The Legend of the Princess' Counterattack

Chapter 731 Heartbeat Returns to 0 (Modern Chapter Begins)

The beeping of the monitor pierced the silence of the seventh floor of the Municipal Hospital like a rusty needle. Su Yao's fingertips remained typing, and the latest chapter of "The Legend of the Unparalleled Princess' Counterattack" on the screen stopped at "Chu Mochen held her hand, a glowing lotus heart lock pressed against his palm," but the electrocardiogram had flattened out. Her mother's cries, mixed with the smell of disinfectant, streamed from outside the door, but Yun Yao's consciousness drifted between black and white—she saw herself lying on a narrow bed in a hospital gown, while Chu Mochen half-knelt beside her, pinching her wrist with his fingertips, his knuckles turning blue and white from the excessive pressure.

"Yao'er, this is your 'Original World'." Chu Mochen's voice was tense, a tone she had never heard before. The majesty of the Son of God shattered into fine sand. "Youyue's remaining soul is in this hospital. She wants to sever your last connection with the Heavenly Dao!"

The lights in the ward suddenly went out. Yun Yao's night vision awakened in the darkness, and she saw a winding bloodstain on the tile creeping towards her. The sound of nails scraping against the floor was mingled with a low laugh: "Su Yao, do you think writing a million-word comeback script will save you from being cut short?" She turned her head sharply. The reflection in the mirror was wearing the dark red robe of the Blood Demon Sect, a necklace made of Heart-Protecting Bell fragments dangling from her neck. The curve of her lips was exactly the "evil version of Yun Yao" setting she had discarded in the outline.

"System prompt: Resonance of narrative law fragments detected!" A mechanical voice exploded in the sea of consciousness, carrying with it the murmur of electricity. "The host is undergoing a 'rewinding of the origin world'. All unfinished plots will materialize!"

Yun Yao finally remembered the Heavenly Dao Jade Slip in Siming Hall, which contained the exact same content as her novel—every character, every plot twist, even every punctuation mark, was a projection of the laws of Heaven onto the Three Thousand Worlds. On the walls of the hospital room, the abandoned plots she had crossed out spread like ink: the concubine who had been given poisoned wine emerged from the wall, holding a blood-stained jade cup, its rim still etched with the ice cracks she had personally drawn; the treacherous minister who had been beheaded banged on the door with his own head, only to have his eyes roll to the ground upon seeing her, hissing, "I've found you!"

"Chu Mochen!" She instinctively grasped the hand of the person beside her, only to feel a chill of armor. The man, who should have been wearing a modern sweatshirt, was now clad in Divine Court Battle Armor, the Soldier Soul Sword dangling from his waist emitting a clear chime. As he swung his sword at the concubine, the golden blade's sweeping light shone across the wall, and the storyboards she had sketched in her draft book surfaced: the poisoned wine game at the palace banquet, the life-or-death kiss at the secret icy lake, the embrace as the Life Lantern in the Siming Palace collapsed. These famous scenes, which she had repeatedly revised, became physical light and shadow, unexpectedly becoming weapons against the strange visions.

The "Blood Demon Yun Yao" in the mirror screamed, and its fingertips slashed across the mirror. The scene on the hospital rooftop emerged on the glass: Another Chu Mochen was pinching the neck of the modern Su Yao. The moonlight illuminated the gaping wound on his chest. The black demon wriggling inside was clearly the "Bone Erosion Demon" of the Youyue Saint! And Su Yao, who should have been unconscious, actually opened her eyes and smiled at her, her lips clearly saying: "Yun Yao, come and save me."

"That's a puppet!" Chu Mochen's sword light froze in front of the mirror. "Youyue used the 'Life Wheel Splitting Technique' to copy my origin mark, but--" He suddenly frowned. Deep in the pupils of the puppet Chu Mochen, the same star-like fragments as the original flickered. "She stole the remaining soul of my 'Blackened Line'!"

Yun Yao's temples throbbed. She remembered the dark ending she'd written three years ago: Chu Mochen had slain the entire Blood Demon Sect to save her, only to be attacked by the demonic force, ultimately annihilated in her arms. This "blackened Chu Mochen," whom she had abandoned, now carried an unfinished obsession to replace the authentic Origin World.

"Su Yao, do you really think you are the only protagonist?" The puppet Chu Mochen ripped open his clothes, revealing half a silver lotus seed embedded in his chest. It was the "life lock" she designed in the "BE line". "In the ending you deleted, I was the one who accompanied you to the immortal world."

Memories flooded back. Yun Yao had circled this scene in red pen in her outline, writing next to it, "Too sad, change to sweet." With every word the puppet spoke, the corresponding scene from the manuscript flashed through her mind: Chu Mochen, corrupted by the evil spirit, kneeling in a pool of blood, his fingertips stroking her cheek; she held him, his voice gradually becoming transparent, crying until her voice was hoarse in the ruins of the Divine Court. These bottled-up emotions suddenly burst forth, leaving her fingertips barely able to hold Chu Mochen's hand.

