After Constantly Courting Death, I Became the White Moonlight - Chapter 25

After sending the messenger spirit dove into the skies, Meng Jiaqi stood there in silence for a moment, quietly mourning her unfortunate colleague Qin Chuan. Then, with a face full of weariness and sorrow, she made her way back to where Ning Ning and He Zhizhou were waiting.

They had traveled far and wide to get to Jialan City, and now that they were inside, hidden dangers lurked around every corner. The last thing they should do was charge ahead blindly like hotheaded fools. The top priority was to fill their stomachs.

Meng Jiaqi had stepped away for a bit with the excuse of needing a moment to herself. When she returned, the scent of roasted sweet potatoes and grilled meat was already hanging thick in the air.

The sweet potatoes had a rich, sugary fragrance, while the meat—skewered on wooden sticks by Ning Ning—carried a savory, smoky aroma that made her heart stir and her mouth water despite her exhaustion.

“Do cultivators need to eat too?”
Meng Jiaqi, perfectly playing the part of an innocent girl, stepped forward and asked curiously, “I’ve heard that disciples of the immortal sects live off spiritual energy and don’t partake in mortal food.”

“Fasting? Yeah, we did that sometimes back in the Xuanxu Sect,” He Zhizhou said while peeling the scalding hot sweet potato, hissing softly from the heat. At her question, he looked up at her sharply. “But that’s only because the food at the dining hall was overpriced and awful! Now that we’ve finally come down the mountain, who could resist the temptation of good food? To hell with spiritual energy—there’s nothing better than the joy of taste!”

To hell… with spiritual energy?

Yep. Not normal.

Cultivators were known to do whatever it took to ascend to immortality—seizing treasures, refusing mortal pleasures, and some even castrated themselves. But this guy tossed spiritual energy aside like it was trash and openly praised earthly pleasures. He stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Meng-guniang, this meat’s for you.”
Ning Ning handed her a skewer. “We left in a hurry and didn’t bring many supplies. There’s not a lot, I hope you don’t mind.”

Meng Jiaqi, still deep in character, smiled in surprise and gratitude. “Thank you! The fact that you saved me from that villain is already a debt I could never repay.”

She took the meat skewer and, like a proper gentlewoman, took a delicate bite.

Ning Ning hadn’t lied—their meat supply really was limited. The skewer was thin, the meat small and light. But after being grilled over the fire, its natural fat released a rich fragrance that exploded on the tongue. The taste wasn’t bad at all.

As she chewed, Ning Ning asked, “Meng-guniang, how is it? Tasty?”

She replied honestly, “Surprisingly good. What kind of meat is this? The texture is quite… unique.”

The moment those words left her lips, Ning Ning’s eyes curved slightly as she smiled at her.

Something about that smile sent a chill down Meng Jiaqi’s spine.

She had a bad feeling.

Before she could mentally prepare herself, the seemingly sweet and harmless girl let out a soft giggle.

Then, in a voice that sounded like the devil whispering in her ear, Ning Ning said gently:
“It’s bird meat. Judging by how it looked before roasting, I think it was a dove?”

Bird meat.
Dove.

Meng Jiaqi’s heart skipped a beat.

—Wasn’t that the spirit dove she’d just released earlier?!

Spirit dove, you died so… so appetizingly. No, so cruelly!!!

He Zhizhou, still obsessed with peeling his roasted sweet potato, chimed in, “Yeah, that bird was snow white and just swooped right over my head. If it’s edible, that’s all that matters. Who cares what it was—didn’t Meng-guniang say it tasted great too?”

Meng Jiaqi looked down at the half-eaten skewer in her hand.

Her smile froze on her face.

She knew—she was never going to be okay again.

However, Ning Ning didn’t seem to notice the shift in Meng Jiaqi’s expression. Her eyes were still wide with sincerity as she added, “We even found a note tied to its leg. It was covered in tiny, densely packed characters—I’m guessing it was a message being passed between the monsters in this city. Unfortunately, the writing wasn’t in any known language, so we couldn’t decipher its meaning.”

Meng Jiaqi let out a rare sigh of relief.

The demons in Jialan City had developed their own writing system—completely unintelligible to ordinary humans. If these two had actually understood what that message said, she’d be in serious trouble.

