Yue Jin’s mood had been quite peaceful lately.
Mount Zhongxiang was rich in spiritual energy, perfect for cultivation. Even though her cultivation was entirely gone now, she could still feel a sense of fullness within her body.
Most importantly, that damnable Fu Lingyi hadn’t returned since tossing her into this room that day. She probably felt a prick of conscience, wondering if she should have acted against someone with amnesia.
Yue Jin was happy to have the peace and quiet anyway.
She couldn’t use cleaning spells, so she cleaned herself. She borrowed a broom from the young disciples who’d first come to gawk, sweeping fallen leaves and pulling weeds daily.
For meals, she walked further out, getting ingredients from the outer disciples’ residences and cooking them herself on the stove in the herb-boiling room.
As for water…
Carrying water down from the mountain was too unrealistic for her. She could only sneak a few scoops from others’ water vats late at night.
Although she’d fallen to the point of having to “steal” water, Yue Jin had done plenty of such things years ago and was perfectly adapted.
She even felt somewhat decadent, thinking these days weren’t bad, except maybe for the slightly hard bed.
Until Wu Bei burst in.
Her white hair was the first thing to arrive, a bright flash before Yue Jin, her face a mask of grief and indignation: “Yue Jin, come with me!”
The scene was truly indescribable.
Yue Jin was full of questions, but only managed to choke out: “Go where?”
“I can’t stand seeing you suffer here. That Wu Ju talks a big game about heavenly secrets, but actually ran faster than anyone,” Wu Bei grabbed her, dragging her towards the outside. “Leave this place. We can talk about opportunities and stuff later.”
“Wait, wait,” Yue Jin quickly interrupted her. “How are you here? Where’s Qingyuan Palace? Where’s Fu Lingyi? How did you even get in here?”
“I…” Wu Bei was about to explain everything, but suddenly heard a gentle breeze stirring outside the door, fallen leaves rustling as they were stepped on. Someone was approaching, making no attempt to hide.
They both startled, stopping their conversation.
Fu Lingyi pushed open the door and saw Yue Jin alone, leaning against the bed, holding an introductory manual of the Disciplinary Hall Sword Sect in her hands, eyes closed tight, as if asleep.
She walked over and pulled the book from her hands.
Cold sweat broke out on Yue Jin’s back. Wu Bei was hiding under the bed now, holding her breath. With her cultivation level, Yue Jin didn’t know if she could hide it successfully.
Why did this accursed woman have to come now, of all times?
“Thump.”
The book descended from above, hitting Yue Jin’s head hard. Even in her feigned sleep, she couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
“Ah!”
“Darling, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?” Fu Lingyi stood before her, carefully cupping her cheeks, examining her closely, feigning innocence.
Ruthless.
Yue Jin had grievances but couldn’t voice them. She couldn’t exactly say she’d been pretending to sleep just now.
“Nothing… Just dreamt I was being chased and beaten by dogs. Why are you here, Lingyi?” She turned her face away, rubbing the bump on her head, swallowing her frustration, a smile blooming on her face.
Fu Lingyi subtly raised an eyebrow, then sat down right beside her, so close it startled Yue Jin into instinctively inching away.
Seeing her retreat, Fu Lingyi leaned in again, pushing her back until she was pressed against the edge of the bed, nowhere left to go. Only then did she say with satisfaction: “I haven’t been here these past few days. Were you lonely?”
Not lonely. On the contrary, I felt utterly refreshed. And clear-minded.
Yue Jin suppressed the twitching corner of her mouth. “How could I be? Lingyi, you have things to be busy with. You don’t need to come see me.”
“Really?” Fu Lingyi’s face magnified as she leaned closer, a hint of grievance in her eyes. “Darling, didn’t you miss me?”
There was a sudden rustle from under the bed. Yue Jin tensed up. Seeing Fu Lingyi’s eyes narrow slightly, about to turn and look under the bed, she quickly improvised.
“Yes!” Yue Jin grabbed her shoulders with both hands and pushed her down onto the bed. “I missed you terribly, terribly, I thought of you day and night! Right now, I want to drink the porridge you cook even more. Can I?”
