The Heroine Must Die

Starfell Summit was quiet.

Master and the others were in seclusion. Wayne was cultivating like his life depended on it. The one who came out to receive them was Briar.

“Briar? It’s you?” Dante asked.

“It’s me. Everyone else is busy.”

Dante stepped aside and dragged White forward. “She says she’s looking for Miss Lauren.”

White immediately squeezed past him. “Briar! My brother sent me to find the Ancestor!”

“Oh. Wait a moment.”

Briar’s expression shifted slightly. Through divine sense, it informed Edmund that Silent Fang had sent White—probably to deliver something.

Moments later, Edmund appeared. Dante froze. Who the hell was this?

The man’s body was faintly translucent, as if formed from condensed spiritual essence. Definitely not human.

Dante glanced left and right to confirm he was still on Starfell Summit.

What was going on? Had the place been overrun by demons? Why was he surrounded by monsters? Not a single normal human in sight.

White threw herself forward dramatically. “Ancestor! I finally found you! Waaaah— I was almost killed at the mountain gate!”

Edmund’s voice was calm and cold. “Stand properly. Speak clearly.”

White instantly straightened up. “Yes! Ancestor, this is what my brother asked me to bring you.”

She spat out a box from her storage space and handed it over.

Edmund opened it. Inside lay several scales, gleaming with an icy, piercing light.

The moment he saw them, his fingers tightened. Without saying another word, he turned and disappeared.

White blinked. “…Ancestor?” She hadn’t even gotten the chance to chat.

Dante stared after him, dumbfounded. “Briar… who the hell was that?”

“God Venerable,” Briar replied calmly.

“God… Venerable?”

Since when did such a terrifying existence appear here? The highest realm in the Thunder Sect was Immortal Venerable. Was “God Venerable” some kind of demon title?

Forget it. He’d ask Miss Lauren later. These two little demons clearly weren’t going to explain anything.

“When will Miss Lauren come out of seclusion?” Dante asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What about Wayne?”

“Busy.”

Dante: “…”

Great. Fantastic. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll come back in a few days.”

He turned to White. “Come on. I’ll take you out.”

“Out? I’m not leaving,” White said firmly.

Dante stared at her. “You’re not staying here, are you?”

“My brother said the Ancestor and the others are going to do something big. He told me to stay and help.”

Dante: “…”

Help? You? He suddenly felt a headache coming on. “Something big?” he asked cautiously. “What kind of big thing?”

White shook her head solemnly. “Can’t tell you. But it’s very big.”

Dante’s face darkened. Before she could react, he grabbed her by the back of her collar.

“Hey—!”

“You’re coming with me.”

He couldn’t just leave another unknown demon on Starfell Summit. This was getting ridiculous. He’d take her straight to Master.

After listening to the explanation, Gerald fell into thought.

The translucent demon… most likely the one sealed in Sky-covering Valley. And in the South Sea, there was also a powerful demon on the verge of transforming into a dragon.

How had so many terrifying beings suddenly gathered around his sect?

He glanced at White, who was still indignant. “Master,” Dante asked, “what should we do with this little white bird?”

Gerald considered it briefly. Mr. Drake was in seclusion. It was better not to let this chatterbox disturb him.

“Let her follow you,” Gerald said. “Keep a close eye on her. Don’t let her cause trouble.”

“Yes, Master.”

White puffed up. “My brother sent me to help the Ancestor with something important!”

Dante snorted. “Following me is helping your Ancestor with something important.”

“Really?” Her eyes lit up.

“Of course.”

White immediately beamed.

.......

Six months later, Lauren finally opened her eyes.

Her aura surged outward in a wave of icy spiritual pressure. In half a year, she had leapt from the early stage of Spirit Severing straight to the late stage.

The Ice Spirit Fruit’s medicinal power had been completely refined. Even the Xuanbing Ice Bed beneath her had shrunk noticeably, its essence partially absorbed into her body.

Edmund stood nearby, arms folded, nodding in approval.

“Not bad. Seems your luck really did improve. The Ice Spirit Fruit’s effects are random—some people barely advance at all. You jumped two minor realms.”

After Indiana’s death, her fate had clearly shifted.

Lauren stretched lazily, then blinked at him.

“Hey… Edmund, you look different. Why aren’t you translucent anymore?”

White had delivered something months ago.

“My flesh and scales were returned,” he replied calmly.

Lauren’s eyes widened. “Wait, so you actually have flesh and blood now?”

Edmund’s expression darkened immediately. “What’s the point? I have skin, but no bones. All my power is sealed in my bones.”

“…Oh.”

She coughed awkwardly. “Don’t be so impatient. This is already way better than before. Remember when you first came out of Sky-covering Valley with me? You were like a hibernating toad. I’d poke you and you’d barely twitch. When you were really weak, I couldn’t even poke you—uh…”

His face grew colder by the second.

She pivoted instantly. “Not a toad! Definitely not a toad. More like… the first time I saw you, you were kind of chubby. Like a gecko.”

Edmund’s voice dropped several degrees. “The first time you saw me was in Sky-covering Valley. That towering divine body looked like a gecko to you?”

Lauren froze.

“…It did have a big head,” she muttered weakly. “Butcher got greedy and said he wanted to chop off a piece to make soup. He broke his knife instead. Hahaha—”

She trailed off under his stare.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked flatly.

Lauren slapped a hand over her mouth.

What the hell was wrong with her lately? Just because Indiana’s death had lifted some invisible pressure off her shoulders didn’t mean she should start running her mouth like an idiot.

“I’m happy because you’re solid now,” she said quickly. “That means you’re recovering. It won’t be long before you reclaim your divine status, right?”

Edmund’s expression eased slightly.

“The people trapped in the Icefield Secret Realm are about to break free from the ice. Your master should already have sensed it.”

Lauren straightened. “So Master will be released soon?”

“Yes.”

A grin spread across her face. Finally.

Edmund’s gaze shifted. “Someone descended from above two months ago.”

Her heart skipped. “How did it go?”

“They couldn’t contact Indiana. They confirmed she was dead.”

“And?”

“He died in Sky-covering Valley.”

Lauren exhaled slowly. So Herbert and Light had held the defensive line.

“Two have died already,” Edmund continued. “They won’t send just one next time.”

Lauren frowned. “Wait. They can just keep sending people down like that?”

“There are three ways to descend from the Upper Realm.”

He raised one finger.

“First—reincarnation. They abandon their original body and are reborn here, starting from scratch. The cost is enormous. And if they reincarnate into a world fated never to ascend, they’re trapped forever. No one with a brain chooses that lightly. So they usually create puppets instead.”

Lauren nodded. Indiana had fallen into that category.

“Second—a spirit descends and possesses a body. But the body must willingly accept the foreign soul. Few cultivators would open their spiritual sea to an outsider.”

Lauren snorted. “If the temptation’s big enough? Plenty would.”

“You’re not wrong,” Edmund said. “The one from two months ago possessed a disciple from the Moonlit Sect—someone doomed never to form a Nascent Soul. The price offered was probably a guaranteed breakthrough.”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!