Chapter 39

I just knew it. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, unless that lunch—is poisoned!

Liuli gasped sharply, her eyes rolling back as she collapsed weakly backward.

She didn’t succeed, naturally, since Tang Shikou’s arm was supporting her back.

Liuli faintly came to, pressing a hand to her forehead. She opened her eyes, her expression one of utter bewilderment. “Who am I? Where am I? Oh dear, I just remembered I should go home. This friend here, please let go of me first. Until we meet again, if fate allows.”

Tang Shikou watched her, a half-smile playing on her lips.

Liuli shuddered, two streams of noodle-like tears rolling down her face. “What do you want?”

Who was this? This was the most terrifying, most ruthless woman in the first million words of this book! An existence utterly merciless to everyone except the male lead, an absolute final BOSS!

The very same terrifying woman who kidnapped Xue Liuli, lured Feng Xiwu into a rescue alone, and then killed her!

Liuli panicked. She clearly remembered Tang Shikou didn’t appear this early in the story. What was going on? Was it because she kept meddling with the plot that things turned out this way?!

Even more panicking was that the half-month deadline Feng Xiwu promised had long since passed. Liuli had been grumbling internally about why Shizun hadn’t arrived yet. Now, she wished with all her heart that she would never come!

Tang Shikou seemed slightly surprised, using a finger to wipe the tears from Liuli’s face. “Crying?”

Liuli washed her face with the hot spring water. The more she washed, the wetter her face became. In a fit of self-abandonment, she mumbled, “Naturally prone to tears.”

Tang Shikou laughed. “What are you afraid of? Aren’t you my dear little sister?”

Liuli’s smile was strained. “I guess… so.”

“Though, this sister is indeed curious. How did little sister know this sister’s name?” Tang Shikou crooked her finger, tapping Liuli lightly on the tip of her nose as if she truly were a kindly older sister.

Liuli looked at her hopefully. “Actually, I didn’t know. I just got lucky by chance. Can you believe that?”

Tang Shikou’s smile was profoundly meaningful. “Tang Shishi?”

Liuli wept. “I was wrong.”

I was wrong. I never should have used that name. I was wrong. I never should have gone down the mountain to train. No, I never should have read this harem novel in the first place! If I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have stayed up angrily posting comments, wouldn’t have carelessly transmigrated without warning, and wouldn’t be here now… being bullied by this Big Sister!

Liuli: “I’m such a jinx.”

To coax Feng Xiwu into coming down the mountain with her, she’d said she dreamed of being bullied by a beautiful older sister. It was nonsense, but now it had come true…

Liuli forced a smile. “Have you ever heard a saying?”

“Hmm?”

“Put down the butcher’s knife, and become a Buddha on the spot.” Liuli said it with utmost sincerity.

Tang Shikou scoffed. “What’s so good about becoming a Buddha? Being a Devil, free and unrestrained, that’s the way to go.”

Liuli couldn’t hold out any longer. Biting her lip, she suddenly wrenched free of the woman’s arm, her expression resolute. “Kill me or flay me, just do it already!”

Tang Shikou raised a slender eyebrow. “My dear little sister, how could this sister bear to kill or flay you?”

“Then what do you want!”

She clearly knew she was an imposter, yet treated her with this bizarre attitude, even bringing her back here. There was definitely a scheme, absolutely a scheme!

“Me, ah.” Tang Shikou licked her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. “Isn’t it only natural for a sister to bring her little sister home? But now, this sister finds herself wanting to know little sister’s secrets.”

Before this dangerous woman, Liuli’s heart hadn’t dared to relax for a single moment.

“What secrets? I have no secrets!”

Tang Shikou’s smile gradually darkened. “My dear little sister, this sister has plenty of ways to make you speak the truth. It’s just that I don’t wish to harm you. Do you understand?”

“Understood, understood!” Liuli nodded frantically, while inwardly cursing: You? Not wanting to harm me? Whoever believes that is haunted by a ghost!

