After My Paranoid Act to Woo My Cold Master Failed - Chapter 4

Fu Xueke held the young girl tightly in her arms, her chin resting on the girl’s shoulder. A warm liquid slid down her neck, gradually turning cold as it soaked into her lapel.

The person in her arms kept calling out, “Master.”

And she responded incessantly, “I am here.” She repeated it over and over, without a hint of impatience.

Time does not flow in the Void Valley. She had seen records in the sect’s ancient texts stating that some could see their past and future within the valley, while others could use it as a path to return to the past or travel to the future.

What exactly had her disciple seen to make her lose control like this?

Shen Shuheng felt her consciousness slowly returning to her body. Everything around her became real and tangible again—no longer the fleeting images she had just witnessed. Her Master was holding her tightly, and her face was still wet with tears.

Fu Xueke cast an Illumination Spell; a ball of bright white light floated above them, illuminating the two of them.

Shen Shuheng noticed several tear tracks remaining on her Master’s slender neck, and even the strand of black hair pressed against her was damp. Her face flushed with heat, feeling a wave of guilt.

“Master, I…” She didn’t know what to say next.

“What did you see?” Her Master used her sleeve to wipe the tears from her face, looking at her with deep concern.

“I saw you, Master… covered in blood. I was calling you from the side, but you couldn’t see me.”

“Covered in blood… it must have been so painful.” Shen Shuheng’s eyes were misty, the corners of her eyes tinged with a faint red as she looked up at her Master.

“What you saw was the future. Ancient records state that this place can show the future; it is a path connecting the past and the future.” A faint smile played on Fu Xueke’s lips, her gaze gentle as she explained this to her disciple.

Upon hearing that what she saw was the future, Shen Shuheng felt as though her heart had fallen from a great height, crashing heavily into the ground with a piercing throb of pain. There was a massive difference between seeing words in a book and seeing it with her own eyes. A sense of powerlessness rose within her, and the light in her eyes dimmed.

Fu Xueke clearly captured the change in her disciple. She lowered her eyes, gazing at the girl for a long time. “Cultivators move against the Heavens. Nothing in this world is not in a state of constant change.”

Shen Shuheng suddenly understood. The Heavenly Dao had intentionally shown her the future to wear down her confidence. She refused to let it have its way. “Master, with A-Heng here, I will never let what I saw happen.”

Fu Xueke nodded slightly and rubbed her disciple’s head. “Actually, I picked you up at the entrance of the Void Valley.”

The image of their first meeting surfaced in her mind—a tiny figure running toward her, the only spot of bright color in the vast, snowy wilderness.

Shen Shuheng didn’t care much about her origins; instead, she asked, “Master, have you also been imprisoned in the valley?”

Her Master took her hand. “Let us leave this place first. I will tell you later.”

Coming out of the valley, Shen Shuheng looked toward the horizon. Only a sliver of the sun remained, the faint crimson glow of the sunset draping the emerald trees in a soft light. She turned her head; her eyes met her Master’s exquisite jawline. The twilight mist blurred around her Master’s face, adding a touch of softness to her cold features.

“I was once imprisoned in the valley for a year. My teacher ordered me to kill a demonic child, but I refused. He punished me by locking me in the valley,” Fu Xueke’s voice was as pleasant as spring water striking stone.

Shen Shuheng noticed that although her Master’s voice sounded the same as usual, there was a slight tremor in her calm eyes—an emotion she didn’t quite understand.

“I never met my parents. My teacher said they were both killed by the Demon Race, and that all demons should be my enemies—that all should be killed.”

“I did not agree with my teacher’s view. If one is to seek revenge, one should seek out the specific demon who killed one’s parents.”

Shen Shuheng felt a pang of sadness, a sour ache rising in her heart. “Master, A-Heng agrees with you.” She felt a deep ache for what her Master had endured.

As she spoke, a smile finally surfaced in her Master’s eyes. Shen Shuheng gave her a brilliant smile in return, the warm sunset glow dancing in her curved eyes.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the Inquiry Pavilion, the home belonging to the two of them.

The Inquiry Pavilion was situated on Snow-Moon Peak. True to its name, the peak was covered in ice and snow year-round; it was always winter here. As soon as Shen Shuheng entered the pavilion, a chill crept up from the soles of her feet, making her shiver.

Her Master took a fox-fur cloak from her storage bag and draped it over her. The moment she put it on, a cozy warmth enveloped her, shielding her from the wind and snow.

“Are you hungry? You’ve always disliked Fasting Pills. I’ll go make something for you to eat.”

“I’ll do it myself, Master. You should rest first,” Shen Shuheng said.

“I will go to the kitchen with you.” Fu Xueke ultimately couldn’t feel at ease.

A trail of footprints was left in the snow, extending all the way to the vermilion door. Gradually, the footprints vanished, leaving no trace of their path.

Fu Xueke watched as her disciple quickly prepared two bowls of steaming hot noodles. The white steam rising from the bowls blurred her vision.

“This bowl is for Master.” Her disciple invited her to eat. Although she had long since achieved Inedia (fasting), she still accepted it.