"The only solution to the paradox is to return to the original source." The original Chu Mochen suddenly pressed the tip of the sword to his heart. The trajectory of the golden blood dripping was completely synchronized with the evil flow from the puppet's wound. "Delete me, just like you deleted those failed plots..."

"Shut up!" Yun Yao grabbed his sword-gripping hand, her nails practically digging into his palm. "In my story, there's only ever been one Chu Mochen." She turned to face the puppet in the mirror, the three-colored lotus seal lighting up between her brows—a symbol that fused the principles of slaughter, narrative, and the lotus heart. "Do you think that by copying his residual soul, you can steal his life?"

The puppet suddenly howled in agony, and the half lotus seed in its heart began to crumble. Yun Yao then realized that her words had activated the Heavenly Dao Pen's "plot correction" ability—the very scenes she had personally deleted were now being recoded. The scene in the mirror cracked like a shattered mirror, revealing the real Su Yao on the edge of the rooftop: she was wearing a white hospital gown, the same heart-protecting bell around her neck as Yun Yao, and she was looking down at the silver lotus seal emerging in her palm.

"So, I'm the deleted character." Su Yao's voice was filled with relief. When she looked up, two overlapping figures were reflected in her eyes. "The moment you traveled to the world of cultivation, the 'Su Yao' of this world should have died. But the Holy Maiden Youyue used the magic to save my life, making me the anchor to trap you."

Yun Yao's breathing suddenly stopped. The system's mechanical voice was now choked with sobs: "Host, this body is your container in the Origin World. Three years ago, you were in a car accident. Your soul, which should have died, was stripped away by the Lord of the Divine Court and sent to the world of cultivation to merge with the Lotus Heart Origin. And the Su Yao before you is actually..."

"It's your 'mortal body'." Su Yao took over the conversation, her fingertips stroking the heart-protecting bell. The ring tone was exactly the same as Xiao Cui's heart-protecting bell in the cultivation world. "Saint Youyue wanted to kill me so that your soul would lose its anchor point of return and be trapped forever in the wheel of heaven. But she didn't know that I have here--" She lifted the pillow, revealing the yellowed manuscript underneath. It was the final chapter of "The Counterattack of the Peerless Princess" that Yun Yao had left unfinished before she traveled through time, "hiding your first encounter with Chu Mochen."

The lights in the hospital room suddenly flickered on. Yun Yao watched as the handwriting on the manuscript was automatically corrected. On the previously blank ending page, memories of her experiences in the cultivation world gradually emerged: the first rays of morning light in the palace, the first time Chu Mochen blocked an assassin's sword for her, the intertwined life lanterns in the Siming Palace. Meanwhile, the puppet Chu Mochen had transformed into a point of light and merged into the original. The latter's aura had become calmer, but a hint of pain appeared in his eyes—the melancholy that came from accepting all possibilities within himself.

"It turns out that the 'Chu Mochen' in every world is your remnant soul." Yun Yao said softly, her fingertips stroking the lotus heart lock between his eyebrows, "Including this blackened version who is trying to replace you."

Chu Mochen suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest. "In the 'Dark Line,' I said to you, on the verge of death, 'If there's an afterlife, I'd rather be a mortal, spending my whole life watching the moonlight by the lotus pond with you.'" His voice was hoarse. "Now I understand. No matter how many times I reincarnate, what I've always pursued wasn't a destiny, but you, who, in countless worlds, always chose to hold my hand tightly."

The monitor suddenly sounded a piercing alarm. Su Yao's body began to become transparent, but the light of the Heart Bell grew brighter. "Saint Youyue is here." She pointed out the window. A blood-red altar had appeared on the rooftop of the hospital. The shadow of Saint Youyue stood in the center, holding Yun Yao's Heavenly Dao Pen!

"Yun Yao, do you think you can win by destroying my puppet?" You Yue's voice echoed through thousands of worlds. "Look at your mortal body—" She swung her brush, and a three-colored lotus seal, identical to Yun Yao's, appeared on Su Yao's chest, but with a crack at the center of the lotus. "I have already bound her life disk to you. If she dies, you cannot live."

Yun Yao was shocked to realize that the cracks in Su Yao's Lotus Seal were completely synchronized with the fluctuations of the Chaos Law Domain in her Sea of Consciousness. Chu Mochen's Divine Court Battle Armor suddenly shattered. He frantically protected her, but was blown away by Youyue's demonic aura. "Yao'er, she's forcing you to choose between 'saving your mortal body' and 'protecting your soul'!"

"No, I have a third choice." Yun Yao looked at Su Yao's gradually transparent body and suddenly remembered the scene she saw in the Narrative Law Center - every deleted character can be reborn in the Law of Heaven. She reached out to catch Su Yao's falling body, and the fragments of the Heart Protection Bell suddenly reassembled in her palm, "You said that you are my mortal body, right?"

Su Yao nodded, tears welling up in her eyes: "I can see all your experiences in the world of cultivation, I saw you blocking the knife for Chu Mochen, I saw you breaking down and crying in Siming Hall. In fact, I already knew that this body does not belong to me, but..."

