Jiang Ruoshui was clearly a diligent girl, with a solid foundation and well-practiced techniques and movements. After Shu Fu grew accustomed to this body, she reckoned that among her peers, even if she wasn’t some heaven-sent prodigy, she could still hold her own with ease.
The pampered young masters of the Jiang family, the spoiled eldest daughter of the Qi family, and even this pack of teacup poodles—she could probably beat them all single-handedly.
The moment she crossed blades with Qi Yuwei, she immediately realized: this seemingly quiet and unassuming girl wasn’t just cunning—she was also quite skilled in a fight.
This wasn’t surprising. Qi Xinlei was destined to "marry into Lingxiao City and live a life of luxury." Even if her cultivation was weak and her combat skills lacking, it didn’t matter. After all, once she was married, she’d be surrounded by attendants—she wouldn’t even need to lift a finger to eat or dress herself, let alone fight.
Before marriage, she was Miss Qi; after marriage, she’d be Madam Ling—a noble lady who’d never lack for dogs to bite on her behalf.
Being delicate and soft might even make it easier to win her husband’s favor.
But Qi Yuwei was entirely different.
Though this was a world of fantasy, where strength reigned supreme and distinctions like birth order or legitimacy weren’t as rigid as in history, Qi Yuwei had no one to rely on. Rising above her circumstances was nearly impossible. Since childhood, even if she surpassed Qi Xinlei in every way, she still had to bow her head and never dare to challenge her sister.
How could she ease her sorrows? Only through relentless study.
And so, Qi Yuwei was strong—both in scheming and in combat.
Among the younger generation, she and Jiang Ruoshui, who also believed in "only through study," stood at the top. If not for scandals like cheating, she could’ve easily gotten into the top four sects—or, well, the equivalent of Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan, or Jiaotong.
Unfortunately, in the end, she still took the crooked path.
"Who are you? Why are you meddling in my affairs?!"
Seeing her plans crumble, Qi Yuwei’s face turned deathly pale, her sword strikes growing fiercer with each swing. "We have no past grudges, no recent enmities—"
Shu Fu: "Friend, have you heard of the Tong family?"
Qi Yuwei froze, the last traces of color draining from her face.
"So you do know."
Shu Fu smirked, seizing the moment of hesitation to press the cold edge of her blade against the girl’s neck. "I’m ready for some harsh interrogation. Let’s begin."
Qi Yuwei reacted quickly, pulling a palm-sized incense burner from her sleeve. "The incense is here. Please spare me, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know—no holding back."
Shu Fu: "..."
What a flexible villain!
"Fine, let’s talk."
Shu Fu cautiously took the incense burner and turned to the bewildered young nobles. "Excuse me, does anyone know water-based spells? Come douse this thing and put it out."
Bai Tian volunteered, "I’ll do it."
Then he produced a trickle of water no thicker than a strand of hair.
Everyone: "..."
Shu Fu seriously wondered if cutting his finger would produce more blood than this so-called "water spell."
"Uh, Young Master Bai, are you serious?"
She was on the verge of despair. "Are you putting out a fire or administering an IV drip?"
Bai Tian broke into a sweat. "I just started learning water spells! And what’s an IV drip?"
Shu Fu felt exhausted.
While keeping an eye on Bai Tian’s feeble efforts, she turned back to Qi Yuwei, hardening her expression to play the part of a ruthless, emotionless assassin.
"Speak, Miss Qi. What do you know about this chamber, and about the Qiongqi?"
...
Qi Yuwei’s confession aligned almost perfectly with the ghost Tian Xin’s accusations.
The only difference was that Tian Xin’s version sounded like a tragic love story, while Qi Yuwei’s blunt retelling stripped away all the romantic filters, leaving the truth bare and ugly—like jagged rocks without a single blade of grass to soften their harshness.
The so-called "Qiongqi" was indeed a demonic beast.
For some reason, it had been abandoned in the mountains as a cub and found by the orphan Tian Xin. From then on, it grew attached to her. The two relied on each other, wandering the world in carefree companionship.
