**Chapter 194: Protagonist 32**

Most of Tu Hongying’s injuries came from the Tomb Guardian Beast.

That strange creature had absorbed the demonic energy from her body. She’d only managed to kill it after a grueling battle, and only then did the entrance to the Triangular Divine Palace reveal itself, allowing her to enter the inner sanctum.

But just as she was on the brink of collapse, she was ambushed by Xiao Shou.

The man who had always acted meek and submissive had secretly drugged her without her noticing. When the drug took effect, he stabbed her hands and feet to keep her from escaping.

But Tu Hongying wasn’t someone to be trifled with. The moment she realized Xiao Shou’s intentions, she flew into a rage. Ignoring her injuries, she lashed out and severed one of his hands.

Fortunately, Xiao Shou’s cultivation was far inferior to hers. That was the only reason she managed to escape, dragging her heavily wounded body away in a desperate bid for survival.

Now, stumbling through the illusion-filled flower fields, Tu Hongying’s mind was clouded. A violent rage surged through her, making her want to kill everything in sight, yet her body was too weak to follow through.

Thanks to her having already slain the Tomb Guardian Beast, Gongxi Yue and Qian, who arrived a step later, encountered no resistance and easily entered the Triangular Divine Palace. At the outer perimeter, they ran into Tu Hongying as she fled for her life.

While her daughter fretted and stumbled about in worry, Gongxi Yue simply stood at a distance, waiting.

Since Tu Hongying was here, the Xiao Shou she brought with her couldn’t be far behind.

Sure enough, before long, Xiao Shou appeared in the distance. Half his body was soaked in blood, the severed hand reattached, with puppet threads writhing like worms beneath his skin.

His face twisted with fury as he stared at the fiery figure ahead. He flexed the fingers of his bloodstained hand.

“You can’t run anymore, Tu Hongying. Today, you’ll fulfill my destiny.”

“Didn’t you say my cultivation was too low for you to even bother with me? Well, soon your cultivation will be mine.”

“A dignified Young Miss of the Demon Realm, reduced to such a pathetic state—hahaha!”

He, too, was affected by the hallucinogenic flowers. His vision blurred, phantom voices whispered in his ears, and even his own voice sounded distorted amidst the illusions.

“Xiao Shou. We meet again.”

A clear, cold voice pierced into Xiao Shou’s overheated, excited mind like an ice pick.

The name of the speaker flashed instantly through his thoughts, triggering an involuntary reaction—goosebumps of fear prickled down his spine.

Gongxi Yue!

Xiao Shou froze in his tracks. He rubbed his eyes and saw the figure standing ahead.

In that moment, it felt like he was back in the Gongxi Family, seeing Gongxi Yue for the first time. She was still that ethereal, aloof immortal, while he… thanks to her, had been struggling ever since.

The hunter chasing his prey suddenly found himself the hunted.

Xiao Shou instinctively stepped back. Every time he encountered Gongxi Yue, it meant pain, humiliation, and defeat.

Why?

He was so close to turning the tables—why did this damned Gongxi Yue keep haunting him?!

Gongxi Yue walked toward him, steady and unhurried, one hand resting on her sword.

If not for the fact that her other hand was holding a chubby child with a tilted head, fast asleep, her presence would have been far more intimidating.

Xiao Shou’s face twisted with a mix of rage, resentment, and a flicker of fear. The painted skin on his face twitched.

Suddenly, he turned and fled.

He knew he stood no chance against Gongxi Yue. At this point, only one thought remained in his mind: escape. If he could get his hands on the Divine Artifact, maybe he could still turn things around!

A heavy blow slammed into his back. Xiao Shou crashed to the ground. As he struggled to roll over, he felt a sudden chill and then searing pain on his cheek—his skin was being torn apart.

Gongxi Yue’s sword had pierced his cheek and stabbed into the ground. Xiao Shou let out a scream as his face was ripped open. He scrambled away, rolling and crawling in desperation.

Gongxi Yue flicked the blood from her sword and appeared in front of him in a flash. With a kick to the chest, she sent him flying toward the unconscious Tu Hongying.

Xiao Shou tried to get up again, but Gongxi Yue stepped on his chest, pinning him down. Her sword tip pressed against his forehead.

“Every time I see you, I want to kill you. But unfortunately…”

Unfortunately, it’s not time yet.

“Let me go, let me go—I’m still useful! I’m… I’m from the Outer World, you know that, right? I can help you! I can help you get the Divine Artifact!”

Xiao Shou panted heavily. Seeing that she remained unmoved, he added:

“And I can tell you a secret. About… about your daughter…”

His voice grew weaker and weaker.

“Oh really?”

Gongxi Yue leaned down, grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him up. Xiao Shou suddenly leaned in and blew a puff of smoke at her.

It was the same Demon Race secret drug he had used on Tu Hongying earlier.

But Gongxi Yue didn’t even flinch. In the midst of the smoke, she smiled.

“Your drug is useless against me. Let’s see what else you’ve got.”

With two swift slashes, both of Xiao Shou’s arms were severed. He was a beat too slow to scream, then rolled on the ground in agony, the secret drugs hidden on him scattering everywhere.

