Just as his tower had risen high, so too had it come crashing down.
Awkward.
Painfully awkward.
At that moment, Master Huaigu and Demon Lord Ninglu stood facing each other atop their respective birds. The two birds twined their necks together affectionately, while the two riders could only stare at one another.
Every wisp of breeze was so embarrassed it detoured around them; every star in the sky was so embarrassed it looked away.
Shu Fu, meanwhile, was once again curling her toes against the ground. She felt that this scene could absolutely contend for a place among the top three most embarrassing moments of her life—easily beating out that greasy old fox, Xiao Hanyi, and surpassed only by that illusion in which she had awakened beside Jiang Xuesheng.
Even Jiang Xuesheng, always so cool and cutting, could not help sighing sympathetically at the sight. “What a karmic tragedy. Master Huaigu has done everything in his power to shelter the Fang family, only to meet with such a calamity. It seems Heaven’s Dao always balances the scales in the end.”
Shu Fu: “...”
No—don’t blame the Heavenly Dao for this. Not even Heaven itself could have seen it coming.
Give Heaven a break.
Meanwhile, one of the people involved was desperately trying to break free, while the other was utterly baffled. Neither of them sensed the suffocating atmosphere of embarrassment hanging over the onlookers.
Master Huaigu stood stunned for a long moment before finally recognizing the pair of lovebirds. His expression changed at once as he thundered, “You demoness! Explain yourself at once! Where did you get this spirit beast? I saw with my own eyes Bailu form a bond with it. Did you seize it by force and use some demonic art to transfer the contract?!”
Demon Lord Ninglu had already been in a foul mood. Now, without warning, she had been showered in spittle. Then she took in the unconcealable lines on Master Huaigu’s forehead and around his eyes. A wave of distaste rose in her, and her expression grew even colder.
“What do you mean, seized by force? This spirit beast was mine to begin with. If someone is eager to offer it to me, am I supposed to turn it down?”
Then she suddenly realized something was wrong.
“Wait a moment. You said ‘Bailu’?”
How could this stiff, tedious, visibly aging middle-aged man—practically an old geezer by the standards of the cultivation world, utterly devoid of charm—know the name she had used before falling to demonic cultivation?
And he had said, “I saw Bailu form the contract with my own eyes”...
Ninglu had long since forgotten Master Huaigu’s features, but she would never forget that, hundreds of years ago, she had come across a luxury walking ATM. It had seemed tailor-made for her: she did not even need to tap it. One glance from her, and it would cheerfully, tirelessly spit out money.
Whether it was priceless gold, silver, and jewels, or rare treasures of Heaven and Earth that could only be encountered by chance, someone would bring them to her with the barest flutter of her lashes. Before Demon Lord Ninglu made her name, those had been the happiest days of her life.
Back then, Ninglu—Fang Bailu—had still been a young lady from a respectable family. With elders above her and younger siblings below, she cautiously maintained the image of a proper gentlewoman, terrified that one wrong step might tarnish her family’s reputation. This ATM gave her whatever she wanted, showering her with money more frequently than the average man jerked off. Naturally, she saw no reason to refuse.
Money delivered straight to her door? She would be a fool not to take it.
But marriage? Marriage was absolutely out of the question. Not in this lifetime.
Later, the ATM began pressing her hard to marry him. Fang Bailu’s parents also believed that such an excellent son-in-law—high cultivation, deep pockets—was an opportunity too good to miss. They racked their brains and took turns persuading her to marry the ATM as soon as possible, so that the Fang family might gain a sturdy tree to shelter beneath from wind and rain.
Fang Bailu had agreed readily enough, only to turn around and fake her death under the pretense of undergoing a tribulation, making off with a generous bride price in the process.
What a joke. A lifetime devoted to one man? Washing her hands of the world to cook and keep house for her husband? That was not the life she wanted.
To outsiders, she had been the pampered little wife kept by a wealthy big shot—a canary locked away in a gilded cage. Only Fang Bailu herself knew that her entanglement with that human ATM had amounted to nothing more than seed capital for her future ventures.
Later, she changed her appearance and adopted the name “Ninglu.” She made her way into the demon realm and cultivated the art of harvesting yang to nourish yin. In less than a century, she had risen to prominence. Her career in the demonic path flourished; she successfully formed her Nascent Soul and joined the ranks of the Seven Demon Lords.
Master Huaigu could be called the precious first pot of gold in her career as a demon.
—Though she had already forgotten his name.
If there was anything she still remembered, it was probably the thrill of the ATM spitting out money, along with that lingering, affectionate cry of “Darling.”
Darling, send me money!
Now, she and her “darling” met again after a century apart, separated by less than ten feet. They looked at one another in speechless silence…
Well, not quite speechless. They were cursing each other out.
“...”
