The reward for being the champion was finally getting to hold her head high.
Those who had previously gossiped behind her back, claiming Junior Sister Lu had entered through the back door—though Lu Xiangyu had never actually heard them—were now more convinced of her skill than the next, especially the senior brothers and sisters on Bishui Peak.
For the two days following the introductory trial, Lu Xiangyu practically strutted wherever she went.
Because they had injured Lu Xiangyu during the match, the Du brothers made a special trip to visit her at Bishui Peak after moving in, hoping to settle any lingering resentment.
However, the grudge between Lu Xiangyu and Du Yuxi was clearly not as deep as the one involving his older brother, Du Yifang. He had obviously been forced to accompany his younger brother to Wuhua Small Courtyard.
The moment he saw Song Shenshi emerge, Du Yifang couldn’t sit still. While Song Shenshi was beloved and welcomed by everyone in the Haiqian Sect, the narrow-minded Du Yifang felt nothing but irritation whenever he heard others praise her. Now, in a similar situation, the name causing his irritation had shifted to his own brother.
Still, that didn’t mean he enjoyed seeing Song Shenshi. Antagonists always feel as if they are sitting on pins and needles when they see the female lead; Lu Xiangyu, watching from the corner, expressed her full understanding. Soon after, Du Yifang politely took his leave, leaving a grinning, silly-looking Du Yuxi behind in the courtyard.
“You must be Senior Sister Song Shenshi. Your reputation precedes you; I truly admire you,” Du Yuxi said, performing a formal and serious salute.
“Your talent is decent,” Song Shenshi remarked, seeing through his potential with a single glance. She frowned slightly and muttered, “It shouldn’t have been possible for my Junior Sister to defeat you.”
“Senior Sister!” Lu Xiangyu huffed, nearly flipping the table in indignation.
Du Yuxi said earnestly, “Miss Lu possesses a steadfast will. This time, she truly won.”
“See?” Lu Xiangyu said, hands on her hips.
Song Shenshi sat down and poured a cup of tea. “Junior Brother Du.”
“Yes.”
Song Shenshi gazed at him, studying the expression on his face with an indifferent look in her eyes. “The Du family has vast influence and doesn’t only associate with the Haiqian Sect of Mount Song. For someone like you, my master shouldn’t have been the only one to offer an olive branch. You clearly had better places to go.”
“I like it here,” Du Yuxi replied, his expression unchanging.
Anyone with eyes could see something strange was going on.
After he left, Lu Xiangyu remained staring blankly at the entrance. Song Shenshi unceremoniously smacked the back of her head.
“Do not meddle in the affairs of others.”
“I get it!” Lu Xiangyu cried out, clutching her head. Hadn’t Song Shenshi meddled in her affairs enough already?
“But Senior Sister, Master isn’t giving me a reward. You can’t refuse me one too!” She wasn’t afraid of Song Shenshi, so she leaned her head in closer again.
“I’ll think about it.” Song Shenshi pinched her chubby cheek and pushed it aside so Lu Xiangyu couldn’t see her expression.
…
Lu Xiangyu noticed that Song Shenshi had been acting strange for the past few days.
Now that the trial was over, Song Shenshi didn’t need to force her to cultivate every day. But now that she had met their Master and her status as an inner disciple was secured, shouldn’t Song Shenshi be off triggering plot events or “opening dungeons”? Had Lu Xiangyu’s laziness actually infected her?
Lu Xiangyu didn’t want to take the blame, but for the past few days, even when the sun was high in the sky and she had finished her horse stance and sword practice, Song Shenshi showed no sign of waking up.
“What is wrong with her?” Lu Xiangyu grumbled, tossing her half-eaten bun into the pickle bowl and heading toward the house.
The Wuhua Small Courtyard wasn’t large. Perched on the edge of a cliff, the temperature remained cool even in the height of summer. Having just exercised, Lu Xiangyu was drenched in sweat. The moment she stepped inside, a wave of icy chill washed over her, making her shudder.
Simultaneously, a faint voice drifted from within…
“Xiaoyu.”
Lu Xiangyu’s eyes widened. Song Shenshi never called her that in private!