He couldn’t help but curse loudly.

Among the four present, Tu Hongying lay unconscious in the flower field, and Qian was fast asleep, set aside.

Gongxi Yue looked down at Xiao Shou and recalled that future that never came to pass—Xiao Shou, smug and triumphant, surrounded by women, proudly declaring himself the protagonist.

Suddenly, she grabbed his twitching face and asked, “Do you really think you’re the protagonist?”

Xiao Shou gasped, eyes wide as he stared at her.

Gongxi Yue’s lips curled slightly. “Because I think I’m the one who should be the ‘protagonist.’”

When she saw that ridiculous future—where she, her friends, her sectmates, all became stepping stones for Xiao Shou—beyond the overwhelming fury, only one thought filled her mind.

If someone in this world could achieve Ascension, why not her?

She had always been the best since childhood. Why should someone like Xiao Shou—a scheming, opportunistic thief—be the one to ascend, and not her?

She would ascend. She would break through the boundaries that had held this world back for millennia, accomplish what even her Master could not.

If it took a System to win, then she would win with or without one.

The Lonely Moon Sword Monarch, who had chased victory her whole life, hated losing more than anything.

…

Qian woke up. At first, she thought she was still at home, napping. She stretched out her arms, swiping at the air, then realized she was being held in her mother’s arms. She blinked and looked around.

Her mother was holding her near a stone wall, studying the intricate patterns carved into it.

The vast field of flowers they had seen upon entering was now far off in the distance, a hazy white blur.

“Huh? I think I saw a lot of people just now?” Qian rubbed her forehead against her mother’s chest.

“You were dreaming,” Gongxi Yue replied absently, her gaze still scanning the carvings on the stone wall.

“It’s not a dream—I saw her!” Qian pointed at Tu Hongying, who was lying by the stone steps.

“Oh…” Gongxi Yue stared at the carvings on the stone wall, her brows tightly furrowed.

The patterns seemed to depict what happened after the Ancient God broke through the barriers—passing through one after another, its form growing increasingly bizarre, until it was worshipped by swarms of strange, tiny creatures.

“Is she asleep? Can I go play with her?”

The child tilted her head back and forth. When she didn’t get a response, she started bouncing around like beans in a hot pan.

Gongxi Yue was finally pestered into glancing down at her. “Fine, go play with her.”

Qian was set down and ran over to Tu Hongying, poking her face, patting her hair.

With the child distracted, Gongxi Yue could finally return to quietly studying the wall’s carvings.

After a long while, Tu Hongying suddenly opened her eyes. She flipped upright in one swift motion, her hand already gripping the long halberd beside her, ready to strike at any moment.

She still remembered what happened before she blacked out—Xiao Shou, that damned dog, had dared to say something like that to her.

But as she scanned the area, she didn’t see Xiao Shou. Instead, she saw her arch-nemesis.

Gongxi Yue was sitting on the steps, kicking a ball toward the other side. Not far away, her daughter caught it with a cheerful laugh and kicked it back.

The two of them were playing a childish game, as if this wasn’t some Secret Realm Divine Palace, but their own backyard.

“You saved me?” Tu Hongying forced the words through gritted teeth.

Being saved by her mortal enemy or being betrayed by a weak man—she couldn’t decide which was more humiliating.

Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair, only to feel rough braids instead of her usual smooth locks.

Tu Hongying: “?”

Only one person here could’ve tied such a messy, ugly thing… Her gaze skipped over Gongxi Yue’s indifferent face and landed squarely on Qian.

The child hugged the ball and gave her a radiant smile.

Tu Hongying decided not to argue with this soft-jawed little brat. Instead, she turned her fury on Gongxi Yue. “Where’s Xiao Shou?!”

“Tied up over there,” Gongxi Yue replied coolly.

Tu Hongying grabbed her halberd and stormed toward the corner. Xiao Shou lay there like a dead dog, both hands gone, his screams having only recently stopped.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Tu Hongying approaching. He shook his head and opened his mouth to beg.

“Don’t kill me! The Divine Artifact—you want the Divine Artifact, don’t you? I—AHHH!”

Tu Hongying’s expression turned vicious. She raised her halberd and drove it down beneath him.

Gongxi Yue, still playing catch with Qian, raised an eyebrow and touched the hilt of her sword. She wouldn’t waste her spirit sword on someone like that.

Before long, Tu Hongying returned, tossing her bloodied halberd to the ground and sitting on the opposite steps.

Xiao Shou’s screams resumed in broken sobs. Qian picked up her ball, occasionally sneaking curious glances in that direction.

She had only taken two steps that way when Gongxi Yue pulled her back.

“That guy’s sick. Stay away from him.”

Qian shook her head and leaned against her mother, whispering mysteriously, “I saw his red ball flashing—twinkle, twinkle, so tiny!”

“Ours is a blue ball, super bright, way bigger than his!”

As she spoke, her eyes followed something near Gongxi Yue’s head.

Gongxi Yue knew she was talking about the System.

“Of course. That’s because we’re about to win.”

