Chapter 43: Piercing the Truth – Bo Xuenong Quickly Realized She Had Overthought It Part 3

She dared not seize the lives of innocent people by force, nor did she wish to treat blood kin as enemies, so she chose the path of pill cultivation.

Powerful alchemists were treated well anywhere, but after her father’s death, with her siblings fighting fiercely over the sect master position, her status changed. From a respected alchemist, she became an object everyone madly scrambled for.

Zhu Ningfu refused to take sides, and her relatives were reluctant to lose her powerful alchemy abilities or let her fall into another sibling’s hands to aid them.

Zhu Ningfu soon faced a long imprisonment. Her prison cell changed from time to time: first imprisoned by Eldest Brother in the Snake Pit, then after Second Brother killed Eldest Brother, sent to the Netherworld Cavern; after Little Sister killed Second Brother, sent to the Water Dungeon… Zhu Ningfu was imprisoned for over a thousand years straight, enduring bone-chilling cold and heart-piercing agony day after day.

She had been devoured by demon beasts and subjected to the most extreme tortures.

By then, Zhu Ningfu was no longer some Demonic Sect young miss; she was a prisoner beast covered in rotting flesh and a shattered heart, with no expectations left for the world.

That was when Wu Qingshu and Si Xianling appeared.

Si Xianling was truly mischievous, with a big temper from childhood. After quarreling with Tu Gaojun and storming out of home, she accidentally stumbled into the place where her second uncle had her confined – an icy water dungeon where frigid waters gathered, extreme cold making her look utterly wretched, her limbs and body swollen from soaking, untreated wounds emitting a foul stench.

Si Xianling had the Gray Fur Rabbit with her, so her cultivation speed was decent; at several hundred years old, she still looked like a ten-something-year-old child. She had always been bold and fearless, regardless of where she was. Planting her hands on her hips, she demanded of the Demonic Sect disciples guarding her why they abused a perfectly good person like that.

Wu Qingshu had become adept at finding her daughter by then. As long as it was not a place like the Heavenly Feast Sect’s Sect-Protecting Grand Array with ten formations fused together, one or two arrays could not stop her talismans.

Before those Demonic Sect disciples could act against Si Xianling, Wu Qingshu killed them all. Perhaps because she was gravely injured and untreatable, unable to even gather spirit energy, or perhaps because she looked too pitiable, Wu Qingshu and the others never suspected she was from the Demonic Sect. So Wu Qingshu pulled her out of the water dungeon and wrapped her in a thick fox fur cloak.

For Wu Qingshu, this was only natural. For Zhu Ningfu, it was different.

Both Si Xianling and Wu Qingshu were lights illuminating her dark world.

Especially Wu Qingshu.

The first bit of body warmth she felt emerging from the frigid pool belonged to Wu Qingshu. So she secretly investigated Wu Qingshu’s identity. At first, she had to hide from the Demonic Sect people and could not act freely, but later, when the sect master position fell to her Third Sister – the only one with whom she had a somewhat decent relationship – she began spying on Wu Qingshu and Si Xianling’s lives.

Zhu Ningfu could not understand: even she, from the Demonic Sect, could see that Wu Qingshu disciplining Xiang Manyu and the others was for their own good – why could Xiang Manyu and the rest not see it? She even less understood why someone as good as Wu Qingshu was disliked by everyone in the Beast Taming Sect from top to bottom except Si Xianling. After Wu Qingshu separated from Tu Gaojun, they even banned her from entering the Beast Taming Sect.

What she understood least was that Si Xianling’s natal contract beast, that Gray Fur Rabbit, hated Wu Qingshu just like its mother.

Si Xianling’s natal contract beast held different meaning for Wu Qingshu. When Zhu Ningfu spied Wu Qingshu’s hidden sorrow, she felt an impulse to make them all disappear – especially Tu Gaojun.

This was absolutely deliberate on Tu Gaojun’s part. After all, the Gray Fur Rabbit’s birth mother was Tu Gaojun’s own natal contract beast. Apart from that Gray Fur Rabbit, Si Xianling’s other four contract beasts all liked Wu Qingshu, proving that Si Xianling had worked hard to discipline her beasts – it was just that this natal contract beast had special bloodline, and she could not quite control it.

Tu Gaojun always professed deep affection, yet as sect master, he ignored the Beast Taming Sect members’ dislike of Wu Qingshu, ignored his own natal contract beast, and even seemed to fan the flames. How false his feelings were.

On the day Zhu Ningfu was rescued, she had been too wretched-looking, so Wu Qingshu and Si Xianling had not remembered her appearance. This gave her the chance to infiltrate the Beast Taming Sect.

The Cloud Smoke Sect, as the top sect, had too many formations and powerful elders hidden in the shadows; its sect master was also exceptionally shrewd. Zhu Ningfu dared not risk it. The Beast Taming Sect was different – their bloodlines were shared with their beasts, tinged with beastly thinking.

There were smart people too, but very rare.

Many in the Cultivation World called them a bunch of brainless fools with only cultivation. Zhu Ningfu thought there was some truth to it.

