Transmigrating into the world of Jade Dynasty, I was targeted by the female lead in a reverse romanc

Jiang Xiaochuan's hand was still gripping Biyao's wrist tightly, so tightly that it made her wrist bones ache.

Biyao looked up, not struggling, but just staring at him, at the unfamiliar fear in his eyes, for a long time.

Then, she suddenly asked very softly:

"Jiang Xiaochuan."

"Um."

"Do you...like me?"

Jiang Xiaochuan froze. He seemed not to have heard clearly, or perhaps he had heard clearly but his mind hadn't processed it. He stared blankly at her for several breaths before suddenly letting go.

"I don't like you," he said, his voice dry and flat, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

Biyao blinked, not angry, but instead her lips curved upwards with a knowing, stubborn smile:

"You just like me. You care about me. Otherwise, what are you afraid of?"

Jiang Xiaochuan fell silent.

He released her wrist, turned his face away, and stared at the cold stone wall beside him. His Adam's apple bobbed, and after a few breaths, he turned back, his voice dry, as if trying to calm himself down.

Let me tell you a story.

Biyao looked at him, neither nodding nor shaking her head, but simply waiting quietly.

Jiang Xiaochuan leaned against the stone wall, his eyes fixed on the faint light from the cave ceiling, as if recalling something, or perhaps fabricating a story. His voice was soft, his pace even:

"Once upon a time, there was a simple-minded boy, of average talent and with a quiet personality. He joined the sect late and had low cultivation, so he was inconspicuous in the sect. Later, he went down the mountain to gain experience and met a girl. That girl was different from him; she was lively and vibrant, like a mountain stream, tinkling and noisy, making people's heads ache, yet... making people want to listen."

Biyao's eyelashes trembled.

"They've been through something together, and they're stuck in one place, just like we are now."

Jiang Xiaochuan paused, "That girl was from the Demonic Sect, and she and the silly boy were natural enemies. But somehow, in that isolated place, the two of them found food together, found their way together, talked together, and... survived the darkness together. The silly boy slowly realized that this girl wasn't actually that bad; she also had bitterness and fear in her heart, but she just wrapped it up with an arrogant demeanor."

"Later, they found a statue of a deity. It was the demon god that the girl worshipped. The girl knelt before the statue and prayed very devoutly. She asked the demon god to protect someone, to keep him safe, to keep him... well."

Jiang Xiaochuan's voice lowered, carrying a distant, bitter tone, "She probably doesn't know that the silly boy was watching from not far away. Watching her kneel on the cold ground, praying to her god for him, her 'enemy'."

Biyao's eyes widened slightly, and her fingers unconsciously curled up.

"Tell me," Jiang Xiaochuan suddenly turned his head, looking at Biyao with a somewhat empty yet sharp gaze, "what does that silly boy think? Should he be grateful? Should he feel guilty? Or should he... stay far away from her, lest he harm her?"

Biyao opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Jiang Xiaochuan seemed to suddenly realize something, and his eyes narrowed sharply! He stood up abruptly, his movement so sudden that it stirred up a gust of wind.

"Statue! Statue!"

Biyao was startled and asked, confused, "What statue?"

"Those two statues! The Holy Mother of the Underworld! The Heavenly King of Fiends!"

Jiang Xiaochuan spoke very quickly, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her outside without saying a word. "Come on! Let's go see!"

Biyao stumbled as he pulled her along, and the two of them passed through the stalactite cave and returned to the circular stone chamber where two huge stone statues were enshrined.

The stone chamber remained dim, with only the few extinguished incense sticks in front of the statue and a few scattered lights from the cave ceiling.

The two stone statues stood silently, one benevolent and the other ferocious, casting huge, silent shadows in the dim light.

Jiang Xiaochuan released Biyao and strode to the statue of the ferocious-looking, eight-armed, four-headed Heavenly Fiend King. He looked up and stared intently at it.

His gaze swept over every inch of the statue from top to bottom, like a brush, especially over its eight muscular arms that seemed poised to swing.

