Li Jiangying showed no mercy, forcing her to swallow the strip of jerky. She listened to her bend over in a violent coughing fit, then tossed the water and food beside her. “You’re already an old woman several thousand years old, yet you still don’t understand the principle of taking responsibility for your own actions?”
She grabbed Li Xiangshui’s hair and yanked her head up, forcing her to look at her. Seeing the humiliated look in her eyes, Li Jiangying sneered coldly. “Eat it, and live! And not just that—you will strive in your cultivation every day. Understood?”
Li Xiangshui’s chest heaved violently. She said angrily: “Cultivate for what? To remain a mere mortal anyway? What meaning is there in living like this?!”
“And yet I don’t see you dead.” Li Jiangying gave her absolutely no face. “Clearly, the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable still wants to live. Since our goals align, then cooperate with me properly.”
“How could our goals possibly align?” Li Xiangshui said hoarsely. “What could a mere mortal like you understand?!”
“I understand plenty.” Li Jiangying said. “I also want to be stronger than everyone else. Even if I have to walk a path a hundred times more difficult than anyone else’s, I will definitely walk it.”
Li Xiangshui bit her lip and did not answer.
Li Jiangying released her hand and sat down beside her, saying calmly: “Honestly, being a mortal with no cultivation base here is indeed very difficult. So I’m also looking for a way. I’m searching for a Body Tempering Technique. You’re the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable, with broader knowledge than me. Do you know of this cultivation method?”
Li Xiangshui lowered her head and remained silent for a long time. Finally, she suddenly picked up the water skin from the ground, uncorked it, and took several harsh gulps. She put it down, wiped her mouth. “Of course I know. Body Tempering Techniques are mostly practiced by Demon Cultivators in the initial stages. Some people are also forced down this path because their Dantian is damaged. If you want to cultivate a Body Tempering Technique, why not ask Li Yueying? She’s a Demon; she’d know naturally.”
Li Jiangying turned her head and looked at her expressionlessly. “Because you are my slave. So some words, I’m only saying to you.”
Li Xiangshui: “You don’t need to keep repeating that.”
Li Jiangying said, “A Yue… doesn’t actually want me to become strong.”
Li Xiangshui was stunned.
Li Jiangying shrugged and said, “Come on, tell me what you know. After all, you understand if I can’t get stronger, you’ll be stuck as a mortal for life.”
Li Xiangshui cast an odd look towards the distant cliff, where the snake demon lay sprawled, picking flowers while secretly scheming to trip up Jiang Sujin. She then looked at her own tormentor, her love rival, and a subtle shift occurred in her mood.
She cleared her throat and said, “This Venerable One doesn’t cultivate such crude arts. How would I know specific mental techniques? But Body Tempering Arts are nothing more than changing the place where Devil Qi is stored—from the Dantian to the physical body. Bone, flesh, skin—all can contain Devil Qi. The more Devil Qi the shell holds, the stronger it becomes through tempering.”
Li Jiangying touched her chin thoughtfully and nodded. “No wonder I feel my physical quality has improved so much. Seems that even without intentional body tempering, the circulation of Devil Qi still tempers the body.”
“Naturally. Otherwise, why would we cultivators’ physiques improve with higher cultivation? However, cultivators of the same level, the body of a Body Cultivator is always tougher than a Magic Cultivator’s. But the path of Body Cultivation is incredibly difficult to walk. Those who can reach Ascension are as rare as phoenix feathers.”
At this, Li Xiangshui shook her head. “I don’t know much more than this. It’s better to ask around once we reach Flying Swallow Capital.”
“Mm.” Li Jiangying nodded. “Do you have an invitation for the auction?”
“I have one, back at the City Lord Manor.” Li Xiangshui said coldly. “This Venerable One wouldn’t carry such a thing around. And even if I did, I can’t retrieve it now.”
Li Jiangying nodded in agreement. “In that case, tell me the story of you and A Yue.”
Li Xiangshui: “On what grounds?!”
Li Jiangying said, eerily: “On the grounds that I am your master.”
Li Xiangshui: “…”
Her past with Li Yueying wasn’t really anything worth telling. It was a very cliché story.
About three thousand years ago, when Li Xiangshui was still weak and fighting over a treasure, she offended a local expert. Forced to flee to the already declining Moon Shadow Devil Palace, she begged Li Yueying to take her in, offering to become a subordinate of the palace.
Li Yueying agreed, and thus Li Xiangshui was able to peacefully pass a century of time. She admired this powerful woman and constantly strove to get closer to her. Occasionally, when the Moon Shadow Devil Venerable was in a delirious state, she would quietly stare at Li Xiangshui in a daze. Li Xiangshui thought she was special. She was overjoyed, and gradually, improper feelings arose.
She thought: it didn’t matter that she was mad. She could stay by her side and slowly help her heal. She could accept all her Heart Devils and suffering. She didn’t mind at all that the current Moon Shadow Devil Palace paled in comparison to other places.
So Li Xiangshui began actively recruiting new subordinates, expanding territory, collecting treasures, pills, and techniques. She wanted the Moon Shadow Devil Palace to regain the glory it had when first founded.
But Li Yueying was ungrateful. She seemed to have no great interest in anything, except going to Primal Chaos Square every day to practice saber techniques and wait for someone.
It was a beautiful night, the Devil Domain’s New Year. Li Xiangshui held a banquet, but Li Yueying stood alone leaning on a high tower’s railing, gazing at the moon.
She brought Drunk in Spring Wind to her side and, with the help of alcohol, poured out her heart. Yet Li Yueying just stared at her blankly and suddenly asked, “You like me too. Why doesn’t she?”