Zhu Ningfu had originally planned to kill Tu Gaojun, but considering that Si Xianling would hate her if she learned the truth, she did not. But fate worked in coincidences: Tu Gaojun provoked a top-tier demon beast and was gravely wounded. Fearing others would learn he had been injured for molesting a female demon, he did not even dare seek treatment openly. The end result was delayed treatment, and he perished on the spot.

At that time, only Zhu Ningfu and his great-aunt were by his side. His great-aunt was advanced in age, her cultivation at its end, so he had no choice but to pass the sect master inheritance to Zhu Ningfu, along with those contract beasts.

In Zhu Ningfu’s view, she needed to first root herself in the Beast Taming Sect, then change everyone’s view of Wu Qingshu – not only end their hostility toward her, but make them worship Wu Qingshu like she did. But this process was very long; she had to learn beast taming techniques from scratch.

In the Original Book, before she could fully control the entire Beast Taming Sect, Si Xianling died.

Wu Qingshu hated her utterly from then on. She spent every day immersed in grief, with no attention left to continue controlling the Beast Taming Sect.

In the end, after helping her Third Sister with matters and exposing her identity, dying at Wu Qingshu’s hands was a relief for her. She went willingly to her death, never expecting that Wu Qingshu, having avenged her daughter’s death, would follow her in death.

…

Why!

Why did Zhu Ningfu have such a good fate!

After her shock, Bo Xuenong surged with deep resentment. Her greatest wish was to die at Shen Yanting’s hands, but in the Original Book, Shen Yanting borrowed the sword in her hand to commit suicide – no different from her killing Shen Yanting. Yet Zhu Ningfu had not even protected her own daughter, and in the end, she got to die at the hands of the one she admired and worshipped.

She paid no attention at all to the reversal of identities, nor did she recall that Zhu Ningfu’s feelings for Wu Qingshu were hardly mere master-disciple affection.

Bo Xuenong kept sighing, which made it impossible for Shen Yanting not to notice her. “Xuenong, what’s wrong?”

“Master, could you…” Bo Xuenong said half her words before hurriedly swallowing them back.

Shen Yanting had already said she did not want to die; she definitely could not mention it again.

The Original Book story was not the same as the current one. Si Xianling had not died, so Wu Qingshu probably would not hunt down Zhu Ningfu either. The story ahead would likely change somewhat; she and Shen Yanting would not reach that step. They would both live well – or… better to let the male protagonist die first.

Seeing Shen Yanting still looking at her, Bo Xuenong stiffly twisted the words on the tip of her tongue. “Master, could you talk to me?”

“Xuenong?” Shen Yanting’s eyes were full of confusion. “What do you want to say?”

Si Xianling turned her head toward them in high spirits and smiled with ill intent. “Sister Shen, what did you say? Your little disciple loves to hear it, and she has to listen carefully to every word and remember it. If she missed something, she might even slap herself a couple of times. She truly adores you.”

Bo Xuenong did not catch the hidden meaning in Si Xianling’s words. She only felt that they struck a chord in her heart. “Right! I love hearing everything Master says!”

The White Porcelain Doll’s expression stiffened noticeably.

She lowered her gaze, and her fingers unconsciously rubbed the red cloth. A low, muffled voice sounded. “What nonsense.”

Bo Xuenong blinked in confusion. She panicked and reached for the White Porcelain Doll’s hand. The doll’s body was very small, so Bo Xuenong’s two fingers could easily grasp Shen Yanting’s entire hand. She did not dare pull too hard and only shook it gently, speaking in a coquettish tone. “Master, I’m not talking nonsense. Senior Si isn’t either. Every word Senior Si said resonates with me—it’s exactly what I think! When Master teaches me spell arts, if I don’t remember them, I really do feel like hitting myself because every word from Master is so important to me.”

Shen Yanting’s heart grew weaker the more she heard. She subconsciously glanced at Wu Qingshu.

After looking, she felt she was being ridiculous. She lightly raised her eyes and glared at Bo Xuenong with a hint of annoyance. “Can’t you tell she’s just coaxing you into talking nonsense?”

“Coaxing me into talking nonsense?” Bo Xuenong was truly baffled. She only felt that every word expressed her true feelings—how could it be nonsense? “I mean it sincerely toward Master!”

Wu Qingshu knew the inside story from back then, and she naturally knew Bo Xuenong’s identity. She knew Bo Xuenong’s bloodline had issues.

At this moment, hearing Bo Xuenong’s words full of utmost sincerity, she could not help praising Shen Yanting. “Yanting, you’ve raised your disciple very well. She’s very filial toward you.”

“Filial, hahaha!” Si Xianling laughed too unrestrainedly and, unsurprisingly, tugged at her wound. While crying out in pain, she hooked her arms around Wu Qingshu’s neck and climbed up a bit. Her beautiful eyes darted back and forth between Shen Yanting and Bo Xuenong before she suddenly asked Shen Yanting, “Sister Shen, is this swing fun? Do you dare to make one for Sect Master Mo?”

Shen Yanting said nothing, but the White Porcelain Doll’s body floated with a faint blush…