The Heroine Made a Pact With Senior Sister (GL) Chapter 1

The blazing sun burned like fire. The sand and stones on the road were scorching hot, and the thin grass drooped limply against the ground, baked yellow with hardly any green left in sight. A group of people hurried past, each dressed in layered, elegant robes, as if the cruel heat did not trouble them at all.
“Senior Sister is not acting with us again. I really do not know what Immortal Venerable Wanyue is thinking,” a young woman in green complained softly. She lifted the folding fan in her hand and kept fanning herself. “If Senior Sister came over and made it snow, how nice would that be? Then we would not have to travel through this heat.”
“Senior Sister has a strange temper. Junior Sister Abi, do not say too much. If Senior Sister hears you, she might come make trouble for you,” a young man in black said slowly beside her. When he mentioned the words “Senior Sister,” a faint trace of fear passed over his face.
“Senior Sister is a little cold, but she would not come trouble us without asking what happened. How is she as scary as you say, Senior Brother Chang?” The sword-carrying young woman behind them covered her mouth and laughed, then poked the girl at the very back. “Junior Sister Mu, do you not think so?”
“…Yes. Yes,” Mu Yinfeng said in a hurry, startled back to herself.
The only man in the group laughed when he saw her like that. “Yes? Did you ask her how Senior Sister usually bullies her? If I were not protecting her, with Senior Sister’s temper, who knows how many times she would have locked her up on Frostfall Cliff by now.”
“Oh? Senior Brother Chang, tell us. What happened?” the young woman in green asked curiously.
The sword-carrying young woman, who had also been walking near the back, hurried over with the face of someone ready for gossip. She was clearly prepared to hear Senior Brother Chang tell the story.
No one noticed Mu Yinfeng let out a long breath of relief behind them.
That was close. Good thing she had not exposed herself.
In the usual sense of the word, Mu Yinfeng was someone who had transmigrated into a book. Although she had already been here for several months, her personality was far too different from the original owner’s, so she had to be extremely careful in everything she said and did to avoid giving herself away.
The book she had entered was very strange. It was labeled as a romance, but it did not feel like one, because the male lead was almost a background prop. The rough plot was that the heroine, Mu Yinfeng, had fallen into the red-light district and was saved by the male lead, Chang Zui, who brought her to Hanyou Valley to cultivate. But she did not know that Chang Zui had saved her only because he coveted the extreme yin power inside her body. Once she came of age, he planned to use her as a cultivation vessel. On their wedding night, Senior Sister Huixue burst into the bridal chamber and killed Chang Zui without explanation. Before he died, Chang Zui supposedly repented, transferred all his power to the original owner, and attached his soul to her so he could stay with her forever. But within a few months, Chang Zui’s soul scattered. After discovering that his soul was gone, the original owner was struck by grief and rage, turned dark, slaughtered living beings, suffered qi deviation, and finally died a miserable death. Before she died, she asked to be buried with Chang Zui, ending that twisted bond.
When Mu Yinfeng read that part, she pitied the original owner for her misfortune and hated her for refusing to fight for herself. Was the original owner’s eyesight gone? Was Chang Zui the only man under the heavens? Chang Zui was clearly trying to seize the original owner’s body and borrow it to revive his own soul, only to fail halfway because he could not withstand the extreme yin body. Yet the original owner had foolishly believed Chang Zui loved her. She was either an idiot or worse.
There had been a long stretch of plot afterward, but Mu Yinfeng had been so poisoned by the heroine that she dropped the book on the spot. She was afraid she would see some twist where the heroine had not really died and still got a happy ending with Chang Zui. If that kind of plot actually appeared, she would absolutely mail the author a whole crate of razor blades.
But Mu Yinfeng had admired Huixue, the Senior Sister who was full of righteous spirit and practically carried the values of the whole book. Huixue was not only beautiful, but also highly skilled. Her icy beauty hit every one of Mu Yinfeng’s weak points. Mu Yinfeng had even daydreamed that if she could enter the book, she would do nothing else first. Her first act would be to carry Senior Sister Huixue away.
So when she realized she had entered the book, her first reaction was delight. Her wish had truly come true, and she had the chance to meet Huixue. Her second reaction was horror, because she had entered the body of Mu Yinfeng, who had always been at odds with Huixue. Mu Yinfeng and Huixue had always disliked each other. Huixue was righteous and chivalrous, while she was a sinister woman who lived in the shadows. On top of that, Huixue devoted herself to the way of the sword and had no interest in worldly matters. How could she possibly like her?
Mu Yinfeng glanced at Chang Zui walking ahead, then immediately looked away. If she did not know the plot, she might have thought Chang Zui was a gentle young gentleman. But after knowing what would happen, she felt only disgust for him.
For some unknown reason, however, she had to carry out this mission with Chang Zui. If she tried to refuse or get away from him, it seemed she would never reach the next plot point. She would always loop inside some strange circle.
That was why she obediently followed Chang Zui on this mission. Though they were walking together, she could only do her best to keep her distance from him. If the world itself did not stop her, she might lose control of her hand and take Chang Zui’s rotten life right then and there.
Mu Yinfeng wore a sword, but the weapon she usually used was a bone pipa. Her sword, Severing Love, was practically an ornament in her hand. Though Mu Yinfeng had long yearned for the life of a sword-wielding heroine roaming the world, she still picked up the bone pipa the original owner normally used so she would not break character. At least she was glad she had learned the pipa for a while when she was young. What she played was not as pleasant and moving as the original owner’s music, which could draw birds to court the phoenix, but it was not so awful that she would expose herself the moment she played.
