Ling Luo had been waiting for Yue Liangze to come find her but learned from the spirit bird that Jiang Miao was going to the Elder Hall, and this trip might be one-way with no return. So she quietly followed.

Even the Mu family couldn’t have imagined that the Jiang family would try to kill Jiang Miao.

The Jiang family excelled at pretending to be weak while being fierce, and the Mu family completely misunderstood them.

With Starfire scattering everywhere, Jiang Miao was stunned by the sharp sword techniques and brilliant ritual incantations of the person before her. The firelight illuminated her dark eyes, making them shine brightly, reflecting Ling Luo’s figure.

Ling Luo shook off the Starfire from her long sword, looked at Jiang Miao, and asked: “Want to learn?”

Jiang Miao now had a very subtle feeling in her heart. The beautiful, bright face before her suddenly overlapped with the spirit bird that had accompanied her for months.

“You…” her throat moved, and she momentarily forgot where she was, just staring at Ling Luo and asking, “Are you… the spirit bird?”

“What are you saying? You should know who I am,” Ling Luo raised an eyebrow slightly. “As for that spirit bird, I sent it to you.”

As she spoke, she lifted her chin slightly. The whirlwind brought by the ritual incantation lifted her clothes and hair, making her seem as bright and radiant as a small sun illuminating this part of the world.

Jiang Miao looked at Ling Luo and suddenly felt a tightness in her nose.

She suddenly chuckled, no longer hiding her weakness as she collapsed on the ground. Her black hair fell, sliding across her cheeks, cool against her skin, her eyes blurry.

Ling Luo looked up at the sky, which remained dark and oppressive, with continuous muffled thunder.

The Elder Hall, behind the overlapping trees, had its lights out. There was a barrier there, and the area where Jiang Miao had been attacked was also enclosed by a barrier, preventing the Moon Palace from discovering it and the Mu family from knowing.

The Jiang family elders must have known the giant fire demon had failed, but once they decided to kill Jiang Miao, they wouldn’t easily give up.

Jiang Miao had to die tonight.

Ling Luo extended her hand to Jiang Miao: “Let’s go. They will send more people. The road to the Moon Palace has been sealed with a forbidden spell; no one can enter or exit for six hours.”

Jiang Miao took her hand and stood up, her eyes regaining clarity: “The Moon Palace is full of sealed areas, especially near the snow mountains. The Elder Hall can track my location; wherever I go, they will unlock the nearest seal.”

“How do you know?” Ling Luo asked.

Jiang Miao answered softly: “It’s the Moon Palace’s ritual incantation. I was cursed at birth, so I can’t go anywhere.”

Ling Luo led her in the direction away from the Moon Palace, toward the snow mountains. Hearing this, she sneered: “The Moon Palace’s ritual incantations are just so-so, each generation worse than the last.”

“The foot of the snow mountains is the Moon Palace’s largest sealed area, right? Inside are many demons sealed by your first-generation Palace Master, some for over a thousand years, including many demon kings and lords.”

Ling Luo pointed to the snow mountains ahead and said: “Can they unlock the seals over there?”

Jiang Miao was slightly stunned, then shook her head: “No.”

Dazzling flames ignited ahead again, another fire demon emerging from underground.

Ling Luo held her sword and said: “Then we’ll fight our way through.”

The distance from the forest to the snow line was neither too long nor too short, but during this time, the two were continuously attacked by seven or eight demons.

Except for the first one, the rest didn’t even touch a strand of Jiang Miao’s hair before being destroyed by Ling Luo.

Jiang Miao had never walked a path feeling so secure.

She only needed to walk forward, and whether demons or humans, all attacks would be resolved before they could touch her.

The forest exit was just ahead. Ling Luo formed hand seals and drew a long line of fire at the entrance, blocking the small fierce demons pursuing from behind.

Jiang Miao looked at the dim world ahead, where even the snow-white peaks of the mountains appeared dull.

She said: “It might be more dangerous ahead.”

“How so?” Ling Luo walked straight in without blinking.

Jiang Miao: “……”

She followed Ling Luo, explaining as they walked: “I’m not clear about the distribution of sealed areas here. We might accidentally trigger them, and the demons are more powerful…”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens,” Ling Luo used a fire technique to light their path, saying casually, “I’d like to see what the most powerful demon sealed in the Moon Palace looks like.”

Jiang Miao fell silent.

She disliked demons and had no expectations or curiosity about them, wishing there were none in this world.

Cold winds howled in the snow mountain region. Everything here carried spiritual breath, making the flame in Ling Luo’s hand flicker, which annoyed her.

The mountain ridge was bare, with only small stones. There were no living creatures for miles, not even a bird could be seen. There was a river below, and Ling Luo followed it to find a huge lake.

The wind howled, thunder continued, and the weather tonight was terrible.

Fortunately, it wasn’t completely barren here. There were forests around the lake, and Ling Luo chose a spot that could both observe the surroundings and shelter from the cold wind, allowing Jiang Miao to rest.

