After raising her for another year and a half, Su Zhuyi’s legs could move again, but she didn’t say so. She pretended they still couldn’t move, though she didn’t know whether Qin Jianglan knew or not. After all, she had no spiritual energy now, while Qin Jianglan’s cultivation was so high.

She stayed on the Wangtian Tree all day with nothing to do. With all her meridians severed, she couldn’t cultivate either, so she had Qin Jianglan find her some interesting storybooks from the mortal world to read. Sometimes when she got tired of reading, she would look at Qin Jianglan sitting beside her, meditating and chanting sutras, then throw the storybook in her hand at his face, saying: “Since you’re chanting sutras anyway, why don’t you read books aloud to me instead?”

The book she threw told the story between mountain spirits and mortals, and contained some rather explicit passages. She didn’t know whether Qin Jianglan had read it himself or if he had just collected it directly from the mortal world without reading it at all.

Su Zhuyi felt that he probably hadn’t read it.

She couldn’t imagine him reading such idle books, no matter how she thought about it.

Qin Jianglan didn’t speak. She thought he would ignore her as usual, but unexpectedly, when she was about to fall asleep, she heard Qin Jianglan’s voice reading the book. That voice was just like chanting sutras, without any inflection at all. Whether it was the little fox spirit in the broken mountain temple seducing a scholar going to the capital for examinations, or a thousand-year snake demon repaying kindness, or evil demons killing people and righteous heroes slaying demons – everything that came from his mouth was utterly monotone, exactly like a calming mantra.

“Stop reading. Qin Jianglan, sing me a song instead?” She lay sideways on the bed, her back against soft cushions. Instead of being covered by blankets, she had a plain-colored robe draped over her, half-concealing and half-revealing, exposing her beautiful spring scenery. Her long lashes fluttered as she said softly, “I still remember when I was little, my mother would sing songs to lull me to sleep.”

She couldn’t even remember what her mother looked like, so who the hell would remember what songs she sang?

Honestly, Su Zhuyi didn’t like her mother in her heart. After all, her mother had abandoned her. That mother died from that scumbag father’s betrayal, but never thought about having such a young daughter. So now she was completely lying through her teeth.

Su Zhuyi’s voice was low: “Tell me, if my mother were still alive, if I hadn’t begged my way to Changning Village, would I have become what I am now?”

Without going to Changning Village, she wouldn’t have been captured by the Xueluo Sect later either.

Her eyes already held moisture, and a crystal teardrop hung on her long lashes without falling. “If, if I had been rescued back then, now, it would be the same situation, right?”

If she had been rescued, she would have become Qin Jianglan’s disciple. But thinking about it again, with such a handsome master swaying in front of her every day, she still wouldn’t want to be his disciple.

Originally, Su Zhuyi herself was too lazy to waste mental effort thinking about these “what ifs,” since thinking about them was useless anyway. The path was one she had walked herself, and she wouldn’t regret it. Being a demoness wasn’t bad either. She suffered when young, but when she grew up, she lived quite freely, killing whoever she wanted. As long as she was strong enough, she wouldn’t be constrained.

Of course, it would be even better if she hadn’t fallen to this fate of being besieged by everyone with all her meridians severed.

Su Zhuyi softly hummed a little tune. That humming sound was more like sobbing than singing.

After a moment, a figure stood up and quietly stood by her bedside, blocking the light before her eyes. That azure silhouette was like a tall pine tree, standing against the light, still looking more eye-catching than everything else around. He truly had been born with a fine appearance. If she could seduce this person, then these days wouldn’t be boring. Dual cultivating with him would benefit her.

Su Zhuyi looked at Qin Jianglan with tear-filled eyes, then heard him begin to hum and sing, standing there expressionlessly humming while his earlobes seemed to redden.

What he hummed was a quite famous tune in the cultivation world at that time. The melody itself was stirring and passionate, about golden spears and iron horses stirring the soul, but he sang it like chanting sutras, and completely off-key. Su Zhuyi was first stunned, then burst into hearty laughter. The tears hanging on her lashes before had been fake, but now they were real, not from sadness, but from laughing.

She laughed until tears came out, holding her stomach as she laughed, almost rolling around on the bed.

“Qin old dog, hahahaha, you hahaha…”

Though she was mocking him with shame, Qin Jianglan didn’t stop and continued singing that tune. His gaze fell on Su Zhuyi who was laughing while holding her stomach, and there was a fleeting tenderness in his eyes. He had never seen her laugh so genuinely before. Since she was happy, then he would continue singing…

After laughing for a while, Su Zhuyi suddenly curled up and cried out in pain: “My leg, my leg is cramping.”

When Qin Jianglan bent down to look, he saw her directly stretch out both arms to circle his neck, suddenly pecking him lightly on the cheek, then falling back to lie on her black hair, throwing him a flirtatious glance with fluttering long lashes like butterfly wings: “Qin Jianglan, do you think I’m beautiful or not?”

Looking at Su Zhuyi like this, Qin Jianglan inexplicably wanted to laugh a little. There was no expression on his face, but at this moment, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly twice.

Long ago, when she whispered in his ear about how when he changed her medicine, he should rub the medicine in and caress her entire body – he still remembered her words and expressions. But he also remembered that Su Zhuyi was covered in wounds then. There wasn’t a single piece of good flesh on her body. When he applied medicine for her, he wouldn’t have any romantic thoughts.

Probably there was only heartache.

And now, she seemed to have forgotten that someone had once slashed her forehead with a blade. Although no scar could be felt there now, that red mark was still there and might need several more years of care. With all her meridians severed, her injuries healed very slowly, too. What could be cured with one pill in the past now requires daily medicine changes and slow nurturing.

She had no spiritual energy and couldn’t use water mirror techniques.

There wasn’t a single mirror on the Wangtian Tree either – he hadn’t prepared one. Her face was what she was most proud of, so he had deliberately not placed any mirrors on the Wangtian Tree.

Therefore, she didn’t know what her face looked like now.

She lay there on her side in an enchanting and alluring posture, blinking as she asked him: “Do you think I’m beautiful or not?”

Qin Jianglan didn’t answer.

But in his heart, he said, “Beautiful.”

Back then, he hadn’t been able to rescue her.

So when she was near death, he would rescue her. He had thought it was just to settle that karmic connection, but unexpectedly, not only had he not seen through it, he seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper.

Qin Jianglan’s heart suddenly sank. He frowned slightly, then stopped looking at Su Zhuyi, sat down on the meditation cushion, and began chanting calming mantras again.

Was he chanting for her to hear? No, because he knew she couldn’t listen to them at all.

He was chanting for himself to hear.

One righteous, one evil.

And her evil was never thinking herself wrong – life was like ants, kill if you kill, die if you die, never repenting.