Tu Hongying didn’t pay attention to their conversation, but she vaguely heard Gongxi Yue say something about winning. Her gaze snapped in that direction.

Grinding her teeth, she said bitterly, “Fine. I admit it. You won this time.”

Gongxi Yue replied, “Even if you didn’t admit it, I still won. Look at your current state—do you really think you can compete with me?”

It was the truth, but it made Tu Hongying’s blood boil. She wanted nothing more than to fight this woman to the death right then and there.

Seeing her seething, Gongxi Yue didn’t provoke her further. But Qian stared at her for a moment, then sighed dramatically. “You’re mad again. Red-haired people really love getting angry.”

For some reason, hearing that from the little brat irritated Tu Hongying even more than anything Gongxi Yue had said.

Before she could vent that inexplicable rage, the entire space trembled. Overhead, the black starry sky burst into radiant light.

A massive Inverted Triangle Divine Palace appeared in the sky, dazzling and brilliant, like a mirror image of the one on the ground.

The five seals within the Secret Realm shattered—at last, the true Divine Artifact was about to emerge!

Gongxi Yue reacted first, grabbing Qian with one hand and binding Xiao Shou with a spiritual rope in the other. Tu Hongying, still badly injured, also reached for Xiao Shou but was a step too slow and cursed under her breath.

Outside, the five colored pillars of light were broken one after another by the cultivators. The surviving cultivators and demonic cultivators fought over the treasures falling from the beams. Suddenly, someone cried out in shock.

“What is that?!”

In the sky, a massive inverted triangle space slowly rotated in midair.

Everyone could feel a terrifying spiritual force leaking from the ground. The concentration of Spiritual Energy within the Secret Realm was rising rapidly.

Just as Gongxi Yue secured Qian and Xiao Shou, she felt a powerful force pulling them upward, with opposing forces tugging from both sides.

The force was trying to rip Qian and Xiao Shou from her grasp.

Gongxi Yue hadn’t expected that even with her cultivation at the Void Refinement Stage, she was still powerless before this force.

Her body felt as though it were being torn apart by a hurricane. As the pressure intensified, Gongxi Yue made a swift decision—she let go of one hand, abandoning Xiao Shou, and clung tightly to Qian.

Her hands split open from the strain, blood pouring out. Qian couldn’t take it anymore and began to cry.

Gongxi Yue gritted her teeth—and let go.

In that instant, she felt as if she were swept into “water” by the wind.

It was Spiritual Energy so dense it had nearly liquefied, pressing her down into it. Not far away, Tu Hongying floated in a pool of black demonic energy, her figure flickering in and out of sight.

Above them, on the unfolding Taiji diagram of twin fish, Qian and Xiao Shou landed on two opposite points.

At the center of the Taiji symbol, a small, exquisite fourteen-sided die hovered in the air.

Gongxi Yue stared fixedly at the die—that was the true Divine Artifact, capable of tearing open space and aiding in Ascension!

Xiao Shou let out a crazed, ecstatic howl.

He was still bound by the Spirit Shackles, his hands gone, but his eyes were locked onto the fourteen-sided die. He squirmed across the ground, rolling and crawling with all his might toward it.

In contrast, Qian wasn’t even looking at the die. She was frantically searching for any sign of her mother.

She couldn’t see her mother below, who was so anxious she looked ready to break through the Taiji Diagram herself to snatch the Divine Artifact for her.

Xiao Shou crashed into the die. With no hands, he opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.

“It’s mine! The Divine Artifact is mine! Haha… hahahahaha!”

“Clack… clack… clack…”

His manic, ecstatic laughter lasted barely a moment before his body suddenly began to melt.

Below the Taiji Diagram, Gongxi Yue, who had been trying to break through it with her sword, was momentarily stunned by the sight. Then it hit her—she understood what had happened.

The Divine Artifact held immense power, far beyond what Xiao Shou’s pitiful cultivation could withstand. His body collapsed under the strain.

In that future that never came to pass, Xiao Shou had entered the Godfall Secret Realm after already acquiring her Sword Bone Cultivation and Tu Hongying’s demonic energy. That was how he’d been able to claim the Divine Artifact.

But now, he had failed.

Gongxi Yue had kept him around all this time for one reason: during the Ascension Lightning Tribulation, she planned to have Qian’s System devour Xiao Shou’s. She never imagined he’d die so recklessly, consumed by the backlash of the Divine Artifact.

Xiao Shou’s body melted like candle wax, twisting into grotesque shapes. The Divine Artifact he had swallowed burst out of him, flying free.

The red lights that had clustered around his body, now released from some invisible restraint, flickered dimly as they tried to escape—only to be sucked back into the die and devoured.

The commotion finally drew Qian’s attention. She turned toward the die, hesitating as she edged closer, still calling softly for her mother as she moved.

Below, Gongxi Yue’s expression darkened even further—worse than when she had seen Xiao Shou swallow the die.

“Qian! Don’t touch that die!”

“Qian!”

She had miscalculated. If Qian got her hands on the Divine Artifact now, she would suffer the same fate as Xiao Shou.