“We originally came down from the mountain thinking it was some reckless demon draining the life force of the townsfolk and fleeing here to hide,” Ning Ning continued thoughtfully. “But based on my observations, the script on that message was identical to the writing on the stone tablets scattered around the city. That suggests it was written by the city’s surviving inhabitants. Combined with the appearance of a messenger dove…”

She paused, then said slowly, “That means there’s more than one monster hiding here. And it’s very likely they’re connected to this ancient, long-lost city.”

She was right.

Meng Jiaqi had originally thought this girl was just a scatter-brained airhead, but hearing her analysis made her heart skip a beat. She gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, silently holding her breath.

Then she heard Ning Ning’s voice again:
“Meng-guniang, you mentioned you grew up in a nearby city. Have you ever heard any legends about Jialan City?”

“…I’ve heard my father mention it before,” Meng Jiaqi replied carefully, as if walking on a tightrope. She had no choice now but to see the act through to the end. “It’s said the city once flourished, a paradise for the demon race. But no one knows why—one day, a great flood came and submerged everything.”

“A flood from the heavens?” He Zhizhou asked curiously. “Why?”

For the briefest moment, hatred flickered in Meng Jiaqi’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a sweet, ingratiating smile. “How could I possibly know what happened over three hundred years ago? I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

“I heard that the young city lord back then was stunningly handsome and incredibly gifted—one of the most talented among demon cultivators,” Ning Ning chimed in, her tone lightly gossipy. “It’s a shame someone like that was buried beneath the lake… but thinking about it, if anyone could’ve created a barrier strong enough to withstand the flood, it had to be him, right?”

He Zhizhou looked up at the massive barrier overhead. Water shimmered like liquid jade above them, with fish occasionally swimming past on the other side, casting ripples of light that stirred the heart.

The lake outside the barrier glowed with faint luminescence, just like the mist that hung inside. He was entranced by the sight and couldn’t help murmuring, “To hold back such a powerful flood… the spiritual energy that must’ve taken… Could he really have endured it?”

“Who knows,” Ning Ning replied softly.

She stood up, gazing into the distance at the towering jade palaces in the west.

The original novel had only vaguely mentioned that the young city lord of Jialan exhausted all of his cultivation to stop the flood. But where the flood had come from, and what ultimately became of the city—those details were never revealed.

All it offered was a barebones plot: the male lead, Pei Ji, fought his way through wave after wave of danger before finally killing the treacherous elder at the heart of the city. As for the young city lord, who had been foreshadowed for so long—he never even appeared.

A story with no beginning and no end. Suspiciously strange.

And more importantly…
Ever since the incident in the Ancient Forest Sea, Ning Ning couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the original storyline.

It was as if there were truths hidden just beneath the surface—things she couldn’t see or touch, carefully concealed, deliberately kept from her.

That was also when she began, for the very first time, to truly wonder.
What was the system’s real reason for assigning her the role of the “villainous cannon fodder”?

But no matter how much she thought, she couldn’t figure it out.

“The man who captured you before we arrived said we should head west,” Ning Ning said, picking up the Star Scar Sword with a light smile, her eyes no longer clouded with doubt. “If we keep going all the way to the end… we’re bound to find something.”

…

Almost there.
A shadow flickered deep in Meng Jiaqi’s eyes, and the corners of her lips curled ever so slightly in a near-invisible smirk.

The Elders had deliberately assigned her to play the role of an undercover agent—of course they had an ulterior motive. Her true task was to lead these cultivators straight into the jaws of death.

Ever since the residents of Jialan City had begun to awaken, countless deadly formations had been set up throughout the city to prevent outsiders from intruding. The one they were approaching now… was among the most dangerous of them all.

The Tenfold Killing Array.

As the name suggested, it first trapped intruders inside using illusionary techniques and mirage spells, preventing them from ever escaping. Within the array, danger lurked at every turn—take one wrong step, and you’d meet a fate too cruel for the average person to even imagine.

A rare smile spread across Meng Jiaqi’s face.

All she had to do was lure these two into the array and point them down a false path. Once they veered off in the wrong direction, she could slip away unnoticed and vanish into thin air—

No one would realize exactly when a woman walking at the rear of the group had gone missing.

The Tenfold Killing Array… they were almost there.

