While It's Hot

The first simulation began.

Jiang Chen chose to descend at the place where he had left Azure Mist Sect the day before, on the eastern edge of the mountain-protecting formation.

More precisely, the place where he had buried the bodies.

The goal of the first simulation was to secure a minor guaranteed outcome, so he could take risks later.

Jiang Chen arrived at the Burial Ground from the other day.

In daylight, the place was full of birdsong and flowers, with lush grass and orioles in flight—a fine place for murder and arson.

Upon careful inspection, sure enough, after he had left that night, Liu Ruyan had set up an illusion restriction here.

She really... Jiang Chen was crying his eyes out...

Before long, Tian Mingye began reasoning with Azure Mist Sect.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged in meditation, waiting for his chance.

He waited until Tian Mingye entered the mountain-protecting formation, fell into Reverend Guiqi's ambush, and had his demonic power frantically siphoned away by the Second-Stage Form-Returning Formation.

Jiang Chen immediately gathered his power and formed hand seals, operating the Return-Form Formation in sync.

He activated the Qi Sea Abyss within his dantian, quietly siphoning off the Heavenly Demon demonic qi that had just been drawn into the mountain-protecting formation and had not yet been refined into spiritual power.

This was primordial demonic qi that Reverend Guiqi could not directly absorb due to insufficient soul strength. There was a huge amount of it, and Jiang Chen was secretly helping himself in the same manner, all while surrounded by Liu Ruyan's illusion restriction.

Thus, Reverend Guiqi never noticed that someone was absorbing demonic qi right beneath his nose.

Tian Mingye's Heavenly Demon demonic qi flowed into the Qi Sea Abyss like a trickle from hell...

It was Jiang Chen's first taste of such pure, delicious Heavenly Demon demonic nectar. He felt as though his scalp were being peeled away layer by layer like an onion.

That was why that old thief Gui Qi had not dared to devour demonic qi directly... He did not have three lives!

Jiang Chen's transmigrator soul fixed its attention on the system panel, gritting his teeth to maintain consciousness.

Then, he swallowed all his spirit stones and pills, attempting to suppress the demonic qi.

Before long, Jiang Chen reached his limit. Even if he absorbed the slightest additional trace of demonic qi, he would pass out.

He was forced to stop absorbing Heavenly Demon demonic qi with his dantian.

Instead, he took out the Demon Shrine he had obtained as spoils, dispersed the ordinary demonic qi inside it, and filled it with Heavenly Demon demonic qi instead... saving it for later use.

Once the Demon Shrine was full, Jiang Chen put away the synchronized formation.

After that, he waited until Chen Gongxing left Azure Mist Sect before rising to his feet and flying his sword straight to Tranquil Heart Peak, intending to catch up with Liu Ruyan.

Outside the cave dwelling, where water had once babbled and herbs had flourished, Chen Gongxing's sword strike had now cut off the stream.

Jiang Chen was just about to knock when a weak, soft voice came from inside.

"You have some conscience after all. Come in."

Jiang Chen cautiously pushed open the stone door and entered.

In theory, this was the second time.

In reality, it was the first.

Liu Ruyan's cave dwelling was drum-shaped, furnished with a vinewood bed, a warm-water pool, an Eight Immortals table, and even a few little rabbits.

At the center of the drum-shaped cave dwelling was a round prayer mat more than a zhang in diameter, surrounded by a spiral pink formation.

Yet unlike what he had seen in the image, Liu Ruyan was not sitting cross-legged on the mat.

Perhaps because she had known in advance that he would come, Senior Sister Liu was currently bathing in the warm-water pool to recuperate.

Jiang Chen walked to the pool's edge.

With a wave of his hand, he dispersed the mist.

Senior Sister Liu held her arms over her chest. Her face was pale as snow, droplets of mist clung to her long lashes, and her dark hair had turned silver-white, spilling loosely around her.

She had become prettier too, even more like a thousand-year fox demon of peerless beauty and immortal grace...

"I never expected that after so much had happened, you would still return to Azure Mist Sect."

Liu Ruyan spoke.

