11 Snake and Rabbit 10

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry, could you repeat that again?" Yin Mei said, stopping in her tracks. She felt she must have misheard the system.

"Due to the death of the female lead-"

"Yeah, no, you can stop now." She didn't mishear. That meant the female lead had died. Oh my god! What she feared came true! The female lead was dead by the time they had come out! "Goddamn jinxing myself...!!"

Ignoring that, Yin Mei was very worried. This mission was probably actually even harder than killing off the male lead. First of all, there was the difference in cultivation between Yin Mei and the demon king. At this rate, the demon king would probably ascend in the next few years. On the other hand, Yin Mei was two large stages away from the Demigod stage, and it would probably take another several hundred years for her to ascend, even if she swallowed up all of the female lead's remaining treasures. And then there was...

"System, can I get the information on the plot of the upper realm?" Yin Mei asked. Yes, this was the second issue. The story plot had gotten cut off once the male and female leads had ascended, so Yin Mei had very little information on the upper realm.

"Once ascending to the upper realm, the system will provide host with the new plot." System 097 obediently answered.

The new plot? Yin Mei was confused. What was that supposed to mean?

But no matter how much she pondered on it, she couldn't figure it out. Whatever. Since the system would provide her with information, a good portion of her worries were alleviated. The only problem that needed to be solved now was ascending. Thinking of how those xianxia main characters ascended so quickly, it was always due to swallowing a bunch of treasures or having some fortuitous encounters. But, even then, it would take them a hundred years or more (most of it skipped in a single line). The only story that Yin Mei recalled was slightly different was one main character who would die and reincarnate into a body with higher cultivation.

Yin Mei didn't think that would be an option for her, but just in case, she checked with the system. "System, can I transfer my soul to someone in the upper realm when I die?" She wasn't sure if her intentions got through.

"Transferring souls is possible. Calculating probability of success: 40%." She was shocked. It was actually possible? She didn't even know how that was supposed to work. But it wasn't completely guaranteed, with a success probability of 40%. Yin Mei wasn't sure how to feel.

"What happens if the soul transfer fails?" She asked again.

"Host will have failed the mission and will be transferred to the punishment world." The system replied.

Yin Mei thought that this was a big gamble. The odds weren't terrible, but they weren't good either. If it succeeded, then okay, but she would still need to complete the mission to help the demon king obtain the dragon throne (become the king of dragons?). And if it failed, well, that was the end of it.

She thought and thought, then finally decided it was better not to gamble and instead go the normal route. After all, Yin Mei could only claim to have mediocre luck, and if she really did end up failing just like that and end up in an even worse world... She would definitely cry tears of blood, but be unable to blame anyone except herself.

"God! Isn't there anything that'll immediately let me ascend right now!?" Yin Mei shouted out as she fell onto her bed, face buried into the blanket.

It seemed that god had heard her prayers, because several weeks later, after the group had returned to the demon world and the demon king went into true secluded cultivation, Yin Mei found something that would allow her to immediately ascend.

It was Jade Rabbit blood, the mystical demon beast that Bai Yu was descended from. These beasts originated in the upper realm and were known as the messengers, or servants of god. They specifically served the Jade Emperor, who ruled the upper realm.

By consuming the blood, Yin Mei could awaken the latent bloodline in Bai Yu's body, and immediately ascend after going through the heavenly tribulation. The only problem with this was that the chance of this succeeding was even lower than the soul transfer, at a pitiful 5%. And that was just for awakening the bloodline, not mentioning whether or not she could succeed at passing the heavenly tribulation. The good thing was that it didn't matter if she failed the bloodline awakening, as nothing would happen, but if she failed the heavenly tribulation, then she would die. The other good thing was that this small percentage could be increased with the proper methods and preparations.

"Either way, it's a gamble? Will I have to go the traditional route?" Yin Mei murmured. But she was worried. Who knows what could happen in the several hundred plus years that it would take for Yin Mei to ascend? What if the demon king died? Or was sealed away? Or fatally injured? Or maybe he would forget about her...

Yin Mei was very stressed out.

She didn't want to fall into temptation, but right now, the option of soul transfer seemed very tempting. Not only that, if she could go to the upper realm in advance, she might be able to prepare various good things to help out the demon king.

"I have to decide... Decide... This is too hard." Yin Mei murmured, her head hurting. She decided that for now... she'll just gather the female lead's treasures. As for the matter of transferring souls or consuming the Jade Rabbit blood, she'll leave that for later.

But, it wasn't long after that Yin Mei had to make her decision.

Ever since they returned from the human world, because the demon king had gone into seclusion, Yin Mei's duties had decreased to only cleaning the palace. As for the chef uncle, he took vacation for the next several years, as the demon king wouldn't be exiting any time soon. Perhaps not at all until his heavenly tribulation arrived and he ascended.

Because she had a great amount of extra time nowadays, she spent most of it exploring outside, around and about the demon world and human world for treasures.