The distance between them was minimal. Fu Lingyi didn’t react to this sudden move for a moment, staring blankly at the person before her, forgetting what she had been about to do. The atmosphere slowly grew thick.
“Now?” Fu Lingyi didn’t really want to.
“Not drinking is fine too, hahaha. I’ve already had dinner, I’m just craving it.” Yue Jin’s eyes darted around, trying to figure out what lie to concoct to trick this person into leaving. She still hadn’t let go of her hold.
A trace of suspicion sprouted in Fu Lingyi’s eyes. Why hadn’t she let go? The white bed curtains swayed gently in the moonlight. A light breeze drifted into the room, brushing away the stray hairs from Yue Jin’s eyes. Those eyes were as bright as stars. This person… surely she didn’t want to do things dao companions are supposed to do right now, did she…? She pursed her lips.
Yue Jin blinked, finding it strange that Fu Lingyi had suddenly gone silent, just staring at her intently, her body feeling very tense.
Thinking about it, maybe I made a weird request and she couldn’t keep up the act, so she got angry. She’s so difficult to deal with. I still have to play along with her performance. But when you’re under someone’s roof, you have to bow your head. The Demon Lord herself is quite broad-minded.
So, as a gesture of goodwill, she raised a hand and moved it towards Fu Lingyi’s face.
“Your hair ornament is crooked…” She wanted to help straighten it and casually start a new topic. Like, Your hair ornament is really pretty, how many spiritual stones did it cost?
But before her hand even touched the plain jade hair ornament, Fu Lingyi swatted it away.
The other woman sat up, pushed Yue Jin to the side, turned her face away, her voice muffled and heavy.
“You… you’re being way too improper like this!”
Just as expected of a demon. Not only were her clothes outrageously revealing, but even after losing her memory, she still had such wild and frivolous instincts! I was almost tricked. I really underestimated her.
“Huh?” Yue Jin looked utterly bewildered. She had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Fu Lingyi turned her head back angrily, pointing at Yue Jin with a trembling finger. “Let me tell you, even if… In any case, put away your thoughts. Don’t even think about it!”
After saying that, she flicked her sleeve, swatting Yue Jin’s face, then paused at the doorway, as if calming her breathing.
“Tomorrow, I need to go down the mountain. My master is coming out of seclusion, and before she does, I always have to solve a difficult problem. I won’t be here lately, so if you need anything, find Lingyue. I mainly came to tell you this. As for… as for coming only after dark, it’s because the main peak was very busy during the day. It wasn’t that I specifically chose this time. Don’t misunderstand.”
The door was slammed shut. The rapid, clipped footsteps outside revealed the turmoil in her heart.
Wu Bei crawled out from under the bed, her expression shifting, impossible to describe.
“What kind of life are you even living here?”
Yue Jin covered her face and sighed. “A life of opera, tearing the heart asunder.”
“That’s ‘a life in the opera, how much does it break the heart?’,” Wu Bei rolled her eyes. “If you’re uncultured, don’t try quoting poetry, okay?”
“How could this Venerable One not understand? The books this Venerable One has read would stack higher than you.” Yue Jin straightened up, gesturing with her hands towards Wu Bei, who was nearly half a head shorter.
“Oh, addressing yourself as ‘Venerable One’ now? Just moments ago, it was ‘missed terribly, terribly, thought of you day and night.'”
Yue Jin was furious. “You’re still talking! If you weren’t completely unable to hide under that bed, would this Venerable One have had to spout such sickening words and endure pointless anger? That damn brat dared to hit this Venerable One with a book, swat this Venerable One with her sleeve! When this Venerable One recovers my cultivation, I’ll definitely give her a thousand cuts!”
“Cultivation? What happened to your cultivation?”
“I, my cultivation is all gone. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have fallen to this state.” She spoke haltingly, feeling slightly awkward.
Wu Bei grabbed her, pressed a finger to her pulse point, and tapped her forehead with her right hand while forming a spell sign, probing her entire body.
