After the main character who took the blame retired, the female lead quit.

After taking a detour, Xiao Yu arrived at Ye Feng's grave once again.

This time, he didn't waste any words. He took out a shovel and started digging. In no time, a corner of the coffin was revealed.

"System, is this distance enough?" Xiao Yu paused his work and asked the system within his body.

【Host, please wait a moment, this system is analyzing... analyzing...】 The system responded quickly, it seems we'll have to wait a while longer.

Analysis... The secret is about to be revealed, but we still don't know whether Ye Feng, the protagonist, was killed.

Could it be a few powerful demons from the demon race? But the boundary wall isn't so easy to cross, especially with humans guarding the area nearby.

The demon race is currently being severely suppressed, and their status is even lower than that of zombies, who are not tolerated by the laws of heaven. Within the five states, it is almost impossible to find a demon above the Golden Core realm, let alone a great demon.

Hmm... Now that I think about it...

Could it be that he was really killed by those evil cultivators from the demonic sect that Li Yunshang mentioned?

That protagonist is too useless. Back then, even without the protagonist's halo, he was able to dominate the battlefield. But now that he's the real protagonist, a few unknown evil cultivators from a demonic sect have killed him.

Hard to comment.

Xiao Yu casually poked the shovel into the ground, too lazy to think about it anymore. The result would be known soon enough. It couldn't be that the protagonist committed suicide, or that Li Yunshang did it, could it? Impossible.

He looked up at the moon, which was obscured by dark clouds, and clicked his tongue: "A dark and windy night is the perfect time to kill and steal."

"That does fit the current situation." After glancing at the grave he had ruined, Xiao Yu casually joked and chuckled a few times.

Suddenly, a soft voice rang out, carried by the night breeze from behind into Xiao Yu's ears:

"Senior brother... what are you doing here so late?"

"My darn thing!"

Xiao Yu felt a chill run down his spine and was startled. He turned around and saw Li Yunshang, dressed in white, standing behind him, silently watching him.

The dark clouds parted, and the pale moonlight shone down, making her look like a rather beautiful female ghost.

"Junior Sister... what are you doing here?"

Damn, we've been caught again.

"That's what I wanted to ask you, Senior Brother. Why are you here so late at night instead of staying in your room?" Li Yunshang was still dressed as a widow from the daytime. Her voice was low and her clear eyes gleamed faintly in the moonlight, making her even more eerie.

Li Yunshang's gaze shifted downwards, landing on the coffin whose corner had been unearthed by Xiao Yu. Upon seeing this, Xiao Yu hurriedly explained:

"No...don't misunderstand, I...I just feel that my hometown is a bit far away. If I leave tomorrow morning, I might not be able to get home before dark, so I came here to prepare and pack my things so I can set off tomorrow."

The moonlight drifted away, as if unwilling to witness what was about to happen, and hid behind the dark clouds again, plunging the scene into darkness once more.

Li Yunshang remained silent, watching Xiao Yu intently. In the dim moonlight, Xiao Yu couldn't see her expression clearly, but he felt that her faint gaze swept over him, as if she could see through the mask he wore and reveal his true self.

Xiao Yu's mind snapped to attention as he realized what Li Yunshang had called him and that he had seemed to have misspoke when he subconsciously responded. He quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "No... Master... Pshaw, why does Miss Li call me Senior Brother? I'm not my younger brother Ye Feng."

"Really? But I think compared to that imposter lying in the coffin, you're the real senior brother here~"

"Should we keep up the act? Senior brother, I should still call you Ye Feng, no, no, no... maybe Ye Feng is just an alias."

As she spoke, Li Yunshang cupped her face in her hands, no longer pretending. A sickly smile appeared on her lips, and the emotion hidden beneath her setting sun-like eyes finally erupted:

"Welcome back, senior brother. How's the scenery outside? Don't even think about leaving me behind and running away this time, or I might do something crazy again."

At the same time, the system's analysis results came out: [Host! Upon examination, the wounds on Ye Feng's corpse were caused by a powerful magical artifact similar to a skirt-pressing knife. Based on the residual spiritual energy, its owner... the one who killed Ye Feng, is none other than Li Yunshang, who is standing before you.]

As the system's unchanging mechanical voice faded, Xiao Yu looked at the smiling girl in front of him, his body went numb, and a bone-chilling cold rose from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Chapter Twenty-Eight, My Head...

Under the cool moonlight, Xiao Yu felt a chill in his heart, as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning from the heavens—he was completely numb.

Almost without thinking, he pressed the Qiankun Escape Talisman in his palm, preparing to pour spiritual energy into it to escape. Fortunately, he was prepared in advance and always left himself a way out.

