Chapter 72. What this thing said, I've always...
"Knock knock knock—"
The knocking sounded unusually clear in the quiet night.
Ji Fuguang held a book in his hand and said in a low voice, "Go in."
Sheng Zhiyi pushed open the door, lowered her head, and slowly walked in.
Ji Fuguang sat at the table, dressed in a single layer of clothing, and slowly opened his eyes to look over.
Neither of them spoke, and an unspeakable silence filled the room.
Finally, Ji Fuguang threw the book on the table, leaned back, interlaced his fingers, and said:
"Speak, what urgent matter is it that warrants a visit in the middle of the night? It can't be..."
He chuckled mockingly, "Has my junior sister fallen in love with this life of serving me tea and water?"
Upon hearing this, Sheng Zhiyi took a deep breath, and with feigned courage, looked up to gaze at Ji Fuguang's indifferent face.
"Ji Fuguang, I'm going to kill you."
Ji Fuguang scanned Sheng Zhiyi from top to bottom, raised an eyebrow, and waited for her to continue.
"Don't you have anything to say?" Sheng Zhiyi couldn't help but ask.
Most people would react emotionally to such words, but Ji Fuguang remained calm and composed, not even sitting up straight, as if she were saying "let's play together" rather than "kill you".
"If I say too much, wouldn't I be overshadowing the main point?" Ji Fuguang said calmly. "If Junior Sister really wanted to kill me, why would she specifically tell me about this? Could it be that she wants to compete with me, the wicked Demon Lord?"
Towards the end, his tone became slightly sarcastic.
Sheng Zhiyi pursed her lips and sat down at the table.
“This may sound unbelievable, and you might think I’m crazy… but you can verify it with a spell right now. Everything I’m about to say is true.”
Sheng Zhiyi's fingers, which were intertwined under the table, trembled slightly. She had already spoken, but she still didn't know if her decision was right.
She was prepared to tell Ji Fuguang everything.
Ji Fuguang is indeed the Demon Lord, but... his kindness towards her before was genuine.
She cannot kill him simply because he is the Demon Lord.
Perhaps he did lead the demon race to slaughter the cultivation world a thousand years ago, but during the time she arrived, Ji Fuguang did not do anything heinous. On the contrary, just as described in the book, he was a gentleman in every way.
Is what a person does more important, or what they think?
She believes it is the former.
Most importantly, even if she wanted to kill Ji Fuguang as required by the mission, she simply couldn't do it!
How could she possibly kill the Demon Lord? Even ten of her couldn't do it!
After much thought, the only solution was to tell Ji Fuguang everything; perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope, and the two of them could work together to find a solution.
With a do-or-die determination, Sheng Zhiyi opened her mouth.
Ji Fuguang suddenly spoke up: "Wait a minute."
The words that were about to come out of Sheng Zhiyi's mouth were interrupted. She raised her head in confusion and looked at Ji Fuguang's actions.
Ji Fuguang walked to the desk and tapped the back of the chair with his folding fan. "Come here."
Although she was puzzled, Sheng Zhiyi still went over and sat down. Ji Fuguang pointed to the papers spread out on the table with his folding fan and said softly, "Don't say it out loud."
He extended two fingers and placed them on Sheng Zhiyi's forehead.
“The words we speak have a spirit.”
This location is where the divine consciousness resides...
She lifted her eyelids to look over, and Ji Fuguang, with a calm expression, handed her the calligraphy brush.
Holding the calligraphy brush, Sheng Zhiyi couldn't help but show a troubled expression; the characters she was writing...
Ji Fuguang reached out and grasped the top of the pen, saying, "Let your heart guide you."
Sheng Zhiyi tentatively wrote a few words. Following her thoughts, her pen moved swiftly, her strokes flowing like dragons and snakes, and delicate handwriting appeared continuously, almost as fast as she spoke.
Relieved, Sheng Zhiyi began to choose her words.
"Actually, I am not the original Sheng Zhiyi... I am just a remnant soul..."
After writing these two sentences, she stopped writing with concern and subconsciously looked up at Ji Fuguang.
Ji Fuguang's face remained expressionless, but noticing the hidden worry in her eyes, he said:
“My junior sister was timid and submissive by nature, completely different from you. I noticed this long ago.”
