Your Preference (17)
“I like it a bit harder.”
“Would you fall in love with those people you ‘created’?”
When Xu Jiao heard this question, she somehow thought of Feng Qingyu again, recalling Feng Qingyu’s words to her—if you meet someone you like in the future, don’t treat them as substitutes again.
Very strange.
Previously, when Xu Jiao interacted with these female protagonists, she didn’t care what they were thinking, just like a scientist conducting an experiment, dividing a control group, and observing their different performances.
Xu Jiao treated these female protagonists the same way. When the female protagonists acted as she originally wrote or reacted as she predicted, she would become somewhat interested to see what they planned to do next.
Beyond this, she wouldn’t invest too much attention in these people.
Even though she wanted to return to her own world sooner, she wouldn’t become anxious or eager, revealing her thoughts to this unfamiliar, strange system, for fear of being caught or forced to do things she didn’t like.
So, she was sometimes proactive, sometimes rebellious, making it impossible for the system to figure out her next move.
But after experiencing three or four books, Xu Jiao vaguely realized her previous thoughts were wrong, just as Lilith in front of her said, God created humans, but…
Does God completely understand humans?
Would God know when They’re asleep, that these groups They raised as pets are conspiring to replace Them?
Xu Jiao suddenly thought of Feng Qingyu for the same reason; she always felt that these protagonists seemed to inadvertently reveal some information to her, as if…
They had something they wanted to say to her.
After all, Xu Jiao is not truly a god; how could she completely disdain these characters she created? In a certain sense, she does not possess any special abilities; she is also an ordinary person. In fact, if the system hadn’t arranged an identity for her, she wouldn’t be as powerful in these worlds as the protagonists she wrote.
Now.
She carefully examined the girl in front of her, as if recognizing this book for the first time, and recalled the stories that had happened along the way. Even as the author, she did not know what direction and plot 《The Favored She》 would take. Would it be a serious drama focused on career? A futile tragedy?
Xu Jiao herself did not know.
……
Lilith is waiting for her answer.
But in the forest, only the cold wind, mixed with snowflakes, whooshed by. Lilith noticed the person in front seemed absent-minded and puzzled, she frowned, unsure of what was wrong with her question.
She couldn’t guess what kind of soul was inside this God’s incarnation, because in her understanding, only God could create creatures with souls.
But this saintess told such a story.
After listening to the story, she couldn’t help but feel a little curiosity.
Now, discovering the saintess’s gaze was somewhat blank, Lilith suddenly felt a bit displeased. This uncomfortable feeling was like having someone standing right in front of her, yet being unable to see through the person’s thoughts…
As if this person was very, very distant from her.
Lilith didn’t like this feeling.
Since she merged with the demonic energy, there were few humans on the Miracle Continent she couldn’t see through, except for deities, without exception.
Since the person in front is not God, she also wouldn’t be that exception, Lilith firmly believed.
Xu Jiao suddenly moved her gaze back, her eyebrows twitching, because the person in front was pinching her palm, she asked: “What happened?”
The blonde girl with vertical pupils had her temperament completely changed. Although she was dressed very cutely, with golden wavy curls and sea-blue eyes as clear as glass, the slight change in her pupils made her whole temperament completely different.
Proud and nonchalant, like a queen.
Her height couldn’t block her aura at all.
Xu Jiao saw her lift her chin, slowly repeating to her: “Did you forget to answer some question?”
Xu Jiao thought for a moment, couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows, and seeing the other’s proud demeanor, she voiced the answer that had been long delayed:
“Would not.”
She said: “At least now, I completely would not.”
Clearly, this answer had nothing to do with herself, but for some reason, Lilith inexplicably felt her mood become low and terrible, and couldn’t help but ask: “Why?”
Xu Jiao curved her lips: “I thought this question you should be very clear about.”
Lilith: “…”
That’s right.
She should be very clear.
After all, her heart holds God, and after seeing such a perfect, unique existence, seeing other similar existences in the future would only bring regret.
No one can replace God.
But why…
The low and unhappy feelings in her heart still haven’t dissipated?
Could it really be like the childish consciousness inside her body said, that she developed feelings for this God’s incarnation?
Did she transfer her love for God to this saintess?
Lilith found even the thought somewhat hard to accept, her breathing was chaotic, and finally, without a word, she returned to her original body. When the blonde girl looked up again, her aura had calmed down, and her pupils returned to the round shape a human should have.
“She cannot come out for too long, after all… during the shedding of skin, who knows what dangers there might be,” the little friend rounded off for her main consciousness.
