Chapter 2: Want to Save Her? Then Sign This Contract of Servitude!

Qinghe City, Bai Yue’s Residence.

Half an incense stick’s time later.

A clatter of hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

“Miss, Su Qingyan is here.”

The servant’s voice came from beyond the door.

“Enter.”

Bai Yue uttered a single, indifferent word.

The wooden door was pushed open.

A disheveled, mud-splattered young woman stumbled inside.

Bai Yue looked up.

The girl had faintly shimmering cyan eyes, her plain blue robes fluttering, her long, pale sleeves hanging like falling clouds.

Her slender waist was cinched beneath soft fabric and a vermilion sash.

But now, her hair was matted against her cheeks, half of her vermilion sash had torn away, hanging loosely by her leg.

Her forehead was swollen badly, the oozing blood already forming dark, crusted scabs.

In those cyan eyes was the desperate gamble of one who had nothing left to lose.

Su Qingyan dropped to her knees on the bluestone floor with a dull thud.

Ignoring the pain, not daring to meet Bai Yue’s gaze, she pleaded.

“I beg of you, Immortal Bai, please save Yueluo!”

Her voice was hoarse, thick with tears, as if her vocal cords had been scraped raw.

“As long as you are willing to help, Qingyan will do anything!”

With that, she bent over and knocked her head heavily on the ground, the sound of her forehead striking the bluestone making one’s teeth ache.

Bai Yue sat in the master’s chair, quietly watching the girl on the floor.

She did not speak immediately.

The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

Only Su Qingyan’s rough, ragged breathing could be heard.

「So this is the Heaven’s Chosen Maiden’s childhood sweetheart.」

Bai Yue assessed her silently.

「So pathetic.

She’s practically throwing her life away to save the protagonist.」

She didn’t agree right away.

The original owner’s persona was cold, arrogant, and mercenary.

If she agreed too readily, it would arouse suspicion.

It might even trigger some hidden mechanism of the system, and getting struck by heavenly lightning was no joke.

Seconds ticked by, one after another.

Su Qingyan lay prostrate on the ground, her body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

“Immortal Bai, if you are willing to help, if you will grant this humble girl’s plea, I will forget everything from my past and serve you with all my heart, becoming your s*ave.”

Seeing Bai Yue unmoved, Su Qingyan grew more frantic and anxious.

Xiao Yueluo was still locked in the Xiao family dungeon; every day that passed brought her closer to being sent to the City Lord’s mansion.

So she could only humble herself even further.

At this, Bai Yue slowly picked up the spirit tea on the side table, gently blowing on the floating leaves.

She took a deliberate, careful sip.

The lid clinked against the bowl, a crisp sound of porcelain striking porcelain.

In the dead silence of the room, it was extraordinarily clear.

Su Qingyan lay on the floor, her body trembling slightly.

Every second of waiting was an act of torture for her.

She had come to beg Bai Yue only because the original owner had once praised Xiao Yueluo’s talent and had even invited her to join her sect.

But this was her last hope.

“I have heard a little about the Xiao family’s situation.”

Bai Yue finally spoke.

Her voice remained cold, devoid of any emotion.

“Xiao Yueluo’s spiritual roots are withered; she is now a cripple.

The Xiao family is marrying her off to the City Lord’s son in exchange for their protection. You could say they are making the best use of her.”

She set down her teacup, her gaze falling like a blade upon Su Qingyan.

“You are an outsider, yet you come to my residence making a scene.

What makes you think I would offend the City Lord of Qinghe City for the sake of a cripple?”

Su Qingyan jerked her head up.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, bloodshot.

“Yueluo is not a cripple!”

She gritted her teeth, each word a struggle.

“She’s just hit a rough patch! She was the most brilliant prodigy in Qinghe City!

She will get better!”

Her hands pressed flat on the floor, her nails nearly gouging into the bluestone.

“The City Lord’s son is a fool, and a sadist! If Yueluo marries him, he’ll torture her to death!”

Tears spilled from her eyes, mixing with the mud on her face and splashing to the ground.