That's why he initially let her get close, wanting to see what she was plotting and who was behind it all.
Sheng Zhiyi was taken aback, not expecting that her seemingly perfect disguise had been seen through long ago.
Ji Fuguang braced himself against the back of the chair with one hand and tapped the table with the other, urging, "Continue."
Sheng Zhiyi quickly lowered her head and continued writing.
“I did not harm her. She was destined to suffer a calamity, but she could not survive it, which gave me this opportunity.”
Ji Fuguang grunted in acknowledgment, picked up the paper she had just written on, and casually burned it, leaving no trace.
Sheng Zhiyi felt a little relieved, thought for a moment, and then wrote again.
“Ever since I arrived here, a voice in my consciousness has been driving me to do all sorts of things. If I disobey, it will erase my existence. If I obey, it will reward me. That was the case when I changed my spiritual root last time…”
He had previously promised to explain the change of spiritual roots to Ji Fuguang, and now he had finally done so.
Ji Fuguang scoffed and said in a low voice, "They look more like demons than demons themselves."
Sheng Zhiyi paused, realizing that there was some truth to what he said.
"Most of the things it ordered me to do are related to you. As for some of my previous offensive behavior... I'm sorry, senior brother, those were not my intentions."
Ji Fuguang remained silent this time. He looked at the words on the paper, his eyes darkening slightly.
"Perhaps this thing is related to your identity, but I don't know anything about that. All I know is that it gives me missions. Before, it was just about getting close to you. But now, the mission has become... to kill you."
Sheng Zhiyi put down her pen.
Ji Fuguang nonchalantly picked up the paper, burned it, and asked, "And then?"
"Ah, what?" Sheng Zhiyi felt that she had said the most important thing and wondered what else Ji Fuguang wanted to know.
"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Ji Fuguang asked.
After racking her brains for a while, Sheng Zhiyi continued writing.
"It's not very smart; it only judges whether a task is successful based on appearances, which is why it managed to get away with those previous tasks. Completing tasks earns points, which can be exchanged for items, but so far I've only exchanged for spiritual roots, pills, and sword techniques. I don't know if the other items are real or fake; they're just some rare and precious materials, nothing special."
"This mission to kill you is a hidden mission, it's because... it appeared because you didn't accept my confession before."
"I'm sorry, senior, confessing is also part of its mission, don't take it to heart."
Sheng Zhiyi placed the pen on the pen holder and looked up.
Ji Fuguang stood beside her, the candlelight flickering, his eyes shining and dimming, his voice deep.
"So...that's all?"
Sheng Zhiyi thought carefully, making sure nothing was missed, and nodded vigorously, swearing:
"That's all, Senior Brother. Everything I said is true. I haven't lied to you at all!"
The fragrance of pear blossoms lingered. Ji Fuguang remained silent, his deep eyes fixed on Sheng Zhiyi.
After a long pause, a cold smile appeared on his lips.
His good junior sister has truly mastered the art of deception.
She made no mention of where she came from, nor of where she would go after completing her mission.
There wasn't a single lie she told; she just selectively told some of the truth.
Truth and falsehood intertwined, falsehood and truth intertwined.
She coaxed him, lied to him, persuaded him... and then abandoned him. How is she any different from those other people?
Ji Fuguang reached out, pinched Sheng Zhiyi's chin, and lifted her face.
"So, Junior Sister, you've told me all this, so you must already have a plan?"
Sheng Zhiyi had thought about this matter many times, and now that Ji Fuguang had asked about it, she tightened her fingers and said softly:
"Senior brother, it's always been clumsy and has never been able to tell if something is done, so... so could you, help me put on a show?"
She had analyzed it carefully. The system task only said to assassinate Ji Fuguang, but did not say that it had to be successful, so as long as she did this action, it would be fine.
Sheng Zhiyi explained, "Senior brother, you possess protective qi and have profound cultivation. I won't harm you without using spiritual power; it's just an act."
If she doesn't complete the mission, she will be eliminated; this is what she just told Ji Fuguang.
All she can do now is pray that Ji Fuguang still has a shred of kindness towards her and won't just watch her die.
Ji Fuguang's expression was indifferent, and he remained silent.
Just as despair began to well up in Sheng Zhiyi's heart, Ji Fuguang finally spoke: "Okay, I promise you."
