Why did Fu Lingyi come back now! How long had she been standing there, how much did she hear!
“Qingshu?” Fu Lingyi called out again. She entered casually, sweeping her gaze around the room, confirming no one else was there. “Recovering cultivation… who were you asking?”
Good, she didn’t hear much. With just the last sentence, maybe I can bluff my way through.
“…Lingyi, why didn’t you knock before coming in? You startled me.” Yue Jin sat by the bed, half-hidden by the bed curtains. Her voice was soft and light. “It’s nothing, I’m just a little unhappy and talking to myself.”
Fu Lingyi looked surprised. “Unhappy? Why? Why does this room smell like smoke?”
“Because!” Yue Jin quickly tried to distract her. “Because I feel like I’m such a burden to you. After all, I have no cultivation and can’t remember anything from before. Sometimes I feel really helpless.”
“What’s wrong? Are you still half-asleep?” Fu Lingyi walked over and gently felt her forehead, a worried expression on her face.
She covered her face, afraid her expression wouldn’t hold up, and desperately squeezed tears into her palms. “That’s why I was just thinking, just thinking about asking the Heavenly Dao clearly, what it would take to restore my cultivation!”
“Why worry about such things?” Fu Lingyi seemed a little flustered, unsure how to comfort her. “I don’t care at all if you’re a burden to me. Don’t cry. Yaoguang Pavilion will send food soon. You must be starving after a whole morning, right? Eat first, then think about other things.”
Yue Jin didn’t move. She still hadn’t squeezed out the tears, so she didn’t dare look up.
Fu Lingyi thought she was too upset. She leaned closer, reached out, and pressed Yue Jin’s head against her shoulder. “If it’s really unbearable, I’ll go beg the people from Medicine King Valley. My mother once had some dealings with them; they might have a way.”
Yue Jin asked in a muffled voice, “Really?”
She smiled gently. “Absolutely true.”
Good. I got away with it.
While they were eating, the paper kite silently hid beneath the corner of the table.
Fu Lingyi herself had little appetite. As she put food on Yue Jin’s plate, she reminded her not to eat too fast, saying hot food was bad for her tongue. Her face showed a level of care she’d never shown before.
Yue Jin glanced at her, opened her mouth wide, stuffed in a hot bun, blew on it twice, and gulped it down whole. She wasn’t listening to her advice at all.
“Want to go out this afternoon? Miss Ye seems to have something to do, so how about just the two of us?” Fu Lingyi picked up a piece of glistening, red meat with her chopsticks, placed it in Yue Jin’s bowl, and asked as if casually.
Yue Jin’s mouth was full, her eyes fixed on the meat. She had no time to answer.
“Going to that waterfall from this morning might have a miraculous effect on your legs. Besides, with just the two of us, you can relax more.” Fu Lingyi kept asking, determined to persuade her.
After a few more questions, Yue Jin was getting annoyed. Just as she was about to speak, the paper kite climbed onto her and unfolded on her leg: You are in great danger right now.
She lowered her eyes in thought, kept chewing, but was actually waiting for the kite’s next message.
The killer has found the knife is missing. It’s only a matter of time before she finds you. The artifact is bound to its owner. You need to hide it somewhere else quickly.
Yue Jin took a sip of tea, swallowed her food, and then met Fu Lingyi’s expectant gaze. “Sorry, I don’t really want to go.”
Fu Lingyi’s eyes dimmed slightly, but she persisted. “There won’t be anyone else, just me. Can’t you?”
“I’m too tired,” Yue Jin stood up, stretched, and walked to the window, where she secretly threw the paper kite out. “I want to sleep a bit more. Let’s skip today and go tomorrow.”
The little paper kite flapped its wings, flew off, and destroyed itself without a trace.
Fu Lingyi felt helpless. She understood the meaning of the refusal and had no choice but to agree to leave. Before she left, she looked back deeply. “Tomorrow for sure?”
“Mm.”
A paper kite came again. This time, the words on it weren’t important: She likes you.
Yue Jin scoffed. “Where did you get that from? She’s just acting, okay? Playing with me. It’s not like she doesn’t know who I am; she just wants to deliberately watch me make a fool of myself.”
Tsk tsk, you’re really slow on the uptake when it comes to this.
“…You kept me here just to say that?” Just chatting. Besides, it’s because you’re too cautious, Demon Lord. I’m here to help you. You should believe me now, right?
“How can I trust someone who doesn’t even dare show their face?” Yue Jin chuckled. She climbed over the wall to leave and headed towards where she’d buried the knife last night. “Hurry up and get to the point. If she bumps into me again, I can’t think of any way to cover it up.”
Yaoguang Pavilion had many disciples, but few paid attention to others. She smoothly found the locust tree and, seeing no one around, quickly started digging.
The Flowing Light Waterfall at Yaoguang Pavilion isn’t just a place for cultivation. There’s a huge space beneath it. If you throw something in there, no one will find it anytime soon. To hide it somewhere else, that’s the only place.
The paper kite offered the hint, flying beside her and watching her dig, turning left and right as if dancing happily.
