With a flick of her wrist, Ye Luqing stored the Seven Emotions Branch back into the storage dharma artifact at her waist.
Pei Ruyi instantly froze. The hazy, bewildering fog that had shrouded her mind vanished with it, and clear Sword Intent once more took hold of her Spiritual Platform.
She hurriedly retracted her soft tongue and frantically wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve. She then shot to her feet, glaring furiously at the cyan-haired girl across from her.
“Ye Luqing! What did you do to me?!”
“Senior Sister Pei misunderstands. I didn’t do anything,” Ye Luqing replied, putting on a pitiful, delicate act, as if she were the one being bullied.
“If I must say I did something… perhaps I spoke a few truths? About Sword Bone, Charm Bone, and the like?”
Ye Luqing raised her eyes slightly and looked at Pei Ruyi with a playful glint.
“You—!”
Pei Ruyi’s finger trembled as she pointed at Ye Luqing, but she couldn’t utter a single word in rebuttal.
How strange. Deep within, she was clearly raging to the extreme, yet every time her anger climbed to its peak, it would fall back down as if edge-blocked.
A curve of triumph flickered at the corner of Ye Luqing’s lips.
Ever since Elder Xue of Cauldron Peak had gifted her those pills, she had been pondering the correct usage of the “Magnetic Charm” title.
One effect of “Magnetic Charm” was that the favorability increased by charm value could offset hatred value.
This effect was simply perfect for teasing a girl like Pei Ruyi, whose Dao heart had a crack in it.
“I just wanted to play a little game with Senior Sister Pei. Why is Senior Sister Pei so angry?”
“And as for the tongue-sticking-out thing… if Senior Sister Pei didn’t like it, she didn’t have to follow my instructions, you know.”
“Could it be that, despite acting so furious right now, Senior Sister Pei is actually someone who says one thing but means another?”
“In other words, Senior Sister Pei actually… really enjoys being ordered around and dominated by me?”
Boom!
Ye Luqing’s words exploded in Pei Ruyi’s mind like a great tolling bell.
Pei Ruyi staggered half a step back, collapsing into the chair. She looked up at Ye Luqing with a gaze that was complicated and full of disbelief.
“I…”
How is that possible?
How could she enjoy being treated like this by Ye Luqing?
But… if that wasn’t the case, then she should have rebuked her with the utmost revulsion, not endured the other’s harassment again and again, both in body and spirit.
Was it really just as Ye Luqing had said? That outwardly, she seemed to be a body of Sword Bone, but inwardly, she was a body of Charm Bone, thirsting to be commanded by the other?
Memories of being controlled by her family during childhood slowly surged up. Pei Ruyi suddenly felt as if she were sinking into the sea, unable to breathe. Yet within that suffocation, it spawned a pleasure so addictive that she craved it.
Watching Pei Ruyi’s breathing grow heavier, her pupils trembling with inner turmoil, Ye Luqing was immensely satisfied.
She’d finally taken the bait.
Within the Six Desires Triggering Array, no matter how powerful the effects of her training were, they were all false.
Only by making Pei Ruyi doubt herself and lose herself in a normal state, unaffected by the array—thus planting a seed of submission—could she ultimately achieve a result that satisfied her.
The Six Desires Triggering Array only created a temporary state. If she relied on the array for too long, the moment its effects dissipated, Pei Ruyi would enter a brief state of post-clarity, and her entire being would snap out of it in an instant.
Now, Pei Ruyi was already being influenced by her conditioning even in a normal state. It was only a matter of time before this seed took root and sprouted.
Finally, she would use this successful experience and replicate it on Xiao Qingxuan, making that Destined Female Lead someone who would be utterly, obsessively infatuated with her.
After fully dominating Xiao Qingxuan, she could make the other turn blackened whenever she wanted, and the other would turn blackened.
Perfect.
At that thought, Ye Luqing valued Pei Ruyi, this precious test subject, even more.
Whether she could capture Xiao Qingxuan in one fell swoop all depended on Pei Ruyi’s preliminary experiment.
She stepped forward, cupped Pei Ruyi’s exquisite, pretty face in both hands, and stared into those flustered, ice-blue eyes.
“Senior Sister Pei seems a little tired. Let’s call it a day here.”
Ye Luqing had a premonition that if she played further, Pei Ruyi might be broken by her. That would be a loss worse than gaining nothing.
“But…”
Amidst Pei Ruyi’s bewildered and somewhat hesitant gaze, Ye Luqing pulled her up.
“A-Qing will always welcome Senior Sister Pei here to fulfill her agreement.”
