Cloud Expanse Sect, Heaven Mist Peak.
Jiang Wan’er closed her eyes tightly, her rosy, adorable cherry-like lips letting out a long, steady breath.
She sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, her round and firm hips causing her upper body to lean slightly forward.
Every time she got distracted and opened her eyes, she would just catch sight of the eight large characters engraved on the floor:
Do not forget this hatred, train diligently!
Train!
Ahhhhhh!
I will train!
Whenever her mind wandered, she would shout aloud about revenge and hard work, saying things like, “For the sake of my Foolish Senior Brother, I cannot lose.”
Immediately, she would gather her focus again, continuing to circulate her cultivation technique, beginning to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
This strange behavior inevitably puzzled the brothers and sisters at Heaven Mist Peak.
After all, the previous Jiang Wan’er had been lively and whimsical, cheerful and cute. Although she was the Sect’s Saintess, she had never been aloof and was the source of joy for everyone.
How could she suddenly change as if she were a different person, diving deeply into cultivation and ignoring worldly matters?
Could it be that she had suffered some kind of shock?
The Elder Sister of Heaven Mist Peak raised this doubt.
But after much pondering, everyone knew Jiang Wan’er was the Sect’s Saintess with great talent, born exquisitely lovely.
All the Inner Sect Elders treated her with utmost respect. Who would be so blind as to offend such a Heaven’s Chosen?
It couldn’t be that she was cursed, right?
This idea was immediately rejected by the Second Elder Sister, who was knowledgeable in curses.
To curse the current Saintess of Yunxiao, one would need tremendous cultivation and courage.
Besides, Jiang Wan’er had an extraordinary bloodline and a Saintess’ Bodyguard Talisman.
Unless it was the Western Sect’s vicious Imprint Curse, no other curse could possibly take effect.
As for that Imprint Curse, it had long been destroyed when the Western Sect was wiped out, with no surviving inheritance in the world.
Could it be heartbreak?
The youngest among them, the Third Junior Sister, asked this.
She wore lipstick and foundation, with a bracelet engraved with someone’s name on her wrist.
Obviously, this young woman was in the throes of first love.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she said shyly under everyone’s gaze.
“I’m just being honest. When my Dao Companion and I had a falling out, I pretended to be angry, saying I’d focus on cultivation and never speak to that jerk again.”
“Impossible!”
Everyone immediately dismissed that possibility.
To them, Jiang Wan’er was a noble and pure Saintess; how could she have such mundane entanglements with anyone below the cultivation realm?
The young cultivator pouted, clearly expecting this reaction.
“It’s not that, not that—then what exactly caused Wan’er to change like this?”
The discussion circled back to square one.
Actually, their conjectures were both right and wrong. Taken together, they formed the true answer.
The Elder Sister suspected someone had offended Jiang Wan’er.
That was true.
Jiang Wan’er now cursed in her heart thousands of times a day: Luo Zhi Lan, you vile woman, pervert, maniac!
The Second Elder Sister ruled out the curse possibility.
That was also true.
The Imprint Curse she spoke of, supposedly destroyed, was precisely the method Luo Zhi Lan used on Jiang Wan’er.
The Third Junior Sister guessed it was a romantic issue.
Fine, that was something Jiang Wan’er herself refused to admit.
Only Jiang Wan’er truly knew the real reason.
The moment she caught Luo Zhi Lan’s actions and was branded with the Imprint Curse.
At first, she was fearful and anxious, burying herself day and night in the Scripture Depository, desperate to find a way to break the curse amid the vast ocean of scriptures.
But the deeper she researched, the colder her heart became.
The Western Sect’s forbidden curse was indeed extraordinarily cruel—except if the caster lifted the curse personally, or if the recipient’s cultivation surpassed the caster’s, there was no way to break it.
How could she possibly do that…
Even asking the Master for help was impossible because the Imprint Curse forbade speaking of it, turning such hopes into delusions.
Suffocation, despair, and resentment became nightmares that gripped the Saintess of Yunxiao’s throat tightly.
She even once entertained thoughts of giving up on life.
But just as she prepared a Storage Ring full of Danchamber to end herself, an upright figure with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes appeared unbidden in her mind.
The words she had engraved surfaced in her heart:
“Jiang Junior Sister, stop messing around. Your talent surpassing mine is only a matter of time.”
