After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 47

Lan Ting sneered, her crimson lips like a blood-stained seal, her cheeks tinged with a faint flush from anger and rising heat.

The stark contrast was her counterpart, Wu Ruo, whose face was deathly pale, lips devoid of color.

How could this be?

Seeing Wu Ruo in pain, seeing the so-called “Holy Maiden” she had hated for so many years, the coward who vanished when Miaojiang was in peril, the one who abandoned her duty to protect Miaojiang and instead became a shamelessly devoted Daoist companion to a cultivator from Zhiyuan Immortal Sect so heartbroken, Lan Ting should have been overjoyed.

But why? When she saw Wu Ruo looking so lost, so disbelieving, when she saw the once confident and radiant Holy Maiden become hesitant, timid, as if someone had slashed a deep wound into her heart, why did she not feel anything either?

She gazed at Wu Ruo, whom she hadn’t seen in years. Her hair was shorter now, no longer long enough to be braided. Her cheeks were much thinner, the roundness gone, replaced by a sharp chin and hollowed face.

For the first time, she felt it deeply Wu Ruo had not lived well in all these years of absence.

“You!” Lan Ting let out a cold laugh, ready to mock her further. “Are you stupid? What, still pretending to have amnesia? You’ve been fawning over that Peak Master Luo for so long, do you really think what you did before wasn’t laughable.”

The last word caught in her throat. She clearly saw Wu Ruo’s hands hidden in her sleeves, trembling uncontrollably. Those already large eyes were now wide open, the light black pupils like almond pits, unsettlingly vacant.

For some reason, something inside her twitched faintly, and she swallowed the sharp words on the tip of her tongue.

“Lan Ting.”

Wu Ruo steadied her voice, struggling to keep it calm. “You’re saying, the reason I became Luo Qingyi’s Daoist companion is because I planted a love gu on her?”

“That’s right.” Lan Ting finally realized something was off. She studied Wu Ruo’s lifeless eyes and hesitated. “You really don’t remember?”

“It’s the Dust-forgetting Powder,” Wu Ruo said. “The memories in my mind only go as far as my time in Miaojiang. I don’t remember anything after meeting Luo Qingyi.”

“…”

Lan Ting glared at Wu Ruo, desperate to find any trace of deceit. But this was her former teacher, how could she not know her? How could she not see that every word was true?

The other had lost her memories, leaving no way to verify anything. What was the point of venting all her grief and fury on someone who knew nothing?

“You!” Lan Ting pursed her lips, choosing her words carefully. “What do you know now?”

“Well!” Wu Ruo gave a bitter smile. “I know that in the blink of an eye, nearly twenty years have passed, and Miaojiang was destroyed because of Jin Ruyun’s selfish desires. And I because I planted a love gu on Luo Qingyi, became her Daoist companion, and was despised by every disciple in Zhiyuan Immortal Sect.”

She paused, then added, “Also, I just learned from Jin Ruyun that Chuncao might still be alive.”

She had been wary of Lan Ting, a demonic cultivator.

But seeing Lan Ting’s hatred for Jin Ruyun’s betrayal, she suddenly realized that there still seemed to exist a tranquil and profound utopia in the other’s heart.

“Have you not seen Chuncao all these years?” Wu Ruo asked.

“No. But what of it?”

Lan Ting responded gruffly, eyeing Wu Ruo warily. “You still want to find her? Don’t dream she’ll only hate you more than I do! Back then, you vanished without a trace, leaving her to take charge, clean up your mess, and struggle to hold everything together for so long. And when the crisis came, you were nowhere to be found.”

Ignoring the mockery in Lan Ting’s words, Wu Ruo replied solemnly, “You just said she escaped under your cover. Which direction did she go?”

“Due north. You’re really going after her?”

Wu Ruo nodded. “Yes. Now that I know she’s alive, I must find her. Whether it’s the Chang’an Escort Agency, the World Tea House, or any other place where information can be gathered, I will go. Finding the surviving members of our clan is what I must do from now on.”

“…”

A sarcastic remark lodged in Lan Ting’s throat, wanting to spill out, yet she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Her gaze flickered unconsciously as she glanced down at the fluttering sheer fabric of her demonic cultivator attire, then at the tiny red spider on her body, happily spinning silk.

What if Wu Ruo’s words were true?

What if back then during the great calamity in Miaojiang, Wu Ruo truly had no choice? What if her teacher had never abandoned Miaojiang after all?

She would wait until the day Wu Ruo remembered, and then confront her directly.

“Then good luck to you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, the old lands of Miaojiang are now demonic cultivator territory. If you want to rebuild, either find another place or…” Lan Ting lowered her voice and sneered, “Kill that madwoman, the Right Envoy, and overthrow the demonic sect.”

Wu Ruo nodded and continued, “If I succeed, if I can find Chuncao and the surviving clansmen, would you be willing to leave the demonic would you be willing to see them again?”

“Leaving is out of the question. My body now, hehe” Lan Ting flicked her hair, revealing the eerie and intricate crimson sigil on her bare back like a mark carved by a supreme demonic deity upon its slave.

She laughed self-deprecatingly, then pulled out a row of blood-red vessels from her spatial pouch, shaking them to produce a thick, sloshing sound. “Know what this is? Blood. Cultivators’, demonic cultivators’, and even some mortals’ untapped but spiritually potent.”

“Ever since I became a monster in the Blood Gu Pool, heheh, I’ve had to rely on bloodlust to survive. I’ve killed people many of them. That madwoman locked me up with a bunch of captive mortals, like pigs in a pen. When I had an episode, she said, ‘They’re all your medicine. If you don’t want to die, then…’”

Here, Lan Ting casually hid one of her hands. Her right hand was beautiful, with slender fingers and nails painted bright red.

