77: Chapter 77 The Yandere's Icefield Diary

The cold wrapped around Shen Xiao's falling body like a layer of viscous black grease.

The sensation of weightlessness lasted only a brief moment before his back slammed hard against something hard and uneven. The sharp pain caused his vision to blacken, and he nearly passed out on the spot.

The deeper fall he had anticipated did not come; he seemed to be stuck at a turn in a narrow passage.

His mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood and the fishy scent of melted ice shards.

Shen Xiao coughed a few times, struggled to prop up his upper body, wiped the mixture of ice and water from his face, and managed to open his eyes.

It was pitch black.

Only from a great height and distance above, through the narrow ice crevice he had fallen from, did a faint, almost negligible sliver of deep blue icy light leak through, like a rusty, dull blade hanging over the abyss.

The air was stagnant and freezing, carrying the scent of ancient rock and... some indescribable, extremely faint, sweet, metallic stench.

This sweet, metallic stench was very faint, so faint it was almost masked by the freezing cold, but as it entered his lungs, it caused the already sluggish Spiritual Qi in Shen Xiao's Meridians to faintly prickle with needle-like pain.

Poisonous? Or perhaps the residue of some special energy in this place?

He dared not breathe deeply, holding his breath and focusing his mind, letting his eyes adapt to the absolute darkness while struggling to mobilize his nearly exhausted perception.

The passive perception of "Destiny Resonance" became extremely obscure here, like a radio with poor reception, capable of receiving only vast swathes of oppressive "static".

Above, the vast, scorching golden radiance of Luck from Lin Yun and the overwhelming, deep blue cold tide of the Cold Marrow Beast seemed to be largely blocked by this thick layer of rock and some strange force field, leaving only a vague and distant "background vibration" that proved they were still searching, or... still in a standoff.

Temporarily safe?

Shen Xiao could not be sure. The depths of this crevice felt eerie.

He tried to move his body, but his bones felt like they were falling apart. His many wounds throbbed with stinging pain, especially the parts torn by spatial turbulence and frostbitten in the cold pool; now, soaking in this damp, gloomy environment, they itched and throbbed, and his condition was definitely not good.

In his Dantian, the Silver Patterns on the surface of the Dark Gold Core were slightly hot, seemingly reacting faintly to something in the surrounding environment, though he could not tell what it was.

He groped at the "ground" beneath him.

It felt cold and rough to the touch; it was rock, covered in a thin layer of slippery frost or... some kind of fungus?

He rubbed his fingertips together, and the slippery substance crumbled into powder, carrying an indescribable damp sensation.

Shen Xiao fished out the only remaining thumb-sized "Night-Illuminating Stone" from his Storage Ring.

This item was a common lighting tool for low-grade Cultivators; injecting a trace of Spiritual Qi allowed it to emit light for several hours. Its brightness was limited, but it was better than nothing.

A weak, steady, milky-white light flared up, dispelling a small patch of the thick, impenetrable darkness around him.

The light revealed the environment Shen Xiao was in.

This was by no means the bottom of a natural ice crevice, but rather... the middle section of an inclined passage with clear signs of manual excavation?

He was stuck at a steep turn in the passage; beneath him were roughly polished stone steps, but they were ancient, and most were covered by a thick layer of ice mixed with black Impurities.

The passage extended downward at a very steep angle, vanishing into deeper darkness.

Upward was the almost vertical narrow crevice he had fallen from.

The rock walls on both sides were not natural ice but a kind of hard, dark cyan-black rock, covered in dense, blurry inscriptions.

The inscriptions were mostly broken and fractured, filled with frost and grime, but as the light of the Night-Illuminating Stone swept over them, he could occasionally glimpse one or two relatively complete fragments. They were ancient runes Shen Xiao had never seen before; the strokes were complex and twisted, exuding an air of evil and suppression.

The sweet, metallic stench in the air seemed to have grown slightly stronger.

Shen Xiao's heart sank.

This was definitely not a benevolent place.

How could there be such a clearly man-made passage deep in the Ice Rift Valley?

Another remnant of the Gravekeeper?

Or... something else?

He dared not go deeper, nor did he dare to rashly return to the top—Lin Yun and that ice beast were likely still waiting outside.

The best choice was to stay at this turn for the time being, utilizing the complex terrain and the narrowness of the crack above to recover some strength as much as possible before planning his next move.

He searched through his Storage Ring.

The Medicinal Pill for healing had long been used up; there were only a few Low-Grade Spirit Stones and some miscellaneous items.

Better than nothing, he crushed a Spirit Stone, absorbed the chaotic Spiritual Qi within, and, combining it with the Turtle Breathing technique, slowly nourished his dried-up Meridians and the Dark Gold Core.

Time passed in the deathly silence.

Only the faint light of the Night-Illuminating Stone illuminated Shen Xiao's pale, blood-stained face and the darkness deep in the passage that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

He did not know how long had passed; perhaps just half an incense stick of time, perhaps several hours.

