Chapter 81
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Chapter 81: Title
"Is this the Pei Jiu you know?" Xia Shi sketched Pei Jiu’s face using study materials and showed it to Qingxue.
Qingxue studied the woman’s features, hesitation clouding her gaze.
"Alike… yet different. Her face isn’t Pei Jiu’s, but her brows and eyes carry Pei Jiu’s spirit."
"Thanks." Xia Shi stored the drawing calmly.
She’d expected this but wanted confirmation.
So the Pei Jiu Qingxue saved and the one from four centuries ago shared the same soul in different bodies. A disguise? But why disguise herself? Unless…
Body snatching?
Xia Shi’s eyes chilled at the thought—Pei Jiu would stoop to anything.
Yet she dismissed it. The Pei Jiu she recalled had mediocre talent, a half-ruined spiritual root, barely surviving in the Nine Realms with feeble spiritual power.
Who’d steal such a weak body? It made no sense.
Then why assume a new form to approach her?
Lingyang City’s night air cooled, relieving the day’s stickiness. Xia Shi sat in the courtyard, staring at the stars.
She kept unraveling Pei Jiu’s motives.
Fragmented memories surfaced—the teleportation to Qinghu Region, the thunder tribulation’s strike—then nothing. A blank void.
Xia Shi sighed. Soft footsteps approached.
She tilted her head, spotting the visitor’s crescent-moon eyes.
"Come here."
Suiyin sat beside her and hugged one of her arms, pressing close.
As a sword spirit, this was all she ever wanted—to stay by her side, quietly sharing every moment.
Xia Shi smiled. "Do you remember the past?"
Suiyin nodded.
"Tell me about the Qinghu Region," Xia Shi said steadily, though her voice trembled faintly.
She knew the weight of what lay ahead—not just the truth behind Xuanhua and Lu Qingyu’s current state, but how she’d lost both her sword spirit and the shattered Heartless Sword. These were truths she couldn’t bear.
The arm around hers tightened.
"I don’t know," came Suiyin’s muffled reply. "I don’t remember."
This wasn’t forgetfulness. She simply refused to speak.
Xia Shi chuckled, gripping Suiyin’s chin to lift her bowed head. "Have you forgotten? I’m still your Master." She tapped Suiyin’s forehead. "There’s a technique called soul searching. It reveals every memory of the one being searched."
Suiyin stumbled back until her shoulders hit a pillar. Then it struck her—this was the mortal realm. No spiritual energy, no soul searching. Xia Shi was bluffing.
She exhaled sharply, shooting Xia Shi a reproachful glare. But her retreat had already betrayed her.
"You *do* remember." Xia Shi’s words faded like dust in the night breeze.
Suiyin clamped her lips shut. If Xia Shi couldn’t recall those memories, better they stayed buried. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—speak.
When no answer came, Xia Shi sighed and gazed upward. "Today in Qingxue’s study, I read that the dead become stars watching over their loved ones." She leaned back on her palms, tilting her head at Suiyin. "Wouldn’t that be nice?"
Suiyin hated Xia Shi’s casual talk of life and death. Still, she studied the sky earnestly before pointing. "That one."
Following her finger, Xia Shi found a star blazing brighter than all others.
"If you became a star," Suiyin murmured, fingertip tracing its glow, "you’d outshine them all." Her smile held no trace of understanding Xia Shi’s true meaning.
Warmth bloomed in Xia Shi’s chest, mingling with the memory of a sword spirit’s voice at the Star Viewing Platform: *"Xia Wuwei is the finest sword cultivator!"*
Being a sword cultivator was the most impressive thing, and being a star meant shining the brightest.
She never changed, not even a bit.
"Let’s go back."
Xia Shi patted Suiyin’s shoulder and rose.
Without the Nine Realms’ spiritual energy, bodily exhaustion became unavoidable. Xia Shi let herself be led forward by Suiyin, closing her eyes wearily.
Back in the room, Suiyin had Xia Shi sit while she went to fetch water.
The sweltering heat made it impossible to sleep without washing up, and cleansing spells couldn’t be used.
When Suiyin carried the wooden bucket to the well, she found Lu Ciyou already there. They stared at each other in surprise.
"Why you?" Suiyin blurted out.
The young lady fetching water herself? With Yan Li permitting it? Unthinkable.
Lu Ciyou hauled up her brimming bucket. "What’s so strange? Can’t I fetch water?"
"A Li’s unwell. Someone’s got to care for her." She thumped her bucket down and waited.
"Who’s this Pei Jiu anyway?" Lu Ciyou demanded. The day’s events had left her puzzled. "The mastermind behind the Qinghu Region incident?"
