Staggered System Tasks (1)
Du Shuang, with a knowing look, glanced at Lin Qianshuang’s concern for Xiao Lanle and said in a teasing tone, “Isn’t this girl Xiao Shen’s beloved daughter? She’s always trailing after your junior brother. When did you two become so close?”
Lin Qianshuang coughed, moving away from Xiao Lanle to maintain some distance. “Master Tianshu asked me to look after my junior sister,” she explained. “Besides, it’s my duty as a senior sister to help her. How could I stand by and watch her suffer?”
She added with a serious expression, “Shimu, please don’t judge everyone with those colored glasses. Not everyone is like you, seeing a good-looking person and instantly jumping to conclusions.”
Lin Qianshuang only called Du Shuang “Shimu” (a term of respect for a senior female figure) when she was unhappy.
Du Shuang stopped teasing her and turned to look at Xiao Lanle. The beautiful and elegant woman glared at her fiercely with red eyes. Her seemingly frail body, despite being bound by the spirit chain, was still strong enough to crack the chains with its struggles. This was an alarming sign of her aggression.
Du Shuang was certain that if the spirit chain were removed, Xiao Lanle would attack her mercilessly, aiming for a fatal blow.
Doubt clouded Du Shuang’s mind.
“When I was at the Penglai Immortal Sect, I also saw the daughter of the sect leader. She was clearly quiet and shy, not with such a fierce and evil appearance.”
Du Shuang pressed the spiritual seal on Xiao Lanle’s forehead, rendering her motionless. She offered twelve spiritual talismans from her sleeve and placed them near the Jade Palace and Kaiyuan acupoints on her back. She also took out a binding spiritual ring to cover her and trapped her in it. She then untied the locking spiritual rope.
“Xiao Shuangshuang, stay away from me. I need to set up the formation.”
Upon hearing Du Shuang’s prompt, Lin Qianshuang quickly stood up and retreated outside the pavilion.
The locking spirit rope was detached, and the binding spirit ring spiraled upwards. The red light overflowing from the Taoist talisman emitted from the arc of the ring, slanted towards Xiao Lanle’s side.
The twelve spiritual talismans that had originally imprisoned her body now stood horizontally on the suspended Cosmos Spirit Illumination Array, gradually transforming into a sword qi Dao field for spiritual observation.
Lin Qianshuang sensed Du Shuang’s pure Celestial Sword Path emanating from the side, feeling a touch of refreshment as she observed the figures within the formation.
Xiao Lanle appeared frozen and motionless. Her eyes, previously open, had closed after being ensnared by the spell and drawn into it. Her hands hung limply at her sides, as if she had fallen asleep.
Du Shuang waved her sleeve, and a golden ring materialized on the sword qi dojo. She sat cross-legged on the ring, gesturing for Lin Qianshuang to join her. “This is the Cosmos Spirit Illumination Array,” she explained. “My talisman formation skills are still rudimentary, but they are sufficient to glimpse someone’s heart demon.”
Lin Qianshuang took a seat beside Du Shuang, and the air and light around them twisted and intertwined. The world seemed to shatter and merge into a chaotic jumble, revealing a faint glimpse of the heart demon’s illusion.
The scene before them was one of utter carnage. The Xiao family ancestral hall lay in ruins, bodies scattered across the ground. The plaque hung askew, the spirit tablets lay shattered on the floor, and blood splattered across the steps. Faint cries and screams echoed through the air.
A man clad in black, sword in hand, held a woman and a child hostage. He addressed a young man in brocade, “Xiao Shen, hand over the Glazed Temple Gem. Otherwise, I will kill your wife and daughter.”
The woman trembled, clutching the child tightly. She shook her head tearfully at the young man.
Xiao Shen stood with his hands behind his back, his face composed. “The Glazed Temple Gem is an ancestral treasure of my Xiao family,” he declared. “I will never give it to you.”
“Then don’t blame me for being merciless!” The man in black lunged at the woman, his sword aimed at her neck.
But just as the blade descended, a green hairpin in the child’s hair moved. A powerful spiritual force erupted, knocking everyone to the ground.