Shen Xiao was startled awake from his near-meditative state by a trace of abnormality.

It was not a sound, nor light and shadow.

It was the smell.

The faint, sweet, metallic stench that had always been in the air had, without warning, grown stronger.

It was not a slow increase, but rather like someone had knocked over a whole jar of aged blood-honey. That sticky, cloying scent of rotting sweetness and rusty metallic stench suddenly filled the entire turn of the passage, even overpowering the chill of the rocks and the coldness of the frost.

Shen Xiao suddenly held his breath, his pupils contracted, and he grabbed the Night-Illuminating Stone from the ground, sweeping the light toward the depths of the passage below.

The darkness remained thick.

But where the light met the darkness, it was vaguely visible that on the layer of frost mixed with black Impurities covering the passage floor, there seemed to be... something more.

Some wet, dimly glistening... traces?

It was as if some viscous liquid was slowly, silently creeping up from deeper below.

Shen Xiao's scalp went numb.

He stared fixedly at the traces, the Dark Gold Core in his Dantian subconsciously accelerating its rotation, the heat of the Silver Patterns on its surface becoming distinct, as if issuing some silent warning.

At the same time, in his "Destiny Resonance" perception, the vague "background vibration" from Lin Yun and the ice beast above, which had always been present, suddenly... vanished.

It was not that they had moved away, but as if they had been swallowed in one gulp by something.

The entire passage, along with that sliver of light above, instantly plunged into an even more thorough, more suffocating.

Deathly silence.

The wind of the ice plain was like a knife, scraping over exposed rocks and jagged ice ridges, emitting a wailing sound like a ghost's cry.

Xia Lengbai curled up in a naturally formed, wind-sheltered ice hollow.

This place was located on the shady side of a small ice hill, with several thick ice cones hanging above, forming a natural shelter. Her view, however, could penetrate the gaps between the ice cones, vaguely seeing the jagged outline of the Ice Rift Valley entrance in the distance.

She had been sitting here quietly for over two hours.

The light of the Tomb Guardian Seal between her brows had completely receded, with only a trace of ice-blue glimmer occasionally flowing deep in her eyes.

The Legacy information, like a trickling stream, continuously merged into her consciousness—cold, objective, cruel.

[Observation Record Fragment #4713: Supplement to the operating mechanism of the heavenly dao chessboard.

'Life Track' is essentially a high-dimensional energy projection, containing the probability weights of all past, present, and future of a biological entity.

'Child of Destiny' is the priority feeding and observation unit of the chessboard; its growth trajectory is set as a channel to efficiently absorb and convert the 'Life Track' energy of associated individuals.

Harvesting methods: emotional bonds, Karma conflicts, life-and-death sacrifices... Ultimate goal: condense the 'Perfect Dao Fruit', complete the chessboard's self-completion/transcendence.]

[Warning: Continuing to read the core records deeply will trigger a higher-level 'Life Track Burning' cost.

Estimated loss: within the next thirty years, the probability of encountering major Opportunity will decrease by 47%, and the probability of triggering life-and-death calamities will increase by 33%.

Confirm?]

The cold stream of information swept through her mind, bringing a needle-like stinging pain.

Xia Lengbai did not hesitate and gave an affirmative response in her consciousness.

Hum...

The seal between her brows suddenly grew hot.

An indescribable sense of emptiness instantly seized her.

It felt as if something inside her body, some invisible, intangible, yet real "weight" or "trajectory," had been forcibly ripped away.

Her vision briefly blackened, and countless fragmented, noisy, and malicious whispering auditory hallucinations rang in her ears. A violent, ice-and-fire intertwined wrenching pain suddenly came from the dark cyan poison on her right wrist!

"Ugh..."

She let out a muffled grunt, her left hand clutching her right wrist tightly, her nails sinking deep into the flesh. The skin there, amidst the dark cyan, faintly revealed an ominous dark purple pattern, wriggling slightly like a living thing.

The auditory hallucinations became clearer, as if countless voices were overlapping, mocking, cursing, and whispering her deepest fears and unwillingness:

"...What is stolen... must eventually be returned..."

"...A pawn... will always be a pawn..."

"...Shen Xiao... will die... like all deviants..."

"Shut up!"

Xia Lengbai squeezed two words through her teeth, her voice hoarse.

She suddenly raised her head, ice blue and bloodshot intertwined in her eyes; her yandere paranoia and ruthlessness were thoroughly ignited under the pressure.

She was not resisting the hallucinations, but enjoying this twisted state where pain and clarity were intertwined.

The sense of emptiness brought by burning the Life Track and the pain of the poison's erosion actually allowed her to more clearly feel the reality of "being alive"—a pathological freedom of breaking free from restraints and facing the cruelty head-on.

She gasped for air, the ice plain wind pouring into her lungs, cold enough to make her shiver, yet it also suppressed that most violent turmoil.

