Su Yi subtly shifted her feet, one in front of the other, tracing slight movements across the ground—each step seemingly echoing a mysterious rhythm.
A dark bluish energy swirled violently around her.
The hem of her robe billowed upward like it had caught a gust of wind, flying high into the air.
As the current Holy Maiden of Mount Kunlun, she was a master of orthodox mystic arts. Her power had long since reached an awe-inspiring level.
“Thunder and Fire,”
“Dao—Manifest!”
With a sharp cry, her voice cut through the air.
*****
From the ground, a fire serpent nearly ten meters tall shot upward out of nowhere, coiling and clashing with the golden dragon phantom in the sky.
The golden dragon was strikingly lifelike—even the scales along its long body shimmered as they caught the light.
I couldn’t see Su Liumeng directly, only the image of a true dragon, nearly twenty meters long, continuing to rise and roar toward the heavens.
*****
Beneath the pale cyan sky—
A creature from legend seemed to descend once again into the mortal realm.
It all felt so unreal, yet it was unfolding right before my very eyes.
Things beyond human comprehension—
And yet they were really happening here, in this very peach grove.
In the end, all the energy fluctuations were concealed by the formation that had been laid down in advance.
Su Liumeng had arrived here early, after I told her my plan, setting up a formation meant to trap her enemy.
And sure enough, it had now taken effect.
The dreamlike, fantastical battle playing out before me etched itself into my memory—shocking my youthful heart to its core.
I had seen powerful people before—
But never a fight this intense.
Both of them had thrown everything they had into this battle.
The extraordinary and unworldly techniques they unleashed moved me far more than the simple thunder magic I’d seen before.
In terms of pure destructive power, the Five Thunders Technique was probably more formidable.
But even so—
To me, the true dragon right in front of me was infinitely cooler.
Just like a seven- or eight-year-old kid screaming in front of the TV about becoming an Ultraman, wanting to be the first beam of light to save the world—
A teenager, too, couldn’t help but be mesmerized by a five-clawed golden dragon appearing right before their eyes.
That vividly lifelike dragon head, the eyes filled with blazing thunder-fire—even the flowing whiskers trailing from its face carried a divine majesty that inspired reverence in ordinary people.
This—was something etched into the bones, passed down through thousands of years of ancestral memory.
“Su Liumeng.”
“A mere Xuan-grade formation.”
“Did you really think having a little formation would let you beat me?”
Su Yi stood barefoot, stepping atop the fire serpent that towered into the sky.
At one point, when they crossed paths in midair, she leaned close to Su Liumeng’s ear and whispered darkly:
“Lin Ruyue. It really is you.”
Su Liumeng’s eyes narrowed, her face growing darker by the second as she stared at the face hidden beneath Su Yi’s hood.
“…It was you, wasn’t it—the one stirring up trouble in the secret realm last time?”
Su Liumeng’s voice turned cold.
“There never was a so-called ‘Qing Yi’ to begin with.”
“She was nothing more than a fictional persona you conjured with forbidden arts to mask your true identity.”
In just that fleeting instant, Su Liumeng had already pieced together the bigger picture.
She was frighteningly close to the truth.
Su Yi’s smile twisted, warped into something eerie.
The compassion once in her eyes was now completely gone.
“No one’s called me by that name… for years.”
Su Liumeng scoffed, her laughter brimming with scorn.
“To deny even your own origins—only someone like you would stoop that low.”
“The massacre in Linjia Village back then… that was your doing too, wasn’t it?”
For the first time, Su Yi didn’t bother to deny it.
“A beast that beats children barely a few years old… Tell me, doesn’t that deserve death?”
There was nothing more to be said.
With enemies meeting once more, hatred flared red in their eyes.
*****
Below, Li Mei had long since collapsed to the ground.
The endless sounds of explosions and impacts echoing around her made her legs tremble uncontrollably.
A strange smell lingered in the air.
I took a step back in disgust, craning my neck around the tree trunk, doing everything I could to keep a certain person out of my line of sight.
*****
Half an hour later—
A figure fell from the sky like a blazing cannonball, her entire body cloaked in burning flames as she plummeted toward the ground at high speed.
BOOM.
A deafening crash rang out as the figure smashed into the earth, creating a massive crater nearly ten meters wide.
The surrounding peach trees were torn apart by the shockwave—at least ten of them snapped cleanly at the waist.
*****
Su Yi lay sprawled in the fractured earth.
She tried to rise, her limbs trembling—but blood surged up from deep in her throat.
Cough—
She spat out a large mouthful of bright red blood.
Her hood had long since fallen off, revealing her face clearly to me.
My pupils shrank.
Su Yi?
That kind, selfless woman who, even in unfamiliar settings and among strangers, would offer help without hesitation—
How could she be the very thief who had been coveting me in the shadows?
The memory of the high-speed rail came flooding back, almost like a scene replaying itself right before my eyes.
“Let me help you.”
“Here’s my business card.”
My expression grew complicated.
Once again, life had taught me a brutal lesson.
Human nature—
How could such a thing be explained in just a few simple words?
