Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 2

Sharing a bridal chamber with you (2)

“So sweet.”

I want to enter the bridal chamber with Senior Sister.

Xu Jiao heard her voice, which was like a devil’s whisper, but clearly a gentle and pleasant tone, dragging out the intonation like a soft chant, yet the content spoken was so absurd.

Enter the bridal chamber?

She lightly chuckled in her heart, her face calm and unruffled. Although her eyes and brows were dark, they were flickered by the candlelight with a hint of pity, as if coated with a layer of human warmth, softening her cold demeanor.

“Is she really thinking about entering the bridal chamber with me? I think she wants to enter… me.” Xu Jiao communicated with the system in her mind.

System: “Host’s speech violates the harmony mechanism and has been automatically blocked for you.”

Xu Jiao: “…” Uninteresting and rigid.

Yet the system, as if not satisfied with her response, coldly reminded her again, “Currently, the Summer Solstice Blackening Value is at 99. If the blackening value reaches its maximum, it will go against the original intention of our socialist harmony system to create truth, goodness, and beauty for the world, which is not conducive to the development of a better future for the world. Please, host, make efforts to untangle the protagonist’s emotional knots and eliminate the blackening value.”

Xu Jiao innocently retorted, “Can you blame me for her blackening?”

“Look, if you hadn’t let me in, according to the original progression, she would still be a pitiful and innocent little one. As for turning into someone who wants to destroy the world just because she can’t get love, is that necessary?” She casually shifted the blame back onto the system.

The system, with its mechanical voice, reminded, “Host, have you forgotten the reason you were chosen?”

Hearing this question, Xu Jiao had no doubt whatsoever. If it weren’t for the fact that the system was devoid of emotions, it probably would have spat back at her anthropomorphically.

She sighed, responding perfunctorily as if reciting a lesson, “I remember, I remember. Because the content of the chapters I wrote did not conform to the core socialist values, so you chose me to come in and help the protagonist feel love and beauty, thereby rectifying the tragic ending—”

The current protagonist is Xia Jingzhe, the main character of her original novel, 《The Immortal Doesn’t Need Emotions》.

Xu Jiao, a fan of the “beautiful and tragic protagonist” setting, had devised a rather convoluted background and story for Xia Jingzhe.

The village where Xia Jingzhe was born happened to be the site of the ancient battle between gods and demons, as well as the location where the immortal realm sealed the entrance to the Demonic Realm. However, after thousands of years, the seal of the Demonic Realm loosened. On the day she was born, the demonic energy leaked out, and half of the sky turned black.

Her mother bled too much during childbirth and couldn’t be saved. Moreover, Xia Jingzhe was the only baby born in the village that day. She was considered an ominous sign, with the villagers believing she was possessed by a demon, not a normal person. They believed she could harm her relatives and demanded that her father hand her over to be buried alive.

Her father, overwhelmed by the loss of his beloved wife, fainted outside the delivery room, unable to stop the villagers. Thus, on a bitterly cold day, the newborn who had just uttered a weak cry was placed in a wooden coffin and carried out of the village by the villagers to be buried in a distant place.

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Fortunately, during this harsh winter, there was an old crippled woman in the village who couldn’t find food and went outside to dig up grass roots for sustenance. She saw what the villagers were doing and secretly followed the, waiting for them to leave before quietly using a shovel to dig up the buried child again.

The old woman’s shelter in the village collapsed under the heavy snow, leaving her with nowhere to go. She didn’t dare bring the pitiful child back to the village and, with frozen hands and feet, went to the neighboring village in the biting cold, begging for a place to stay and painstakingly raising the child to survive.

Perhaps due to frailty and exposure to the cold, the infant’s cry only became slightly louder on the day of Jingzhe, previously either silent or weak as if gasping for breath, until the following spring when the old woman saw that the child could finally survive. It was only then that she gave her a name.

It was the day of the Jingzhe seasonal division.

(LP: Jingzhe is one of the 24 solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar, marking the awakening of hibernating insects and animals. It’s a culturally significant term, indicating the transition between seasons and the beginning of spring.)

The child depended on the old woman for survival, relying on the help of villagers. As she grew a little older, she could walk. During spring, she went to the mountains to dig wild vegetables; in summer, she climbed trees to pick wild fruits. In autumn, she patiently waited in the fields to gather grains dropped by others, striving to survive the winter with her grandmother.

Unfortunately…

When she was five years old, the old woman didn’t return after a long time of going up the mountain. In the middle of the night, with no one willing to accompany her to search, she had to go into the deep mountains alone with a torch. Along the familiar mountain paths, she found a cold corpse.

