Fate Trading System – Chapter 274

Plan A

Furnace 25

End

Alright… alright, or not alright, huh…

Su Xin felt a bit dazed, but she maintained a calm smile on the surface and nodded.

Xi Lou’s eyes were cold snake pupils. Usually icy, but when she smiled, it was like ice and snow beginning to melt.

Su Xin carefully looked at the girl. She had a demonic, bewitching air about her, but her eyes were very clear, making her look incredibly docile.

“Xi Lou, is this also a snake demon?”

“En, same clan. Xi Yue¹.”

“Same clan?”

Weren’t Sky-Swallowing Pythons said to have disappeared along with the end of the Ancient Era?

She had found this one under Fourteen’s guidance. Were there still other Sky-Swallowing Pythons in existence?

“To escape the destruction of the Heavenly Dao, I continuously underwent reincarnation and parasitism², putting myself into a deep slumber. She sealed herself away, sinking into the Ice Sea, waiting for me to find her again.”

Xi Lou held Xi Yue’s hand, speaking very smoothly.

Ever since being awakened by blood in her eggshell, Xi Lou had possessed a faint consciousness, which gradually grew stronger.

She naturally knew the threat that man posed to Su Xin.

Her current strength was only about a third of what it was at her peak, but it was already enough to teach Shang Huai a lesson.

She was also suppressing her cultivation. Like Jing Yueru, if she continued to grow stronger, she might face complete destruction.

Xi Yue had abandoned her cultivation and fallen into a deep slumber to wait for her, while she herself had undergone reincarnation and parasitism.

Su Xin wore a motherly smile. Jing Yueru was even happier, like an old mother watching her child marry a wife. Truly, her wife had raised Xi Lou for so many years, and the outcome couldn’t be better.

Shang Huai was Jing Yueru’s last hidden worry. Once he was dealt with, Jing Yueru could finally be completely at ease.

After Xi Lou and her ‘wife’ (Xi Yue) left, Su Xin’s drifting consciousness finally landed.

Su Xin didn’t need to worry about the black pentagram array on her hand; it would naturally disappear after Shang Huai died.

The snake venom kept Shang Huai in a continuous coma. After all, it was the poison of a Sky-Swallowing Python, not something an ordinary person could counteract. If one wanted to cure it, it was very simple—a single drop of Xi Lou’s blood would suffice.

“Kill him now?”

Jing Yueru was already somewhat impatient. This was her greatest threat; once this person was dead, she wouldn’t have to worry about her lover being threatened by other forces anymore.

“Wait a bit. Tie him up first. After I’ve finished concocting the item he wants, then we’ll kill him.”

Jing Yueru nodded. This was an oath Su Xin had once made between heaven and earth, one that had to be fulfilled. Her wife was indeed more prudent and thoughtful.

Su Xin spent half a month, with Fourteen’s support, concocting that heaven-defying pill.

Shang Huai was awakened. At this moment, he found himself in a precarious situation.

“This is what you wanted.”

Su Xin placed the bottle in Shang Huai’s hand. Shang Huai was ecstatic.

“Quick, let me go!”

As long as he returned and had his Shizun consume this pill, his Shizun could come back.

Su Xin had done what she needed to do, completing their original transaction and fulfilling the promise she had made.

“How could that be allowed?”

Su Xin said with a grin, she had waited too long for this moment.

“What do you mean?”

“I suppose you’ve forgotten how miserably you harmed me back then? Hmm? Crippling my cultivation, imprisoning me—did you think all of that would just be forgotten?”

“What do you want? That clearly wasn’t you! As long as you let me take this pill back for my Shizun to consume, we can discuss whatever you want afterward.”

The reason Shang Huai had been able to make the deal with confidence back then was precisely because he believed Su Xin was a soul-snatcher and wouldn’t care about the original circumstances of this body, right?

“When I first obtained this body, I made a deal with its original owner. Her wish was for me to kill you.”

“You didn’t actively snatch the body? She used a forbidden art to summon you?”

Shang Huai immediately understood.

“Clever.”

Although there seemed to be some discrepancies, it was largely similar.

Jing Yueru stood by, looking as if this was nothing strange. She probably already had this answer in her heart long ago. No matter what, a person couldn’t undergo such earth-shattering changes unless the person inside the ‘shell’ had changed.

How Su Xin came to be here, Jing Yueru didn’t care. All she cared about was that the person in front of her was Su Xin, and that was enough.

“Let me send this pill back, and I’ll be at your disposal. I can make an oath!”

Shang Huai said urgently. His only obsession was to have his Shizun awaken.

“I seem to have forgotten to tell you about this pill’s effects.”

“What?”

“Don’t you know? The soul of one who has fallen has long since scattered and dispersed or has already reincarnated. This pill of mine can only awaken the body. His consciousness has long since vanished. Do you know what a puppet is?”

“You lied to me!!!”

Black mist surged around Shang Huai, but he still couldn’t move. Xi Lou and Xi Yue were by his side to prevent any trouble.

“I didn’t lie to you. I promised you I could make him wake up, but I never said I could restore his consciousness.”

Su Xin shrugged, her words utterly shameless.

“Do you know what it means to give someone a taste of their own medicine?”

“You crippled my cultivation, turned me into a furnace, and inflicted me with fire poison.”