"Really?!"
Sheng Zhiyi was overjoyed and quickly thanked him, "Thank you so much, Senior Brother! I've caused you a lot of trouble these past few days..."
She suddenly found herself unable to continue speaking. Ji Fuguang had agreed to play along with her, and that the mission would be completed so she could return to reality.
This was the solution she had racked her brains to come up with, and everything was developing in the direction she wanted, but she was actually a little reluctant to give it up.
Perhaps, after completing the mission tomorrow, I will never see Ji Fuguang again...
"There's no time like the present." Ji Fuguang made a hand seal, put his outer garment back on, and bent down to fasten his belt. "Let's do it now."
"Now?" It was already past midnight, and Sheng Zhiyi was somewhat surprised.
Is now the time to leave?
But she couldn't think of any reason to stop him, so she could only nod and say, "Okay... then I'll trouble you, senior brother..."
The two walked out of the room one after the other.
The summit of Shuanghua Peak is quiet and serene.
The sound of the wind whistling through the air, and the distant rustling of pine trees, only amplified the desolation of the place.
The night sky was a dark blue, and the bright moon, round like a disc, was clear, bright, and cold.
The mountain peaks not far away are covered with snow that has remained unmelted for thousands of years, which shines like a piece of soft silver in the moonlight.
Ji Fuguang stood quietly in the moonlight. His skin was extremely cold and white, and the only features on his body were his thick, ebony hair, his distant mountain-shaped eyebrows, his affectionate eyes, and the naturally upturned curve of his lips.
The lush greenery was serene, when suddenly a mountain breeze swept through the forest, bringing with it waves of pink and white pear blossoms that landed on his black hair.
Everything was exactly the same as when we first met.
For some reason, Sheng Zhiyi's eyes started to sting.
She lowered her eyelids, gripped the hilt of her sword, and thrust the tip toward Ji Fuguang's chest.
A soft sound, like the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh.
Sheng Zhiyi looked up in astonishment and saw Ji Fuguang's face as white as snow reflecting the moon, with crimson blood slowly flowing from the corner of his mouth.
The sword tip pierced his chest completely, and blood flowed from the wound, staining his clothes red.
"Why? I didn't use spiritual power! Protective aura... You didn't use protective aura?!"
At the same time, a mechanical voice sounded in her mind:
Congratulations to player Sheng Zhiyi!
Hidden quest completed!
[Mission Reward: Return to Reality]
[Activation begins now.]
Sheng Zhiyi's body began to float up strangely. She gripped the hilt of her sword and looked at Ji Fuguang in shock.
"Why? This will damage your heart meridian, don't you know that!"
Ji Fuguang reached out, his fingers gripping the sword tightly, large drops of blood falling in a rush. Spiritual energy scattered, swirling like snowflakes, swirling pear blossom petals around him in a vortex.
He gave a cold laugh. "Do you think I can complete the hidden mission without dying once?"
"What's the meaning!"
Sheng Zhiyi's body had already begun to fly, but she tightly gripped the Jinghong Feather in her hand. At the other end of the sword, Ji Fuguang's fingers gripping the sword began to reveal white bones.
The surging demonic energy erupted instantly, and the system's cold, mechanical voice became intermittent and distorted.
[Host's mission complete, departing this...world...]
Ji Fuguang's entire demeanor changed, and he was surrounded by demonic energy.
He stretched out two fingers and gently pinched.
The system's voice abruptly stopped, and Sheng Zhiyi clearly felt something invisible being peeled away from her consciousness and gently crushed.
It was systematized into powder.
"As I guessed, this thing will only leave your consciousness on its own once the final mission is completed."
With his heart meridian destroyed and his spiritual power scattered and lost, demonic energy flowed out uncontrollably, making Ji Fuguang appear even colder and more ruthless.
He reached out, his blood-stained palm cupping half of Sheng Zhiyi's face, and sighed softly.
Under Sheng Zhiyi's chilling gaze, he spoke:
“I can hear what this thing is saying all along. What it said before was somewhat reasonable. But I don’t like what it’s saying now.”
Ji Fuguang chuckled softly, a hint of crimson blood between his lips and teeth.
"Junior Sister, how can you leave me and only think about going home?"
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