Su Zhuyi’s decision to take on a disciple was a whim. She hadn’t given any thought to how to raise a child. She always felt that in the blink of an eye, the little girl would grow into a young woman, and then she could take her out looking beautiful, dazzling everyone around.

Reality was vastly different from her imagination.

She gave the newly arrived little girl a name—Su Tang.

The reason was that she had been lured here with a string of candied hawthorn, so Su Tang’s nickname was Hulu (Gourd), for the same reason.

Little Hulu was now six and a half years old, with somewhat incomplete mental faculties. Su Zhuyi sent word to Dan Ruyun, asking her to send some Spirit Enlightenment Pills. After taking the medicine, Little Hulu seemed more normal—she no longer drooled when giggling. Su Zhuyi thought the child could now be taught, but when she tried teaching her, she nearly died of frustration.

A simple qi circulation technique—she spent an entire day explaining it, yet Little Hulu remained completely confused, understanding nothing at all.

“Sit cross-legged and perceive the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.” Luoxue Peak had abundant spiritual qi. Even a pig sitting here for half a day should be able to sense the spiritual qi between heaven and earth, right?

“Do you feel anything?” Su Zhuyi held a plum blossom branch in her hand, gently poking Little Hulu’s face with the flower.

Then she saw Little Hulu shiver and nod, blinking as she said, “Master, I felt it.”

“What did you feel?”

Little Hulu said, “It’s a bit cold. Such heavy snow.”

The small white snake coiled at Su Zhuyi’s feet trembled several times, clearly convulsed with laughter.

“When you can sense the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, then you can eat.” Su Zhuyi had no patience. She had never seen such a stupid child. Although the little girl was cute, with such poor comprehension, she was starting to regret bringing her back.

“Elder Sister, let me teach her.” Wu’er volunteered. Su Zhuyi felt a headache coming on and let him be. She had nothing else to do, so she returned to her room to meditate, planning to stabilize her cultivation. Sitting on the bed’s edge, watching Wu’er patiently guide Little Hulu hand-by-hand in perceiving heavenly and earthly spiritual qi, helping her open her meridians, Su Zhuyi’s thoughts gradually drifted away.

She thought again of her time on the Wangtian Tree.

Back then, she was covered in wounds, her meridians completely severed. It was Qin Jianglan who used his spiritual qi to nourish her meridians bit by bit.

Those days, looking back now, seemed like a dream.

A great dream of three thousand years, awakening in an instant. She thought she no longer cared, yet her heart felt empty. Sometimes she wondered—if possible, she would rather sleep eternally in dreams, never to wake again.

Her cultivation would grow higher and higher.

As time passed, the love curse’s influence on her would grow weaker and weaker.

She felt no pain now.

But when that time came, she would surely hurt, because she still remembered how much pain she felt on Luoxue Peak when she thought Qin Jianglan had died. It was that mad emotion that gave birth to the Qing Gu.

So while she felt no pain now, she would enjoy life well, seeking amusement everywhere.

Originally, she thought having a cute little girl under her watch would be more entertaining. Who knew that seeing Little Hulu’s stupidity would make Su Zhuyi feel blind? Why pick a pretty little girl? She should find a few handsome men for timely pleasure instead.

Lying sideways on the bed, Su Zhuyi counted on her fingers, recalling which men from her past life were handsome and ethereal enough to barely match her beautiful appearance. After thinking left and right without settling on anyone, she instead saw Qin Jianglan’s portrait on the wall. Feeling uncomfortable, she casually grabbed the Liuguang Mirror and smashed it. After smashing it, she cursed, “Growing up with such looks has spoiled my taste. What am I to do now?”

She rolled twice on the bed, feeling that even the bedding was empty.

Outside, the two children played happily, looking sweet and cheerful. Su Zhuyi felt she had done something wrong. She sprang up with a whoosh, planning to go out and act chivalrously, breaking up couples throughout the world.

After walking just a few steps, Su Zhuyi turned back, picked up the Liuguang Mirror, and took her sword.

Forget it. Life was so boring—she should set an easily achievable small goal first.

“What goal?”

“World’s number one sword.”

She swung her sword, and the Qingxia Sword’s silver light carved a long mark in the snow. Then she swiftly thrust out countless sword qi. The long mark in the snow became a tree trunk, countless sword qi formed branches, and scattered sword qi created flowers—a plum tree slowly bloomed in the snow.

“Master is amazing! You drew plum blossoms with your sword!” Little Hulu clapped happily, her nose red from the cold, and her hands also red from clapping too enthusiastically.

Little Skull grinned, “What’s so special about that? Even Big Yellow can draw plum blossoms.”

