In the dense forest, Chen Yi, who had been fleeing for a long time, gasped heavily.
He nervously scanned his surroundings. Amid the shadowy trees, it seemed as if at any moment, a sword might pierce through his throat.
He had been hunted by the Demon Sect Saintess for seven days and nights.
Several days ago, after working overtime to exhaustion, he woke up to find himself inexplicably transported into the second save file of the game "Heavenly Realm."
He had already cleared the game "Heavenly Realm" once, and in this second save file, after achieving a perfect evil-path start in the Capital City, he planned to leave the city and join a reputable orthodox sect.
"Heavenly Realm," a game renowned for its high degree of freedom and customizable content, contained a hundred main quests and thousands of side quests, with almost every quest boasting three to four different endings. New endings and choices became available in the second and third playthroughs, making it a prime obsession for Chen Yi during his post-work hours since its release.
Compared to other games, "Heavenly Realm" offered incredibly rich options starting from character creation, including but not limited to appearance, lineage, family, sect, even gender, location, and background, making it essentially a Chinese martial arts version of "Bod Gate."
Before Chen Yi's unexpected transmigration, his plan was to play this save file to completion and then open a new one, aiming for a perfect save before shelving the game.
The only issue was—he had transmigrated.
And he transmigrated to… the day he was being hunted down by Yin Tingxue after the annihilation of his household.
Blood dripped from his legs as Chen Yi let out a muffled hiss of pain.
The Demon Sect Saintess Yin Tingxue had single-handedly stormed the West Factory in the Capital City, nearly exterminating all its members.
Only Chen Yi, the West Factory Thousand Households, had managed to flee to the outskirts of the city.
"Rather than calling it an escape, it's more like… a cat chasing a mouse."
Chen Yi thought bitterly.
Several times, the Demon Sect Saintess had caught up to him, and each time, she struck with her sword, severing yet another meridian.
This was a… meticulously calculated execution.
The blood on Chen Yi's body had already crusted over and mixed with the smell of dirt, making him nauseous.
Chen Yi took a few labored breaths and dragged his feet through the forest.
The woods were dark and eerie, that face seemingly ever lurking.
The wind suddenly stirred.
Chen Yi instinctively froze, yet moments later, nothing seemed to happen.
"Hallucination…"
Chen Yi mumbled, lifting his foot to take another step forward.
Swish!
A fountain of blood erupted.
Chen Yi's pupils contracted sharply as he turned to catch a glimpse of cold steel flash past.
That cold-blooded, beautiful face gradually emerged from the forest.
Her black robe was stained a deep mixture of crimson and dark blood.
"Why aren't you running? Weren't you so skilled at escaping?"
She asked coldly.
[Negative Emotion: 90]
Chen Yi glanced at the panel, his heart trembling.
The Demon Sect Saintess lashed out with a kick to Chen Yi's knee, forcing him to kneel.
Her almond-shaped eyes were brimming with hatred...
She thrust her sword at his ankle with a flick.
The tendon snapped...
Blood splattered, the intense pain surged up, and Chen Yi's face turned pale in an instant.
His vision blurred, and he found himself reminiscing amidst a fleeting montage about their enmity.
Yin Tingxue had once been a daughter of Prince Xiang, whose household was exiled and confiscated for colluding with the Demon Sect.
In the mournful and rainy Prince Mansion, a little girl had stared helplessly as a Jin Yi Wei, as per custom, shattered her Longevity Bridge.
Chen Yi opened his mouth, wanting to say something,
"Back then I… Ah!"
Yet another sword strike.
Accompanied by the sound of flesh and bone being punctured, Chen Yi seemed to hear the faint crackling of his meridians breaking.
His throat filled with blood in an instant. Yin Tingxue's sword glided like a serpent—one strike, two strikes, three strikes… Each one stopped short of claiming his life, instead severing meridian after meridian.
This was akin to a dismembering execution, with pieces of blood-soaked flesh falling away, but he never succumbed to the embrace of death. She deliberately orchestrated it this way, ensuring Chen Yi endured a prolonged demise.
It felt as though she was venting years of accumulated resentment.
Finally, she snapped Chen Yi's Brocade Spring Blade in half and plunged the broken fragments into his clavicle.
Chen Yi resembled a man drenched entirely in blood.
His consciousness dimmed, yet the last thing he heard… was one final phrase filled with hatred.
She seemed as though she had finally vanquished her old nightmare, spitting out:
"Years ago, you shattered my Longevity Bridge…
Today, I sever your meridians and destroy your household!"
......
..............
The dusty beams of the ceiling, coupled with the flickering oil lamp, cast a dim, oppressive gloom.
Chen Yi abruptly opened his eyes.
"Hah, hah!"
Chen Yi touched his clavicle, then examined the rest of his body, confirming he was unharmed, his gaze blank with disbelief.
"Dizziness… my head feels a bit dizzy."
Chen Yi instinctively stood up and unknowingly walked toward a bronze mirror.
His gaze froze slightly.