Yue Jin wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. She had an impulse to throw this paper kite into a fire and burn it.
The knife wasn’t buried deep. She hadn’t had time last night and had only barely covered it with many layers of soil. After shaking off the dirt, the blade looked even more chillingly sharp in the sunlight.
Yue Jin stood up and asked, “So, where is that… waterfall?”
Fu Lingyi had nothing else to do, so she sat inside and cultivated for a while, but she just couldn’t calm her heart. She opened her eyes, walked to Yue Jin’s door, reached out to knock, but timidly pulled her hand back. I shouldn’t disturb her rest…
Since that time at the hot spring, their relationship had become subtle. Ultimately, it was because Fu Lingyi’s feelings had changed. She no longer hated like before. When she looked at Yue Jin, it wasn’t like looking at the Demon Lord, but at a completely new person. That person’s joys and sorrows were incredibly vivid, and she always seemed to be crying. On her lips, she spoke of love, but in her eyes was a hidden fire. I want to eat with her, travel the mountains and rivers with her, together… together sleep.
Fu Lingyi lightly curled her lips. She felt that Yue Jin was no longer the demon she used to be, no longer did bad things, and had no connection to the demonic path at all. Now, she was hers, her Yue Qingshu. Everything from before could be forgotten. Now, there were only the two of them.
Fu Lingyi made up her mind. She still didn’t knock but rushed straight in. She wanted to tell Yue Jin, tell her her current thoughts.
But the room was empty. Only the window was still open, swayed by the wind, rattling several times with a crisp sound of the panes. Fu Lingyi’s heart suddenly felt empty too.
“The knife has been stolen.” Just as Ye Yushuang stepped into the main hall, Ji Peilan suddenly said this.
“Who stole it?” she quickly asked. Peizhu Pavilion’s underground secret room was extremely secure. How could the knife kept inside there be stolen?
“Who else could it be?” Yuan Pei scoffed, interjecting abruptly. “These past few days, we’ve only had those two visitors here. Who else could it be?”
Ye Yushuang glared at her. “It couldn’t be Sister Lingyi. She’s always open and upright. Besides, what benefit would doing this bring her?”
“No one said it was her.” Ji Peilan cut everyone off. She was tall and her words always carried weight. “When Elder Shi was killed back then, we found this weapon near the courtyard. The killer had thrown it into the bushes. I brought it back and locked it in the secret room. Only we knew about this matter; no outsiders were aware.”
“Then how could someone steal it? Yuan Pei, could it be that you told someone?” Ye Yushuang questioned.
“Heaven and earth bear witness!” Yuan Pei swore furiously. “If I told anyone, may the Heavenly Dao send down divine lightning and strike me down to forever fall into the path of beasts!” She was so angry she swore an oath, certain she had nothing to do with it. Seeing the situation was turning bad, Sect Leader Ye Wenzhen quickly smoothed things over. “Alright, Yushuang, this matter isn’t that simple. Just listen.”
“The thief took the knife and left footprints,” Ji Peilan continued. She spoke little and preferred brevity. “I’ve tracked down her movements, but I’m not sure how she got in. After all, this person is very strange; she has absolutely no spiritual energy.”
Ye Yushuang: “…” That’s too obvious. She already knew who it was.
“No spiritual energy? Then how could she activate the mechanism and get into your secret room?” Ye Wenzhen was very confused.
“Perhaps she had an accomplice. We’ll just have to wait until we catch her and interrogate her.”
“This matter must not be announced for now,” Ji Peilan glanced sideways at everyone. “Especially you, Yushuang. You must not alert the enemy.”
Ye Yushuang couldn’t hear anything else. Her heart was full of impatience, and she kept nodding yes, just wanting the meeting to end quickly so she could leave.
That Yue Qingshu, indeed harboring ill will! Someone like that has been deceiving Sister Lingyi this whole time. Although I don’t know why she stole the knife, or how she got the information… just her appearance, looking exactly like the demon, is enough to show she’s definitely involved with the demonic path! Ye Yushuang sneered. From the first time I saw her, something felt off. That person used her amnesia to constantly take advantage of Sister Lingyi’s kindness, and now she’s finally exposed. I need to tell Sister Lingyi this news quickly.
Fu Lingyi wasn’t in the room or in the courtyard outside. Ye Yushuang searched for a long time but couldn’t find any trace of her. She had no choice but to wander around Yaoguang Pavilion, trying her luck.
And she really did find her. Fu Lingyi was walking on an outer path, looking distracted, without a destination, walking very slowly. She kept muttering to herself. “She said she was resting in her room, but now she’s nowhere to be found…” “Could it be, she just doesn’t want to stay with me…”
“Sister Lingyi!” Ye Yushuang shouted excitedly from a distance. She hurried over, getting close quickly. “I finally found you, Sister!”
“Miss Ye, didn’t you have something to do?” Fu Lingyi turned around at the sound, slightly disappointed. The person who came wasn’t who she wanted.
“Sister Lingyi.” Ye Yushuang lifted her head, tidied her messy hair. Her face was flushed, and her skirt hem gently fluttered.
“I have something very important to tell you.”
Good chapter 😌