The road they were on now led to Enji Village. If her memory was right, Enji Village was an important plot point.
In Enji Village, Mu Yinfeng obtained the core spiritual pill for the bone pipa in her hands. It was called Changyin.
The bone pipa Changyin had become extremely fragile because of the yin energy that sometimes leaked from her body. Its icy strings might snap at any moment. To a music cultivator, the instrument in hand was equal to life itself. If the instrument was damaged in battle, it was no different from taking her life directly.
And the Changyin Pearl was the key to repairing her bone pipa, Changyin. In the cultivation world, the weak were prey to the strong, and the victor was king. She had to leave herself some room to survive. Only by staying alive would anything else be possible.
Huixue knelt on the couch with her hands joined, her eyes closed. Her long silver-white hair spilled behind her, giving off a dreamlike luster beneath the few slants of sunlight that entered the room. A snowflake mark on her forehead shone with a deep blue light, holy and noble.
A faint blue halo spread from her body and condensed into a round trace of snow on the floor. As she breathed, the temperature in the room kept dropping. In the blink of an eye, the scorching heat became an icy winter chill.
Huixue took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. A little clear blue light wound around her fingertip, and she slowly drew back the traces of ice and snow on the ground.
“I really came back,” Huixue murmured to herself. She glanced at the treasured sword hanging on the wall. The two words “Liufei” glowed deep blue on the hilt, echoing the frost and snow patterns around them.
She had thought she was already dead. She had never imagined there would be a time when she returned.
Mu Yinfeng’s bone pipa, Changyin, had filled her ears with demonic sound and invisibly cut her soul into pieces. Huixue had thought she would fall into a hell of slaughter and never be reborn. But for some unknown reason, she had escaped the Yellow Springs cycle of reincarnation and returned to the past.
She had returned to the days when she was still cultivating in Hanyou Valley.
She did not know why she had come back, but since she was here, she would make peace with it. In her previous life, she had misunderstood too much for too long. There was no need to keep clinging to what she had entrusted her heart to.
In her previous life, she had loved Mu Yinfeng deeply, but she had never been good at expressing her feelings. She could only watch Mu Yinfeng grow closer and closer to Chang Zui while she could not say a word. Sometimes she had thought that if she truly loved someone, then as long as that person could live happily, it was enough. She did not need to speak her feelings and burden that person.
Although she had long seen that Chang Zui harbored evil intentions, she had not thought he would truly ignore all old affection and turn Mu Yinfeng into a cultivation vessel for his own use. But she knew clearly that once Mu Yinfeng lost her virgin body, most of the primordial yin power gathered inside her would be damaged. Huixue could not rest easy, so she broke propriety and entered the bridal chamber on the wedding night. Just then, she saw Chang Zui about to stab the Yin-Locking Blade into Mu Yinfeng’s back.
Huixue was shocked. With no time to explain, she struck with her sword and took Chang Zui’s life. Faced with Mu Yinfeng’s frightened expression, Huixue said nothing. She withdrew and left. Only when she returned to her own room did she remember to wipe the blood from the blade. That was the first time she had killed someone.
Huixue had always been that kind of person. She was poor with words, and speaking her heart aloud felt like a terrible humiliation. Her eyes were always cold, and she wore an expression that kept strangers away. Because of this, her relationships in Hanyou Valley were very poor. Everyone treated her as the moral standard of the entire valley. Junior brothers and sisters respected and feared her. The elders and Immortal Venerables trusted her and felt very safe handing the valley’s affairs to her. They let her handle everything and were so at ease that they did not even ask afterward.
Huixue lowered her head and looked at her palm. Her hand was pale, soft, and cold as ice and snow. Only a thin callus had formed in the center of her palm. Judging from its width, it should have been rubbed there over many years by something like a silk ribbon, not a sword.
She remembered that in her previous life, she had rarely used a sword either. Sword energy carried killing intent. Unless one used slaughter to attain her path, too much bloodshed clinging to the body brought no benefit to one’s cultivation. She had used her sword only three times. The first was when she followed the Valley Master of Hanyou Valley, her master Bing Ling’er, up the mountain to seek a sword and offered blood to the blade. The second was on Mu Yinfeng and Chang Zui’s wedding night, when she drew her sword and killed Chang Zui. The third was the final battle between her and Mu Yinfeng, when Liufei fell to the ground and her fragrant soul entered the dust.
Mu Yinfeng resented her. Huixue knew that. Chang Zui had saved Mu Yinfeng from the red-light district. He had stayed by her side, cared for her, taught her cultivation methods, and given her immortal pills. In that, Huixue could not compare. That was why Mu Yinfeng so quickly believed Chang Zui had repented and turned all her resentment onto Huixue.
But now, whatever Mu Yinfeng thought had nothing to do with her anymore.
After a trip through the Yellow Springs, Huixue had seen many things clearly. Like a fish drinking water, only she knew whether it was warm or cold.
That final pipa sound, strong enough to split stone and pierce the sky, had already severed the bond of affection between them.
Huixue raised her eyes and calculated the date. Her gaze changed slightly.
Today was the day Mu Yinfeng obtained the Changyin Pearl. The Changyin Pearl would let Mu Yinfeng’s bone pipa, Changyin, take a great leap forward. Without the Changyin Pearl, even if Mu Yinfeng wanted to cause chaos, she would not be able to stir up much of a storm.
As long as she could stop Mu Yinfeng from obtaining the Changyin Pearl…
Huixue narrowed her eyes, straightened the white silk drape over her clothes, opened the door, and walked out.