“Ding, villain’s side quest initiated—”

“!!!”

Ning Shengsheng had just fallen asleep when the system started acting up again.

“…”

“My good man, even workhorses get to rest. It’s the middle of the night, and you want me to carry out a mission?” she covered her face and grumbled, her eyelids too heavy with sleep to open.

The system stated flatly: 【Host, I have no choice. Please complete the mission: Interrupt Xue Chen’s aperture induction and prevent him from entering the Earth Aperture realm.】

“Wait a minute!”

Ning Shengsheng did a carp-like leap out of bed. “What did you say you want me to do?”

The system seemed to know how outrageous this mission was. It hesitated for a moment before saying, rather sheepishly, 【Please, Host, interrupt Xue Chen’s aperture induction and prevent him from entering the Earth Aperture realm.】

The corner of her mouth twitched into a strained arc. She pointed a slender finger at her own cheek and asked with perfect temperance, “You mean to tell me, you want a good-for-nothing like me, who can’t even draw in spiritual energy, to stop the villain—who becomes more powerful than the main character in the later stages—from advancing to the Earth Aperture realm, is that it?”

【Cough, that’s right.】

The system gave an embarrassed cough.

The girl on the bed took a few deep breaths, her lips curved into a smile as sweet as honey.

“Alright, I’ll go right now.”

Seeing she wasn’t angry, the system’s taut nerves inexplicably relaxed.

But in the next second, it heard Ning Shengsheng say with perfect composure, “If I die this time, I wish you luck finding your next sucker of a host.”

System: …Scared.

It stammered out a reminder: 【That… that Health Recovery Pill can save your life in a critical moment. Maybe you should take the pill before you go?】

Ning Shengsheng smiled knowingly and gave a soft “mm.” As I thought, it needs to be trained. If she yielded to the system on everything, it would just walk all over her, and she’d have to listen to it for everything in the future. To find its limits, she had to keep testing it, to fight for more authority and leeway for herself.

Ning Shengsheng decisively took out the Health Recovery Pill and tossed it into her mouth. She knew what a ruthless and decisive person Xue Chen was. Anyone who disturbed his cultivation would surely be killed by a single palm strike from him. She would be no exception.

The night outside was dark and windy. Ning Shengsheng changed into a palace maid’s uniform, put on a veil, and snuck out through the back door. The wind rustled the leaves, making a “sha-sha” sound. She deliberately took a secluded path to avoid the patrolling guards, but after a few steps, her hair stood on end. A cold, damp wind seemed to seep into her skin.

Her sixth sense told her that something unclean was following her.

Ning Shengsheng’s scalp was about to explode. She, a person terrified of ghosts, had somehow transmigrated into a novel full of demons and monsters. And as a good-for-nothing with no cultivation talent, no less.

The heavens were truly cruel!

System prompt: 【A Turbid Soul is approaching you.】

“What does that mean?” she asked, hunched over and squinting, her hands groping forward in the darkness.

【To put it simply, it means… you’re being followed by a ghost.】

“!”

“@#￥%!”

“Mommy~”

The system witnessed its host, upon hearing there was a ghost behind her, pump her little legs like they were fire wheels. In no time, she had run a full two li.

Ugh… question for the organization. Is it too late for me to switch hosts?

Huff, huff…

Ning Shengsheng leaned against a pillar, panting. She looked up and saw the pear tree not far away. Good, she had safely reached the outside of Xue Chen’s courtyard.

Between being killed by Xue Chen with one palm strike and being scared to death by a ghost, she chose the former.

Inside the room, amidst the flowers, Xue Chen’s cultivation had reached a critical stage. Streams of spiritual energy were being drawn into his sea of consciousness, and it was about to fill his spiritual aperture. The barrier of the aperture was beginning to loosen.

Joy filled his heart. Everyone in the Heavenly Phoenix Imperial Palace said he was useless. If he could open his aperture this time, it would prove that he too had the potential for cultivation, that he wasn’t as worthless as others claimed, fit only to be sent away as a discarded son.

The more critical the moment, the more he needed to focus and calm his mind. He quickly suppressed his elation and let the spiritual energy flow orderly through his body.

Just as he was about to succeed—

Suddenly!

A biting chill assaulted him.

He opened his eyes. A wound, emitting a cold aura, had appeared on his chest, and blood was dripping out. He scanned the room with a cold gaze, but there was no sign of his attacker. The last wisp of spiritual energy almost broke. Fortunately, it was still salvageable. Xue Chen ignored everything else, gritted his teeth, and circulated his cultivation technique, continuing to draw the surrounding spiritual energy into his sea of consciousness.

Meanwhile, Ning Shengsheng, squatting under the window, wiped away a cold sweat. Her hand holding the whip couldn’t help but tremble.

Seeing Xue Chen continue his aperture induction despite his injury, her heart sank. Is this guy trying to cultivate himself to death?

System: 【If you don’t stop him now, it’ll be too late.】

Ning Shengsheng squeezed her eyes shut, and with a surge of desperation, she pulled a magical artifact from her storage pouch and charged into the room with a long spear. She didn’t know any martial arts or techniques; she just charged straight forward with no form to speak of.

She thrust the spear out!

Xue Chen watched as a palace maid charged in to kill him, yet he did not stop circulating his power. A crazed look flashed in his pure black eyes.

That spear, much to Ning Shengsheng’s surprise, sank into the young man’s chest, but he didn’t move an inch. A mocking, cold smile just touched his lips.

“No matter who sent you, if I don’t die today, then one day, it will be your turn to die.”

After speaking, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. But… he still didn’t stop inducing spiritual energy into his aperture!

Help me. What do you do when you run into someone this stubborn on a mission? Is there an AI that can tell me what to do next?

Ning Shengsheng hesitated, rooted to the spot. If she injured him again, Xue Chen would surely die. But if she didn’t, she would be the one to die.

Just as she was about to ask the system if there was a way to block spiritual energy, a cat suddenly leaped in through the window. It arched its back, hissed fiercely at Ning Shengsheng, and pounced.

She instinctively raised the long spear to protect herself. At that moment, the spear erupted with a dazzling golden light. Streaks of golden light shot towards the small cat.

It turned out this magical artifact could be used for both offense and defense. It had been forged for her by an eighth-rank weapon refiner under Ning Xuan’s orders.

Ning Shengsheng quickly tried to retract the spear, but the golden sigil attack could not be recalled. Her heart was filled with anxiety and regret.

On the bed, Xue Chen immediately broke off his cultivation, rushed towards the small cat, and swept Snowball into his arms. At the same time, he thrust his right palm towards Ning Shengsheng.

“…”

She knew it. This palm strike was bound to come sooner or later.

Her body was sent flying by the force of the palm, like a kite with a broken string, and she crashed under the pear tree. A metallic taste filled her throat.

“Cough, cough…”

She coughed up a mouthful of blood. Ning Shengsheng pressed down on her chaotic heartbeat. Using all her strength, she looked up and saw Xue Chen advancing with his sword.

Step by step, he walked towards her. The red mole between the young man’s eyebrows became even more vivid, and his deep pupils were filled with a sinister look.

“Do you really think I wouldn’t dare to kill someone here?”

He stopped in front of Ning Shengsheng and looked down at her. “Speak. Who sent you?”

The tip of his sword was pointed directly at her heart. She had no doubt that if she said a single wrong word, the long sword would immediately pierce her heart.

“I am…”