“Her meridians are completely intact, spiritual energy flows smoothly and unimpeded, but she can’t store any of it. It doesn’t quite look like cultivation deviation either.”
“Most likely, it’s stagnation.” Yue Jin pondered for a moment and asked: “Did Yue Yuanqiu have this problem when she was practicing the Ninth Heaven?” Yue Yuanqiu was the previous Demon Lord, the twelfth palace master of Qingyuan Palace. Yue Jin’s name was given to her after Yue Yuanqiu picked her up.
Wu Bei shook her head. “She had already perfected it long before I arrived. Only Wu Ju and Wuhen might know the specifics of the situation back then.” Wu Ju would never speak, she had to protect her heavenly secrets, and as for Wuhen… Yue Jin understood. She sat on the chair, frustrated, tapping the tabletop with her fingers.
A thought flashed through Wu Bei’s mind. She sat down opposite Yue Jin, looking mysterious.
“There might be a way to help you recover…” She leaned in. “It can make your cultivation surge for a period, letting spiritual energy flow rapidly through your meridians. You might just break through your cultivation limit and reach the next stage! When that happens, you’ll have successfully cultivated the Ninth Heaven!”
Yue Jin’s interest piqued. “Tell me, don’t tease! What method?”
Wu Bei narrowed her eyes, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “Dual cultivation.”
“With you?” Yue Jin covered her shoulders with both hands, her face paling with fright. “So you’ve been plotting against this Venerable One for a long time…”
“Even if you agreed, I wouldn’t want to!” Wu Bei exclaimed, her voice a little loud before she quickly lowered it. “Don’t look at me, I wouldn’t do it even if I died.”
“Then just finding anyone? That’s too hasty. Even if outsiders see this Venerable One as the supreme head of the demonic path, doing all sorts of evil deeds, when it comes to this matter, this Venerable One still wants to win the affection of a gentle, lovely young woman on a beautiful, pleasant autumn night…”
So much trouble. Wu Bei cut off her rambling. “Alright, alright. Since that won’t work, you’ll just have to come with me. I’ve already had my trusted followers move to Huaijin City in Nanyang Prefecture. While the green mountains remain, there’s no rush to rebuild Qingyuan Palace.”
Yue Jin didn’t move. She hesitated.
“Come on, are you waiting for your ‘darling’ to come back or something?”
“Wu Bei.” Yue Jin called out to her, her expression not looking good. “I forgot to ask, how did you get in?”
“You know me,” Wu Bei flicked her white hair. In the dim candlelight, her skin looked porcelain white. “I just spouted some nonsense, and that Yun Lingyue believed me. She actually thought I was some homeless little girl. I originally just wanted to sneak in and stir up trouble, but I never expected to find out you were here. It truly is heaven’s blessing.”
“Then…” Yue Jin’s expression grew even more desolate. “How do we get out?”
Past Wu Bei Elders were all without grief or joy, emotionless and detached people. Only this current one… not only didn’t cultivate properly, but also loved to indulge in drinking and revelry, laughing and fooling around with girls, her emotional fluctuations greater than anyone’s. So naturally, her cultivation was the weakest of all the elders. She was even worse than someone adept at evil deeds.
To protect the safety of its disciples, the Disciplinary Hall Sword Sect had set up numerous barriers. Even without Fu Lingyi present, no one dared come up the mountain to disturb the sect’s peace. That’s why before, every time, Yue Jin had just yelled and made a scene at the sect’s entrance down the mountain.
As for getting down the mountain, that was even harder than ascending to heaven.
Wu Bei thought of this too, chuckled awkwardly twice. “You can’t blame me. I didn’t know you had no cultivation.”
Yue Jin was speechless, choked with emotion.
Taking advantage of the night, they briefly discussed the current situation. Although Wu Bei couldn’t rescue her right now, she could find a way after successfully infiltrating the sect. Before that, she could also occasionally pass her information.
“You respond from the inside, I’ll coordinate from the outside.”
The two reached a consensus.
Good chapter 😌