Chaoyun Peak.
Yun Fuling.
Qin Shuying’s fingers lightly tapped the armrest. Once. Twice.
That day in the marketplace, that person had been hunched over, wearing an ingratiating smile, calling her “Senior Sister” with every breath, full of respect.
Seemingly timid, but in reality, scheming and gloomy, most adept at opportunism, and most vindictive.
But why would Yun Fuling move against someone from Jiaoyue Peak?
To get back at her?
No. She wasn’t that stupid.
For—
Qin Shuying suddenly remembered the look Yun Fuling gave Shen Mo before she left that day.
“Shen Mo.” She repeated the name once. “Remembered.”
That smile, that look, that meaningful “remembered.”
It wasn’t aimed at her.
It was aimed at him.
The shadow continued: “The semi-demonized Legacy Elder from the Luoxia Mountains you asked me to investigate… it also seems to be her handiwork…”
Qin Shuying’s gaze turned icy. “Explain clearly.”
“Yes. This subordinate traced back along the residual demonic qi left by the semi-demon elder and found that the timing of his failed tribulation crossing and demonic heart invasion was quite peculiar, with traces suggesting external force induction and guidance. Ultimately, a few extremely faint spiritual power imprints, bearing the unique characteristics of Chaoyun Peak’s Morning Dew Moistening Heart Manual… While it cannot serve as ironclad proof, but…”
“Enough.” Qin Shuying cut him off.
She didn’t need ironclad proof. For her, the direction was clear enough.
The shadow shivered, frightened by the suddenly chilling aura.
“Dismissed.” Qin Shuying spoke, her voice several degrees colder than before.
“Yes.”
The person withdrew as if granted a pardon, disappearing quietly.
Qin Shuying’s expression remained unchanged, only the frost in her eyes grew heavier.
She slowly stood up.
No extra words. No summoning of anyone.
A piercing sword light rose from the horizon, tearing through the cloud layers, heading straight for Chaoyun Peak!
Without the slightest attempt to conceal its majestic pressure and… icy fury.
……
At the same moment, Chaoyun Peak.
Yun Fuling knelt on a prayer mat, before a small statue.
The hall was dark, lit only by a single eternal lamp.
The lamplight fell on her face, illuminating that gentle, humble countenance, and also the glint in her eyes, utterly different from usual.
“My Lord.” Someone knelt outside the curtain. “The people from Heavenly Sword Peak are investigating.”
Yun Fuling didn’t move.
“Have they found anything?”
“Just a few faint clues. No solid evidence yet. But Qin Shuying has already set her sights on us.”
Yun Fuling let out a soft laugh.
“Of course she would.” She said, her voice still as gentle as if discussing the weather. “She treasures that person so much. How could she not?”
The person outside the curtain dared not respond.
Yun Fuling raised her hand and adjusted the wick of the eternal lamp.
“Eight times out of ten, she’s on her way here right now.”
The person outside the curtain was startled, their voice fearful. “My Lord, will you not avoid her?”
Yun Fuling turned her head. Her face was half-lit, half-shadowed by the lamplight. “There’s no solid evidence. Why fear her?”
The person outside the curtain lowered their head.
Yun Fuling looked back at the statue.
“Shen Mo.” She softly uttered the name, as if savoring something. “He should have been mine.”
Seven years ago, at Su Wan’er’s grand wedding.
The new bridegroom sat on the wedding bed, his head covered. She had only seen his profile.
That outline, those lowered eyelashes, those fingers trembling slightly beneath the wedding robes—she remembered it for seven years.
But Su Wan’er made the betrothal offer first.
That block of wood, that clueless fool… what right did he have?
She waited for seven years.
In those seven years, every time she went to Jiaoyue Peak for social engagements, she would take a few extra glances at that man. He had grown even more handsome than seven years ago.
There was something indescribable added between his brows and eyes, like jade polished by time, warmth hiding light beneath its surface.
But she couldn’t act.
Su Wan’er was in seclusion, not dead. She couldn’t touch him.
But now—
The corner of Yun Fuling’s mouth curved up.
She stood up and walked to the base of the statue.
Picked up the Thousand-Mile Mirror resting there and wiped it clean.
The mirror’s surface swirled with a dark light, reflecting not ordinary images.
But three withered, humanoid forms, surrounded by ominous black qi, with talismans pasted on their foreheads.
One was an old woman in tattered elder’s robes.
Her hair and beard were grayish-white, her skin a bluish-black iron color, her nails curved like hooks.
Deep in her eye sockets, two points of pale green ghostly fire burned quietly.
Another had a burly, mountain-like physique, likely a powerful body cultivator in life.
His muscles were knotted but had already withered and blackened.
His joints made a teeth-grinding crack sound when they moved.
A massive penetrating wound on his exposed chest had not fully rotted, vaguely revealing a slowly pulsating, dark purple strange core within.
The last one was actually a female corpse in palace attire, relatively well-preserved, her face even faintly recognizable as once beautiful.
Only her complexion was deathly pale, her lips a dripping scarlet, her ten fingernails long and sharp, gleaming with a black luster.
She stood quietly within the mirror, her eyelids lowered, but occasionally they would lift ever so slowly, revealing completely black eyes with no whites beneath.
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
Yun Fuling withdrew her gaze.
A female cultivator hurriedly reported, “My Lord! The Peak Master of Heavenly Sword Peak is here!”
“What’s there to panic about?”
Even as she said this, the hand that put down the Thousand-Mile Mirror trembled slightly.
Yun Fuling adjusted her appearance and posture, straightened up, and walked towards the door.
……
Chaoyun Peak.
The square outside the main hall was suffocatingly oppressive.
The peak-guarding disciples had retreated far away, not daring to make a sound, watching the icy figure that had descended from the sky, her robes stirring without wind.
Qin Shuying didn’t even step into the main hall.
She stood in the center of the square before the hall, sword qi swirling spontaneously around her, slicing the air with faint hisses.
Her gaze calmly fell upon Yun Fuling, who was hastily emerging from the hall to greet her.
“Peak Master Qin… Peak Master Qin honors us with your presence. We failed to welcome you properly…”
Yun Fuling’s face wore the same ingratiating, almost fawning smile as that day in the marketplace, only the apprehension in her eyes was impossible to hide completely.
Qin Shuying had come too fast, too directly.
Though anticipated, it inevitably caused unease in the heart.
“Token.” Qin Shuying spoke only two words. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was like a blade tempered in ice, thrust straight at Yun Fuling.
Yun Fuling’s smile stiffened. “Token? What token? Peak Master Qin, these words… Fuling doesn’t underst—”
A sword intent, condensed into substance, grazed Yun Fuling’s cheek, severing a few strands of her hair, leaving a smooth cut over an inch deep on the palace pillar behind her.
No sound, only deathly silence.
Qin Shuying hadn’t even moved a finger.
“This seat’s patience is limited.” She looked at Yun Fuling’s instantly pale face, her tone devoid of any fluctuation.
“Jiaoyue Peak disciple Chao’er was attacked in the secret realm and fell into the Demon Abyss. At the scene, there was a token from your Chaoyun Peak.”
Cold sweat beaded on Yun Fuling’s temple as her mind raced.
She had indeed secretly arranged personnel, intending to use others as the blade, frame someone, and muddy the waters.
She had even deliberately left some ambiguous traces, wanting to confuse the situation, perhaps to use it to manipulate Shen Mo in the future…
Though she had anticipated Qin Shuying’s straightforward nature, she was still taken aback when the other truly came knocking so blatantly, without any cover, all for a mere Foundation Establishment disciple from another peak.
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