I can't stay here any longer, I really can't stay here any longer. The protagonist was actually killed by Li Yunshang, and judging from her expression, she seems to have become a yandere. If I stay here any longer, I'm just asking for death.

It feels like nothing has gone smoothly since I retired.

Is this malice from the Heavenly Dao?! It must be.

In a flash, Xiao Yu thought of many things, even connecting them to the Big Bang and the origin of human life. He was certain that when he faced that Nascent Soul stage zombie that he had accidentally woken up and that was chasing after him and biting his butt, the sense of oppression that Li Yunshang was giving him now was not as great.

Many thoughts flashed through my mind, but in reality, they only lasted for a moment.

Before Xiao Yu could transfer his spiritual power from his dantian to the Qiankun Escape Talisman in his palm, a figure hidden in the shadows suddenly darted out and, before he could, delivered a chop to the back of Xiao Yu's neck.

The sound of something cutting through the air rang in his ears, mixed with a faint floral fragrance. Instantly, Xiao Yu felt as if a giant had had two ounces of flesh cut off from the neck by a jumping dwarf. His vision went black, his consciousness blurred, and he collapsed. Before he completely lost consciousness, he sensed the aura emanating from behind him.

Damn it, Nascent Soul Realm... Seriously, is he a sore loser? A great cultivator actually attacked a nobody like him, and even used poison. It's unbelievable...

Before he could finish thinking, Xiao Yu lost consciousness completely. He knelt down and fell forward. Li Yunshang, who was standing in front of him, quickly stepped forward to catch him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you so much, Sister Ye!" She first glanced at Xiao Yu in her arms with concern, and only after confirming that he had completely fainted did she raise her head and express her gratitude to the ghostly figure in front of her.

The figure nodded, then stepped back and disappeared into the shadows again, silently, as if only Li Yunshang and Xiao Yu were there, and she had never been there at all.

This assassin, renowned for her secrecy and assassination skills, was her mother's best friend. When she came to visit the sect, Li Yunshang's mother entrusted her to protect her little niece for a while. The Nascent Soul cultivator nodded in agreement, considering it as overtime work, which happened to be within her area of ​​expertise.

A Nascent Soul cultivator is always treated as a distinguished guest wherever he goes. Now, he's being used as a bodyguard for a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator. It's a waste of his talent. In the outside world, people wouldn't even dare to dream of this. Xiao Yu is lucky to have encountered this situation.

He put away the talisman in Xiao Yu's palm and the talisman on his chest whose purpose he didn't know, to prevent any further accidents. After doing this,

Li Yunshang nervously lifted the human skin mask off Xiao Yu's face. When she saw that familiar face, the girl's heart tightened. The uncontrollable emotions in her heart were like a dam breaking, almost bursting out. She wished she could kill him on the spot, but... it wasn't the right time yet.

Touching that familiar yet unfamiliar face, the girl squeezed her legs together. She was certain that the man in her arms was her senior brother, the one who tirelessly accompanied her through all the trouble, who would take her to see the lanterns, who would forgive her every tantrum, who would find her again and again when she got lost, and who would rescue her from danger time and time again... the knight.

Instead of that imposter lying in the coffin, who looks the same but is actually a completely different person.

"Hehe... Senior brother, you can't escape now. I'll... give you a good welcome~?"

Her cherry-like lips parted, releasing a few puffs of warm breath, and the girl's murmur, tinged with excitement and tenderness, slowly drifted into the night sky.

Heaven and earth.

Inside the Daozang Palace.

The once magnificent palace is now in complete disarray.

Folded papers were scattered all over the floor, covering almost the entire surface. Neatly arranged books were also piled up on their side, and it seemed that no one had bothered to clean them up.

Those twisted crumpled pieces of paper, upon closer inspection, were actually scrolls depicting portraits, only the clean and tidy images were marked with a "X".

"This won't do, she's too fat."

"This one won't do either, she's too thin."

"Oh dear, why isn't there a single one that looks like it? It's awful."

Before the desk, a petite woman with black hair and blue eyes, dressed in a loose, dark blue Taoist robe like a child, was flipping through stacks of portraits on the table. Suddenly, as if she had gone mad, she grabbed her hair, swept everything off the table, and angrily slammed her fist on the table.

Almost none of the portraits in front of them resembled Ye Feng, not even half of him. The idea of ​​finding someone to take the blame for Ye Feng, as before, was simply a pipe dream.

"No, this search won't work. Even if we find someone who looks similar to Ye Feng, he can't be like Xiao Yu. He's an extraterrestrial demon and can't shield himself from some people's prying eyes. He'll soon be exposed. Damn it..."