How many bloodthirsty serial killers still helped others in daily life?
How many of them were spoken of as good husbands, good wives—shining examples of elite professionals in their fields?
In this moment, all I felt was relief.
Relief that Su Liumeng had warned me in time.
And even more, that I’d long since tucked that business card away—shoved deep into the cylindrical metal frame of my dorm bed.
*****
I walked slowly toward her, the hem of my pristine white dress untouched by even a speck of dust.
Standing in the centre of the chaotic battlefield, I looked more like a pure and flawless sacred lotus.
Su Yi lowered her gaze.
At least, in her eyes—at this moment—I truly looked that way.
A bitter smile lingered on her lips as she turned her head away.
Suddenly, she didn’t want me to see her in such a pitiful state.
“It’s you?”
My sweet voice echoed in her ears, as if genuinely confused: Why you?
Honestly, I had never even considered that the culprit could be Su Yi.
Even when Su Liumeng swore up and down that it was her, I instinctively denied it.
“There’s nothing more to say,” Su Yi rasped.
“I could have killed you. That’s all.”
*****
“Lin Ruyue, you’ve gotten weak.”
Su Liumeng couldn’t help making her presence known.
In front of the person she had feelings for, she finally had a chance to show off.
Like a proud peacock spreading its feathers, she was eager to display her strength.
Su Yi gave a tragic smile.
“It’s not that I’ve gotten weaker. It’s that… you never used your full power.”
“The Su family truly breeds cunning minds.”
And besides—
She wasn’t exactly in peak condition right now either.
The fog of confusion that had long clouded Su Yi’s eyes seemed to slowly clear with the pain, returning to the clarity and gentleness she once had.
But just as she tried to keep speaking, she suddenly coughed up a large pool of blood.
“What do you want to do with her?” Su Liumeng turned to me.
*****
In the depths of my consciousness, a tiny figure working diligently suddenly clenched its fists in excitement.
“Kill her! Kill her!!!” the ghost baby cheered.
My eyes lowered slightly.
Under Su Liumeng’s expectant gaze, I turned around and no longer looked at the figure lying on the ground.
“Kill her.”
I was never a good person.
“Yay~” The ghost baby bounced up happily.
“As you wish, my lady.”
Su Liumeng’s words made me stumble forward—nearly tripping.
Wait, who’s calling whom ‘my lady’ here?
Su Liumeng grinned, a golden pattern lighting up in her palm.
With a piercing dragon’s roar, a surge of immense inner force crashed down toward Su Yi’s heart, as if it would crush her body in the next second.
BOOM—!
Another earth-shaking explosion.
When the dust finally began to settle, I looked up at the sky with a calm gaze.
Only Su Liumeng was frowning deeply, her eyes fixed on the scorched humanoid figure on the ground.
“What is it? Something wrong?” I asked.
Su Liumeng shook her aching arm, still sore from the battle.
“I don’t think she’s completely dead. She probably got transmitted back to Mount Kunlun.”
I frowned too.
“If she goes back…, will it cause trouble?”
“Didn’t you say yesterday?”
“She was the one who messaged you—trying to leak information about the Su family.”
Su Liumeng pondered for a moment.
“It should be fine for now. Even if she was transported back, with injuries that severe, she’ll probably be in a coma for at least a few months.”
That final palm strike just now had landed squarely on Su Yi’s body while she was completely defenceless.
I let out a small breath of relief.
A few months… was enough to do a lot of things.
“What about that woman—how do you plan to deal with her?”
Li Mei was still unprotected, lying at the very bottom of the battlefield.
Even a stray ripple of spiritual energy could knock her unconscious.
“You handle it.”
I didn’t want to think about so many things at once.
“Alright.”
While Su Liumeng went off to clean up the battlefield, I quietly left the peach grove and made my way to the school library entrance.
“Baby, you must’ve seen it clearly just now—”
“Did that Su Yi die or not?”
After so many twists and turns, there was simply too much for me to process.
And after calling her baby so many times, even I could no longer tell how much of it was genuine.
My feelings toward the ghost infant were… very complicated.
Even I couldn’t untangle them clearly.
She had saved my life before—
So yes, I was certainly grateful.
She was born a supreme ghost king—
Wherever she appeared, her terrifying ghostly aura could freeze everyone around her into ice.
I was just an ordinary person. Naturally, I feared her.
And yet… at the very end, the most impossible emotion—
One quiet, sleepless night, in the depths of panic and fear…
I suddenly realized—
I might actually love her, just a little.
Where that love came from, I couldn’t say for certain.
Maybe from all the little things in life.
Maybe… because we were bonded by blood.
I admit it.
I really did start having unrealistic thoughts.
But those were completely extinguished beneath her near-tyrannical words.
As the saying goes—
No expectations, no disappointment. No disappointment, no heartbreak.
That was exactly why my emotions had fluctuated so wildly today.
Desire… always grows, little by little.
I kept wanting more.
In the beginning, all I had ever wanted—was to survive.
I quickly pulled myself together, coaxed myself into believing I didn’t care, and forced myself to go back to that original mindset:
As long as I kept pleasing the ghost baby… staying alive would be enough.