“Immortal Bai, I beg you!”

Su Qingyan knocked her head to the floor again.

“Just save her, and I’ll do anything! My life, everything I have—you can take it all!”

The freshly scabbed wound on her forehead split open again, blood streaming down the bridge of her nose and dripping onto the bluestone.

Bai Yue stared at the bloodstains on the floor.

「This foolish girl.」

She sighed inwardly.

「The system wants me to tear you apart, but I’m going to weld you two together.」

But on the surface, she maintained her icy, aloof demeanor.

“Your life?”

Bai Yue let out a cold laugh, dripping with contempt.

“You’re just a mortal.

What is your life even worth?”

Su Qingyan froze.

Her mouth hung open, but no sound came out.

She was just an ordinary person without spiritual roots.

In the eyes of these lofty cultivators, she was less than an ant.

Despair engulfed her in an instant.

“However…”

Bai Yue’s tone shifted.

A spark of light blazed to life in Su Qingyan’s dimming eyes.

She stared intently at Bai Yue, her breath catching in her throat.

Bai Yue rose to her feet.

Her moon-white Daoist robe swept an arc across the floor.

She walked over to Su Qingyan and looked down at her from on high.

Then she extended two pale, slender fingers, roughly seizing Su Qingyan’s chin and forcing her head up.

“You say you’re willing to give everything. Very well, then. This lady will give you a chance.”

Forced to look up, Su Qingyan felt the sharp pain in her jaw, and tears nearly burst from her eyes. But she bit her lip hard, refusing to let them fall.

Bai Yue turned and walked slowly back to the master’s chair, then swept her long sleeve in a grand gesture.

Whoosh—

A scroll emanating a faint golden light materialized out of thin air, hovering before Su Qingyan.

“This is the [Soul-Seizing Life-Death Contract].”

Bai Yue’s voice was bone-chilling, devoid of any warmth.

“You want me to save Xiao Yueluo?

Fine.

But on one condition: you will sell me your soul, your body, your very mind—your past and your future—all of it!”

“Sign it, and from this day forth, you will be nothing but a dog by my side, the lowliest of slaves!”

“Your life and death will be mine to command; your will, mine to dominate! If I tell you to go east, you cannot go west; if I tell you to kill, you cannot save!”

Su Qingyan stared blankly at the golden scroll before her, her pupils contracting violently.

Ding! Detected host is pressuring the target to sign a s*ave contract, attempting to forcibly sever the Heaven’s Chosen Maiden’s bond through both physical and psychological means!

Analyzing behavioral logic…

Judgment successful! This action conforms to the behavioral standards of a malicious female villain!

Current NTR Quest Progress: 50%!

Well done, host! Please continue to maintain your despicable and ruthless nature!

The system’s “commendatory” notification chimed in her mind.

Bai Yue let out a long, silent sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from her brow internally.

「Phew… seems like it worked! This artificial idiot really only looks at surface actions, not the underlying logic!」

「System, oh system, you think I’m trying to steal the Heaven’s Chosen Maiden’s wife? Wrong! I’m bringing her wife into the Du Xian Sect’s fold! That way, these two can see each other every single day again!」

「This move of mine—call it a roundabout rescue! Reverse Pure Love!」

But in reality, Bai Yue maintained her haughty expression, coldly looking down at Su Qingyan.

“What’s wrong? Hesitating?”

She let out a contemptuous snort, a trace of mockery flashing in her eyes.

“Weren’t you just swearing you’d do anything?

So your feelings for Xiao Yueluo are nothing more than that.”

“If that’s the case, then get out.

And while you’re at it, prepare a coffin and wait outside the City Lord’s mansion for your poor childhood friend’s corpse.

I heard that the City Lord’s idiot son loves nothing more than torturing people into a bloody pulp before throwing them to the dogs.”

“No! I’ll sign it!!!”

A piercing shriek shattered the room’s dead silence.

Su Qingyan lunged for the golden scroll, as if afraid Bai Yue would change her mind. Without a moment’s hesitation, she bit the tip of her own finger.