Avoiding the gaze of others, Situ Xue hugged the jade box in her hands and slowly walked forward. Arriving at the door, she glanced at the name on the left side—Meng Li. After confirming it, she raised her hand and knocked.
“This should be Junior Sister’s room in the Outer Sect…”
At that moment, Meng Li was sound asleep, wandering freely through her own world, when suddenly, a knock came at the door. Meng Li drowsily rubbed her eyes and looked around in confusion.
“Uh… I almost forgot, I actually transmigrated…”
Meng Li slowly got out of bed. Listening to the knocking at the door, she couldn’t understand who would come to wake her up so early in the morning—it was practically acting as a replacement for an alarm clock.
“Could Xi Miaoyi still be trying to test me? What should I say to fool her when we meet…”
Meng Li strolled over to the door. However, just as she opened it a crack, an ominous aura washed over her. Meng Li’s body instantly stiffened. That feeling… it was a sensation she’d carried with her ever since arriving in this world.
An instinctive perception of danger. Meng Li didn’t understand why opening a door within her own sect would be dangerous, but the feeling grew stronger and stronger. Half of her drowsiness instantly cleared, and only one thought remained in her mind.
“Now… I should slowly close the door, th… then pretend I’m not here.”
Meng Li moved to slowly shut the door that had been opened a crack. But just as it was about to close, a hand suddenly seized the edge. The immense strength left Meng Li utterly unable to resist.
“Really now, Little Junior Sister takes quite a long time to open the door~”
As the room door was pulled open inch by inch, the figure behind it gradually revealed itself to Meng Li. In the dimly lit corridor, only a pair of deep blue eyes seemed capable of seeing right through a person.
Meng Li had never imagined that Ye Qinglian would come looking for her directly, nor did she understand what the matter could be. But that intense sense of crisis grew sharper and sharper. It was then Meng Li realized that the Eldest Senior Sister standing before her had her eyes open.
“Ye… Senior Sister Ye, how… how did you know I was here…”
“Just asking anyone where you live in the Outer Sect would suffice~”
“But my room is cramped and I have nothing to entertain you, Senior Sister, so maybe another day…”
As she spoke, Meng Li tried to slowly close the door. But how could Ye Qinglian let her have her way? Those deep blue eyes merely gave a slight gaze, and Meng Li felt her entire body instantly immobilized on the spot.
“We’ve only just started talking, and Little Junior Sister already wants to leave? I still have some matters I wish to discuss with Little Junior Sister~”
Ye Qinglian bent down and gently stroked Meng Li’s cheek. Meng Li only sensed a strange fragrance, a scent that was both soothing and relaxing. The scene before Meng Li’s eyes grew increasingly blurry, until finally, she lost control entirely and collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
The last thing Meng Li saw before fainting was the smiling expression on Ye Qinglian’s face. She didn’t know what awaited her when she woke up this time. Yet, as her eyes closed, she faintly heard the knocking at the door again. But by then, she no longer had any ability to resist.
“Sleep for a while longer, Little Junior Sister~”
After knocking on the door again and waiting a long time without the slightest response, Situ Xue saw the room door was still slightly ajar. After hesitating for a moment, she gently pushed it open and walked inside.
“Not here…”
Situ Xue walked through the room, observing the bare space with only a single bed. She reached out a fingertip and touched the bedding, finding a trace of lingering warmth.
“She was just here a moment ago…”
Seeing no signs of a struggle in the room, Situ Xue placed the jade box in her hands on a nearby table. After setting it down, she slowly pushed the door open to leave, pausing only to leave a note at the entrance.
[If Junior Sister sees this, please come find me.]
[Situ Xue]
“This way, if she comes back, she should come looking for me…”
At that moment, Ye Qinglian was gently cradling Meng Li in her arms. Feeling the weight, as light as a feather to her, Ye Qinglian couldn’t help but take a slight interest in this weakness.
Often, upon reaching a certain level of cultivation, the weak were viewed as mere ants. However, Ye Qinglian didn’t understand why she paid so much attention to this weak Junior Sister.
“The more I investigate, the more curious I become. Eyes cultivated since childhood, yet I cannot see through two people…”
Ye Qinglian thought of her own Shizun, Ling Qingyue. With just a single sword in hand, Shizun had caused the Devil Sects to lose two entire sects. It was forgivable that she couldn’t see through Shizun, for she knew her master’s strength was not something she had reached the limit of.
Facing such a powerful Shizun, being unable to see through her was to be expected. But when she used these eyes on the second person she couldn’t see through, it was the complete opposite of the strongest—Meng Li, who was countless times weaker.
“The person is brought back, but how do I investigate? If Junior Sister Situ finds out, will she be unhappy~?”
With light steps, everywhere Ye Qinglian tread, pure white lotuses bloomed. Touching the lotus flowers with her toes, in just a few shifting movements, she arrived at a mysterious room. Carefully, she laid the delicate figure in her arms onto the bed.
After all, to the current her, Meng Li was as fragile as a sheet of paper, one she could easily pierce through. If she wasn’t careful, she might end up breaking Meng Li.
“How long until the drug wears off? I wonder what sweet dream you’re having right now~”
Ye Qinglian lay on the edge of the bed, watching the slumbering Meng Li. She slowly brushed aside the long hair by her ear, savoring the smooth texture, and fiddled with it for a moment. Meanwhile, the unconscious Meng Li looked blankly at the scene before her.
