Chapter 4: Even for this… I am willing to sacrifice my life!

After transmigrating into this world, Yu Xiu had systematically organized and compiled everything she knew about Five Elements Immortal Domain.

She analyzed and speculated, tirelessly working to gather more clues and information.

Over the past fourteen years, Yu Xiu had continued refining that knowledge, supplementing it with firsthand experiences and careful observations to better establish and protect herself in this world.

Yu Xiu could now confirm with certainty: she was the only player in this world.

The time she entered the Five Elements Sect coincided exactly with the game’s opening plot.

The type of spiritual root a player received during testing had been a random event.

If one was dissatisfied, they could simply refresh the result.

However, spiritual root attributes weren’t all that important in Five Elements Immortal Domain.

Players with three-spiritual-root, dual-spiritual-root, or even heavenly-spiritual-root could all freely choose among the five peaks of the Five Elements Sect.

The difference between inner and outer disciples had only a minor effect on gameplay.

Only completionists—those chasing a full collection or all achievements—would spend extra time refreshing for different spiritual roots.
There was a slim chance of obtaining a mutated spiritual root, which was half a grade stronger than a heavenly spiritual root, or a four-spiritual-root, which was one grade weaker than a three-spiritual-root.

These two types were required to unlock specific hidden plots.

As for the five-spiritual-root—the kind ranked lower than the four-spiritual-root—it didn’t exist in the game at all.

The Five Elements Sect, after all, was the leading force among the three great immortal sects. It wouldn’t recruit disciples with the worst possible aptitude.

Once a peak was chosen, the player would spend ten years training there.

This stage was fast-forwarded in the game, showing only key plot points to make it easier for players to raise favorability with romanceable characters on that peak.

The main storyline of Five Elements Immortal Domain didn’t truly begin until the player turned sixteen.
At that point, players who had reached a certain cultivation level could freely visit other peaks to pursue characters—or unlock the broader world map outside the Five Elements Sect.

Naturally, game developers wouldn’t introduce enemies too strong for the player to handle at their current level.
Combat wasn’t even the core selling point of Five Elements Immortal Domain.

Take Bu Xiwei, for example—a character with top-tier combat power, the infamous Demon Lord.
She wasn’t supposed to appear until five hundred years after the game’s opening timeline.

Yu Xiu had checked.
Bu Xiwei’s first official appearance only occurred once the player had at least reached Nascent Soul cultivation.
Before then, she only existed as a name—an urban legend, whispered in taverns and sect discussions.

Yet now, it had only been fourteen years since Yu Xiu arrived in this world.

A gap of five hundred years—that’s not a small thing!

Even as a transmigrator with far more freedom and initiative than any game player, she shouldn’t have encountered Bu Xiwei this early.

Yu Xiu had meticulously verified her past-life knowledge of Five Elements Immortal Domain countless times.
There might have been omissions—but there had never been a mistake.

Bu Xiwei, by all rights, should still be entangled in the chaotic power struggles of the demon world.
It wasn’t until three hundred years later that she was supposed to emerge and confront the righteous path head-on.

Her backstory was elaborate and restrictive—caught between multiple factions, shackled by invisible bonds.
Even as the Demon Lord with the greatest combat strength in the demon world, she was bound.
As the nominal stabilizing force of the entire demonic realm, she couldn’t leave so easily.

So how?

How did she leave the demon world alone?

This was the first time Yu Xiu’s “cheat” knowledge had failed her.

Her shock quickly gave way to alarm.

Bu Xiwei was infamous for her volatility—violent, moody, unpredictable.
This Demon Lord could smile as sweetly as a blooming flower, and then casually slaughter an entire city.

Yu Xiu had liked Bu Xiwei as a fictional character.
But the real, flesh-and-blood Bu Xiwei before her now?

She had to avoid her at all costs.

After all, Bu Xiwei didn’t know her.

What would a demonic sovereign think of a minor righteous cultivator like her?

With their current gap in cultivation, killing her would be no more difficult than squashing a bug.

Immediately, Yu Xiu remained perfectly still in her half-kneeling position.

She kept her breathing steady, silently activating the Qi-Concealing Technique to suppress her presence as much as possible.

