Regardless of whether what Yan Huirou said was true or false, Xie Minting only needed to briefly examine her condition to know that at least she wasn’t lying about being tortured.
It was a complete mess.
Her heart couldn’t help but pity this young girl.
Sect Master Xie was a little troubled by this matter. If what Yan Huirou said was true, then the Qingxu Sect Master’s death was well-deserved.
Jiang Xidai’s actions could hardly be considered evil, at most it could be called retaliatory revenge.
Herself—at least on this matter, hadn’t she wronged her?
She didn’t show it on her face, but she planned to investigate the suspicious points of this matter thoroughly after she returned.
The girl before her was too pitiful. If it was the doing of a righteous sect, Xie Minting believed that she was obliged to help her repair her meridians. Thinking of this, her expression became much more serious.
“These past few days, I’ve asked some friends from the medicine sect through my connections.” Xie Minting said, “Miss Yan, your condition is too serious. It’s very difficult to recover completely. There is a saying, ‘no destruction, no construction.’ We can give it a try.”
“What do I need to do?”
“We might have to return everything to chaos, and then ask a great master of the cultivation world to reshape the flow of spiritual energy in your body. But this process is exceptionally arduous…” Xie Minting said with some reluctance, “You might have to suffer a hundred times the pain you did back then.”
“Then so be it.”
But this voice did not come from Yan Huirou’s mouth. The two of them simultaneously looked up. Jiang Xidai smiled and uttered this one word with an air of finality. Then she added, “A useless person who can’t cultivate, what use do I have for her?”
“…” Xie Minting’s slightly improved impression of her was half-ruined by this cold and heartless sentence.
“It’s fine. Then,” Yan Huirou turned her head, “let’s do as Sect Master Jiang says.”
“This method is recorded in a scripture called the Inner Scenery of the Origin.”
Xie Minting took out a dusty, peeling cultivation manual from her storage ring. “I’ve asked a few old friends. This method has had two precedents, but the success rate is very low. Mainly because there are very few cultivators who can reach this level, and it also requires some rare medicinal herbs during the process. The number of people who can prepare them is even smaller.”
“Although the first three ingredients are rare, my sect has some reserves over the years and has prepared them for you. But this last ingredient—”
“What is it?”
“We’re missing a ‘Nirvana’. There is a creature among the demon beasts that is close to the ancient phoenix, now called the Vermilion Sparrow. Every thousand years, it will self-immolate and perish. The ashes left behind are called Nirvana. But this kind of demon beast lives on the peak of Kunlun Mountain. Although its cultivation is not the highest, its temperament is fierce and extremely aggressive. Once you encounter it, it’s a fight to the death.”
Xie Minting shook her head. “It’s very difficult to deal with. This medicinal ingredient is not widely used, and very few people would do such a thankless task.”
The two of them simultaneously looked at Jiang Xidai.
Jiang Xidai twirled a strand of her hair and frowned. “What for?”
She seemed to have been distracted just now and hadn’t listened carefully to what Xie Minting was saying, or rather, she had only heard the gist of it.
Yan Huirou: “…Sect Master Jiang, it sounds a bit difficult. How about we just forget it?”
“No.”
The woman said decisively, “Yan Huirou, don’t think about living a mediocre life. Whatever rare thing it is, I will easily obtain it…”
Yan Huirou silently turned her head back, but in her heart, she thought—it seems that my cultivation is just a way to trouble Sect Master Jiang.
Jiang Xidai is indeed extremely good to her.
She clutched her sleeve, and the guilt in her heart seemed to deepen.
Beep! Female Lead Favorability +1
“…”
Jiang Xidai closed her mouth.
Jiang Xidai was only gone for a day. Along the way, she had taken Xie Minting’s cultivation manual and had also thrown the little trouble, Yan Huirou, back to the Shasheng Sect, telling Wen Xianyin to keep a close eye on her.
Yan Huirou waited anxiously for her return in the Shasheng Sect.
Finally, at sunrise the next day, she saw the woman’s returning figure. The distant mountains were like dark jade, and only her crimson robes were a vibrant drop of color in the entire world, very easy to recognize.
Only then did Yan Huirou’s heart settle down.
Hearing Sect Master Xie’s serious tone, she had been afraid that something would happen to Jiang Xidai.
But when she got closer—
“…Sect Master Jiang, you?”
Jiang Xidai’s expression was noticeably more haggard. Her clothes had more or less traces of smoke and fire, and a strand of hair hanging by her temple was even scorched and tangled together.
“Take it.”
Her expression was not very happy. She threw a large bag full of ashes to Yan Huirou, which made Yan Huirou stumble back a step. Then, with one hand behind her back, she walked towards the Qionghua Hall of the Shasheng Sect.
…Jiang Xidai regretted this trip a little, especially when she was almost burned to a crisp by the self-destruction of more than a dozen Vermilion Sparrows.
She had originally intended to only take one life, but who knew that group of demon beasts would be so fierce and fight to the death.
