Since the problem lay with the System Star, they should have already received the news that the dispatched system had malfunctioned.
She only needed to quietly stay here for a few days, and perhaps a new system would arrive to send her back.
After pondering this, Tang Li let out a sigh of relief and patted the egg beside her. "What do you want me to help you with?"
The egg said, sounding on the verge of tears, "Well, the problem is that something has gone wrong with this world. The female protagonist keeps inexplicably committing suicide or turning into a demon and killing everyone. I hadn't awakened yet, so I didn't know why she was doing that."
"I sent a distress signal to the System Star, asking them to figure out why the female protagonist was doing this and to stop her. I never expected that instead of them, I'd get a jinx like you, who kills everyone without the female protagonist even having to lift a finger."
"So now I don't know what to do either. In the past, the female protagonist did it herself, and the world would reset because of her. Now that you, this external hazard, have done the deed, I don't even know if it will reset anymore."
"You're not from this world?" Tang Li asked, voicing the doubt deep in her heart.
"Of course not! Did you think I was? If I were, would you be sitting here safe and sound?" the egg retorted righteously.
"Then what are you?" Tang Li looked at it with inquiring eyes.
"Ha, it'll scare you to death if I tell you. I am the primordial Heavenly Dao," the egg said proudly, hands on its hips.
"Oh, so the female protagonist is the primordial Child of Fortune, and you are the primordial Heavenly Dao. You complement each other," Tang Li speculated, rubbing her chin.
The egg pondered blankly. "Maybe? I don't know either. I just woke up and haven't even had time to come stop you from killing people."
"If the world doesn't reset, in what form do you think the female protagonist will return?" Tang Li tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Reincarnated through the cycle of rebirth, of course. In that case, you might have to wait a dozen years or so for her to grow up. And all those living creatures you slaughtered—they'll be reincarnated too, whether demon or human. After all, this world is fair. Once I gain control of this world's power, I will make it fairer."
"Hmph, I didn't take you for the philosophical type. Why don't you just send me back right now?" Tang Li taunted it with a flat expression.
The egg looked at her for a moment, hesitating before saying, "You... why are you in such a rush to go back?"
Tang Li sighed. "Who wouldn't want to go home?"
"Because today is your birthday, right? Or perhaps a family member's birthday." The egg observed her facial expressions with minute detail.
Tang Li merely glanced at it indifferently, turned her head to look at the moon, and did not answer its guess.
Silence meant assent.
The bright moon shone clear, a gentle breeze swept past, and the human and the egg each harbored their own agenda in quiet contemplation for a moment.
Tang Li casually plucked a leaf, folded it a few times, placed it to her lips, and began to play a soft tune.
When the song ended, the egg clapped for her sincerely. "That's lovely. Is that a tune from your world? What's it called?"
"Sunny Spring and White Snow," Tang Li's voice was so low and hoarse it was barely perceptible, scattering instantly in the wind.
The egg froze.
Tang Li glanced at it. "Where did the female protagonist's story unfold before?"
"Probably when she became your disciple, was tortured by you for a few years, and then after killing you, she embarked on her overpowered protagonist path," the egg muttered, scratching its head.
"Oh, I see." Tang Li hugged her knees, looking listless. No wonder her suicide attempts never worked—it turned out her life was meant to be reserved for the female protagonist to kill.
"Hey, if you hadn't killed anyone, you could have helped me investigate why the female protagonist kept committing suicide or turning to the demonic path," the egg said, deeply depressed.
"If you hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't have killed anyone," Tang Li said, even more depressed than it was.
"You could have waited a bit before killing! Why did you start killing the moment you got here, a hundred people a day, and then commit suicide? I really don't understand what goes on in your head."
"I want to go home."
"Fine, neither of us is any better than the other. How do you plan to help me?"
Tang Li shook her head. "Haven't thought about it."
She already had an idea in mind, but she didn't want to say it. She wanted to wait for a new system to find her and send her home.
The human and the egg lived in the abandoned, demon-free Demon Palace for three months.
The longer time went on, the more anxious she grew, even cutting her own wrists with a sword every day in the hope that the broken system inside her would detect repeated near-death vital signs and report it to the System Star, prompting them to dispatch a new system.
Although the egg didn't know what she was trying to do, it could feel that her emotions were on the verge of a breakdown.
One day, after Tang Li came back from watching the moon, the egg poked its head out from under the blanket and asked cautiously, "Why do you like watching the moon so much?"
For the first time since coming here, Tang Li's eyes reddened. She lay down on the bed, pulled the quilt over her head, and said in a muffled voice, "Because there is only one moon in the universe."
The egg had a sudden flash of insight. "Oh, right! The moon you see on your planet must be the very same one you see here."
Tang Li kicked it off the bed. "Get lost."
The egg rubbed its backside, failing to understand what it had said wrong, and could only resign itself to coaxing her. "Don't be sad. There's a time difference between planets. I promise I'll send you back exactly the way you came."
Tang Li didn't want to dignify it with a response.
The egg thought for a moment, gently pulled at the quilt, and continued, "Why don't we go to the human realm to clear our minds? Bottling yourself up alone is bound to drive you mad. By the way, we can ask around about the Yunyan Sect and see if the world has reset or if the female protagonist has already gone to be reincarnated."
Tang Li didn't answer, which was taken as tacit consent.
The next day, the human and the egg silently packed their luggage—which essentially meant Tang Li looting the treasures of the Demon Palace.
Having known nothing about spells initially, during these three months of endless waiting she had occasionally read books on cultivation. She was very clever, understanding almost everything at a glance and drawing inferences about other cases from what she had learned.
Her only flaw was that she had been reading books on Demon Race cultivation, and because the Golden Core inside her was already damaged and lacked the purity of others', it suited her better to practice demonic arts.
She hadn't cared originally whether she cultivated immortality or demonic arts, but that egg had insisted on stopping her and forbade her from cultivating as a demon. Thus, she could only read Demon Race books while trying to cultivate immortality, and naturally, the results were heavily compromised.
Over three months, her cultivation had neither increased nor decreased, but she had learned a few simple spells, such as the spell to use the Mustard Seed Pouch.
The Mustard Seed Pouch was a spatial magical treasure of the Cultivation World, varying in internal capacity.
To the surprise of both Tang Li and the egg, the spatial treasure belonging to the wicked Master possessed an interior so vast that courtyards, pavilions, terraces, and magnificent palaces filled it inside and out, resembling a celestial immortal's palace.
Tang Li showed little interest in the conditions inside, but the egg grew quite interested. It resolved to ask Tang Li for this treasure when the time came to send her away.
Once it became the rightful Heavenly Dao, it would move the contents out of the treasure and turn it into the likeness of a heavenly palace, and then appoint mortals to ascend so they would gasp in wonder and praise it.
Tang Li stuffed everything in the Demon Palace inside in one go, and before leaving, she even took away the gluttonous beasts guarding the palace gates.
The yet-unawakened beasts had no idea they had simply crouched by their doorway only to be scooped up and carried away.
The egg wanted to say something, but stopped itself in the end, because this moment was probably the only time Tang Li had felt happy in three months.