After nine lifetimes of reincarnation, the yandere villainous heroine descends.

Time seemed to stand still as the blinding white light tore through the sky, sweeping across the world like a tidal wave, swallowing up everything in sight.

The moment the white light dissipated like the receding tide, the three of them stopped breathing.

Fifth Qinghan was dressed in a black robe that was soaked with blood. Dark red marks meandered like eerie totems, spreading wildly across the black robe.

Her gaze involuntarily slid downwards, and Fifth Shu Shuang's heart was instantly gripped by an invisible hand.

Shen Shuchou lay quietly in that blood-stained embrace, his pale face lifeless, his eyes tightly closed.

"No! Impossible!"

Fifth Shu Shuang staggered backward, a broken roar escaping from his throat.

She shook her head in disbelief, her fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

With her current level of cultivation, she could clearly sense that the life force in that body had long since dissipated, leaving only an empty shell.

She could clearly sense the loss of life, and how could Fifth Qinghan, who was holding Shen Shuchou tightly in her arms, not notice this coldness?

His eyes, which had been brimming with fierce killing intent just moments before, were now completely empty abysses, as if all his emotions had vanished with the passing of the life in his arms.

She stood frozen in place, her fingertips gripping Shen Shuchou's clothes tightly, her gaze fixed on his bloodless face.

Her lips moved slightly, but not a sound came out of her throat.

A trembling hand slowly covered Shen Shuchou's heart.

She had done this gesture more than once, but this time there was no familiar throbbing in her palm.

Even her own heartbeat seemed to have been ripped away, plunging into a deathly silence.

In the distance, Xia Lingyi collapsed to the ground, struggling to get up, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, yet seemed to carry a chilling coldness, making her breath catch in her throat.

After an unknown amount of time, Fifth Qinghan finally slowly got up.

She held Shen Shuchou with such gentleness that it was as if she were handling a fragile treasure.

But from behind, it looked just like a child whose beloved possession had been taken away, staggering away into the distance.

"Qinghan...Brother Shen...he..."

Fifth Book Shuang regained a little clarity from her panic, her voice broken like a withered leaf in the wind.

However, before he could finish speaking, the demonic blade around Fifth Qinghan suddenly flipped, and the pitch-black blade light tore through the sky, turning day into eternal night.

"Sizzle—"

The sound of the blade slicing through flesh was as piercing as tearing silk.

When the overwhelming darkness receded like the tide, Fifth Qinghan had already vanished without a trace.

Xia Lingyi turned her gaze to Fifth Shushuang, only to see her standing there blankly.

A gruesome wound on his chest revealed tattered flesh and blood, and through the bleeding gaps, one could vaguely glimpse his still-beating heart.

This seemingly deadly blow was deliberately deflected by a hair's breadth just before it touched the heart.

"Hehehe... Hahaha... Waaaaah—"

Xia Lingyi suddenly chuckled softly.

At first, it was a low, suppressed undercurrent, but it quickly turned into a sharp, piercing laugh.

The laughter ripped through the silence for a moment, then abruptly twisted into a broken sob.

Amidst this sound that was both crying and laughing, Fifth Shushuang collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Blood was gushing from the gruesome wound on her chest, and life was quietly slipping away between her fingers, but she was completely unaware of it.

At this moment, only a mournful cry echoed repeatedly in the depths of her consciousness.

I killed Brother Shen!

If it weren't for her deadly sword strike that came from afar, Shen Shuchou wouldn't have ended up like this.

Just as Fifth Book Shuang was mired in despair, Xia Lingyi slowly approached, dragging her wounded body.

A frenzied hatred surged in the girl's tearful eyes. Her whispered laughter and sobbing weaved a tight net that completely shattered her reason.

One step, one step, and another.

Xia Lingyi's figure gradually enveloped the world of Fifth Book Double, her originally beautiful face now distorted to the point of being terrifying.

She had somehow managed to grip a sharp rock and suddenly slammed it down on Fifth Shu Shuang!

However, as a mortal, even if she tried her best, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree, and she could not cause any harm to the Fifth Shushuang, who possessed cultivation.

Fifth Shu Shuang let Xia Lingyi continue to smash her repeatedly like a madwoman.

