Why was the girl a stutterer?

Ye Wuyou froze.

[Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a shame. Such a pretty girl-why did she have to be a stutterer?]

For once, the scummy narrator in his head agreed with his own thoughts.

His mind wandered for only an instant. Seemingly noticing Ye Wuyou's reaction, a trace of inexplicable sadness flickered through the girl's eyes, and her fingertips pushed forward a little.

The icy sword edge against his neck quickly reminded Ye Wuyou of his current predicament.

For instance, he needed to answer her question.

What kind of thing am I?

I'm not a fucking thing.

I'm human.

Judging by what she had said, she had clearly been dragged into this floor of the Heavenly Prison too.

Second, she probably had some genuine ability, since she had survived here.

Lastly, apart from the two of them, there probably weren't any other living people here...

And she must have seen him lying unconscious on the ground earlier.

So, from the girl's perspective, he had already died?

What exactly had happened while he was unconscious?

Ye Wuyou wanted to see whether the system narrator in his head had any information.

Unfortunately, as always, all the narrator could do was bark.

[Absurd! Who does this damned woman think she is? A mere big-breasted, brainless mortal, yet she dreams of seeing through the mysteries of the Formless Heart Sutra?]

[Even with a sword pointed at you, you feel not the slightest fear. With only a little effort, you can subdue this woman on the spot and make her your cultivation cauldron...]

The scummy narrator was fucking useless. If it couldn't help him directly, couldn't it at least give him some information?

Well, actually, it had helped a little.

For instance, while he was unconscious, it was probably the Formless Heart Sutra that had saved him.

But he'd only gotten this damned sutra yesterday! What mysteries could it possibly hold? Ye Wuyou himself couldn't tell!

Ye Wuyou howled inwardly. You bastard, give me some information! Maybe something about the surroundings that I haven't noticed?

The voice in his head rang out again.

[Height: 167 cm. Weight: 48 kg. Measurements: 92-60-88.]

Ye Wuyou looked up at the girl before him. His line of sight was obstructed, leaving her face out of view.

Yep, that checks out.

Had the narrator provided information?

It had!

Was it useful?

Might as well have been!

Ye Wuyou gave up.

What did I do to deserve this?!

In the end, Ye Wuyou tried to speak with a smile.

"Miss swordswoman, I'm right here in front of you, yet you say I'm dead. Does that make sense?"

Does that make sense?

It makes no sense at all!

What a joke. Asking a living, breathing person to prove he isn't dead-how am I supposed to prove that?

The girl gritted her teeth and spoke quietly. Her words still stumbled a little, but they were steeped in suspicion.

"Th-then... how did you survive?"

The girl's question left Ye Wuyou stunned for a moment.

Indeed, so many people had died, including colleagues at the first realm and even the second realm.

How had he survived? By relying on the Formless Heart Sutra, which he had practiced for barely a day?

But Ye Wuyou quickly dismissed that line of thought.

There was no reason. His intuition simply told him not to question it further.

For some reason, the Formless Heart Sutra in his mind grew increasingly clear, and the feeling it gave him grew increasingly profound.

Ye Wuyou really wanted to say that the burden of proof lay with the accuser, but after feeling the cold, sharp blade poised against his neck, he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

He obviously couldn't expose the Formless Heart Sutra.

Ye Wuyou didn't know how valuable this sutra was compared with the highest-level cultivation arts, but regardless, it was already highly implausible for a lowly jailer like him to possess such an art.

Besides, there wasn't a trace of qi in his body now. Even if he told her, she wouldn't believe him.

The silence had dragged on a little too long, and the white-robed girl's expression grew increasingly cold.

"I can tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

As he spoke, Ye Wuyou lightly touched the sword edge at his neck and moved it aside bit by bit, leaning back slightly.

That let him see past the mountain peaks to the girl's clear eyes.

Tell the truth and expose myself outright? Say I came from another world? That I've got cheats?

Not a chance. When you play a werewolf in Werewolf, do you reveal yourself in the first round?

Other people revealed themselves to kill someone. If Ye Wuyou revealed himself now, he would be throwing his life away.

The girl would probably take him for some body-snatching demon and cut him down on the spot!

Though the girl before him was cold as frost from head to toe, her eyes held a kind of... crystal-clear stupidity.

Ye Wuyou had seen that stupidity before, in the eyes of students who had just left campus and stepped into the clutches of the demon of capital.

After the girl nodded her agreement, Ye Wuyou began spinning his tale at a gallop, coaxing and deceiving her in equal measure.

"Once upon a time..."

