Deep within the leyline, spiritual energy surged like a tide, transforming into a spiritual mist that filled the entire room. Jade buildings were faintly visible through the haze, resembling a celestial fairyland.
Yu Huan sat cross-legged upon a prayer mat, dawn light circulating around her body as her aura became as deep and vast as the ocean.
In her Sea of Consciousness, Great Dao maxims rang out like bronze bells, cleansing her soul.
She only needed to break through the final barrier before her to attain Great Ascension and reach the peak of the Path of Immortality.
Three hundred years had passed since she soul-transmigrated into this Cultivation Romance Restricted Novel and became "Yu Huan," the short-lived villainess who infatuatedly loved the male lead, framed the female lead, and ultimately met a tragic death.
The panic she felt when she first arrived had long been smoothed away by day after day of quiet cultivation.
The original plot had been slow to arrive; she had thought she could stay safely in Nanjiang and focus entirely on her bitter pursuit of longevity.
Unexpectedly, half a month ago, the Immortal Dynasty’s imperial envoy suddenly descended.
The leader was none other than Xie Wulei—in the original story, he was the one who, under the pretext of her "colluding with the demon race and framing the princess," had ground her bones to dust and scattered her ashes.
Meanwhile, her junior sister Ye Shuyao and the Vice Minister of Xuntianjian, Gu Qianli, who accompanied him, were the original female and male leads of the book.
Many people from the Immortal Dynasty's central government inspected Nanjiang, but this was the first time the head of the Jiangyaosi had come in person.
Ten years ago, a great plague had struck Nanjiang. In the original book, Yu Huan’s poor handling of the crisis had drawn Xie Wulei to the region, starting her journey toward a dead end.
After Yu Huan transmigrated, she had worked tirelessly to nip the epidemic in the bud. She thought she had rewritten the plot and avoided the catalyst for his arrival—and indeed, he had not appeared then.
But in the end, he had come anyway.
The Cloud Sea Flying Ship arrived, shattering the peace of Nanjiang. It wasn't until that moon-white figure stepped down the jade stairs and those eyes—which seemed capable of piercing the netherworld—fell upon her that Yu Huan realized with a start: her fate from the original book might be late, but it would arrive.
Recently, the seal on the Tianhuang Pavilion in White Jade Capital had been broken, and a vital treasure that maintained the Human-Demon Blood Pact was stolen.
Xie Wulei used the Life-Tracing Divine Art to track the treasure’s trail, and the path ended exactly in Nanjiang.
This trail became ironclad evidence for the Immortal Dynasty. The entire Jidaozong, and even all of Nanjiang, were branded with heavy suspicion.
As the host, she naturally became the prime suspect.
In name, the world's sects each had their own territories, but in reality, they were all subordinates of the Immortal Dynasty. Jidaozong operated under the Saintess System to govern Nanjiang; Yu Huan was merely a pawn used by the Dynasty to maintain its rule.
A thin veil of suspicion had always existed between the border and the central government; once the massive wave of the stolen treasure hit, this veil was torn to shreds.
For the past half month, Xie Wulei had "invited" her to accompany him at every step. Nominally she was a tour guide, but in truth, she was under house arrest and constant surveillance.
He didn't need to use torture; the unknown fear brought by the Life-Tracing Eye, combined with his composure in overseeing the entire situation, was enough to make her consume herself with anxiety.
This was a mental execution more suffocating than physical torture—the art of defeating the enemy without a single blow.
The feeling of being watched at every moment was no different from the most cruel mental pressure and psychological interrogation.
Being able to cultivate in this quiet room now was a rare moment of respite during her "house arrest."
Yet this brief peace was always accompanied by a deeper unease—those eyes seemed to still be watching her from the darkness.
For half a month, he had been everywhere, following her like a shadow.
Now that he had actually let her practice, she became suspicious—was he intentionally allowing it as a form of "fishing" law enforcement?