Don’t tell me… has the female lead been possessed?
Lu Xiangyu looked inside nervously. The windows faced away from the sun, so the room lacked natural light and appeared extremely dark. Still possessing the eyes of an ordinary mortal, she couldn’t see clearly, so she slowly pushed the door open.
Creak… creak…
“Xiaoyu,” the person called out again in that same ethereal tone.
What are you doing?
Frowning, Lu Xiangyu stepped inside and lit a candle by the bed. When she looked at the person on the bed, she froze.
Under the red candlelight, the woman’s clothes were disheveled, and her black hair spilled across the floor. Her garments, usually pristine and perfectly arranged, were now a rumpled mess upon the bed. Her belt was loose, revealing a glimpse of translucent, jade-like skin. One of Song Shenshi’s snow-white legs was sprawled out openly, her hand tightly clutching the fabric near her thigh.
Lu Xiangyu didn’t dare look too closely. Swallowing hard, she shifted her gaze to Song Shenshi’s face.
At this moment, the calm arrogance she was familiar with had completely shattered; there was no longer that mask-like, fake compassion. It was a face as perfect as white porcelain, yet currently overflowing with a seductive charm—her eyes shimmering like autumn ripples, captivating and alluring.
How was this still Song Shenshi!
Lu Xiangyu was so startled she nearly burned herself on the candle she had just set down. Then it occurred to her: she definitely shouldn’t be here right now!
“Junior Sister,” the enchantress called to her again.
“Song… Shen… Senior Sister…” Lu Xiangyu stammered. Seeing that Song Shenshi recognized her, it didn’t seem like she was possessed. Could it be… was the female lead sick?
She seemed extremely hot; there was more sweat on her skin than on Lu Xiangyu’s after a workout. The hair at her temples was damp and tangled against her skin, making her look utterly helpless and distressed.
If anyone else were standing here instead of Lu Xiangyu—any member of a “harem”—no, even Lu Xiangyu felt herself struggling to restrain her baser instincts!
In an instant, she lunged toward Song Shenshi, grabbing both of her senior sister’s wrists and pinning them down, looking down at her with a wicked grin.
Song Shenshi looked absolutely stunned, clearly not expecting Lu Xiangyu to take such a liberty.
Lu Xiangyu’s heart thundered in her chest. She was terrified—terrified that Song Shenshi was faking it, and terrified that she’d be swatted to death with a single palm strike.
But since nothing happened, it meant something was truly wrong with her.
It also meant… she really could flirt with her.
“Senior Sister… don’t tell me I need to remind you not to forget to guard against me?”
Lu Xiangyu wasn’t taller than Song Shenshi. As she pressed her weight down on her, she couldn’t see Song Shenshi’s full face. Before her eyes were only a flushed earlobe and a smooth, snowy-white jawline leading down to a graceful, seductive neck. A stray, curled strand of black hair slithered like a snake’s tail, shamelessly probing deeper into her collar.
Lu Xiangyu suddenly grabbed that lapel, intending to tear it open, but she abruptly snapped out of her loss of control and instinctively looked at Song Shenshi.
“…”
Sure enough, she was watching her.
She was smiling.
The corners of her mouth were arched wickedly, and her eyes, still overflowing with a seductive charm, hooked into her. A hellish fire burned fiercely within those pitch-black eyes—a calculated, clear-headed, and deliberate seduction.
The string in Lu Xiangyu’s mind snapped instantly. She leaped away, bolted out the door, and didn’t stop until she reached the edge of the cliff. A pebble tumbled down; she nearly followed it into the abyss.
“…Wait, am I awake now?”
“…”
She tremulously backed away from the cliff’s edge, fearing she might accidentally fall.
Then, Lu Xiangyu took out her disciple token and sent a short message to Senior Brother Li. She couldn’t face the female lead alone anymore; she needed the reliable Eldest Senior Brother to handle this!
Her brow furrowed. Although the previous encounter had been heated and awkward, when she had pinned Song Shenshi’s arms, she had instinctively probed her body with a sliver of spiritual energy. It was then… that she noticed something strange.
She hadn’t found a second consciousness in Song Shenshi’s body, but she hadn’t brought the spiritual energy back either.
