Qu Xiangxiang had just sent away the annoying Shao Mai when she saw Mu Hanzhang carrying her little bundle toward the door.
“This,” Mu Hanzhang shoved the bundle back into her arms, “is yours.”
“What are you giving it back for?” Qu Xiangxiang knew that in the original novel, Mu Hanzhang’s pride was immense, so she assumed his “pride sickness” was acting up again. Wrinkling her nose in disdain, she said, “Those medicines are all inferior. I don’t want them. You take them.”
If they were truly inferior, they would never have appeared in the young lady of the Qu family’s room. Mu Hanzhang didn’t believe her nonsense.
“Qu Xiangxiang,” he stepped back half a pace, his tone firm, “whatever it is, I will never agree.”
Qu Xiangxiang thought he was talking about the homework matter. She hadn’t expected him to agree right away anyway, so she wasn’t discouraged.
“But at least take these medicines. Do whatever you want with them afterward—even throw them away, I don’t care.” She snorted, thinking her acting was pretty good. “They’re just inferior products, cluttering up my space.”
Mu Hanzhang’s thin lips pressed into a straight line. In the end, he compromised.
Qu Xiangxiang watched his cold, unfeeling back as he left, and felt exhausted.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to openly treat Mu Hanzhang well. The problem was that this was a cultivation world. If her personality suddenly changed too drastically, these cultivators might suspect she was a soul that had seized another’s body. Then, to bring back the original soul, they might scatter her spirit to nothingness.
The unknown was the most terrifying. At least now she had the script of her life. With that, she refused to believe she couldn’t change her fate.
Tired, Qu Xiangxiang yawned. She decided to bathe and sleep first, and think of ways to approach Mu Hanzhang tomorrow.
The next morning, Qu Xiangxiang arrived early at the training grounds. Elder Bai Shu was already standing under the shade of a tree, waiting for his disciples.
Once a dozen disciples had gathered, Elder Bai stroked his beard and announced: “Today we will have a special lesson. I want you to voluntarily form groups of up to three and go to the back mountain to collect Soul-Losing Grass. Whichever group finds it first and brings it back will naturally receive a reward.”
As soon as he finished, the crowd buzzed with excitement.
Qu Xiangxiang knew what that reward was. In the end, it would undoubtedly fall into the male lead’s hands. But what he gained was far more than this trivial prize.
Everyone scrambled to form teams. Qu Xiangxiang remembered that Mu Hanzhang had gone up the mountain alone—no one wanted to team with a cultivator of half-demonic blood. She looked up and spotted him standing apart from the crowd, indifferent. Rather than climb with those who despised him, Mu Hanzhang preferred to go alone. Even with his spiritual root and demonic aura sealed, he was never afraid of death. What he feared more was living like useless mud.
“Xiangxiang,” Lin Zheng tugged at her sleeve excitedly, “let’s go with Senior Brother!”
Qu Xiangxiang shook her head. “I’ve already chosen my teammate.”
“Who?”
“Mu Hanzhang.”
Lin Zheng’s eyes widened, nearly shouting: “That dog—mmph!”
Qu Xiangxiang quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.
As the vicious supporting character’s sidekick, Lin Zheng wasn’t the brightest. But she truly treated Qu Xiangxiang as a sister. Though Qu Xiangxiang herself was barely surviving, she didn’t want Lin Zheng to meet a tragic end. So she warned: “Zhengzheng, if you like Senior Brother, you mustn’t use that word again.”
Lin Zheng nearly suffocated under her hand, then gasped for air and asked in confusion: “Why?”
“Because I heard Senior Brother doesn’t like girls without manners.”
Lin Zheng quickly covered her own mouth and mumbled: “I understand. But are you really going to team with that dog—uh, with Mu? His spiritual root is sealed. He can’t even ride a sword. He’ll only drag you down.”
“It’s fine,” Qu Xiangxiang patted her shoulder, thinking: *He’s the male lead. Who drags down whom is yet to be seen.* “You go with Senior Brother. I know what I’m doing.”
Teams gradually formed across the training ground. Qu Xiangxiang sidled up to Mu Hanzhang, and before he could react, she raised her hand and called out: “Elder, I want to team with Mu Hanzhang!”
Mu Hanzhang’s left ear buzzed from her shout. He was about to refuse when Elder Bai said warmly: “Excellent. Fellow disciples should not harbor resentment.”
“Qu Xiangxiang!” Mu Hanzhang lowered his voice. “I don’t want to team with you.”
Qu Xiangxiang shamelessly pointed at Elder Bai’s kindly smiling face. “Then go tell Elder Bai yourself.”
Mu Hanzhang: “…”
“Qu Xiangxiang and Mu Hanzhang? A good-for-nothing and a bastard—what a rare pair.”
“One’s spiritual root sealed, the other born useless. Do you think they’ll even come back alive?”
The shrill voices kept drilling into Qu Xiangxiang’s ears. She snorted coldly and ignored them. Every word, she would remember—and one day, she would smash those faces.