________________________________________

She didn’t have a cultivator’s physique and often drank marrow-cleansing medicine, so her weakness was genuine.

Ling Luo used another fire incantation to ward off the cold for her.

Jiang Miao sat leaning against a tree, feeling the warmth from the fire and saying softly: “Unlike the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches fire incantation earlier, this is from the Twenty-Four Emblems fire technique, right?”

Ling Luo broke some branches and said: “Teaching you wasn’t in vain.”

Jiang Miao raised her eyes to look at her, carefully examining Ling Luo by the fire’s light: “Why teach me ritual incantations?”

“Don’t you want to learn?” Ling Luo asked in return.

Jiang Miao’s brow furrowed slightly. Her memory was good, but now she felt hesitant and uncertain. Finally, she still asked: “Did your Senior Brother Chu Yi tell you about it?”

Ling Luo glanced at her, and Jiang Miao didn’t avoid her gaze.

The sound of branches breaking echoed, and Ling Luo withdrew her gaze, answering leisurely: “No, but I’m curious why you sought my senior brother to teach you back then.”

Jiang Miao wanted to tell her, but the explanation was somewhat complex.

By then, she had thoroughly angered Mu Jingyi and others. She had been beaten and scolded for secretly learning ritual incantations, but she still didn’t give up.

Wanting to obtain power wasn’t shameful.

Besides wanting to become familiar with ritual incantations, she also wanted to drink marrow-cleansing medicine daily.

She wanted her body to become accustomed to the marrow-cleansing medicine.

After Chu Yi recognized that the person he had beaten in the cherry forest was the Moon Palace’s master, despite cursing inwardly, he still went to apologize to Jiang Miao the next day.

He hadn’t been gentle the day before, and Jiang Miao’s lower abdomen hurt when she saw him.

Chu Yi’s expression was quite remarkable when he apologized. He noticed that Jiang Miao had been imprinting ritual incantations that night and thought he had disturbed her cultivation. So when Jiang Miao asked him to teach her ritual incantations she didn’t know, after careful consideration, he didn’t refuse.

After all, if things went wrong, he still had Yun Shouxi to back him up.

All the men Jiang Miao had encountered were duplicitous.

They either treated her with deep reticence or utter disdain.

But Chu Yi thought this Palace Master was still a little girl who hadn’t grown up, not as mischievous as his junior sister. She would obediently sit for a whole day just to hear a few ritual incantations.

This wasn’t some lofty immortal sect master but a diligent disciple thirsting for knowledge.

Jiang Miao knew this outing was a very brief journey, but she was happy to interact with people and things outside the Moon Palace.

“I believe my relationship with your senior brother was just a brief acquaintance,” Jiang Miao said. “He’s very good, overturning my understanding of men in this world.”

Ling Luo thought to herself that what Jiang Miao considered brief was because she had forcibly cut off the connection between the two.

In her previous life, after Ling Luo rescued Chu Yi from Qishan, he had been unconscious for several days. Ling Luo watched over him until the third night when he finally woke up.

At that time, they were in North Court City, during the bustling night market hours, with noise and clamor outside the window.

Ling Luo closed the window, isolating the laughter of outsiders, then turned back to ask him: “What did you plan to do with the Flying Thunder Pearl?”

From Chu Yi’s fragmented words, she learned about the entanglements of the Moon Palace families.

Chu Yi, lying in bed with a pale face, spoke without his usual vigor, only saying softly and dimly: “I wanted to let her choose how to live her life.”

Ling Luo said: “Senior Brother, I think I need to remind you once more, that she doesn’t like you.”

“What I’m doing isn’t entirely because of that affection,” Chu Yi said. “It’s like I’ve been watching a beautiful goldfinch trapped in a cage, being violated and tortured. People cruelly break its wings, and when they grow back, they break them again. They forcibly open its beak to feed it, using long threads and nails to bind its feet and wings, making it perform ugly acts that bring laughter to many.”

Bystanders either eventually turn a blind eye or can’t bear it anymore.

“This deformed and repressed constraint, the suffocating feeling that makes it hard to breathe, also drives me to find ways to save those who are trapped,” Chu Yi’s voice was hoarse. “I just can’t stand seeing someone trapped in despair.”

He would do everything possible to save people.

Even if that person wasn’t Jiang Miao.

Ling Luo piled up the broken branches and lit them with a fire incantation, expanding the warmth in the cold night.

“You’re right, my senior brother is very good, especially kind. He can’t bear to see others suffer and would rather be hurt himself to save others,” Ling Luo said softly. “Such a kind person as my senior brother must surely live a long life.”

Jiang Miao sat obediently, looking at her: “You might misunderstand the relationship between your senior brother and me.”

She was too good at reading people’s expressions and guessing their thoughts.

Ling Luo shook her head repeatedly: “Of course, there’s nothing between you two, absolutely nothing.”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Miao said softly: “Other people’s affection is the most useless thing to me.”