Biyao was bewildered by his sudden action, but she followed him and looked in the direction he was looking.

At first, it was just a casual glance, but as she looked, her brows gradually furrowed.

Not right.

Something's not right.

She took two steps back, her gaze shifting back and forth between the two statues of the Holy Mother of the Underworld and the Heavenly King of Fiends, comparing and pondering.

Legends of the Holy Church, the regulations of the temple, the form of the statues... countless details flashed and collided in her mind.

Suddenly, she shuddered! As if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, she froze on the spot, her eyes widening in shock!

A detail about the ancient legends and the form of the idols of the Holy Church that she had long overlooked suddenly pierced through all the fog like a spark that suddenly lit up the darkness!

Wait... this statue... is missing something!

She stared intently at the Heavenly Fiend King's thickest right hand, which was usually seen as a symbol of power!

The arm was muscular and brimming with unparalleled power, poised to swing, but... its hand was empty!

"The Heaven-Opening Axe..." Biyao's pupils suddenly contracted, and she almost cried out in surprise! She forcibly suppressed the overwhelming joy that rushed to her head, her whole body trembling slightly with excitement, and even her breathing became disordered.

Ancient legends of the Demonic Sect clearly record that the Holy Mother of the Underworld nurtures all living beings with compassion; while the Heavenly Fiend King holds the power to create heaven and earth and to punish and discipline, wielding a "giant axe that symbolizes supreme power and can split the chaos!"

In all later religious temples, whenever a statue of the Wisdom King was created, this axe that split the heavens was an indispensable symbol!

When the Blood Refining Hall built this Blood Cave Holy Land, it was absolutely impossible and unthinkable that such obvious "disrespect" and oversight would have occurred on such an important statue!

The axe was there originally! But then... it disappeared! Or perhaps, that was the key to the mechanism!

Having figured this out, Biyao's heart sank. She looked at her empty right hand, then at the perfectly intact statue of the Holy Mother of the Underworld beside her, and a thought uncontrollably popped into her head: If the axe was the key, then where was the axe now?

She turned her head sharply and looked at Jiang Xiaochuan.

Jiang Xiaochuan was also looking at her. Their eyes met, and they both saw the same guess in each other's eyes.

"That... dilapidated stone chamber?" Jiang Xiaochuan whispered.

Biyao took a deep breath and nodded: "Let's go take a look."

The two turned and quickly walked toward the tunnel leading to the other stone chamber.

As soon as she stepped into the stone chamber filled with broken ironware and covered in thick dust, Biyao's eyes quickly swept over the pile of rusty "junk".

The knives, spears, swords, halberds, whips, maces... most of them were made of ordinary iron and were already corroded beyond recognition. At the very top, there was a huge iron axe, which was completely black and heavily rusted, but it was one of the more intact pieces.

Biyao's heart skipped a beat. She strode forward, not caring about getting dirty, and reached out to grab the giant axe.

The axe was heavier than she had expected.

She pulled hard, and the axe only wobbled slightly, kicking up a shower of rust and dust that made her cough twice.

She used all her strength, gripping the axe handle with both hands, pushing off the ground with her feet, and straining her waist and abdomen. With a muffled groan, she managed to drag a small section of the giant axe out of the pile of rubble.

"Come help me quickly!" Biyao said urgently, her forehead already beaded with sweat.

Jiang Xiaochuan didn't have time to think and immediately stepped forward.

He walked to the opposite side of Biyao, and also grasped the axe handle. It was cold and heavy to the touch, and a strong, rusty smell carrying the scent of time wafted into his nostrils.

"One, two, three, go!"

The two of them pulled together and dragged the huge iron axe out of the pile of rubble, slamming it onto the ground.

The axe was enormous, almost half the height of Biyao herself. Its blade was wide and covered with thick rust, yet one could still feel its astonishing weight and a deep, ancient, fierce aura.