Not knowing what beast had bitten the old woman, leaving her body with no good skin, the surrounding fruits were also crushed, their juice spilling onto the ground. There was still a sweet fragrance lingering in her pockets, like the scent of honey, seeping out—

In the dark night, everything fell silent. For the little Xia Jingzhe, the whole world collapsed that night, quietly and without a sound.

She sat quietly in the darkness for a long time, nothing happening in the night. When it began to dawn, she, covered in morning mist, stiffly dug a hole by the roadside and buried the old woman.

As she returned to the village, she happened to meet the plump son of the village chief, dressed in luxurious clothes. She moved aside on the roadside, not wanting to provoke these people.

Unexpectedly, the chubby boy came up to her with a smirk and asked, “I heard you went up the mountain yesterday? My dad said there’s a bear demon in the mountains, especially fond of eating tender-skinned girls like you. Did you see it?”

Xia Jingzhe numbly attempted to avoid the situation, but the chubby boy kicked her from behind, “Hey! I’m talking to you! Hey, has that old woman of yours come back? A few days ago, I told her there was a beehive in the mountains. I tasted it from the hunter, it was good. Did she go look for it?”

“Did she really go?! Haha, I seem to have forgotten to tell her that the beehive is the territory of the bear demon in the mountains. Not to mention ordinary people, even hunters with poor skills would go and never return!”

Xia Jingzhe fell to the ground, nearly knocking out her front teeth. Upon hearing this, she propped herself up with her slender hands on the ground and murmured as she got up:

“The beehive…”

“Did you encourage grandmother to go find honey?”

She stood up, her gaze devoid of emotion, and turned to look at the chubby boy behind her, only to be forcefully slapped by him: “W- What kind of look is that? You’re not allowed to look at me like that!”

But Xia Jingzhe seemed to feel no pain. She stumbled back a few steps under the force of his slap, then pushed forward again, persistently repeating, “Did you encourage my grandmother to go find honey?”

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“Did you or did you not?”

The chubby boy was frightened by her momentum and took two steps back. Realizing he appeared weak, he came back to push her again, even resorting to punching and kicking her. Occasionally, villagers passed by, ignoring them as if they hadn’t seen anything.

Xia Jingzhe lay on the roadside, staring at the sky, her eyes empty as if lifeless.

At some unknown moment, the sky transitioned from azure to light gray, then to a dense, ink-like black, as if it were about to burst open, dragging the world into the abyss where a myriad of ghosts wailed in sorrow.

Suddenly, an eerie gale descended from the sky—

Just as it was about to plunge into the village, it was dispelled by a force that made people’s souls tremble.

The dense darkness was swept away by human hands, and a rainbow bridge was erected in the sky. Immortal cranes and magpies flew in from all directions, flowers bloomed in the village and on the mountains, and even celestial music could be heard from afar.

In this almost miraculous scene, a voice echoed from the heavens: “Which demonic creature dares to cause trouble here?”

……

“This girl possesses a pure yin body, her fate carries ominous signs, she is the reincarnation of a human and demon, devoid of emotion and righteousness, cruel and ruthless. Bringing disaster upon her birth, senior brother, she must not be allowed to live.”

“Our Kunlun Sect has stood for ten thousand years, unable to even convert demons, how can we talk about saving the people?”

“But… but her body is evil, she won’t even be able ascend the ladder to immortality in front of the sect…”

“She can.”

Xia Jingzhe looked expressionlessly at the two immortals approaching her. The villagers around her all knelt down, shouting, “The immortals have appeared!” She felt an incredulous feeling.

Could there really be immortals in this world?

Listening to the words of the immortals, her mind was filled with confusion. She didn’t understand why she was born with ominous signs, why she was devoid of emotion and righteousness.

But no one listened to her voice.

They also disregarded her wishes and took her to the foot of Kunlun Sect. The person advocating for her conversion smiled and asked:

“What is your name?”

“Xia Jingzhe.”

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“Xia Jingzhe? A good name… You must also know that your background is unusual, born to bring disaster to others. Are you willing to change this fate?”

Xia Jingzhe lowered her eyes and asked, “If I change, will the people around me no longer die in the future? If I change, will I no longer be bullied by others?”

“Yes,” replied the immortal elder.

Xia Jingzhe asked again, “How do I change?”

“In front of you, there are ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine levels of heavenly ladder, formed by the descent of the immortal ancestors during the war between gods and demons. It is immune to demonic energy and cannot be tainted by demons—”

“But if demons are willing to remove their demonic energy and repent, they must kneel on the third step and kowtow on the ninth step. When reaching the top, they will be cleansed of their demonic body by immortal energy. From then on, they will devoutly serve our Kunlun for a hundred years. After a hundred years, you will become a disciple of Kunlun and receive the blessing of immortal righteousness.”

Then.