“How strange… why is it suddenly foggy here?” He Zhizhou frowned, lifting his head and sniffing the air. “And what’s that smell… incense? Or some kind of sedative?”

Ning Ning held her breath and glanced around warily.

Pale mist crept in from every direction, as though a horde of formless ghosts was silently slithering out from cracks in the walls and crevices in the ground. The shadows of houses and trees merged with the thick fog, dark and oppressive, lending the scene an eerie, bone-chilling atmosphere.

A strange, indistinct scent lingered at the tip of her nose. She dared not inhale deeply and instead focused her full attention on the shifting surroundings.

“W-what is this?!”

Meng Jiaqi gave a deliberately panicked cry and threw herself at He Zhizhou, clinging to his arm.

He was caught completely off guard by her sudden lunge and froze, eyes bulging as though possessed. Mistaking her for a ghost clinging to him, he let out a scream even louder than hers, then flailed and shoved her away with all his strength.

Meng Jiaqi flew through the air like a ping pong ball and landed hard on the ground with a thud.

“S-sorry! I’m so sorry!” He Zhizhou’s face flushed with embarrassment. He rushed forward and grabbed her hand to help her up—but just as he did, Meng Jiaqi let out a sharp scream: “Don’t! My arm! It’s dislocated—ahhh!”

He froze in terror, not daring to move another inch.

Meng Jiaqi trembled with fury. She wanted nothing more than to slice these two idiots into a thousand pieces on the spot. But for the sake of the mission, she forced a strained smile and swallowed her rage. “It’s… fine.”

—Fine, your head! It hurt like hell!

In her mind, the playbook of “How to Be a Proper Undercover Agent” had already been replaced by “Top Ten Techniques for Roasting Scumbags Over an Open Fire.” She was seriously contemplating how best to marinate these two until the flavor really sank in.

They had already stepped into the array, and she alone knew which path led to certain death. All that remained was to coax these fools into walking it—and everything would be done.

Meng Jiaqi was just about to open her mouth when—

Ning Ning’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she called out softly, “Pei Ji!”

…Pei Ji?

Who the hell was Pei Ji?

Meng Jiaqi looked up in confusion—only to lock eyes with a pair of pitch-black irises as cold as obsidian.

Compared to Ning Ning and He Zhizhou, Pei Ji’s condition was far worse.

His sword was already unsheathed, its crimson blade dripping blood. The liquid trickled down the edge in slow, steady rivulets, pooling on the ground below. His face and hands were splattered with blood that had long dried into dark red stains. Against his pale, gaunt face, the marks gave him an even more dangerous, sinister edge.

He stood like a gust of wind steeped in blood.

Like a lone wolf who had just clawed his way out of a vicious battle.

He definitely didn’t look like a righteous disciple with a noble heart and clear conscience—more like someone drenched in murderous intent.

The boy referred to as Pei Ji stiffened the moment he laid eyes on Meng Jiaqi. The sword in his hand let out a low hum, resonating with his sudden surge of killing intent.

In that instant, Meng Jiaqi felt a chill run down her spine.

An unmistakable killing aura.

“W-wait! Don’t do anything rash!”

Ning Ning quickly realized that Pei Ji had seen through Meng Jiaqi and sent him a secret voice transmission. Her tone was urgent as she gave him a quick summary of Meng Jiaqi’s identity and intentions. She ended with a concise warning: “She’s the only one who knows the way out of this formation. If we want to leave, we have to keep her alive.”

After sending the message, Ning Ning cleared her throat and tugged lightly on Meng Jiaqi’s sleeve. “Miss Meng, this is my junior martial brother, Pei Ji. Little junior brother, this is Miss Meng Jiaqi—she’s a local from one of the nearby towns who accidentally wandered in here. Since we’re able, we should lend a hand. By the way… why are you covered in blood?”

As she said that, her thoughts couldn’t help but wonder: This is weird… why would she run into Pei Ji here? Was this place ever mentioned in the original storyline?

What’s more, Pei Ji’s current appearance looked nothing like how she remembered him from the novel. He was supposed to have cleared this area unscathed—not end up drenched in blood.

“This is the Tenfold Killing Array,” Pei Ji said coldly.

