Senior Sister Went Mad After My Fake Death Chapter 27

“Oh, Senior Sister is back, Senior Sister is back!”
“Yes, it’s Senior Sister Han Xiao back!”
As soon as Han Xiao appeared at the foot of the mountain, several sharp-eyed disciples of Immortal Lord Yang Nian spotted her. They immediately ran to spread the news, telling everyone they met that Senior Sister Han Xiao had returned.
Senior Sister naturally had a cold, indifferent face and a cool temperament. Her bland reaction to their enthusiastic welcome didn’t surprise anyone. On the contrary, everyone simply thought this was Senior Sister’s usual demeanor.
Therefore, when Senior Sister Han Xiao, who always carried herself with cool aloofness, anxiously asked a question, all of them widened their eyes in surprise. Especially the Junior Sister who was asked, her tongue tied, stammering for a long time, not knowing what to say.
She had just been joyfully saying things like “Senior Sister Han Xiao, you’ve finally returned,” and the next moment, Han Xiao, as if she had found someone familiar, immediately asked her: “Where is Jiang Chunai right now?”
“Chu-Chunai Senior Sister?” The Junior Sister bit her lip, feeling inexplicably guilty, not daring to meet Han Xiao’s gaze. She just felt that Senior Sister Han Xiao was strange in some way, an indescribable strangeness.
She didn’t interact much with Senior Sister Han Xiao and wasn’t very familiar with her, only remembering that Senior Sister Han Xiao had fair, jade-like skin. She wasn’t among the group of disciples obsessed with Senior Sister Han Xiao… so, she didn’t know about the terrifying reddish-black fine lines beneath Senior Sister Han Xiao’s eyes, and she was startled when she first saw them.
The Junior Sister didn’t answer Han Xiao’s question, only repeating, “Chunai, Senior Sister Chunai… Uh, Senior Sister Han Xiao, you, you first…”
She stammered, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time. She was young, and Han Xiao was older and taller, radiating an oppressive aura, making the Junior Sister even more unable to speak a full sentence.
Fortunately, a livelier fellow disciple stepped forward, pulling her stammering Junior Sister aside, and said, “Senior Sister Han Xiao, are you asking about Senior Sister Chunai?” While speaking, she didn’t forget to have the Junior Sister, who was frightened by Han Xiao’s abnormal behavior, lean behind her.
It wasn’t that Senior Sister Han Xiao looked scary; it was that she was suddenly like this, very abnormal. They had been fellow disciples for so many years, and Senior Sister Han Xiao had never initiated a conversation. Their interactions with Han Xiao only amounted to two sentences—
“Hello, Senior Sister Han Xiao.”
“Hello.”
—Just two simple sentences.
Senior Sister Han Xiao’s cultivation was unfathomable. Generally, she would have no unnecessary interactions with them. So, her proactive question about Senior Sister Chunai’s whereabouts today was also an abnormal act.
Senior Sister Han Xiao’s gaze was burning, her slightly upturned eyes no longer filled with the cold indifference and aloofness of the past, but something more… an emotion she couldn’t comprehend.
The livelier Senior Sister scratched her head, seemingly recalling carefully. Han Xiao suddenly became focused. At this moment, a bright flame suddenly rose in both her heart and her eyes. This Senior Sister was thinking, recalling things related to Jiang Chunai.
While waiting for the answer to Jiang Chunai’s current whereabouts, Han Xiao felt time passing so slowly, so slowly. It was only a few breaths, yet she felt it was longer than the millions of years she had spent in the chaotic Nether Realm.
Saintess’s babbling still echoed in her ears; the “fake’s” corpse, which had died horizontally in the mine and then suddenly disappeared, also appeared before her eyes… And the heavy rain that ravaged the world that night flashed before her like a fleeting glimpse. Here was one side of the rope, the weight of memories, weighing a thousand jun, and the other end was tied to the fellow disciple’s answer.
However, the brawny and straightforward Senior Sister thought for a while, only tilting her head and asking her other Junior Sister, “A’qing! Didn’t you patrol the mountain two days ago? Has Senior Sister Chunai returned?”
A’qing was much more efficient: “No! Senior Sister Chunai hasn’t returned at all!”
Han Xiao’s heart plummeted. The bright flame that had just surged in her eyes and heart was abruptly suppressed again.
No, she hasn’t returned.
Jiang Chunai hasn’t returned.
The thousand-jun weight of her memories couldn’t stand against a single sentence, a light, airy answer.
After confirming, the brawny and straightforward Junior Sister turned around and smiled awkwardly. “Senior Sister Chunai hasn’t returned, no.”
