Suddenly, flashes of lightning and thunder rumbled on the distant horizon, with dark clouds gathering thickly. Crimson bolts of lightning flashed and slithered through the sky, casting a purple hue over half the plains.
The cultivation technique used by both the natural-born devil race and the humans who have transformed into devil cultivators goes against the natural order dictated by heaven. As such, once their cultivation reached a certain level, they would stir up lightning and thunder every time they activated their devil arts. After being tempered by endless torment and agony, any devil who survived and advanced would become even more cruel, utterly devoid of humanity.
A high devil who could cause such a terrifying celestial phenomenon must be at least a powerful being in the late stage of the Soul Realm.
“Go now!” Murong Chun urged anxiously.
Liu Qingyin wasn’t truly seeking death. Yet at that moment, she hesitated, unwilling to retreat.
Suddenly, a realization struck Murong Chun, and his voice echoed with evident shock, “Junior Sister, you… you’re not planning to wait for him, are you?! How can you risk your life on such a whim?”
Although Murong Chun didn’t name a name, it was clear he was talking about Wei Liang.
Upon hearing this, a faint, cold smile curved at the corners of Wei Liang’s lips. In fact, both he and Lin Jiu had already drawn close, but with his apex cultivation, he only needed to hide his aura slightly, and neither the horde of devils nor the two Great Sword Immortals locked in combat could sense his presence.
“Junior Sister!” Murong Chun’s tone grew stern. “Don’t wait any longer; he won’t come!”
“That’s not it!” Liu Qingyin’s voice, strained with urgency, grew sharp. “I’m not waiting for anyone!”
Her senior brother sighed. “When you went to the punishment hall to plead for Xiong Yulian, Master had already left the sect with his wife. He doesn’t know about your punishment, so he won’t be coming to help you.”
For a long moment, the only sound was the hum of swords clashing. After expressing everything he had to say, Murong Chun fell silent. He focused all his strength to tear open a gap in the encirclement and led Liu Qingyin northward in an attempt to break out.
Liu Qingyin’s sword moves grew sharper, and one full moon after another exploded within the encirclement. Although Lin Jiu didn’t grasp the intricacies of swordsmanship, she could feel Liu Qingyin’s deep sorrow and pain.
She couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—‘This male lead is truly heartless!’ While Xiong Yulian mostly spouted nonsense, there was one thing she had gotten right—on the night Wei Liang agreed to marry Lin Qiu, he stood outside Liu Qingyin’s abode for an entire night. Liu Qingyin knew he was there and silently wept against the stone wall throughout the night. Both of them buried their words deep within, simply extending a hand to rest gently on the stone wall.
It was such an important scene, so the novel narrated it in full detail, leaving no room for doubt. Who could have known that Wei Liang would turn so cold-hearted the very next moment? For such a ruthless male lead, Lin Jiu had only three words: ‘Not worth it!’
Lin Jiu silently mourned for Liu Qingyin in her heart, but as her gaze lazily fell on the dense ‘hornet’s nest’ of devils, she suddenly froze in shock—she could clearly sense their malice!
Unlike humans, devils didn’t bother to hide their inner world. What drove their actions were the most instinctive and primal desires and impulses. They acted wantonly, completely unconcerned about revealing all the darkness within them.
Through the malice, Lin Jiu could feel their suffering—only by bathing in fresh blood could the rage and agony inside them be slightly eased. The devils made no effort to hide their intentions: they wanted to tear every living creature in sight to shreds. The cries of their prey, to their ears, were a soothing melody that brought peace to their restless souls.
‘What kind of race is this?!’ Lin Jiu widened her eyes in surprise. No wonder there’s a saying that when a devil laid down their weapons, they could become a Buddha on the spot1. For them, putting down their weapons was like extinguishing their nature and instincts!
In the spiritual sea, the karma lotus stirred eagerly. Lin Jiu could feel its longing. A strange connection had formed between her and the solid petals of the karma lotus—they had become a part of her, linked to her mind.
These devils had been drawn to Liu Qingyin, fighting with her in a fierce tug-of-war for hours. Now, seeing her on the verge of collapse, guarded cautiously by Murong Chun, their bloodthirsty killing intent had reached its peak.
That massive surge of malice was like a fine wine, aged carefully to perfection, enticing the karma lotus to the point of drooling.
But for now, Lin Jiu could only look at this delicious feast of malice with frustration.
Just as she was pondering on it, a small devil was suddenly kicked out of the fray, tripping in disarray and falling at her feet. A strand of malice, like a delicate thread drawn from a silkworm cocoon, floated right before her.
‘Perfect timing!’
Pretending to be startled, Lin Jiu jumped back, her hand moved ‘inadvertently’ to grab that strand of malice. She had intended to secretly consume it, but to her surprise, tugging on this cocoon of malice caused an unexpected chain reaction. The devils surrounding Liu Qingyin and Murong Chun suddenly froze. After a brief moment of eerie stillness, one by one, their blood-red eyes slowly turned toward Lin Jiu before they all swarmed toward her like mad beasts, driven purely by instinct!
Now buried under an onslaught of delicious malice, Lin Jiu innocently blinked at Wei Liang. “…I didn’t mean to.”
The fourth and fifth petals bloomed in succession! Lin Jiu swiftly sealed these two surges of spiritual aura in her spiritual sea, completely solidifying the newly opened petals.
Meanwhile, the pressure on Murong Chun and Liu Qingyin eased significantly. The two, shaken, turned toward the source. “Master!” Murong Chun’s voice trembled, his eyes lighting up with joy.
“Mas… ter?” Liu Qingyin’s gaze lingered on Lin Jiu for a moment, then slowly shifted to Wei Liang. Thousands of unspoken words, filled with yearning and tenderness, were contained in that single glance.
But unfortunately for the female lead, the object of her adoration didn’t return her bittersweet look. Instead, he lowered his eyes, casting an unreadable glance at his little wife. “You truly are a good person.”
Lin Jiu showed no guilt as she flashed him a sweet smile. ’Is he praising me for being kind and pure-hearted? Yes, that’s right. She, Lin Jiu, is a good person!’
’A delicate white lotus hiding a (real) black lotus inside~’
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Translator’s Note:
I have added a new novel, Three Years After Falling Off A Cliff. This is a historical romance novel similar to Greetings Ninth Uncle, by the same author of Eight Treasures Trousseau and To Be a Virtuous Wife. This is a replacement novel for Daughter of the Dao and Devil Venerable and will follow the same schedule (Monday and Wednesday). Hope you will enjoy it!
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And this is why I just don’t like Liu Qingyin. She is such a white lotus bish, being all self righteous but is really just selfish.
I respect the female lead a lot more for not being one of those cringe girls that doesn’t mind when men treat women badly – or believe it reflects on the men at all – so long as the man’s bad behaviour is directed at OTHER women. If a man expresses heartfelt devotion and then instantly switches, he’s trash! No matter how imperfect the ~other woman. Sadly for Liu Qingyin, I suspect the man who mourned for hours and hours throughout the night at her side over not being able to be together is gone. (Still liking my pet theory.)
Also is funny how easy it is to get people to switch sides. In another story, a loyal handmaiden framing a villain who blackmailed the LI into marriage would be cheered on vociferously by audience LOL. I’ve seen it myself. But tweak the framing of the handmaiden’s desperation and give the reader information the character doesn’t have and boom. The power of narrative! A reviewer I like once said that stories need to function not only logically but emotionally. Not only is this true but I think if the emotional function of the story is strong enough, the logical function can be thin on the ground.
Looking forward to the chaos these two leads cause going forward lol