The vicious glint in his eyes dimmed slightly, his voice calm but heavy. “There are killing traps hidden in every direction. Almost every path is laced with hidden weapons, puppets, illusions, and vengeful beast remnants. To escape, we either break the formation—or take the other route.”

No way…

Meng Jiaqi’s heart skipped a beat.

Surely no one would actually try that second option… right?

She gave Pei Ji a complicated look.

His black robe concealed much of the blood, but the gashes on his cheek and arm told a story of brutal combat. He had clearly fought his way through hell just to get here.

Then came the boy’s icy voice again, sending a chill straight through her bones.

“We kill to stop the killing. Break the formation through bloodshed. Slaughter every threat within the Tenfold Killing Array—and we’ll be free.”

Kill to stop the killing?

You gloss over a death trap like that with just two words?

And worse, he was actually doing it.

Meng Jiaqi cursed in her heart.

All right, so far she’d met three people from the Xuanxu Sword Sect:

One idiot.
One liar.
And now… a full-blown maniac.

Kill to stop the killing, kill to break the formation?

Even demonic cultivators didn’t talk like this!

Did he even know what the Tenfold Killing Array was? Every step was a trap, every direction filled with lethal intent. And this lunatic wanted to tell the formation that he was the one surrounding it?!

Sword cultivators… truly are full of surprises.

Meng Jiaqi stood there in stunned silence, while Ning Ning frowned and took a few steps closer to Pei Ji, pressing a handkerchief into his hand.

“Wipe off the blood. What are you trying to do, take on ten enemies by yourself? You think you’re invincible? What if something went wrong, huh? There’s not even anyone around here to back you up—”

She paused, then added with a stern face, “It’s not like I’m worried about you. I just know that if anything happens to you, Shizun will definitely yell at me.”

Pei Ji averted his gaze, unwilling to look at her. He had intended to take the handkerchief, but when his fingers brushed against it, he felt the stickiness of fresh blood.

—He had fought his way through the killing array with everything he had. His palm was already soaked in blood.

He’d always been the straightforward type—decisive when drawing his sword, unflinching when slaying demons. Yet for some reason, in this very moment, hesitation flickered in his heart. His fingertips twitched slightly before pressing down on the thin black fabric.

Ning Ning noticed his pause and instinctively glanced down at Pei Ji’s free left hand—only to catch him quietly wiping his fingers, trying to be discreet.

She couldn’t hold it in and burst into laughter.

“That handkerchief was meant for wiping blood. What’s with all the hesitation?”

She hadn’t expected him to be this particular. With an exaggerated sigh, she lifted the handkerchief and wiped a smear of blood from the side of his face without ceremony.

Bright crimson stained the pristine white cloth. The young man’s breath hitched, long lashes trembling slightly.

“See? It’s got blood on it now,” she said matter-of-factly.

Looking at the mess she’d made of his face—he now looked like a smudged cat—Ning Ning grabbed his left hand, stuffed the handkerchief into it, and ordered, “Wipe it yourself.”

Meng Jiaqi finally opened her mouth, her voice low and cautious, “Th-there’s no need to go as far as breaking the formation with bloodshed.”

This newly arrived boy looked like a rabid dog—if they let him run wild, who knows, he might just stumble into the real exit by accident.

So she decided to strike first and eliminate any risk. Calmly, she said, “I studied Qimen Dunjia and Feng Shui under my grandfather. I can handle a few formations… I’ve taken a look. This array has only one exit.”

She pointed toward a narrow, unremarkable alley, her tone confident. “It’s there.”

He Zhizhou frowned slightly. “You’re sure?”

“If I’m wrong,” Meng Jiaqi said quickly, “we can always try Pei-gongzi’s method—charging through and cutting down everything in sight. We’ll escape the array either way.”

Her words were smooth and sure. “The three of you are all elite disciples of your sects. Surely you won’t be tripped up by a few traps and monsters?”

Good. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the fish to take the bait.

Disciples of righteous sects were always full of pride—just a little provocation, and they’d rush headlong into danger. What’s more, they currently had no other choice. They had to believe her lie.

Once they moved out, she’d quietly slip away at the back. With no one watching her… they’d all die without even knowing how.

“…Doesn’t seem like we have any better options,” Ning Ning said, glancing around.

The fog was thickening fast, and the wind howled eerily, laced with the heavy growls of beasts in the shadows. The longer they stayed, the worse it would get.

