Jiang Chen felt a little melancholy.
All things considered, the third Plot Simulation had ended perfectly.
He had grown stronger.
He had reached Qi Refining.
He had kept Liu Ruyan in check.
He had even found a little love... if it could be called love.
Jiang Chen had lived two lives. Though he was fairly popular with girls, he was no veteran of romance. It was only natural that he would catch feelings the first time.
Yet in this treacherous cultivation world, where demons and devils ran rampant, he had to sever that bond.
Otherwise, when the Demon Sect attacked the mountain, how could he live with himself if he had joined Liu Ruyan?
His talent might not stand out, but he now had a system at his side and limitless possibilities ahead. There was no need to choose the path of a devil.
Liu Ruyan was only at Foundation Establishment. With the simulator, his cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds, and he was sure to make plenty of enemies. He could not settle in one place. Was he supposed to drag her along wherever he fled?
Besides, Liu Ruyan had cultivated with him partly to guard against and test him. There had not been much genuine feeling in it. At most, she did not dislike him.
That was the reality of love between cultivators.
What was more, Liu Ruyan was not truly a devil woman. If the Devil Race's plan to attack the mountain failed, the Demon Sect might well hold her responsible, and he would be the first person she turned on.
Despite his intimate encounter with his senior sister, he did not truly know her. Their half-formed bond as cultivation partners could be a castle in the air—or conceal dangers.
When he had had no one to rely on, the gamble might have been worth taking.
Now that he had a system, he would never put himself at risk!
After pondering for a long time, Jiang Chen ultimately gave up on the third ending, sealing away his ill-fated bond with Senior Sister Liu.
"I choose the second ending."
[The second ending is about to overwrite your path in reality. You will be placed under system control for twelve double-hours, until the ending is complete!]
Jiang Chen thought that he could be dropped into the plot at its starting point, but its ending point would match the simulation.
That meant he had to escape to safety within twelve double-hours. Otherwise, he would have been better off not participating at all.
As he thought this, his vision went black.
When he opened his eyes, it was already midnight the following day.
According to the second ending, Jiang Chen had helped Liu Ruyan locate the formation core ahead of time and received a Dragonblood Qi-Refining Pill. He had used it to reach Qi Refining, then left the Azure Mist Sect overnight and hidden in a barren mountain nearby.
Now he was on that mountain, sitting cross-legged beside a concealed boulder.
Stars glittered overhead, and the night was cool as water.
After reaching Qi Refining, he had gained spiritual perception. It was as though a sixth sense had opened, revealing an entirely new world.
With a moment's focus, he opened the system panel.
[Name]: Jiang Chen. [Cultivation]: Qi Refining, first layer. [Money]: Low-grade spirit stones ×3. [Items]: Multipurpose machete ×1 (ordinary grade); [Skills]: Eight-Step Mad Blade: modest mastery; [Main Plot]: Completed the Plot Simulation "Set the Mountain Ablaze." You may review the recordings of all three simulations of this plot at any time. [Butterfly Effect]: One unwatched recording.
"Review the Plot Simulations whenever I want... Doesn't that make them little movies?"
Jiang Chen suddenly felt a little excited.
But on second thought, one day as husband and wife meant a hundred days of affection. Watching those moments over and over would only add to his sorrow.
If he and Liu Ruyan became mortal enemies someday, remembering the affection they had shared in a parallel timeline could cloud his judgment and leave him vulnerable.
After thinking it over for a long time, Jiang Chen did not revisit his parallel memories with Liu Ruyan.
"I'll treat it as a dream!"
Jiang Chen kept reading.
He found an unwatched recording in the final section, [Butterfly Effect].
The recording even had a name: Liu Ruyan's True Identity.
Did Liu Ruyan have another identity?
With a thought, Jiang Chen opened the recording at once.
It showed something that had happened an hour and a half earlier.
The location was Tranquil Heart Peak in the inner sect.
Liu Ruyan's cave dwelling.
"Why would the Butterfly Effect take place in Liu Ruyan's cave dwelling? Could it be..."
The Butterfly Effect meant that a tiny change in a system's initial conditions could set off enormous chain reactions over time.
Could the third ending he had not chosen have affected the real world too?
Jiang Chen grew uneasy.
A faint, strange medicinal fragrance filled the cave dwelling.
At the center of the image, Liu Ruyan sat cross-legged in the middle of a spiral formation, holding a cup of white-leaf tea. A gauzy blue-and-white robe draped over her graceful figure, neither quite concealing nor revealing it.
Before her stood a small indigo pill furnace shaped like a flower chamber. Rings of vermilion yin-yang seals were engraved on its outer wall, their red glow slowly revolving.
Just then, a wisp of green smoke drifted from the top of the furnace.