Han Xiao stared blankly, only saying, “Oh, she hasn’t returned? She’s probably still outside. She must have met some demon again, and then, seeing injustice, drew her sword to help, getting held up for a while.”
“Uh, ah?” The Junior Sister was confused. Not knowing how to respond, she gave an awkward laugh. “Ah, is, is that so?” In the interim, she even turned her head to look at the eastern sky: Hmm, no, the sun did indeed rise from the east today!
That’s just plain strange. Why would Senior Sister Han Xiao proactively say something like that to her?
After speaking, Han Xiao clearly felt some embarrassment. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “What’s wrong?”
The Junior Sister continued to scratch her head. “I’m not too sure. It’s just that Senior Sister Chunai just finished her travels, didn’t she? If she’s not on the mountain this time, she must have something important to do, and she usually returns quickly, right?” She and Senior Sister Jiang Chunai were fellow disciples; she was somewhat familiar with the latter’s daily routine, but she couldn’t speak too definitively. Cultivators’ daily tasks were pretty much the same every year; one could tell with a little careful observation. However, Senior Sister Han Xiao was also Senior Sister Chunai’s Senior Sister; their relationship was closer than hers with Senior Sister Chunai, so she should know even more.
Upon hearing the words “returns quickly,” Han Xiao’s face showed a momentary unnaturalness. “Yes, she returns quickly.” The Junior Sister’s words seemed to imply something, sounding like…
She wasn’t very familiar with Jiang Chunai.
Han Xiao had never cared about such things before; she attributed it to her own sluggishness. So when she vaguely realized that her words seemed to have led the Junior Sister to a different interpretation, she immediately grew sensitive, stopping herself from thinking further. She never dealt deeply with people. In fact, she was not versed in such ways, finding it difficult to discern what people truly wanted to express. It must be that she misunderstood the Junior Sister’s meaning.
“Senior Sister Han Xiao, is there something you need Senior Sister Chunai for?” The brawny and straightforward Junior Sister scratched her head. “Is it something urgent? If it’s not urgent, I’ll tell Senior Sister Chunai to come find you as soon as she returns.”
Han Xiao’s eyelashes inexplicably trembled. She choked and immediately said, “Alright, when she returns, tell me right away.” The Junior Sister didn’t understand, but she agreed nonetheless.
Han Xiao hastily finished her instructions and left directly.
Instructing the Junior Sister to be sure to tell her the news of Jiang Chunai’s return, in reality, implied one thing.
That Jiang Chunai would return.
Yes, she would definitely return.
She must be on her way back to the sect now, or perhaps she had already returned to the sect—after all, there was more than one way to return to the Bright Snow Sect. It wasn’t impossible to come back through another path instead of the main gate at the foot of the mountain.
Jiang Chunai’s wandering soul lonely guarded her lonely grave.
Speaking of lonely, why were the weeds on her grave growing so tall!
The lion demon had only abandoned her a short while ago, yet the weeds on her grave had already grown nearly two zhang high! Jiang Chunai even suspected there was a feng shui problem here; these grave weeds grew more lush than the crops her mother had planted!
She had lived a very bitter life in the mortal realm. Her yearly harvests barely allowed them to get by. The only hope left for their family was the heavy snow that year.
Feathery snow, scattering like broken jade. At that time, both her mother and father, her grandmother and grandfather, all wore wide smiles. None of them were well-read, but “auspicious snow promises a bountiful harvest”—everyone understood that, and so this small, poor village also harbored great hope.
…Unfortunately, this snow was the end.
It was a famine year.
Without Master, Jiang Chunai would have died.
Her closest kin didn’t even live to see if the next year would be a bountiful one.
Their entire village died that winter.
The more Jiang Chunai thought about it, the sadder she became, sighing as she looked at the weeds on her grave.
Suddenly, she heard a rustling of footsteps. A woman holding a candle was searching for something nearby. Jiang Chunai instantly became alert. It was broad daylight; why was someone lighting a candle to look for something?
Although she knew she was a lonely ghost and that person couldn’t see her, Jiang Chunai involuntarily held her breath, cautiously watching what the woman intended to do.
The woman had a pair of alert cat-like eyes. Combined with her strange act of lighting a candle in broad daylight, she quickly spotted Jiang Chunai’s grave.
Jiang Chunai, flailing and trying to block her grave:…
Yes, not being seen has its good sides, and its bad sides.
