Jiang Xidai mostly understood the little girl’s intentions.
The Shasheng Sect had a hard time planting spies within the Immortal Alliance, and it was impossible for Wen Xianyin to watch Li Xinghe every day without being discovered.
Therefore, the only one who could easily get close to the Male Lead was, naturally, Yan Huirou herself.
The current situation should have been one Jiang Xidai was most pleased with.
After all, she had won over the Female Lead with an extremely high favorability rating, and was now using the Female Lead to curb the Male Lead’s growth.
On one hand, she could advance the System’s missions without worry; on the other, she could get more information from Yan Huirou. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.
Yan Huirou was truly adept at using her advantages, whenever she was willing.
A sense of closeness from being the same age, a similarly lonely background, timely praise, occasional displays of weakness, a gentle and beautiful smile, and an appearance without any hint of aggression—she had the young brat completely wrapped around her finger.
How did Jiang Xidai know?
It definitely wasn’t because she was spying on them herself.
It was because the System kept reporting good news and rewarding her with cultivation points day after day, to the point where she was so fed up she almost felt like “quitting cultivation.”
Besides, she herself had clearly experienced Yan Huirou’s prowess.
Jiang Xidai, of course, knew what it felt like to be watched by the little female lead with such focused and gentle attention. She also knew how beautifully she could smile, and how patiently she could listen to someone pour out their heart.
She had been the extravagant and debauched master of the Shasheng Sect for many years and had seen countless women.
There were more stunning ones, more talented ones, and certainly many more gentle ones.
But she too had been left flustered and helpless by Yan Huirou, the high walls she had built around herself soaked and crumbled by a warm current.
So she watched coldly as the Male Lead’s favorability for the Female Lead shot up. At first, she could scoff a few times that Li Xinghe had never seen the world, but later, she grew unwilling to dwell on such thoughts.
Because such scenes had once been reserved for Jiang Xidai alone.
When she couldn’t sleep late at night, unable to even meditate in peace, her only comfort was perhaps to repeatedly pull up the favorability interface for the Female Lead and Male Lead.
It was still 0.
Steady as a rock, it hadn’t risen at all.
Jiang Xidai checked again and again, tirelessly, looking countless times a day before she could feel some peace, as if this could soothe the unease in her heart.
But now, her once-silken state of mind was no longer as smooth as it used to be. The frayed threads left from these past few days had all tangled into knots.
To care was to be unable to let go easily.
But on the day Wen Xianyin reported to her, this precarious balance was finally broken.
In the dead silence, she heard the System’s cold report.
Although the Female Lead’s favorability toward the Male Lead had not changed, her favorability toward her had faintly dropped by a value of “1.”
She stared at the flying flowers of pale pink and deep red, and for a moment, the spring light was glaring.
Wen Xianyin saw the woman’s face suddenly turn cold and for a moment wondered what she had said wrong.
She could only watch as Jiang Xidai clenched her fingers, her nails digging into the thick stem of a flower she held. The light red juice, a soupy mess like crushed entrails, flowed down her wrist.
The force was almost strong enough to crush a human head, truly terrifying.
“…No need. Let her and that idiot go wherever they please.”
The woman’s curled lashes lowered as she spoke flatly.
“Sect Master, if you have a conflict with Miss Yan, it’s best to resolve it in a timely manner,” Wen Xianyin couldn’t help but advise.
“It’s nothing,” Jiang Xidai said. “What she wants to do, who she wants to like, what she wants… in any case, I can’t control her anymore.”
Wen Xianyin dared not speak again. The Sect Master’s tone was light, but her face was filled with a murderous gloom, and her stunning features seemed even sharper.
Before long, Jiang Xidai released the crushed flower from her palm, her hand wet and mixed with remnants. She casually wiped it on Wen Xianyin’s shoulder.
The poor senior sister’s shoulders shook as she felt the hand nonchalantly wiping itself on her clothes a few times, as if smearing blood.
Wiping was fine; it was just a matter of washing her clothes. The main issue was being close to the enraged Jiang Xidai. She was afraid that in a moment of carelessness, she would be strangled.
Wen Xianyin held her breath. The soft fragrance of the woman’s clothes, mixed with her oppressive presence, was extremely nerve-wracking.
She didn’t dare to get too close to Jiang Xidai, and neither did anyone else in the Shasheng Sect. But this fear could not be shown. Wen Xianyin knew that the Sect Master did not like people looking at her with such eyes.
The senior disciple said nothing. Fortunately, Jiang Xidai did not lose her reason and vent her anger on her. She merely wiped her hands clean, then lifted her umbrella and walked away gracefully, leaving behind a single sentence: “I’m going out for a while. You watch over the Shasheng Sect.”
“…Yes.”
Wen Xianyin suddenly let out a breath of relief and took a few small steps back.
