⌞Mission completed.⌝
⌞System message: I see you've brought quite a lot with you, master.⌝
the system remarks as Yueting stands in the spaceless place once again. Like the last time, the place looked otherworldly. Holding multiple bottles filled with alcohol and boxes behind her, Yueting begins to speak. "Can you put them in the inventory?" she requests.
⌞System message: Of course, of course!⌝
After storing away all the different variations of alcohol, Yueting sits down and continues speaking. "This time I left early because there was nothing for me to celebrate, but I am allowed to stay for a while, right?" she asks.
⌞System message: Well, you are allowed to stay for a few days after your mission but no longer than that.⌝
"I see," Yueting responds, shifting her sitting position.
⌞System message: Talking about that, did you really have to take 'it' with you?⌝
Turning around to look at what the system mentioned, there was a coffin beautifully decorated with Meiyang's corpse. "Better than leaving it with them," Yueting answers as if it were completely normal.
⌞System message: I see, well, she's already dead, but here she won't wither.⌝
"I see, thank you," Yueting says calmly. She knew this was wrong in one way or another, but she had a feeling that she shouldn't just leave her there.
⌞System message: Master, it's fine, you did it out of good intention.⌝
It was as if the system knew everything and could change everything. So how come it recognized Yueting as 'Kyo'? It hadn't made any sense from the beginning, but even so, the system probably wouldn't throw Yueting away even if it knew.
⌞System message: Are you ready for the next world?⌝
"I guess so," Yueting says, hoping this time she wouldn't fall from the sky like the last time.
⌞Loading gear...⌝
A bright dark purple light erupts again, and Yueting's clothes change into Chinese-looking attire.
⌞World genre of next mission: Chinese cultivation novel.⌝
"This should be hard, considering everyone is in sects and talks super politely," Yueting says, sighing before she continues, "What exactly is my mission there though?" It was a mistake she made last time because she didn't know what she had to do.
⌞System message: Currently, in the demon realm, people are going against their ruler as he is too 'insane'.⌝
"I see," Yueting remarks. Just a few seconds, and she could've guessed it. Just like last time, a bright dark purple light forms under Yueting before it opens up and lets her fall from the sky. But this time, it was different. She was right above a huge crowd of people, though it didn't look like a demon city or something from a demon realm. Falling right above a city, Yueting looks for something she could hold onto to stop her fall, but that's when she remembers a chapter in the guide she started but didn't finish because she didn't need it at the moment.
𝐿𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒻𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓅𝓈
𝐼𝓃 𝒸𝓊𝓁𝓉𝒾𝓋𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹𝓈, 𝒾𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓋𝒾𝒹𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓈 𝓉𝓎𝓅𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝑒𝓃𝑔𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒷𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝒶 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶 𝒷𝓇𝓊𝓉𝒶𝓁 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓊𝑔𝑔𝓁𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝒶𝓀𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝒸𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓇𝑒𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓆𝓊𝒶𝓁𝒾𝒻𝓎 𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑒𝒸𝒽𝓃𝒾𝓆𝓊𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓂'𝓈 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝓈, 𝒾𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓃𝑜 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀𝓈. 𝐻𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇, 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒻𝒾𝒸𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓇 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒.
𝒜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓂'𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝑒𝒸𝒽𝓃𝒾𝓆𝓊𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓂. 𝐵𝓎 𝓈𝒾𝓂𝓅𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 "𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓋𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓈𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒," 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓂 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑒𝓃𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈. 𝒲𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓁𝑒𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝒹𝒹𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒, 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝑒𝒸𝒽𝓃𝒾𝓆𝓊𝑒, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝒻 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓁𝓎, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝓍𝑒𝒸𝓊𝓉𝑒 𝒾𝓉.
"Activate light silence," Yueting says as she remains airborne, knowing she's about to touch down soon.
⌞Activating secret technique: light silence⌝
Just before landing, Yueting executes a graceful turn, touching the ground with only one leg, maintaining silence and feeling weightless. However, her balance falters, causing her to topple over once she lands. Seated on the street, she attracts the attention of passersby.
Standing up to brush off the dust, Yueting realizes she's dressed in attire more typical of men in this world. This discrepancy likely stems from Kyo still being considered the system's owner. Yueting herself isn't particularly fond of feminine clothing, so the mismatch doesn't bother her. She wears black garments adorned with golden patterns, complemented by flower-like earrings, blending elements of both genders. Perhaps Kyo enjoyed cross-dressing?
