Love Once!

Spirit Pearl Mountain was surrounded by immortal aura, with cranes flying, birds singing, fresh air, abundant Spiritual Power, little Carbon Dioxide, and plenty of oxygen. The mountain paths were filled with the fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds; taking a walk after meals could prolong one's life.

But...

"Bang!"

A deafening boom startled the birds in the forest, and a huge water dragon charged toward a tiny black speck in the sky.

"Thud..."

The tiny black speck in the sky plummeted straight to the ground.

Clutching his chest, he struggled to his feet. Soaking wet from head to toe, he licked the thin line of blood from the corner of his mouth and swallowed it along with the droplets on his face. It was actually a little sweet...

In a graceful flash, a barefoot woman wearing a gauzy robe and with wet hair alighted on the ground. Her limpid eyes were filled with hatred, embarrassment, frustration, and anger.

The woman was breathtakingly beautiful, with features so exquisite they seemed like a priceless work of art. A white sash was tied around her waist, adding a touch of delicate charm and fragility. The cicada-wing-thin black gauze accentuated her spiritual air, yet also unknowingly added a hint of vulnerability. Her three-thousand strands of smooth, lustrous hair cascaded down like a waterfall, making her seem even more ethereal and refined.

"Jiang Lin! Answer me!"

"Have you ever loved?"

"Ah..."

The woman flicked her sleeve, and a fierce gust carrying the fragrance of flowers and the scent of the bathing spring struck Jiang Lin head-on, sending him flying far, far away...

After once again struggling to his feet, Jiang Lin's eyes held not the slightest trace of hatred. All that remained was the helplessness of this mortal world~~~~~

"Why?! Jiang Lin! Dragon Gate Sect has never treated you poorly. Why did you steal the Dragon Vein?!"

On the cobblestone path, the woman stepped forward on her bare, fair feet, raised the sword in her hand, and delivered a soul-searing question to the man before her.

"Eh? Senior Sister, weren't you going to question me about peeking at you while you bathed?"

The woman's pretty face instantly flushed all the way to her ears. "Don't change the subject! Jiang Lin! Why did you betray our sect?!"

"Why did I betray it..."

Straightening up, the man named Jiang Lin raised his head and gazed at the sky...

Yes, why had he betrayed it?

At that thought, two silent trails of tears slid from the corners of Jiang Lin's eyes.

He still remembered how, after finishing the college entrance exam, he had sat before his computer with the air conditioner on, drinking Happy Fat Guy Water and playing Dean Aifu, pouring every penny he had painstakingly saved through frugal living into opening boxes.

In the end, after spending nearly two thousand yuan, every single thing he got was a Resurrection Coin?!

When the last box had been opened and it too contained a pile of Resurrection Coins, he had been so furious that he died...

Then he transmigrated into this inexplicable cultivation world. Cultivating was impossible—what was so great about cultivation anyway? In the novels he had read in his previous life, people fought over resources every day until one side died, and most of them ended up as stepping stones on the protagonist's path.

Just as Jiang Lin was planning to live an ordinary life in this world, he was picked up at the age of eight and somehow became a disciple of the Demon Sect?!

He had originally planned to leave the Demon Sect, wash his hands of its affairs, and live in seclusion. Instead, some villain system appeared and forced this upstanding young man to do the work of a Demon Sect member...

To complete the Demon Sect's performance quota, Jiang Lin had come.

The Dragon Vein was a specialty of the Dragon Gate Sect. Four could be produced each year... Whether brewed into tea or chewed raw, it could improve one's cultivation.

Through the sect's recruitment process—no, through the sect's admissions process—Jiang Lin had successfully enrolled and even become a Direct Disciple. After a year of painstaking cultivation, he had finally come into contact with the Dragon Vein. Today, he could finally steal it and complete his mission!

But who could have expected that the escape route he chose would happen to pass through the Spirit Spring Pool on Spirit Pearl Peak, where the Eldest Senior Sister was bathing at that very moment?

