Penalty for mission failure: become the Demon King...

Panic flickered across the pill cultivator's face, and he snapped, "If you don't want to save them, stop standing here making snide remarks!"

"My senior brother's Langhua Sword sniffed out your scent. Of course, you can deny it. I'm a very easygoing person, after all. I won't do anything to you."

The pill cultivator breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she was only a female cultivator after all-a decorative vase with nothing to offer but a pretty face.

Wen Maimai, Zhou Ruoxue, and the others, however, suddenly looked at the Pill Cultivator with sympathy, as though saying that he was already a dead man.

The pill cultivator was utterly bewildered.

Ning Xiang glared at them before turning back to the pill cultivator, her voice growing even warmer and gentler. "I'll merely treat you the way I treated the Earth-Fiend Demon Lion and the Kui Ox. You won't miss out on anything they received. After all, I can't favor one over another."

The pill cultivator stiffly turned his head and saw the two Demon Beasts beside them, their faces bruised and swollen. Putting on a brave front, he asked, "Fellow cultivator, what exactly do you mean?"

"Enough nonsense. Die!" Ning Xiang couldn't be bothered to waste any more time on him. She summoned the Azure Sea Sword and thrust it straight at him.

Their cultivation levels were worlds apart. By all rights, the pill cultivator couldn't possibly have dodged Ning Xiang's strike, yet he moved nimbly, turning into a black shadow and vanishing beneath her sword.

Zhou Ruoxue exclaimed, "Oh! He isn't a Pill Sect disciple?"

Wen Maimai cried in frustration, "He got away!"

An instant later, the Langhua Sword flew out and pinned itself into a tree trunk. A thin, wiry Demon Beast slowly revealed its true form.

The Demon Beast resembled an ape, its body covered in blackish-brown fur. It raised its head, revealing a vicious, hideous face like that of a ghost.

Zhou Ruoxue was so frightened that she hid behind Ning Xiang, not daring to open her eyes and look.

Su Lang said, "A Ghost-Faced Ape. It excels at taking human form and beguiling others."

Ning Xiang instinctively showered him with praise. "Such vast knowledge! As expected of... ahem, I mean, stop showing off, eldest senior brother."

The Ghost-Faced Ape couldn't believe its true form had been exposed so easily. "My imitation was watertight. How did you discover me?" Its voice reverted to its original harsh, unpleasant rasp.

"You're giving off demonic aura. Anyone who isn't blind can see it, all right?"

Zhou Ruoxue, Bai Yueguang, and the others felt as though a knife had plunged into their chests. Why hadn't they noticed anything wrong?

Ning Xiang said, "Eldest senior brother, hurry up and finish it off so we can eat."

The Ghost-Faced Ape tried to make one last struggle. "Kill me, and you can forget about finding those human cultivators!"

"Shut up!" Ning Xiang hated being threatened more than anything. With a burst of spiritual light, she slapped the Ghost-Faced Ape dead. "Tingchao, go dig out its demon core."

Wen Maimai tugged at Ning Xiang's sleeve. "Senior sister, why didn't you keep it alive to guide us?"

"Silly. Didn't any of you pay attention to the other sects' disciples before entering the secret realm?"

"You mean the person it impersonated wasn't a Pill Sect disciple?" Yu Tingchao asked.

Everyone could have fallen to their knees. How had he managed to interpret Senior Sister Ning's words like that?

Ning Xiang said, "He was a Pill Sect disciple-or, more precisely, he used to be. Ten years ago, eldest senior brother and I came to Thousand Calamities Valley to train. Fifty-two of us went in, but only fifty-one came out. One pill cultivator went missing."

Su Lang picked up where Ning Xiang left off. "Down in that hole earlier, besides the many skeletal remains, there was also a Pill Sect uniform. Presumably, this was where that pill cultivator died."

His expression was grave, and everyone fell silent upon hearing him. No matter when it happened, a cultivator's death was always a sorrowful thing.

Wen Maimai said, "I can't contact Martial Uncle Shaowei. Will we be unable to get out this time, too?"

