Burning away ambitions (105) 30%

Hearing this notification meant the poison was eliminated.

Chang Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief, then frantically changed his dressings and secretly fetched water to wipe his body—although the young man was covered in wounds, his physique was distinctly strong.

Chang Wan avoided the wounds and the sensitive areas, and despite the shocking appearance of the scars, she still felt her face flush.

She couldn’t help but comfort herself internally: the male lead has such a good figure; it’s a rare opportunity to feast her eyes and even touch a little. Although it’s a transaction without money, she hadn’t really lost out.

After wiping him down, since she was unfamiliar with the sect, Chang Wan didn’t dare to rashly search for a place to get fever medicine.

Fortunately, completing the mission unlocked the system store.

The store had a dazzling array of items, even some bizarre ones—there were elixirs, food, and drinks, and Chang Wan even spotted a robot vacuum cleaner…

However, everything was quite expensive.

Chang Wan got a headache just looking at the prices. Finally, under the category [Modern Medicine], she found a strip of Ibuprofen. A small box of Ibuprofen sold for 5 points, which was somewhat acceptable.

The male lead’s Blackening Value rising to 30% had given her 40 points. The mission reward was 30 points, plus the previous 40, so she now had 110 points.

She didn’t quite understand why the Blackening Value increasing would yield points…

But when she asked the system, it deliberately remained vague, only telling her meaningfully that she had better not rely on this to earn points, as she would eventually weep for it.

Chang Wan didn’t want to earn points from something that sounded so ominous anyway, but the Redemption Value remained stubbornly still while the Blackening Value skyrocketed.

Western medicine worked quickly. After feeding Chu Changqing Ibuprofen, his breathing eased slightly, and his fever subsided quite a bit.

Only then did Chang Wan breathe a sigh of relief, then used the remaining points to purchase the first half of the plot she had wanted to read.

She couldn’t continue to be completely in the dark.

As soon as the points were paid, an ancient, fragmented scroll appeared in her hand. The luminous pearl’s light was faint. She looked at Chu Changqing, who seemed to require constant care beside her, and finally decided to read there.

Rereading the book, looking at the plot that was both familiar and strange, Chang Wan felt a complex mix of emotions. Initially, she read the book purely for entertainment, but looking at it now, it was completely different.

For her now, this was history unfolding.

The story began with the male lead as the Young Master of the Demonic Cult, ruling one faction of the demonic path.

Because the Demonic Cult committed numerous evils, they incurred the wrath of the populace and were hated by the people of Qingzhou.

The Qingfeng Sect, being one of the top sects in Qingzhou, could not tolerate the Demonic Cult’s rampant misdeeds and joined forces with other sects, taking the lead in annihilating the temporarily weakened Demonic Cult of Qingzhou.

And the male lead, as the Young Master of the Demonic Cult, was logically captured by the people of the Qingfeng Sect.

But Chang Wan knew that Chu Changqing’s title as Young Master of the Demonic Cult was merely that of a puppet. The real commander was someone behind the scenes.

By the time the Demonic Cult was besieged, the person behind it had long since packed up and fled, leaving the young Chu Changqing to bear the reputation of Young Master and become the target of public condemnation.

Chu Changqing had cultivated rapidly and was unrivaled when he was in the Demonic Cult, naturally drawing the attention of the Righteous Path figures in Qingzhou.

It was less hatred for the Demonic Cult and more apprehension toward the male lead. At the critical moment, he became the scapegoat and was captured by the Qingfeng Sect.

Being captured marked Chu Changqing’s departure from the shackles of the Demonic Cult and his formal entry into the Nine Provinces.

And the original owner, Chang Wan, had a reputation outside as a graceful immortal, kind and pure. Inwardly, however, her hatred for evil had twisted to an extreme. Within the sect, she held significant authority.

Capturing Chu Changqing, she naturally wouldn’t let him go, subjecting him to various tortures, leaving a deep shadow in Chu Changqing’s heart.

…

When Chang Wan reread the original owner’s torment of the male lead, she could feel the gloomy oppression emanating from the written words.

She vaguely recalled that when she read this part of the plot a long time ago, it also felt very oppressive…

She didn’t want to read on and quickly flipped past it.

And the turning point for everything came on that day.

Chu Changqing carried a jade pendant with him.

A very beautiful Double Fish Pendant.

[She snatched his jade pendant, her voice mocking, ‘Jade is the object of a gentleman; a demon like you probably doesn’t deserve it.’]

However, taking this jade had not ended well.

The male lead went berserk.

The novel followed a relatively traditional cultivation hierarchy: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Heart Movement, Spirit Solitude, Nascent Soul, Soul Manifestation, and Tribulation Transcendence. Each stage was divided into three minor stages: initial, middle, and peak.

When the male lead was captured, he was at the peak of the Heart Movement stage. Heart Movement—this period was a time for tempering the heart, the most susceptible to the temptations of the mortal world, and the easiest time to suffer Qi deviation, leading to internal turmoil and a surge in spiritual energy.

In the immortal path, many died due to conflict, but far more perished during this period.

If it were just a normal person’s Heart Movement stage, it would be one thing; Qi deviation would at most lead to being unable to bear the surging spiritual energy and self-detonating.

But the male lead was not an ordinary person.

A foreshadowing was buried here: the male lead possessed the bloodline of a mysterious species. After being abused for several months and having a very important jade pendant forcibly removed, his long-suppressed emotions erupted during the Heart Movement stage. After the Qi deviation, his spiritual energy surged.

