Song Wanníng had planned everything long ago and came fully prepared, so there was no way she would be caught that easily. When the Qingyun Sect elders chased after her, their figures turning into streaks of light as they vanished over the horizon, the remaining cultivators were left standing in the debris, completely dumbfounded. They had thought the Patriarch would fight to the very end, defending her ground with the ferocity they expected of her station. Who knew she would actually run?
"Damn, this turn of events is seriously unexpected," one cultivator muttered, his eyes wide as he watched the dust settle. "Was not she supposed to drag the Qingyun Sect cultivators down with her? What is the point of running now?"
"The entire Yao clan is dead," another added, gesturing toward the fallen bodies littering the ground. "Is it only now that she knows fear?"
"Then did not the Yao clan disciples die for nothing? They threw their lives away while she just slipped away."
"Maybe she is planning to take revenge for the Yao clan in the future?" a younger man suggested, looking thoughtful.
"Exactly. Staying here means certain death against those elders, so it is better to run first and come back later for revenge. She is playing the long game."
Everyone discussed Song Wanníng's actions nonstop, their voices rising in a confused cacophony.
The system listened through clenched teeth, its internal light flickering with agitation, and snapped, "Song Wanníng, you are way too scheming! You dragged everyone into your plan!" At this point, the system had been pushed into a corner. As the last Yao clan disciple fell and the ground soaked up the final drops of blood, its aura dropped to the lowest point. Its energy was so weak it was barely detectable against the spiritual residue of the battlefield. It was so weak that even the system itself could hardly sense its own presence.
And that woman, Song Wanníng, just stood there among the shifting crowds, smiling calmly as she watched the whole thing unfold. She was vicious beyond belief, her composure never wavering even as the world around her burned.
"I have never offended you," the system insisted, its voice trembling with a frantic edge. "Even if the Yao clan schemed against you, it should be even now, right? There is no need for this. Hurry up and release me!"
The system kept struggling to negotiate, its logic processors whirring at maximum capacity. It felt a deep hostility radiating from Song Wanníng, a cold and focused intent, but it also believed it had not actually done anything to her yet. Maybe there was still a chance to change the outcome if it could only find the right words.
But she did not buy it at all. "Done talking?" she asked. She stood among the crowd, her gaze fixed on the Qingyun Sect disciples as they moved through the ruins, cleaning up the battlefield and gathering the spoils. "You are an invading system from outside this world. Do you really think your plan is a secret?"
"Heh." She let out a cold laugh. Only after confirming the corpses had no chance of reviving through some hidden mechanical or spiritual trick did she finally relax. She turned away and left with the other departing cultivators, her steps light and deliberate.
The system felt a flash of guilt after hearing her words. It knew its duty perfectly well, which was to contract suitable hosts and drive them to produce children like crazy, populating the world with its influence. Those people would eventually become slaves of the Mùsù star system's master and provide massive support during the final world invasions.
Unfortunately, its original plan had gone extremely well for a time, but it ran straight into the dragon clan and got sealed away for ages in a dark, silent void. After finally getting out of that prison, it ran into Song Wanníng, this great devil, and now it was trapped yet again. Just thinking about its predicament made the system feel like it was going insane.
When the time came for its master to need manpower for the expansion and it still had nothing to show for its time in this world, the master would definitely be furious. The more it thought about the master's retribution, the more terrifying it felt.
"Stop struggling. Your ending is already decided," Song Wanníng said, her voice echoing in the system's consciousness. "There is only one outcome for you. That is going together with the Yao clan disciples into oblivion."
She sensed its panicked thoughts and let out a cold smile. Then she quickly widened the distance between herself and the other cultivators, turning off the main path to head in another direction toward the deep mountains.
The system instantly flared up with anger again, its core glowing with a desperate, dying heat.
On the clone's side, she had already shaken off the Qingyun Sect elders successfully. She led them through a series of treacherous ravines and thick forests until they lost her trail. Before disappearing entirely, she had even deliberately shouted threats that echoed through the trees, swearing she would return someday to take revenge on the Qingyun Sect disciples for what they had done.