Having dusted herself off, Yueting begins stretching as she walks. "So, where exactly is the demon realm?" she asks the system.
⌞Activating map..⌝
With that, Yueting had a large map unfurled before her, presented in the form of a scroll rather than the usual window of the system. It wasn't difficult to identify the demon realm; it stood out as the only area on the map that appeared dark and foreboding. Glancing around, Yueting tried to determine her current location. Upon closer inspection of the map, she noticed that the system had circled a particular area. "What's this for?" she inquires.
⌞System message: It's the castle where the empress resides.⌝
"Ah, I see," Yueting says, eyeing the red circle on the map. Before she can react, someone snatches it away. It's a girl dressed in light pink, looking a tad younger than Yueting herself. "Are you a spy from the demon castle?" the girl demands, her tone bratty. Yueting tries to reclaim the map, but the girl deftly dodges. "Hmph, you could never beat me!" she boasts.
The girl looked an awful lot like Meiyang, once again. Though this time, her personality seemed more bratty. Yueting could already guess that this was this world's Meiyang.
Raising an eyebrow, Yueting speaks slowly, "Activate Shadowheart."
⌞Activating Shadowh-⌝
Suddenly, a man jumps in front of the girl, moving swiftly to retrieve the map and hand it back to Yueting. It's evident they overheard her conversation with the system. "My apologies for my disciple," he says, offering the map. Yueting cancels the activation with a command, slipping the map into her robe. "Thank you," she says as she turns to leave.
"Wait, miss," the man says, glancing back. Yueting pauses, waiting for him to continue.
"Yes?" Yueting says.
"Your steps earlier were remarkably swift. Are you a cultivator?" the man asks.
"Just a commoner," Yueting answers before continuing. "Is that all?"
"Well, you have the demon realm circled on your map. Are you headed there?" the man inquires.
"You could say that," Yueting replies.
"By coincidence, we're headed there as well. Would it be alright for us to come along?" the man asks.
Sighing, Yueting responds, "I guess it is fine."
"Call me Yueting. What are your names?" she asks.
"My name is Zhang Wei, and this is Meiyang," the man says, gesturing to the girl next to him, who maintains her bratty demeanor.
Sighing, Yueting asks, "When are you fine to depart?"
"What about eating something first? We were just ordering something," Zhang Wei suggests.
Remembering she just drank an awful lot of alcohol and ate half the restaurant before coming to this world, Yueting hesitantly nods. Walking back up the stairs, Yueting notices Zhang Wei watching her awfully closely. Ignoring it and sitting down, Yueting faces the two of them. This time, Meiyang looks like a beautiful young girl, wearing green-blue traditional Chinese clothing and having well-cared-for brown hair. She looks like she's a princess in this one too.
"So, Yueting, how come you want to visit the demon realm?" Zhang Wei inquires.
"Just paying them a little visit, I suppose," Yueting responds.
"I see," Zhang Wei remarks. "What about you?" Yueting asks. From what she knows, a demon realm never means something good, so why is he headed there with Meiyang? Not expecting that question, Zhang Wei seems off guard. "Oh, it's nothing important," Zhang Wei replies, his behavior clearly suspicious.
"I see," Yueting replies, ignoring his suspicious behavior. It's not like it's her problem; all she has to do is help the demon emperor regain his sanity, and maybe spend some time with Meiyang here and there.
Keeping silent, they order something to eat, with only Yueting not eating much. "Are you not hungry?" Meiyang inquires, her tone slightly mocking.
"I've already eaten," Yueting replies.
"I see. Hmph!" Meiyang says, rolling her eyes. Over the next few minutes, Meiyang looks at Yueting like she wants to say something. After a while, Meiyang takes her chopsticks and puts some snacks on Yueting's plate. "It's not like I like you, but if you're gonna be traveling with us, you'll have to eat enough! Hmph!" Meiyang remarks, her voice dripping with brattiness.
Yueting was getting annoyed by Meiyang's tone, but after Meiyang had done this, Yueting began to soften. Even if this was the Meiyang who had hurt her so many times, Yueting couldn't help but still love her. Even if Meiyang was different in every universe, with different characteristics and looks, Yueting would probably still fall for her. "thank you."
❝In the aftermath of task fulfilled, the silence speaks volumes, echoing the solitude of triumph.❝