Still, everything that happened in the peach grove had left me hurting a little.
****
Late into the night.
I sat alone on the open-air sports field.
Thin white fog rose and gently dampened the hem of my clothes.
“You’re still not going back?”
The ghost baby was anxious deep in my consciousness—but couldn’t do anything about me.
She didn’t want to bark orders at me anymore.
“I don’t have anywhere to go right now.”
My luggage was still in the dorm, and I hadn’t figured out where else I could stay.
“Don’t catch a cold.”
The ghost baby pouted in dissatisfaction, then added with a snort,
“You better not let me catch a cold, either.”
My limp arm stiffened slightly. I responded softly, “Mm.”
“I’ll head back now.”
The ghost baby couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Why do you sound so… off?”
“Like you’re hiding something.”
“If there’s a problem, can’t you just say it directly?”
“There’s nothing…” I pulled out a smile.
“I’m happy, really.”
“Don’t worry—I’ll take good care of the baby.”
My overly obedient attitude made the ghost baby extremely uncomfortable.
It was like staring at something incredibly irritating—
She wanted nothing more than to tear her way out of my stomach and rip that fake, practiced smile off my face.
She tried comforting me a few more times.
But whether human or ghost, patience has its limits.
No matter how much you care about someone, if you keep getting shut out, it’ll eventually backfire.
When she saw me clamping my lips shut again, clearly not wanting to talk to her, the ghost baby snapped in frustration:
“Do whatever you want!”
*****
Deep in the sea of consciousness—
The tiny ghost baby glared at the book in her hands.
The more she read, the more annoyed she got.
She nearly tore it in half—
But just as she was about to hurl it across the space, she barely managed to stop her little arms from moving.
“Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.”
She muttered the words over and over, over and over again.
*****
Back on the school field—
Just as I was about to leave, I ran straight into a familiar figure.
Su Liumeng.
She looked windblown and travel-worn, clearly having searched for a while.
“Why are you hiding here? I’ve been messaging you and you won’t even reply.”
Upon seeing that I was unharmed, she sighed in exasperation.
“I was really worried about you!”
“…Sorry.”
I felt like I’d said that too many times before.
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
Su Liumeng grabbed my arm and started walking forward.
“What’s wrong with you today? You seem kind of out of it.”
I pressed my lips together, not wanting to explain that I’d thrown up several more times that afternoon.
The ghost baby was far more of a handful than a normal infant.
She was draining me dry, both physically and mentally.
I really didn’t have the strength for anything else.
“You’re feeling sick again?”
Su Liumeng peered at my pale face.
I gave a slight nod.
“It’s okay.”
Her smile had a quietly reassuring power.
She gently patted my head, her warmth flowing straight through me.
“If you’re not feeling well, then don’t talk. Just come home with me—I just learned a new massage technique. I guarantee it’ll make you feel better.”
“…Home?”
I repeated the word faintly.
“Yeah, home.”
Su Liumeng’s tone left no room for doubt.
Maybe it was something about the way she said it that finally struck a chord.
My lashes lowered, and this time—I didn’t say no.
Under the dim yellow light, I looked at her tightly clenched fingers wrapped around my arm—
The tension in her knuckles gradually increasing,
As if she was afraid the jade she had just recovered would be lost once more.
“I won’t get lost again,” I told her seriously.
“I just didn’t check my phone earlier.”
It had been nearly ten hours without a trace of me.
The panic in Su Liumeng’s eyes was already overflowing.
At this hour, the dormitory gates were long shut.
I wasn’t sure how she did it, but the dorm manager auntie was now stepping out, frowning as she unlocked the iron gate.
Her mouth opened quickly, clearly about to scold the two girls at the door for staying out so late, messing around in the middle of the night—
But as soon as she saw Su Liumeng’s face, her tone flipped into a cheerful grin.
“Oh, it was you who sent the WeChat transfer, Miss Su! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I was wondering why a magpie landed on my windowsill this morning.”
“Good things always come in pairs when something lucky happens!”
Su Liumeng gave a polite nod and didn’t respond to any more of her rambling.
*****
Room 514.
Inside was pitch-black.
The luggage packed earlier in the day still sat neatly on the floor.
As she picked the items up one by one, Su Liumeng spoke about what had happened that afternoon.
“Li Mei isn’t a cultivator, so they didn’t use the usual methods for dealing with matters of life and death.”
“According to the law, invading someone’s privacy would at least earn her probation, and she’d definitely have a criminal record and be expelled.”
“But she just had to still be a minor—two weeks short of her eighteenth birthday.”
“In the end, she got nothing more than a verbal warning and an internal disciplinary action from the school.”
Even a school punishment like that would go on her permanent record.
Even if she managed to graduate, no major company would ever hire her again.
Su Liumeng effortlessly picked up two large suitcases and three storage boxes.
No wonder—she was a cultivator. Her real strength was incredible.
I recalled her flying around during battles and suddenly let go of any intention to offer help.
“They’re really light,” she added, still chatting with me.
It seemed she genuinely wasn’t tired at all.