Xu Jiao didn’t pay much attention; after witnessing the cave filled with demonic energy, a vague idea formed in her mind, and to pursue this idea, she needs more documents and materials.
She must return to the previous God Tower.
And…
She must have the Six Great Temples hand over those hidden materials and all the documents that cannot be interpreted.
If Xu Jiao is destined to be an enemy of this world’s gods, no amount of preparation is too much.
While holding little Lilith and walking forward, Xu Jiao was quiet for a moment, then continued from the little friend’s comment: “No problem, we are returning now, and I will wait for her to finish shedding her skin before leaving.”
Just as thanks to this snake for previously helping her capture those popes.
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The little girl suddenly looked up at her: “Leave? Where do you want to go?”
Xu Jiao responded with a “Mm,” and said to little Lilith: “The things I want to explore next will have a little danger, and also your original body is unwilling to do, so I will go alone.”
The girl instinctively let out an “ah,” as if in agreement, and after a while, she released Xu Jiao’s hand and softly asked:
“You… don’t want me anymore?”
She nervously clutched the skirt fashioned from demonic energy, its lace very exquisite, with layers of lace and pretty little beads. These were once things she envied greatly. But since following Her Holiness the Saintess, whether by accidentally discovering her true identity or now being able to use demonic energy to create what she desires, Lilith no longer gets startled as she once did.
She is no longer so self-abased, nor has she become excessively greedy.
Lilith always remembers her initial wish:
To forever stay by the Saintess’s side.
Now, hearing Xu Jiao’s words, she felt a rare panic rise within her. Although she knows it’s difficult, she still wants to remain by the Saintess’s side.
Xu Jiao, hearing the little friend’s words, quite unexpectedly raised her eyebrows: “Are you sure you still want to go with me, Lilith?”
The little girl heard a chance in her words and immediately nodded firmly:
“I am very sure.”
Xu Jiao: “But you know, your original body…”
Little Lilith’s blue eyes looked at her firmly; “As long as I have not completely disappeared, as long as I still exist, no matter how far or where, I want to be by your side.”
“This is my life’s greatest wish.”
During the first half of the sentence, Xu Jiao felt a sudden touch of emotion, but by the second half, she suddenly felt a bit of a headache.
Life’s greatest wish…?
Hearing this put a bit of pressure on her.
Xu Jiao wondered if there was any way she could exist in this world forever, but no matter how she thought about it, it seemed unlikely. When she first promised little Lilith, she hadn’t considered that this child would be so stubborn.
She asked somewhat meaningfully: “If, and I say if, if I due to some accident, no longer exist then?”
The blonde girl was exceptionally quiet, not making any naive gestures of disbelief. After a moment of silence, Xu Jiao heard her say: “I hope that day never comes.”
“If it really happened…”
“Sorry, Your Holiness the Saintess, I cannot imagine that scene, so perhaps I cannot give an answer now.”
Xu Jiao showed a gentle smile, raised her hand to touch her head, and praised: “Do you know, Lilith? I really like how you are now.”
Knowing her own power, yet not misusing it, nor taking pride in it, but also not being self-abased.
Growing up from such a terrible environment, not wallowing in self-pity, still willing to use her kindness to pray for an innocent person, doing good deeds as she can, and after seeing those tragedies, still able to look forward to the light.
Such a heroine is what she originally wanted to create, only during this process, Xu Jiao somewhat deviated from her own heart, trying to destroy these characters she once thought of as “failures.”
But.
Now she is a little glad she can enter these books.
Glad that she and these heroines she wrote about have communicated so deeply.
Hearing Xu Jiao’s praise, Lilith felt as if she were walking on clouds, one foot heavy, one foot light, and she didn’t even remember how she walked back to that cave with Xu Jiao. She came to her senses only to find herself sitting at the cave entrance, half of her body solid, half of her body made of demonic energy, smiling foolishly.
……
The black snake summoned the little incarnation Lilith back into the cave.
The snake shedding reached a critical moment.
Whether she can get through this transformation depends on herself.
Before that black demonic energy was pulled away, Xu Jiao suddenly asked: “Need… help? I mean, should I enter the cave to help guard for you?”
Although knowing they are the same person’s split consciousness, Xu Jiao still habitually treated them as two separate individuals.
The demonic energy in mid-air transformed into a cute face, the little girl’s blonde hair hidden in the black demonic energy, and without thinking, she replied overjoyed:
“Really! That would be great!”
