Conceal Your Traces and Lie Low, Then Watch for the Enemy

(Female lead for the top post)

Gu Chensha stopped in front of the girl, looking down at her from above as he spoke.

"Your name is Zhu Zhuqing, right?"

The girl pressed her lips together warily.

She didn't answer, only stared at him fixedly.

Gu Chensha gave a self-mocking laugh.

He raised a hand and pointed at the countless cracks covering his body.

"You don't need to be on guard against me anymore. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, my divine soul will completely dissipate."

Zhu Zhuqing's pupils trembled slightly.

An incense stick?

A Primordial Demon Spider Emperor who had lived for two hundred thousand years had only that little time left?

But then again...

Hadn't she, too, reached the end of her life?

Seeing the wariness fade from her eyes, Gu Chensha slowly bent down.

His dark golden eyes met her pitch-black gaze, and he spoke, each word deliberate.

"Zhu Zhuqing, I know everything about you. I know you're unwilling to die here just like this, and even less willing to spend your whole life as someone else's appendage, pushed along by fate."

"I, the Devil Emperor Gu Chensha, can give you a chance."

"Accept my sacrifice, and I will grant you the power to ascend to godhood."

"I will offer up the entirety of my two-hundred-thousand-year origin to forge a unique Two-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring for you, one the Douluo Continent has never seen before. I'll give you the strength to fight fate, and the right to stand at the pinnacle of the continent."

"And all you have to do is form a symbiotic pact with me. From now on, we'll live and die together."

"Everything this world owes us—we'll get it all back, together, one debt at a time!"

The girl's pupils contracted.

A sacrifice?

A Ferocious Beast that had lived for two hundred thousand years was going to sacrifice itself to her?

She bit her lower lip, finally gathering the courage to ask hoarsely,

"Why me?"

"Because... you and I are so much alike."

"We're both the kind of people who refuse to bow their heads, even when the whole world abandons us."

Gu Chensha reached out, palm facing up. His palm was covered in cracks too, and dark golden blood continued to seep from it.

"In this life, I believed in neither heaven nor fate. I believed only in myself."

"But in the end, heaven would not tolerate me, fate was not mine to command, and the whole world stood against me!"

"Even in death, I won't let those hypocritical righteous folk take what belongs to me, Gu Chensha, for free."

"Rather than let them divide up my Soul Ring and Soul Bones, I'd rather give them to someone like me."

His voice grew quieter, and his figure more and more transparent. He had clearly reached his limit.

"I don't have much time left. Zhu Zhuqing, all you have to do now is tell me: are you willing to seize your future?"

The girl raised her head, meeting his dark golden eyes directly.

In them, she saw resentment, fury, and scorn for the world. What she didn't see was even the slightest hint of pleading.

This was a soul that would never bow to anyone, even when backed into a dead end—just like her.

Zhu Zhuqing slowly closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, not a trace of hesitation remained in her dark gaze.

"I'm willing."

Gu Chensha smiled.

In the five hundred years since he had come to this world, it was the first time he had smiled from the bottom of his heart.

"Good."

In an instant, Gu Chensha's figure vanished completely, replaced by the Primordial Demon Spider Emperor in its entirety.

The enormous dark golden spider, its body covered in cracks, threw back its head and let out a long howl. It became a streak of light and burrowed into Zhu Zhuqing's body!

The unrestrained, violent impact of a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast's origin made Zhu Zhuqing's whole body shudder. Her slender frame arched uncontrollably.

It was as if scalding magma surged wildly through her body.

Everywhere it passed, her meridians were torn apart inch by inch, then forcibly remade by the vast vitality within the Demon Spider's origin.

Every cycle brought agony that cut to the bone.

"Mm..."

A muffled groan escaped the girl's throat.

Her black outfit, already soaked through with blood, was instantly drenched in cold sweat. The wet fabric clung to her skin, outlining her slight, slender figure.

Her tightly cinched waist was startlingly narrow, as though it might snap with a squeeze.

Above her waist, the damp fabric traced the shape of her body.

With each ragged breath, her chest rose and fell beneath the thin material.

The skin of her exposed neck and forearms was pale and smooth, now flushed by the unbearable pain.

Fine beads of sweat slid along her jaw and fell onto the fabric over her chest, leaving a small, dark patch.

Gu Chensha's remnant soul remained within the origin.

He intended to pour all the humiliation, resentment, and maddened obsession he had accumulated over five hundred years—along with his hope of turning the tables—into this young body.

"Ah!"

The girl could bear it no longer. A pained cry, edged with tears, burst from her throat.

She curled up on the ground, her slender body trembling uncontrollably. Her pale fingers dug hard into the earth beneath her, until blood seeped from beneath her fingernails.

"Good. If you can still cry out, then you can endure this."

Gu Chensha praised her. "Next, we'll fuse the Soul Bone. I can choose its form freely."

His eyes flickered.

Aside from External Soul Bones, Soul Masters could fuse only six Soul Bones: one for the head, one for the torso, and one for each limb. Of these, Head Bones and torso bones were the rarest and most precious.

Everyone knew that the External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances, possessed by the Man Faced Demon Spider had limitless potential. But he had no intention of giving that to Zhu Zhuqing.

"I'll give you a two-hundred-thousand-year Head Bone."

Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth. She didn't even have the strength to nod, so she could only let him do as he wished.

