Chapter Ninety-Eight: Puppet

This was just too unlucky. The formidable cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage had sealed her ability to speak, and even affected her breathing. At first, it was barely noticeable, but with untreated wounds still bleeding, the suffocating sensation grew more intense with every passing moment. Xu Nuo felt as though she was racing against death itself, but finally, she managed to find the right medicine amidst a jumble of various drugs.

Xu Qingyin looked thoroughly satisfied to see Xu Nuo gasping for breath and overcome by agitation upon learning the truth, while Lu Ciyuan was riddled with regret and self-reproach.

"I was wrong!" Lu Ciyuan, resigned to his fate, knelt directly in front of Xu Nuo. "I approached you with ulterior motives and intentionally concealed the truth, but I swear to you, my feelings are genuine. I will never betray you again!"

"Huh?" Having just survived a brush with death, Xu Nuo hadn’t really registered what was happening. Suddenly, Lu Ciyuan knelt down and made a solemn vow, and she found herself utterly out of sync with the situation.

Xu Qingyin sneered, "Is that all you did? Simply disguised yourself as a woman to get close to her?"

Xu Nuo, now able to catch her breath, began to understand. "What else did he do? Pretended to be a junior sister and…"

Lu Ciyuan’s heart leapt with anxiety at her words, and he was just about to confess everything when Xu Nuo continued, "Dressed as a woman to sneak into a brothel?"

Xu Qingyin’s gaze turned as sharp as a blade in an instant.

Lu Ciyuan, flustered under her scrutiny, stammered, "No, you’ve got it wrong, let me explain…"

"Enough. More words are useless." As Xu Nuo finished, it seemed Xu Qingyin’s patience was spent; with a single gesture, she unleashed a killing intent that suggested she intended to finish Lu Ciyuan on the spot.

Xu Nuo quickly stepped in front of Lu Ciyuan. "Don’t!"

But overcome with emotion, Xu Qingyin failed to restrain her strength. Her strike landed heavily upon Xu Nuo.

Blood gushed uncontrollably from Xu Nuo’s lips, and she felt her whole being floating, unable to ground herself. She now experienced firsthand just how much the Nascent Soul cultivator despised Lu Ciyuan.

"Xu Nuo?!" Lu Ciyuan watched helplessly as Xu Nuo collapsed into his arms like a broken willow branch, her vitality ebbing away at an alarming rate.

Xu Nuo struggled to open her eyes, seeing Lu Ciyuan’s face, tense with regret and pain.

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…"

"Don’t cry," Xu Nuo gritted her teeth, her breath thin as gossamer. "I’m not dead yet."

"I won’t let you die," Lu Ciyuan’s voice was unwavering. "I absolutely won’t let you die."

"Hmph!" Xu Qingyin hadn’t expected Xu Nuo to shield Lu Ciyuan and now questioned him angrily, "What right do you have to say such things?"

"You infiltrated the Dongtian Sect for the sake of the Heluo Jade Book, didn’t you?"

Lu Ciyuan’s expression faltered for a moment.

Xu Qingyin pressed on, "You got close to Xu Nuo, ensnared her heart—all for the Heluo Jade Book?"

Lu Ciyuan instinctively denied, "No…" but lacked the conviction to back it up.

"You succeeded. She’s so bewitched by you now that she’d even give her life for you," Xu Qingyin mocked. "She’s gravely wounded and near death—you could easily coax her into handing over the Heluo Jade Book."

"It’s not like that," Lu Ciyuan hurried to explain to Xu Nuo. "Listen to me."

Xu Nuo’s expression was calm. "Alright, I’m listening." But her heart was far from tranquil. She was gravely wounded and on the verge of dying—couldn’t these people at least see to her injuries first?

Silently, she called out to the system. "Little Seven, block my sense of pain. Stop watching the show—I’m dying of agony here."

[Host, are you really afraid of pain?] 007’s tone was genuinely curious rather than sarcastic. This host, who was always so bold and reckless, was actually afraid of death and pain?

"Of course I am, I’m terrified of pain," Xu Nuo replied. With the pain blocked, she immediately felt much better.

But to those watching, the dying Xu Nuo suddenly regained her energy. Her face was still deathly pale, but her eyes sparkled with life—it was the unmistakable radiance before the end. Neither of them felt any urge to argue further.

Oblivious to their thoughts, Xu Nuo looked at Lu Ciyuan.

"I’m sorry, I lied to you," Lu Ciyuan finally confessed, feeling as if the heavy stone in his heart had finally fallen—unfortunately, onto his own foot.

"I came to the sect for the Heluo Jade Book," he admitted, his emotions growing harder to restrain. He turned to Xu Qingyin, pleading, "Please, save her."

Xu Qingyin silently placed a pill in Xu Nuo’s mouth. The effect was immediate; her lost strength and vitality began to return rapidly.

"Of course I can save her. But…" Xu Qingyin’s voice hardened. "What are you willing to give in return?"

Before Lu Ciyuan could answer, Xu Nuo cut in, grabbing him by the arm. Somehow, she had already stepped onto a flying sword at her feet, and in a flash, they were gone.

No one had expected Xu Nuo to act so decisively, and her sword moved so fast that even a Nascent Soul master couldn’t react in time. In the blink of an eye, the two of them vanished completely.

Once she was sure they’d shaken off the Nascent Soul powerhouse, Xu Nuo led Lu Ciyuan into the Heluo Jade Book’s inner space.

She winced—the wounds on her body were far from healed, and the pill Xu Qingyin had given her hadn’t mended everything. Now that the urgent moment had passed, Xu Nuo finally had the presence of mind to notice the pain.

"Little Seven, block the pain."

[Host.] 007’s voice wavered slightly. [We’ve received a notification from headquarters.]

"What notification?" Xu Nuo already had a bad feeling.

[This mission has been invalidated, your progress reset to zero, and you will be logged out in forty-eight hours.]

"Does it hurt?" Lu Ciyuan’s voice brought Xu Nuo back to the present.

She nodded. "A little." But the system had already blocked the pain, leaving only a numb, drained sensation throughout her body.

Lu Ciyuan carefully sorted through the pile of medicines to find the right one. As a prodigy, his understanding of both cultivation and medicine far surpassed the ordinary. Xu Nuo had thrown out a jumble of drugs, but he only needed a glance to know how to mix them.

He crushed the medicine and applied it to her wounds, the coolness quickly soothing her.

Lu Ciyuan tended to her injuries with utmost care. Afterwards, silence fell between them.

"Miss Xu?" Surely, she would blame him.

But Xu Nuo instead asked, "Earlier, why did you suddenly lose your senses?"

"I was discovered," Lu Ciyuan replied, a little surprised but also feeling a reckless relief. "Junior Sister Yan—she’s actually a puppet containing a portion of my soul."

Lu Ciyuan laid his heart bare. The real Junior Sister Yan had died long ago; he had crafted a puppet and placed part of his soul inside. Whenever his demonic urges became too strong to suppress, he would transfer his soul into the puppet to ease the pain. The puppet also served as a spy within the sect.

But the last time his urges erupted unexpectedly in the Dongtian Sect, Xu Qingyin had noticed something amiss with Junior Sister Yan. His soul had been forced to transfer into the puppet, and he had been under constant surveillance by Xu Qingyin and others. With no other choice, he could only continue the charade.