The Substitute Female Supporting Character Sees the Bullet Screen

Nie Yinzhi's mind went blank for a moment, devoid of any other thoughts. Her head was filled with the idea of "sacrificing herself to the demons to save all living beings." If she jumped from here, she could achieve enlightenment, bypass the thunder tribulation, and ascend to immortality.

This temptation, however, meant nothing to her. It paled in comparison to the allure of the demon lord beckoning her with a mere finger. She had no desire for ascension; all she wanted was to sleep in the arms of the demon lord.

Nie Yinzhi let out a derisive laugh, trying to shake off the intrusive thoughts that had been forced into her mind. But in the next moment, her consciousness separated from her body. She lost control, leaping onto the railing like a puppet, completely at the mercy of others.

In the face of absolute authority and power, even her own will could be twisted. Her personal desires were slowly drained away, replaced by a sense of compassion and righteousness for all living beings, crammed into her tiny heart.

For a moment, Nie Yinzhi thought she heard the tolling of a great bell. Visions flooded her mind: the collapse of the four great sects, the destruction of countless sacred lands and secret realms. In the face of natural disasters, both mortals and cultivators were reduced to ants swept away by a raging flood.

This was the consequence of the first breach of the Heavenly Dao's rules. The Heavenly Dao had forced too much incomprehensible knowledge into Nie Yinzhi, making her realize that if she didn’t jump, the world might face a second collapse.

The visions in Nie Yinzhi’s mind shifted. She found herself standing in a garden filled with her favorite crabapple trees. The blooming season had passed, leaving only the massive crabapple tree in the center still in full bloom. Beneath the tree lay spirit stones, replaced every thirty days to ensure the flowers never withered.

A swing hung beneath the tree, Nie Yinzhi’s favorite spot.

She heard Ah Huan’s voice approaching. “I wonder how Miss is doing. I heard from one of those annoying sword cultivators guarding this place that Miss has been away from the Cloud Scripture Sect for a long time. Why hasn’t she come home?”

“Aren’t you the one who hates those hypocritical cultivators from the Cloud Scripture Sect the most?” Cheng Bi asked, circling the crabapple tree and cutting a few blooming branches. She placed them in the vase Ah Huan was holding, and the two headed toward the main courtyard.

Ah Huan pursed her lips. “I do hate them! How dare they use our Miss as a substitute? That Xiao Ling isn’t even worthy!” She paused, then added, “But that sword cultivator doesn’t know anything. I heard he’s been in seclusion for over a hundred years and was dragged out to do this job. No wonder he always looks so grumpy.”

Nie Yinzhi couldn’t help but laugh. From Ah Huan’s expression, it was clear she had developed a crush.

The two of them were completely unaware of Nie Yinzhi’s presence. Cheng Bi glanced at Ah Huan and warned her, “Ah Huan, those cultivators are stationed here to use the Nie family as leverage to control Miss. Moreover, there’s a vast difference between immortals and mortals. If you develop feelings, you’ll only end up hurting yourself.”

Cheng Bi, usually quiet and reserved, rarely spoke at such length. Ah Huan fell silent for a moment before retorting stubbornly, “What are you talking about? I only approached him to find out about Miss. A man over a hundred years old could be my great-grandfather. I’d never fall for someone so old!”

As they entered the main courtyard, they fell silent, trimming the flowers and preparing to take them inside. But someone intercepted them. “What a coincidence, girls. Hand the flowers over to me.”

Nie Yinzhi hurried forward, her heart aching as she saw the streaks of white in her father’s hair. “Father.”

Ah Huan muttered under her breath, “The master sure knows how to borrow flowers to offer to the Buddha.”

Her father chuckled, grabbing the slender neck of the vase and snatching the flowers from Ah Huan’s hands. He quickly walked inside, and Nie Yinzhi followed, bumping into her mother, who was coming out from behind the curtain.

Her mother glanced at the crabapple flowers, cradling them in her arms as she pulled her husband into the inner room. “Any news? Did those immortals reveal anything? Has Yinyin really entered the Ten Thousand Demons Cave? All the immortal sects have gathered there. Are they planning to besiege her? Can that Demon Lord by her side protect her?”

“Don’t worry. As long as these cultivators are here, it means Yinyin is safe. If they ever leave or… decide we’re no longer useful, that’s when we should worry.” Her father sighed. “Yinyin is too far away from us now.”

Tears streamed down her mother’s face as she lamented, “If only we had kept her by our side. Even if her life would have been short, it would have been happy and peaceful. She wouldn’t have had to suffer like this or bear such a terrible reputation.”

“Look, even when you water the garden, you might drown a few ants. Yinyin was destined to soar among the clouds. Why would we want to tie her down to this mortal world, to live among ephemeral creatures like us?” Her father hugged her tightly, comforting her. “Yinyin has her own destiny.”

Nie Yinzhi’s heart ached. She wanted to squeeze into their arms like she used to, but her parents couldn’t see her or feel her presence. No matter what she said or did, no one noticed.

Suddenly, the surroundings shook violently. The vase on the table crashed to the ground, and the earth began to tremble. Her father stumbled out, holding her mother, as the sky seemed to tear open. The heavens collapsed, the earth split, and the seasons reversed. The scorching sun and a blizzard coexisted under the same sky.

The righteous cultivators guarding the Nie family rushed to save people but were struck down by the chaotic winds in the air. Nie Yinzhi was forcibly pulled away from her parents, her vision rising higher and higher.

From her vantage point, the ground cracked, and houses crumbled. The disaster wasn’t limited to the Nie family; the entire water town was collapsing. People struggled to survive, buried under the rubble. She heard countless cries of despair and her parents’ tearful calls for her.

