The Substitute Female Supporting Character Sees the Bullet Screen

The Symbiosis Curse is one of the four secret arts of the Ruan Family, a family of spellcasters from the Fuling region. The Ruan Family members are physically weak and not adept at cultivation, yet they managed to carve out a place for themselves in the prosperous world of cultivation a thousand years ago, thanks to their enigmatic and unpredictable curses.

The Ruan Family's methods are mysterious and unpredictable, oscillating between good and evil, and the spells they practice are rarely orthodox.

After the fall of the Ruan Family, most of their curses and formations were lost, and only fragments remain today, mostly obscure and unaccepted by orthodox sects. The Symbiosis Formation is one such example.

It's unclear where Xiang Sijue obtained the Symbiosis Formation, but he managed to cast the Symbiosis Curse using an incomplete formation.

Nie Yinzhi suspects that the Ruan Family might have been exterminated by Gu Jiang, as the scroll she holds contains the complete set of the Ruan Family's four secret arts.

The spells form a systematic structure, like a robust tree with countless branches. The Symbiosis Curse alone has over thirty derivatives. The scroll, when unfurled, stretches over a zhang in length, making Nie Yinzhi's eyes swim with the complexity.

The Symbiosis Curse being one of the Ruan Family's four secret arts is not just about "if I die, you die" as Xiang Sijue put it. Life sharing is merely the most basic function of this curse.

The Symbiosis Curse has a master-servant distinction. It can bind multiple individuals, with the person who holds the master curse being the primary. If the master dies, all bound by the Symbiosis Curse will die. However, only when all servants are dead will the master die.

Those bound by the curse would naturally go to great lengths to protect the master.

This curse was likely a tool the Ruan Family used to control others.

Nie Yinzhi carefully studied the master curse and then closed her eyes to internally observe the curse mark on her wrist. She brushed away the demonic aura from Gu Jiang that enveloped the mark, revealing the core hidden deep within—a golden sprout, now with only one branch, and all the surrounding demonic aura originated from it.

The master curse was indeed on her!

Nie Yinzhi suppressed her joy and opened her eyes, immediately locking gazes with a pair of dark, intense eyes.

Gu Jiang lay on his side, propping his head with one hand, his long, ink-black hair cascading over his shoulder. His eyes, though lazy, held a curious interest, and he had been watching her for an unknown duration.

Nie Yinzhi was startled, her eyes flickering as she said nervously, "Why are you staring at me like that? You scared me."

"You were grinning ear to ear, mumbling to yourself, like a mouse stealing food, it woke me up," Gu Jiang said, glancing at the scroll in her hand. "Found something interesting?"

Nie Yinzhi's eyes darted around. On the day at Biyang Peak, Gu Jiang had instantly recognized the Symbiosis Formation. She doubted he hadn't seen these scrolls.

"This Symbiosis Curse is a secret art of the Ruan Family. How do you have all these scrolls of the Ruan Family's four secret arts?"

"Ruan Family?" Gu Jiang pondered for a moment, then recalled, "Oh, the head of the Ruan Family tried to curse me back then, so I killed him. I must have acquired these around that time."

The demon was so powerful then; if one could control him, it would be akin to wielding a divine weapon.

"This is indeed a curse that can control the strong through the weak," Nie Yinzhi said, tracing the mark on her wrist. She demonstrated her newfound knowledge by forming a complex seal with her fingers, drawing out the black mark from her wrist. The demonic aura dispersed, revealing the golden sprout within.

"This little leaf is you," Nie Yinzhi extended her hand to show him, reciting the contents of the scroll.

Gu Jiang extended a finger, and a tendril of demonic aura from Nie Yinzhi's wrist touched the golden leaf. "What does this mean?"

Nie Yinzhi blinked, seeing genuine confusion on his face, and had to explain again with the golden sprout.

"The one bearing the master curse is like the trunk of this golden sprout. The Symbiosis Curse can bind multiple individuals, producing many leaves. If the trunk dies, all leaves will wither simultaneously. But the withering of one or two leaves won't affect the trunk unless all leaves wither, the trunk will die."

"The master curse is on me, and I've only bound you so far, so there's only one leaf. If I die, you die, but if you die, I won't."

Hopefully, that clarified it.

She wondered if the demon had claimed disinterest in complex curses and formations because he couldn't understand them.

Gu Jiang raised an eyebrow. "No wonder you were grinning like a weasel that stole a chicken."

Nie Yinzhi: "..." Calling her a mouse or a weasel, did he even know how to speak properly?

She stroked the leaf. Nie Yinzhi kept one thing to herself: if she plucked the leaf, Gu Jiang would be immediately struck dead by the curse's backlash.

The Ruan Family was full of clever people, and Xiang Sijue was amazing!

She would never lift the Symbiosis Curse!

[This isn't a Symbiosis Curse, it should be called a Harem Curse. If I were Nie Yinzhi, I'd bind three thousand handsome men around me! Absolutely amazing!]

[I want to ask again, who the hell is the protagonist? Why does a supporting character have so many plot devices?]

[The Ruan Family, like Gu Jiang, is just a background detail in the original story.]

[Indeed, the thousand-year-old cultivation world was the most powerful.]

[With the blood that attracts demons and this Symbiosis Curse, Nie Yinzhi could take the lead and become the Demon Lord herself.]

Nie Yinzhi's heart skipped a beat as she read the floating comment. The little ambition she had just felt was exposed by the comment.

She stole a glance at Gu Jiang, wondering what he thought.

Gu Jiang snapped his fingers, and the Symbiosis Curse scroll landed in his hands. He held the scroll, frowning as he stared at the dense text.