Biyao took a breath, looked at the giant axe on the ground, and then at Jiang Xiaochuan.

Jiang Xiaochuan understood, bent down, gripped the axe handle with both hands, gave a low shout, and with the power of his waist and legs, he managed to lift the heavy axe onto his shoulder all by himself.

The weight of the axe made his shoulder sag slightly, but that was all. He turned his head and gestured to Biyao, "Let's go."

Biyao quickly followed, and the two of them returned to the stone chamber where the statue of the god was enshrined.

Jiang Xiaochuan gently placed the giant axe on the ground in front of the statue of the Heavenly Fiend King, making a muffled "thud".

Biyao stepped forward, bowed respectfully to the statue, and whispered, "Your Majesty, please forgive my rudeness and offense to the statue."

Having said that, she took a deep breath and reached out to grasp the huge, cold axe handle.

First, I shook it up and down, but it didn't budge. Then I tried twisting it left and right, but still no response.

She frowned, increased the force in her hand, and instead of shaking the axe handle, she tried to push the entire axe towards the empty right arm of the statue.

She remained motionless, the stone chamber deathly silent except for the sound of her slightly rapid breathing.

"It shouldn't be like this..." Biyao muttered to herself, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead, her eyes filled with anxiety. "The legends and the design match up; the mechanism must be here..."

In her desperation, she disregarded everything else, bracing her hands against the sides of the axe and using all her strength, not to push the axe itself, but to try to move the axe along with the statue's thick stone arm!

Just then.

Jiang Xiaochuan, who had been watching intently, suddenly brightened up!

He saw that as Biyao pushed with all her might, the incredibly heavy stone right arm of the statue actually moved inward by a tiny, almost imperceptible creaking sound!

Although it was only a tiny fraction, in this deathly silence, under this intense gaze, it was like a thunderclap!

"Biyao!" Jiang Xiaochuan shouted excitedly, his voice trembling with excitement, "Not just the axe! It's about pulling the entire arm of the statue!"

Upon hearing this, Biyao was first taken aback, then suddenly realized!

She immediately released the axe, exchanged a glance with Jiang Xiaochuan, and the two of them stood on either side of the statue's empty right arm, their four hands simultaneously resting on the cold, rough stone arm.

"One, two, three, push!"

The two men shouted at the same time, channeling all their strength into their arms, tensing their waists and legs, and pushing off the ground with their feet, as they began to pull the incredibly heavy arm upwards!

"Crackling... crackling..."

A dull, teeth-grinding sound of rocks grinding together came from the joint between the arm and the statue's torso, echoing eerily in the empty stone chamber, sending chills down one's spine.

The statue's arm, which had been hanging naturally with an empty palm, began to be lifted upwards very slowly, inch by inch, by the two people working together!

The stone arms were cold and hard, rubbing against their palms and causing a burning pain, but neither of them cared. They just gritted their teeth and exerted all their strength.

The arm was raised higher and higher, forming an increasingly larger angle with the statue's torso. The crackling sound of friction grew louder and more frequent, as if the entire statue was resisting and awakening.

The moment the arm is raised to almost shoulder level.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A deafening, terrifying roar, as if the entire belly of Kongsang Mountain was about to be torn apart and crushed, suddenly erupted from the depths of the smooth and intact stone wall behind the statue without warning!

The sound was so loud and so violent that the entire stone chamber shook and trembled violently!

Large amounts of dust and gravel fell from above, making the ground seem to tremble!

Biyao felt her ears instantly filled with a terrifying sound wave, the pain was unbearable, her vision went black, she felt dizzy and painful, she covered her ears in agony, and her body swayed as if she were about to collapse!

At the same time, to the horror of the two, the huge stone wall behind the statue of the Heavenly Fiend King, which was originally a single, smooth, mirror-like structure, began to slowly, with an unstoppable and heavy momentum that could crush everything, split open to both sides from the middle seam!

The friction between the stone walls produced an even deeper and more terrifying roar, and rubble and dust poured down from the cracks like a waterfall!