Suiyin nodded while lowering her hemp rope, then glanced up curiously.
"What?" Lu Ciyou snapped.
"Never thought you’d ask about Pei Jiu first."
Suiyin expected questions about Lu Qingyu.
"Obviously!" Lu Ciyou jutted her chin. "Xia Shi’s obsessed with Pei Jiu. Even Lingyang Jun asked A Li to investigate. Must be important."
After a pause, she added, "You assumed I’d ask about Lu Qingyu?"
Suiyin hauled her bucket up. "She’s your sister."
The resentment Lu Ciyou held against Xia Wuwei and Sanqing Realm for her sister’s death in Qinghu Region made this predictable.
Walking back with buckets, Lu Ciyou declared, "That impostor’s not Lu Qingyu. Even if she were, I’d slice her throat."
Suiyin’s cheek twitched. Such bluntness about one’s own sister…
"Fake? Deserves death. Real? Then she abandoned Liujin Pavilion for Four Hundred Years, let Mother fret herself into heart condition, joined Thirteen Ghost Domains? Also deserves death." Lu Ciyou’s voice turned glacial.
"Here’s my stop." The young lady exhaled, amused by Suiyin’s shocked face. "Don’t look so horrified."
Suiyin waited till Lu Ciyou entered before hurrying away.
Lu Ciyou set down her bucket. "A Li?" she whispered near the bed.
Two candles cast wobbling shadows. The figure lay facing the wall, tangled hair veiling her face completely.
Thinking Yan Li asleep, Lu Ciyou reached to tidy the locks. The figure flinched inward, burying deeper into bedding.
"A Li?" Lu Ciyou asked with confusion and concern, placing her hand on A Li’s shoulder. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing… It’s nothing!" A Li answered nervously, grabbing the nearby blanket to cover her face. "Lu Ciyou, I… I’m sleepy. Going to bed now."
She scooted further toward the wall corner.
Lu Ciyou frowned and clicked her tongue. Kneeling on the bed, she tried pulling the blanket away.
"Let go, A Li."
"No!" A Li clutched the blanket tighter, voice shaking. "Lu Ciyou, please don’t—"
The blanket was yanked away. A hand gripped A Li’s chin forcefully.
"Tell me what’s—"
Lu Ciyou froze mid-sentence. Through the disheveled hair, she finally saw the face she was holding.
"…Why is it you?"
Yan Li kept her eyes down, biting her lower lip. She’d noticed her disguise fading earlier but couldn’t replenish it without spiritual energy in the Mortal World. The moment she dreaded had come.
She knew about the disgust in Lu Ciyou’s gaze toward her. That’s why she hid.
"Sorry."
The apology carried the weight of prolonged deception.
"A Li… Yan Li…" Lu Ciyou slowly released her grip, sinking back onto the bed. "How… How can you be the same person?"
Each word cut Yan Li like blades.
"Sorry…"
"Stop saying that!" Lu Ciyou snapped, dragging Yan Li closer by the wrist. "Did you enjoy fooling me?"
Yan Li stayed silent despite the painful grip, throat tightening at the sight of Lu Ciyou’s tearful eyes.
"Look at me!" Lu Ciyou jerked Yan Li’s chin upward when she tried looking away.
Overwhelmed by anger, Lu Ciyou bit Yan Li’s lip before crashing their mouths together. She pushed Yan Li onto the mattress, kissing with bruising intensity until tears blended with the metallic taste of blood.
When gentle licks soothed the bitten lip and kisses trailed downward, Yan Li simply closed her eyes. Her trembling hand settled on Lu Ciyou’s descending head.
It seemed almost intentional that Lu Ciyou abruptly stopped at the final moment. Rising from the bed, she left Yan Li trembling with unfulfilled desire.
"Ah-Ci…" Yan Li’s voice trembled with need.
Cold hands seized her. Yan Li tried shrinking away but found herself dragged closer. Lu Ciyou locked arms around her waist from behind, teeth sinking into the tender flesh between neck and shoulder. Tears streamed from the young lady’s reddened eyes.
"I hate you!" The words tore through gritted teeth. "Yan Li! I’ve always hated you! Hated the Sanqing Realm!"
"Mm—" Yan Li arched backward, dazed eyes staring blankly as she echoed mindlessly, "Yes…hate me."
"G-gently…"
Yan Li truly felt the strength in those gun-calloused fingers now – the silver gun’s heft far surpassing any Long Sword’s grace.
"Hate…you…" The contradiction burned as Lu Ciyou’s angry whispers dissolved into desperate kisses, their bodies pressing flush as if she wanted their very bones to fuse together.