"Hey," Nie Yinzhi tried to snatch it back but was wrapped in demonic aura and bound to a pavilion pillar.

There was a method to lift the Symbiosis Curse, and only she could do it. After all, it was a curse the Ruan Family used to control others, so they would keep everything in their hands.

She had only skimmed through the scroll, not thoroughly studied it yet!

Gu Jiang read for a while, finding it headache-inducing, and decisively gave up, tossing the scroll back to her.

Nie Yinzhi was released from the demonic aura and held the scroll, incredulous. "You know the situation with this curse, and you still give the scroll to me?"

"It's yours once given; I wouldn't take it back," Gu Jiang said. "It's useless to me anyway." He couldn't understand it anyway.

The demon trusted her so much, Nie Yinzhi was a bit touched. "You're not afraid I'll learn the curses and force you to wreak havoc?"

Gu Jiang pondered and gave her a kind smile. "If it's too much, I'll kill you."

In other words, he'd rather die than work.

Nie Yinzhi understood his meaning and waved it off with a forced laugh. "Just kidding, how could I bear to tire you out? I only care for the Demon Lord."

She vowed that even if she raised many demons in the future, Gu Jiang would always be her favorite demon.

-

At Mingxia Peak, several days had passed since the high platform around the sealing formation had been built with small pavilions for the guards to rest.

After the failed attempt to lure Nie Yinzhi into the sword formation, everyone believed that the stalemate would be broken, and a major event would occur at Pill-Forming Peak. Therefore, the high-level cultivators of the seven sects dared not leave for a moment, preparing to defend against the demon's assault on the sealing barrier.

However, days passed, and the inside remained eerily quiet, with only the Demon Sealing Runes occasionally flickering weakly, not due to an attack.

The quieter it was inside, the more tense it was outside, like the calm before a storm.

The Buddhist monk from Wuliang Sect, Yuan Ming, clasped his hands together. "Amitabha, in Ten Thousand Demons Cave, Feng Hanying nearly collided with the Demon Sealing Mark every day. The Demon Sealing Mark atop Ten Thousand Demons Cave shone day and night without rest. This is the first time I've seen the Demon Sealing Mark remain so quiet for days."

Someone asked, "Master Yuan Ming, if it continues like this, how long will it take for the Demon Sealing Runes to deplete the demon's aura?"

Yuan Ming shook his head. "The collision between demonic aura and runes is the fastest way to erode the aura. If Gu Jiang remains so peaceful and keeps his aura contained, the runes' effect on him is limited, making it hard to estimate."

“If Gu Jiang has no intention of being born, then we don't need to continue guarding here; the three elders of Cloud Scripture Sect are sufficient.”

Some were also worried, “Recently, various sects have been digging into Gu Jiang's past. Everyone knows about his previous exploits, and even Feng Hanying was so afraid of his master that he hid in the Ten Thousand Demons Cave. Such a person is unlikely to stay quietly under the Demon Sealing Mark.”

“That’s true.”

After further discussion, they decided, “We must go inside to investigate the situation.”

“Fortunately, the Ruan Family's Son is arriving soon.”

-

Although Nie Yinzhi had promised in her heart to pamper the demon, she couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't meet a more appealing demon in the future. Therefore, she stayed up all night to learn the most secure derivative spell of the Symbiosis Curse.

Transfer Damage.

Nie Yinzhi could transfer any harm inflicted upon herself through the golden sprout to Gu Jiang.

So, if Gu Jiang dared to hit her, with a single spell, the great demon would only end up harming himself. This Symbiosis Curse was tailor-made for her.

Nie Yinzhi rolled around on the bed with the scroll in her arms. She suddenly sat up, immediately activating the Transfer Damage mode to try it out.

Nie Yinzhi silently recited the spell's incantation, and her spiritual energy flowed into the curse mark on her wrist, merging with the tiny golden leaf.

Then, she sneaked to the main room. This was a room she was accustomed to, the most comfortable one in the house, now occupied by the demon.

He had once nonchalantly invited her to share his room, acting as if he wasn't a stranger, with an expression that even if they slept in the same bed, he wouldn't have any improper thoughts about her.

Nie Yinzhi felt anger rising just thinking about it. She glanced at his waist and below, convinced that a comment she once saw was correct: demons are probably not capable.

It couldn't be that she lacked charm.

Nie Yinzhi crouched by the bed, looking like a deeply resentful ghost in the dim moonlight seeping through the window.

Gu Jiang slept peacefully in her bed, his sleeping posture extremely unrestrained, sprawled out on the bed. But he slept quietly, without any snoring, and his breathing was so faint that it was often hard to tell if he was asleep or not.

Nie Yinzhi gently tugged at his hair that hung over the bed, then reached out to touch his long eyelashes, disturbing him for a long time without any reaction.

Relieved, she began her real task. Nie Yinzhi pulled out Gu Jiang's left hand, lightly pinched his little finger, then took out a hairpin and pricked her own little finger.

She felt nothing, no wound.

Gu Jiang's little finger started to bleed.

Nie Yinzhi's face lit up with joy. Her heart was filled with a sense of ambition. The more concubines bound by the Symbiosis Curse, the more invincible she would become. She imagined jumping into the Ten Thousand Demons Cave and recruiting all the demon cultivators under her command.

If she couldn't achieve a grand ambition and dominate the entire cultivation world, who else could?

Just thinking about it made Nie Yinzhi eager to leave Pill-Forming Peak and make a big move.

Gu Jiang's fingers twitched.

Nie Yinzhi looked up and met the lazy gaze of his phoenix-like eyes.