Yu Huan knew she had nothing to do with the stolen treasure, but the original host had left behind a murky past involving the demon race.
Even though she had long since cut those ties, another person might have been able to maneuver out of the situation—but it had to be Xie Wulei who came.
Under his Life-Tracing Eye, there was no guarantee he wouldn't glimpse a sliver of karma from the original host's actions, leading her back to the death road of the original book.
With infamy hanging over her head and a blade at her neck, her only chance at survival lay in reaching Great Ascension.
Great Ascension cultivators were the pillars of the human race—
Resisting demons in Beihuang, warding off barbarians in Ximo, and suppressing demons in the Donghai; the human race’s ability to stand firm for ten thousand years amidst powerful enemies relied entirely on their protection.
This was the survival path she had planned: to turn herself into a cornerstone of the human race, so that when Xie Wulei prepared to draw his sword, he would have to consider the cost of losing one of the humanity's top combatants.
Even being sent to the front lines to die in battle was better than being executed by his sword for no clear reason.
The spiritual energy in the quiet room was steady. Just as Yu Huan concentrated to strike at the barrier, frantic footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the hall.
Immediately after, a female disciple’s voice came through, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, her voice shaking uncontrollably:
"Your—Your Highness! Princess Dongting… is gone! She’s missing! The lords from the Jiangyaosi say… they must see you immediately!"
Yu Huan: "?"
She snapped her eyes open, and the spiritual energy churning within her body suddenly seized.
Ye Shuyao was the Princess Dongting, titled by the previous emperor. Her father, Ye Xun, was the former commander of the Zhenmosi who had perished in the Blazing Demon Calamity.
Pitying her for losing her parents at such a young age, the previous emperor had granted her the title of Princess and had her raised in the Shangqing Immortal Sect. The current Emperor also favored her greatly.
The original plot began with the female lead going missing at Jidaozong—the original Yu Huan, jealous of the male lead’s devotion to her, had lured her into the sect's forbidden area, attempting to kill her with a borrowed blade. This event was the fuse that led to Xie Wulei executing Yu Huan.
But she was no longer the original host; why would she harm the female lead?
Then why was Ye Shuyao missing?
Just as she once thought Xie Wulei wouldn't come…
A bone-chilling cold climbed up her spine. Was the wheel of fate turning again, or were there other variables at play?
If Ye Shuyao had an accident on her territory, Xie Wulei would never let her, the prime suspect, go.
Almost simultaneously, an aura of iron and blood approached from afar, reaching the entrance of her cave dwelling in an instant with oppressive pressure:
"Saintess Highness! I am here on the orders of the Commander! Please move to the Yingxian Pavilion immediately! This concerns the Princess's safety; there is no time to lose!"
The Yingxian Pavilion hung alone in the center of a lotus pond, connected by a winding corridor of nine turns. It was originally an elegant place where the breeze carried the scent of lotus, but now it felt shrouded by dark clouds, the air pressure suffocating.
Yu Huan stepped onto the final stone step and looked up through the humid pond mist—
Deep within the pavilion, a moon-white figure leaned against a vermillion pillar. With ink-black hair and snow-white skin, he looked so exquisite that even a single extra glance felt like an intrusion.
And those narrow phoenix eyes were looking down at her from his height, his lips curled into a faint, smiling arc:
"Your Highness, you have made me wait quite a long time."
He drew out the words "long time" with a lingering cadence, sounding both affectionate and accusatory, hiding the silent reprimand of a superior.
Yu Huan, clad in her purple robes, stepped into the pavilion, barely forcing a smile. "Lord Xie." The moment she saw this man, she felt a splitting headache.
Ninety percent of the original book's ink was spent on the romance between the leads. Regarding Xie Wulei, it only briefly mentioned him protecting his junior sister; between the lines, he seemed like a gentle person.
The man before her was indeed "gentle"—his lingering smile was like a seamless, exquisite mask, his sharpness entirely hidden beneath an elegant posture. He was like a balance mirror hanging in the high heavens, reflecting all things but possessing no warmth.