Xu Jiao unexpectedly raised her eyebrows, not yet realizing that this matter was so simple, and suddenly she was swept by the black demonic energy, her whole body taken through a small stone crevice.
Standing still in the pitch-black cave, Xu Jiao then realized… this demonic energy’s function is quite magical, possessing a strange corrosive ability, and it can also store things like an endless space.
Very magical.
Little Lilith’s voice cheerfully came from the black snake’s body: “Your Holiness the Saintess, just stay here for a while! Shedding skin cannot be helped, but if there are other movements we haven’t noticed or small animals come over, please let us know!”
Xu Jiao relied on the thin wind element in the cave to judge the terrain inside, as well as the size of the snake in front of her, including some small animals hidden under stones, all were clear to her ears.
She closed her eyes, using the wind to sense everything. Apart from the black snake continuously emitting demonic energy in front of her, she could still sense other elements. After a while, she said:
“Mm.”
“Rest assured, the creatures nearby have survival instincts and will not approach a place with such dense demonic energy, so there is no danger for now.”
The black snake’s eyes moved slightly, as if wanting to look at her, but ultimately didn’t make much movement.
The cave quieted down.
Xu Jiao sat in the corner, closed her eyes, pondering her plan, while also dividing her attention to this matter, essentially acting as a guardian for the black snake’s shedding process.
……
No one knew how much time had passed.
Xu Jiao heard a rustling sound, not too loud nor too soft, even resembling the subtle noise of bean pods cracking open.
But she could not see clearly.
The black snake seemed unable to control its power at this time, and the demonic energy was again carrying a corrosive aura, causing any tiny wind elements that approached to vanish, making it impossible for Xu Jiao to “see” the specific movements clearly.
She patiently waited for the black snake to complete its shedding successfully.
Just as the snake shedding was about to finish, Xu Jiao suddenly tilted her ear toward the outside direction, hearing noises from afar. She couldn’t help but stand up from the ground and approach the edge of the stone wall, listening carefully.
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“Is it here?”
“Yes, my magic compass tells me, the demonic energy here is similar to the previous cave, but not as pure. The previous task given by the temple, we could never complete, but… perhaps we can find a way here.”
“You know, buddy, now that cave’s demonic energy is too strong, we can’t approach or collect it, and it’s been a long time since the temple assigned us the task. If we still can’t gather enough demonic energy to hand over, we’re done for.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you. But, this cave won’t be another extension of that cave, will it?”
“Who knows? Shall I first use the Sun God’s power to try?”
“Okay, you go ahead.”
Xu Jiao looked back into the pitch-black cave, the crackling sound still echoing, indicating that the black snake’s shedding was not yet completely finished and was at a critical moment.
She could only turn back and go solve the small fry outside the wall herself.
……
A golden arrow of the Sun God headed toward the stone-sealed entrance of the cave.
Halfway through its flight…
The golden arrow somehow suddenly turned around and returned the same way.
Several people from the Sun Temple were greatly shocked, not knowing what had happened, and scattered in all directions to finally avoid the fatal arrow. The person who cast the spell was scolded by his companions, blamed for the improper use of divine power that almost harmed their own people.
The person who shot the arrow looked aggrieved and bewildered and could only step back.
Immediately, various colorful divine powers were directed toward the cave, but the same mistake was repeated: no divine power could approach the cave. People outside rustled about, discussing this strange phenomenon.
Soon, they devised a new plan, with people from different temples moving to different positions around the cave entrance, beginning to set up a very complex magic array, the purpose of which was…
Explosion.
Xu Jiao, upon sensing these activities, frowned somewhat unhappily. Her intention was not to harm these people, but she didn’t expect them to be so persistent in wanting to break into the cave.
She turned back to look at the snake behind her, troubled for a moment, and then, with greater speed, she began chanting a long string of difficult, complex spells, while her hands quickly wrote something in the air.
Outside the cave.
The people who were originally setting up the magic array watched with wide eyes as a storm array, emitting white light, slowly took shape in the air. Some personnel from the Storm Temple, puzzled by the array, said:
“Could it be that there is someone from our Storm Temple inside?”
“To draw this magic array so quickly, it must be someone of bishop level or above, but how could such a person maintain divine power operation in a cave filled with demonic energy?”
While they were still puzzled, someone nearby suddenly asked: “What is your array used for?”
People from the Storm Temple replied: “Oh, this is to create a storm, it should be a gale of level ten or above, capable of bending the trees in this forest to such a degree…”
Their words slowed down.