The market town at the foot of Wugou Mountain was not very large, and even the teahouses were simple and crude.
But Yan Huirou didn’t seem to mind. She gazed at the bustling crowd outside, her eyes not moving for a long time.
“Miss Yan.”
“So that’s how it is.” The young man across from her folded his arms, a long, precious sword held in his embrace, his tone cold. “I knew you looked kind, not like that kind of person. That time after I woke up from retrieving the sword and you were gone, and my Storage Ring was completely emptied, I knew it must have been the work of that demon lord.”
As if waking from a dream, Yan Huirou turned her gaze back. She propped her cheek on her hand, intentionally or not revealing a section of her arm, where the faint purple and blue marks were exceptionally eye-catching.
She looked as if she had something difficult to say. “I…”
Li Xinghe saw her wrist, his expression startled. As I thought, he said to himself. Following Jiang Xidai in the Shasheng Sect, this gentle-natured girl must be suffering humiliation and bullying every day. She’s just… just unwilling to speak up.
She must not be able to bear this life anymore, which is why she suddenly reached out to me.
This is a good opportunity. I have to find a way to bring Yan Huirou back to the Immortal Alliance.
Li Xinghe suddenly thought this—it was not only out of sympathy for Yan Huirou’s situation, but also a deep-seated hatred for Jiang Xidai.
His family, his master, his sect—all had been slaughtered by that woman. Afterward, he had lived like a stray dog, crawling under Jiang Xidai’s shadow, unable to see a way out. Even… even the girl he had liked at first sight, before he even had a chance to get to know her—had already been reduced to Jiang Xidai’s plaything.
A great shame and humiliation.
An inextinguishable shadow.
How could he not hate her?!
“…”
Yan Huirou said nothing, inadvertently pulling down her sleeve again, carefully covering the marks. She gently rubbed the blue and purple pigment with her fingertip, her eyes curving slightly in her heart.
It was a bit of mineral powder she had rubbed off the Sect Master’s paintings, which she had secretly learned to mix herself. Li Xinghe was an impulsive person and wouldn’t look closely, so he probably wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
She knew that the more silent she was, the more she would arouse the hot-blooded desires of the young man across from her, so she never said much, just quietly observing the person before her, occasionally revealing some difficulty.
As it turned out, this method was very effective.
Her plan was proceeding smoothly. In just seven days of intentional and unintentional meetings, the person Jiang Xidai was wary of seemed to have grown to trust her a lot.
And after confirming that Yan Huirou was staying in the Shasheng Sect because she had her own difficulties, Li Xinghe’s gaze toward her gradually became fervent.
It wasn’t a simple affection, but more like looking at a famous sword, or a divine weapon, or a peerless cultivation technique. It was an achievement to be used to wash away the pain and humiliation that woman had brought.
Yan Huirou’s timid and troubled expression would always fade when Li Xinghe lowered his head to drink his tea.
If the young man were to look up at her at that moment, he would surely be shocked, and perhaps even feel a chill run down his spine.
Because in those clear eyes, like stagnant, waveless water, her expression could change in an instant, hiding only a calm observation and scrutiny.
After seeing Li Xinghe’s fanatical desire to “win,” Yan Huirou turned her head, suppressed the faint discomfort in her heart, and drank her tea.
Projecting this kind of emotion onto her…
Considering this person’s hatred for Sect Master Jiang, it was quite normal.
Not bad.
After all, love at first sight was unreliable, especially with men, who were creatures prone to changing affections.
To long for something just out of reach was what made people invest everything, bit by bit.
Yan Huirou’s brows relaxed a little. She felt the coarse tea leaves scrape against her lips.
But after swallowing that mouthful, she felt a trace of bitterness rise in her own heart.
These extra thoughts, she could use them to her heart’s content to attack others’ minds, but she couldn’t make a woman who had rejected her dote on her again.
Every time Li Xinghe stared at her in a daze, or showed a hint of fervor without hiding it, Yan Huirou, while feeling tired, also felt a part of her heart darken.
Even at this moment, she was still thinking…
If only, if only that woman would look at her like that. How wonderful that would be.
Yan Huirou’s gaze once again turned outside.
In the bustling crowd, some were walking, some were talking, some were carrying loads on poles, and some were standing side by side. Everyone was different.
Li Xinghe also looked outside strangely. “What are you looking at? Is there something strange outside? I see you’re always looking over there.”
Yan Huirou paused for a long while before lowering her head. “It’s nothing.”
She had thought that these past few days, Jiang Xidai would at least follow her once. Even if it were just out of simple concern. And even though Jiang Xidai was feared, she never hid herself when she went out. If she came, Yan Huirou wouldn’t even need to look; the common people around would cause a commotion.
But outside the bamboo fence, the sunlight was brilliant, a scene of tranquility.
And everything was normal.
