Once Xiong Yulian left, Lin Jiu sat quietly for a while. After the karma lotus started to spin, it continuously absorbed aura from the surroundings, channeling it into her body without her needing to do anything. Wei Liang had only been gone for a brief period, yet a flimsy strand of aura had already formed in her meridians, circulating through her body following the path he had taught her.
Lin Jiu wasn’t feeling hungry at the moment. Even if she were, she had no intention of touching the food brought by Xiong Yulian, that two-faced schemer. The girl might not have the guts to poison it, but who’s to say she hadn’t spit in it?
As for the love potion incident…
Lin Jiu made up her mind swiftly. While she had no desire to get caught up in the main couple’s drama, she was equally determined to avoid following the villainous path of the original story’s Lin Qiu. As such, she concluded that the best way forward was to take advantage of this opportunity to truly assess the kind of person Liu Qingyin truly was.
Rummaging through Wei Liang’s residence, she quickly collected several bottles and jars.
…
That evening, Xiong Yulian returned with the promised potion, a conspiratorial smile on her lips. “Good news, Madam. Martial Uncle Murong is visiting Master at Jingluan Peak, and it seems he’ll be staying for dinner! I happened to mention that you seemed a bit lonely on the main peak, so Master asked if you’d like to join them. This is a perfect opportunity!”
Lin Jiu took the small white jade bottle, fiddling with its weight in her hand. “Wait for me outside. I’ll change,” she said. After shutting the door, she quickly hid the bottle under her pillow, then rummaged through the empty bottles Wei Liang had left behind. Finding one that looked similar, she slipped it into her sleeve.
Xiong Yulian’s cultivation wasn’t very high, probably around the mid-stage of the Foundation Establishment. As they approached the suspension bridge that linked the two peaks, Lin Jiu, still affected by yesterday’s near fall, told the girl to cross first.
Xiong Yulian spread her arms, grabbed the chains on both sides and lightly hopped across the bridge.
Lin Jiu blinked. When she imitated the girl’s movements, she found herself surprisingly stable while crossing.
The two reached Jingluan Peak without incident. At Liu Qingyin’s abode, jade-white candles burned brightly, filling the space with a glow so radiant it felt like daylight. Liu Qingyin and Murong Chun sat on stone seats, each holding a stone piece as they focused on a game of chess. The two of them radiated an ethereal aura, appearing like otherworldly immortals.
As Lin Jiu entered, the two stood and offered a slight nod in greeting. Considering they were formidable Great Sword Immortals at the late Soul Transformation stage, it was indeed a bit excessive to expect them to address her as ‘Mistress.’ Not that Lin Jiu cared for such formalities. Returning the nod, she said, “Carry on with your game. Don’t mind me, I’m just here to grab a free bite.”
Liu Qingyin’s delicate brows drew together, looking as if she was about to say something but eventually held back. Noticing his junior sister’s hesitation, Murong Chun sensed there was something she wanted to discuss with their master’s new wife, so he tossed his stone piece back into the bowl and said, “You two stay here. I’ll go check on dinner.”
Liu Qingyin silently tidied up the chessboard, raised her sleeves, and brewed two cups of tea, inviting Lin Jiu to take a seat.
Xiong Yulian gave Liu Qingyin a smiling bow, “Master, I felt some disturbance in my aura during cultivation today. Could you please check my pulse?” She purposefully positioned Liu Qingyin to face away from Lin Jiu. As Liu Qingyin lowered her head to check the pulse, Xiong Yulian sneakily made eye contact, signaling Lin Jiu to add the potion to the tea.
Lin Jiu chuckled inwardly. ‘Someone has gone so much trouble to set up this trap, wouldn’t it be a shame not to jump into it?’ Taking her time, she casually retrieved the white jade bottle from her sleeve, pretending to hesitate as she removed the stopper, and then proceeded to move it towards Liu Qingyin’s teacup, shaking it exaggeratedly.