Jiang Chen idly toyed with her soft white hair and said calmly,

"I had a feeling you would die here, so I came to see you one last time."

Liu Ruyan gave him a resentful look.

You didn't have the nerve to stay that night, yet now that I'm dying, you've come to collect my body.

"You really are... a gentle man."

Jiang Chen smiled, then suddenly asked curiously,

"What exactly is Liyue made up of?"

Liu Ruyan rolled her eyes at him. She barely had a few breaths left, yet this man was still asking about trivial matters.

Or did he know her true identity?

"Liyue is a small elite organization that rose to prominence over the past few centuries. It contains humans, demons, and devils alike, and its purpose remains unclear. The only thing certain is that they wish to overturn the order of the cultivation world."

Villains wanting to change the world—classic.

Jiang Chen sighed.

"Who would have thought that Deacon Chen from my peak was actually a Spirit Severing Realm Liyue agent?"

Liu Ruyan frowned and asked in return,

"Even you did not foresee it?"

Jiang Chen said calmly,

"A diviner can only foresee what he wishes to foresee.

"I never paid any attention to Deacon Chen, so how could I have performed a divination in advance?

"The reason I can see your future clearly is that you and I are likely bound by a fated karmic entanglement."

Liu Ruyan's face grew even paler.

"Unfortunately, I'm about to die."

As she spoke, dark red blood spread through the pool...

At that moment, Jiang Chen bent down.

While she was still warm, he kissed her, gently biting her cold, soft earlobe as he whispered,

"At a time like this, you still refuse to tell me your true identity?"

Liu Ruyan had no strength left and asked softly in return,

"I'm about to die, yet aren't you the same? You still refuse to tell me your true identity."

Jiang Chen answered truthfully,

"What if I told you that, despite having lived two lives, I'm not even thirty yet?"

Liu Ruyan forced a faint smile.

"I... haven't reached three thousand either..."

Jiang Chen nodded and said calmly,

"Then we're quite a good match."

"I don't believe a man's sweet talk. If you truly are my destined opportunity... you will find me."

After saying that, white mist slowly covered Liu Ruyan's pale face. Her body then collapsed into dust and smoke, vanishing in an instant.

Only a patch of folding space remained, sweeping her Storage Ring into the Abyss.

I haven't kissed her enough yet!

Of course, he knew that the Thousand-Faced Fox was unfathomable and ever-changing. No one knew where her true body was, so she would not die so easily.

Yet Senior Sister Liu had died just like that.

Although the Thousand-Faced Fox's true body was far more beautiful, what Jiang Chen missed more at this moment might have been Senior Sister Liu.

That talk of destined opportunity had been made up by Jiang Chen.

He wondered whether the Thousand-Faced Fox would appear again in the Butterfly Effect section of the system panel.

"I hope we can meet again..."

Just then, he suddenly spotted a red pill in the grass by the warm-water pool.

He picked it up and examined it closely.

Just what he needed—this was actually a Demon Core emitting the demonic aura of a Foundation Establishment fox demon!

"This woman really understands me!"

Jiang Chen could not help sighing.

Images of all the moments he had shared with Senior Sister Liu over the past few days inexplicably surfaced before his eyes: their mutual probing during that simulation, truth and illusion, and her helping him cultivate Qi Refining...

He instinctively examined his own heart.

"What is this faint melancholy?

"I finally have a system, such a good simulator, and I'm actually using it to fall in love?

"What a sin."

Then, he searched around the cave dwelling.

There was nothing else worth keeping as a memento, so he took Senior Sister's two rabbits with him, intending to braise them in soy sauce and see how they tasted.

Finally, Jiang Chen used Earth-Element Spirit Control to destroy Liu Ruyan's cave dwelling, causing earth and rocks to collapse over it.

It happened to frame Chen Gongxing's sword strike perfectly. It would destroy much of the evidence, and he also did not want the Discipline Hall deacons defiling Senior Sister's boudoir.

The moment he stepped outside, he unexpectedly ran straight into Wang Baolin.

"Eh, Junior Brother Jiang, I was just looking for you!"