Chang Xin’s brows were almost knitted into a mountain peak. When she pushed aside the pile of weeds and found Jiang Chunai’s corpse, she happily nodded. “It really is here! I thought I wouldn’t find it.”
“Jiang Chunai, right? It should be Jiang Chunai’s grave,” she murmured, crouching down and carefully pushing aside the piled stones. “It wasn’t in vain that I ran over eight mountain peaks!”
Jiang Chunai’s heart was suddenly filled with mixed emotions.
After her most respected and admired Senior Sister inhumanely tried to destroy her body and erase her traces with a sword, and the enemy lion demon sacrificed his life to carry her corpse out and set up a tombstone, Jiang Chunai had a new encounter.
A woman she had never met before, running over eight mountain peaks in broad daylight, holding a candle to find her grave.
Look at all the things she’s encountered in this life. Jiang Chunai sighed.
Sighing aside, seeing what this woman intended to do was the immediate priority.
The woman pushed aside the stones for a while, seeming to feel she was being foolish. She then realized, directly formed a hand seal, and pushed the stones away, revealing a corpse covered with a white cloth.
Chang Xin’s heart pounded: a large patch of dark red blood stained the white cloth. Even without lifting it, she could imagine the original tragic state. She took a breath, a little scared, but still lifted the white cloth.
Though she had prepared herself mentally, Chang Xin couldn’t help but be startled when she saw such a large bloody hole. The candle in her hand rolled to the ground. Her face turned pale as she tremblingly brushed away the strands of hair covering the corpse’s head, finally confirming.
Jiang Chunai floated nearby, also feeling sorrow. Her only comfort was that this woman was not close to her. If she saw her tragic death, then so be it. At least this woman didn’t know who killed her, which somewhat preserved Jiang Chunai’s last bit of dignity.
Chang Xin stood stunned for a long while. While muttering “my apologies,” she stood up. Jiang Chunai watched her sympathetically, guessing whether this woman would also, like the lion demon, flee when disaster struck. But the next moment, the woman pulled out a fresh, white silk cloth from somewhere and meticulously wiped away the blood-stained, unclean parts of Jiang Chunai’s body.
As she wiped, she said, “Good sister, your elder sister has come to find you.”
Jiang Chunai listened, bewildered. She was an only child and didn’t know this woman. Why would this woman call her “good sister” and refer to herself as “elder sister”? There was no one else around; the woman was only facing a broken corpse, so pretense was useless. It could only be a gush of heartfelt emotion.
The woman seemed to find squatting inconvenient, so she simply knelt. The woman wore a long, moon-white dress. She hadn’t cared much about getting it dirty when she squatted earlier, and now she was completely unconcerned when she knelt. She carefully wiped Jiang Chunai’s face clean. Noticing Jiang Chunai’s eyes were still open, she couldn’t help but sigh, reaching out to close her eyes, saying, “It’s alright, younger sister. You’ll be fine once your elder sister carries you home.”
During the woman’s gentle wiping, Jiang Chunai floated around, finally catching a glimpse of an item on the woman that could identify her. The jade plaque pinned at her waist seemed to burn with a faint green light, with winding patterns.
At that moment, she understood—
This was a Yanqiu cultivator.
She and they had something in common.
The days of waiting were excruciating, and waiting for Jiang Chunai to return had become unbearable. Since abandoning the others and returning from the Cave of Severed Affections, Han Xiao had remained in her residence and had not come out. Most people in the sect usually didn’t see Senior Sister Han Xiao anyway. Even knowing that Senior Sister Han Xiao had returned but wasn’t coming out, they wouldn’t say anything, only remarking, “Senior Sister Han Xiao is in her residence now!” Senior Sister Han Xiao was different from them; whatever she did, wherever she was, she surely had her own considerations. Even if Senior Sister Han Xiao did nothing, being the laziest disciple, the sect members would still believe Han Xiao was right.
But during the days of Jiang Chunai’s delayed return, Han Xiao was not cultivating in her residence. In her own words, she was “hiding” in her residence.
Hiding, escaping.
Escaping what?
The moment this question arose, Han Xiao immediately cut off further thoughts. She knew what she was escaping.
Escaping Jiang Chunai’s return, yet she also worried she wouldn’t return.
Han Xiao had already told the Junior Sister at the foot of the mountain that if she heard any news of Jiang Chunai, she was to tell her immediately. With her prestige and status, the Junior Sister would naturally treat her words as gospel.
Han Xiao could have easily fallen asleep—just as she had spent thousands upon thousands of years in the Nether Realm.
Thousands of years, yet like the blink of an eye.