Demon Lord Ninglu looked Master Huaigu up and down, falling into an oddly profound silence.
Watching from the side, Shu Fu remained on guard as she hesitantly opened her storage pouch and took out the chunk of tourmaline, roughly the size of a watermelon.
During the chaos in the imperial harem just now, she had snatched Master Huaigu’s token of love, intending to use it later as evidence when explaining the truth.
But now, she found herself wavering, uncertain whether she should give the tourmaline to Master Huaigu.
—Because he looked so terribly pitiful.
Before she could make up her mind, Jiang Xuesheng flicked his sleeve and smoothly took the tourmaline from her hand. Then, with a casual toss, he sent it flying into the air.
“Master Huaigu, catch!”
“Sir?!”
Shu Fu jolted in shock. “Wait, you’re just giving it to him like that?”
“What else would you have me do?”
Jiang Xuesheng was perfectly composed, his serene expression unchanged. “Sooner or later, he must face all this. Better a sharp pain than a lingering one.”
Who knew what clever technique he had used? With that offhand throw, the massive tourmaline shot forth like a cannonball, whistling through the air as it flew straight toward Master Huaigu’s face.
“What? Who dares ambush me?!”
Master Huaigu started in alarm, mistaking it for some dangerous hidden weapon. He hastily twisted aside and raised a barrier of spiritual power to stop it, catching the strange object that came hurtling at him like a meteor hammer.
Only when the “meteor hammer” landed in his hands did he squint at the inscription carved into it. Then he seemed to be struck by lightning, his eyes widening so far they nearly popped out of their sockets.
“Th-this is...”
“...”
Shu Fu covered her face with both hands, unable to bear watching any further.
“...Isn’t this the precious jade I gave Bailu?! You bold demoness—so it really was you who stole Bailu’s belongings!!!”
“Master Huaigu, wait.”
Unable to hold herself back, she spoke up to remind him, “Has it occurred to you that there might be... another possibility here?”
Only then did Master Huaigu notice her presence. His face darkened at once, and he rounded his eyes. “What other possibility could there be? This pair of lovebirds, and this beryl—both are precious treasures I obtained only after immense hardship. In all heaven and earth, only Fairy Fang, who perished a hundred years ago, ever possessed them. Now they have appeared in this demoness’s hands. Other than her having stolen them, what second possibility is there?”
Shu Fu: “...”
Sir, how am I supposed to respond to that?
Turn around and look at Demon Lord Ninglu. Her expression is exceedingly subtle right now, as though she is debating whether to acknowledge you and admit that she is “Master Huaigu’s little wife,” or simply accept the charge of murdering for treasure—of killing herself.
Either way, it would probably be rather humiliating for her.
Shu Fu had never seen such an awkward, catastrophic scene before. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. Jiang Xuesheng, however, remained perfectly composed. Facing Master Huaigu, he said in a clear voice, “Master Huaigu, I recall that, in your search for Fairy Fang’s reincarnation, you always carried a Soul-Guiding Lamp with you. Take it out and test it here. Then the truth will be clear.”
The so-called Soul-Guiding Lamp was a marvelous artifact specially used to identify souls.
While alive, a person could leave an imprint of their divine sense upon the lamp. Its bearer could then use it to seek that person’s reincarnation, or determine whether they had been possessed. As for the dead, if even a trace of a remnant soul remained, it could be drawn into the lamp.
For lovers bound to one another across three lifetimes, a Soul-Guiding Lamp was an indispensable item. The moment they pledged themselves to each other, they had to prepare one, so that they might recognize one another in their next lives.
Naturally, Master Huaigu had such a lamp. Though he did not understand why Jiang Xuesheng had suddenly brought it up, and felt a faint sense of foreboding, he still took it out openly. “Tan Hua, why do you bring this up all of a sudden? Over the past hundred years, aside from the territories of demons and devils, I have traveled nearly every mountain and river, searching everywhere for Bailu’s reincarnation, yet I found no—”
“No...”
“...found...”
“...”
Master Huaigu’s final sentence broke off before it could be completed. Its feeble ending trailed away, slowly vanishing into the sudden silence.
He saw it.
Everyone saw it.
The Soul-Guiding Lamp in his hand was fashioned from smooth, pristine white material, painstakingly carved into the shape of an immaculate lotus. Now, this lotus, which had lain dim and lifeless for centuries, shone like a brilliant moon, casting a dazzling, entrancing radiance into the night.
The glow was so bright that it illuminated Demon Lord Ninglu’s flower-like beauty—and Master Huaigu’s deathly pale face.
“No, that can’t be right. This lamp must be broken. How could Bailu’s soul be here... Ah, I know—it was you!”