That wisp of energy had vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean. At that moment, Song Shenshi didn’t seem like a cultivator, nor even a mortal—she felt like a corpse devoid of spiritual energy and life!
When Li Wenran arrived, Lu Xiangyu was still in a bit of a daze.
Back when she read the novel, she had thought this cultivation story was a bit cult-like and eerie, but because the plot was so satisfying and followed the usual tropes, she hadn’t paid it much mind.
The underlying logic of cultivation in the novel wasn’t about the heart, the intent, or the “Dao.” Instead, it involved replacing the body with materials more suited for spiritual energy flow—using the bones of demi-immortals or demonic beasts to replace human bone. The final “Immortal Soul” was more like erasing one’s own consciousness and leaving behind a set of instructions.
Lu Xiangyu had practiced the Demonic Path and had never cultivated as an Immortal, so she didn’t understand Song Shenshi’s current condition. She could only wait for Li Wenran to check.
Returning to the room, Song Shenshi was no longer acting so dissolute. Instead, she was sitting cross-legged on the couch with her eyes closed in meditation, though there was no spiritual power circulating around her.
“Senior Brother, why have you come?”
Hearing someone enter, Song Shenshi ceased her breathing exercises and looked at them, appearing quite puzzled.
“Junior Sister, a lady’s private chambers are not a place for outsiders like us to barge in… it was… it was Little Junior Sister who said you…” Senior Brother Li was thin-skinned; his face turned red with just one look.
“…” Lu Xiangyu was at a loss for words, merely giving Li Wenran a look that suggested: If you had seen the scene earlier, you’d be even worse off.
Song Shenshi brushed the dust off her knees with elegant, refined movements. Her demeanor was calm and composed, as if nothing had happened.
If Lu Xiangyu didn’t have such a steadfast mind, she might have doubted whether she had simply had a lustful dream about the female lead after spending too much time with her… But now, it was clear: Song Shenshi had deliberately set her up!
Lu Xiangyu glared at Song Shenshi. Li Wenran was stuck at the doorway, unable to move forward or retreat, looking as if he were about to shut down.
The situation was at a stalemate. Song Shenshi let out a breath, stifling a laugh, then said calmly, “Senior Brother, it’s good you came. It seems something has gone wrong with this Immortal Body of mine.”
“…”
Lu Xiangyu intentionally avoided the two, waiting in the courtyard.
Soon, Li Wenran emerged from the room, looking pale and staggering as if he had been drained dry. Usually very observant of etiquette, he didn’t even greet Lu Xiangyu, drifting away like a wandering ghost.
He could only be heard muttering one phrase: “I must tell Master…”
Lu Xiangyu blinked in confusion, wondering: Is it that serious?
She looked back at the door and saw Song Shenshi walking out with her hands behind her back. The female lead looked perfectly composed, and in the sunlight, her complexion looked wonderful—like a lotus flower slowly blooming.
“What did Senior Brother Li find?” she asked.
“Just some minor matters,” Song Shenshi chuckled, not hiding it from her. “Since achieving the Immortal Body, I haven’t been careful about maintaining it. After these few days of reckless activity, the spiritual energy in my body has completely vanished. Right now, I cannot mobilize spiritual energy or sword intent; I am left as an empty shell.”
Song Shenshi poured herself a cup of tea, her tone as casual as if she were saying she had eaten rice porridge today.
Lu Xiangyu was stunned for a long moment. “What does that mean?”
“It means that normally, an Immortal Body takes a hundred years to degrade. But for me, my realm dropped three days ago.”
The calmer Song Shenshi’s expression was, the more eerie Lu Xiangyu felt. She slammed her unfinished teacup onto the table.
“You were fine when you came back from the Demon Realm. How could your realm suddenly drop? Is someone plotting against you?”
Song Shenshi only looked at her and smiled.
“…” Lu Xiangyu’s angry expression gradually softened. She curled her lip. “I’d love to harm you, but I don’t want to steal someone else’s credit.”
Song Shenshi merely shook her head gently. “It doesn’t matter who it is. During this time, I haven’t even left the sect.”
It was an inside job by a traitor within the sect.