Clad in a dark official uniform, a Brocade Spring Blade at his waist, his appearance was handsome, his hair tied and his crown intact—it was precisely the character he had created in the game.
This avatar had a base charm stat of ten points.
"A West Factory Enforcer, a Hundred Households… I've been reborn at the moment the archive started?"
Chen Yi glanced at the badge on his waist, astonished.
As he gradually accepted his circumstances, a faint silver panel materialized mid-air.
[Internal and External Cultivation Techniques]
[Acupoint Technique (Proficient)]
[Resentment Yin-Yang Technique (Supreme-Tier) (Beginner-Level)]
[Can channel True Qi into martial arts, enhancing various techniques for mastery.
Note: Resentment Yin-Yang Technique can only channel True Yuan and is incompatible with True Qi.]
[Life Span: Three years. Poisoned with a deadly toxin.]
[True Qi reserves: Ten years (equivalent to ten years of cultivation by average practitioners).]
Reading the increasingly legible text, coupled with his earlier memories, Chen Yi fully embraced his transmigration reality.
"I remember that at this point in the save file, about ten hours in… I was already a Jin Yi Wei, relying on Elder Lin to secure the position of a Hundred Households in the West Factory. To maximize the optimal start, I acted as a shady enforcer—corrupt, immoral—yet, because of the empress dowager, I became poisoned, paired with the highest difficulty setting, leaving me with only three years to live."
"It seems… I've returned exactly ten hours into the save file, roughly one month in-game time."
"Wait… one month!"
Chen Yi suddenly recalled something.
Outside the courtyard, a fellow Jin Yi Wei's voice called out,
"Hundred Households Chen, it's time. Let's go confiscate the estate!"
Drizzling rain fell.
Chen Yi slowly stepped over the threshold of the Prince Mansion.
"What wealth."
"This is a Prince Mansion, indeed."
Behind Chen Yi, a few Jin Yi Wei whispered among themselves.
Chen Yi took a glance at the Prince Mansion. Though extravagant to the extreme, it exuded nothing but an air of death.
The Prince Mansion had already been sealed off by the Jin Yi Wei and Eastern Factory for many days.
The prince had been infamous for exploiting the people, with rumors spreading that the estate contained dozens of prized horses and was adorned everywhere with ivory phoenix chimes and golden dragon banners.
Now seeing it firsthand, those tales hardly seemed exaggerated.
"Hundred Households Chen, the prince's retainers have all been confined in the cellar, with their acupoints struck. Should we deal with them now?"
One Jin Yi Wei walked up from the estate, cupped his fists, and asked.
"Not yet."
Surveying the Prince Mansion, Chen Yi replied.
Having transmigrated into "Heavenly Realm," killed by the Demon Sect Saintess Yin Tingxue, he now found himself returned to the beginning of the save file.
If events unfolded as before, he would, by convention, personally shatter Yin Tingxue's Longevity Bridge.
The Demon Sect Saintess Yin Tingxue, one of the central heroines in "Heavenly Realm."
After the Prince Mansion was confiscated, the male members were executed, and its womenfolk were sentenced to labor in the Wash Clothes Bureau. Due to the prince's ties to the Demon Path, on the day the women entered the Bureau, the Ming'an Divine Sect—a major force within the Demon Path—appeared in the Capital City to rescue them, ultimately only managing to take Yin Tingxue.
A crimson sunset hung over the mansion's pavilions and towers.
He touched his clavicle, as if phantom pain still lingered.
Replaying the previous archive would not lead to a good outcome…
So… what should he do?
Kill her outright?
That was entirely feasible.
Chen Yi rested his hand on his blade's hilt, hearing the weeping coming from within the mansion—the cries of its womenfolk.
He strained to listen, yet Yin Tingxue's voice was absent from the sobs.
Noting this, Chen Yi narrowed his eyes.
That blood-splattered, stunning face, under the glare of the sword, gradually turning pale...
To kill her like this...
It seemed such a pity.
And in none of his archives had he killed this string of female adversaries.
Chen Yi hesitated, his gaze falling on the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique displayed on the panel.
Such a tantalizing adversary, with so deep a grudge against him—would it not be wasteful to not exploit her fully?
To kill, or not to kill?
Rather than killing this foe, forcing this former princess into humiliating servitude seemed equally viable.
After all, perhaps she yearned for death...
For women of that time, being sent to the Wash Clothes Bureau or the state brothels meant becoming bonded laborers. Compared to such fates, being given a strand of white silk and allowed to hang themselves was a merciful escape.
And the current Yin Tingxue had likely lost all hope.
She was a daughter born of the Prince's legitimate wife, whose mother sadly passed away three years prior, advising her with her dying breath to be virtuous. For her, descending into the Wash Clothes Bureau was far worse than death.
Sifting through Yin Tingxue's background file, Chen Yi's mind worked swiftly.
After deliberating thoroughly, Chen Yi made a decision.
He would uncover Yin Tingxue's true nature.
If she was inherently wicked, then killing her was just; but if not… then perhaps she could be trained.
The rain trickled down, and dusk settled across the horizon.