Every one of Master Huaigu’s whiskers trembled. Suddenly seeming to come to his senses, he shakily raised a hand and pointed straight at Ninglu’s nose. “What did you do to Bailu? When she failed her tribulation all those years ago, was it your demon cultivators’ plot?! Yes, that must be it! You stole her spirit beast and treasures, then used some wicked technique to imprison her soul...”
“...”
For some reason, Shu Fu suddenly felt that Master Huaigu’s desperate, self-deceiving appearance at that moment was strikingly similar to the time, during the entrance trial, when he had twisted logic to defend Fang Wanqing.
Strictly speaking, Master Huaigu was no monstrous villain. He had contributed greatly to the logistical operations of the Nine Splendors Sect and trained generations of alchemists and artifact refiners. That was why people afforded him a measure of courtesy.
Yet he had always been headstrong and arbitrary, obstinately believing only what he wished to believe.
If not for his unconditional, utterly unprincipled indulgence—his eagerness to grant every request from Fang Wanqing’s family, all in the name of fulfilling his own heartfelt devotion—and his unquestioning faith in Fang Wanqing, how could she have grown so brazen as to dare murder someone during the entrance trial?
Shu Fu had every reason to believe that, if she had truly been outplayed and slain by Fang Wanqing during the trial, without a powerful patron like Jiang Xuesheng behind her, her death would have vanished without a ripple, like a drop in the ocean, swept aside under Master Huaigu’s blind protection.
Shu Fu had preserved herself through her own abilities, but that did not mean the harm done to her had never existed.
Master Huaigu’s love was pure enough, but it was not innocent. For if he took even one wrong step, the blood of the blameless might stain it.
Thus, though Shu Fu sincerely found Master Huaigu pitiable at this moment, she merely watched with cold detachment. She exchanged a clear-eyed look with Jiang Xuesheng—one that said, without words, more than words ever could.
Shu Fu did not kick him while he was down, but Ninglu had no patience for this melodramatic reunion game. With a flick of her hand, she sent a fierce palm strike crashing into the exquisitely carved lotus lamp, smashing it to pieces. She sneered:
“Don’t flatter yourself. I, Fang Bailu, lived my life freely and without restraint. Do you really think I would ever fancy a man as stodgy, dull, and indecisive as you? In the past, I merely humored you with a word or two out of regard for your status. I never imagined you would take it seriously.”
I, Fang Bailu.
Fang Bailu.
Bailu.
Lu.
“...”
With a sharp clang, what shattered was not merely the soul-guiding lamp, but also the love Master Huaigu had treasured deep within his heart and carefully guarded for centuries.
Beneath the soundless night sky, only the pair of lovebirds remained utterly unaffected, still gazing at one another with shameless affection, as though they might press together again at any moment.
Meanwhile, seeing that Wei Cheng had slaughtered nearly all the forces she had so carefully prepared, Ninglu knew the tide had turned. She had no intention of continuing the fight and instead began seeking a way out. With a sweep of her wide sleeve, she scattered a vast cloud of peach-pink mist. Using the haze as cover, she swiftly withdrew.
But at that very moment, Jiang Xuesheng and Liu Ruyi, who had long been prepared, exchanged a glance. Their fingers came down upon their zither strings at the same time, and a torrent of fierce, killing notes burst forth like howling winds and driving rain.
Both were foremost masters of musical cultivation, and now that they played together, their power surged to more than twice its usual strength. The instant their deadly melody began, heaven and earth seemed to change color.
Ninglu had never expected them to possess such a combined technique. Caught entirely off guard, the languid, seductive mist surrounding her was scattered in an instant by the sound of the zithers, and she herself was hurled several yards away.
She struggled to steady herself, her breath churning violently within her as her internal injuries worsened. With a cough, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ninglu looked up in haste, only to find Master Huaigu’s face directly before her. His complexion had gone ashen, a green cloud hanging over his head; he looked as though he had aged twenty or thirty years in a single instant.
For a moment, she regretted it. She desperately wanted to say a few nice words, but what was done could not be undone. All she could do was grit her teeth and force a smile.
“Darling, I—”
The answer was a crisp, resounding slap.
Smack!
“Bitch!”
Master Huaigu’s whole body trembled. His eyes bulged with fury as he roared hoarsely at her, “How dare you? How dare you—”
Smack!!!
His furious curse was still caught in his throat when Ninglu widened her beautiful eyes and struck him back with an equally resounding slap.
“Who are you calling a bitch?”
She demanded sharply, as though she were the victim who had been swindled out of both her money and her virtue.
“Who was it that knelt before me like a dog, begging to lick my boots? Which one of us is the bitch? You don’t even know what kind of person I am or what I want, yet you have the nerve to proclaim that you love me? That isn’t love. You’re just an old tortoise lusting after a young shrimp. You wanted my body. You’re the shameless one!”
Master Huaigu clutched his cheek, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably. He nearly fainted on the spot.