Foolish Senior Brother, are you willing to believe that I can surpass that perverted maniac?
She set down the half-eaten Danchamber, wiped away the drool at her mouth and tears at her eyes, and her heart ignited with fierce determination.
Yes, Jiang Wan’er, you cannot lose to that perverted maniac.
It’s only a minor Golden Core Realm after all.
As long as I concentrate on cultivation, I will definitely surpass her.
From that day forward, Jiang Wan’er seemed like a different person.
Cultivation, nothing but cultivation.
The whimsical, lively, and adorable Jiang Wan’er was dead!
Now there was only the Sect’s Saintess, devoted solely to cultivation and ignoring worldly affairs!
Foolish Senior Brother, don’t pity me.
If you want to blame someone, blame your damn perverted maniac Master!
Calming her mind, fueled by the continuous influx of immortal Dao resources, Jiang Wan’er’s cultivation advanced at an almost terrifying speed.
But every time the excitement of breakthrough faded, she felt somewhat listless.
Her cultivation had improved, but she had no one to boast to—it was boring.
After all, she had cultivated the image of a considerate Saintess before her Heaven Mist Peak brothers and sisters.
If they ever found out her true nature, wouldn’t they be shocked to the heavens?
After much thought, she realized that throughout the entire Cloud Expanse Sect, only in front of that eccentric, crazy Foolish Senior Brother could she put down the burden of being the Sect’s Saintess and be truly herself—Jiang Wan’er.
Foolish Senior Brother.
Actually, I miss you a little.
She murmured sorrowfully in her heart. But with the Imprint Curse, how could she possibly meet him?
If they met, and she could only speak the truth, wouldn’t that just…
Her accumulating longing wouldn’t vanish; she could only transform it into the driving force behind her cultivation.
Foolish Senior Brother, wait for me, wait for me.
I will definitely expose Luo Zhi Lan’s true face as that perverted maniac!
Thinking this, Jiang Wan’er clenched her fists and took out a pill to assist her cultivation from her Storage Ring, preparing to take it and continue her grueling training for another month.
Just as she was about to consume the pill, a servant’s voice came from outside the secret chamber: “Saintess, a man outside wishes to see you and asked me to inform you.”
Wants to see me?
Jiang Wan’er frowned, glancing at the mottled moonlight seeping through the door crack.
A man coming to see me this late? Doesn’t he know men and women should be kept apart?
“Tell him to come another day.”
She dismissed the servant casually, took the pill, letting it dissolve under her tongue.
Just as she was about to circulate her cultivation, the servant’s footsteps sounded again outside the door.
“Saintess, that man refuses to leave. He insists you must give him an answer today.”
The servant wiped his sweat, clearly embarrassed by having to shuttle between the two.
Again?
Jiang Wan’er said irritably, “If I don’t see him, I don’t see him. Whoever he is, if he dares to linger, don’t blame me for dealing with him according to Sect Rules!”
The servant acknowledged and disappeared again.
But soon after, footsteps sounded again at the door, accompanied by the servant’s pleading: “Sir, this is the Saintess’ place of quiet cultivation. You really cannot enter.”
Never-ending, huh? Still daring to barge in, huh?
Jiang Wan’er’s anger flared.
With a swish, she flung open the stone door, ready to punish this rude disciple properly.
But when she saw the tall figure bathed in moonlight, all her anger turned to surprise, joy, and fear.
Fo-Foolish Senior Brother?
For a moment, she felt the heavens had heard her prayers and were showing mercy to this poor little girl.
Tears streamed down.
Before she could speak, Li Muqun shouted in agony:
“Jiang Junior Sister, why, why did you do something that hurts my feelings so deeply?”
Huh?
Jiang Wan’er was stunned.
Huh?
The servant outside was stunned.
Huh?
The brothers and sisters of Heaven Mist Peak eavesdropping were stunned.
Huh?
Qin Xinrui, the Cloud Expanse Sect’s Sect Leader, who was thinking about how to pry Li Muqun away from Jiang Wan’er, was stunned too.
In the almost solid silence, only Zuo Qiuli, inside Li Muqun’s Spirit Sea, looked on with madness and muttered:
“So intense, so intense!”
“To witness such a scene, even if I die, it’s worth the price of admission!”