Meng Jiaqi suppressed a laugh and nodded.

Ning Ning smiled sweetly. “Then we’ll trouble Miss Meng to take the lead.”

Meng Jiaqi: “?”

Meng Jiaqi: “???”

Wait, what the hell did she just say?

She was supposed to take the lead? If she went first, how was she supposed to sneak away like she planned? They were disciples of the esteemed Xuanxu Sword Sect, and they wanted her, a regular girl, to walk in front as a meat shield?!

That was completely against the script!

Meng Jiaqi bit her lip and tried to act pitiful. “But… going first is dangerous. I-I’m scared…”

Ning Ning replied naturally, “Exactly. That’s why we’re right behind you—so we can protect you.”

“…That doesn’t sound very proper…”

Meng Jiaqi smiled awkwardly. “This Tenfold Killing Array is full of deadly traps. If I go first and run into a monster… what then?”

The moment she finished speaking, a cold clang echoed beside her—the sound of a sword being sheathed.

The black-clad youth looked at her with a faint smirk. The teardrop-shaped birthmark beneath his eye had taken on a blood-tinged hue, making his gaze look downright lethal. “You’re under our control now, miss. I’m afraid you don’t get to bargain.”

Meng Jiaqi: “…”

Right. She forgot about this little demon.

Ning Ning was a smiling fox—impossible to read, always hiding knives behind her sweet words. But he was nothing like her.

Pei Ji was cruel without disguise, his menace loud and clear. His eyes practically screamed “I’m a terrible person.”

—But you’re not a demon cultivator or a rogue, are you?! You’re a disciple of a righteous sect!

Is this how “righteous” people act?!

Ning Ning gave her fellow disciple a look and sighed. “Junior Brother, don’t scare Miss Meng. She’s just a helpless girl who’s been stuck here too long. Let me comfort her. I’m sure she’ll understand we mean well.”

Pei Ji met her gaze, expression icy. “If she remains stubborn, there’s no use keeping her alive.”

Meng Jiaqi’s mouth twitched.

Oh, so now they were doing a good-cop, bad-cop routine?! How charming. Truly, siblings in spirit, cut from the same cloth!

Heaven knows how many times Meng Jiaqi had imagined her own dramatic exit as a spy. She envisioned herself disappearing with flair, leaving these cultivators outraged and humiliated after realizing they’d been played.

But reality? Reality was three Golden Core cultivators shamelessly bullying a helpless girl, forcing her to act as bait.

So tell her—who’s really the villain here?!

Seeing the way Meng Jiaqi’s face turned from pale to green to blue, Ning Ning instantly understood—this alley was a dead end.

That was precisely why she’d kept Meng Jiaqi close.

Among the four of them, only she truly knew every inch of Jialan City. When faced with this kind of deadly formation, there was no way Meng Jiaqi would walk into a trap herself. If they kept the pressure on, she’d eventually be forced to reveal the real exit.

“Don’t worry, Miss Meng. I already thought of a backup plan for you.”

In her mind, Ning Ning marked a giant “X” on that alleyway. With a gentle voice, she said, “If something dangerous does appear, you can always hide in a dark corner, fix your clothes, and lie down quietly. That way—”

Meng Jiaqi was already losing her mind. Barely holding it together, she cut in, “That way… the monster will think I’m dead? But no one’s going to fall for such a trick, right?”

“Who said it was a trick?”

Ning Ning looked her dead in the eyes, her voice full of sincere concern. “I meant, if you really do die that way, your body won’t rot or stink as quickly. You’ll still look somewhat presentable. We girls should always keep our beauty in mind.”

Meng Jiaqi: “…”

Her face twisted into a pained grimace.

A tragic, twisted grimace.

She finally understood. These sword cultivators? Not a single word from their mouths could be trusted.

What on earth had she done in her past life to deserve being surrounded by this group of deranged lunatics?!

She was exhausted—physically, mentally, and spiritually. All she wanted now was to scream:

GET! LOST! ALL OF YOU!

But what could she do?

A brain-dead fool, a two-faced fox, and a murderous devil all had her cornered.

She could only take a deep breath and force a trembling smile. “Miss Ning… are beautiful women always this cruel? How could such inhumane words come from such a lovely face?!”