She slammed her hand on the table again, the dull thud echoing through the vast palace, mirroring her current mood—utterly depressed, on the verge of madness.

After the protagonist was killed by Li Yunshang, her originally leisurely life was completely disrupted.

Before anything happened, all you had to do was casually stroll around the Daoist Palace, observe the lower realm, see what the demon race was up to, and whether the Chosen One had encountered any unexpected situations.

Although there was a minor issue at the beginning, it has been resolved with Xiao Yu's selfless help.

Next, as long as Ye Feng follows the route planned by the Hongtian Chessboard and continues to grow, eventually reaching the Ascension Realm or higher, the legendary True Realm, and defeating those restless demon races, she will be completely free.

Later, Ye Feng will become the most just swordsman of the human race, sweeping away all factors that are detrimental to the development of the human race, so as to ensure that the human race will prosper forever and usher in a golden age for the human race.

At that time, she could retire, and her soul would detach from the Hongtian Chessboard, be reincarnated as a young lady from a wealthy family, enjoy the later golden age of humanity, find a handsome young man, and have sex with him for three days and three nights to satisfy her physical needs. She was a human being, after all, a mortal, a mortal who had been holding back for thousands of years.

Although she is now considered a spirit, she still has some emotions and desires. Unlike Tian, ​​who is cold and like a puppet, Tian is completely an ice block. She has lived with Tian for thousands of years and has not gone crazy, which is already a testament to her strong mental strength.

The plan is good, but you never know which will come first, tomorrow or an accident.

Ye Feng is dead. He was fucking killed by a woman.

Damn it, is he a piece of trash? He couldn't even beat a guy who had just started cultivating, let alone someone who had only recently begun cultivating.

Why does he have so many problems? When Xiao Yu was the protagonist, everything was fine, and she didn't have to worry about anything. If possible, she would love to have Xiao Yu be the protagonist.

But, no.

Ye Feng's existence was something she and Tian planned for thousands of years before deciding on. Ye Feng himself was also extremely special and thus conceived. Although Xiao Yu is a demon from beyond the heavens and can replace Ye Feng to some extent, he cannot break through the final barrier.

Ultimately, it still depends on Ye Feng. But now, Ye Feng is dead, completely dead. If it were just his physical body that died, it would be easier to deal with. She has plenty of rare and precious herbs here; she could take out any one of them and bring the dead back to life or heal the wounded.

As long as nothing happened to his soul, that would be fine. But unfortunately, Ye Feng died without leaving behind his soul. It seems that someone knew she could revive Ye Feng and did it on purpose.

Clearly, Li Yunshang alone could not have done it, and the magical artifact left behind by her missing father did not have the function of annihilating souls.

"So... it really was those guys from the Yantian Sect who did this?"

Dao pinched his chin, revealing a thoughtful expression, and frowned slightly.

These human traitors from the Yantian Sect, who preach obedience to the will of Heaven and the ruthlessness of the Great Dao, seem capable of doing such a thing.

"Damn it, these bastards who disregard the greater good of humanity. It seems we didn't deal with them properly last time, and they've come back with a vengeance. Ouch, ouch, ouch."

Dao slammed his fist on the table, but quickly covered his hand and put on a mask of pain.

It smashed into the pen on the table.

She forgot that after Tian fell into slumber, she had specially created a physical body for herself, so that in this prison-like Daoist Palace she could at least enjoy some of her culinary desires. This was one of the few joys she had in heaven, after all, after Tian fell into slumber, she was completely alone.

Damn it, if only Xiao Yu were still here.

Amidst the pain, Dao missed Xiao Yu. If he were still alive, he could have continued to take over, instead of being in such a chaotic situation as he is now.

But... but Xiao Yu was stabbed to death by her. To prevent any further accidents, since the extraterrestrial demons were not from their world, there were too many unstable factors. If the people of Yantian Sect found out, they could use it against them and cause irreversible damage to the plan.

Now Dao Lian has no way out, and she can't contact Tian either. She probably hasn't survived the tribulation of the mortal world yet. Well, she's been corrupted too much by the will of heaven. She herself is also very indifferent, giving off the feeling of the ruthless Great Dao. Whether she can succeed is still uncertain. She shouldn't be assimilated into the Little Heavenly Dao. If she had known, she wouldn't have silenced Xiao Yu.

Lao Yu, I miss you.

Dao Xin wailed inwardly, she really wanted to cry, since no one in the Daozang Palace could see her anyway.

Suddenly, Dao, who was rolling on the ground preparing for a painful ordeal, froze. She sensed a familiar presence suddenly appearing.

He...he's not dead?!

Dao excitedly raised his head, but unexpectedly, bang! A muffled sound rang out as his fair forehead slammed hard against the protruding corner of the table.