Ning Xiang thought that was impossible. Both male leads were here. How could the Heavenly Dao stand by and watch its darling daughter, Jiang Miaomiao, lose two husbands at once?

Bai Yueguang thumped his chest and declared boldly, "What's there to fear? I, the mighty War God, will protect you."

Wen Maimai said, "...Waaah!!!" She burst into tears and flung herself into Ning Xiang's arms.

"All right, stop overthinking it. Get some rest. We still have to find the Heaven-Splitting Python's remains later." Ning Xiang rubbed her ears.

Everyone had been feeling deeply sorrowful, but after a hotpot meal, all their heavy worries vanished like smoke and scattered clouds.

After resting, they set off again to search for the Heaven-Splitting Python.

Ning Xiang still remembered how lush the trees had been when she visited Thousand Calamities Valley ten years ago. Yet in just a decade, the valley had changed beyond recognition, shrouded everywhere in an air of deathly silence and decay.

She quietly asked Su Lang, "Eldest senior brother, do you know what happened before the Heaven-Splitting Python disappeared?"

Su Lang shook his head. "It remains a mystery to this day. The sect once sent a Nascent Soul martial uncle to the Purple Tenuity Domain to investigate in secret, but not a single trace was found."

The original novel hadn't mentioned the Heaven-Splitting Python's death either, so it presumably had nothing to do with the main quest. But she was just a mere supporting female character-why give her a hidden quest, damn it!

An hour later, the Earth-Fiend Demon Lion stopped and said, "The great demon's remains are just ahead."

They looked forward and saw a long skeleton coiled before them like a small hill. Its bones gleamed with a chilling, sinister light, making everyone shudder.

Ning Xiang and Su Lang walked up to the skull. Sure enough, this great demon had three eyes.

Only then were they certain that this was the Heaven-Splitting Python, once one of the Demon King's four great guardians, whose might had shaken the Demon Domain.

Yet a Demon Beast that had once enjoyed such glory had perished here without a sound, its remains reduced to nourishment for other beasts. It was truly lamentable.

As Ning Xiang sighed over its fate, the damned system's cold voice rang through her sea of consciousness-

[Ding. A hell-difficulty side quest has been activated: bring the Heaven-Splitting Python's remains to the Purple Tenuity Domain and deliver them into the Demon King's hands without being discovered by the Demon King. Time limit: one month. Penalty for mission failure: become the Demon King...]

Ning Xiang gritted her teeth. "You damned system, are these really tasks a cannon-fodder female supporting character like me should be doing?"

System: [Sorry, the system cannot recognize your question at this time. To hear this again, reply "0." To hang up, reply "1."]

Ning Xiang said, "..."

"Xiangxiang, why do you look so awful?"

Suppressing her urge to kill someone, Ning Xiang took a deep breath and smiled. "It's nothing. I just feel so sorry for what happened to the Heaven-Splitting Python."

"Yes. I heard the Heaven-Splitting Python once soared through the heavens and burrowed beneath the earth, churning rivers and overturning seas. Who would have thought that in just ten years, it would become a heap of bleached bones..." Wen Maimai said sorrowfully.

Ning Xiang, however, was turning over the task that damned system had just assigned her. Wait, what did it say the penalty for failure was?

Forget it. Since this is a hell-difficulty quest, I'd better find some way to complete it.

She put the Heaven-Splitting Python's bones into her Spirit Bracelet.

Su Lang looked at her in confusion.

Ning Xiang said, "I'm afraid leaving the Heaven-Splitting Python's bones here would nourish even more vicious Demon Beasts, so I intend to take them back and give them to Master."

[If I had any other choice, how could I possibly put this thing's bones in my Spirit Bracelet? Sob, sob, my Spirit Bracelet is dirty now!]

"Junior sister, why not leave the Heaven-Splitting Python's bones with me?"

"Senior sister, why not put the Heaven-Splitting Python's bones in my Storage Ring?"

Su Lang and Yu Tingchao spoke at the same time.