After My Paranoid Act to Woo My Cold Master Failed - Chapter 18

The City Lord’s daughter walked to Shen Shuheng’s side, her face etched with misery and her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“I beg you, save my clansmen. Everything they were forced to do was against their will; they hated the City Lord as much as anyone.” She cast a glance at the demons lying on the ground, then turned back and slowly knelt before Shen Shuheng.

Shen Shuheng was utterly bewildered by her actions. Why would the City Lord’s daughter refer to demons as her “clansmen”? Furthermore, the City Lord was her father, and since he had been killed by her Master, she ought to harbor nothing but hatred for them.

“Stand up. Should you not hate us? Why act like this? Besides, you are human; you are not of the same race as them,” Shen Shuheng said, attempting to pull the kneeling girl up. “We are the enemies who killed your father. Why seek help from your enemies to save them?” Shen Shuheng’s gaze was calm, like a deep, ancient well.

The girl remained kneeling, refusing to rise. She bent her upper body forward until her forehead drew closer to the ground, seemingly intent on kowtowing. She knew from her father that the quality of Shen Shuheng’s pills was exceptionally high; as long as the girl was willing to give her clansmen a few, their demonic physiques would allow them to recover fully without issue.

Fu Xueke used her spiritual energy to lift the girl, preventing her from striking her head against the floor. “Stand up. We will save them. But why do you say they are your clansmen?” Fu Xueke asked, puzzled. Shen Shuheng watched her, sharing the same question.

Suddenly, a demon stepped out from the crowd. “It was I who used a secret method to swap the souls of Yao Yao and the City Lord’s daughter. This was the most crucial step in breaking free from the contract’s control.”

Shen Shuheng finally understood. The City Lord thought his daughter suffered from a “soul-departure” sickness, but it was actually the reaction caused by the soul-swap.

Fu Xueke rubbed Shen Shuheng’s head, her gentle gaze resting on the girl’s face. “Give the pills to them. We leave immediately after.”

Shen Shuheng took over twenty bottles of Rejuvenation Pills from her storage bag and handed them to Yao Yao. Yao Yao’s eyes were filled with gratitude as she accepted them. “Thank you. If you ever need us in the future, do not hesitate to ask.” She walked among the demons, distributing the pills. As they consumed the medicine, their wounds began to heal at a visible rate the crimson gashes slowly closing and fading into a pale pink.

Yao Yao’s face was filled with sorrow, and her hands hidden within her sleeves trembled uncontrollably. She turned to her clansmen and said, “The City Lord’s daughter is currently in my original body. She will wake up soon; do not make things difficult for her. She is not like her father.”

She then handed the Nine-Rotation Soul-Restoration Pill she had retrieved from the City Lord to a clansman. “I will use the Spirit-Devouring Sword to cut myself open and drain my blood. This will break the curse that has shackled our race for a thousand years.”

“Once I am gone, give this pill to her. Her soul will then be able to fully merge with my body.”

“No! I told you back then you were supposed to trick the City Lord’s daughter, drive her soul out, and take over her body. Once everything was settled, you were to return to your own body!” the demon who had performed the soul-swap ritual disagreed with her decision. The other clansmen fell into a heavy silence.

Yao Yao closed her eyes briefly. Her mind was filled with everything she had shared with the City Lord’s daughter, Yun Wan—embracing under the festive lanterns, kissing beneath the moonlight… When she opened her eyes again, a misty haze had gathered, which then fractured into a faint, bloody hue.

She had approached Yun Wan with an agenda, yet she had fallen in love with her. She loved Yun Wan, but between them lay more than just the divide between demon and human; there was a river of blood formed by the tears and lives of her clansmen. She dared not and could not cross it. Between Yun Wan and her people, she ultimately chose the latter. The only thing she could do was let Yun Wan live, even if Yun Wan ended up hating her.

Shen Shuheng watched as expressions of nostalgia, regret, and finally, absolute resolve flashed across Yao Yao’s face. Yao Yao drew a snowy-white sword and pressed the blade against her own wrist, the cold steel biting into her soft skin.

With a determined strike, the blade sliced through her fair wrist. Crimson blood gushed out, sliding down her arm and dripping onto the floor. The hall fell into a deathly silence, save for the distinct drip-drop of blood hitting the wooden tiles. The sound was light, yet it struck heavily against everyone’s heart. No one spoke; they only watched in silence.

Yao Yao carved several deeper wounds into her body to let the blood flow faster. Once her lifeblood was completely drained, her clansmen would never be controlled again. She held one last selfish wish: to see Yun Wan one last time and hear her voice before dying. Even if Yun Wan said she hated her, it would be enough. But Yun Wan would not appear; she was still in a deep slumber and would only learn of the deception and everything Yao Yao had done upon waking.

“Master, why does she choose to end her own life?” Shen Shuheng was moved by Yao Yao’s tragic heroism, but she didn’t understand the necessity of the suicide.

