Every day was spent in a horse stance, practicing mental cultivation methods, and absorbing spirit stones. Yawns filled the Wuhua Courtyard; Lu Xiangyu hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in ages.
She felt like a slave from ancient times forced to build city walls—if her movements slowed down, she’d be whipped. Her diet consisted only of steamed buns and pickled vegetables without a drop of grease. She had grown thin from hunger and tanned from the sun; already lacking in natural beauty, she now looked like a wild mountain monkey.
Lu Xiangyu didn’t dare complain, so she called upon Senior Brother Li to bring her some tasty snacks to satisfy her cravings. However, even this was caught red-handed by Song Shenshi.
At the time, Song Shenshi was still acting the part of the affectionate martial sister to Li Wenran, saying things like “Senior Brother, you’ve worked so hard.” But the moment she turned around, she slammed the door shut and demanded Lu Xiangyu fetch two buckets of water from the stream at the foot of the mountain to fill the massive, long-dried water vat in the courtyard.
Lu Xiangyu’s face truly crumbled in misery then.
It took her the entire morning to fill the vat. When she ate her steamed buns at noon, her hands shook so violently that the food fell from her mouth several times. Her eyes were glazed over and vacant.
“Do you know why I returned early today?”
Song Shenshi approached with a bowl of plain white porridge, noticing that the spoon kept slipping from Lu Xiangyu’s trembling fingers.
She naturally took the spoon and, with a steady hand, brought a mouthful of hot rice porridge to her junior sister’s lips.
“Ah.” Lu Xiangyu opened her mouth and swallowed the scalding, steaming porridge.
It couldn’t be just to catch me “cheating,” right?
She rolled her eyes inwardly, missing the gentle and charming Senior Brother Li.
Gulp. The porridge went down.
“I don’t know, Senior Sister. Surely you must have something important to attend to.”
Song Shenshi nodded and brought another spoonful to her lips.
Lu Xiangyu awkwardly took the spoon herself, no longer pretending to be weak or shaky. She couldn’t let herself be treated like a complete fool.
Song Shenshi withdrew her hand, a trace of what looked like regret lingering on her face.
“Since you are a disciple of Blue Water Peak, you must practice the Way of the Sword. If you only start after the formal initiation, you will fall behind others.”
“…Don’t be such a ‘tiger sister,’ Senior Sister Song.”
Song Shenshi looked puzzled. “What did you say?”
“Nothing!” Lu Xiangyu waved it off. “The sword is great. I love swords.”
From then on, Lu Xiangyu’s daily training increased by two tasks: fetching water in the morning and practicing sword techniques under Song Shenshi’s one-on-one guidance in the afternoon.
To be fair, Lu Xiangyu could clearly sense the changes from her cultivation. Her strength increased, her muscles became firm, and absorbing spiritual energy was no longer as painful. She could even perform simple spells.
However, before Lu Xiangyu could even notice her own progress, Song Shenshi would ramp up the difficulty, continuing to push her to the point of utter exhaustion.
This can’t go on, Lu Xiangyu thought. With my current strength, I can definitely pass the entry trial. There’s no need to let Song Shenshi work me to death like this.
Lu Xiangyu’s goal was simple: just pass, and stay alive.
She had only one savior in mind. Fortunately, Senior Brother Li did not disappoint her daily prayers. One afternoon, just as she was knocked down for the umpteenth time by a Song Shenshi who had suppressed her spiritual power, the wind chimes in the courtyard rang.
Ding-ling-ling… ding-ling-ling…
Song Shenshi stood with her sword behind her back, gazing at the gate. With her eyesight, she must have known who it was, but for some reason, she remained motionless as if lost in thought.
“Ow, ow, ow…” By the time Lu Xiangyu scrambled up from the ground, Song Shenshi was still standing in the yard, brooding.
“Fine, if Senior Sister doesn’t even want to handle small chores like this, I’ll have to do it myself.”
Lu Xiangyu clicked her tongue and, limping dutifully, slowly shuffled toward the gate.
When she pushed it open, who else could it be but Senior Brother Li?
Lu Xiangyu immediately broke into a beaming smile.