Just as Lin Jiu was about to withdraw her hand, Liu Qingyin, who had been facing away, suddenly turned around and grabbed her wrist, catching her red-handed.
“What are you doing!” Liu Qingyin’s voice, laced with a hint of spiritual pressure, struck Lin Jiu’s chest like a crashing wave.
Lin Jiu’s breath hitched, her chest tightening as the taste of blood rose in her throat. If Wei Liang hadn’t refined her meridians with the Stalactite Spiritual Essence, Liu Qingyin’s blow would have left her unable to speak for half an hour.
Is this the real reason the original Lin Qiu never betrayed Xiong Yulian in the novel?
“What’s going on?!” a man’s voice sounded from the entrance, and the next moment, Murong Chun rushed in, pushing a wheelchair with Qin Yunxi in it. The eldest disciple’s eyes were dark and gloomy, staring intently at Lin Jiu. He didn’t bother to conceal his killing intent, and in an instant, the third petal of the karma lotus in her spiritual sea bloomed to forty percent!
Lin Jiu’s heart skipped a beat—the further the karma lotus developed, the more malice it required to bloom. Earlier that day, Qin Yunxi clearly had no ill intentions toward her, so how had a single glance now caused the third petal to bloom to forty percent?!
What puzzled her even more was that the karma lotus continued to bloom! Though not as intense as when they first locked eyes, the malice now felt like a steady drizzle—relentless and unending.
Suppressing her confusion, Lin Jiu shook the hand Liu Qingyin was clutching and calmly said, “I found this by Wei Liang’s bedside. I wasn’t sure what it was, so I brought it here to ask you—what’s got you so worked up?”
Liu Qingyin threw her hand aside, letting out a cold laugh. “I clearly saw you pour something into my tea.”
“Cough, cough.” Qin Yunxi, seated in the wheelchair, cleared his throat, drawing all eyes to him. “I saw it too. There’s no point in denying it,” he spoke up.
Lin Jiu’s lips curled up slightly, thinking to herself: ‘He must be one of Liu Qingyin’s fanatic followers. They barged in after hearing Liu Qingyin’s voice; what eyes did he use to ‘see’ anything?’
“So what?” Unfazed, she shrugged. “I said I wanted to know what this thing was, and I was about to pour some out to show you. Yet, one after another, you start pointing fingers. Tell me, what exactly have I done wrong?”
Murong Chun, surprisingly the reasonable one, furrowed his thin brows and intervened, “Eldest Senior Brother, Junior Sister Liu, we should not jump to conclusions. Let’s first check what kind of substance this thing is.”
“No need to check, it’s a love potion!”
“No need to check, it’s a love potion!”
Qin Yunxi and Xiong Yulian spoke up simultaneously.
Lin Jiu arched an eyebrow. “Well, well. How is it that all of you are so familiar with the private stash Wei Liang hid by his bed?!”
A cold, scornful laugh escaped from Qin Yunxi, while Xiong Yulian sprang forward, shouting, “When I brought her breakfast this morning, she ordered me to find a potent love potion, claiming the Sword Monarch needed it and telling me not to mention it to anyone! Since the Sword Monarch is away, I didn’t dare question whether it was true, so I secretly found one and gave it to her, intending to report the matter upon his return. But to my shock, while Master was checking my pulse earlier, she poured that drug into her tea! Such a malicious heart!”
Her long speech was delivered flawlessly without a single pause or hesitation. Clearly, this girl had rehearsed these words countless times in her mind.
Lin Jiu sneered internally, her face remaining nonchalant. “That’s just your one-sided story, isn’t it? I could easily say that every word you just uttered is utter nonsense.”
All eyes present fell on the problematic tea; its surface swayed slightly. With Lin Jiu and Xiong Yulian’s conflicting claims, the truth now rested on the physical evidence in that cup.
