Chapter 59: Claiming Credit Part 2

In contrast, aside from her lingering fury and sky-high resentment—along with her constant talk of killing Ye Zhiyao—Ji Caiyan showed no signs of wasting away. Bo Xunong even thought she looked a bit more radiant.

Perhaps… it was the partially unsealed bloodline nourishing her body.

At the very least, Ji Caiyan—who had taken a hit from Bo Xunong—looked far better off than Ye Zhiyao.

Ye Zhiyao wasn’t even fit to be out and about. She should be lying down recuperating like Feng Yingbo, though Ji Caiyan probably wouldn’t give her that chance.

Ji Caiyan wasn’t the obedient disciple type.

Comparisons highlighted the differences. Shen Yanting might even give her extra points for it.

Bo Xunong’s thoughts raced. She felt some sympathy for Ye Zhiyao and Ji Caiyan’s situations, but not much.

She didn’t have that kind of boundless compassion. Even her subtle concern had been borrowed from asking Shen Yanting.

Shen Yanting had only said not to kill them. She hadn’t said to treat them well too.

Bo Xunong released Ji Caiyan and hurried toward Shen Yanting. “Master, Ji Caiyan said Chen Zhou broke through that day without a thunder tribulation.”

“Mm.” Shen Yanting nodded. “I just heard Senior Sister Ye mention it upstairs.”

Shen Yanting withdrew her gaze from Bo Xunong’s back, her expression growing graver. “Xuenong, they’re probably after you.”

Once Ji Caiyan and Ye Zhiyao had fully exited the inn, Ji Caiyan’s gaze had been fixed on Ye Zhiyao. Hearing Shen Yanting’s words, she tore her eyes away and turned to Bo Xunong. “Martial Uncle Shen, what does this have to do with Eldest Senior Sister?”

After confessing her bloodline to Shen Yanting, Bo Xunong’s fake smiles had plummeted in frequency.

She didn’t even bother curving her lips for a sect junior sister like Ji Caiyan. “None of your business.”

Ji Caiyan blinked in slight stunned silence. “Senior Sister…”

Ji Caiyan could clearly sense that after half a month apart, Bo Xunong and the others had undergone significant changes—especially Bo Xunong, who seemed subtly hostile toward her. It left her baffled.

She didn’t remember offending Bo Xunong at all.

Shen Yanting glanced at the obviously stunned Ji Caiyan and softly called out, “Xuenong.”

“Master, I…” Bo Xunong looked up, meeting Shen Yanting’s mildly disapproving gaze.

Bo Xunong lowered her eyes. Just as she was about to apologize to Ji Caiyan, she heard Ye Zhiyao say, “Xuenong, Caiyan is worried about you too.”

Ye Zhiyao was speaking up for Ji Caiyan, but Ji Caiyan showed no gratitude.

The naturally steady and composed Ji Caiyan had completely shed her old self. She could fly into a rage at any word or half-sentence from Ye Zhiyao.

Ji Caiyan seized Ye Zhiyao’s arm. A low, cold voice squeezed from her throat. “No need for you to say anything.”

She gripped too tightly. Her face was hidden behind the mask, her emotions unreadable, but her icy eyes were crystal clear to Ye Zhiyao.

Shen Yanting frowned faintly. She snatched Ye Zhiyao away from Ji Caiyan’s grasp and walked off with her.

Ji Caiyan’s hand hung empty. Her side felt empty too.

Bo Xunong shot a fierce glare at Ji Caiyan—the one who’d made Shen Yanting leave without her—and hurried forward to catch up.

With Ye Zhiyao’s voice gone from her ears, Ji Caiyan calmed down again.

She caught up to Bo Xunong. “Senior Sister, what did Martial Aunt Shen mean? Chen Zhou and the others are after you? Doesn’t that make you really dangerous? But I can’t figure it out—why didn’t they take you with them back then?”

Bo Xunong slowed her steps a bit. She glared at Ji Caiyan, but before she could scold Ji Caiyan, her words were all taken by Ji Caiyan.

“Senior Sister, we’ve been fellow disciples for more than four hundred and sixty years. When I joined Master Ye Zhiyao’s sect, there were only the two of us as inner sect disciples in the Imperial Serenity Sect. After I entered the inner sect, you’re the person I’ve interacted with the most besides Master. In my heart, you’re the same as my sister—even… you’ve spent even more time accompanying me than my sister. I don’t mean anything else. I’m just worried about your safety. As for things you and Martial Uncle Shen don’t want me to know, I can choose not to ask… but if you’re in danger, please tell me. I’ve now unlocked the three bloodline seals, so I should be able to help you.”