The beast hunted, while Tian Xin gathered herbs in the mountains, took odd jobs in town, and even picked up a mishmash of dialects.
But when Tian Xin turned sixteen, she suddenly fell gravely ill, slipping into a coma as her life force dwindled day by day.
The beast, ignorant of human ways, heard tales of "immortals" who could turn stone to gold and revive the dead. So it carried Tian Xin on its back, seeking divine medicine—only to plunge headlong into Third Master Qi’s trap.
Third Master Qi demanded it perform a task in exchange for a pill that could cure Tian Xin.
That task, of course, was abducting "test subjects" from the city and imprisoning them in this stone chamber for drug experiments.
From then on, the beast would snatch people from the city, while Third Master Qi and his hired cultivators set up formations in the Hidden Wood Forest to help it escape, disguising the scenes as "the Qiongqi devouring its victims."
In truth, the missing were trapped underground, suffering endless torment.
The beast, its intelligence still immature and unable to distinguish right from wrong, only remembered Tian Xin’s repeated warnings: "Never kill anyone." So it kept stumbling over its words to ask Third Master Qi, "You won’t kill them, right?"
Third Master Qi smiled warmly. "Of course not."
And so, the beast was reassured.
...
Shu Fu pondered for a few seconds before offering an objective critique: "This beast doesn’t seem very bright."
Qi Yuwei forced a smile. "It really isn’t. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been fooled by my father for so long. Father said the beast was a first-class idiot—"
"How dare you?!"
Before she could finish, Tian Xin swooped over like a gust of wind, her ghostly face twisted in fury. "You brainless fool! Your whole family are fools! Da Huang is just a child! He’s so pure, barely even understands human speech, and you people ruined him!"
Shu Fu shuddered. "Da Huang?"
What kind of name was that for a Qiongqi?
"Wh-who are you?!"
Even Qi Yuwei, who prided herself on her courage, paled at the sight of a ghost appearing in broad daylight. "The entrance to Hidden Wood Forest is extremely well-hidden, protected by formations—how did so many of you find it?"
Tian Xin gave her a chilling glance. "Because eight years ago, your father used this very passage to enter the forest and dumped my corpse by the lake. That place is littered with bones, but I’m the only one who became a vengeful spirit. Call it divine justice."
"Miss Qi, I died so unjustly..."
Her final whisper, drawn-out and trembling with sorrow, sent a shiver down Qi Yuwei’s spine.
Regaining her composure, Qi Yuwei cautiously ventured, "You... could you be the girl Jin Chuan’er tried to save?"
Shu Fu jolted again. "Jin what?"
One was called "Big Yellow," the other "Golden Bracelet"—what kind of ridiculous contrast was this?!
You can’t just take advantage of the Qiongqi being a dumb deer and give it random nicknames!
Tian Xin reacted even more fiercely, immediately lunging forward and stretching out her ghostly pale claws to grab Qi Xinlei: "What the hell? You bastards smashed my head, stole my Big Yellow, and even had the nerve to rename him ‘Golden Bracelet’? That’s so ugly! I swear I’ll rip your guts out and string them up like skewers!"
Shu Fu intervened hastily, "Wait, hold on—actually, that name was given by Teacher Cao, so they’re just plagiarizing… But seriously, what’s going on here?"
"I’ll talk, I’ll talk!"
With a sword pressed against her neck and Tian Xin tearing out chunks of her hair in her rage, Qi Xinlei winced through tears. "Back then, that demonic beast was tricked by my father into causing havoc at the Tong family, dying together with Tong Yao. Later, its body vanished in a blaze of fire and turned into an unharmed cub."
"A cub?"
"Yes, it had no memories, just like a newborn. My father brought it back, named it ‘Golden Bracelet,’ and handed it to me to raise. He said it was on the orders of a young master from Lingxiao City, and we had to take good care of it…"
Shu Fu let out an exaggerated "Ohhh" of realization. "Ling. Xiao. City. So you really do have powerful backers."
So, the Qiongqi had indeed been reborn and was still under the control of Lingxiao City and the Qi family. Tian Xin’s elaborate efforts weren’t just for revenge—she also wanted to rescue the Qiongqi and set it free.