The mask she wore on her face was utterly meaningless to someone like Bu Xiwei.
Fortunately, Yu Xiu had been cautious from the start—deliberately approaching in a position shielded by dense vegetation.

At this moment, she was still several dozen meters away from the cave’s entrance, completely hidden within the branches of a large tree.

If Bu Xiwei didn’t actively release her divine sense…

Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t notice her.

The method wasn’t safe—Yu Xiu didn’t even fully understand what a mid–Soul Formation cultivator truly was. She could only gamble.

After all, if she acted rashly, Bu Xiwei would notice instantly.

And under Bu Xiwei’s terrifying pressure, Yu Xiu wasn’t the only one affected.

The Golden Core evil cultivator hiding in the cave had become the main focus of Bu Xiwei’s “attention.”

A series of low, muffled coughs echoed from the cave, harsh and hoarse, as if the man was about to cough up his lungs.

“Bu… Xiwei…!” the man growled through clenched teeth, unable to even form a full sentence. His voice came out in broken gasps. “You dare… to kill me? Aren’t you afraid—”

He never got the chance to finish.

An impatient look flashed across Bu Xiwei’s face.

With her left hand, she made a casual grabbing motion in the air.

In an instant, the middle-aged man in a dark purple-black robe was yanked out of the cave like a rag doll, dragged into the open by an invisible force.

Around his neck, a deep blue ribbon of spiritual power coiled tightly like a strangling silk thread. He clawed at it desperately with both hands, but his struggles only made it tighten further.

He couldn’t even cough now—only muffled, strangled whimpers escaped his throat.

His face swelled with black and purple blotches, his eyeballs bulging so grotesquely they seemed ready to burst from their sockets.

Seeing this, Yu Xiu’s wariness only deepened.

…If I had fallen into Bu Xiwei’s hands, I’d probably be dead already.

Bu Xiwei regarded the man coldly, letting out a faint heh.

“Did you really think you escaped from my grasp on your own?”

Her voice was sweet in tone, yet each word cut like ice buried in a polar abyss.

“If it weren’t for my deliberate mercy,” she said, raising her hand, “a little thing like you—Golden Core stage trash—could you still be alive right now?”

With that, the blue ribbon of spiritual power suspended the man high in the air.

Bu Xiwei’s perfectly shaped peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly. Her gaze swept across the man’s body, inside and out, even his surroundings—swift, precise, and clinical.

No hidden reinforcements.

No spiritual artifacts.

No spiritual pets or emergency talismans that could send word to the demon world.

Good. No third party knew she had left the demon realm—yet.

…Tsk. Her patience had reached its end.

Bu Xiwei stopped toying with him. Her hand clenched.

The middle-aged man’s body imploded, bursting like an overripe fruit.

He didn’t even have time to scream.

A mist of blood and viscera exploded through the air—like a grotesque, scarlet firework.

Yu Xiu couldn’t stop herself from flinching in shock.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t understand how cruel the cultivation world could be.

But she had come from a peaceful, law-abiding world. It had only been fourteen years since she transmigrated here, and most of that time had been spent cultivating inside the Five Elements Sect and helping Master Chiyang with administrative affairs.

The missions she had taken outside had never been this brutal.

This was her first time witnessing such cruelty from such close range.

Bu Xiwei stood silently beneath the grotesque rain of blood.

Not a single drop touched her.

The peerlessly beautiful Demon Lord stood with her usual cold, elegant expression. Her brows furrowed, clearly showing her annoyance.

She had never expected to be alive again.

That lightning tribulation had been timed perfectly, the result of a careful scheme against her.

She shouldn’t have survived.

But then Yu Xiu had appeared—the variable.

The number one righteous cultivator, famed for being as bright as the wind and moon, with a heart as noble as orchids.

Even for someone like her—a scourge of the demon realm whom the world hated—Yu Xiu had extended a hand.

And for that… she didn’t hesitate to sacrifice her own life.

It had been over three days since Bu Xiwei’s rebirth.

But every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was that one moment:

Yu Xiu, covered in blood, falling right in front of her.

Taking every bolt of lightning meant for her.

Shielding her body completely.

And in the end, with blood bubbling at her lips, she had whispered only two words—

“Live on.”