31 Chapter 19: 19 A Single Thought to Kill

The spring blossoms have drunk their fill and faded—where now the returning boat?

You Fusang's techniques were uncanny, feeding on the hearts of men, and since her fall into devilhood, curses had rained down upon her name.

Yet for all that downpour of infamy, no one who truly crossed blades with her dared say a single word against her.

For she was the Heretic Path Sovereign, able to take ten thousand lives with a crook of her finger.

Flamboyant as she was, she kept only one person on the very tip of her heart—her former Junior Sister, the most pampered Young Sect Master of the righteous Yan Sect: Yan Rushi.

~~~

Many years later, when the Yan Sect was overturned and driven to the brink of destruction, Yan Rushi sought out You Fusang of her own accord.

Before the Pagoda Palace, a beauty with her robes slipping loose, offering herself into her embrace.

You Fusang gathered her into her arms, never knowing that this Young Lord of the Righteous Path's defection was feigned and her spying real—that she had offered her body to feed the devil, waiting only for the moment to wipe out the devil's den in a single stroke.

Yet when the siege reached its end, Yan Rushi refused to admit to any of it. Clinging to You Fusang, she argued through tear-filled eyes: "Senior Sister... the defection was real, and so was my heart. All those tricks with the inside agents were other people's schemes. I never meant to hurt you. My heart for you has always been true."

Firelight streamed through the Pagoda Palace. You Fusang wiped the glisten of tears from the corners of her eyes, her smile neither smile nor sneer. "Junior Sister, I don't believe in your heart."

*After you repented, that sincerity of yours—I no longer believe in it.*

A world-weary beauty Devil Venerable × her Little Peacock Junior Sister. Senior Sister on top.

~~~

Her former life behind her, You Fusang opened her eyes to find herself a carefree little immortal on Penglai Immortal Mountain—listening to cicadas in summer, blowing at snow in winter, thoroughly content.

Occasionally she heard the rumors of the martial world: Yan Rushi had ascended to the seat of Yan Sect Master, and with her great merit in exterminating devils would soon be made Chief Immortal of the righteous path.

The Young Lord of the Righteous Path, walking the righteous road. What splendor indeed.

Who would have thought that on the very day of the Chief Immortal's investiture, Yan Rushi would abandon three thousand guests from across the Nine Provinces and journey a thousand li to Penglai, her splendid robes soaked with dew, kneeling before the mountain without rising.

You Fusang looked down at her and sighed. "What passed between us is over. Fate was sealed long ago. Even if you force yourself to hold on, it will only be struggling."

Yan Rushi pressed herself against her knee, tilted her face up, and kissed her, bit by beseeching bit.

"And if I *insist* on struggling, Senior Sister? What will you do then?"