After embracing demonic ways in this life, Ling Luo behaved herself on Mount Tianzhao with Yue Liangze. Since leaving East Island’s Tianji, whether it was cultivators or demons, they were the ones who came to provoke and cause trouble.

Once, a Twenty-Sixth Demon invited her: “Your maternal clan was killed by the human emperor years ago. He’s still in power today. Don’t you want revenge?”

Ling Luo raised her eyelids slightly to look at him: “You entered my territory through the Death Mist Gate without my permission. Guess whether I want your divine consciousness scattered here?”

So they fought, and this Twenty-Sixth Demon was truly eliminated under her sword.

Although Ling Luo never left the mountain, rumors always spread that she was causing bloodshed outside.

When Song Yuanyuan and the others heard people blaming Ling Luo, they indignantly argued back. The younger generation quarreled incessantly, gradually dividing into two factions: those who believed Ling Luo was blameless and those who believed she was at fault.

The Sacred Sword Sect disciple Yue Liangze’s betrayal of demonkind was announced throughout the world, causing widespread discussion. Many lamented how such a True Lord could be so misguided, while others gloated that the Sacred Sword Sect finally had a disgraceful figure.

Ling Luo secretly went to the human realm to listen for a while. Hearing this, she became furious and immediately demolished a tavern, then fought with disciples from several immortal sects who had insulted Yue Liangze. Eventually, Yue Liangze arrived, using shadow-flash to take her hand and escape from the crowd.

Yue Liangze had the big wildcat pay for the tavern’s damages and coaxed the fuming Ling Luo back to the mountain.

“Don’t mind what they say,” Yue Liangze said.

Ling Luo glared at him while eating a candied haw: “How can I not care when they talk about you like that! Every day they believe whatever rumors they hear, believe whatever others say, and then spread it with exaggerations. Their tongues should all be cut off and soaked in your chili jar!”

Yue Liangze shook his head and smiled: “If I put them in the jar, how would I eat the chili sauce I make?”

Ling Luo muttered: “I don’t eat spicy food anyway. Give it to Mu Sujing.”

Yue Liangze: “He wouldn’t eat chili sauce soaked with human tongues either.”

“He would. He’d eat anything you give him—he wouldn’t know there were human tongues in it anyway,” Ling Luo snorted. “I wouldn’t even give him any if he wanted it.”

Yue Liangze looked toward Mu Sujing’s residence. In this life, he hadn’t died early and was living the way he wanted—that was a good thing.

It was now the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Thick white snow covered both sides of the mountain path. Ling Luo walked up the stone steps, faintly seeing pavilions and towers beyond the dense tree shadows.

A messenger spirit bird flew down from above and landed on her shoulder. Ling Luo, with a red haw berry in her mouth, waved to send the messenger bird to Yue Liangze.

Yue Liangze looked at the message and said: “The Duke of Gan’s household has been punished for attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince. The entire family was executed, and Jiang Jun has become a demon because of this—another Twenty-Sixth Demon.”

In the princes’ struggle for succession, the Duke of Gan’s household had backed the wrong side and made the wrong move, resulting in such a fate.

“This matter… I remember when he was brought back to the Moon Palace, that young heir had traveled thousands of miles to the Moon Palace to take him back,” Ling Luo said, looking down at the steps as she hopped up them. “After the Moon Palace fell into chaos, he chose to stay there instead of leaving. Speaking of which, the human emperor does enjoy executing entire families and nine generations of relatives. First the Prince of South Peace, and now the Duke of Gan’s household.”

The human realm and the cultivation world coexisted in the same space, making conflicts inevitable.

If her maternal clan hadn’t used incantations to curse the emperor’s consort and general years ago, they wouldn’t have been hunted down and exterminated, and her mother might not have married Feng Yunhong.

Yue Liangze said: “With the Jiang family member becoming a demon, North Court’s Moon Palace will likely be even busier.”