She leaned against the ice wall, her left hand still gripping her right wrist tightly, the cold sensation from her fingertips and the wriggling of the poison under her skin exceptionally clear.

Did she hate Shen Xiao?

Of course she did.

She hated his brutality when he took away her destiny value and memories, hated his mockery when he saw through her disguise, and hated him for throwing her into the North Sea Ice Abyss to fend for herself.

But... she was also grateful to him.

Grateful to him for tearing away that layer of tender, affectionate illusion and dragging her out, bloody and fierce, from the magnificent cage of being the "fiancée of the Child of Destiny".

Allowing her to see the chessboard clearly, and to see the truth of herself as "firewood".

She was curious about him.

Curious about how he struggled out of desperate situations time and time again, curious about the origin of his looting System, and curious about how far he could ultimately go.

There was an even more twisted expectation.

Expecting to see him turn this hypocritical heavenly dao chessboard upside down.

Expecting to see him and Lin Yun, and that high-and-mighty "Heavenly Dao", fight to the death.

And she... perhaps at the most critical moment, could appear in the most suitable position, deliver the most fatal blow, or, offer the most "warm" helping hand?

Let him see the only light in his despair, and then, extinguish it with her own hands.

Or, make him owe her forever, never able to escape.

The corners of Xia Lengbai's mouth, extremely slowly, curved into a cold and joyful arc.

Just at this moment—

The Tomb Guardian Seal between her brows jumped violently without warning!

An extremely distant, faint, intermittent energy fluctuation, but with frequency characteristics originating from the same source as her seal, like ripples from a stone thrown into a still lake, was vaguely transmitted through some energy veins deep beneath the ice plain that she could not yet fully understand!

The fluctuation was mixed with too much chaotic information: extreme cold, the roar of a violent ancient beast, the vibration of space being crushed by brute force, and a trace of... the chaotic Spiritual Qi aura that she would never mistake, belonging to Shen Xiao, carrying the Dark Gold characteristics of a looter and some abnormal silver brilliance!

It was him!

He was indeed over there, and, he had gotten into big trouble again. Judging by the intensity and chaos of this fluctuation, it was definitely not a small scuffle.

Xia Lengbai opened her eyes abruptly, a stunning brilliance suddenly lighting up the yandere depths of her eyes; it was the excitement of a hunter smelling the bloody scent of prey.

"Found you..."

She whispered to herself, her voice almost inaudible in the wind, "Getting into trouble again, aren't you."

But the next second, that excitement was suppressed by extreme calmness.

She did not move immediately, but instead hid herself deeper into the shadow of the ice hollow, her aura converging until she was almost one with the ice and rock.

Calm down.

The fluctuations from Shen Xiao's side showed that he was in an extremely dangerous situation, with a powerful ancient Vicious Beast (judging from that violent cold) and Lin Yun (the vast pressure of Luck could be vaguely sensed by the seal even from this distance).

What was her current state?

The poison was not cleared, only a small part of the Legacy was digested, the Life Track had just been burned again, and her strength was greatly reduced.

Rushing over rashly would not only fail to save him but would likely get herself killed, becoming a target for Lin Yun to clean up along the way, or being crushed by a slap from that Vicious Beast.

Not worth it.

She needed to observe, needed to wait.

Waiting for the moment when Shen Xiao was truly in a desperate situation and unable to resist, waiting for Lin Yun to show flaws or fatigue, waiting for the moment when she could intervene with minimal cost and obtain maximum benefits, whether it was Shen Xiao himself, the secrets on him, or the pleasure of Heavenly Dao backlash brought by ruining Lin Yun's "good deeds".

A cold and precise plan quickly took shape in her heart.

She took one last look at the direction of the Ice Rift Valley in the distance, where the fluctuations had already subsided, leaving only a heart-palpitating silence mixed with violence and Heavenly Dao pressure.

But the Tomb Guardian Seal told her that the "chess game" there had not ended, but had only temporarily fallen into some subtle stalemate or... concealment.

Xia Lengbai stood up slowly, her movements as light as a falling snowflake.

She pulled her hood lower, covering the faint glimmer occasionally leaking from the seal between her brows, and also covering most of her face and those deep, unfathomable eyes.

Her left hand subconsciously stroked her dark cyan right wrist again gently.

The skin under her fingertips felt the wriggling of the poison had eased slightly, but that cold, shadow-like malicious whispering still lingered on the edge of her consciousness.

Like a true ghost, without making a sound, she slid out of the ice hollow. She did not choose to head straight to the Ice Rift Valley, but took a larger arc, sneaking toward a complex area of intersecting ice hills and broken ice towers on the flank of the direction from which the fluctuations were sensed.

There, she might find a position that could both conceal her observation of the valley entrance dynamics and allow her to hide herself at any time using the complex terrain, waiting for the Opportunity to act.

The wind and snow picked up, quickly covering the traces of her departure.

Above the ice plain, only the eternal deathly silence remained, along with the silent, surging, deadly undercurrents in the depths.