The woman, seizing the opportunity as the man in black fell, pulled the young girl and fled the mansion.
The man in black, sprawled on the ground, roared at his subordinates, “It’s the Glazed Temple Gem, it’s on that girl! All of you, chase after them!”
Abandoning their massacre of the household servants, the men in black turned to pursue the woman and child.
Seeing the immediate danger had passed, the surviving women and children of the Xiao family emerged from their hiding places. They saw the young man in brocade standing at the entrance and wept uncontrollably.
Witnessing the men in black retreating, the young man in brocade swiftly drew the sword at his waist. In a flash, he struck all the women and children with fatal wounds to their necks, leaving them lifeless on the ground.
One young boy, still clinging to life, desperately grabbed the brocade-clad man’s leg, crying out, “Master, are you still the Uncle Xiao I knew?”
He stared at the corpses scattered around him, including his own mother, who had just been holding him and weeping.
The boy’s bloodied and mangled hands clenched into fists, his eyes blazing with resentment. “One day, the Dongling family will know what you have done. You murdered your own kin, Xiao Shen. You will be forever disgraced.”
The young man in brocade kicked away the boy’s hand and slapped him on the head. The boy’s head tilted, and he lost consciousness. Blood seeped from his nose, and his life signs were gone.
After dusting off his clothes, the young man in brocade set a fire, burning the entire mansion to the ground. He watched the flames engulf the Xiao Mansion, then donned the freshly acquired robe of the Penglai Immortal Sect leader. He sighed with a hint of regret, “The treasure has reappeared in the world, and it didn’t require my years of painstaking cultivation. This matter must not be spread. The only pity is that you didn’t die in the hands of those men in black.”
Lin Qianshuang watched the Penglai Immortal Sect leader, now twenty years younger, standing before the burning Xiao Mansion. She carefully pieced together the known clues. The men in black had come to seize the Xiao Mansion’s treasure. The surviving women and children were killed by Xiao Shen, the head of the Xiao family, to protect the secret of the Glazed Temple Gem being on Xiao Lanle.
Whether there was a connection between Xiao Shen and the men in black remained unclear. But what she saw in Xiao Lanle’s heart demon revealed that Xiao Shen was not a good person. Perhaps the destruction of the Xiao family and his ascension to the position of sect leader were intertwined.
But this scene clearly happened after Xiao Lanle left. How could she have seen it? Could it be that she is still hiding in the Xiao Mansion at this moment?
Lin Qianshuang’s heart pounded. She and Du Shuang soared into the air, revealing a woman and a young girl concealed in the branches of an ancient tree outside the courtyard. The woman held the girl close, her hand pressed tightly over the girl’s mouth. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the unfolding scene in the mansion.
After the young man in brocade vanished without a trace, the woman summoned a spirit bird from a talisman and flew out of the Xiao Mansion, her arm protectively around the child.
“Mother, I saw so much blood, I’m scared,” the girl whimpered.
“Le’er, be good, Mother will take you out of here,” the woman soothed, her voice trembling.
“Aren’t we going to find Daddy?” the girl asked, her voice filled with confusion and fear.
“Your father is dead, and we are two people from now on.”
The surroundings darkened instantly, all the images froze, and the golden ring hovering beneath their feet gradually dimmed.
Lin Qianshuang’s vision went dark. Someone gently covered her eyes with their hand, and pressed their palm against her lower back.
“Senior sister, you want to understand me so much, why go to such lengths to sneak into the realm of my heart demon?”
A warm breath brushed against her ear, and a voice chuckled, “As long as you obediently stay with me for a few nights, I wouldn’t mind telling the person next to me everything from the past.”
Lin Qianshuang moved her hand from her waist, and while the other person wasn’t paying attention, she struck the back of their neck with a quick and accurate hand knife. But she unexpectedly found that her hand landed in empty air, striking nothing solid.
Xiao Lanle leaned on her shoulder, her red eyes smiling seductively as she played with Lin Qianshuang’s hair. She said in a falsely aggrieved tone, “Senior Sister, what I just said is sincere. You really don’t think about it carefully. I’m the daughter of the Sect Leader, and I have a single Fire Spiritual Root. You are just a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If you and I dual cultivate, you won’t be at a disadvantage.”