Ji Caiyan’s words were sincere, every sentence heartfelt.

Bo Xunong had a momentary daze.

Indeed.

Among the inner sect disciples, Ji Caiyan had arrived the earliest besides Bo Xunong. For a long stretch of time, the Imperial Serenity Sect’s inner sect had only the two of them. Feng Jin, whom she now saw as a confidante, had come to her side more than two hundred years after Ji Caiyan.

One could say that before Feng Jin became her confidante, Ji Caiyan should have been the junior sister she was closest to.

Of course, only in theory.

Bo Xunong was simply the type who loved to revolve around Shen Yanting.

She used to divide people into Shen Yanting and those she wanted to kill. Now she divided them into Shen Yanting, those Shen Yanting felt shouldn’t be killed, those Shen Yanting thought were good, and those she wanted to kill. One could say Shen Yanting occupied Bo Xunong’s entire life.

The old Bo Xunong subconsciously viewed everyone in the Imperial Serenity Sect except Shen Yanting as objects to placate. To Bo Xunong, Ji Caiyan and the others weren’t junior sisters or fellow disciples—they were mere tools to make Shen Yanting think she was obedient. She had seemed decent to Ji Caiyan, but she only did that because treating them well would make Shen Yanting see her as good.

Bo Xunong was all fake emotions, fake intentions, and fake smiles, yet she overlooked that Ji Caiyan had no idea it was all pretense.

Her perfunctory dismissals were senior sisterly care in Ji Caiyan’s eyes.

Ji Caiyan truly felt affection for her.

Sisterly bonds.

Bo Xunong shouldn’t have cared, but… probably because she had changed recently, she actually felt a flicker of guilt.

She grabbed Ji Caiyan’s wrist and chased after Shen Yanting and Ye Zhiyao, only willing to speak to Ji Caiyan after falling into position not too far behind them. “Second Senior Sister, I don’t need your worry. Worry more about your master instead.”

They were already very close to Shen Yanting and the others now, so Shen Yanting and Ye Zhiyao could hear their words.

Bo Xunong hoped some good words would come out of Ji Caiyan’s mouth, but the Ji Caiyan who had just spoken to her so gently immediately changed upon hearing Bo Xunong tell her to care about Ye Zhiyao.

Ji Caiyan gnashed her teeth. “Senior Sister, I worry about you because we’re fellow disciples—you’re still my only senior sister. With Ye Zhiyao, I only have grudges, no bonds of fellowship. Right now, I only want to kill her.”

Ye Zhiyao, walking ahead, stumbled with her next step and nearly fell. Ji Caiyan’s hand reached out a bit but ultimately didn’t help.

Shen Yanting steadied Ye Zhiyao and glanced lightly back at Ji Caiyan.

She quickened her pace with Ye Zhiyao.

…

She was innocent.

The faint fellow disciple affection Bo Xunong had just felt was exhausted in an instant. She glared irritably at Ji Caiyan, who had ruined her chance for alone time with Shen Yanting. “Ji Caiyan, have you heard of demonic breath?”

Demonic breath might be somewhat unfamiliar to Ye Zhiyao and the others, but Ji Caiyan hailed from the Ji Clan, which bore the Ghost Moon Vine Bloodline.

The Ji Clan’s ancestor was a Ghost Moon Vine that had absorbed half divine blood and half demonic blood.

Her bloodline contained demonic breath as well.

The biggest difference between Ji Caiyan and Bo Xunong was that the demonic breath in Ji Caiyan’s bloodline was well integrated with divine breath, while Bo Xunong’s demonic breath had long surpassed her divine breath by hundreds of times—even completely eradicating it ages ago. That was why Bo Xunong lost control, while Ji Caiyan still seemed normal.

However… the Ji Clan also had cases of people who forcibly elevated their bloodlines, fell into demonic possession, awakened their demonic breath in the end, and were destroyed.

Ji Caiyan seemed to think of something and suddenly clenched her wrist.

Seeing her reaction, Bo Xunong knew Ji Caiyan understood what demonic breath was—no need to waste breath explaining.

She released Ji Caiyan’s wrist. “You should also know that ordinary people need time to fuse demonic breath. The initial fusion doesn’t just cause an extreme reaction—it leads to loss of control too, right?”

Ji Caiyan froze in place.

It wasn’t until Bo Xunong had walked far ahead that she suddenly broke into a run to catch up again.

Bo Xunong was single-mindedly chasing Shen Yanting—she was just a little short of grabbing Shen Yanting’s free hand—when Ji Caiyan suddenly seized her wrist and yanked her away from Shen Yanting’s back. In an instant, they fell several steps behind Shen Yanting and Ye Zhiyao.