Time lost its meaning in this one-sided outburst, until Xia Lingyi exhausted her last bit of strength and collapsed at her feet.

Even though she was so weak that her fingertips were trembling, the hatred in her eyes grew even stronger, like an inextinguishable raging fire: "Why, why did you come back?"

Fifth Book Shuang seemed not to hear, still immersed in her own world.

Xia Lingyi stared intently at the culprit who had killed Shen Shuchou, her voice hoarse as if sandpaper were being rubbed together: "You made Brother Shen suffer a fate worse than death, and now you..."

She paused, then spoke with a heart-wrenching lament: "Why wasn't it you who died? Why couldn't you all be buried forever in that snowstorm?"

"I killed Brother Shen..."

"It's me..."

"Yes... I... killed... Brother Shen..."

Fifth Shu Shuang finally spoke, seemingly in response to Xia Lingyi's hateful question.

Every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying endless pain and self-blame.

As she continued to ask herself questions, the tears in the corners of her eyes finally condensed into beads and fell down, as if the dam of her inner sorrow had burst open.

Looking at the Fifth Book Double in front of her, Xia Lingyi's hatred and killing intent reached their peak.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and then her gaze fell on the longsword lying to the side. Without hesitation, she grabbed the hilt and lifted it up with all her might.

The longsword felt exceptionally heavy in her hand, but hatred unleashed a power beyond human capabilities.

Immediately afterwards, she forcefully slashed down at Fifth Shu Shuang's neck.

Just at this critical moment, a "whoosh" sound suddenly came from beside my ears.

Immediately afterward, her hand jerked, and the long sword in her hand was knocked to the ground by a force, and her figure was also knocked to the ground.

This sudden turn of events left Xia Lingyi stunned.

Then a figure descended from the sky and landed between the two of them. Xia Lingyi looked up.

With just one glance, she recognized the person in front of her as none other than Shen Xuejian, the eldest daughter of the Shen family.

The moment Fifth Shushuang saw Fifth Qinghan, she sent a telepathic message to Shen Xuejian, who was far away at the Haoyue Sword Sect.

She knew she was no match for Fifth Qinghan, so she wanted to join forces with Shen Xuejian to stop her.

But what Wu Shushuang didn't expect was that before Shen Xuejian arrived, she had already destroyed the person who occupied her heart with a single sword strike.

Shen Xuejian frowned deeply as she looked at the situation. Upon hearing what had happened, she rushed over here.

She even used a sect's secret treasure to arrive at top speed, and as she arrived, a bad premonition began to grow in her heart.

That dull ache of loss became clearer as the distance between them grew.

Upon arriving here, they saw Xia Lingyi raising her sword, intending to kill Fifth Shushuang.

Although I don't understand why Xia Lingyi, a mere mortal, would attack Fifth Shushuang, and why she would use her own sword.

When she saw the blood-stained collar of Fifth Book's clothes and his unfocused eyes, her heart sank heavily, and an ominous premonition almost materialized.

But she still took out the jade bottle first and fed the life-extending pill into Fifth Book's mouth, while circulating her true energy to protect his heart meridian.

When she finally managed to stabilize that fragile glimmer of life, she suppressed her surging unease and asked in a hoarse voice, "What happened here? Where is Fifth Qinghan? And... where is my brother, Shen Shuchou?"

The Fifth Book's unfocused gaze gradually focused under the effects of the elixir, yet he remained immersed in some immense pain, ignoring the questions posed to him.

Shen Xuejian's alarm bells rang loudly. Just as a terrible guess surfaced in her mind, a broken sob suddenly sounded behind her.

"Brother Shen is dead!"

Xia Lingyi's voice was trembling with tears.

Shen Xuejian turned around abruptly and met the other person's reddened eyes.

Xia Lingyi trembled all over, and continued to utter even more suffocating words: "She was taken away by Fifth Qinghan..."

An unbelievable tremor shot from the soles of her feet up her spine. Shen Xuejian shook her head repeatedly, her throat just about to deny it.

But the thought of Fifth Shu Shuang's blank expression made her realize with horror that it might actually be true.

Just then, Xia Lingyi slowly raised her hand and pointed at Fifth Shushuang, a twisted smile appearing on her lips: "It was her! She killed Brother Shen with her own hands!"