"There's no 'just'." Yun Yao stuffed the Heavenly Dao Pen into her hand, and the word "mortal body" automatically appeared on the tip of the pen. "You are not a deleted character, you are my reflection in the original world. Now, I want to return the identity of 'Su Yao' to you-" She used the power of her soul to ignite the heart-protecting bell, and the bell sound turned into golden text and poured into Su Yao's body. "Remember, you are the one who writes the story, not the character trapped by the story."

The Holy Maiden of Youyue let out a sharp whistle, and the Heavenly Dao Pen vibrated violently in her hand, unexpectedly flying uncontrollably towards Su Yao. Yun Yao seized the opportunity to activate the Chaos Law Domain, and a tricolor light enveloped the entire hospital. The visions materialized from the abandoned plots now transformed into points of light, converging into the Heart-Protecting Bell in Su Yao's palm. When the last of the demonic evil dissipated, Su Yao opened her eyes. The Heart-Protecting Bell around her neck had transformed into a complete silver lotus, and her fingertips were gripping the cap of the Heavenly Dao Pen—the real Heavenly Dao Pen, now suspended in Yun Yao's palm.

"You lied to me!" You Yue's shadow began to disintegrate. "You already knew that my mortal body and you share the same origin, so you deliberately made me attack her so that she could absorb my evil spirit!"

Yun Yao watched Chu Mochen stand up from the ruins, his Divine Court Battle Armor automatically repairing itself in the Law Domain. "In the world of cultivation, Xiao Cui taught me that mortal faith can fight against demons. And here—" She pointed at Su Yao, who was writing a new plot on the monitor screen with a Heavenly Dao Pen. "The person who writes the story always has one more twist than the villain in the story."

The monitor's beeping suddenly changed pitch, and the flat electrocardiogram began to fluctuate again. Su Yao looked at the curve on the screen and said with a smile, "I wrote a new beginning for us: 'Su Yao fell asleep at the keyboard. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a man in ancient costume standing in front of the window, a glowing lotus heart lock in his palm.'" She turned to look at Yun Yao, her eyes reflecting the light of two worlds. "This time, let me write our story, okay?"

Chu Mochen walked to the window and pushed open the glass, blackened by the demonic aura. The morning sun streamed into the ward. Yun Yao could see the distant horizon, the Lotus Town of the cultivation world overlapping with modern skyscrapers, Xiao Cui's wish-powered lightsaber juxtaposed with the neon lights of the hospital. The system's notification sounded again, no longer mechanical, but with a gentle, warm chuckle: "Host, the restoration of the Origin World is complete. Now, you have two choices: one, stay in the modern world and return to being the online writer Su Yao; two, return to the cultivation world and continue your journey of counterattack."

Yun Yao looked at Chu Mochen. Her three-colored lotus seal was reflected in his eyes, but it was brighter than ever. Su Yao suddenly held her hand and pressed the Heavenly Dao Pen into her palm. "Go, Xiao Cui is still waiting for you over there, the white-haired old man from Yuxu Palace is still apologizing, and—" She blinked, "Your novel readers are still waiting to see how Chu Mochen will marry you."

The monitor's screen suddenly flickered, and a new system prompt appeared: "Host's choice detected, synchronizing the Three Thousand Worlds plot—"

Yun Yao felt something slipping from her fingertips. She looked down and saw Su Yao's body becoming real, while her palm gradually became transparent. Chu Mochen suddenly grabbed her wrist, and the origin of the Divine Court transformed into a stream of light that wrapped around her: "No matter which world you choose, I will follow you."

"Silly." Yun Yao chuckled and touched the Lotus Heart Lock to his Lotus Heart Seal. "I've said it before, our story has always been about two protagonists."

When the light faded, Su Yao was the only one left in the ward. She touched the heart bell around her neck and looked out the window at the rising sun when she suddenly heard her phone ring. In the reader group of "The Legend of the Unparalleled Princess' Counterattack", the administrator had just updated the latest chapter, titled "Chapter 731: Heartbeat Zero: The Overlap and Rebirth of Two Worlds".

She clicked to read, and a scene of Yun Yao's return to the world of cultivation appeared on the screen: Chu Mochen carried her onto the Wheel of Heaven. Behind them was the fading outline of a modern hospital, while in front, the people of Lotus Town greeted them, holding silver lotus lanterns. At the end of the chapter, a sentence in golden font read: "In every world, Yun Yao writes her own counterattack, and the excitement of the story is never limited to just one possibility."

Su Yao smiled, picked up a pen and wrote a new outline in her notebook: "The next chapter, the final battle in the Blood Demon Realm, and - Chu Mochen's proposal scene." What she didn't know was that in a parallel world, Yun Yao, dressed in ancient costume, was receiving this page of manuscript, and Chu Mochen, with red ears, was about to take off his Lotus Heart Lock as a token of proposal.

(End of Chapter 731)