Chapter 11

Taking the medicine and passing it to Li Jiangying, Liang Yiman requested her to administer it to Her Highness.

Li Jiangying uncorked the bottle and poured out a pill the size of a thumb tip. A sniff revealed a faint, refreshing scent of mint. She held out her palm towards Li Yueying. “Here, take your medicine.”

Li Yueying obediently opened her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

Looking up again, Li Jiangying met Cui Yu’s shocked and faintly indignant gaze. She’s treating Her Highness like a little dog! She absolutely is!

After taking the medicine, Li Yueying needed to digest and absorb it, then force herself into human form through cultivation. This process couldn’t be assisted by external forces; she could only rely on herself to get through it.

Soon, Li Yueying’s eyelids began to droop. She pouted, looking at Li Jiangying with a wounded expression. Her pitiful little eyes seemed to accuse: You drugged me again.

Li Jiangying turned her head away, refusing to look at her. She swore—she only felt a tiny bit guilty. Truly, just a tiny bit.

After coaxing Li Yueying into the adjacent side room to rest, Li Jiangying came out and asked impatiently, “Miss Cui Yu, Miss Liang mentioned earlier that you could teach me cultivation. When can we start roughly? I’m ready!”

Cui Yu paused for a moment, then said, “We can start now. However, I must first examine your constitution. Also, there’s no need for such formalities—Miss Jiangying, just call me by my name.”

Li Jiangying dragged a chair over and sat in front of her, smiling. “Since you want me to call you Cui Yu, shouldn’t you call me by my name too?”

“Very well, Jiangying.” Cui Yu nodded with a smile.

“That reminds me, something’s been bothering me. Why does Cui Yu address Miss Liang as ‘Your Highness’?”

Miss Liang coughed discreetly. Cui Yu explained, “So Jiangying didn’t know. Her Highness was originally a princess of the mortal Western Liang Kingdom. As I happen to hail from the same kingdom, I address her as ‘Your Highness’.”

So Miss Liang was once a princess! The identity carried a magical effect—Li Jiangying’s gaze towards Liang Yiman couldn’t help but carry a trace of wonder.

Liang Yiman raised a delicate hand, orchid-like, to brush her hair and smiled modestly. “All stale old tales, not worth mentioning.”

“How can you say that? Her Highness was a princess then, and she still is now.”

“Western Liang has already fallen. Why bring it up again?” Liang Yiman said, light as clouds.

Cui Yu shrugged, letting the matter drop. She turned to Li Jiangying and resumed business: “Jiangying, did you test your constitution using that stone wall?”

“I already checked. Fire Element.” Li Jiangying was inwardly nervous but outwardly calm. “My constitution seems quite pure. I know cultivation isn’t easy, but it’s fine—I’m mentally prepared.”

“Fire Element…” Hearing these two words, Cui Yu couldn’t help but frown. “May I test it once more, so I can see with my own eyes?”

“No problem.”

The three returned together to the Spirit-Capturing Stone Wall on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion. In front of both of them, Li Jiangying passed through the stone wall once more. Flames surged and billowed like blooming Phoenix Flowers, the brilliant fiery-red light reflected in Cui Yu’s eyes, lingering long after.

“Well?” Li Jiangying interrupted her contemplation.

“This…” Cui Yu looked troubled. “A Fire Element Body this pure… I fear the moment you step onto the path of cultivation, you will encounter pain unimaginable for ordinary people. Jiangying, do you truly understand what this means?”

“I understand.” Li Jiangying nodded. “Her Highness already told me. These past few days, I’ve also been reading and studying on my own. Rest assured, it’s a decision I made myself, and I will bear the consequences.”

“In that case, allow me to guide Jiangying’s cultivation.” Cui Yu said solemnly.

Cultivation is an act of defying heaven, far from simple. Considering the unique nature of Li Jiangying’s constitution, Cui Yu decided to first teach her the most basic method of circulating Devil Qi. This method only served to open the apertures; to delve deeper into cultivation, she would need to study other Heart Methods.

“Devil Qi is violent by nature, and Fire Element Devil Qi goes without saying. The more top-tier the Heart Method, the better one can avoid its influence. We should wait for Her Highness to awaken, open the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion, and select the most superior Fire Element Heart Method for cultivation,” Cui Yu advised.

Li Jiangying had no doubts about this and decided to wait for the Little Madwoman to wake up. As for how she’d opened the door earlier… that must have been an inelegant misunderstanding. Surely the Little Madwoman just happened to stand there, and the door opened by itself.

The basic method for circulating Devil Qi was very simple. After Cui Yu guided Li Jiangying through the cycle once, she found that Li Jiangying had already picked it up with surprising familiarity.

If not for her constitution, this person’s future potential would be limitless.

Cui Yu couldn’t quite say whether she pitied her or what. She cautioned Li Jiangying to cultivate slowly, not to rush, and to use this time to sense the feeling of Fire Element Devil Qi accumulating drop by drop. Once the accumulation was sufficient, she could start casting spells.