A deep, dark, narrow passage made of rough, irregularly shaped stones suddenly appeared behind the slowly parting stone wall!

The passage slopes upwards, with uneven stone steps winding and twisting before disappearing into the bottomless darkness above, its destination unknown, only a musty, earthy wind wafting through the air.

The entire stone chamber shook even more violently!

Large chunks of stone began to fall from the top, crashing to the ground with loud "bangs" and filling the air with dust!

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surrounding stone walls and quickly expanded and spread!

"Run! This place is going to collapse!" Jiang Xiaochuan roared hoarsely, almost shouting himself hoarse!

He grabbed Biyao's wrist, who was still covering her ears in a daze, with such force that he almost crushed her bones!

The two of them could no longer care about anything else. Like two bowstrings stretched to their limit and suddenly released, or like two black lightning bolts being chased by death, they used all their strength to rush headlong into the narrow passage that had just opened and was still falling with gravel and dust!

The instant they rushed into the passage, a deafening, even more terrifying, collapse sounded behind them, as if millions of tons of boulders were crashing down at once! They could even feel the scorching, violent air currents and the sky-covering dust surging from behind them!

I dare not look back! I cannot look back! I can only run! Run upwards as fast as I can!

The passage was narrow and steep, and the stone steps underfoot were uneven, slippery, and covered with moss.

Gravel and dirt kept falling from above, hitting my head and shoulders, causing a sharp pain.

Behind them came the ever-approaching roar of a prehistoric beast, accompanied by billowing dust that choked the air.

Darkness, turbulence, falling, roaring, dust... all senses were in disarray, leaving only the instinct for survival and the wrist of another person tightly gripped in one's hand.

Run! Run upwards! Get out of this hell!

I don't know how long I ran, maybe only a few dozen breaths, maybe the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

My lungs were on fire, my throat tasted metallic, my legs felt like they were filled with lead, each lift was incredibly heavy, the darkness before me seemed endless, and only destruction was relentlessly closing in from behind.

Just as the two were about to collapse from exhaustion, a small, blurry point of light appeared without warning in the depths of eternal darkness ahead.

A point of light! It's light!

The will to survive erupted with their last strength! The two roared and scrambled, using both hands and feet, frantically rushing towards the point of light!

The light spot rapidly grew larger and brighter, from the size of a pinhead to a mung bean, to a fist, and finally...

"Splash!" "Splash!"

The two of them, one after the other, practically tumbled and stumbled as they rushed out of the cave entrance in a disheveled state!

The blinding sunlight, like millions of golden needles, relentlessly pierced their long-unseen pupils! The instantaneous pain and blankness made them scream, instinctively squeezing their eyes shut, tears streaming down their faces.

But what followed was warmth, a long-lost, real warmth, carrying the fragrance of grass and trees, a warmth belonging to "humanity," like a gentle tide, instantly enveloping their cold bodies and terrified hearts.

Fresh, sweet-smelling air rushed wildly into my burning lungs, bringing an almost dizzying sense of comfort. Beneath me was soft, damp earth, carrying the scent of grass, rather than cold, hard rock.

"BOOM—!!!"

Behind them, at the cave entrance, came a final, earth-shattering, terrifying roar, as if mountains were collapsing!

The earth trembled violently, and dust billowed into the sky, like a huge, grayish-yellow mushroom cloud that instantly obscured the sky!

Countless stones and dirt flew over their heads like a torrential rain, crashing onto the surrounding trees and grass with a crackling sound.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, the two trembled and struggled, barely managing to turn their heads back.

The cave entrance through which they escaped had been completely buried and sealed off by massive boulders and collapsed mountains, leaving only a jagged, fresh cliff and piles of rubble.

The belly of Kongsang Mountain, along with the eight hundred years of love and hate, bloody secrets, supreme martial arts techniques, and the withered bones and dripping blood cave hidden within, was buried forever and completely in this loud noise and billowing dust.