Chapter 18: Just Replace It If It Dies

The Pill Furnace was on the verge of successfully producing a hundred pills, but due to the tenfold increase in medicinal ingredients, the simple Alchemy Furnace was filled with compressed, powerful Spiritual Power, while the raging Spiritual Fire was furiously baking it from the outside.

Eventually, it couldn't bear the strain any longer, and the pills turned to mush on the edge of an explosion.

As soon as Lu Xingyan noticed that something was amiss and anticipated an explosion, he didn't even think twice before abandoning his Immortal's Cave and fleeing.

Only after he had run a good distance did he realize that his new neighbor might be affected by the disaster.

But it was all too late.

When Lu Xingyan returned to his Immortal's Cave, he used Wind Spiritual Power to blow away the choking black smoke and, standing amid the ruins of Yuezheng Yan's cave, he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Junior brother? Can you hear me? Are you alright?" Lu Xingyan shouted loudly while using his Spiritual Power.

When the Pill Furnace exploded and destroyed the cave, Yuezheng Yan was unable to flee because of the Marrow Cleansing.

Fortunately, his cave was separated from Lu Xingyan's by one room. Although it had collapsed, a triangular corner near the carved stone bed still had some space undestroyed, allowing him to squat there.

At this moment, Lu Xingyan was standing on his... no, not really, Lu Xingyan was standing on the rubble trapping him, and within a fifty-meter range, Yuezheng Yan heard her Heart's Voice dialogue again.

[Old Sixth, if the antagonist dies accidentally, can we switch to another antagonist in this situation?]

[Logically, if we're bound to the antagonist and they die, we cannot be reassigned.]

[But since Yuezheng Yan has been buried alive and there's no response when you call him, plus his Cultivation Level is low, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he's already dead, while I'm still alive and kicking. Maybe if the antagonist dies accidentally, we really can get a replacement?]

Yuezheng Yan, who was about to respond to Lu Xingyan's calls, couldn't help but laugh in anger upon hearing these words.

After hearing so many Heart's Voices, he had finally understood that the life and death of that Old Sixth's Contracted Beast was tied to his Blackening value.

Therefore, Lu Xingyan's kindness toward him was all to lower his Blackening value to earn Points and exchange them for the things she wanted.

When it came down to it, it was all just using him.

But unlike those he had met in his previous life, Lu Xingyan, in order to lower his Blackening value, would not harm him.

Glancing around at the darkness, surrounded by collapsed pillars of the Immortal's Cave, Yuezheng Yan fell into deep thought.

He began to doubt the authenticity of Lu Xingyan's Heart's Voice he had been hearing.

Was he sure that she came to lower his Blackening value and wouldn't harm him?

She had buried him alive!

Ever since becoming the Demon Lord, apart from being struck to death by a baffling Heavenly Thunder and reborn, Yuezheng Yan had never suffered such indignity.

Curled up in a collapsed corner, he listened to Lu Xingyan's shouts above and chose to remain silent and not answer.

Since he wasn't going to die any time soon, he wanted to listen to what else Lu Xingyan and Old Sixth's Contracted Beast could possibly say.

[Host, I just asked headquarters whether we can replace the antagonist if they die accidentally.]

[Headquarters said it's possible to replace them.]

[Ah? Is it possible to change?] Lu Xingyan stopped moving the rocks she was using to rescue Yuezheng Yan.

At this moment, her emotions were caught between guilt and surprise.

The guilt stemmed from her own Alchemy mistake, which had led to Yuezheng Yan's misfortune.

In her original world, she was a cold person, and after living for ten years in the cultivation world, including three years spent traveling with Xiao Qingge, experiencing life and death had made her even more indifferent to life than before her transference.

But whether Yuezheng Yan was an antagonist or not, and regardless of whether or not she cared about his life, at least according to Yuezheng Yan's behavior, she did not dislike him, even though she knew he was acting.

The surprise was that she wasn't bound to die along with Yuezheng Yan as the system had initially stated. If Yuezheng Yan were to die accidentally, she could still be assigned a new target.

Hearing this dialogue between them, Yuezheng Yan shivered with cold and anger in the corner.

Indeed, one should never have expectations of others.

Hadn't he already suffered enough in his previous life?

Every approach had an ulterior motive; as soon as he was of no more use, he would be directly discarded.