“Really?” Little Hulu asked with a face full of delight.

Su Zhuyi was also a bit curious.

Although Big Yellow was now a spirit beast, it was only a low-rank spirit beast with limited intelligence. Did such a dog understand art?

“Of course.” Little Skull waved proudly, “Big Yellow, go.”

They saw Big Yellow dash across the snow, leaving behind a large patch of plum blossom-shaped paw prints. Little Skull said from the side, “See? Isn’t it so?”

“It is! So many.” Little Hulu’s tone was full of admiration.

Su Zhuyi: “…”

Suddenly felt like she couldn’t stay on Luoxue Peak anymore.

She should go compete with swords with others instead.

Thus, Su Zhuyi abandoned her newly accepted disciple and Wu’er, running off to challenge cultivation sects throughout the world. Whether righteous or demonic path, she won all the way from the Gujian Sect to the Yunxiao Sect.

Qin Jianglan of the Yunxiao Sect was once the world’s number one sword.

Now that the title of world’s number one belonged to her.

“You’ve won already, why don’t you leave quickly? Do you expect us to invite you for dinner?” The Yunxiao Sect Master’s expression was rather unpleasant. He never expected that after Qinghe could shatter Dong Fushang Sect’s immortal artifact with one sword, now this Su Zhuyi, young in years but extraordinary in sword dao, would defeat Yunxiao Sect’s masters without them being able to fight back. This forced all the young female cultivators of the Yunxiao Sect to become stimulated and go into seclusion to practice swordsmanship.

What had she said back then?

“Not as beautiful as me, not as good at swordsmanship as me, yet instead of cultivating properly, you come here to compete jealously. Don’t say I don’t like your senior brother—even if I did seduce your senior brother away, what could you do to me?”

Listen to such words!

Of course, it wasn’t just female disciples affected by her. Some proud young men among the disciples were also stimulated: “With your swordsmanship, you still want my favor? Look into my eyes—I’m not blind.”

Especially Qin Chuan, who practiced from dawn to dusk without rest. If he continued practicing like that, they really worried his body couldn’t withstand it.

They were similar in age, and Qin Chuan even had the rare Triple Yang Convergence Constitution—why couldn’t he compare to this enchantingly wicked girl?

The Yunxiao Sect Master couldn’t understand, and probably no one in the world could understand.

Looking at this junior who sat without proper posture made him feel annoyed. Look at how she sat there—so many Yunxiao Sect disciples hid outside, secretly watching with restless hearts. If she didn’t leave soon, she might steal away some people’s hearts.

“Sect Master, since I’ve won, how about you give me a prize?” Su Zhuyi asked with a grin.

“What do you want?” The Yunxiao Sect Master frowned, looking somewhat wary.

“I want to visit your Wangtian Tree.”

“The Wangtian Tree? That’s all?”

Su Zhuyi nodded. That’s all.

Yunxiao Sect, Wangtian Tree.

She had watched the scenery for three hundred years. In dreams, she had watched for many more years.

Now, she just wanted to look once more.

Perhaps if she looked again, she could achieve sudden enlightenment and ascend. After all, her cultivation had now reached perfection.

Facts proved she was overthinking. Even if she looked for a hundred years or ten thousand years, she would never sever emotions, abandon love, and become desireless.

Su Zhuyi leaned sideways against the doorframe, took off her shoes, and stretched her feet into the sea of clouds.

She watched the green leaves swaying outside, watched the sea of clouds churning in the distance, watched what seemed like a figure in the cloud mist, coming on a sword.

Blinking again, that figure had disappeared.

Su Zhuyi pressed her hand to her heart.

She thought the pain was about to begin.

Earlier than expected. Was it because this wooden house carried too many of her memories?

With a sharp crack, she slapped the wooden door, creating a large hole, her face showing a fierce expression: “So tell me, Old Dog Qin, how the hell did you sever your emotional bonds?”

You say sever and you sever—should I try severing you?

Now that I’m invincible under heaven, let me try killing some immortals and become the undisputed world’s number one sword.

When she forcefully slapped the door, the Liuguang Mirror she carried fell from her sleeve. The mirror landed on the wooden floor face-up, glowing faintly.

Su Zhuyi grasped the mirror in her hand. She suddenly wondered why he had left this mirror behind.

Because she hadn’t ascended.

Because only ascended beings could see that the Jianmu Tree connected heaven and earth.

She stood atop the Wangtian Tree, holding the Liuguang Mirror, vaguely seeing a towering tree in the distance, taller and more lush than the Wangtian Tree, standing between heaven and earth at this moment.

That was the Jianmu Tree.