone walls were deep and terrifying. Though the demonic Qi had vanished, spots of blood remained on the surface of the rocks, presumably caused by the boy's wounds scraping against them as he crashed through—it was a shocking sight.

After walking a distance, Zora saw his figure from afar. The youth was lying on his back, his right leg pinned by a giant boulder. His injuries were horrifying, and empty medicine bottles were rolled across the ground. He lay there without a sound, a picture of deathly silence.

Zora reached his side. After only a few glances, Vane woke up. His face bore residual traces of grief—from resentment to obsession, to a final sadness. He had passed out because he couldn't hold on, only now recovering his senses.

He didn't bother to think about why his bodily injuries were lighter than before, nor did he care about the groundless riot in his spiritual platform. The demonic seed had fallen silent again the moment he woke; under her gaze, his spiritual platform became clear and peaceful. The seed, no longer stimulated, buried itself deep within the boy's dantian.

"Not dead," Zora said.

He didn't reply, staring at her in a daze. The boulder was part of the mountain; pushing it might cause the mountain to shake. She no longer had the strength to deal with a mountain collapse; that would only result in the two of them being buried alive.

Zora crouched down to look at him. The youth blinked gently, took a clean handkerchief from his storage bag, lifted his arm, and wiped her eyes.

Zora gave an "mhm" and closed her eyes, comfortably accepting his service. The sticky, uncomfortable sensation around her eyes vanished bit by bit. He wiped very gently and cleanly, taking away the blood droplets on her lashes. The red on her forehead that hadn't had time to coagulate was also cleared away, revealing the girl’s true fair skin.

Her vision cleared up considerably. Unlike when she rubbed her own eyes—which only made them blurrier—a bit of physiological tears instinctively seeped from the corners of her eyes, carrying away the red on the surface of her pupils. The youth followed and wiped them away with great care.

Zora couldn't help but lower her head a bit. Once he finished wiping, she felt the pressure was too light; the handkerchief against her skin caused a slight itch. She took the opportunity to rub her face against the handkerchief to scratch the itch.

Vane’s lashes moved slightly. He paused for a moment before slowly withdrawing his hand. They looked at each other in the quiet cavern. The blood beneath the boulder had solidified into a dark stain.

Zora: "The demon went to undo the seal."

She couldn't get in and couldn't break the city gate boundary. Zora felt like a headless fly; for the first time, she learned that the cultivation world could make you not even know how to survive. The demonic Qi had damaged her body, and pills weren't enough to compensate. Having walked here, she could no longer go anywhere else. This was the gap in cultivation; if it was too large, the tropes of breaking the rules in storybooks wouldn't exist.

Indeed, fulfilling a promise is truly hard. Zora thought.

"Mhm," Vane spoke, his voice faint due to the severity of his injuries. "Don't go."

It wasn't a forceful tone, but a pitiable plea. His eyes were too dark; now they looked like the black eyes of a common pup found anywhere, with slightly furrowed brows, begging for something or praying for something.

Zora: "I'm not an idiot."

Vane didn't hear her: "Don't go..."

Zora reminded him: "Don't repeat yourself."

Vane’s consciousness was a bit blurred again, and he apologized instinctively: "Sorry..."

Zora felt a deep sense of fatigue. The demonic Qi had heavily injured her, and both the recovery of spiritual power and her wounds were restricted. The sensation of life slipping away was intensifying. She lay down right there. The ground was full of hard stones, but she found the most comfortable spot, resting her head on the boy's chest. Curled up, endless drowsiness washed over her, and her body sent out a faint warning.

The girl was facing him. His hand could easily touch her loose sleeve and her soft cheek pressed against his chest. Zora's voice sounded a bit lost: "Will we die?"

Vane said softly: "I don't know... Sorry, I'm too weak."

His heart had been frantic just now, yet now it was exceptionally peaceful. He had clearly fled to the cultivation world to live, yet now he felt death wasn't so terrifying. At a time like this, the youth's knuckles moved slightly, his lips pursed as if wanting to hold something.

"Can I..." He moved his lips, paused, and finally changed his words. "Hold your sleeve?"

Zora only felt his heart suddenly drumming, but as it was her first time waiting for death with nothing to do, she wasn't very practiced. She felt as if she were stepping on clouds, with everything feeling off. Hearing this, she only gave a slow "mhm."

Vane's fingertips touched the fabric of her sleeve. Zora's body temperature was dropping; without spiritual power, she was gradually feeling the cold. As he was about to hold her sleeve, she stared and actively balled her hand into a fist, stuffing it into his palm.

"..."

Vane was momentarily dazed. Feeling the cold in his palm, his thoughts became chaotic, yet in that chaos, he vaguely understood her intent. So he obediently closed his hand, enveloping her fist. Even injured, the youth's body temperature was high, continuously warming her.

Zora's mind drifted. She was getting sleepy, a signal that her body's energy was spent. In her daze, she remembered the System's words.

Maybe the villain won't die. Didn't it say the villain has a high chance of not dying before the plot point, but instead finding life in a desperate situation?

The System had long since woken up, but it didn't speak to interrupt. It scanned the villain youth's emotions and facial expressions, identifying that his desire for survival was zero. The reason the villain in the original could survive a desperate situation was not just the plot, but his will. In the original, Vane’s survival instinct was strong enough to break the original plot line and alive until the final moment of world destruction; one could see his obsession.

But now, he might really die.

Can even death be endured just by being with the Host?

The System remained quiet, anchored in Zora's mental sea, allowing itself to drift and follow the Host into hibernation, waiting to be recovered.

Zora closed her eyes, feeling her hand had been warmed enough. The youth seemed to notice as well; he gently, almost inquiringly, rubbed the gaps between her fingers with his finger pads. When Zora loosened her grip, he pressed close against her cold palm.

They lay close together. He was like a silent, standing, warm stone, and she was the small animal curled up on the stone to sleep. The breeze flowing in the cave cycled repeatedly, surrounding them in tranquility. A steady stream of warmth merged through their touching skin. Two hearts beat in the dark place of death, looking toward each other from afar.

A long time passed. Zora recovered some strength, enough to move. She opened her eyes. Without a prompt from the System, she still believed he might find a way out of the dead end.

"Thought of it?"

Vane was dazed: "What?"

"A way to live."

"..."

Zora said: "Be quick."

Her amber eyes were incredibly bright in the dark, staring at the cave entrance.

"I want to kill him."

The System was awakened by the prompt. Just as she commanded, he could lose his will to survive for her; when Zora calmly welcomed death, he would defy his nature and gladly follow her into the silence. Similarly, the youth could also struggle with all his might in a seemingly impossible situation to fulfill her command.