Ling Luo was slightly stunned upon hearing this, unexpectedly thinking of herself.

Jiang Miao was like her, walking on a path of self-destruction without looking back or stopping for anyone. Other people’s affection required them to pay attention and respond, but in such circumstances, neither had the energy to spare for dealing with it.

Love became so small and insignificant at this time.

Compared to affection, Jiang Miao was more easily moved by the friendship that understood her.

She looked at Ling Luo and said: “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ling Luo used a branch to poke at the fire. “I know you’re cooperating with the white bone demon, but don’t trust him completely. In his eyes, there’s only his dead master. To resurrect Zuo Bai, he would also ruthlessly deceive others.”

For the first time, Jiang Miao felt she couldn’t see through someone.

She stared at Ling Luo in a daze. In the flickering firelight, Ling Luo’s profile appeared serene and gentle.

Jiang Miao’s voice was a bit hoarse: “Why help me?”

Ling Luo laughed lazily upon hearing this.

Because you and I have certain similarities.

Also because someone once desperately tried to save you but couldn’t.

“Just consider… that there are still good people in this world,” Ling Luo said with an inscrutable expression.

Good and evil are determined in just a moment, in the instant you make a choice.

So Ling Luo added: “But I’m not one of them. I’m just helping you on behalf of this good person.”

Jiang Miao found this amusing and indeed laughed: “This is the first time I’ve heard someone talk about themselves like that.”

But Ling Luo didn’t laugh. She looked at the fire burning in the black, snowy night, flickering so unstably.

“Being a good person is difficult,” Ling Luo said softly. “Some might think it’s not hard because they only made a choice once, but when they have to choose between good and evil every day, they’ll find it’s truly difficult.”

She couldn’t always choose the path of good.

She had tried hard before, but sometimes, when the knife doesn’t fall on oneself, it’s hard to feel that pain.

True empathy doesn’t exist in this world.

Jiang Miao looked down at her own hands. The injury she had received from the fire demon earlier had completely healed.

She said with a joking tone: “I never thought about being a good or bad person. In their eyes, I’m not even human, so I don’t even have a choice.”

Ling Luo pointed at her with a branch, narrowing her eyes: “What, are you trying to compete with me for who has it worse?”

Jiang Miao laughed at her words, shaking her head: “That’s not what I meant.”

Ling Luo continued: “But you have it bad.”

Jiang Miao nodded, “Yes, indeed.”

The two looked at each other, and Jiang Miao couldn’t help but laugh again.

Ling Luo said irritably: “You’re still laughing!”

From birth until now, this was the first time Jiang Miao had laughed so happily.

Ling Luo said: “Although they’ve placed a forbidden spell, someone will come looking for us. That spell shouldn’t be a problem for him to break.”

Jiang Miao: “Who?”

Ling Luo: “Your adopted son.”

Jiang Miao was somewhat surprised, “He doesn’t know ritual incantations.”

“He’s not the one breaking the spell,” Ling Luo said. “But the person breaking the spell will bring your adopted son along, after all, you two have such a loving mother-son relationship.”

Although Jiang Miao often joked about Mu Xujing, this time the joke was on her through Ling Luo, and she understood how Mu Xujing felt when she joked about him.

“Was it also you who helped him avoid San Jian’s questioning?” Jiang Miao asked.

Ling Luo said nonchalantly: “He’s half my disciple after all, if I can save him, I should.”

“Half your disciple?”

“I taught him ritual incantations.”

Jiang Miao: “How many others have you taught ritual incantations?”

Ling Luo snorted: “I’ve only taught you, mother and son. You’re both my disciples, you first, then him. So how do we calculate the generations now?”

Jiang Miao: “……”

As she was trying to work out the generational relationship based on Ling Luo’s words, golden sword light spread across the night sky. The howling wind brought the sound of a sword, and through the black night mixed with fine snow, two tall figures slowly approached.

Yue Liangze only sheathed his sword when he saw Ling Luo by the firelight, and in the blink of an eye, he used several flash steps to reach her side.

Mu Xujing left far behind: “……”

How could you run so fast!

Jiang Miao was surprised to see the newcomer: “Danshui True Lord?”

Mu Xujing knew that Yue Liangze and Ling Luo were close, but most others didn’t.

Ling Luo asked: “Did you break the forbidden spell to get here?”

Yue Liangze gave an affirmative sound, taking her hand and pulling her up. Only after seeing that she wasn’t injured did he say: “Without alerting others.”

Mu Xujing arrived with a flash step and his gaze collided with Jiang Miao’s, who was supporting herself against a tree as she stood up.

Jiang Miao turned to Ling Luo and said: “I’ll leave with him first. This way, it won’t be revealed that you helped me.”

The Jiang family elders would think it was Mu Xujing who saved her.

Mu Xujing gave her a strange look.

When did my vicious stepmother become so considerate?