Han Xiao tried to sleep. Her eyelids closed, but her heart could not settle down. Her heart beat very slowly, only long, bitter emotions intertwining.
This was wrong. This long, indescribable emotion was right; what was wrong was that an emotion was missing.
She reached out and touched beneath her eye. The reddish-black fine lines beneath her eyelids had originally just covered her skin. If she didn’t look in a mirror, she wouldn’t feel anything unusual. When she touched them, her skin felt smooth and moist.
But today was distinctly different. When Han Xiao raised her hand to stroke beneath her eyelids, she felt lines of indentations there.
—In other words, these reddish-black fine lines had now deeply imprinted themselves into her bones and skin.
And these fine lines were the product left behind after her one-night encounter with Jiang Chunai in the secret realm. During the days of waiting for Jiang Chunai’s non-return, these fine lines had imperceptibly seeped into her skin.
Upon realizing this, Han Xiao numbly let her hand fall. Inadvertently, another crystalline, warm water droplet fell into her palm. Her hand, which had just touched the fine lines, hadn’t yet closed, steadily catching that hot tear.
She was crying again.
Han Xiao lowered her head, recovering for a while. She seemed to remember what that missing, forlorn feeling was.
She didn’t know when it started, but an irregular heartbeat had begun to throb in her chest. She would feel some emotions that didn’t belong to her controlling her. It had been going on for a very long time. But Han Xiao had never noticed such things before, nor did she think it was a big deal.
She was still that demon sealed in the secret realm for thousands of years; human joys and sorrows were not connected to her.
But now?
Han Xiao found it difficult to explain this feeling of bitterness spreading. Something in her heart had broken ground and taken root, controlling her emotions and rationality. Tearing at her clarity.
This was probably the effect of the Passion Lure.
She murmured, stood up, and was suddenly forcibly pulled into her sea of consciousness. Her sea of consciousness was vast and boundless, and also like a copper wall and iron barrier. Even Immortal Lord Yang Nian had never entered her sea of consciousness. Now, for Han Xiao to be pulled into her sea of consciousness, it could only mean that this matter was related to herself.
In her sea of consciousness, she saw an egg wrapped in white mist.
“What is this?” She frowned, unable to recall ever seeing such a thing.
With confusion, she approached the smooth egg, step by step. It was an elongated egg, not laid by poultry.
But, whether laid by poultry or not, this thing shouldn’t appear in her sea of consciousness. She wasn’t interested in collecting such things—
Filled with doubt, Han Xiao still reached out to touch the elongated egg.
The next moment, she heard someone knocking on her door from outside her sea of consciousness: “Senior Sister Han Xiao, Senior Sister Han Xiao!”
She immediately returned to her senses, looking towards the door: “What is it?”
She had been back for a full month. In this month, she had never heard any knocking on her door. There might have been noisy fellow disciples passing by, but everyone had the good sense to lower their voices around her residence. Regardless of whether Senior Sister Han Xiao was home or not, it was best not to be too loud. As the saying goes, things turn contrary when they reach an extreme.
While waiting for the person outside the door to answer, Han Xiao felt time passing incredibly slowly. She had already walked quickly to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob—
Han Xiao was fully prepared to see Jiang Chunai. She suddenly felt a little embarrassed, because for this entire month, she had been hiding in her home, keeping her door shut, preferring to watch the sun and moon alternate rather than dare to think about what would happen after seeing Jiang Chunai again.
It’s fine. Things will work out in the end.
When she found her, perhaps a symbolic apology would suffice?
She thought this, and so tried to make her mood a little better, to welcome this good news.
However, the female voice outside the door said, “Senior Sister, if you’re home, Dao Lord Qiming has summoned you.”
Han Xiao froze in place, swallowing her original joyful sound, replacing it with an extremely flat voice: “Hmm.”
“Daoist Qiming, are you sure Han Xiao will come today?” A woman frowned, feeling very bored sitting on the chair.
Dao Lord Qiming nodded, reassuring her, “True Monarch, calm yourself. Han Xiao will definitely come.”
The woman’s brows remained furrowed, seemingly distrusting Dao Lord Qiming’s words. She had long heard of Han Xiao’s deeds. This person was the deceased Immortal Lord Yang Nian’s head disciple of the Bright Snow Sect. It was highly unlikely for her not to be proud and arrogant. Moreover, her master was now dead, so how much sincerity would Han Xiao have in listening to Dao Lord Qiming’s words?
“Hmm, alright, then I’ll wait.”