The book described how this Devil Woman Tang Shikou tortured Xue Liuli in every possible way to force Feng Xiwu’s hand. Liuli hadn’t forgotten any of it!

Tang Shikou caressed Liuli’s cheek, as if sighing. “Then tell me. How did little sister come to know my name?”

Liuli: “It’s actually like this. In Mulberry City, I met a fortune-telling old grandpa with a white beard. He insisted on reading my fortune. I thought, since it’s free, why not? So I got a reading. The old grandpa told me: ‘You and the Black Lotus Sect Hierarch Tang Shikou are fated to meet.’ Oh my god, I swear, I immediately tried to ask him how he knew the great and mighty Hierarch’s name, but he ran too fast, I couldn’t catch up. Sigh! But, that fortune was surprisingly accurate, hahahaha…”

Liuli laughed dryly.

Tang Shikou looked at her coldly, then suddenly stood up from the water. The soaked garment fell away with gravity and splashing water. Liuli whipped her head around—CRACK. Oh no, she’d twisted her neck!

Utterly unconcerned, Tang Shikou stepped out of the bath naked. With a casual wave of her hand, she donned a black brocade robe shimmering with a soft glow. But the robe was empty underneath; every step she took revealed long, shapely, pale legs. Liuli couldn’t help but peek through her fingers.

Stealing glances while chanting internally: She’s a devil, don’t fall for it!

“Listening to this, it seems it was indeed fate. Then little sister can just stay here nicely and keep this sister company. However…”

The word “however” made Liuli instinctively shrink her neck.

“However, this sister has no little sister with such low cultivation. For these next few days, little sister should think of nothing else, just focus on cultivating properly!”

The aura of danger surrounding the woman gradually receded. Liuli soaked in the warm hot spring, leaning weakly against the edge of the pool.

She had actually managed to muddle through this. Simply unbelievable.

The more Liuli thought about it, the more wrong it felt. The woman’s attitude toward her was excessively strange. Liuli climbed out of the hot spring and chased after her. “Sister, wait!”

“What else is there?”

Through the drifting mist, Tang Shikou’s voice came from afar.

Liuli asked her: “Do you know who I am?”

A light laugh: “Aren’t you my good little sister?”

“…What about the two girls who came with me? Where are they now?”

“They? Are resting right now.”

Liuli urgently said, “I want to see them!”

“My dear little sister, you just focus on cultivating obediently. When your cultivation breaks through to the Golden Core stage, this sister will take you to see them.”

After that, Tang Shikou never responded to Liuli again.

Liuli left the hot spring pool. Bi He was waiting for her at the door.

“Lady Shishi, please come with me.”

Liuli took a deep breath, getting into character. “Hmph, I am the Hierarch’s own little sister! I don’t care what you say, first give me a tour!”

The corner of Bi He’s mouth twitched. She was utterly speechless at this shameless woman. But the Hierarch had ordered her to humor her, so Bi He had no choice but to lead Liuli around the Black Lotus Sect.

Liuli, verbally claiming she was sightseeing and playing, was actually secretly memorizing the terrain.

Bi He only took her around the nearby area before saying, “Young lady, you should go back and cultivate soon.”

For some reason, Liuli felt Tang Shikou was unusually concerned about her cultivation level. Liuli deliberately probed: “But I’ve recently hit a bottleneck. No matter how I train, I can’t improve.”

Bi He frowned lightly. “If that’s the case, I will naturally report it to the Master.”

Liuli was once again confined to the room where she first woke up. The room was very large, filled with everything one could need. Liuli crouched on a chair, cracking melon seeds. Eating and worrying simultaneously, she took out the box of Little Cloth Dolls from her Storage Ring and stroked them, her eyebrows drooping sadly:

“Feng Xiwu, oh Feng Xiwu, please, don’t you dare come.”

…

Tang Shikou was indeed very concerned about Liuli’s cultivation.