She really had it rough.
"That’s right, Lingxiao City."
Qi Xinlei seized the lifeline, nodding frantically like a pecking chicken. "My father has always wanted to curry favor with them. Whether it was capturing people for drug trials or raising the Qiongqi, it was all done under Lingxiao City’s orders. I… I was just following commands, overseeing this cave."
[—I see.]
Suddenly, Jiang Xuesheng’s calm, detached voice rang in Shu Fu’s ears.
His tone was crystal clear, like a pure stream cutting through the murky air, making one feel as if they were "hearing celestial music that clears the mind."
Shu Fu glanced over to see Jiang Xuesheng’s expression as indifferent as his voice, almost devoid of emotion as he said, [The phoenix is reborn from ashes. It seems we came to the right place.]
[Phoenix?]
Shu Fu was momentarily stunned. [You mean the Qiongqi is…?]
"…"
Jiang Xuesheng met her gaze across the wreckage, his eyes once again filled with that cold, distant pity.
He spoke slowly, [That is not a Qiongqi.]
[If my guess is correct, it is the last descendant of the Honghu—one of the Five Phoenixes of ancient legend. Our purpose here is to take him back.]
[This matter is sensitive, so we couldn’t reveal it too soon. My apologies, fellow cultivator.]
Shu Fu could only smile wryly. [It’s fine. I already noticed you were hiding something. We’re just passing acquaintances—it’s natural not to share everything. But…]
Based on her knowledge, a "Qiongqi" was a demonic beast resembling a winged tiger, while a "Honghu" was a legendary divine bird—a white phoenix, said to resemble either a swan or a wild goose.
Aside from both having wings, they had nothing in common, right?
Jiang Xuesheng seemed to sense her confusion and patiently explained, [A century ago, the princess of the Honghu clan ventured out and fell in love with a cat demon. Their child was born as a winged cat, which is why people mistook it for a ‘Qiongqi.’]
A winged… cat?
A heavenly cat?
Just as Shu Fu was marveling at the absurdity of "Does this world have any normal monsters?", she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her wrist—Qi Xinlei had seized the moment of her distraction to jab a thin needle into her pulse point!
Shu Fu: "Holy shit!"
The ambush was too sudden. With only Bai Tian and Tian Xin beside her—one busy spraying water, the other dizzy with rage—there was no time to react.
In an instant, Shu Fu’s wrist went numb, her legs buckling as a dark energy surged up her veins. Her mind flashed through every "heroic amputation" scene imaginable at 300 frames per second, and she nearly choked on her own fury—here she was, a protagonist with such a unique style, falling for the oldest trick in the book!
She had betrayed all the novels she’d ever read!
Liu Ruyi’s expression darkened. "Miss Qi, do you have a death wish?"
In a blur, he crossed the stone chamber separating them, scooped Shu Fu into his arms, and swiftly pressed a pill into her mouth.
Of course, Qi Xinlei wasn’t suicidal. The moment she succeeded, she flitted back several yards, pulling out a whistle and blowing into it with all her might.
The sound was as clear as a wild goose’s cry, but Qi Xinlei’s voice—a mix of terror and triumph—was as shrill as an owl’s screech:
"Golden Bracelet, save me!!!"
The next moment, before Liu Ruyi could grab her, a blinding streak of white light shot forth like a meteor, colliding head-on with the talisman he had flung.
Tian Xin was beyond livid: "I’ll fcking kill you! How dare you order Big Yellow around like that?! Today, I’ll make sure you join me in the afterlife—"
As for Shu Fu, she didn’t even have the energy to be angry.
Partly because the poison was surging, forcing her to suppress her emotions. But mostly because, as the light faded, she finally got a clear look at the "Qiongqi’s" true form.
It was a massive, golden-orange—
—thirty-pound, winged—
—tabby cat.
Shu Fu: "Holy. Shit."
She had spent the whole journey imagining some tragic, star-crossed romance, only to find out the "Qiongqi" wasn’t Tian Xin’s boyfriend—it was her pet cat!!!