The original Yu Huan had likely been fooled by this facade, treating him as a harmless snowman, only to end up in total ruin.
At this moment, Xie Wulei maintained that "harmless" smile, looking down with lowered eyes, in no hurry to speak.
Yu Huan cursed him as a smiling tiger in her heart, but her face remained respectful. "It was my fault for making you wait, Lord Xie."
As her voice faded, the only sound in the pavilion was the light hiss of the rising mist from the lotus pond.
Yu Huan looked up and caught his gaze sliding from her hair to her shoulders, finally landing back in her eyes.
That gaze was so slow it felt as if he were measuring something, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
She suppressed her anxiety and went straight to the point. "Regarding the Princess's disappearance, does the Lord have any clues?"
Xie Wulei acted as if he hadn't heard her. He straightened up gracefully and paced toward her, stopping only three steps away. A crisp scent of frost and snow, mingled with the humidity of the pond, wafted over her.
"Your Highness has been in seclusion for a full hour. If not for my junior sister's accident, I wonder when we would have seen each other again."
Yu Huan: "?"
Her heart tightened—he had calculated the duration of her seclusion perfectly.
This wasn't a complaint about waiting; it was a declaration of absolute control over her movements, delivered in the gentlest of tones!
She remained composed. "Rather than having the leisure to track how long I've been cultivating, why not spend more effort finding the Princess? After all, her disappearance within Jidaozong reflects poorly on both your responsibility as her protector and my sect's reputation."
"Your Highness is right."
He responded, that perfect smile unchanged. He tapped his long fingers lightly on the stone table, and an ice-blue talisman floated out from his sleeve. As it hung in the air, the surrounding humidity seemed to freeze.
"My junior sister is young. Entrusted by my master to ensure her safety, I am naturally cautious. I placed a tracking talisman on her."
Xie Wulei's gaze fell upon the talisman, his voice as soft as a sigh. "The trail points to your sect's forbidden area—the Senluo Wanxiang Sea. That place is dangerously unpredictable; no one may enter without the Saintess Token."
As his words fell, he slowly lifted his eyelids, watching her with nothing but cold scrutiny in his eyes.
"Your Highness," he asked softly and politely, "how do you explain this?"
The pavilion suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Yu Huan looked at the ice-blue talisman, feeling as though the mist from the pond had turned into shards of ice.
Ye Shuyao had disappeared in the forbidden area… it was exactly the same as the original plot!
She lowered her eyes, her voice steady. "Does the Lord suspect me of secretly granting the token to Princess Ye?"
Xie Wulei didn't answer, but his expression clearly said: Who else?
"But…" She glanced at the celestial-like man before her, a hint of mockery flitting through her eyes.
"Ever since you arrived in Nanjiang, you've been beside me when I practice in the morning, by my side when I tour the mountains, and you haven't even let me go deep into the night. Aside from this one hour of seclusion, when have I ever had a single moment alone? How much skill would I need to give the token to the Princess right under your nose?"
Xie Wulei was quiet for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "Is Your Highness… complaining that I've been watching too closely?"
Yu Huan: "…"
This man was always like this—clearly monitoring her, yet making it seem like an appreciation; clearly an interrogation, yet wrapped in a layer of refined elegance that provoked her anger while leaving her unable to lash out.
Yu Huan straightened her robes and spoke clearly. "First, you witnessed my entire itinerary; there is no way to fake it. Second, the token for the Senluo Wanxiang Sea is the foundation of the sect; I would never lightly give it to another. Third, if the Princess has an accident in the forbidden area, Jidaozong cannot escape the blame; I have no reason to do something so foolish. There must be something else at play here."
"Whether there is or not, we will know once we enter."
His moon-white sleeve brushed over the stone table as he turned toward the corridor. "The forbidden area is dangerous and requires someone familiar with it to lead the way. As the Saintess, Your Highness has an inescapable duty."