Lin Jiu deliberately gave Liu Qingyin a provocative look. Following the original plot, the female lead would soon be overwhelmed with frustration and drink the tea to test it upon herself.
However, she waited and waited, but Liu Qingyin remained motionless.
For a moment, Lin Jiu was bewildered, then a chill suddenly ran down her spine as realization struck her—
‘Why isn’t Liu Qingyin acting as she did in the novel and testing the poison on herself?
‘There is only one reason: because Wei Liang isn’t here!’
In the original plot, Qin Yunxi had died, so Wei Liang didn’t need to go to Yunshui Plain to fetch the Essence Solidifier Herb. As such, during the love potion incident, he was also present.
When Liu Qingyin drank the love potion in front of him, Wei Liang naturally wouldn’t stand by idly. The ensuing detoxification process was filled with intimate moments, inevitably deepening their bond.
‘What kind of tangled mess was I transmigrated into?!’ Lin Jiu screamed inside. On top of that, Qin Yunxi’s reaction gave her another terror. ‘How on earth does a character who should have been dead even know the kind of potion ‘I’ used?!’
The moment her mind caught this issue, an eerie, bone-chilling wind seemed to sweep through her. The wheelchair-bound sickly man looked even paler and frailer, like an evil spirit that had just crawled out of the icy depths of the earth.
Lin Jiu shivered several times in quick succession. Deep within her spiritual sea, the dark golden karma lotus slowly blossomed, its third petal opening up to ninety percent. Most of the malice came from Qin Yunxi, while a small portion trickled in from Liu Qingyin and Xiong Yulian.
‘Wonderful!’ She wanted to sigh. ‘Lin Jiu, you have successfully offended the female lead!
It was a dreadful feeling—she was being besieged on all sides, her momentum gradually weakening. In a daze, Lin Jiu felt like she was returning to her previous life, surrounded by her so-called ‘family.’ Malice seeped in from every corner, leaving her trembling with fear.
Taking a deep breath, she stretched out her hand suddenly and snatched the teacup in front of Liu Qingyin.
Just as everyone assumed Lin Jiu was about to drink the tea to prove her innocence, she suddenly stood up, took a few steps toward Qin Yunxi, and, locking eyes with him, pressed the cup to his lips.
“If you’re so sure this is a love potion, why don’t you test it yourself?” Lin Jiu felt extremely cold inside, her body shivered slightly as a wave of intense emotion surged within her.
Was it an excitement that washed upon her? Or was it pain? She could no longer tell. Images of that man pushing her down the stairs flashed through her mind. To her, Qin Yunxi was no different from that man—both were embodiments of evil, intent on dragging her to hell.
‘—this time, I would drag you with me!’
The man in the wheelchair was visibly stunned by this unexpected development. After a long moment, he raised a finger slowly and pointed at himself, “Me?”
A sinister smile slowly curved on Lin Jiu’s lips, the very same one she had worn in the final moments of her previous life, etched onto her beautiful face.
“Of course. Aren’t you so sure it’s a love potion? Everyone here, except for you, is healthy and full of vigor. If they were to ingest a love potion and ended up doing something inappropriate, who would take responsibility? So, we shall have a cripple like you to test it. Isn’t that just perfect? Even if it turns out to be a love potion, what could you possibly do?”
Qin Yunxi stared blankly for a moment. His pupils first contracted into pinpoints, then slowly widened as the realization hit him.
The malice he emanated momentarily stagnated, but a steady stream of malice surged from another direction. There was no need to turn around—Lin Jiu knew it came from Liu Qingyin.
In that instant, she pressed the cup to Qin Yunxi’s lips and poured its contents in with force!
‘Ha! Time to pick on this weak target!’
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Oooo! Is Qin Yunxi a rebirth!!!!!!!??? Did he die but came but at the time he died?? But wait, then how did he know about the love potion. Which, by the way, it sounds more like an aphrodisiac than a love potion.