“I don’t want to hear it.”
Su Linghuang was equally stubborn.
She asked coldly, “If you wanted to tell me, you should have done so on our wedding night, or even earlier. Why wait until now? Are you afraid I wouldn’t understand you?”
“I was afraid you’d get hurt. Sometimes knowing too much isn’t necessarily a good thing,” Gu Shenzhi said weakly.
“So, you’re saying it was for my own good?!”
Su Linghuang’s voice was like a thunderclap in the silent night, shattering the hypocritical calm.
She had thought she could handle it with composure, but in the end, she couldn’t suppress the surging emotions in her heart.
“Yes… and no. At first, I only saw you as a tool to help me establish myself in the Moon Shadow Sect, so there was no need to tell you these things. Later, when I truly started to care for you, I couldn’t let you know even more. I was afraid it would hurt you or put you in danger,” Gu Shenzhi explained.
However, he wasn’t entirely sure of his feelings for Su Linghuang.
She was the saintess of the demonic Moon Shadow Sect, the most beautiful woman in Muyun Continent, and his lawfully wedded wife.
But she could also be a hidden pawn used by Mu Chonghua to control him, a second “Junior Sister Bailin.”
“Since you claim it’s all for my sake, why did you go off with that Lingjian Sect junior sister today under the pretense of catching up, only to engage in dual cultivation? Was it not because you rekindled an old flame and couldn’t restrain your desires, leading to such shameful behavior?”
The Red Lotus Saintess questioned him, her voice trembling heavily.
Deep down, she already knew the answer, but she asked in hopes that Gu Shenzhi would be honest, so they could at least remain ordinary friends in the future.
“Do you know who that girl was, Huang’er?” Gu Shenzhi didn’t answer directly.
He knew Su Linghuang wouldn’t easily believe him, and he needed to reveal the full truth step by step to convince her.
“Don’t call me Huang’er again! Who she is has nothing to do with me! You’re the one who deceived me, not her!”
Suddenly, Su Linghuang froze, then said sorrowfully, “Compared to that white-robed girl, I’m more like the third party. After all, you and she truly love each other, while our marriage is merely the will of our respective sects.”
Seeing his wife crying with tears streaming down her face, Gu Shenzhi felt a deep sense of guilt and regret.
At least up to this point, he was the one who had wronged Huang’er, not the other way around.
The black-clad youth straightened up and walked behind the tearful beauty, reaching out to embrace her.
But the moment his hands touched the fabric at her slender waist, Su Linghuang struggled fiercely.
“Don’t touch me. It’s really uncomfortable. While this saintess hasn’t decided to take your life, hurry up and explain everything clearly,” Su Linghuang said coldly.
“That girl just now wasn’t my junior sister. She was my master—the sect leader of Lingjian Sect, Fairy Bai Qi.”
Hearing this, Su Linghuang fell silent for a long while.
After confirming he wasn’t joking, she burst out laughing.
“The most renowned beauty in all of Muyun Continent traveled thousands of miles to Bianliang City just to sneak around with someone in a forbidden, taboo love affair? If this got out, the entire continent would be in an uproar for months, and Lingjian Sect, the leader of the righteous alliance, would lose all face. Gu Shenzhi, do you take me for a three-year-old child?”
Frowning, Su Linghuang gritted her teeth, her blood-red eyes blazing with anger.
“You don’t believe me?”
“No, I don’t. Have you lied to me too few times?” Su Linghuang retorted.
After a long silence, Gu Shenzhi said apologetically, “It was my fault before. I know I can’t undo the past, but I can only make up for it wholeheartedly in the future, Saintess Su.”
Inwardly, he held the carefree and unrestrained sword heart of clear virtue; outwardly, he wielded the boundless and shadowless sword path of conquest.
This was the path Gu Yun had chosen for him, and now it was Gu Shenzhi’s own path.
Lies were blades used in the shadows against enemies, silence was the armor guarding his heart, but only sincerity could build a bridge between hearts.
He hadn’t ruled out the possibility that Su Linghuang might one day become his enemy, but Gu Shenzhi would rather have one less blade than carry guilt in his heart.
“Are these just pretty words to appease me?”
“They’re from the heart.”
“Swear it.”
“I swear.”
“Fine, then this saintess will give you one last chance. Explain everything about you and that Lingjian Sect junior sister clearly, without any deception. Otherwise, I’ll never forgive you, and we won’t even be friends.”
“If I explain it exceptionally well, is there a chance we could… be especially close friends again?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
Su Linghuang said coldly, crossing her arms, her tone calm.
At least on the surface, her emotions seemed to have mostly settled.
Gu Shenzhi nodded in compliance, letting out a long sigh before beginning to recount his past with Fairy Bai Qi, his once-soothing voice now slightly hoarse.
He had known his master for a long time.
As the direct disciple of the former sect leader, Bai Qi had practically watched Gu Shenzhi grow up.
But their relationship only deepened after Gu Shenzhi saved “Junior Sister Bailin.”
A hot-blooded young man couldn’t help but be moved by a pure, lovely, and graceful girl.
At first, Gu Shenzhi had only wanted to protect the beautiful, kind, and innocent “Junior Sister Bailin” from being bullied by other sect disciples.
So, they practiced swordsmanship together, attended lectures together, and cultivated together…
“Why don’t you just marry that Bailin already? Why come to the Moon Shadow Sect to ruin my life?” Su Linghuang complained, her tone laced with a hint of jealousy—not much, but potent.
A year later, Gu Shenzhi became a disciple under Fairy Bai Qi.
As a child, he was too young to notice the beauty of the woman, over two hundred years old, who insisted he call her “sister.”
But seeing her again now was different.
His future master wore a carved white jade phoenix crown, clutching the heavenly-tier spirit sword [Frost Pride], the blade passed down through generations of Lingjian Sect leaders.
Her delicate hands were flawless like jade, her figure graceful and aloof, her stunning face a portrait of sanctity and elegance.
Her ink-black hair cascaded to her waist, her aura as cold as a cloud-piercing icy peak, yet equally breathtaking, as if a single glance could captivate the world.
“No need to describe that in such detail. You could’ve skipped it. Also, who’s prettier, me or Fairy Bai Qi?”
To better hear the story, Su Linghuang instinctively sat beside Gu Shenzhi, but the moment she brushed against his sleeve, she primly scooted to the right.
“Compared to the Red Lotus Saintess, Bai Qi is far inferior,” Gu Shenzhi blurted out without a moment’s thought.
“That’s more like it. Keep going!”
For the next three years, he often stayed by his master’s side, occasionally going out with Junior Sister Bailin to handle sect matters.
Coincidentally, every time he received a task, his assigned teammate was always Bailin, and tasks for the young master of Lingjian Sect were always personally arranged by the sect leader.
Selectively glossing over minor details—like single-handedly defeating all the righteous disciples of Muyun Continent, forming a flawless golden core, or slaying a spirit-stage beast while only at the core formation stage—he finally reached the crux of the story: a quiet rainy night three years ago when Junior Sister Bailin sought him out to meet their master.