After eating, Shen Shuheng went to her room to sleep. she needed to make up for her lost rest desperately; the moment her head hit the pillow, she fell fast asleep.

Silver moonlight spilled through the vermilion window, draping over the girl’s delicate face. The girl on the bed seemed dissatisfied with the bothersome brightness of the moon and turned over.

“Wake up! Wake up!” the System shouted.

“Are you crazy? Why are you making a racket in the middle of the night? Even a worker has dignity!” The System’s sharp mechanical voice dragged Shen Shuheng out of her dreams. She opened her eyes in annoyance.

“It’s not that I want to disturb you, Host, but something has happened. Go outside and look—it’s important!”

As soon as Shen Shuheng pushed open the door, the whistling wind and snow lashed her face like knives. Shimmering snowflakes landed on her thick lashes. The snow quickly melted into water droplets hanging from her eyes. Shen Shuheng noticed a particular protrusion in the snow—it looked like a human-shaped object, and it was moving.

The wind wailed like someone sobbing in the distance. A mass of dark blue clouds blocked most of the moon, making the previously elegant orb look frayed at the edges.

Shen Shuheng’s heart skipped a beat with fear. She was actually quite timid. She comforted herself: You are already a mature cultivator. Even if there are ghosts, they should be the ones afraid of you.

She plucked up her courage and walked toward the mound in the snow. As she drew closer, she saw it more clearly. Splashes of vivid red were obvious against the snowy ground—they looked like bloodstains.

“Don’t… don’t come over.” The blood-stained snow splashed from the ground onto her. She could even smell the iron-like scent of blood. She took a step back in fright.

“Go away, quickly!” The voice sounded extremely similar to her Master. No, it was her Master.

Shen Shuheng crouched down, preparing to clear the snow covering her Master. “Don’t worry about me, just go!” Her Master’s voice wasn’t its usual clear self; it was hoarse, as if she were enduring something terrible.

“Master, what happened to you?!”

“Go, leave me be! I’ll be fine!” Shen Shuheng knew something was wrong. Disregarding the warnings, she tried to pull her Master up.

However, she touched something with a metallic texture. Looking closely, she saw chains made of Mystic-Blood Iron, a material used to suppress demonic cultivators.

The book clearly stated that Fu Xueke wouldn’t fall into the demonic path for another three years. Why was this happening so early? No, she couldn’t sense any demonic aura on her Master—why was she like this?

“I’m not leaving. No matter what you become, Master, A-Heng will stay by your side.” Shen Shuheng used her hands to brush away the thick snow covering her Master.

By the moonlight, Shen Shuheng saw that her Master’s face was flushed crimson. Blood-red pupils added a touch of demonic allure to her cold features. She was no longer the ethereal mist atop a desolate snow mountain, but a begonia flower in full bloom.

“So hot…” Fu Xueke grabbed Shen Shuheng’s hand as it brushed away the snow. The slightly cool sensation made her instinctively tighten her grip.

“Master, it hurts!” Her disciple’s cry of pain brought back a shred of her sanity. She quickly released Shen Shuheng’s hand.

Fu Xueke felt as if a scorching fire was raging in her veins, burning her entire body with pain. The boiling blood crashed through her body, constantly taunting her collapsing consciousness. A destructive urge rose in her heart—she wanted to crush everything.

Trying to stop her sanity from scattering, Fu Xueke frantically grabbed a handful of snow and covered herself with it.

“Cold… so cold…” Shen Shuheng saw her Master muttering again. While she complained of the cold, she curled her body into a ball, her whole being trembling.

Fu Xueke felt alternating waves of heat and cold. When the cold hit, it felt like a thousand blunt knives were performing a slow execution on her. Ever since she began her cultivation, every night of the full moon would be like this. Her teacher said it was because she had been affected by demonic aura while in the womb.

She had originally thought she could suppress it once she reached the Soul Transformation stage. She hadn’t expected that after reaching that stage, the episodes would become more frequent and more severe than ever before.

Shen Shuheng saw the Mystic-Blood chains wrapped around her Master. Every time she moved, the chains emitted a crisp metallic clinking. Blood seeped through her white robes, staining the snow like fallen plum blossoms.

Seeing her Master like this, Shen Shuheng felt an even deeper ache in her heart. She couldn’t let her Master continue like this. She lay down on the snow as well, hugging her Master tightly.

“Master, don’t move. You’ve lost a lot of blood. I’ll help you undo the chains.” Shen Shuheng held her Master with one arm while trying to undo the locks with the other.

Her Master’s scorching breath hit the hollow of her neck, feeling somewhat itchy. Fu Xueke kept moving in her arms, disrupting her efforts to undo the chains.

“Master, if you keep doing that, I won’t be able to unlock them.”

“Unlock them for me.” Fu Xueke suddenly didn’t want to endure it anymore. She submissively allowed her disciple to undo the chains on her body.

Shen Shuheng finally freed her Master completely.

Moonlight flowed over Fu Xueke’s face. Her crimson lips curled slightly, and the cold desolation in her eyes melted into a thousand layers of charm as she stared intently at Shen Shuheng.