Fu Xueke was about to answer when she saw Yao Yao look toward them. The dying girl forced her muscles into a bitter smile. Her voice was weak. “The contract shackling us is passed through bloodline inheritance. As long as the City Lord’s line remains, we will forever be slaves. Now that the City Lord is dead, the contract would transfer to his daughter. Only when she dies when the lineage is severed will the contract truly vanish.”

Shen Shuheng’s lips moved; she wanted to ask more, but found it hard to speak. She could only look at Yao Yao with sympathy and pained pity. Yao Yao was willing to sacrifice her own life for the City Lord’s daughter.

Shen Shuheng then looked at her Master. If one day she and her Master faced a similar situation, as long as her Master could live, she too would be willing to trade her life.

“After I die, you must not trouble Yun Wan. And the Soul-Restoration Pill… it must be given to her,” Yao Yao’s face was as pale as paper, and her once-rosy lips were parched. Her voice was as thin as a thread of silk.

“We promise you. We will not trouble Yun Wan, and we will place the pill in her hands.” The demons hated the City Lord with a passion, and naturally his daughter as well, but Yao Yao had done so much for them. They had to honor her dying wish.

Seeing that her people had agreed, Yao Yao finally closed her eyes. With a CLANG, her sword slipped from her hand and hit the floor, and she collapsed alongside it. She lay in a spreading pool of gore, her emerald-green dress fanned out in the crimson river, the fabric drowning out much of the red, leaving only a few clusters of lingering blood.

Yao Yao felt her body becoming lighter, fading away. She thought she saw Yun Wan, and her lips moved slightly. She wanted to say “I’m sorry,” but she couldn’t find the strength to speak. She was just a useless little demon, timid and afraid. The bravest things she had ever done in her life were approaching Yun Wan and, today, trading her life for hers.

Witnessing this, something surfaced in Shen Shuheng’s heart, but she couldn’t see it clearly—she could only grasp its silhouette. When she looked at her Master, the feeling grew even stronger, like something breaking through the soil.

Master took her hand. “Let us go.”

Just as they were about to leave, a woman in red robes burst in, staggering toward Yao Yao. Tears flowed incessantly from Yun Wan’s eyes, and though she tried to wipe them away with her sleeve, she couldn’t stop them. Her entire body shook violently as she knelt down, touching her hand to Yao Yao’s nose. Confirming there was no breath left, she finally lost control and began to sob.

“This is what she wanted us to give you,” a demon said, placing the Nine-Rotation Soul-Restoration Pill beside her. Yun Wan grabbed the bottle and smashed it heavily against the floor.

Shen Shuheng had intended to leave, but seeing Yun Wan enter, she tugged at her Master’s sleeve, signaling that she wanted to stay and watch.

“Did she… did she leave any words for me?” Yun Wan’s eyes and the tip of her nose were bright red.

“She said… for us not to trouble you.”

“Is that all? Only that? She lied to me… she lied to me!” Yun Wan screamed hysterically. Her tears dampened her hair, sticking it to her cheeks.

Yun Wan had always known. She had known the purpose of Yao Yao’s approach. She was well aware of what her ancestors had done to Yao Yao’s race; she knew she owed them. Yun Wan had been waiting for Yao Yao to confess, to say “I’m sorry, I lied to you” she would have forgiven her. But Yao Yao refused. She refused until the very end.

Yun Wan propped herself up and stood with difficulty, walking to where her father’s body lay. She had long foreseen that her father would one day meet such an end. When a person is accustomed to a high position, they disregard the lives of others and cannot tolerate defiance. She had seen her father kill many in the city who disobeyed him.

Her father had died at the hands of those two; how could she ever take revenge? It was all just karma. Today I kill you, tomorrow he kills me when would the cycle of vengeance ever end? She didn’t want to care anymore. She was too tired; she didn’t want to think about anything.

She walked back to Yao Yao and picked up Yao Yao’s sword from the floor. “I have paid back everything I owed you. Now, you owe me an apology. Even if I must go to the Yellow Springs or the ends of the earth, I will find you and make you say those words to me.”

She pressed the sword against her throat and gave it a heavy sweep. Blood sprayed, and her body slowly collapsed, falling to rest beside Yao Yao.

A wave of bitterness washed over Shen Shuheng’s heart, like eating an unripe orange—a sour sadness that was hard to bear. “Master, I don’t know why, but seeing them like this… I feel a bit sad.”

A ripple appeared in Fu Xueke’s calm eyes. She placed her hand over Shen Shuheng’s heart; the heart inside was pounding incessantly, thudding against her palm.

“Because you have a heart,” Fu Xueke said softly.

“Then Master, what about you? You also have a heart. Do you feel sad?” Shen Shuheng looked up. Her Master’s eyes were still clearly black and white, like obsidian dipped in snow.

Fu Xueke did not answer directly. Instead, she said, “The word ‘Love’… you will naturally understand it when you are a bit older.”

As she spoke, her hand over her disciple’s chest clearly felt the girl’s heart beating faster and heavier than ever before.