But her left hand was always clad in a maroon soft leather glove, never exposed to light.

It was clear that where fingers should have been, the glove was hollow merely a thin layer of leather stretched over emptiness, with no substance beneath.

“There’s no other way. I have to survive, don’t I?” Lan Ting smiled indifferently. “I’m steeped in sin, there’s no going back. I don’t deserve to see her again. If you ever get the chance, just tell me she’s doing well.”

She added, “I came here with my demon subordinates because the Right Envoy’s mission is to ‘control the Red Temple.’ Though I don’t understand the purpose, this place will soon be surrounded by demonic cultivators. Leave now if you don’t want to die. I’m off.”

The demonic cultivator woman swept her hair back with a careless grace, turned away with an air of arrogance, her alluring figure half-hidden beneath the light gauze, and walked off with a swaying, graceful gait.

Wu Ruo suddenly remembered that back in Miaojiang, Lan Ting had been the most disciplined of the girls steady, clever, reliable. Her clothes had always been the plainest, favoring old-fashioned and rigid styles, every button fastened meticulously.

Even during festivals meant for unrestrained fun, when Spring Grass would excitedly urge her on, her hair adorned with colorful little flowers, Lan Ting would just watch quietly and composedly, never adding a single bright bloom to her own hair.

“Oh, one more thing.”

Lan Ting had already walked most of the way, her figure gradually disappearing into the darkness. She turned her head slightly, casting a fleeting glance at Wu Ruo.

She recalled the additional task the Right Envoy had given her when assigning her mission if she found any trace of their former Holy Maiden, she was to report it immediately.

To hell with that.

Lan Ting curled her lips, opened the communication talisman the Right Envoy had given her, sent a message saying “No trace found,” and gave Wu Ruo a cold smirk before turning away for good.

“Just a heads-up that crazy woman seems to be looking for you. Watch your back.”

She descended the mountain openly, ignoring Wu Ruo behind her and disregarding the Right Envoy’s additional task even though the Right Envoy had been her psychological nightmare for years, with a hundred ways to make her life a living hell.

But the moment she opened the communication talisman, she felt an unprecedented sense of liberation and clarity, a catharsis she hadn’t experienced in all these years.

Perhaps, all this time, what she had hated wasn’t Wu Ruo, but herself, the self who had been captured, forced into the demon realm, and under endless torment, had finally buckled and lost her way.

Only when Lan Ting had vanished from sight did Wu Ruo withdraw her gaze, sorting through the information she had just learned in her mind.

Lan Ting wouldn’t lie to her. Her understanding of Lan Ting hadn’t changed, and Lan Ting had remained the same all along.

According to Lan Ting’s words, everything about her situation in the Zhiyuan Immortal Sect now made sense. Luo Qingyi, a genius cultivator of the Emotionless Path, should have been radiant and detached from love, never once swayed, never tainted by any flaw.

Yet, out of selfishness, Wu Ruo had planted a love gu in her, causing Luo Qingyi to break her Dao and suffer a severe drop in cultivation.

No wonder Jiang Qingbei had despised her so much in the past. No wonder countless people had wanted to trample her underfoot. No wonder Luo Qingyi had no reason but still clung to her with unwavering affection.

It was all her doing.

She was the one to blame.

Thinking of this, she almost wished Lan Ting had scolded her a few more times, how laughable. She had harassed an Emotionless Path cultivator like some shameless woman, so it was no wonder she had suffered so much. She even felt like cursing herself for deserving it.

It seems the gu hasn’t been lifted yet, as Luo Qingyi is still clinging to her. She had thought Luo Qingyi’s feelings for her were romantic, and she had genuinely considered how the other person might act.Never mind.

The conditions she had mentioned no longer mattered. Since Luo Qingyi still loved her, she would well, just go along with it, granting every request.

Once she devised a method to dispel the gu, she would explain everything properly, offer a sincere apology, bear the consequences of her mistakes, and then part ways to find Spring Grass and the others to rebuild their home.

Having sorted out her thoughts, she flicked her wrist, shaking off a reckless little snake. The tiny creature landed in her palm thin and somewhat resembling the little black snake she once kept.

She fed the snake a few drops of blood, and in an instant, it became lively, clearly a promising specimen for a gu cultivator. She stroked its head again the snake was a grayish-brown with a few bite marks, but its eyes were quite striking, like gemstones.

“Little Gray,” Wu Ruo teased its flickering tongue and smiled. “When I find my surviving clansmen and rebuild our home, would you like to come with me? If you agree, you’ll have a share of my blood from then on.”

The snake coiled itself into a twist, seemingly in agreement.

She walked a little further when a low “croak” sounded beside her. Looking down, she saw the toad belonging to Jin Ruyun, the very one that had nearly traumatized her.

The dark green toad hopped a few times before landing at Wu Ruo’s feet. The creature had stayed silent when Jin Ruyun was in trouble, but now, likely realizing its meal ticket was gone, it had come to curry favor with her.

“Fine, you’re in. You can follow me too, but no eating random bugs.”

With one creature wrapped around her hand and another trailing at her feet, she hummed a tune as she descended the mountain.

Earlier, she had received a message from Lan Ting and sent Luo Qingyi back with Golden Flower while she wandered nearby. Luo Qingyi, who now kept every promise, was probably at the inn.

She didn’t know that the moment she turned away, a presence slowly withdrew behind her, concealing itself beyond her spiritual awareness, unnoticed by anyone.

Luo Qingyi gazed at her retreating figure and let out a soft sigh.

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