Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 48

“I’m thirsty.”

“Then you may wet your lips.” Xue Jin took a waterskin from his storage space, poured a little water into a small cup, and held it to Yuan Yao’s mouth.

Weak and pale, Yuan Yao opened her mouth instinctively to drink.

Only a few drops touched her tongue.

She immediately gave Xue Jin a resentful look.

“Did you sneak out here on your own?” he asked.

There was something frightening about Fourth Senior Brother’s gaze just then. Yuan Yao quickly answered, “I came here with Eldest Senior Brother to temper myself.”

“Why do you have so many new wounds and old ones?”

Yuan Yao replied meekly, “I couldn’t beat them.”

“Who?” Xue Jin asked calmly.

“Other than the people just now… the rest are all dead.”

Xue Jin realized that she had misunderstood and corrected her. “You’ve been unconscious for two days and two nights.”

“What?!” Yuan Yao cried.

Her body jerked with her surprise. Fortunately, Xue Jin held her down before the movement could tear her wounds open again.

“The Wuduan Secret Realm will close soon.” Xue Jin’s voice was cool and clear, and his face still held the youthful softness of a sixteen-year-old.

Yuan Yao froze.

The Wuduan Secret Realm was about to close?

She asked System 250 in her sea of consciousness, “How much longer do I have to live?”

【Host, your current lifespan has reached fifteen days and sixteen hours.】

The answer brought back the scene of the cultivators surrounding and attacking her before she lost consciousness. Yuan Yao lowered her eyes.

“Xue Jin, those people… Did you…?”

“Yes.” Xue Jin knew what she wanted to ask and answered directly.

Yuan Yao spoke slowly. “Third Senior Brother once told me that the cultivation world is full of schemes and betrayals, where the weak are prey to the strong. It’s nothing like life inside the Xiaoyao Sect. I believed him then, but I never truly understood how cruel it was…”

At first, she had only gathered those people together for the sake of her own survival. She had forced them to reflect and repent so that their Awakening Values would reach 50.

But she had thought it all far too simple.

From their perspective, everything she did harmed their interests. That made her the villain in their eyes.

So they had tried to kill her to vent their rage.

Xue Jin placed a hand atop her head and said evenly, “This is simply how the cultivation world works. Either you kill, or you are killed. Master and the Xiaoyao Sect protected you too well, and that made you excessively naive. Don’t dwell on it. As long as you don’t violate the sect rules, fight for whatever you want. Kill anyone you want dead. Destroy whatever displeases you.”

“We will be the power behind you.”

Yuan Yao’s heart stirred at those dangerous words. She raised her head and met Xue Jin’s gaze.

“Xue Jin, aren’t you going to ask why I left the Xiaoyao Sect?”

Xue Jin frowned slightly.

A hint of disdain seemed to enter his beautiful eyes.

He withdrew his hand. “No one can make you leave the Xiaoyao Sect. Only you can do that. Therefore, the only possible reason is that you wanted to leave.”

Yuan Yao was speechless. “…”

Xue Jin glanced at her again and delivered another piercing blow.

“You’re so stupid.”

Yuan Yao shot back, “You’re stupid, Xue Jin.”

Xue Jin calmly stated, “You are the stupidest person in the entire Xiaoyao Sect. And the weakest.”

Yuan Yao raised her fist to hit him.

Xue Jin did not dodge.

Her fist landed on him. Without so much as blinking, the youth said, “So weak.”

Yuan Yao glared at him, her cheeks puffed out in anger.

If System 250 had appeared ten years earlier, she would definitely be stronger than Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin by now!

Among her five senior brothers and sister, Fifth Senior Brother Ying Wuji was the strongest. Next came Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei, then Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin, followed by Eldest Senior Brother Song Yan, with Third Senior Brother Cang Li last.

Over the past two years, however, Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin’s strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, nearly catching up to Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei.

She was closest in age to Fourth Senior Brother and Fifth Senior Brother.

Both were sixteen, with Fourth Senior Brother only three days older than Fifth Senior Brother.

Third Senior Brother Cang Li was seventeen.

Second Senior Sister Xiao Lingwei was eighteen.

Eldest Senior Brother Song Yan was nineteen.

The image of Lu Xiangxiang suddenly surfaced in Yuan Yao’s mind. Her heart tightened slightly as she looked at Fourth Senior Brother.

“Fourth Senior Brother, are you going anywhere else to temper yourself after this?”

“You want to follow me?” Xue Jin immediately guessed her intention.

Yuan Yao nodded.

“Return to the Xiaoyao Sect and recover first.” Xue Jin’s tone was cold.

Yuan Yao was about to argue when he turned his back to her.

“Climb on. The Wuduan Secret Realm should close in another seven or eight minutes.”

“Fourth Senior Brother, how do you know?” Yuan Yao was still weak and had no strength in her limbs. She could only climb onto his back.

Xue Jin carried her out of the cave and looked up at the sky of the Wuduan Secret Realm.

“By reading the celestial signs.”

Yuan Yao followed his gaze but saw nothing except blue sky and widely scattered white clouds.

“How do you read them?”

“Watch the clouds, the wind, and the currents of air,” Xue Jin explained patiently. “The more scattered the clouds become, the more dispersed the winds within the secret realm are. The air currents begin surging beneath the surface until they gradually form a vortex. Once a massive vortex takes shape, it connects to the outside world and becomes the secret realm’s exit.”

Understanding dawned on Yuan Yao. She stared at the sky and instinctively extended her spiritual sense to perceive the changes in the air currents.

They were exactly as Fourth Senior Brother had described.

Xue Jin naturally detected her spiritual sense. He had not expected her to grasp the method on her own after only that brief explanation.

He also raised his eyes to the sky.

“Xue Jin, I’ve figured it out,” Yuan Yao suddenly announced.

“Figured out what?”

Thinking back to her grand strategy for winning people over, Yuan Yao shared her revelation.

“Either don’t be ruthless at all, or be ruthless to the end.”

She needed to make them fear her.

She would crush them so thoroughly with force that they would never dare harbor thoughts of killing her.

System 250’s voice suddenly rang out.

【Host, your current strength is insufficient to crush their will to resist. This method can easily provoke a backlash, causing their Awakening Values to plummet as well. A friendly reminder, Host: You may win them over with your truth, goodness, and beauty. Steal the radiance that originally belonged to the female lead. Make them fall in love with you, become obsessed with you, and go mad for you, thereby achieving awakening.】

Yuan Yao’s face darkened.

Make a hundred million people fall in love with her?

Men and women, old and young alike?

That was absurd!

She wasn’t some irresistible heartthrob to a hundred million people!

Besides, her Master, senior brothers, and senior sister were among the targets. The thought of making them fall in love with her sent a chill crawling over her scalp.

She felt only familial affection for them. Nothing else at all!

Yuan Yao cursed in her sea of consciousness, “Two-Fifty, get lost!”

【Host, please refrain from insulting the System.】

“Then get lost twice!”