“Oh! It’s Senior Brother Li! Senior Sister and I were just practicing in the yard. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s no trouble. Junior Sister, might I borrow Senior Sister Song for a moment to speak in private?” Li Wenran asked politely.
“Of course, of course.”
Lu Xiangyu obviously wasn’t the one in charge, and soon Song Shenshi emerged from behind her.
Li Wenran had urgent business with Song Shenshi. Neither of them could wait for Lu Xiangyu’s slow pace. Upon reaching the main peak, they hurried toward the mountain summit.
In the blink of an eye, both were gone. Lu Xiangyu stood with her arms crossed before the bamboo grove, noting they were headed for the Discussion Hall at the highest point of the main peak.
If there was important business, she was meant to stay away. Lu Xiangyu rubbed her chin, feeling a sense of indifference.
Whatever happened was surely written in the book; she just had to find the right plot point.
She didn’t linger. Turning around, she headed down the mountain.
It was time to test those three lethal restrictions.
Lu Xiangyu’s round, cute face turned dark and somewhat ominous.
Do not kill, do not abandon, do not possess (possess a body).
Feeling an itch between her fingers, Lu Xiangyu raised her hand and looked regretfully at her palm. It was no longer soft and delicate, but covered in calluses from the sword. Then, she carefully wound two strands of flowing black hair that she had pulled from her sleeve.
She had managed to find these in Song Shenshi’s room with great difficulty while the elder sister was away.
“A goddess truly is a goddess—she barely even sheds hair.”
Muttering a complaint, Lu Xiangyu pulled out two bamboo leaves from her sleeve and meticulously tied them into a small straw effigy with arms and legs.
Next, she took out a pre-prepared talisman. Pinching a secret seal and driving it with spiritual energy, she attached it to the effigy.
This was originally a form of Miaojiang sorcery, considered a heterodox path, but Lu Xiangyu had no malicious intent; she performed the technique with practiced ease.
The strands of hair wrapped around her fingers were drawn in, coiling around the leaf-made man.
Suddenly, the small effigy in Lu Xiangyu’s palm transformed into a miniature (cultivator) in green Taoist robes. The handsome little face was eighty percent similar to Senior Sister Song.
“It worked!”
Overjoyed, Lu Xiangyu tucked the effigy into her pocket like a treasure and tentatively walked further away.
[You must not leave Song Shenshi’s side by more than one ‘li,’ or you shall die of grief.]
“Now, the ‘Song Shenshi’ in my pocket is the real one!”
Seeing that she had traveled quite a distance without any feeling of “deathly grief,” Lu Xiangyu puffed out her chest, crossed her hands behind her head, and closed her eyes as she strolled down the path.
She knew these stairs like the back of her hand!
However, she needed to think about why Song Shenshi had been called away.
Something big enough to be discussed in the Haiqian Sect’s Discussion Hall…
Could it be…?
Lu Xiangyu opened her eyes. In the distance, she seemed to see a bedraggled youth with white hair and gray robes, trudging up from the foot of the mountain with great difficulty.
Everything has a beginning.
Before Song Shenshi charged into the Demon Realm, she had not yet achieved an immortal body. However, many elders had already noticed her alarming cultivation speed. Elders like her master, Xiao Yu—who had already half-stepped into the Immortal Forging stage—must have gathered extensive intelligence, allowing Song Shenshi to acquire the remnants of the Sui Mountain Secret Realm through a specific trial.
Subsequently, Song Shenshi successfully obtained the key to open the realm. Under the cover provided by Xiao Yu, she left the sect alone… No, she wasn’t actually alone. Such a smoke screen couldn’t deceive the sect’s high-ranking elders. Thus, Sect Leader Bai sent his disciple, Bai Xun, to accompany her. One could tell from his surname alone that Bai Xun shared a deep connection with Sect Leader Bai Muli.
Although Bai Xun was of the same generation as Song Shenshi, he had been pampered since childhood and treated as the next Sect Leader in training. He couldn’t stand the fact that Song Shenshi was stronger than him. Consequently, he constantly tripped her up inside the secret realm, only to end up sabotaging himself and getting sucked into a reverse-flow vortex.
So, Song Shenshi returned alone, safe and sound. Yet, as the days passed and Bai Xun remained missing, the sect began to suspect he had met with disaster. Were they now calling Song Shenshi to account?
