3 PM.
Su Liumeng remained motionless, admiring the enticing sleeping face of the young girl for a brief moment.
After confirming that she had completely fallen into dreamland, she quietly slipped out of bed, tiptoed over to her wardrobe, and took out a pure white object from the bottom drawer.
The girl seemed somewhat guilty and instinctively glanced back toward the bed.
Moments later.
Su Liumeng held an opaque bag filled with many items and slowly pushed open the bedroom door.
Chunqiao still stood outside with her head lowered, obedient and motionless like a statue.
Hearing the door open, the little maid immediately lifted her head and, upon seeing who it was, called out, “Miss, you’re done with your tasks?”
The little maid was privy to the affairs of at most two people.
On the wedding night, she dutifully stood nearby, blushing almost the entire evening, constantly covering her ears and quietly whispering “See no evil, hear no evil.”
Su Liumeng’s expression turned stern as she ordered seriously, “Don’t just stand there. Go prepare some hot water. I want to take a hot bath later.”
“Yes, mistress,” Chunqiao lowered her gaze and quickly scampered off.
*****
In the bathroom.
Su Liumeng submerged her entire body in the hot water, suddenly exhaling a long breath, a sigh softly echoing in the quiet space.
She no longer had the heart to do anything. That she had managed to control her emotions and not explode on the spot was a testament to her mental state.
Raising her pale wrist, she saw the spot where the guarded vermilion mark once shone, now completely white.
She recalled everything that had happened on her wedding night.
How many young girls in the bloom of youth hadn’t dreamed of giving themselves wholly to the one they loved?
A maiden’s heart blooms like the first flower of early spring, carrying the world’s most beautiful fantasies.
To be able to spend a lifetime with the person you love — she felt she had already lived a fulfilling life.
Su Liumeng did not share these thoughts with Si Xinyan.
Perhaps she was not meant to have been born so early.
As the last innate spirit, her birth came with a mission.
Though she was unsure what exactly that mission was, she still remembered it existed.
Surely, only when the time came to fulfill it would her mind clear again and all memories return.
Su Liumeng had no desire to bother with such matters.
She was simply a love-driven soul, willing to reincarnate following the one she loved, and so she had done.
As for everything else—what did it have to do with her?
No benefit in sight, yet expected to act like a beast of burden—that was just too much.
Si Xinyan was cold-blooded and decisive, yet never crossed moral boundaries, having grown up in the Su family just like Su Liumeng.
Su Liumeng’s own upbringing was even colder.
This was the exact appraisal the Grand Elder had of her.
Still soaking in the hot bath, an image suddenly appeared in Su Liumeng’s mind.
Her eyes slowly glazed over, and the emotions she had been suppressing finally found a place to vent.
Her arm, resting above the warm water, slipped beneath the surface.
The gentle ripples in the deep water made hardly any sound.
A rosy flush spread across Su Liumeng’s bright face.
The vermilion mark had long since faded from her wrist.
In the distance, the wild tanuki outside meowed softly.
Su Liumeng was a restrained person, rarely having strong desires.
Over countless days, only thoughts of Si Xinyan had brought her loneliness and boredom while alone.
Si Xinyan had often grumbled about the expenses on her shopping list, which was precisely how Su Liumeng coped with her feelings.
Among the many things, Su Liumeng favored one in particular.
With the disappearance of the crimson vermilion, she suddenly felt an impulse to try things she never had before…
Just as Si Xinyan had described—two kinds of desires: one spiritual, one physical.
When a certain little maid was adamantly opposed, and her spirit could never be fully satisfied, yet she couldn’t just explode in frustration, Su Liumeng had no choice but to secretly indulge in forbidden acts that went against the maid’s principles.
It was truly done in utmost secrecy.
Su Liumeng didn’t dare let Si Xinyan know what she was up to.
She knew that little maid’s temper and personality all too well.
If she found out, she would surely let her imagination run wild.
Since they were already married, what was she doing behind her back? Didn’t she consider her a wife?
The reasoning was simple—if one already had a wife yet still secretly took care of things on the side, wouldn’t that mean she didn’t regard Si Xinyan as her other half?
So she would overthink.
Su Liumeng’s heart ached. This time, it truly wasn’t her fault.
Mainly, she didn’t want to tire out her beloved.
Plus, Si Xinyan was cuddling her small blanket, sound asleep.
Thinking of how peacefully she was sleeping, Su Liumeng couldn’t possibly wake the little maid on the spot only to whisper her desires like a demon in her ear—she would surely get beaten at best.
Even after marriage, one shouldn’t torment one’s wife so.
Half an hour passed quickly.
Su Liumeng’s robes flowed gracefully as a refreshing breeze swept by.
She had changed into a beautiful ancient-style immortal dress, her long hair pinned up casually with a jade hairpin.
Now that she was married, many hairstyles she used before no longer suited her.
But even with her hair styled in a mature woman’s fashion, it did nothing to diminish her breathtaking beauty—rather, it added a touch of refined charm.
Tall and slender, her perfect proportions and long legs made her stand out like a crane among chickens wherever she went.
“Miss.”
“Miss.”
Walking down the main path of the Su family estate, countless people bowed their heads, unwilling to meet the gaze of the Su family’s brightest rising star.
Su Liumeng slowly raised her head.
Ahead, two young men who had survived the secret realm—and even ranked sixth in that trial—stood.