She stood on her tiptoes, leaned close to Pei Ruyi’s ear, and whispered softly:
“If you find yourself thirsting for A-Qing’s commands, you’re more than welcome to come again tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Pei Ruyi’s pretty face flushed red. Her whole body trembled, as if a switch had been triggered.
After a moment, she nodded and softly uttered four words.
“I understand…”
…………
Pei Ruyi trudged down the mountain in a daze, her entire person as if she had lost her soul.
“Yo, Senior Sister Pei.”
The one addressed as Pei Ruyi jolted sharply and hurriedly looked back.
When she saw clearly who it was, she finally let out a breath of relief.
“Hua Sheng… it’s you…”
“How many times do I have to say, don’t call me senior sister.”
Seeing her friend from the same Heavenly Sword Peak cohort, Pei Ruyi instantly felt a trace of warmth in her heart, slightly dispelling the shadow of being dominated by Ye Luqing.
As if suddenly thinking of something, Pei Ruyi asked:
“What are you doing at Azure Sky Peak?”
He was similar to her—the type of sword cultivator who wouldn’t leave Heavenly Sword Peak unless necessary.
At most, he’d go to Myriad Affairs Peak to pick up a mission or to Scripture Peak to exchange for techniques and divine abilities. Someone like him normally wouldn’t set half a foot on a place like Azure Sky Peak for no reason.
Hearing this, Hua Sheng scratched his head sheepishly.
“Didn’t I injure an inner disciple of Azure Sky Peak yesterday? I came to see how his injuries were doing.”
Pei Ruyi froze for a moment, then immediately understood.
When Hua Sheng injured fellow disciples during challenge matches in the past, she’d never seen him so concerned about any of them. Blades and swords had no eyes; if they were injured, they’d admit their skills were inferior, accept their lot, and go lick their wounds alone.
Hua Sheng had come to Azure Sky Peak today because, in truth, he had been worried about her going to see Ye Luqing.
Pei Ruyi felt a warmth in her heart. She turned her head and gave Hua Sheng a faint smile.
“Hua Sheng, thank you.”
A rare smile curved on the girl’s usually aloof face, as if ten-thousand-year-old black ice that had never thawed had suddenly melted into a clear, warm spring.
Hua Sheng was instantly stunned. When had he ever seen Pei Ruyi so gentle?
The two of them were close in strength. Ever since enrolling, in order to compete for supremacy, they had clashed who knew how many times. Almost every bout ended only when blood was drawn.
Over the years, if his impression of Pei Ruyi wasn’t that of a ferocious demon, it was at least that of a cold-hearted, merciless sword maniac.
Most of Heavenly Sword Peak’s disciples were sword maniacs, but Pei Ruyi was one of the more emotionless ones among them.
Hua Sheng had once thought that, aside from head disciple Xiao Qingxuan, Pei Ruyi was the most suitable candidate to inherit the Emotionless Sword Dao.
But seeing her today, he actually felt that this was the real Pei Ruyi. The old one had just been imitating Xiao Qingxuan.
He scratched his head, as if having made a firm resolution, and took a spirit sword out from his storage dharma artifact.
“I don’t think I’ve congratulated you yet on becoming a true disciple?”
“So… this sword is my gift to you.”
It was a Profound-Tier Superior spirit sword, perfectly suited for a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.
“No, this is too precious.”
Pei Ruyi reflexively refused, but Hua Sheng forcefully stuffed it into her hands.
“I’m still stuck at the Golden Core stage right now. I’m afraid there’s no hope of breaking through before the Grand Tournament.”
“Take this sword for now. When I break through to Nascent Soul, remember to gift me a fine sword too.”
Hearing this, Pei Ruyi no longer declined.
Feeling the searing warmth of this sword, she inexplicably felt a sense of peace.
“Mm. I’ll remember that.”
Watching Pei Ruyi accept the sword, Hua Sheng’s heart immediately relaxed considerably.
“Let’s go. Back to Heavenly Sword Peak.”
Watching Hua Sheng’s lighthearted back, Pei Ruyi sighed in her heart.
They had vied against each other for six years. Pei Ruyi naturally understood Hua Sheng’s small hint of personal intent.
Only, she was afraid she would be unable to respond to him.
“I’m sorry…”
As if guided by some malevolent spirit, Pei Ruyi stored the spirit sword Hua Sheng had given her into her storage dharma artifact, allowing the coldness of Ye Luqing’s commands to reclaim her body.
The scenes of the two of them sparring head-on over the past six years were vivid before her eyes, only to be instantly consumed and replaced by those brief moments of pleasure from being trained by Ye Luqing.
This true disciple of Heavenly Sword Peak, shining and dazzling on the outside, had already become filthy and murky within.
“The me right now… is no longer worthy of your concern.”