Of course, she knew all too well how rare this opportunity was.

For an ordinary Soul Master, obtaining a single Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone in a lifetime was already a once-in-a-generation feat. And what she was about to receive was the Soul Bone of a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast Emperor!

The next second, a mass of dark golden energy, condensed to its absolute limit, surged into her mouth and shot straight toward her brain.

"Mm..."

Zhu Zhuqing's body trembled even more violently.

"Impressive. You can endure even more than I expected."

Before Gu Chensha had finished speaking, a wave of spiritual power, cold as the abyss, surged into her mind like a tsunami.

Memories from Gu Chensha's five hundred years flashed before her eyes:

From a young spider struggling to survive in the mud of the Star Dou Great Forest, to being hunted down by human Soul Masters, betrayed by its own kind, and finally besieged by the entire world while undergoing tribulation.

Resentment, fury, and ruthless killing intent poured into her soul along with the spiritual power.

Zhu Zhuqing felt as though her head was about to explode. She was like a leaf adrift in Violent Wind and Rain, liable to be torn apart at any moment.

Her consciousness began to blur, and her body twitched uncontrollably.

"Don't pass out!"

Gu Chensha's voice abruptly turned stern, wrenching her scattered consciousness back.

"Zhu Zhuqing! Aren't you unwilling to let your family control you?"

"Don't you want to escape your fate, and refuse to be shackled by your talent?"

"If you can't endure even this little pain, how can you talk about defying heaven and changing your fate?"

His words struck like a bolt of thunder, jolting Zhu Zhuqing back from the brink of collapse.

A nearly crazed flame ignited in her dark eyes. She forced herself to withstand the spiritual onslaught that was about to tear her apart.

Time stretched endlessly amid the unbearable pain.

When the final trace of dark golden demonic pattern receded from the corner of her eye, Gu Chensha's voice finally rang out, carrying a hint of relief.

"The Soul Bone fusion is complete."

Zhu Zhuqing didn't even have the strength to open her eyes. She could only gasp for breath, her chest rising and falling violently.

"Don't lie there. The main event hasn't even started."

Gu Chensha gave her no time to catch her breath. "Next comes the sacrifice of the Two-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, and the evolution of your Martial Soul!"

Zhu Zhuqing used all her strength to lift herself halfway up and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I... I can keep going."

"Good."

Gu Chensha chuckled softly. "Watch closely. This is a one-of-a-kind gift, just for you."

In an instant, the dark golden origin within Zhu Zhuqing's body erupted once more!

Behind her, the Nether Civet Martial Soul appeared against her will.

The entirely black, ancient-looking cat let out an uneasy howl, twisting wildly within the dark golden demonic flames.

Gu Chensha had considered simply devouring this Martial Soul, but that would have harmed Zhu Zhuqing's divine soul, so he had abandoned the idea.

The dark golden flames completely engulfed the Nether Civet. Zhu Zhuqing once again felt a tearing sensation that cut deep into her soul.

Her Martial Soul was being taken apart and reforged.

Dark golden demonic patterns gradually appeared over the shadows of its cat ears and tail.

Its claws grew sharper, faintly taking on the bony texture of spider legs.

A deep, dark golden hue also stained its slit pupils.

At the very moment the Martial Soul evolved, an unexpected change occurred!

Gu Chensha's face showed surprise as well.

He had planned to pour the origin into her body with all his might, raise her innate Soul Power from Rank Seven to its maximum, and then help the Nether Civet complete its transformation. The remaining origin would be condensed into a Soul Ring.

By his calculations, this should have exhausted the little strength he had left.

But now, a second Martial Soul's phantom was slowly emerging in Zhu Zhuqing's spiritual sea.

It was unmistakably his true form: the Primordial Demon Spider Emperor!

By sheer coincidence, he had opened up a Second Martial Soul for her!

Gu Chensha paused in surprise, then understood.

It must have been that, as a transmigrator, his spiritual power far surpassed that of Soul Beasts of the same rank, and had brought about this unexpected boon.

"Then this is even better. It fits the growth path I originally planned."

"Finally... it's over..."

Compared with Gu Chensha's composure, Zhu Zhuqing, after enduring repeated bouts of extreme torment, had long since reached her limit.

The sacrifice and fusion had taken only a little over ten minutes, but to her, it had felt like enduring torture through countless days and nights.

Now that all the power had settled into place, she could hold on no longer. Her vision went black, and she fainted from sheer exhaustion.

Seeing this, Gu Chensha's phantom became a streak of dark golden light and silently slipped into the space between Zhu Zhuqing's brows.

The next moment, the girl opened her eyes again.

The cool stubbornness of old was gone from her eyes, replaced by the cold pride and depth of someone who had spent five hundred years in bloody battles.

Naturally, it was Gu Chensha who now controlled this body.

He raised a hand, clenched and unclenched it, and tested the movement of his limbs. He quickly reached a conclusion:

"With the help of the Head Bone, the Soul Ring, and the Second Martial Soul, my control over this body is much greater than I expected."

He didn't rush to explore the sensations of this girl's body.

Instead, he immediately relinquished control of it and completely concealed his presence in the depths of Zhu Zhuqing's sea of consciousness.

Then, with a quiet chuckle, he said,

"Conceal your traces and lie low. Then watch for the enemy."