"Hand over the Thousand Petal Lotus!" Several human practitioners yelled at Yin Mei, chasing her through the forest.

Yin Mei was currently in the human world, inside the Forest of Beasts. She was currently stealing the Thousand Petal Lotus, a treasure that could immediately boost her up from Aurous Core Stage to Nascent Soul Stage, which was just one large stage below the Demigod Stage.

Although Aurous Core Stage was considered a fairly high level of cultivation, and especially for someone as young as Bai Yu, but it wasn't enough for Yin Mei to walk through the lands unhindered. Right now, she was currently struggling as there had been several Nascent Soul Stage elders vying for this plant as well, presumably for the sake of their apprentices or descendants. As for those Demigod Stage ancestors, most of them never left their homes, being shut-ins on par with the demon king. It seemed like a trend for all mysterious and powerful ancestors to be some sort of shut-in or another.

But for Yin Mei, it had already been several years since the female lead died and she had started journeying around stealing treasures. She had even become famous in the human world as a treasure thief... Yin Mei felt exasperated. But she had gone through many tough situations and still ended up on top, long having made Bai Yu's powers and abilities her own. Although she wasn't on the level of protagonists being able to battle opponents several realms above them, she was still talented and possessed many treasures, so could easily take care of opponents in the same realm as hers, as well as a small realm above hers. Even if the opponent was a Nascent Soul Stage elder, if she concentrated on escaping, she'd be able to do so with her life still intact.

"Get her!" Although the shouts continued, they had faded away. After all, Yin Mei's speed couldn't be underestimated. The rabbit clan were one of the fastest demon beast clans after all.

But, she couldn't outrun a Nascent Soul Stage elder that prioritized speed.

"Gotta hide, gotta hide, gotta hide," Yin Mei thought to herself, darting through the trees. She was wearing the stealth cape, and skid down a small hill, hiding herself in a little hidden spot under some tree routes. She wrapped the shadows around her. As long as no cultivator specially cultivated the darkness element, she would be fine. There weren't many cultivators that cultivated in the darkness element, unless they were demonic cultivators, which to Yin Mei's knowledge, weren't very common and tended to remain hidden and at the edges of the main continent.

But, Yin Mei's luck this time wasn't very good. "There you are." A creepy voice whispered in her ear, almost causing her to piss her pants. Yin Mei hated horror the most, and this almost gave her a heart attack. She immediately leapt out from her hiding place to run, but was caught by the cultivator, who wrapped his arms around her body.

"Pervert!" Yin Mei thought, barely keeping herself from shouting it out loud. Was this the end? No, she at least had to get the treasures she currently had on her to the demon king. They would be useful for him.

Thinking this, she bit down on the slender man's hand, drawing blood. She took the opportunity of when he released his grip to break free and pull out a talisman. It wasn't an escape talisman, but rather, a messenger talisman that allowed items to be attached to it. Because of Yin Mei's high achievements in talisman making and the high quality materials that went into the talisman, not even a Nascent Soul Stage elder could stop it once it was activated. One could say that Yin Mei had thoroughly prepared herself for a similar situation.

She activated it, and it took the Thousand Petal Lotus with it, along with her storage ring. "What did you do?" The man in front of her looked evil and creepy, just like his voice. He was dressed in all black, his hair messy and covering his eyes.

Yin Mei coughed up a mouthful of blood - the price for the talisman.

"Too bad. The Thousand Petal Lotus is gone." She said, not knowing she possessed such courage. Maybe it was because she knew that there wasn't anything he could do to her anymore.

"System, prepare for soul transfer." She thought, as the man was outraged by her words, rushing toward her to kill her.

By the time the man's sword pierced through her body, her soul was already gone, traveling through space to reach its destination.

In the demon world.

The silhouette of the demon king, for the first time in seven years, moved. His eyes flickered open, and he slowly stood up as a talisman arrived before him, folded in the shape of a paper crane. It's wings flapped one last time before it unfolded, revealing a storage ring, the two items floating down into his hand.

This was the little rabbit's storage ring. The demon king expanded his senses, his eyes on a certain room in the palace. Inside were many glowing jade tablets, but there was one, recently broken, the light in it extinguished.

The next moment, a dark and heavy aura pressed down on the entire palace, forcing the guards out of hiding as they slammed onto the floor, coughing out blood. They could tell. His Majesty was angry, for the first time since they could remember.

As if realizing that he had gone too far, the demon king restrained his aura pausing before speaking. His voice was chilly and sent shivers down the spine of the hidden guard captain. "Find out who killed the little rabbit. I want them brought to me."

The hidden guard captain finally realized the source of his master's anger. So Xiao Bai was dead? He knew that the demon king treated her a little differently. Not only that, but she had brought so many benefits to the demon king, who was one to repay his debts. Now that someone had killed Xiao Bai, he most likely wouldn't stop until the culprit suffered hell ten times over. The hidden guard silently said a prayer. Not for the man, but for Xiao Bai. After all, that person had killed one of theirs. Who was he to deserve anything less than hell?