Fortunately, the memories in his head were still intact. Ye Wuyou began with three generations of law-abiding citizens in his Lineage, then explained how he had followed in his father's footsteps and worked hard every day, emphasizing his impeccable roots and upright upbringing.

The girl looked utterly bewildered, unsure why he was telling her all this.

Ye Wuyou glanced at her expression. The groundwork seemed sufficient. He paused before continuing.

"My father once had a fortuitous encounter. An accomplished master showed him kindness and bestowed a secret art that could save him from death... Later, he passed that secret art on to me."

The memories in his head had given him a thorough understanding of this world, allowing him to make the most of his meager imagination.

Since this is a fantasy world, there's nothing wrong with bragging myself into a protagonist's backstory first, right?

Ye Wuyou carefully watched the girl's expression.

Nothing seemed amiss. On the contrary, her clear, foolish eyes had gained a little curiosity.

"Wh-what k-k-k-kind of... s-secret art?"

Clearly, Ye Wuyou's words had piqued her interest.

Her response was exactly what Ye Wuyou had expected. Everything was going according to plan.

"The secret art was single-use," Ye Wuyou declared.

The white-robed girl fell silent, then asked another question after a while.

"Then your... f-f-father who received the m-master's kindness?"

"My father died of illness years ago," Ye Wuyou answered decisively. He had already laid all the groundwork.

"Th-th-then..."

The girl began to speak, only to suddenly realize she had no idea what to say.

A little conflict and confusion appeared on her icy face. Her mind raced. Something felt wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

After struggling for a long time, the girl could only quietly offer this.

"Th-th-then... my c-c-condolences."

"Thank you."

Easy as pie!

[Shameless! Utterly shameless! Deceiving an underage girl-what a beast!]

[Heh heh heh. But since you've already deceived her this far, why not push a little harder and trick her into coming home with you afterward...]

Ye Wuyou ignored the noise in his head and shifted his gaze to meet the girl's clear eyes.

"Could you move that away?"

He pointed at the blade still held across his neck.

The girl hesitated, then gave a slight nod.

As the chill against his neck gradually withdrew, Ye Wuyou let out a breath of relief. He rubbed his aching knees and slowly stood.

The girl's clear, cold voice sounded beside his ear.

"Kneel."

This time, she didn't stutter.

Reflected in Ye Wuyou's eyes were the girl's indifferent gaze and the bright streak of sword light thrust from her hand.

The dazzling sword light illuminated the dim passage.

Ye Wuyou didn't understand, nor did he have any time to react.

The next second, he felt a hand land on his head and shove him down hard.

Thud.

His knees hit the ground. Already weak with exhaustion, Ye Wuyou instinctively clung tightly to the support in front of him.

What is she doing?

His face pressed against something warm and soft-the supposed support in front of him.

But he also felt warmth against his back.

It was wet.

Drip, drip. It was running down him, too.

Ye Wuyou instinctively turned to look behind him.

Behind him was a body split into two pieces. Its lower half stood behind Ye Wuyou, while its upper half lay on the ground.

Before him were the girl's indifferent face and the cold, bloodstained longsword in her hand.

Blood drenched Ye Wuyou's back and stained the hem of the girl's flowing robes.

Ye Wuyou's hands trembled slightly as he held on to her. It wasn't fear. The sight of blood flying everywhere had sent his blood surging, bringing a strange rush of excitement.

A little blob of white, jelly-like stuff crawled out of the mutilated body. It lingered in place for a while, seemingly studying the two of them.

But Ye Wuyou thought it was probably studying the girl beside him.

The feeling she gave him now was as though she had become an entirely different person.

If the girl earlier had radiated an icy chill that warned strangers to keep away...

Then now, she was like a razor-sharp longsword drawn from its sheath. Even staying beside her brought an inexplicable pressure.

As for the white jelly and the mutilated body...

That body had been one of his "colleagues." He had seen the man when he first woke up.

But at the time, that "colleague" had clearly already been dead.

And the spot where he had fallen seemed quite close to the white jelly-skin's cell.

As for the white jelly, Ye Wuyou remembered it. It looked a little like the creature he had seen in that cell earlier.

But now there was only a tiny blob, less than a hundredth of its former size.

Swish!

The longsword in the girl's hand sliced through the air, flashing forward like a streak of light and stabbing straight into the ground.

But it hit nothing.

The white jelly remained motionless where it was. The sword had simply missed.

Then the white jelly-skin rustled softly along the ground and departed toward the other end of the passage.

The girl's expression darkened.

"What was that?" Ye Wuyou asked, his eyes wide.

A trace of surprise flashed through the girl's eyes, and she spoke softly.

Her voice was clear, without the slightest hesitation.

"You can see it?"