“You—you—”
“What about me?”
Ninglu raised her chin haughtily.
“Have I ever asked you for a single thing from beginning to end? You were the one begging me. You were the one throwing yourself at my feet, begging me to spare you the slightest bit of kindness. We’ve settled our account, money for goods. You brought this upon yourself!”
“…………”
They were, after all, two Nascent Soul experts who had lived for several hundred years. To tear into each other so disgracefully in front of everyone was truly an ugly sight.
Shu Fu was just about to make a snide remark when Jiang Xuesheng chuckled.
“Ninglu really is as sly as an old fox. In front of her, Master Huaigu truly has no choice but to be toyed with. Hopefully, after going through this ordeal, his state of mind and wisdom will reach a higher level… Though perhaps that’s asking too much of him.”
Before he had even finished speaking, Master Huaigu suddenly let out a cry of shock and fury.
“What’s happening?! You vile demoness, what else have you done to me—”
It turned out that Master Huaigu had slapped Ninglu merely to vent his anger, whereas Ninglu’s return slap had concealed a deadly attack. In an instant, half of his face turned black. Clearly, she had hidden a lethal poison between her fingers.
Having landed her blow, Ninglu did not linger. She immediately urged the paired birds into the sky and flew away. The female bird, however, was filled with longing and reluctant to leave. Unable to defy the contract, it could only beat its wings and soar after her, tears glistening in its eyes.
The male bird beneath Master Huaigu hurriedly gave chase. But it failed to take proper care of its master, who was swaying precariously under the effects of the poison. With a sudden ninety-degree dive, it actually flung Master Huaigu right off its back!
Master Huaigu: “?!!!”
Ninglu’s triumphant laughter echoed across the night sky.
“Darling, take good care of yourself. Don’t worry—I’ll never forget you… The treasures you gave me will be carefully preserved, so that I can enjoy them with the lovers I meet in the future.”
—However, that was all she had time to say.
The instant Master Huaigu began to fall, Shu Fu was already on his feet. With one hand, he cast out a red thread and wrapped it around Granduncle Huai’s weighty body. With the other, he hurled the Lone Gleam Sword toward the sky.
Then the sound of the qin surged through heaven and earth, rising high enough to halt the clouds.
The sword, wrapped in that awe-inspiring force, shot straight toward Demon Lord Ninglu. It pierced her from behind, passed in a straight line along the edge of her dantian, and burst out through her chest.
“…!!!”
Although Ninglu twisted aside at the last possible moment, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow and forcing herself through the pain to break free of the encirclement, the wound from that sword strike was no trivial matter. It had nearly damaged her very soul.
The last thing Master Huaigu saw was her retreating figure, blood spraying through the air, and the almost savage expression on her alluring profile.
Crack.
The rosy filter of old memories shattered. The mirage that had lingered in his mind gradually faded away, exposing the naked, vicious truth beneath its claws—one that had nearly sent him to his death.
“...”
No. It should not have been like this.
The reunion he had imagined for so long, the future he had so carefully planned for himself and Fang Bailu—it was not supposed to end in such a miserable shambles.
Their future should have been...
“Master Huaigu.”
Shu Fu dragged him down to the ground and whispered in his ear, “There’s a question I’ve long wanted to ask you. You have always cared so deeply for Miss Fang, granting the Fang family and Fang Wanqing anything they asked for. If one day Fang Wanqing were gravely injured, almost crippled, and needed my golden core and the bones in my legs for treatment—would you come to take them from me?”
—Only she and Fang Wanqing knew that this had truly happened in the original story, and in Fang Wanqing’s “previous life.”
Though the root cause had been Qi Yuxuan’s relentless moral coercion, and Jiang Ruoshui’s “voluntary sacrifice” to prove her innocence, Master Huaigu had favored Fang Wanqing and tacitly permitted the operation—one that was enough to change both their fates.
“...”
Master Huaigu had no idea why she would ask such a question. He stared at her in utter shock, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for water, yet not a sound could be forced from his dry throat.
He wanted to deny it, but he could not bring himself to do so with any conviction.
—Would he truly refuse?
Blinded by the “deep affection” of his own one-sided devotion, he had gone to heaven and earth for it, exhausted every means—and even dragged innocent, unrelated people into making sacrifices for someone else’s happiness.
This was everything he had done over the past hundred years.
This was his love.
He was wrong. Wrong!
All this time, he had done far too many things wrong. Yet he had been blinded by his own obsessions, steeped in self-satisfied intoxication and utterly unaware.
They had met in the early spring of that year, when the willow breeze was gentle against the face, and peach blossoms glowed beside a lovely countenance.
You said your name was Fang Bailu. I said mine was Gu Dalang.
It turned out that, from the very beginning, everything had been wrong.