Li Jiangying simply sat cross-legged beside Li Yueying to cultivate. Cultivation, as it turned out, was much simpler than she’d imagined. Only when the Fire Element Devil Qi was drawn into her body did she feel a faint, prickling pain through the meridians in her limbs.

The process of circulating Devil Qi felt as natural as drinking water or eating. Li Jiangying hardly needed to divert attention to it and could cultivate at a rapid pace. There was just one issue: the Devil Qi she absorbed into her body was incredibly difficult to accumulate!

Li Jiangying sighed.

Over on the other side, seeing that Li Yueying was still unconscious and that Li Jiangying had closed her eyes and was steadily improving, Cui Yu left with a heavy expression alongside Liang Yiman.

“Is the Palace Protection Grand Array still holding?”

“It’s holding. If not for this array blocking them, the Moon Shadow Devil Palace would’ve been turned into a sieve by now.” Liang Yiman sighed.

Cui Yu was equally troubled. “Your Highness, tell me—is this Miss Jiangying truly the one Her Highness has been searching for?”

Liang Yiman replied, “Whether she is or isn’t isn’t for us to decide. You’ve just returned and don’t know yet, but ever since she arrived, Her Highness has been losing control less and less. These past few days, she hasn’t gone to the Myriad Devils Ancestor’ statue even once.”

Cui Yu was astonished. “Could it be that this time, the one we found is real?”

Liang Yiman nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

To be honest, everyone was a cultivator—heavenly signs and visions could be faked with enough effort. Even having secretly witnessed Li Jiangying descend from the heavens amidst a burst of radiance, Liang Yiman hadn’t believed it.

After all, previous imposters had staged far grander spectacles.

The reason Liang Yiman treated Li Jiangying well was entirely because of Li Yueying.

“If that’s the case, you still had me teach her cultivation? With that constitution of hers, one misstep and things will go wrong. When that happens, Her Highness will definitely, definitely…” Cui Yu seemed to recall something utterly terrifying, her breathing involuntarily disrupted.

Liang Yiman sneered. “Otherwise? She’s a mortal. Even without cultivating, how long can she resist the erosion of Devil Qi? You know her constitution as well. I fear with every single breath, Fire Element Devil Qi accumulates within her. She won’t live past thirty.”

A chill flashed through her eyes. Liang Yiman said in a low voice, “Not cultivating means death, sooner or later. Even if mortals live longer, how many more years can they have? She must cultivate! She must!”

She continued, “Her Highness’s current state is ideal. As long as she’s here, Her Highness can remain this way. Do you want Her Highness to go mad without a shred of reason? We’ve been here long enough—we know better than anyone how merciless Her Highness can be. Cui Yu, do you think, if this continues, how much longer can we survive under Her Highness’s command?!”

One question after another stirred up all those painful, struggling memories in Cui Yu’s mind. She clenched her fists, held her breath, and after a long while, trembling slightly, she unclenched. “I understand.”

They had wandered outside for so long before finally finding a refuge that could shelter them. Not one person—not Cui Yu, not Liang Yiman, not the others within the Devil Palace—wanted the day to come when Li Yueying became so insane she’d kill even her own people.

In cultivation, there is no sense of time. Once immersed, time passed even faster than when Li Jiangying was reading.

If not for the fact that her Dantian remained utterly empty, unable to sense the gradual accumulation of Devil Qi Cui Yu had described, Li Jiangying—who felt pretty good about herself—would have nearly believed she was a rare genius excelling in both scholarly and martial pursuits!

Suddenly, at some unknown hour, a thunderous crash sounded by her ear, jolting Li Jiangying out of her meditative state.

The moment she opened her eyes, she was startled by the person before her.

Li Yueying, who had been curled up on the bed digesting the pill, had somehow destroyed the bed entirely! She was now kneeling, hunched over in the center of the wreckage, her head bowed. Long hair cascaded down, obscuring most of her face, leaving only her sharp, slender chin visible through the gaps.

Her snake tail had vanished. In its place were a pair of long, straight, exquisitely sculpted legs, half-hidden, half-revealed by her long robe—immensely alluring.

But right now, Li Jiangying didn’t have a single lustful thought, because her instincts screamed: Danger!

The Devil Venerable knelt on hands and knees, her body trembling slightly as if enduring immense agony, even the veins on her arms bulging.

Yet even so, she didn’t make a single sound. If it were that whiny Little Madwoman, she’d have long since been whimpering and burrowing into Li Jiangying’s arms, begging for comfort.

She seemed… to have changed states again.

Li Jiangying’s mouth fell open. Subconsciously, she unfolded her crossed legs, ready to flee at any moment.

Just then, the Devil Venerable gradually calmed. Her hanging head suddenly turned towards Li Jiangying. She raised one hand and unhurriedly brushed aside the hair blocking her vision. Staring at Li Jiangying, she suddenly curved her lips into a smile—her gaze icy and filled with loathing:

“Li Jiangying. How dare you appear before me?”