Jiang Lin truly hadn't meant to see everything. Although he had really wanted to look, he truly hadn't. Yet just as he was about to flee and soar free, that damnable system suddenly issued a mission ordering him to spy on the Eldest Senior Sister while she bathed.

In the end, he had peeked, and the mission had been completed... but he had also been discovered...

"Jiang Lin, answer me. If you have some hidden reason, Senior Sister can help you. The sect can help you too."

The Dragon Gate Sect's Direct Disciple, Lin Qingwan, bit her pink lips with her pearly teeth. Anxiety and sorrow filled her beautiful eyes.

Remembering how shy he had been when he first entered the Dragon Gate Sect, calling her "Senior Sister" again and again; how he had been willing to accept punishment just to bring food to her when she made a mistake; how he had stayed up all night to care for her when she was injured, Lin Qingwan's eyes shimmered with tears.

"Senior Sister... I'm sorry. Those who walk different paths cannot make common cause." Jiang Lin let out a light sigh and gazed at Lin Qingwan with "deep affection." "Actually... I'm a member of the Demon Sect..."

"What..."

The spring breeze gently brushed the hem of the girl's gauzy skirt. Hearing Jiang Lin's answer, Lin Qingwan's small mouth fell open, her incredulous expression so... adorable... it made him want to...

"Ahem... cough! Cough! Cough!"

After brewing up his emotions, Jiang Lin began coughing violently. Suddenly, before Lin Qingwan could react, he charged straight at her as she stood pointing her sword at him.

"Pu..."

The long sword pierced Jiang Lin's heart. He spat out a mouthful of blood and toppled forward.

"Junior Brother..."

Lin Qingwan extended her lotus-like arm and caught Jiang Lin. Holding him, she even spun once in midair before sitting down with him in a beautiful embrace. Jiang Lin rested against Lin Qingwan's bosom, breathing in the fragrance of her hair.

"Senior Sister, I'm sorry. I... I know I've done something unforgivable."

In Lin Qingwan's arms, Jiang Lin touched her delicate, fair cheek. By now, the girl was weeping as though flowers battered by a storm.

"Actually, I didn't want to... didn't want to become a member... a member of the Demon Sect... I... urk..."

"Jiang Lin, don't speak anymore. Don't say another word. I'll heal you now."

"No! Senior Sister... it's too late."

Jiang Lin took Lin Qingwan's delicate, boneless hand and placed it against his chest.

"Senior Sister, I betrayed the sect. I deserve to die. And being able to die by Senior Sister's hand is the greatest happiness of my life."

"Don't say anything more. Don't say anything more..."

Lin Qingwan's tears fell drop by drop as she held Jiang Lin tightly.

Jiang Lin shamelessly burrowed his head a little deeper into Lin Qingwan's embrace.

"Senior Sister, I'm sorry. The Dragon Vein has already been refined by me. When I die, the Dragon Vein will disappear as well. I can't repay you for it. If there is a next life, I will surely repay Senior Sister...

"Senior Sister... there's... there's one more thing I absolutely have to say...

"Senior Sister... I... urk..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Lin's oily paw slipped from the girl's cheek and fell to the ground. Jiang Lin turned into countless specks of light and vanished in the girl's arms, leaving not even his clothes behind...

"No!"

The girl's cry rang across the forests of Spirit Pearl Mountain, heartbroken and soul-shattering...

Ding...

The quiet sound of a silver coin hitting the ground rang out at the edge of the sky. A flash of light landed, and Jiang Lin appeared unharmed in the distance.

Of the 99,999 Resurrection Coins that had accompanied Jiang Lin to this cultivation world, one had been deducted...

"That was close, that was close. My acting should've been decent, right? I need to run, or I'm finished if they catch me."

After reviving, Jiang Lin let out a sigh of relief, grabbed the four Dragon Veins, and hurriedly rode a Spiritual Energy Horse away in secret.

At the same time, the system's voice rang out once more in Jiang Lin's mind.