Shu Fu couldn’t help but suspect that, even though her personality was completely different from the original owner of this body, she had still inherited her tragic fate of being plagued by misfortune and constant setbacks.
She had no idea what kind of poison she had been afflicted with or whether the antidote pill would work, so she didn’t dare take any risks. Like a stiff wooden club, she lay rigidly in Liu Ruyi’s arms. Though the back of her head rested against his warm, fragrant embrace, her heart was filled with sorrow—this was the first time in two lifetimes she had been held by such a beautiful man, yet she couldn’t even spare a thought for blushing because her face had already been blackened by the poison!
Damn it, why?!
“Forgive the intrusion.”
Liu Ruyi held her with one arm, gracefully dropping to one knee while balancing a phoenix-headed konghou on his lap. With a casual flick of his fingers, he plucked out a series of crisp, cascading notes, like pearls scattering across jade.
Shu Fu had to admit that when he wasn’t speaking or smiling, his focused demeanor in battle was truly elegant. But when she glanced to the side and saw the bizarre equilateral triangle formed by a human (Qi Yuwei), a ghost (Tian Xin), and a cat (Big Yellow) all staring at each other in silence, she found it impossible to take the scene seriously.
—Good heavens, she had never seen such a ridiculous love-hate triangle in her life!
That said, she could understand Tian Xin’s feelings.
The hatred of being murdered, the grudge of having her cat stolen—these were grievances that spanned lifetimes, never to be forgiven.
Absolutely.
“Big Yellow, come back to me!”
Tian Xin shouted at the top of her lungs, “Have you forgotten? Back then, I found you in the mountains and took you everywhere with me! I saved up just to give you three little fish every day, and I worked so hard to fatten you up by twenty pounds! Even if you’ve forgotten me, you can’t forget all that weight you gained!”
Qi Yuwei hastily cut in, “Golden Bracelet, don’t listen to her nonsense. You’re a spirit beast raised by our Qi family. You grew up by my side, feasting on delicacies and sleeping on silk brocade. How could it be as pitiful as she makes it sound?”
Shu Fu interjected, “If your life was so luxurious, then what the hell are you so bitter about?”
Qi Yuwei: “Shut up!”
Shu Fu: “Shut your—ah, never mind, your mother is innocent. Shut your father up instead. Look at you—putting on airs in front of outsiders, playing the tragic second daughter in front of the Qi family’s eldest miss, enjoying all the privileges of the Qi name while whining that you don’t get enough glory. You’ve got the whole act down pat, huh? How do you manage to wear two faces at once, you little brat? Aren’t you exhausted?”
Qi Yuwei: “I said shut up!”
Shu Fu: “But I refuse.”
A scholar may be killed, but their sharp tongue will never be silenced. Even in the underworld, they’ll remain an indomitable keyboard warrior.
“Miss Shu, perhaps you should save your breath.”
Liu Ruyi pressed his lips together in amusement. “Though this ‘Big Yellow’ isn’t the brightest, once he grows up, he’s strong enough to wipe out the Tong family in a single night. The situation is urgent—try not to make me laugh.”
Shu Fu obediently nodded, letting him carefully lay her flat on the ground. As she tilted her head to the side, her peripheral vision caught Jiang Xuesheng standing nearby, his expression calm and leisurely, hands tucked into his sleeves, not a trace of urgency in his demeanor.
[Fellow cultivator,] she tried reaching out to him telepathically, [Liu Ruyi says this orange… this demon beast isn’t easy to deal with. Aren’t you going to help him?]
Jiang Xuesheng replied with just two words: [No need.]
Before Shu Fu could ask what he meant, a loud thud echoed through the cavern, like a slab of pork belly being slammed onto a chopping board.
She stiffly turned her head and froze—in the split second she had looked away, the thirty-pound orange cat had been hurled with tremendous force into the stone wall, embedding itself like a relief sculpture and leaving a distinctly feline-shaped crater.
Liu Ruyi’s eyes curved slightly. “My apologies.”
Shu Fu: “……”
Where exactly was the emergency here?
The orange cat, enraged by this brutal treatment from the two-legged savages, struggled to free itself from the wall. With a mighty heave of its chubby body, it raised its round head and let out an earth-shaking roar—
The furious cat leaped down from the wall, sending gravel flying in all directions, then tilted its head back and spat a fireball: “Meow-roar!”
Shu Fu’s eyelid twitched—the cat’s aim was terrible, and the fireball veered wildly off course, heading straight for her face!
Fortunately, the antidote pill she had taken earlier finally began to take effect, and the numbness in her limbs gradually faded. Though her legs were still weak, Shu Fu reacted swiftly, rolling aside just in time to avoid the flames.
“Meow! Meow!”
The cat, now even angrier, spat another fireball.
This time, Shu Fu had nowhere to dodge—but just as the fireball was about to hit her, it flickered out like a dying ember, leaving only a puff of scalding steam that left her forehead drenched in sweat.