The array emitting white light was still forming—
The people from the Storm Temple paused for a moment, suddenly turned and ran, quickly saying:
“Quick, quick, quick!”
“Go ah! If we leave now, it’s only temporary, but when that wind comes, our lives could be lost!”
The remaining temple people: “!!!”
Why didn’t you say so earlier!
The white array finally formed, and after a flash of silver light, the magic array summoned a whirling wind that seemed capable of lifting the ground of the forest, even momentarily changing the color of the sky above the forest.
Snowflakes, gravel, stones, fallen leaves…
Everything was blown up.
Even the thick trees, frozen by the temperature, emitted unbearable creaking sounds, as if about to topple at any moment.
Inside the cave.
Xu Jiao tilted her ear to listen to the sounds of various temple people leaving, then calmly sat back down in place, cross-legged, with her right hand propped up, supporting her chin, looking at the pitch-black big snake in front of her.
The previously released demonic energy was already slowly retracting, and she could feel that soon, this snake would complete its transformation.
The fact was indeed so—
Now, with the help of the wind element, she could clearly feel that the snake had already shed half of its old skin.
Its huge body was continuously moving, creating a rustling sound with the ground, like an unknown terrifying monster slowly approaching in the darkness, with its cold breath inching closer and closer to Xu Jiao.
Xu Jiao did not have any special reaction, even stepping aside, thinking she was obstructing the snake’s shedding process.
Until…
The snake’s head directly faced her.
Its cold breath gushed onto her face.
Xu Jiao blinked, and suddenly, a mass of soaring demonic energy recklessly poured towards her, yet perfectly avoided her in the middle, instead knocking down the tall, solid stone wall behind her.
Daylight from outside the cave fell in.
Xu Jiao could clearly see that the black snake in front of her was almost a size larger than before, and its beautiful, brand-new, hard scales were shining brilliantly in the sunlight.
It was pure black.
She squinted her eyes and found the snake’s head facing her, slowly uttering: “Congratulations on your successful shedding?”
Lilith did not scare her and slowly blinked her eyes as well, then pressed her head against Xu Jiao’s, lazily replying in a hoarse voice: “Mm.”
The snake instinctively coiled around Xu Jiao’s body, her orange-yellow eyes looking towards the outside of the cave, as if aware of what had just happened, paused, and then asked: “You want to return to the God Tower, right?”
Xu Jiao was tightly coiled by her overly large body, feeling as if the other was a big snake trying to wrap around a toothpick, and she couldn’t help but raise a hand to push a bit:
“Get down.”
She said: “You’re going to crush me.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the black snake shrunk its size, turning into the original tiny form, just enough to hang on her wrist, thinly coiling around Xu Jiao’s hand, sticking to the warm, cozy skin. The black snake felt a sense of comfort from the heart.
The snake’s tongue flicked, brushing over Xu Jiao’s wrist, her hoarse voice sounded again: “I can help you return to the God Tower.”
Xu Jiao looked down at her somewhat unexpectedly and paused, then said: “That’s not necessary, but if little Lilith wants to follow me, I can take her along.”
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Black snake: “…She is me, is there any difference whether you take her or me?”
Xu Jiao: “Sorry, I subconsciously thought you were not the same person.”
Black snake: “…”
She bit Xu Jiao’s wrist, inexplicably angry.
Xu Jiao ignored her action and continued walking outside, but just as she took a step, she sensed something and looked down: “Your tail, do you not want it anymore?”
At first, the black snake did not understand, but then, following Xu Jiao’s gaze, she noticed that her tail had left a series of sticky, glistening marks on her wrist.
A seductive scent filled the air.
The black snake belatedly realized…
After the shedding period, she seemed to have entered the mating period.
The black snake’s eyes moved, and a few seconds later, she flicked her tail, spreading sticky marks all over Xu Jiao’s hand, with a voice full of allure, she slowly asked:
“Do you want to—”
Halfway through her words, her tail suddenly shrank a bit.
It turned out that the hateful saint in front of her used her fingertips to pinch the slightly indented end of her tail, smilingly lowering her head to ask: “Want what? Like this?”
Black snake: “!”
Hateful! Clearly, she is supposed to be the attacker!
However, her desire-strong body was brought incomparable pleasure by the other’s somewhat rough action, causing her tail tip to tremble comfortably. After a few seconds, the black snake rubbed Xu Jiao’s wrist with her head, her voice carrying some shyness:
“Also… also okay.”
“Remember to be harder.”
Xu Jiao: “…”
She seemed to underestimate a snake’s lower limit.