—Look, sacrificing just one person can save so many, including your loved ones.

—And this isn’t even a true sacrifice. Fulfill your mission, and you’ll ascend to immortality.

—If everything had gone as planned, this mission wouldn’t have fallen to you. You broke the predetermined fate. You sowed the seeds, and now you must reap the consequences.

These visions and thoughts flooded Nie Yinzhi’s mind, leaving her unable to think. She could only follow the persuasive voice in her head, willingly leaning forward to fall.

As she fell from the Mystic Tower, she heard Feng Hanying’s desperate shout. She heard it, but her mind couldn’t process it quickly enough to react. When she slashed her wrist with her finger, she didn’t even feel the pain immediately.

The bead containing the Five-Colored Dew on her wrist broke, and both the bead and her blood splattered out, colliding with a wisp of demonic energy.

As Nie Yinzhi was engulfed by the swarming demonic cultivators, she was first wrapped in black and red demonic energy. Her vision went dark, and a blood-red moon enveloped her like a cocoon.

The cold demonic energy pressed the Five-Colored Dew against her wrist, but her blood immediately transformed it into spiritual energy, dissipating it.

A voice pierced through the illusions, echoing in her spiritual consciousness. “Nie Yinzhi, Ah Yin, Ah Yin—”

At first, the voice didn’t capture Nie Yinzhi’s attention. She couldn’t quite remember who this noisy voice belonged to. Her mind was filled with thoughts of saving the world. The sky was falling because of her; the floods raged because of her. If she died…

The affectionate voice calling her “Ah Yin” persisted. Nie Yinzhi was torn between the overwhelming urge to sacrifice herself and the fragments of her own memories and thoughts that the voice helped her recover.

In a dimly lit room, dark red silk curtains billowed around her. Nie Yinzhi was held tightly, rising and falling with him, clutching at his half-removed robe. Her long black hair tangled in her fingers, and she pulled so hard that a few strands broke. He whispered in her ear, his voice husky, “Ah Yin, be gentle with me.”

Who should be gentle with whom!

Gu Jiang called out repeatedly, finally catching a response from her consciousness. “Ah Yin, wake up! Don’t let this false Heavenly Dao lead you astray.”

Nie Yinzhi’s consciousness flickered and then fell silent again.

Gu Jiang continued tirelessly, alternating between wrestling with the Heavenly Dao and calling out to her. “Ah Yin, wake up, Ah Yin—”

Nie Yinzhi belatedly realized that her entire body was bleeding. She had used her sword energy to rupture her own meridians. The cool demonic energy, carrying the Five-Colored Dew, wrapped around her again, continuously dissolving and reattaching, healing her wounds.

The Honghu was immobilized by an invisible force. In the pure white flame of her spiritual consciousness lay her primordial spirit, with a faint thread of dark red flickering at its core.

Nie Yinzhi heard the voice calling her again from the faint red light. Following this voice, she struggled free from the thought of "sacrificing herself to the demon" for a moment.

Her body briefly "remembered" those absurd and unrestrained days, the person who clung to her like a water ghost, laughing in her ear, "Ah Yinzhi, wake up, it's time to cultivate."

Cultivate? She didn’t want to cultivate at all. They said she was using him as a cauldron, but why did she feel like she was the one being drained? Otherwise, why did she feel like she was about to die on the bed?

This time, Nie Yinzhi's spiritual response was more intense. Gu Jiang caught her thoughts, paused for a moment, and couldn’t help but laugh.

He tried to recall what he had said during their dual cultivation, stimulating Nie Yinzhi's consciousness to wake up. "Ah Yinzhi, you said you would take good care of me."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Nie Yinzhi remembered something. He had been burned so badly that she had to do something to distract him. The curse mark on her wrist bound her, so she couldn’t touch the leaves—she could only touch him.

"Ah Yinzhi, Ah Yinzhi, is it here?"

Because of this question, Nie Yinzhi fell back into that awkward situation. She didn’t dare to look, wrapped in the blanket, feeling his tentative touch. She bit her lip and nodded.

Then she heard a sharp intake of breath, followed by a frustrated, "No, this will hurt you. Ah Yinzhi, turn on the damage transfer."

How could this kind of damage be transferred! Nie Yinzhi was both embarrassed and annoyed, almost wanting to bite him and call him a stupid demon lord. So stupid! There were so many manuals in the courtyard, why didn’t he ever look at them? Didn’t he even glance at the folding screen while bathing?

Did she really have to do it herself?

Demon lord? She finally remembered whose voice this was. Nie Yinzhi's emotions surged violently, and the voice in her ear became clearer. "Ah Yinzhi, Nie Yinzhi!"

Nie Yinzhi felt as if this shout had called her soul back. She suddenly woke up from that hazy state. "Gu Jiang?"

Gu Jiang sighed in relief. "Ah Yinzhi, no matter what you see, don’t be misled by it. Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs. In the face of the true Heavenly Dao, whether a person lives or dies is not that important."

The Heavenly Dao is the law that governs all things. It does not exist for the sake of the virtuous or the wicked. As long as it exists, it is reasonable, and it should not have any "emotions." But when the Heavenly Dao interfered with Nie Yinzhi's actions, he sensed its emotions.

No, it should be called a false Heavenly Dao, or something that could be referred to as "the plot."

Heavenly Dao (the plot): I’m trying to convince you to save the world, and you’re reminiscing about *that*??

Yin Yin: Offering myself to the demon counts as saving the world, right?

*"The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for the sake of the virtuous or the wicked" - Discourse on Heaven

"Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs" - Tao Te Ching