When the pile of seed shells Liuli had cracked grew into a small mountain, Tang Shikou walked into her room with a smile. Without even knocking, she just entered directly like that.

“Is there something little sister doesn’t understand? Tell me, and Sister will help you.”

Tang Shikou sat down beside her, playing the part of the amiable, loving older sister. With her head meekly bowed, Liuli asked her several questions in a row, even deliberately asking some rather foolish ones.

As Tang Shikou answered, she grew visibly impatient, yet still feigned patience in her explanations.

Yep, this woman definitely has an ulterior motive!

That eager, expectant hope for her cultivation to increase quickly—it was like a farmer looking at a pig in its pen, hoping it fattens up quickly. More meat meant time for slaughter!

Liuli’s heart was clogged with misery.

Finally, after Liuli played dumb yet again, Tang Shikou stood up impatiently, flicking her sleeve. “That’s enough for today. Since little sister has difficulties in her cultivation, this sister will naturally find a way to help.”

…

Here, there was no distinction between day and night. Liuli wasn’t sure what time of day it was anymore. She only knew that after waking up and eating a meal, Bi He came to knock on the door, saying:

“Lady Shishi, the Master requests your presence.”

With a worried, gloomy expression, Liuli followed behind her and asked, “Did she say what she wanted?”

Bi He replied, “The Master said she wanted to take the young lady to see an acquaintance.”

Acquaintance?? Liuli’s first thought was Ye Zhenzhen and Lin Mengxian. But thinking it over carefully, there was no way she’d let her see them so easily.

Bi He led Liuli to a palace even larger and more luxurious than where she was staying. This palace’s color scheme was black and red, far more imposing than the pink, girly aesthetic of Liuli’s quarters.

Liuli had just entered when she heard Tang Shikou’s lazy voice drawl out: “My dear little sister, come quickly. See what gift Sister has brought you.”

An ominous premonition rose in Liuli’s heart. She rounded the front hall and headed towards the back—Oh crap! Long Jingxing!

She had never, ever imagined the so-called acquaintance would be Long Jingxing!

Tang Shikou, dressed in a black gauze robe, reclined gracefully on her side upon a soft daybed. In front of the daybed was a low table. Long Jingxing was kneeling on the opposite side of the low table.

The last time she’d seen Long Jingxing was before the new year. Looking at the exceptionally gaunt, sinister-faced Long Jingxing now, Liuli almost thought she’d mistaken him for someone else.

Tang Shikou patted the spot in front of her. “Come here, sit.”

Liuli resisted. “I think standing is just fine. Sitting for too long hurts the back.”

Tang Shikou: “Hmm?”

“Standing too long is even more tiring. Sister, wait for me, I’m coming!” Liuli dashed over in a few steps and plopped down right in front of Tang Shikou with such force that the daybed trembled.

Liuli took a deep breath, put on an innocent expression, and looked at Long Jingxing. “Sister, who is this? I dislike stinky men more than anything in this life. Can I return this gift?”

Before Tang Shikou could speak, Long Jingxing let out a vicious, cold laugh. “Xue Liuli, stop playing dumb. It was always ‘Brother Jingxing’ this, ‘Brother Jingxing’ that in the past. Now that I’m down and out, you don’t recognize me? Hah! A dragon stranded in shallow water is mocked by shrimp; a tiger fallen to the plains is bullied by dogs!”

Liuli: “…”

Bro, you haven’t misremembered, have you? I’d already distanced myself from you before your Spiritual Root was shattered!

Liuli wanted to argue a few words, but unexpectedly, a sharp sound of rushing wind came from beside her ear, followed immediately by a loud SLAP. Long Jingxing’s head snapped to the side, a red mark rapidly swelling on his left cheek.

It turned out Tang Shikou had flicked her sleeve, slapping him across the face from a distance!

“My little sister, how dare a wretch like you lecture her.” Tang Shikou said slowly.