Two people who once had similar status now bore an irreconcilable gap.
The young man proactively bowed his proud head, a gesture of submission to status.
“Greetings, Miss.”
A faint curve appeared at the corner of Su Liumeng’s mouth.
She had bowed countless times in the past, and all her efforts were only to ensure that neither she nor her beloved would ever have to lower their heads again.
That was all.
“No need for formalities.”
Su Liumeng did not spare a glance.
It was as if this former competitor was no longer worthy of even a second look.
After Su Liumeng left, the young man slowly raised his head, revealing a bitter smile.
Whoever sees a former peer now forced to bow in respect feels a tangle of emotions inside.
No matter the highest heir of the Su family or the current four pulse masters, they were all figures he could only look up to.
*****
Arriving at the Grand Elder’s residence, Su Liumeng greeted him, then took a modest ancient token that emitted a faint light.
She opened a small gap in the barrier before her and stepped directly inside, merging into a swirling vortex of flickering light beyond which the formation’s scene was invisible.
Walking once more on this small path, among the withered grass and dead trees, Su Liumeng was no longer as nervous as the first time.
Instead, she felt a nostalgic sadness returning to a familiar place.
Her pace was steady but unhurried as she glanced at the graves on one side, her gaze finally settling on the foremost tombstone.
Most of the inscriptions had faded with time.
Only the lives of the Twelfth and Eleventh Ancestors were still roughly legible.
It wasn’t that older tombs were always less clear.
The inscriptions of the Su family’s ancient progenitors were still clear.
Only some parts of the texts had been erased by others.
Standing at the edge of the graveyard, Su Liumeng paid her respects once more before continuing toward the small hut at the front.
A fist shattering the boundary wall—what level of cultivator could that be?
Su Liumeng felt that even a True Self Realm cultivator wouldn’t dare break the boundary wall with a single punch.
In front of the wooden hut.
Compared to the pristine tidiness of her first visit, this time the hut reeked of decay.
A layer of newly grown moss covered the threshold, showing it had long been neglected.
The surrounding air was filled with a desolate, rotten atmosphere, as if the Thirteenth Ancestor’s body had long withered, lifeless and without vigor.
Knock knock—
“Thirteenth Ancestor.”
The young girl’s cold, clear voice echoed continuously across the wilderness.
After a long while, a coughing fit from an old man echoed in her mind.
“It was that brat Tianchen who sent you to see me, wasn’t it? Cough cough cough … Old bones here haven’t kicked the bucket just yet.”
Tianchen?
Su Liumeng hesitated for a moment, then recalled that was the Grand Elder’s given name.
Only the Thirteenth Ancestor could call a more than one hundred seventy-year-old Grand Elder “brat.”
“You came at the perfect time.”
“I have some last matters to entrust to you.”
Every time the Thirteenth Ancestor spoke, he coughed for a long time.
The fire of his soul flickered continuously, as if ready to be extinguished at any moment.
“Don’t push open the door. I don’t want anyone to see me like this.”
“Thinking back, it’s been hundreds of years… I was the most handsome young man in the clan back then.”
“Ah, man… growing old is unavoidable. Who can resist the ravages of time?”
“Maybe… only ghost cultivators live the longest,” the Thirteenth Ancestor sighed.
At the moment of death, all the events of his life flashed by like a revolving lantern.
He spoke many things long buried in his heart without realizing it.
“Ghost cultivators are such unnatural beings. How were they even created?
“Birth, sickness, and death are fundamental laws of the heavenly way, and no one can escape the cycle of reincarnation.
“Even the supreme Dao-born Nine-Source cultivators only live for a little over a thousand years.
“In the end, they all return to dust.
“But ghost cultivators, once awakened with consciousness, regardless of strength, can easily survive for thousands of years on the path of cultivation.”
After hesitating, Su Liumeng suddenly asked, “Then… can you become a ghost cultivator?”
“Hm?” The Thirteenth Ancestor seemed caught off guard.
After a moment, he sighed softly.
“Girl, I appreciate your kindness, but alas… that’s impossible.
“Everything in this world carries a cost.
“Ghost cultivators have no physical body; their true self is like a rootless duckweed.
“Even the True Self Realm can’t breakthrough.
“How could someone at my level possibly transform into a ghost cultivator?”
Speaking of ghost cultivators, the Thirteenth Ancestor recalled a supreme cultivator he had seen recently, then shook his head.
“It must have been a mistake.
“Or some supreme cultivator’s cruel joke, disguising as a ghost cultivator to scare me.”
His old, decaying mind paused briefly.
He had never heard of such a cultivator in this world before.
Could it be—
From another world?
It shouldn’t be.
After all, he had been guarding the boundary stone.
Even six-source cultivators couldn’t step into this world before his death.
A thousand unsolved questions churned in the Thirteenth Ancestor’s heart.
“Should be some unknown old demon in this realm.
“Since it caused no trouble before, it must have its own limits.
“We needn’t worry about conflict in the future.”
The Thirteenth Ancestor said…
“Nine sources?” Su Liumeng caught the unfamiliar term and asked in confusion.
“Thirteenth Ancestor, you still have half a year of life left. Why are you settling affairs now?”
The Thirteenth Ancestor was silent for a moment, then said helplessly, “A few days ago, your little girlfriend was bullied.
“The aura of the cultivator involved drained some of my life force.