Xia Jingzhe spent three days and three nights, her knees almost shattered, her forehead swollen from repeated kowtowing, climbing the Kunlun Heavenly Ladder. She endured the torment of heartache and pain, expecting to finally see the end of her long suffering.

Little did she know, she was not climbing the ladder to immortality, but the road to hell.

At Kunlun Sect, her life was worse than in the village. Because she wasn’t officially accepted as a disciple of Kunlun, even the servants looked down on her, withholding her food and assigning her the most arduous tasks…

She was teased by fellow disciples using magic, barely surviving a hundred years to gain the status of a disciple. But when she went to the secret realm of Kunlun for trials, she was used as bait to lure demonic beasts, nearly losing her life in the process.

She struggled desperately to turn the tide, willing to bear any blame, but in the end, all she got was:

“This person is inherently cruel, spending a hundred years at our Kunlun without seeking progress, willingly descending into depravity. Unworthy of being a disciple of Kunlun, her immortal techniques shall be abolished, her immortal bones removed, expelled from the sect, never to be reinstated.”

Yet those senior sisters of Kunlun still found it insufficient. After she was expelled from the sect, while the righteous energy from her cultivation had not completely dissipated, they casually tossed her into the nearby abyss of the Demonic Realm.

Due to her demonic identity, she continued to climb with all her might, leaving herself bloodied, only to fall back into the dust in the end.

……

《The Immortal Doesn’t Need Emotions》 is essentially a story of Xia Jingzhe’s continuous growth, followed by being defeated by greater dark forces, a poisoned chicken soup. Finally, relying on her immortal-demonic body, she becomes the supreme being of both the Immortal and Demonic Realms—

But the story isn’t over yet.

No one knows what the author, Xu Jiao, was thinking. In the grand finale, she suddenly adds a twist to the former lord of the immortal realm, the Immortal Emperor. It is said that Xia Jingzhe’s ascent to this supreme position was all planned; the former Immortal Emperor knew early on that this demonic being would appear in the world, so he plotted early. When Xia Jingzhe ascended to the supreme position and resonated with the will of the heavens, she would realize that the day she became the supreme being would be the time for the collapse of this realm.

As readers who have endured through three to four hundred chapters of this long story reach the final chapters: “…” flipping tables!

(LP: Basically: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻)

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The comment section explodes!

Countless negative reviews fly like blades, readers wishing they could knock on her conscience and ask, “Why?”

Why stab at the end? What’s the grudge? How big is the author’s grudge against the protagonist?

……

Currently, Xu Jiao is attempting to resonate with the system: “But don’t you think this ending is handled quite artistically? Like the saying goes—tragedy is eternal beauty.”

Whether tragedy is beautiful or not, the system doesn’t know. It only knows that this story has too much negative energy and needs to be changed.

“Please, Host, don’t change the subject. Quickly eliminate Xia Jingzhe’s blackening value,” the system numbly reminds.

Xu Jiao secretly evaluates Xia Jingzhe, who is waiting in front of her to “enter the bridal chamber,” and discusses with the system in her heart with some difficulty: “Should I just go along with it first? Maybe she’ll be happy, and the blackening value will decrease?”

System: “Please, Host, make your own decision.”

At this moment, Xia Jingzhe suddenly stood up, walked to the nearby table, and when she returned, she held a silver-white wine pot in her right hand and two silver cups in her left.

“Senior Sister, shall we start with the marriage wine?” Xia Jingzhe asked gently, her eyes filled with burning affection.

Xu Jiao looked at the wine, originally intending to cooperate, but now hesitated slightly. After a while, she furrowed her brows lightly, and a short refusal came out: “I don’t drink.” She really didn’t like drinking.

System: “?”

The smile on Xia Jingzhe’s face also froze.

“Yes, how could I forget that Senior Sister has always been indifferent and cold, keeping people at a distance—”

She threw the two silver cups to the ground, producing a crisp sound.

Then, with the hand still holding the wine pot tilted slightly, the sweet and refreshing wine unexpectedly poured towards Xu Jiao, dripping from her neck and soaking into her clothes, making her feel as if she had just been pulled out of a wine barrel, intoxicated.

She looked at Xia Jingzhe in astonishment, the troublemaker. “You…”

But Xia Jingzhe leaned in, her warm breath falling on Xu Jiao’s chin, gently wiping away the droplets on her pointed chin, and said with a smile, “So sweet.”

“Since Senior Sister doesn’t drink, I’ll have to taste it myself.”

As she spoke, Xia Jingzhe exerted a bit of force with her hand, and with a “tear” sound, the snowy-like Daoist robe on Xia Jingzhe’s body scattered like the previous curtain. The temperature in the room wasn’t high, and her fair skin on her neck was frozen, causing her pores to stand on end.

At that moment, Xia Jingzhe lowered her head and, as she had said earlier, began to taste the deliciousness of the wedding wine.



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