That completely ignited the sect master's fury. He personally led his people to raid the entire Yao clan compound. Not only did they seize all the resources, including the hidden vaults and spiritual herb gardens, they also burned the whole Yao clan to the ground. Thick black smoke billowed into the air, visible for miles.
Song Wanníng didnt' interfere. She didn't care about those materials anyway. This time, the Qingyun Sect had been dragged into the mess without knowing the full truth of the system's involvement, so those resources could count as compensation for their trouble.
Meanwhile, the main body quickly brought the system to a safe, secluded location, a deep, damp cave hidden behind a waterfall. She held the system in her hand, the cold metallic shell feeling heavy, and began pondering how to deal with it again. The system's shell was extremely hard, forged from materials not found in this world, but its energy was nearly exhausted. If she wanted to destroy it, attacking the physical shell was not the right approach.
Her gaze sharpened as she looked at the flickering device. After thinking it over, she decided to suppress it with her Primordial Soul and forcibly erase its consciousness from the inside. She couldn't guarantee it would work, as she had never dealt with such an entity before, but she had to try.
After making up her mind, she set up complex formations around the cave, the glowing runes casting a blue light against the stone walls. Once she confirmed everything was safe and no one could intrude, she began. First, she released the divine thunder seed, which hovered in the air, crackling with violet electricity. At the same time, Yi'er and Lian'er appeared in the cave, their heat drying the damp air and ensuring the system had no chance to escape through the spiritual plane.
Then she tossed the system onto the cold ground.
"Song Wanníng, what are you trying to do?" the system shouted, its voice echoing against the cave walls. "I am telling you, if you dare destroy me, I will self destruct and drag you down with me! You should think carefully. Is it really worth dying for this?"
The system tried to brainwash her again, searching for a weakness in her resolve, but it was already extremely nervous. Seeing she ignored its threats, it completely snapped and started cursing wildly, using a language that sounded like grinding metal.
She was far too familiar with that routine of desperate threats. Her mouth twitched as she looked at the system with disdain, her eyes cold.
"Tsk. Like you said, even if I die, I will have you with me, right?" she countered. "Then it is worth it."
Her reckless attitude made the system curse even harder, its light pulsing in jagged patterns. Even the dragon clan had not destroyed it, only opting to seal it away, yet this woman wanted to end its existence entirely. For some reason, it felt she was extremely abnormal, possessing a soul that was maybe even capable of actually destroying its core. The more it thought about it, the more panicked it became, and it could not stop cursing.
She got tired of listening to its screeching and directly shut off her hearing. The world inside the cave instantly went quiet, save for the hum of the flames. Then her Primordial Soul floated out of her sea of consciousness. A tiny Song Wanníng, identical in appearance but radiating terrifying pressure and golden light, emerged from her forehead and lunged straight at the system.
The shell that was so hard against physical attacks offered no defense against the soul's intrusion. She slipped inside the casing effortlessly, her spiritual form shimmering as she moved into the system's core.
When the system saw her Primordial Soul, it was shocked, but it immediately thought of a counterattack, contracting her soul instead. If that worked, everything she possessed would be under its control. With that desperate thought, it stopped cursing and rushed toward her golden form.
But the next second, it screamed and fled in panic, its light scattering. "Why does your Primordial Soul also have thunder power?"
That brief contact had almost electrocuted its consciousness into pieces. Thankfully, it reacted fast enough to avoid total disaster, pulling back into the darkest recesses of the shell. But when it looked at Song Wanníng again, all its earlier arrogance was gone, replaced by boundless fear.
She had blocked out sound and could not hear anything it said. Even if she could, she would not care about its pleas or its terror. Her eyes were firm as she charged at it again, her soul flickering with sparks of divine thunder.
Now she knew exactly how to destroy the system. She would devour its will directly, just like seizing a body in a cultivation battle. She might even be able to extract fragments of its memory and learn more about the Mùsù star system and its master.
She didn't hesitate at all and chased after the flickering light of the system relentlessly. The system panicked, jumping around inside the narrow confines of its shell, cursing madly as it fled from her reach. Who could have imagined that a system once worshipped by countless people across different worlds would be forced into such a desperate state?
But it had no choice. It could only fight Song Wanníng to the end. Then, in the next moment, crackling thunder power flared up again, filling the interior of the shell with a blinding, righteous light.