At the same time, she felt a sudden heat at the back of her head, as if someone was giving her a perm with a curling iron.
—Ah, right! The jade hairpin Liu Ruyi had given her!
Heartened, Shu Fu was about to retreat and regulate her breathing when a flash of cold steel caught her eye—Qi Yuwei, teeth clenched, was lunging at her with a sword.
“Don’t even think about running! Since you look down on me just like my sister, you can stay here with her!”
Shu Fu had no time to retrieve her own sword, and her blade, Solitary Radiance, was still wedged between the stone doors. Cornered and defenseless, she barely managed to evade Qi Yuwei’s relentless strikes. As the attacks grew faster and fiercer, Shu Fu, in a moment of desperation, summoned Tong Yao’s other relic—the guqin “Soul Moon”—and held it horizontally in front of her.
Qi Yuwei faltered, taking two steps back. “You’re a qin cultivator?”
Shu Fu lifted her chin arrogantly. “What do you think?”
—Of course not. The only instrument she could play was the recorder.
As for the guqin? She didn’t even know where to place her hands.
Qi Yuwei, ruthless to the core, refused to be intimidated by Shu Fu’s bluff. If anything, she grew even more aggressive, thinking, Qin cultivators are weak in close combat.
But Shu Fu had anticipated this. Instead of retreating, she stepped forward, gripping one end of the guqin’s decorative tassel—
And then, with all her might, she swung Soul Moon like a club and smashed it straight into Qi Yuwei’s face.
Qi Yuwei: “？？？！！！”
Soul Moon was made of special materials and weighed heavily. A direct hit would undoubtedly leave a disfiguring mark. Qi Yuwei stumbled back in panic, but Shu Fu pursued her relentlessly, wielding the guqin with wild, sweeping motions that actually managed to suppress her opponent’s swordplay.
“Wh-what kind of technique is this?!” Qi Yuwei shrieked, her hair in disarray, equal parts furious and bewildered.
Shu Fu wanted to reply, I’m a physical qin cultivator, but doubted Qi Yuwei would understand. Instead, she ignored her entirely and kept swinging.
Cornered by Shu Fu’s relentless assault, Qi Yuwei gritted her teeth and pulled out a handful of fine needles from her sleeve, scattering them like a deadly rain.
Shu Fu arched backward to avoid them, but her weakened legs slowed her recovery. By the time she straightened up, Qi Yuwei’s sword was already at her brow, its cold edge aimed straight between her eyes.
In that life-or-death instant, her heart clenched—but her hands moved with eerie, unshakable calm.
Shu Fu took a deep breath, gathering the faint trace of spiritual energy she had just mustered into her palm, then struck the side of the ancient zither with all her might—the heavy instrument lurched forward from the force of her push, slamming squarely into Qi Yuwei’s chest!
"You—?!"
Qi Yuwei nearly coughed up blood on the spot, feeling as though her chest had been flattened by this so-called "zither cultivator."
But her determination was nothing to scoff at either. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her chest and the churning of her qi, she swung her sword even faster and more fiercely, her eyes bloodshot, her expression bordering on madness.
Seeing her opponent transform into a frenzied warrior, Shu Fu immediately used the zither as a shield, retreating swiftly backward.
At the same time, she heard Liu Ruyi’s voice ring out beside her:
"Master! If you don’t act now, are you just going to watch your youngest disciple die before your eyes?!"
Mas… what?
The sheer weight of that statement left Shu Fu no time to process its implications before she sensed a presence approaching from behind. Someone steadied her lower back with one hand while the other lightly encircled her shoulder, fingers resting on the taut strings of the "Poyue" zither.
That hand was pale as jade, delicate as if boneless, like a sliver of moonlight alighting upon the instrument.
"[I’m here now.]"
A voice both familiar and unfamiliar echoed simultaneously in Shu Fu’s mind and by her ear.
"Panicking like this is unbecoming."
This second remark was directed at Liu Ruyi. "'A heart still as water, emotions unreadable'—Ruyi, haven’t I taught you this many times?"
Without waiting for a response, the fingers plucked the zither strings, drawing forth a whisper-thin note, fragile as a strand of silk.
Shu Fu knew nothing of music, but she heard that wisp of sound ripple outward like a stone dropped into water, sending concentric circles spreading across the surface—
And then, a towering wave erupted.
A surge of spiritual energy, vast as a tidal wave, flooded the dim stone chamber in an instant.
......
......
"Fellow Cultivator Jiang… no, Senior Jiang."
Once the storm had settled, the scene was one of disarray—orange cats, common folk, and unruly children lay strewn about indiscriminately. Shu Fu looked up, her expression complicated, and fixed her gaze on the "unremarkable-looking" man before her.
"This humble one has failed to recognize your eminence. Might I ask… just which great master do I have the honor of addressing?"