The disciples gradually headed up the mountain. Mu Hanzhang walked ahead, his expression dark. He had no idea what madness Qu Xiangxiang was up to. Most likely, this foolish and venomous woman had thought of some new despicable trick to humiliate him.
Qu Xiangxiang didn’t rush to speak with him. Instead, she deftly swung her sword, cutting down the emerald vines coiled around a tree, and pulled a small porcelain vial from her bamboo satchel.
The night before, as she slept, she had absorbed all of the original host’s memories. She now knew these were vines of the *Youyou Fruit*. Its sap, once it touched skin, caused unbearable itching in both humans and animals. Very useful indeed. She collected two vials of the sap, then jogged to catch up with Mu Hanzhang. Like a magician, she pulled out an oiled paper packet from her satchel, took a bite of fragrant peach blossom pastry, then nudged his shoulder with her elbow. “There’s too much for me to finish. You eat the rest. Don’t waste food.”
“Take it away.” Mu Hanzhang shoved her hand aside irritably.
Qu Xiangxiang felt exhausted. She swore—even when she’d worked her hardest for year-end bonuses in her past life, she hadn’t flattered her boss this much.
Of course, Mu Hanzhang could count as her boss now. The payment was her life.
Thinking of that, her spirits lifted again. She was just about to say something when a familiar voice rang out behind her: “Well, if it isn’t Junior Sister Qu?”
She turned. It was Shao Mai—the annoying cannon fodder.
“Junior Sister Qu, you’re truly compassionate. Knowing no one would team with this little bastard, you actually sacrificed yourself to join him. Aren’t you afraid this waste with sealed spiritual roots will drag you down?”
Qu Xiangxiang poked Mu Hanzhang’s shoulder with a finger. “Hey, did you hear that?”
“What?” Mu Hanzhang frowned. That “little bastard” remark soured his mood.
“How strange—why are there dogs barking on the back mountain?”
Shao Mai knew she was mocking him. He patted the sword at his waist and sneered: “Junior Sister, the real dangers here are the beasts and birds of prey. If you lose an arm or a leg up there, don’t blame anyone else.”
Qu Xiangxiang stepped forward, standing protectively in front of Mu Hanzhang. She’d long disliked this cannon-fodder man. “Brother Shao, are you looking for a fight?”
Shao Mai burst out laughing. “Qu Xiangxiang, you’d fight me for him? Don’t tell me you actually like this bastard? You should know—even if you, a useless good-for-nothing, team up with him, you’re no match for me.”
Like him? Mu Hanzhang’s brow twitched, his face darkening.
Qu Xiangxiang sneered. “Wrong. I want to fight you, not for anyone else’s sake. I simply can’t stand the sight of you, Shao Mai.”
Without waiting for his response, she summoned Zhuoyue (her whip). Her toes skimmed forward, and the whip lashed mercilessly toward Shao Mai’s hateful face. He hadn’t expected her to strike first. He retreated swiftly, faster than her. The whip barely grazed his face and neck.
Seeing this, Qu Xiangxiang knew she couldn’t beat him. She withdrew the whip and stepped back.
“What’s this?” Shao Mai gripped his silver sword, his face ugly. “Run away when you can’t win?”
He raised his sword, ready to teach her a lesson—when suddenly, an agonizing itch spread across his face and neck. Shao Mai cried out, dropped his sword, and clawed frantically at his skin. “Qu Xiangxiang! You venomous wretch—you poisoned me!”
“The sap of the Youyou Fruit vine. Enough to keep you itching for hours.” Qu Xiangxiang boldly tugged Mu Hanzhang’s sleeve, ready to leave, when Shao Mai shouted for his companions to seize them.
“Qu Xiangxiang, you won’t get away!”
“Instead of troubling me, you’d better find your brother a stream.” She pointed at his face. “He already looks like a disgrace to the cultivation world. If he scratches it worse, people might think a monster escaped from Cangxuan Mountain’s Demon-Suppressing Tower.”
“Come back!” Shao Mai, rattled by her words, screamed, “Find me a place to wash!”
The commotion left Qu Xiangxiang in high spirits. Relaxed, she couldn’t help revealing her true nature. She patted Mu Hanzhang’s shoulder proudly. “Let’s go.”
Mu Hanzhang narrowed his eyes, watching her arrogant back. *A leopard cannot change its spots.* He didn’t believe Qu Xiangxiang had truly changed. Since yesterday, her behavior had been strange. She thought she hid it well, but her flaws were obvious.
The real Qu Xiangxiang would only call him “bastard,” tear his skin with the whip, and smash his face with stones.
That woman would never let the “little bastard” into her courtyard, never give him medicine, never team with him to climb the mountain, and certainly never suddenly grow a brain.
This person’s efforts to please him—Mu Hanzhang didn’t believe it was kindness. Most likely, she wanted something from him.
Better to kill her, he thought. He hated hypocrites most of all.
“Hey!” Qu Xiangxiang, unaware of his murderous thoughts, waved her arm. “Why aren’t you keeping up?”
Even if he wanted to kill her, he couldn’t do it on Cangxuan Mountain. Mu Hanzhang calmed himself and followed silently.