“There is indeed such a plotline,” Lu Xiangyu nodded. After all, Bai Xun was one of the members of the harem—playing the trope of the arrogant, “tsundere” young master who acts like he wants to break an engagement but is actually hopelessly in love.
Sensing that drama was afoot, Lu Xiangyu couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
When she opened her eyes again, a scrawny, white-haired youth appeared before her. He dragged a scarred sword, the tip scraping against the stone steps with a harsh sound; aside from that, everything was deathly silent.
He seemed not to see the girl standing there in a daze, as if his eyes held no room for flowers, grass, stone steps, or any living person.
Those eyes were dim and lifeless. His thin back was hunched high; though his frame was even frailer than Lu Xiangyu’s, his aura was exceptionally oppressive and terrifying.
Lu Xiangyu stared at him, frowning. In the Haiqian Sect described in the book, only Bai Xun possessed white hair at such a young age.
But the Bai Xun she knew should have been high-spirited and full of youthful ambition. Even if he couldn’t win, even if he fell time and again beneath Song Shenshi’s blade, he was the type to grit his teeth and stand up again to prove himself worthy of his elders’ cultivation.
However…
No matter how hard he struggled or how much effort he exerted, it was all for naught.
It wasn’t that he lacked talent. Quite the opposite; in the novel, Bai Xun had an aunt who occupied the Sect Leader’s seat and a mother who had once charged into the Demon Realm, slain multiple Demon Lords, and heavily damaged the foundation of the Tree of Ten Thousand Demons. His natural aptitude could never be poor… but because of this, he had been planted with a Demon Soul Seed through his mother’s physical body.
Bai Xun himself was unaware, but like Lu Xiangyu, he was one of the Demon God’s chess pieces.
The faster he cultivated, the more the Demon Soul took shape. Eventually, he would achieve an immortal body and attempt to prove himself to Song Shenshi during the sect competition… Unfortunately, he was deceived. The True Demon Soul would manifest, turning his immortal body into a fraudulent demonic form. Only Song Shenshi, his opponent, would sense it early and kill him before his transformation was complete.
Amidst the terrified and suspicious gazes of her fellow disciples, Song Shenshi offered no explanation. She left the Haiqian Sect alone.
The elders later examined Bai Xun’s remains and naturally saw the problem. They didn’t hold Song Shenshi responsible, but because of Bai Xun’s special status, they chose to suppress the truth and did not ask her to return.
But one wrong step leads to endless regret.
While Song Shenshi practiced alone in the outside world, the sect faced a great catastrophe. By the time she discovered it, the Haiqian Sect had been slaughtered by demons. It was then that Song Shenshi’s newly formed Immortal Soul erupted with intense hatred.
Her human soul had been extinguished, leaving only a towering resentment embedded where flesh and soul met. After her Immortal Forging, her first act was to wage war against all the indifferent Immortal Shrines. This served as the foreshadowing for her becoming the World-Destroying Inner Demon.
In the novel’s conclusion to this arc, Senior Brother Li survived and chose to part ways with the heroine, staying behind in the ruins to find a way to rebuild the sect. Bai Xun was completely written out, leaving only Lin Feiyuan to follow the heroine.
“Even though Bai Xun slowly turns dark during his cultivation, right now, he should still be a high-spirited young man.”
Lu Xiangyu stared at the boy’s stooped silhouette with a strange expression.
Is he really Bai Xun?
The white-haired youth’s face was obscured, his body bending more and more like an old man’s. He was muttering a name over and over.
Lu Xiangyu moved closer, straining her ears to listen.
The figure rasped hoarsely: “Song Shenshi… Song Shenshi…”
Suddenly hearing that name, a tidal wave of countless grievances abruptly swallowed Lu Xiangyu. Her nose stung with an instinctive urge to cry, and her eyes filled with tears. She remembered her lonely, precarious childhood; she remembered the warm protection she had glimpsed by chance in the countryside but had never obtained in a thousand years… That suffocating sorrow made her want to die!
Lu Xiangyu lowered her head, letting the tears flow freely. Her body was tense as she tremblingly clutched the illusory little figure in green robes.
Only by looking at Song Shenshi’s likeness could she endure such overwhelming grief.