Lightning flashed brightly outside, the sound of the rain crashing endlessly against the ground as an even greater storm brewed.
Li Li spat up a mouthful of blood, yet she suddenly let out a soft laugh.
Using her uninjured right hand to form a hand seal, an intricate array suddenly materialized beneath her feet.
"Qian the three unbroken, Kun the six broken—rise!"
In an instant, the space cracked like a spiderweb, the thunderclouds on the horizon began to spin, and the four of them plunged into a sealed dimension. The earth shook as nine massive bronze pillars burst from the ground to lock them in place.
Her three years in the Dichen Sect had not been wasted; she had learned a thing or two about the techniques of mighty figures.
Li Li clutched her wound as she stood up, looking down with detached superiority at the four terrified men.
Her voice was as cold as a frozen pool: "Why does Xie Qi want me dead?"
The four men lifted their heads, casting disdainful glares at Li Li, and kept their mouths shut.
Li Li chuckled, unbothered.
In the world before she transmigrated into this book, her mother had been a notorious femme fatale; Li Li had grown up immersed in methods of torture.
With every question she asked, she carved off a piece of flesh, her movements steady and perfectly missing any fatal points.
The other three shadow guards, unable to bear the agony, bit their tongues and committed suicide.
Li Li aimed her blade at the leader, sparing this last survivor from taking his own life.
The man was in terrible shape. Having endured over two hours of torture within this space, he had forgotten every oath of loyalty to his master. His body's automatic defense mechanisms triggered, and he screamed out almost instinctively: "Don't kill me! I'll say anything!"
"It's the Xie Family's seventh young master, Xie Yeran, who wants you dead. The Crown Prince once hinted at giving him the position of imperial mechanic, but you appeared out of nowhere and won the Prince's favor. Seventh Young Master was afraid you were standing in his way."
Li Li let out a slow "Oh," and thoughtfully put away her knife. Amidst the man's hopeful gaze, she cleanly snapped his neck.
Well, not bad. This Xie Qi truly was a kindred spirit.
The space created by hand seals operated on a different time dilation than the outside world; when Li Li stepped back out, only the span of a single stick of incense had passed.
The pent-up frustration in her chest grew increasingly fierce, a feverish, bloodthirsty urge surging upward.
Li Li pushed open her bedroom door, her clothes soaked to the point of being wrung out in blood.
Her manic phase had arrived, and she needed this "kindred spirit's" blood to cool the heat.
Unleashing her Nascent Soul Divine Sense, she scanned the rooms one by one for Xie Qi's chambers.
Ah, found it.
A teleportation talisman vanished with Li Li in place.
The pampered young master was deep in a pleasant dream when Li Li silently seated herself at the foot of his bed.
The blood belonging to the shadow guard stained the bedding.
Xie Yeran was choked awake by the smell of blood. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Li Li in the dark, tilting her head as she watched him, and he screamed in terror.
Li Li pressed Xie Yeran down into the duvet to muffle his cries, smiling as she made a shushing gesture toward him.
"Young Master Xie, please don't disturb people's sweet dreams."
Scared out of his wits, Xie Yeran could only nod helplessly at Li Li.
Li Li released her grip, her expression bordering on gentle, though the manic excitement in the depths of her eyes was barely contained.
Her voice was exceptionally soft in the dead of night: "Does Young Master Xie yearn so badly to be the imperial mechanic?"
"Yes, yes—no, no, I don't want to be anymore! Miss Li, please calm your anger. Spare me this once, and my entire Xie Family will be at your beck and call from now on." Xie Yeran was blessed with good looks, especially his eyes, which carried a misty layer of water like a startled rabbit's—enough to soften anyone's heart by three parts.
Yet Li Li's expression remained unchanged, completely unmoved.
She offered Xie Yeran a soothing smile, and as he let out a sigh of relief, she said softly, "Young Master Xie won't have to go to such exhausting lengths to fight for the spot anymore."
Xie Qi stared in astonishment. "W-Why?"
"Because you're going to die, of course."
According to the Three Realms' pact, cultivators were not permitted to harm mortals, but Li Li regarded the rules as utter garbage.
She gripped Xie Yeran's neck, effortlessly extinguishing the mortal's life in her hands.
The Xie Family was vast and influential with a massive household, but Xie Yeran was the seventh young master of the primary branch, deeply favored by the head of the family. The extinguishing of his soul lamp was practically a major catastrophe for the clan.
The massive cruise ship instantly came to life in the pitch-black night, blazing like daylight as heart-pounding alarm klaxons echoed repeatedly.
The cultivators currently in meditation broke their cultivation and rushed frantically toward Xie Yeran's room.
The leader of this sea voyage was the Second Master of the Xie Family. Staying right next door to the room, he emerged dressed only in his undergarments, crying out in bitter grief: "Who harmed my nephew?!"
Li Li threw open the window and nimbly vaulted out.
The bitterly cold seawater submerged her head, relentlessly assaulting her nerves.
She raised a hand to cover her eyes, which had turned scarlet from excessive excitement.
The cultivators on the ship displayed their full array of divine abilities, raining all manner of sword Qi and weapons down toward the surface of the sea.
Yet before any of it could touch Li Li, a figure intercepted and scattered the attacks.
A Fangen Fish had arrived.
It was one of the massive creatures of the Inverted Sea, roughly comparable in strength to an Integration stage cultivator.
Li Li had long since figured out the pattern of the Fangen Fish's appearances: it only surfaced at dawn, and sound was the method to attract them.
Seeing their first strike miss, the cultivators above attempted to strike again, while mortals on the deck tried to trap her with fishing nets.
Li Li grabbed the Fangen Fish with her Divine Sense and dove resolutely into its mouth, seeming to catch a glimpse of a figure standing by a second-story window as she turned.
She moved downward along the Fangen Fish's intestinal tract. Demonic beasts produced no waste; everything they swallowed was converted into energy, so the interior consisted only of water and some unabsorbed seaweed.
Li Li tore off the wet hem of her skirt to bandage her wounds, then frowned and sat down to meditate, intending to burst out of its belly once the Fangen Fish had swum a certain distance away.
Song Ji stood by the window, watching Li Li's series of actions with an unconscious frown. "Cough, cough... The gamble she took is far too big. You must never act with such recklessness in the future."
The guard behind him nodded repeatedly.
Indeed. According to the tropes in storybooks, shouldn't it be a fallen sect prodigy encountering an assassination and seeking the Crown Prince's protection, whereupon the two grow fond of each other over time, allowing the prodigy to make a comeback... hehe.
Song Ji glanced at him, his tone thoroughly chilling: "Xun Zhu, if you let those stray thoughts of yours show on your face one more time, you can go to the Southern Islets."
Xun Zhu gasped in sharp intake of breath. The Southern Islets were a man-eating place on par with the White Bone Tomb! "This subordinate wouldn't dare."
The Fangen Fish beneath the sea had already swum very far away.
Song Ji looked at the half-risen red sun, the corners of his lips curling upward.
It seemed this cultivation prodigy, once renowned throughout the Three Realms, was nothing like the rumors portrayed her.
......
[Drop—]
[Host, what on earth have you done?!]
Li Li was jolted awake by the System One's sharp screeching.
She opened her eyes in irritation, her tone impatient: "What on earth are you screeching about? Isn't the mission to make Lou Fengyin fall in love with me? Why do you care so much about the rest!"
The System's mechanical voice turned hesitant: [Has your mental illness flared up again? Take your medicine quickly.]
Li Li:......
Li Li drew her blade directly.