The Heroine Must Die

Then she glanced toward the other bodies further down the valley.

“Briar. Go check those corpses too.”

Briar hesitated. “Then… can I eat them?”

“Yes.”

Its face lit up, and it hurried off.

Lauren didn’t let Wayne follow. In her eyes, he was still just a normal child whose values were forming. Too much blood, too early, wasn’t healthy.

Not long after, Briar returned, clutching over a dozen storage bags, looking very pleased with itself.

Lauren straightened.

“Let’s go. Time to head back to the mountain.”

......

Not long after they left, two cultivators arrived in the valley.

They froze when they saw the scattered skeletons. Fresh blood still stained the clothes.

“…These bones…”

One of them sucked in a sharp breath. “What kind of method is this?”

.....

“Master, I’m back.” Lauren stood outside Starfell Hall, waiting.

A moment later, the heavy doors opened on their own. “Come in.”

She entered with Wayne on one side and Briar on the other.

Briar’s hand tightened slightly.

Lauren resisted the urge to sigh. It wasn’t the first time it had met her master. Why was it still so nervous?

“Was the trip successful?” Drake asked calmly.

“It went smoothly. Mr. Ulysses risked his life to divine the future. But he’s fine now.”

“Mm.” Drake’s gaze shifted to Wayne. “Wayne. After wandering outside, it’s time to settle down. Go cultivate properly.”

“Yes, Grandmaster.”

Briar looked up at Drake anxiously, then tugged at Lauren’s sleeve.

Drake studied it for a moment, faint surprise in his eyes.

“You’re beginning to look more human.”

Briar froze.

“You may leave.”

“Yes, Master. Uh… Grandmaster… Immortal… Immortal Venerable…”

Lauren: “…”

Drake: “…”

Wayne hurriedly dragged Briar out before it could dig a deeper hole.

......

“I haven’t seen our chickens in days,” Briar said as they hurried down the mountain path. “Do you think they can still lay eggs if we weren’t feeding them?”

“Of course,” Wayne replied confidently. “There are plenty of spiritual herbs and insects on the mountain. Chickens can survive on those without spiritual rice.”

“Really? Then maybe we’ll get a whole basket!”

“Definitely.”

They reached the small fenced area.

Sure enough— Eggs. A lot of eggs.

They had been gone half a month. There were over a hundred. Both of them beamed.

“Briar, gather some firewood. We’ll boil eggs.”

“Okay! I want three.”

“Then I’ll have three too.”

Even though the flower dew Miss Lauren gave him kept him from feeling hungry, Wayne still craved meat.

When Lauren was in seclusion, he often cooked for himself.

“And I want roasted meat,” Briar added quickly.

“Fine. Then collect more firewood.”

They built a small campfire on the hilltop.

Wayne set up a hanging pot to boil eggs and placed a grill over the flames for monster meat.

“Stand back,” he said seriously. “Don’t burn yourself.”

Briar obediently shuffled back, eyes fixed on the sizzling meat.

......

Inside Starfell Hall, Edmund finished explaining what he had seen on the Gossip Plate.

“To break the Boundary Force barrier,” he said quietly, “we first need the Boundary Breaking Stone.”

Drake’s expression turned grave. “If we know that, they know it too. They won’t sit back and let us take it.”

“They won’t,” Edmund confirmed.

Drake folded his hands behind his back. “Then what do you need from me?”

“You don’t need to keep shielding the heavens anymore,” Edmund replied. “Conserve your strength. Restore your body to its peak state. Prepare for ascension.”

He paused.

“Even if we obtain the Boundary Breaking Stone, it will take time to shatter the reinforced Boundary Force. When the ascension tribulation descends, you’ll have to endure longer than anyone else.”

His voice lowered.

“If you can’t hold on…”

He didn’t finish. If Drake failed, everything would collapse.

Drake remained calm. “I will do my utmost. Even if it costs my life.”

“Master!” Lauren blurted out. “You will ascend. You definitely will.”

Drake’s stern expression softened faintly.

He reached into his sleeve and withdrew a storage bag, handing it to her.

“Break through to Spirit Severing before you turn thirty.”

Lauren accepted it and sent her divine sense inside.

Her eyes widened. Pills. Rare spiritual liquids. Ice crystals refined from extreme cold. And—

An Ice Spirit Fruit.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Master had practically emptied a treasury for her.

She swallowed her excitement and bowed solemnly. “Thank you, Master.”

“Go,” Drake said. “Once you advance successfully, begin the search for the Boundary Breaking Stone.”

“Yes, Master.”

She was already on the verge of the late Nascent Soul stage. With these resources, she could push straight into Spirit Severing in one go.

He had prepared everything. She didn’t even need to gather additional materials. She could enter seclusion immediately. But before that—

She should check on Wayne. And Timothy. Timothy had been staying at Starfell Summit for quite some time now.

Last she saw him, his injuries were nearly healed.

Don’t tell me he’s planning to linger here indefinitely.

Starfell Summit had the densest spiritual energy in the region. That bastard’s probably freeloading.

Lauren left Starfell Hall and headed toward Timothy’s secluded courtyard. Halfway there—

She felt it. A disturbance in the air behind her.

She turned sharply. A middle-aged man was flying straight toward Starfell Summit without slowing down in the slightest. He landed steadily before the summit gate.

“Halt!” Lauren called out. “Who dares trespass on Starfell Summit?”

The man didn’t even bother with formalities. He waved dismissively. “Move aside. I’m looking for your master.”

Lauren’s brows twitched. In all her years here, no one had ever stormed Starfell Summit without so much as a greeting. And now this stranger was telling her to move?

“Halt,” she said coldly. “State your name. Don’t blame me for being impolite.”

He ignored her completely. She couldn’t even match his speed. His cultivation— Unfathomable.

“Master!” Lauren shouted as she chased after him.

The man strode straight into Starfell Hall. The doors closed behind him just as Lauren rushed up. She nearly smashed into them.

“Master!” she called again.

From inside, Drake’s voice came, calm and steady. “Don’t panic. It’s fine.”

Fine? The man had barged in like he owned the place.

“That’s Herbert,” Edmund said, slithering out from her sleeve and climbing onto her shoulder.

Lauren froze. “What? Herbert? Herbert from the Moonlit Sect?”

Edmund glanced at her. “Is there another like him in this world?”

She was stunned. “But… how did he become like that?”

In her memory, Herbert had been an elderly man—over eighty in appearance. White beard down to his chest. Slightly hunched back.

The man who just walked in was tall, broad-shouldered, and powerful. He looked like he was in his forties.

“He succeeded,” Edmund said calmly. “He’s now a Mahayana cultivator.”

Lauren fell silent. He really did break through. That was… good news.

Edmund continued, “Before, his lifespan was nearly exhausted. That’s why he appeared old. Now that he’s advanced, his lifespan has doubled. It’s natural that his body reverted to a middle-aged state.”

No wonder she hadn’t recognized him.

If no one told her, she would never have guessed that the frail old man and that imposing middle-aged cultivator were the same person.

Cultivators lived long. But they still aged.

Lauren herself, at Nascent Soul, had a lifespan of roughly two thousand years.

She had advanced young, so her appearance would remain around seventeen or eighteen for centuries.

But if she failed to break through during the final few hundred years of her lifespan, her body would age naturally—unless she relied on youth-preserving elixirs.

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