“Watching memories again? Whose is it this time?”
Looking at the suddenly appearing scene and the training platform at Jade Candle Peak, where Ye Qinglian and Situ Xue stood facing each other, Meng Li felt the image was somewhat familiar. Yet, for a moment, she couldn’t place it.
Meng Li saw this was a duel between the two. No matter how she looked at the scene, it appeared completely one-sided. Ye Qinglian stood on one side of the arena with a face full of disbelief, while Situ Xue knelt on the other side, her eyes lifeless, the very picture of a defeated person.
“Shi… Junior Sister, you…!”
“Senior Sister’s strength is different from before. I am fully convinced…”
As Situ Xue spoke, a trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and she completely lost consciousness on the arena. Meng Li, seeing the collapsed Situ Xue, suddenly realized what this was—wasn’t this the plot after she caused a crack in Situ Xue’s Dao Heart?
“Next, it should be…”
Meng Li remembered very clearly how, after she had caused the crack in Situ Xue’s Dao Heart, she had widened the wound again and again. She used Situ Xue’s feelings for her to plant a hidden move for subduing Shizun, treating her like a chess piece.
When the Dao Heart had become riddled with holes and her mental state was unstable, she then incited Ye Qinglian to duel and train with her. Relying on the full-force clash between the two to trigger the final fuse, causing Situ Xue to become a completely discarded pawn.
“All of you, stop!”
As the two clashed, Ling Qingyue, who had been cultivating, appeared between them almost in the blink of an eye. Ling Qingyue no longer wore her usual calm expression; her face was filled with shock as she looked at Situ Xue before her.
“Situ Xue, what have you done…”
“Shizun, your disciple’s skills are lacking. I have disappointed you…”
In Ling Qingyue’s perspective, Situ Xue’s cultivation was collapsing like an avalanche, continuously falling. Even her life force was draining at an extreme speed. It was the very picture of a Qi Deviation, a shattered Dao Heart.
At the same time, Ye Qinglian was panicked, thinking this was all caused by her. Ye Qinglian had lost her usual composure and hurried over, intending to use her Spiritual Power to help her recover.
“Senior Sister Situ! Let me help you down to rest…!”
As everyone was at a loss, Meng Li, who had watched the entire process from the sidelines, slowly descended from the spectator seating.
This was also the first time Meng Li saw her grown-up self so clearly. Pink hair, purple eyes, a smile, and a glance that seemed capable of captivating all living beings. Her simple dress appeared exceptionally serene. Her expression, slightly flustered at this moment, was not out of place.
“Senior Sister Situ, I’m sorry I’m late. Let’s… let’s go down first…!”
Under Meng Li’s soothing, the previously still somewhat assertive Situ Xue now seemed as delicate as a small bird, able only to lean against Meng Li’s side. The two of them slowly faded from Ling Qingyue and Ye Qinglian’s sight.
On the path away, Situ Xue’s eyes were already lifeless. Meng Li reached out and slowly stroked her cheek. Her gentle tone sent chills down one’s spine. Situ Xue stiffly raised her head, trying to find a sliver of hope, but what awaited her were even crueler words.
“Is there really no chance anymore…”
“How could there be? You once had a chance~”
After witnessing firsthand the shattering of Situ Xue’s Dao Heart, the guilt within Ye Qinglian grew larger and larger, to the point that her own Dao Heart developed problems. Situ Xue shed her Immortal Robe and, in the night, slowly left the sect where she had lived her entire life.
Ye Qinglian knew where she was, but dared not go find her. When she saw Situ Xue again, although her appearance hadn’t changed, the white hair clearly showed her lifespan was nearing its end. Ye Qinglian, almost devilishly obsessed, tried to find a method to rebuild her foundation and repair her Dao Heart.
“There… there must be a way. There will be. Even… even if it takes all the cultivation of my life…”
Ye Qinglian hated herself for not discovering it sooner. But what pained her even more was that Ling Qingyue, as her Shizun, remained secluded in her Cave Abode, never stepping out. Just as Ling Qingyue was filled with this immense sense of powerlessness…
Meng Li slowly approached Ye Qinglian, carrying a secret manual. Ye Qinglian looked at the Little Junior Sister before her with a face full of exhaustion. Despite having spent all her energy on Situ Xue’s matter, she still forced herself to maintain her spirits to receive Meng Li.
“I’m also very worried about Senior Sister Situ’s matter, so… so I found a secret manual. It seems to have a method to treat Senior Sister Situ!”
At this moment, Meng Li concealed her excitement, acting as if she had truly found a method. Ye Qinglian’s originally haggard heart immediately stirred with excitement the moment she heard there was a way. After all, her biggest preoccupation currently was only Situ Xue.
Watching the scene after scene before her, looking at her grown-up self in the images, Meng Li understood everything that happened next. She knew just how excessive the things she had done were. She could only sigh softly, watching powerlessly as her self in the images brought out that secret manual.
“It’s just…”
“Just what? Tell me quickly, Little Junior Sister! Whatever it is, as long as this Senior Sister can do it, I will!”
“Then… Senior Sister, would you cultivate the Devil Arts~?”
……
…
