Chapter 312

Chapter 312: Bai Mu Mu Perishes

Shen Sang Ruo spoke in a calm voice, but her words passed a death sentence on Bai Mu Mu: “You could have lived a few more days, but you should never have laid a hand on Immortal Maiden Azure Luan.”

The pain of being stripped from the System twisted Bai Mu Mu’s whole face. Her System was fused with her so tightly that no one could notice it unless their soul was very strong and skilled in the Soul Method. Now it felt like a part of her soul was being torn off by force.

Bai Mu Mu racked her brain and still could not understand how things had reached this point. Just a moment ago she had felt sure of winning. Immortal Maiden Azure Luan would die without a trace, Shen Sang Ruo would be drowned in grief, and once Bai Mu Mu proved her innocence, no one in the Cultivation World would dare say she had anything to do with a Malevolent Spirit. Even if Shen Sang Ruo tried, she would never find the System in Bai Mu Mu’s body.

But Immortal Maiden Azure Luan did not die. Shen Sang Ruo and Immortal Lord Chang Li had come straight to Bai Mu Mu and gave her no time to react. What scared Bai Mu Mu most was this: Shen Sang Ruo could strip out her System. The System she was so proud of, the one she believed no one would ever discover, was now peeling away from her body fast.

She screamed for help: “No! Don’t! Master! Father! Save me!”

The System could not be stripped. She did not want to stay in this world. She could not die. But Immortal Lord Chang Li had already set a barrier around the courtyard, and her shouts hit the barrier and went no farther.

Terror spread across Bai Mu Mu’s face. The despair of death wrapped around her whole body.

In the main hall of Shen Dao Chen’s cave residence, Master Ling Xiao, seated and waiting, seemed to sense something but found no clear problem. He had heard Shen Sang Ruo was back. He was unhappy that she had gone to greet Shen Dao Chen first, but he still came to the main hall to wait. He felt their meeting this time should be more formal.

His fingers tapped the table again and again; he was getting impatient. Why hadn’t Shen Sang Ruo come for so long? He frowned and wondered if she thought he was with Bai Mu Mu and had gone to Bai Mu Mu’s courtyard first. As a Void Refining Stage cultivator, his Divine Sense could sweep across a vast range, so he sent it over Bai Mu Mu’s courtyard.

At first he noticed nothing. When he withdrew his Divine Sense, a faint wrongness struck him: a barrier had been set around that courtyard. He rose at once and said to himself: “Not good. Mu Mu is in danger!” Tearing open space, he Rended Space and rushed toward Bai Mu Mu’s courtyard.

Elsewhere, Shen Dao Chen had taken the medicine and was on his way back. Feng He Yun and Lu Shi Qing, after hearing Shen Sang Ruo had returned, were also hurrying up to the main peak.

Immortal Lord Chang Li warned softly: “Master Ling Xiao has found us. He will be here soon.” At Peak Divine Transformation, if Master Ling Xiao could sense him, he could sense Master Ling Xiao as well. He asked, “I can hold him off for a moment. Is that enough time?”

“It’s enough,” said Shen Sang Ruo as she sped up her work.

The Malevolent Spirit was even harder to pull out than she had expected, almost as hard as drawing out Immortal Lord Chang Li’s soul. Luckily she had practiced countless times, so it was not beyond her. Her fingers formed hand seals so fast they left afterimages. Streams of Divine Soul Power poured from her, ripping at the System inside Bai Mu Mu.

Once she had that Malevolent Spirit, she would have proof. After she killed Bai Mu Mu, neither Master Ling Xiao nor Shen Dao Chen could say a word against her.

Bai Mu Mu heard the System’s beeps turn into sharp screams for help. Then the sound stopped all at once, leaving only the tearing pain in her soul. She could no longer sense the System at all. It was gone. [It’s over. Everything is over.]

Shen Sang Ruo locked down the mass of Chaotic Spirit Soul she had torn out of Bai Mu Mu. The System struggled wildly to escape, but she crushed it under her will. This was the thing that had been doing evil from the shadows.

“Bai Mu Mu’s Malevolent Spirit has been extracted,” she said with a sigh of relief.

“Faster,” said Immortal Lord Chang Li, pale. “Master Ling Xiao won’t be held long.”

Bai Mu Mu broke down completely, screaming in despair. Shen Sang Ruo lifted the bound System in one hand and gripped the Luan Feather Fan in the other, her eyes as sharp as blades as she looked at Bai Mu Mu. She said while driving the keen feather tips toward Bai Mu Mu: “The Malevolent Spirit is already caught. I wasn’t planning to make it easy on you and let you die fast.”

But delay brings danger. She would not give Bai Mu Mu even a breath. Without the System, Bai Mu Mu was weaker than a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. This strike aimed straight at her heart meant certain death.

The feather sank into Bai Mu Mu’s flesh in a blur. Its point pierced her heart. Bai Mu Mu felt her heartbeat stall, as if all the blood in her body had turned to ice. Shen Sang Ruo, not yet fully sure, kept pressing forward. Just a thumb’s width more and Bai Mu Mu would be gone for good.

“Mu Mu!”

Master Ling Xiao Rended Space and burst through Immortal Lord Chang Li’s line at that very moment. He had faintly heard Bai Mu Mu’s screams and was frantic, caring about nothing else. The terrible force of a Void Refining Stage cultivator crashed down, nearly tearing Bai Mu Mu’s courtyard apart.

Immortal Lord Chang Li grunted, blood spraying from his mouth. His organs felt like they were being churned to pieces.

One look inside the room sent Master Ling Xiao’s anger rushing to the top of his head. When his favorability toward Shen Sang Ruo had only been in the eighties, he had thrown her into the Confinement Chamber without asking for proof. Now that his favorability was nearly one hundred, he was even less likely to show mercy, even if he wanted her to come back. The rage of seeing Bai Mu Mu killed drove him close to madness.

“How dare you kill her! Out!” he roared, whipping his sleeve. The blast flung Shen Sang Ruo aside. In fury, he did not hold back at all. He truly meant to kill her.

Kui Ox, Dodder Flower Sprite, Snake Maiden, and Little Koi braced together and barely blocked the strike. Zhu Miao was too easy to notice, so Shen Sang Ruo had not brought it.

Shen Sang Ruo clenched her teeth and held the pulled-out System tight with both hands, giving it no chance to slip away.

Immortal Lord Chang Li’s eyes went bloodshot as he shouted at Master Ling Xiao: “You’re insane! You want to kill her for a Malevolent Spirit?”

“Malevolent Spirit? She is the Malevolent Spirit!” Master Ling Xiao jabbed a finger at Shen Sang Ruo, as if he were back to how he used to loathe her. She was his Heart Devil, and Bai Mu Mu had helped him pass his Heart Devil Tribulation. To him, it was obvious who the real Malevolent Spirit was.

Shen Sang Ruo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and stared coldly at Master Ling Xiao. He turned away from her and lifted Bai Mu Mu. His Divine Sense probed her body. Her heartbeat was gone. He felt himself losing control. [Bai Mu Mu cannot die.] He poured Spiritual Power into her lifeless body, focusing it at the wound in her heart.

For the first time, Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes rippled with emotion. The look she gave Master Ling Xiao was so full of disgust that she almost wanted to kill him on the spot.