Li Xiangshui was truly drunk, mistakenly believing that her sincerity and companionship could surpass someone long gone. She tried to seduce her but was violently pushed away. Everything she had given, in the end, only received a single “Get out.”
And so Li Xiangshui got out. Upon sobering up, she realized with profound clarity that without reaching her height, she would never be able to possess her. Later, she became the Moon-Chasing Devil Venerable, possessing her own power and status. She heard the Moon Shadow Devil Palace becoming more and more dilapidated. She knew the day when she would finally get that snake demon wasn’t far off.
And then, later, Li Jiangying appeared.
Everything turned to foam.
Li Xiangshui looked coldly at Li Jiangying. Omitting her own inner turmoil and the exceedingly awkward attempted seduction, she simplified the entire story and recounted it as if it were nothing.
Li Jiangying listened, hands on her knees, head deeply bowed, retreating into her own world.
“What, are you jealous that This Venerable One knew A Yue so much earlier than you?” Li Xiangshui brushed back her hair, a smug smile curving her lips. “Don’t be jealous, Little Ying Suanli. After all, you’re just a fraud.”
Li Jiangying: “What you say isn’t wrong, but why is it so punchable?”
From Li Xiangshui’s words, one could deduce that the real person Li Jiangying was based on must have existed at least three thousand years ago. Given that a mortal’s lifespan was a hundred years at best, Li Jiangying indeed couldn’t possibly be the real one.
Li Jiangying scratched her head, feeling a bit awkward. Honestly, with the little madwoman clinging to her, depending on her, liking her so much all day, Li Jiangying had, in fact, entertained the thought: perhaps she really was the person she was looking for. Anyway, all the past was forgotten—hell if she knew who she was.
But lifespan was an insurmountable chasm laid out before her. Li Jiangying pondered it seriously and couldn’t help slapping her thigh. “Whether I’m a fraud or not is a separate matter. But hearing that Xiangshui here kept her company for centuries and was still ignored—ah, it truly makes one, as your master, so heartbroken I could weep.”
Li Xiangshui: “I should have just killed you back then.”
Li Jiangying smiled. “Then you would not have lived to this day either. Because Li Yueying would definitely have avenged her.”
Li Jiangying cleared her throat lightly. “Enough, forget this for now. Hurry up and eat. After you’re done, turn around so I can check your wound.”
Li Xiangshui tensed, pulling her black robe tighter around herself. “What are you planning to do?!”
“Apply medicine, of course.” Li Jiangying spread her hands. “What did you think I was going to do?”
Li Xiangshui fiercely warned her with a glare before slowly turning around and unfastening the draped robe. They had fled the inn in such a hurry, and Li Xiangshui was too embarrassed to ask them for anything, so she was still wearing the tattered clothes.
The night before, a roof beam had fallen, a wall collapsed, and dust had filled the air, clinging to her skin. Added to a whole day of nonstop travel, Li Xiangshui now looked utterly wretched.
The wounds on her back, under the effect of the medicine, were slowly starting to heal, but the recovery was extremely slow. Now, the four deep claw marks looked ferocious and terrifying. Li Jiangying frowned, noticing tiny grains of sand had gotten into the wounds.
She held a clean cloth, leaned forward, and began meticulously cleaning the wound. Li Xiangshui made no sound, her lower lip bitten tight, enduring the sensation of her detested love rival doing as she pleased on her back.
Li Jiangying finally cleaned it. She took out the ointment and used her fingers to apply it.
However, she should have long guessed that there was always a snake who would appear at the most inopportune moment. A small head suddenly squeezed in between them from the side. Li Yueying stared at Li Jiangying with a gaze filled with accusation.
In this moment, Li Jiangying seemed to have transformed into a cheating scumbag caught by the legal wife, her entire being engulfed in the awkwardness of being caught in the act.
The snake demon stood beside them, forcefully wedging her head and shoulders in. “It’s okay. Yingying, it’s okay.” Li Yueying sniffled, her big, round eyes glistening with moisture. She feigned magnanimity but couldn’t help sobbing.
“It’s all the fox spirit’s fault. I know. Yingying still likes me the most… wuuu.”
As she finished speaking, the snake tail hooked around Li Xiangshui’s waist with lightning speed, lifted, and placed—draping her over a tree branch.
Li Xiangshui / Li Jiangying: “…”
Having done this, the snake demon centered her head and leaned closer to Li Jiangying’s face.
Li Jiangying looked expressionlessly at the little madwoman, then at the little slave hanging from the tree, and couldn’t help but wonder if all Devil Venerables in the Devil Domain were this ridiculous.
Li Xiangshui glared hatefully at Li Jiangying and Li Yueying, just about to curse them as a pair of dogs, but then seemed to remember something and shut her mouth.
Li Jiangying sighed softly. “Don’t cause trouble.”
The little madwoman’s sharp teeth bit into her thin lip. After much tormenting, her mouth became as red and moist as jelly. She pitifully raised her claws, holding a bundle of purplish-white, thorny flowers. “Yingying, I picked so many flowers. All for you. I want a reward.”
Want a reward, huh.
Li Jiangying considered this, then raised her hand and rubbed her head. The little madwoman shut her eyes in bliss, pushing her luck. “Not enough, not enough.”
She wanted to burrow into her arms, nestling against the soft, warm Jiangying. She also wanted to coil her entire self around her, making sure no bad woman or fox spirit could touch her.
But her Yingying covered her eyes with a hand. The world instantly went dark.
“Yingying…” The little madwoman whined.
Then, a dry yet soft sensation landed on her forehead, fleeting and gone in a flash.