“So, I’ll just cripple your cultivation and then kill you. I won’t let you become a furnace and ‘enjoy’ the taste of that fire poison.”

“Your master, oh, you can never save him. Your master abandoned you long ago.”

When Su Xin twisted the knife, she was utterly ruthless and incredibly cold-blooded.

Shang Huai let out a roar of grief and indignation, not only because his cultivation was crippled and the physical pain it brought but also due to his mental collapse.

Jing Yueru was the one who crippled his cultivation, and she did it with swift and satisfying efficiency. Although she knew the one suffering the pain wasn’t the person she loved, it was still happening to this body.

Wei Shuangling was actually very innocent. She hadn’t done anything terribly wrong; her life before had been unremarkable, with neither merits nor demerits. Yet, because of Shang Huai, she met a tragic end, with her own father as an accomplice.

Shang Huai deserved to die.

“What was it all for, do you think? Your master didn’t even like you anyway.”

Su Xin squatted in front of Shang Huai and asked her question.

“None of your business.”

How could Shang Huai have known? Human obsession was truly such a terrifying thing. His inner demon had long since become deeply rooted. For his own selfish desires, who knows how many innocent lives had been lost.

Su Xin twisted off Shang Huai’s head and destroyed his soul. She knew where Shang Huai’s master was, but it had nothing to do with her anymore—just someone destined never to wake up.

【Congratulations, Host. Mission complete. Now proceeding to handover with the client.】

“Thank you.”

Wei Shuangling expressed her thanks and, without the slightest delay, entered the white light.

【Host, choose to stay or leave?】

Stay.

Su Xin never intended to hide her relationship with Jing Yueru. Everyone was very surprised at first, but later they grew accustomed to it.

Initially, everyone envied Su Xin, thinking she was incredibly lucky to be with Jing Yueru, to be called Dao companions with Jing Yueru.

Jing Yueru was a female cultivator in the cultivation world with an excellent reputation. She was beautiful, her cultivation speed was considerable, and her strength was formidable.

Later, everyone felt Su Xin and Jing Yueru were a good match because Su Xin’s title as a great alchemist had become thoroughly renowned. Many people came to their door seeking pills. Although Jing Yueru’s cultivation speed was slow, she was powerful, so they were a suitable match.

However, as Su Xin’s cultivation grew higher and higher while Jing Yueru stagnated, everyone began to feel that Jing Yueru was not good enough for Su Xin.

Of course, Jing Yueru could cultivate, but Su Xin didn’t let her. What if something went wrong?

When Jing Yueru heard this latest kind of talk, she wasn’t too happy. Although she knew the real reason, hearing others say she wasn’t good enough for her wife still made her unwilling.

It wasn’t that she was angry because she was inferior to her wife; she was angry merely at that phrase ‘not good enough.’

She wasn’t good enough? Then who was?

How ridiculous. Those who said she wasn’t good enough acted as if they themselves were. What had those people done for Su Xin? What had they sacrificed? Weren’t they all just coveting her wife’s pills?

Su Xin noticed her unhappiness and also heard the escalating rumors.

Were these gossips in the cultivation world just too idle with nothing better to do?

Fine then. She wouldn’t cultivate anymore, nor would she concoct pills. Let things be as they may. Forget it.

In the end, isn’t living all about one’s own happiness?

Follow one’s heart’s desires without overstepping boundaries.³

News that Su Xin would no longer concoct pills spread, causing many to wail and express their regret.

“You don’t have to do this for me. I don’t care what they say.”

Jing Yueru said, somewhat hesitantly. She didn’t need Su Xin to go this far for her.

“Don’t think my motives are so noble. I’m just annoyed, that’s all. I’m not their mother; why should I concoct pills for them? It’s enough for me to make a few bottles for my master and senior brothers. What do other people have to do with me?”

Su Xin wasn’t some pill-concocting maniac to begin with. Anyway, the mission was complete, so there was no need for her to keep at it.

“For the rest of our time, let’s go travel and enjoy the sights⁴, shall we? After we’ve seen all of the cultivation world, we’ll go to the mortal realm and live incognito. How about that?”

Su Xin suggested, sitting cross-legged on the bed, tilting her head as she spoke to Jing Yueru.

“Alright.”

How much deep affection and emotion were contained in that single word of agreement, only Jing Yueru herself knew.

What is the happiest thing in this life? To be able to find someone who will accompany you until old age.

May we have no regrets to look back on in the years past, and with deep love, grow old together.

“Do you know what moment in this life I feel most fortunate about?”

“When?”

“Going to that snow mountain and picking you up.”

“Little fool.”

Jing Yueru passed away two days before Su Xin. There was no corpse; her body transformed into specks of white light and dispersed.

“What is this supposed to mean?”

Su Xin looked with dissatisfaction at the empty place where she was all alone, and called for Xi Lou.

“Ai, remember to collect my body. That woman is too mean, not even leaving a corpse. How are we supposed to be ‘buried in the same grave⁵‘ then, huh?”

Su Xin rambled on in front of Xi Lou.

“Ah Mu, don’t cry.”

“Who said I’m crying? It’s just raining.”

The sky was clear for thousands of miles.

Xi Lou lowered her gaze and nodded.

“En, it’s raining.”

---

---