Chapter 14

Lu Xi had taken over this body later on, but she had inherited all of the original owner’s memories. Moreover, for some reason—perhaps something 001 had done—she could even feel the various emotions the original owner had once experienced.

Thus, even though this was technically her first time meeting Zhi Wu, Lu Xi could draw the right responses from those emotions amid Zhi Wu’s playful banter and scoldings.

She clapped a hand on Zhi Wu’s back and silently pushed her away. Lu Xi tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Lady Zhi Wu, if you have the leisure to chat idly with us, you should send people to the lower realms right away to investigate the demonic beasts running amok.”

Priorities came first, and Zhi Wu knew that much.

“There’s also that servant girl from White Orchid Hall—we can’t let her off the hook. She brought us up to the Heavenly Realm but didn’t report it right away. There must be more to it…”

Lu Xi’s reminder stopped there. With Fu Lan Cen present, she couldn’t reveal too much, lest the girl realize how well-acquainted she and Zhi Wu were.

Hearing this, Zhi Wu shelved her curiosity about “Lan Cen” for the moment and stopped wasting time. She headed off personally to look into the matter.

Amid rustling leaves and the gently flowing brook, the clearing outside the wooden cabin was empty in the blink of an eye, leaving only Lu Xi and Fu Lan Cen behind.

The Ninth Heaven knew no true alternation of day and night—simply half a day of dimmer skies within each cycle, when the immortals rested.

Now, the surroundings had quietly darkened. The fish in the brook lazily swam beneath the rocks to rest.

Though Lu Xi wasn’t sleepy, her mortal habits demanded sleep. She stepped toward the cabin door, but hearing no footsteps behind her, she paused with a hand on the frame and glanced back at Fu Lan Cen, who was hesitating in place. “Why aren’t you following?”

“You…” Fu Lan Cen glanced around, then slowly looked toward Lu Xi leaning in the doorway. Her expression was exceedingly complicated. “Why does Lady Zhi Wu listen to you like that?”

Lu Xi put on a solemn face. “Lady Zhi Wu is an ancient divine beast, brimming with righteous aura and compassion for all living things in the world. Naturally, she prioritizes the welfare of countless beings. She was only chatting with us for so long to get more details from our mouths.”

“Even if I hadn’t reminded her, she wouldn’t have kept talking with us. So she didn’t go because she listened to me—do you understand?”

This impeccably righteous speech left Fu Lan Cen thoroughly bamboozled. Just as Lu Xi thought she’d glossed over the matter, the girl narrowed her eyes, a glint of lingering doubt in them. “You know Lady Zhi Wu?”

Fu Lan Cen stared intently at the woman’s half-lidded eyes. She just had the nagging feeling that the atmosphere between Lady Zhi Wu and Lu Xi earlier had been awfully strange…

“Aren’t we acquainted now?” Lu Xi replied evasively again. To keep Fu Lan Cen from dwelling on it, she walked straight over, grasped the girl’s slender white wrist, and pulled her into the cabin. “What we should be doing now is resting up—especially you. Get some good sleep to slowly recover the essence you’ve lost.”

Before Fu Lan Cen could react, Lu Xi had led her to the side of the cabin’s lone bed. With a wave of her hand, she replaced the bedding and pillows with ones infused with a familiar scent. Then she wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulders and tumbled them both into the soft covers.

“Sleep.”

Lu Xi pulled the quilt up and buried her head, drifting off to sleep in short order.

The girl lying supine beside her, however, remained stunned for a long while. Suddenly, her face flushed crimson. She turned her head slowly, only to find herself pressed extremely close to Lu Xi—a little nearer, and her lips would brush Lu Xi’s cheek…

The proximity suddenly dispelled the shyness in her heart. She inched closer bit by bit, gazing at Lu Xi’s delicate face. Lu Xi’s straight nose cast a shadow across her profile in the dim light, her curled lashes magnifying her feminine beauty.

Fu Lan Cen watched quietly.

The more she interacted with Lu Xi, the more she felt the woman wasn’t an ordinary cultivator. Lu Xi had seemed like some hidden immortal at first, but watching her move so calmly within Cloud-Dispelling Palace, her status might be even higher than Fu Lan Cen had imagined…

It was a pity she was born too late and too young. Her knowledge of ancient deities long gone and their companions was woefully lacking, so she truly had no guess as to Lu Xi’s identity.

But whoever she was, she probably had no schemes against a nobody like her. After all, someone who knew Lady Zhi Wu wouldn’t bother with a small fry like that.

“So, why are you helping me?” Unable to puzzle it out, she settled back onto her own pillow. Her voice was faint, like a murmur on the edge of sleep.

…

The next morning.

Outside the opulently appointed White Orchid Hall, white orchid petals drifted on the wind, twirling through the air before blanketing the gold-inlaid stone paths. Some slid onto the shoulders of the servant girl who had been kneeling there for ages.

Xia Xin had been made to kneel the entire night. Even with her immortal body, enduring a full evening of biting cold wind had taken its toll. Her frame trembled faintly as another white orchid petal tumbled from her shoulder, shattering into fragments on the ground.

She figured another hour would do it—then she could finally close her eyes and rest.

But before that hour was up, a commotion erupted behind her.

It drew steadily nearer, until it seemed to stop right beside her.

Laboriously turning her head, she saw two guards from Cloud-Dispelling Palace approaching—as if they meant to seize her?!

“Even if you’re from Cloud-Dispelling Palace, without Madame’s orders, you can’t just barge into the hall like this! Our madame hasn’t risen yet—you… you’re too brazen!” A little maidservant who had hurried after them wailed, trying desperately to drag the guards away.

But they were of too low a station to truly offend Cloud-Dispelling Palace. Without much resistance, the guards took hold of the trembling, frail Xia Xin on her knees.

“We were investigating last night’s unauthorized intrusion into the Ninth Heaven. It seems Miss Xia Xin isn’t entirely innocent, so we’re just taking her in for questioning. We won’t harm her or disturb your madame.” One of the Cloud-Dispelling Palace guards brushed aside the White Orchid Hall attendants, his tone flat. “As for all of you, your nonstop racket probably already woke her up.”

Having tossed out that inflammatory remark, the guards seized the moment of the little maids’ stunned silence to hoist the limp Xia Xin and march off, vanishing in a flash.

They returned to Cloud-Dispelling Palace hauling Xia Xin openly and boldly. Everyone they passed widened their eyes in shock, then buzzed with excitement, inquiring far and wide about the shocking event.

Before long, word that Cloud-Dispelling Palace had taken away the God Venerable’s Wife’s personal maidservant had spread like wildfire throughout the Ninth Heaven.

Everyone was abuzz with curiosity: Had Xia Xin offended someone at Cloud-Dispelling Palace? Or had the God Venerable’s Wife herself? Otherwise, given Lady Zhi Wu’s usual hands-off attitude, why would she bother with something so beneath her notice?

Yet after gossiping all morning, no one unearthed firm details—only vague rumors that Xia Xin had concealed something and provoked Lady Zhi Wu’s ire.

“Here, we’ve brought the person. She’s inside.” Zhi Wu lounged lazily against a tree trunk, jerking her chin toward a nearby cave mouth. “Ask her whatever you need. If she won’t answer, just call for me—I’ll give her a good thrashing…”

“Stop right there.” Lu Xi hadn’t expected that even after all these years, Zhi Wu still handled things so impulsively. She’d snatched Xia Xin back without a thought for repercussions!

Staring steadily at the yawning Zhi Wu, Lu Xi spoke with perfect composure: “I don’t feel like beating her right now. But you? Very much.”