“He’s been in power for several decades, which counts as longevity. Perhaps he should abdicate,” Ling Luo mused. “After all, I possess the human realm’s Deep Abyss Spirit Vein, and even the divine protective energy of the imperial palace couldn’t stop me. Would killing a human emperor be more difficult than killing a venerable cultivator?”

Yue Liangze: “More difficult.”

Ling Luo turned to look at him, and Yue Liangze quietly returned her gaze.

Though he didn’t speak, his meaning was clear—he would stop her.

Ling Luo snorted: “I was just saying. What do human affairs have to do with a demon like me?”

Yue Liangze caught up to her, arriving at her side in one step, and handed her something.

It was a beautiful golden lady’s fan, small and exquisite, with tiny fireflies dangling from the handle.

Yue Liangze said: “You look beautiful when you use a fan.”

Ling Luo took it and opened it with a swoosh. Like Yingxi, it had hundreds of fan bones that opened into a semicircle, but it was lighter than Yingxi.

Her eyes curved with pleasure, obviously delighted: “When did you make this?”

“When I left the sect, I took some materials with me,” Yue Liangze said. “My master permitted it.”

Before Ling Luo could ask more questions, she detected someone intruding on the mountain with fierce energy, fighting the path leading into the deep mountain.

Yue Liangze turned to look and saw the young lord of South Mountain’s Snow River from a distance.

Though only a few months had passed, he seemed to have aged years, transforming from his former arrogant pride to a depressed and gloomy state.

Ling Luo bit into the last haw berry: “Those who should come will always come.”

As she walked down, she said: “Regardless of that half-trained incantation practitioner, I’m going to set up a barrier now, to prevent just anyone from running in here.”

Yue Liangze remained where he was, quietly watching her draw her sword to meet the challenge.

Feng Tianyao had come and left last time because he returned to focus on cultivating the divine sword technique. Now that he had endured those setbacks and mastered all the sword techniques, the first thing he did upon emerging was to find Ling Luo.

Ling Luo walked toward Feng Tianyao and said: “I don’t want to see you again.”

Feng Tianyao gritted his teeth and struck first with his sword.

Ling Luo’s eyes were mocking as she effortlessly caught his divine sword intent. Dragon roars echoed through the mountains, startling birds into flight and making beasts whimper.

Mu Sujing, feeling the violent spiritual energy emanating from the deep mountain, rose from the ground to gaze into the distance, wondering which unfortunate soul was provoking Ling Luo this time.

Just like before, Feng Tianyao had come to challenge her after completing his training, but was forcefully suppressed by Ling Luo, who shattered the dragon breath on his sword, struck him down from the void, and watched him crash into the deep snow, clinging to life.

Feng Tianyao’s hands were tightly clenched into fists, his knuckles scraped and bleeding turned purple-blue from the freezing snow.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” he shouted at Ling Luo. “Yes, I lost! I’ll never defeat you in this lifetime! Your divine sword technique is the most powerful! So go ahead, kill me! Don’t you hate me? Do it! Kill me!”

“So noisy,” Ling Luo sent a flying sword seal toward him. “The grudge between your father and me—why are you yelling at me about it?”

“The young lord of the Feng family, the current new master of Snow River, struggling for life and death on my Mount Tianzhao—if word gets out, the cultivation world will put another tall hat on me. I’m warning you if you want to die, go far away.”

She coldly finished speaking and turned to leave, leaving the young man to collapse in the snow, covering his eyes with his hands and whimpering. A few broken “I’m sorry”s were hidden in the cold wind, scattered across the deep mountain.

Yue Liangze reached out to stroke Ling Luo’s head and wiped away the fine snow clinging to her eyelashes.

Ling Luo, however, lowered her head to look at the folding fan in her hand and said: “I just remembered, Yingxi was commissioned by him through West Sea Taichu’s Master Zhan Qiong. This Master Zhan Qiong was also the venerable cultivator with whom he shared his heart.”

“Master Zhan Qiong had a disciple named Zhan Rong. You remember him, right?”

Yue Liangze nodded, “I do.”