Lin Qianshuang gave Xiao Lanle an over-the-shoulder throw, unable to resist the urge to roll up her sleeves and beat her. Chastity and ethics aside, Xiao Lanle, possessed by a heart demon, was truly reckless. The last time, a few drops of her Demon Infant Ancestor’s blood essence almost caused her to explode. Yet, she still wanted to practice dual cultivation with Lin Qianshuang. It was clear she didn’t value her life at all.
Du Shuang was surprised that the Cosmos Spirit Illumination Array disintegrated before reaching the depths of Xiao Lanle’s heart demon. She reached out to pull Lin Qianshuang out of the array.
Turning around, she saw Lin Qianshuang being held back by Xiao Lanle’s heart demon. One wanted to leave, the other held on tightly, the two were locked in a stalemate, neither letting the other go.
Du Shuang pushed the heart demon back with a palm, grabbed Lin Qianshuang, and jumped towards the outside world.
The two figures had just appeared outside the pavilion when Xiao Lanle, regaining consciousness, slapped the barrier and cursed at Du Shuang, “Senior Sister and I were having a lovely chat. Why are you, an outsider, interfering!”
Du Shuang looked at Xiao Lanle, whose eyes were gloomy, and smiled, “I thought you were mute, but it turns out you can talk.”
Xiao Lanle glared fiercely at Du Shuang, and when she saw Lin Qianshuang, the corner of her mouth slightly curved. She said, “I only talk to people who want to talk. As for you, I don’t want to deal with you.”
“Little demon, you have quite a personality. You’re still so arrogant even when you are about to die.”
Du Shuang’s gaze wandered around Lin Qianshuang and Xiao Lanle, and she withdrew the spirit binding ring. Xiao Lanle’s face suddenly went blank, and her whole body fell to the ground as if she was out of strength.
Lin Qianshuang caught Xiao Lanle before she collapsed, turning to Du Shuang and asking, “Has Xiao Lanle’s heart demon been eliminated?”
Du Shuang shook her head, replying, “Her memories have been sealed. Even the Cosmos Spirit Illumination Array couldn’t reach her true heart demon. There’s no one in the world who can break the seal.”
Lin Qianshuang hesitated, her gaze fixed on Du Shuang. “What about the Tianshu City Lord? Can she help?”
Lin Qianshuang knew that Tianshu City held the most complete secrets of the cultivation world. If even Mu Weiyin, the City Lord, couldn’t help, then no one could break Xiao Lanle’s heart demon.
Du Shuang’s expression grew serious. “You’ve been in Tianshu City for months. You should know the rules here. The City Lord isn’t a benevolent person who heals the wounded. She always demands equal value in exchange for her services. You are from the Yixiang Tower, and your identity as Jieyu Gongzi will allow you to enter. But you’re penniless, with no power or wealth. If you want her help, you need to offer something of equal value. Shuangshuang, this is no joke.”
The favorability interface displayed the avatars of the three main characters, but the last mysterious character’s avatar remained locked.
Mu Weiyin, the Tianshu City Lord, had a limited presence in the original text, appearing only as a minor boss in the later chapters. After the male protagonist Liang Jingxuan obtained the Shark Pearl, with the help of the Tianshu City Lord, he became the head of the Penglai Immortal Sect. Mu Weiyin then controlled the male protagonist, strangling the lifelines of the other four major cultivation sects and unifying the human cultivation world.
It took ten chapters for the City Lord to gradually fall in love with Liang Jingxuan, and things took a turn for the better. The mini-boss instantly became the hero’s powerful subordinate, and Tianshu City was also captured by the hero.
In the original text, Mu Weiyin was a completely profit-driven, unscrupulous businessman, greedy and ruthless.
Lin Qianshuang put her arms around Xiao Lanle’s shoulders, her eyes showing determination. She would have to meet the target person sooner or later, so it would be better to meet her now in advance. This would prevent Liang Jingxuan from taking the lead and potentially causing Xiao Lanle to become obsessed with him, leaving Lin Qianshuang to struggle to wake her up.