The smoke rose and swayed, then was caught by the formation and took the shape of a four-armed devil woman's phantom.
She was tall and imposing, with a voluptuous, bewitching figure and extremely revealing clothes... the classic aura of a devil queen.
Within the hazy dark silhouette, Jiang Chen could make out a stunning face, majestic and darkly alluring.
Her deep devilish nature, imposing presence, figure, and beauty all utterly eclipsed Liu Ruyan's.
Even through the screen, he could feel the tremendous swell of her curves. The challenge of not looking there was lost.
Jiang Chen felt no stir in his heart.
"Since when are devil queens ugly?"
At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Ruyan was simply making contact with her superior. This had nothing to do with the third ending.
The recording showed the chain reaction his second simulated ending had caused in reality, one that might well affect the Devil Race's plans.
And if he was not mistaken, the devil woman in the recording was the current sovereign of the Heavenly Demon Sect—
Tian Mingye!
"You took this long to contact me. You had better have found the formation core."
The devil woman spoke coldly, her deep voice combining the majesty of a glacier with the arrogance of a raging flame.
Evil and seductive to the core!
Liu Ruyan set down her teacup and said calmly:
"Your Excellency, the formation core lies beneath Mount Lanling."
"Are you certain?"
"I am."
"How did you confirm it?"
"Today was a peak period of Flame Vein activity, when it overlapped heavily with the spirit vein. I ignited the Flame Vein to mask my demonic qi while locating the formation core."
"You have done well. I will gather the Heavenly Demon Sect's forces at once. In three days, we will storm the Azure Mist Sect. You and the others will act from within and take out its formation core in one stroke."
"However, during my investigation, I also discovered that the Azure Mist Sect is a place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lurk. It may possess power beyond the Nascent Soul level. We should think carefully before attacking the mountain."
"Do not inflate their courage and sap our own. If the Azure Mist Sect still had power beyond the Nascent Soul level, it would not be surrounded by wolves with tigers eyeing it hungrily."
"Even so, an attack on the mountain is no child's game. Please give me another month to investigate thoroughly and confirm there are no such experts in the sect before we act."
The devil woman's expression turned glacial, as though she stood within the Abyss.
"What has gotten into you?"
Liu Ruyan remained neither servile nor defiant.
"I only feel that the atmosphere within the Azure Mist Sect is strange. There must be something I do not know."
"You are too sure of yourself."
"They say the Demon Race seizes mountains while the Devil Race storms cities... I am curious. Why doesn't the Heavenly Demon Sect attack Xiyang City? Why must it target the declining Azure Mist Sect?"
At this point, Jiang Chen relaxed a little.
Liu Ruyan still had not mentioned him.
As for why the Heavenly Demon Sect wanted to attack the Azure Mist Sect, Jiang Chen had wondered about that too.
Most of the Demon Race were fierce and savage. They fed on spirit beasts and spirit plants, drawing nourishment from them efficiently. They occasionally ate humans as well, but usually ambushed lone cultivators and rarely bothered with mortals, who offered them no nourishment.
The Devil Race were humans whose bodies and minds had turned devilish and whose dantians had mutated. Unable to absorb spiritual energy normally, or draw on spirit plants and spirit beasts, they could cultivate only by using humans as resources. They often attacked and occupied human cities, selected talented people to turn into devils, captured cultivators to devour and refine, and penned up mortals to breed without end as a steady supply of food.
That was why Jiang Chen did not want to become a devil lightly. To become one was to make an enemy of all humanity.
The devil woman did not answer Liu Ruyan.
"Is that yours to ask?"
"I would not dare."
"The Heavenly Demon Sect is not the only one. A branch of the Demon Race has recently set its sights on the Azure Mist Sect as well. I received a secret report that someone spotted the Thousand-Faced Fox in Xiyang City. That woman excels at manipulating hearts and can take a thousand forms. No one has ever seen her true form. She could appear at any moment and steal the fruits of our work. If you have time to investigate the Azure Mist Sect's experts, you would do better to watch for her."
"Yes."
"I give you ten days. In ten days, I will come to the Azure Mist Sect in person."
"Yes."
The dark phantom dispersed, and the green smoke sank.
The devilish qi dissipated from the Demon Shrine, while wisps of green smoke filled the entire cave dwelling.
Amid the drifting mist, Liu Ruyan raised a hand to the hair behind her ear and slowly peeled away her lovely face...
Jiang Chen had been about to close the video, but the sight stunned him.
Through the drifting green smoke, he saw a face of immortal beauty that could dazzle the world!
The red glow of the seals on the pill furnace revolved slowly, shining on silver hair that fell like a waterfall and casting the shadows of fox ears and nine tails across the cave wall.
The Thousand-Faced Fox!
Before you continue