Jing Shun was still attending to Dao Lord Qiming, listening to their conversation, his lips involuntarily curving into a smile. When he returned last time, he immediately went to find his Master, telling her about Han Xiao’s “misdeeds,” hoping Master would definitely teach her a lesson. Hmph, someone who can’t even perform external duties well, how dare she call herself “head disciple”? And some people even want to come all the way to propose marriage! Truly, enough is enough.
As everyone waited anxiously, unhurried footsteps came from outside the door. It was Han Xiao.
She gracefully bowed: “Greetings, Dao Lord.”
From the moment Han Xiao entered, Zhenjun Changming had been staring at her, observing secretly. She had seen Han Xiao before, but this Han Xiao now was quite different from the image in her memory—she seemed empty, as if something was missing, a crucial feeling. And the fine lines in her eyes made her feel somewhat familiar.
Was she afflicted with a gu poison?
Han Xiao quickly met Zhenjun Changming’s scrutinizing gaze.
Dao Lord Qiming, seeing the two meeting each other’s eyes, began to introduce them: “Han Xiao, this is Zhenjun Changming of the Wunian Sect. She is here today for an important matter.”
Zhenjun Changming? Han Xiao’s brow slightly moved, as if recalling something. This Zhenjun seemed to know Master.
Han Xiao nodded blankly. “What is the Dao Lord here for?”
Zhenjun Changming smiled faintly, then rose and went straight to the point: “Yes, I am Zhenjun Changming. I visit your sect today for you.”
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.
Jing Shun’s fists clenched almost to breaking point beside her, while a hint of amusement flickered in Dao Lord Qiming’s eyes. What a pity for Yang Nian; she couldn’t witness her beloved head disciple’s good fortune. When Zhenjun Changming came up the mountain, she even brought a large retinue, beating drums and gongs, as if deliberately wanting everyone to know her intentions.
“For me?”
Zhenjun Changming nodded, staring at Han Xiao’s cold, lifeless eyes, and said, word by word, “Yes, my elder sister has a daughter. She has now reached marriageable age, and after searching throughout the cultivation world, we cannot find a suitable Dao companion…”
“Daoist Han Xiao is a heaven-sent genius. Her strength has already reached the Void Comprehension Stage, and she will likely breakthrough further. Perhaps she also needs a Dao companion, and our Wunian Sect… I believe you have heard of us.”
The Wunian Sect was a sect that had recently risen to fame. In just a few years, it had produced several powerful cultivators, attracting much attention in the Grand Competition and drawing mortals to join—it was said that the Wunian Sect possessed spiritual pills and wondrous medicines: weakening the weak, strengthening the strong. Even more, they could help one ascend to immortality, becoming an immortal in one step.
And the niece Zhenjun Changming spoke of was the daughter of the Wunian Sect’s founder. Her sisters and she had only this one bloodline. Now, the Wunian Sect coming to propose marriage to Han Xiao, though it hinted at wanting to rely on the righteous Bright Snow Sect, was undoubtedly good news for the gradually weakening and declining Bright Snow Sect. The Wunian Sect was not a righteous path sect, but if it could establish a connection with the Bright Snow Sect, the hundreds of immortal sects would certainly change their views on it.
Such a union seemed natural and possessed abundant allure—
You give me fame, and I give you profit.
Jing Shun only resented that such a good opportunity didn’t fall on him.
However, under the envious, expectant, or jealous gazes of everyone present, Han Xiao gave her answer almost in the blink of an eye: “My apologies.” She said it indifferently, as if it were just a casual greeting.
At this, everyone present was stunned.
“Han Xiao is still young, and her cultivation is still shallow. I fear I am not a suitable partner.” She finished explaining, then asked if there was anything else.
…She had waited so bitterly for so long, she had hidden tremblingly in her residence, not for this outcome.
Zhenjun Changming’s smile froze on her face: “Daoist Han Xiao, you, do you know what you are saying?”
Dao Lord Qiming also frowned, confused.
And Jing Shun, meanwhile, couldn’t suppress the smile on his lips at all. Indeed, heaven wasn’t perfect with everyone. This Han Xiao was truly stubborn when it came to dealing with people; she couldn’t even grasp a marriage opportunity like this, a windfall from heaven.
He cleared his throat twice, about to magnanimously say he could take the opportunity, when a booming roar suddenly came from outside the door:
“Why is the sect so noisy today? Qiming, what are you doing?”
…Mei Shengchi’s voice was known to all.
Han Xiao froze for a moment. She suddenly remembered that Jiang Chunai, during her last moments on the mountain, had been with this ill-tempered Cliff Master.