However, due to the mysterious bloodline, the male lead did not self-detonate from being unable to withstand the surging power like an ordinary person, but his bloodline awakened. He directly absorbed the power, instantly transforming from a novice at the Heart Movement stage to temporarily equivalent to a late-stage Nascent Soul master!

Then, he cleanly wiped out the entire Qingfeng Sect.

It had to be said that even though the sect that was annihilated in the book seemed to include her own, Chang Wan couldn’t help but feel a sense of exhilarating relief throughout her entire body.

After the thrill subsided, Chang Wan continued reading.

[After the deed was done, he specifically stripped off Chang Wan’s skin, grinding her bones apart inch by inch, leaving her flesh exposed to the wilderness.]

[Behind him was a vast sea of fire, and in his hand was the beautiful skin.]

[“If only your eyes were a little more captivating,” Chu Changqing’s eyes were cold, but his lips held a tender, delicate smile, speaking gently to the bloody mess, “I fear I might have fallen in love with you.”]

[It’s a pity there is no ‘if’.]

[From then on, on the Path of Ruthlessness, there was no longer anyone with affection.]

Chang Wan’s thrill evaporated.

System: [Host has finished reading the early plot √.]

…

What good was this little bit of plot! Chang Wan was stunned.

And she had to watch herself die so miserably!!

No wonder she didn’t have a strong impression; she only remembered a particularly troublesome female supporting character who died tragically, because the author had simply written the Qingfeng Sect as a cannon fodder sect about to be destroyed!

Sect Leaders and Elders—all cannon fodder! Cannon fodder brushed over with a single stroke!

She could vaguely recall a little of the later plot: after committing such a heinous crime of annihilation, the male lead was thoroughly branded an evil tyrant by the Righteous Path figures. He retrieved his Double Fish Jade Pendant, even escaping the control of the Demonic Cult because of it.

While being hunted by the Righteous Path of Qingzhou, he went into hiding, cultivating diligently. However, because he had absorbed the power from his demonic deviation, his temper became even more bloodthirsty and dark, cunning and cruel.

If you didn’t provoke him, it was fine; but anyone who provoked him would surely have their skin and bones stripped and laid under his feet—stepping on blood and fire, he ascended toward the heavens step by step.

She closed the fragmented scroll in her hands and looked at the green Double Fish Jade Pendant around Chu Changqing’s neck.

The youth was in a deep sleep, the jade pendant on his neck was a warm, verdant green, the two fish interlocked, seeming to hold deep affection.

This must be that very important jade pendant.

Chang Wan looked at Chu Changqing, her heart filled with immense complexity.

Now, the male lead hadn’t had the jade pendant forcibly removed by her, nor had he… nor had he turned into an irredeemable state. He hadn’t suffered a Qi deviation, nor had he committed the irreversible atrocity of wiping out the entire Qingfeng Sect.

Chang Wan touched her faintly aching neck, feeling a toothache as she thought that redemption was completely possible… maybe.

The ending in the book—she would definitely not end up so miserably!

Now, the focus was on how to complete the system mission and start the redemption from the beginning.

She sighed, putting this seemingly very difficult task aside for the moment, and began to observe the secret room.

Since the plot couldn’t provide her with any effective information about the Qingfeng Sect, she would have to find it herself.

At least… she needed to uncover what Chang Wan usually liked to do and what she might do. A diary would be even better.

After searching for a long time, she didn’t find any diary belonging to Chang Wan, but she found a jade tablet in the drawer of the small table.

The jade tablet was exquisite, translucent blue, and cool to the touch.

Chang Wan toyed with it curiously. As her fingers brushed over it, she suddenly remembered the novel’s setting—

Jade tablets were generally used to store information.

Following the method the system taught her for viewing the bracelet, Chang Wan closed her eyes and began to visualize the image of this jade tablet.

In the next instant, a miracle occurred. Countless texts recorded in the jade tablet surged towards her like a tide!

~

The injuries on her body ached faintly.

Chu Changqing slowly opened his eyes.

A relaxed body, without the faint, gnawing pain of being scraped by blades. The true essence in his body, previously locked by poison, began to flow slowly again.

This meant the poison in his body had been resolved.

Chu Changqing looked at the brand-new bandages on his body.

The medicine seemed to have been changed again. There was a basin of bloody water under the bed. The young woman seemed tired; she was slumped over by his bed, her fair cheek buried in her arm, her eyes tightly closed.

She was very close to him.

Chu Changqing looked at her.

Her eyelashes were soft and long.

Her cheek was as white as the snow he had seen in the boundless night when he was young.

And now, the first thought he had when he opened his eyes and saw her was not to kill her, not to make her repay him a hundredfold, but to know…

In her closed eyes.

Was there the wild light he had once seen in the eyes of the wolves when he traveled with them in his youth?

He endured the pain and slowly reached out—

She seemed to sense something and immediately opened her eyes.

In those eyes, there was no grim coldness, no vicious indifference. In her light chestnut eyes, a flash of fright like a white deer crossed over.

In that instant, Chu Changqing realized.

She was not a villain.

Nor was she the lone wolf who accompanied him.

On the contrary.

She was the myriad stars he had seen in the night sky when he traveled with the wolves.

Brilliant and bright, one glance was enough to burn away his ambition.