“Zhan Rong had good relationships with all three of my senior brothers, but he mostly spent time with eldest senior brother and senior brother Zixiu,” Ling Luo gently stroked the fan bones, her voice growing softer. “The sole disciple of the Artifact Forging Venerable One, yet he was the lowest-ranking disciple at Taichu, and he assisted the hall master in managing the sect’s affairs. How strange.”

Yue Liangze asked: “Which of your senior brothers do you think Zhan Rong was closest to?”

Ling Luo answered without thinking: “Eldest senior brother.”

But Yue Liangze shook his head, “In my previous life, during major events or collaborations between the great immortal sects, I saw him with your second senior brother more than once. Especially that year at Snow River’s demon nest, I saw the two of them deliberately avoid others and enter together. Each time they were avoiding people’s eyes and ears, with barriers set up around them.”

For ordinary conversations, there would be no need for such caution.

Second senior brother.

Ling Luo blinked.

This was someone she had consistently refused to suspect because Yu Xiu carried the same clean, warm aura as Senior Brother Chen.

But Ling Luo also remembered.

The first person she saw after her rebirth was Qin Yuan, and the second was Yu Xiu.

Ling Luo wasn’t stupid. In this new life, all information and connections were incredibly clear. It wasn’t difficult to guess who the Heavenly Dao had mentioned.

Yu Xiu had always been by Yun Shouxi’s side, handling Tianji’s affairs for him. He would know best about any movements Yun Shouxi made.

No one knew what Yu Xiu had seen or heard during the days he accompanied Yun Shouxi, before Chu Yi went out for training and before he had a junior sister.

But even if Second Senior Brother knew about Yun Shouxi’s obsession and delusions, why would he act that way?

Thinking about it now, Ling Luo realized she knew very little about this second senior brother, not even where he came from or how he became Yun Shouxi’s disciple.

She could only ask Yun Shouxi.

After that night, Yun Shouxi had gone mad. With his spirit veins destroyed and his eyes blinded, he now spent his days in the mirage palace painting, making a few strokes and then laughing foolishly. Occasionally, he would slowly call out Ling Luo’s name, sounding gentle as if he had regained his senses, but would quickly alternate between crying, laughing, and cold, insane behavior.

Chu Yi had just come down from the hanging bridge when he saw his master coldly throw a brush at his feet, asking where his junior sister was and about the painting.

After silently ignoring him for a moment, Yun Shouxi began to laugh foolishly again, blindly picking up a new brush and drawing chaotic lines on blank paper.

Chu Yi looked at Yun Shouxi with complex emotions. His most respected, admired master, once like an immortal in exile, had now become this foolish figure—this was undoubtedly more painful for Yun Shouxi than death.

But on that day, he absolutely couldn’t watch Ling Luo kill Yun Shouxi before his eyes. Chu Yi also knew that if he had fought against Ling Luo, it would have hurt her as well.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t bear to abandon either of them.

Yu Xiu, arriving a step behind Chu Yi, bent down to pick up the fallen brush and silently returned it to Yun Shouxi’s side.

The two disciples stood quietly at the door, watching.

“I’ve cleared everything from the dark chamber. There were many things inside that outsiders shouldn’t know about, proving that Master truly intended to transform Ling Luo,” Yu Xiu said softly.

Chu Yi said hoarsely: “I never wanted her to become like that.”

Yu Xiu smiled bitterly: “Neither did I. Master’s current state is a result of that obsession. Yet the outside world criticizes Ling Luo as disloyal, unrighteous, and unfilial for harming her master. But even after killing Feng Yunhong, she had sufficient reason. Senior Brother, the world says she was wrong, but did Ling Luo make a mistake?”

Regarding the killing of Feng Yunhong, Chu Yi never thought Ling Luo had done anything wrong. Looking at Yun Shouxi—even though this was the master who had taught him cultivation since childhood and had given him almost everything—Chu Yi couldn’t help but say: “She didn’t do anything wrong.”

The source of all this wasn’t her, and she wasn’t the one who needed to reflect.

Hearing these words, Yu Xiu’s pressed lips curved slightly into a fleeting smile.