Later, Jiang Xidai was provoked and, with her embroidered umbrella and Soft Red Ten-foot, she had slaughtered them all, leaving not a single feather, and had leveled the mountain.
She wasn’t injured, but she had been scorched. Her robes were torn, and her hair was singed, which was very damaging to her dignity. As for her mood, thinking of the torment she and Yan Huirou had suffered these past few days, she was naturally even more displeased.
She quickened her pace, wanting to go back and bathe and change—
Suddenly, someone gently wrapped their arms around her waist.
The young woman had caught up in a few steps and hugged her from behind.
“Sect Master Jiang, are you alright?”
Yan Huirou threw the sack of rare ashes to the ground, not even glancing at it, but instead leaned in with concern.
“…”
Jiang Xidai’s waist stiffened from the hug.
Those peach blossom eyes widened slightly, as if she were trying to figure out why the hateful little female lead had suddenly stuck to her from behind.
Her gaze then flowed over and she said to Yan Huirou with a hint of annoyance, “Do you think I need to be alright?”
“Let go of me,” Jiang Xidai said coolly. “You clueless little girl.”
Yan Huirou’s hug was quite calculated. She pressed herself against Jiang Xidai but did not see any signs of pain avoidance from her body, which meant there were probably no major injuries.
She let out a sigh of relief in her heart. Seeing Jiang Xidai’s tattered clothes, she roughly knew what she was going to do. “Are you going to bathe? Let me serve you.”
Jiang Xidai, of course—
—refused her without hesitation.
But heaven does not always grant one’s wishes.
For example, at this moment.
In a secluded pavilion of Qionghua Hall, a small stool was obediently moved to sit beside Jiang Xidai.
This strange scene was maintained in a pool of clear water.
Along with the rising steam, it blurred Yan Huirou’s focused gaze.
The greatest villainess of this text was born with a smile, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Especially when she encountered something unpleasant, she could still curve the corners of her lips up. That smile was very beautiful, but it always sent a chill down one’s spine.
Such a smiling old woman’s luck was probably not very bad.
But Jiang Xidai’s life seemed to have not been very good, and ever since she met Yan Huirou, it had been getting worse.
Now, she had been so worn down by Yan Huirou that she had no smile left. She leaned against the side of the pool with a blank expression, her eyes faintly closed, leaving only her back to Yan Huirou.
“Yan Huirou.”
“Hmm?”
The female lead of this text stared at her back and timely suggested, “Do you need me to help you scrub your back?”
“…Get out.”
“I naturally won’t stay for long.”
Yan Huirou said gently, “I just wanted to see if Sect Master Jiang was injured today, and if the wound on your chest has healed. Did you have another attack in the Shenji Pavilion that day?”
“After all, if I were to ask you, you would definitely not tell me anything.”
Jiang Xidai closed her eyes. “Do I need to report everything to you?”
“No need.”
She heard the stool behind her move a little, as if it were getting closer.
Yan Huirou’s answer was flawless. “So I will observe for myself.”
“Sect Master Jiang, I have no other intentions. You don’t need to just face one side… By the way, what is this?”
A soft palm pressed down on her back shoulder, pushing aside her wet hair and touching the tattoo there.
The blooming flower branch was coiled on the woman’s fair back, looking very alluring and bewitching.
Yan Huirou’s hand was grabbed with an unbearable force. Jiang Xidai turned around in the water and, with the force, almost pulled the woman on the shore into the pool.
Yan Huirou let out a muffled groan and fell to the side of the pool. She wasn’t hurt, but her sleeve was accidentally soaked.
She felt the heat and humidity rush towards her, and in the haze, she saw the woman’s beautiful, fair neck.
Her wrist ached from being squeezed. Yan Huirou let out a light humph and frowned, holding back the pain. Before it became unbearable, the force gradually loosened.
“Touch me again,” in the mist, the woman’s voice was gentle, but her tone was exceptionally sinister, “and I’ll cripple your hand.”
“Mmm,” Yan Huirou answered. Her fingers curled up sensibly, and she pulled them back. She rested her chin on the back of her hand and lay on the side of the pool. “I was just asking… Although it’s very beautiful, for such a large piece, didn’t it hurt to get it tattooed?”
Jiang Xidai turned around in the mist and walked a few steps towards the center of the pool, as if she wanted to get away from Yan Huirou so she wouldn’t touch her again.
Jiang Xidai cupped some water and caressed her own shoulder. A few petals also slid down her shoulder.
“I was injured before, and it wasn’t properly treated, so the scars were very ugly. I didn’t want to look so ugly, so I got a flower tattooed to cover it.”
Yan Huirou was surprised. “What kind of injury, so big?”
“Someone poured boiling oil on me.”
Yan Huirou was stunned. Through the mist, the flower on the woman’s back no longer looked like a flower, but a hideous, splash-like scar.
But only that one was covered. There were still many small scars on her slender waist and back, shaped like fingernails, snake-like whip marks, and round, suspected piercing wounds… but the scars were faint and not very obvious.
A pang shot through Yan Huirou’s heart, like a thorn being pricked into it.
