Cursed by the World After Love’s Demise - Chapter 2

Xuan Ying had been trapped in the Demon Suppression Tower for so many years, surely harboring deep hatred for all the sects. Having escaped this time, he would inevitably return to seek revenge.

The elders called this “releasing a tiger back to the mountains” and insisted that my senior sister must punish me severely as a warning to others.

Just as I was worrying on senior sister’s behalf about what would constitute severe punishment, a strange force sent me flying ten paces away. I crashed heavily against the stone wall at the center of the main hall. That wall was utterly bizarre, as if it had grown a hundred hands, pinning me firmly in place until I couldn’t move at all.

Senior sister sentenced me to the Heavenly Lightning Whip Punishment, with an additional ten years of solitary confinement.

This was what I deserved, yet for some reason, senior sister being so fair and showing no partiality at all made me feel terribly upset.

I never imagined senior sister would detest me to this extent, not sparing any thought for our childhood bond.

Very well, perhaps I was born to be disliked. Everyone I love never loves me back – senior sister is like this, Xuan Ying is like this, and also…

Before I could ponder further, a bolt of heavenly lightning suddenly descended. The blinding light made me instinctively shut my eyes tight, but the excruciating pain I anticipated never came.

Gathering my composure, I slowly opened my eyes to see the jade pendant that had been hanging at my waist now suspended before me, emitting a soft, moon-like white glow. It acted as a shield, forcibly blocking that bolt of heavenly lightning for me. Then, under my gaze, the glow scattered like starlight, and the jade pendant turned to dust, vanishing with the wind.

My heart trembled, as if a hollow cavity had been carved out somewhere in my body.

I had possessed this jade pendant since childhood.

I vaguely remember those two years when I was frail and sickly, constantly bedridden and drinking medicine. My father had invited all the famous doctors from Lingnan, but they all said I was born with a short lifespan and destined not to survive. During one serious illness when I was near death, my father even prepared a small coffin for me. Ultimately, my mother refused to accept fate. She went to some unknown Taoist temple, performing the triple bow and nine kowtows to obtain this jade pendant as a protective talisman for me. After getting this talisman, my health gradually improved day by day. By the time I passed ten years old, I was no different from ordinary people. Since then, I had always kept the jade pendant with me, cherishing my mother’s deep maternal love, and treasuring this pendant dearly in daily life.

Now that it had shattered like this…

Thinking of my mother, I couldn’t help but shed two streams of tears. Raising my eyes to look at senior sister, through blurred vision I seemed to see a cold smile.

The second bolt of heavenly lightning followed. Without the jade pendant’s protection, I finally experienced the feeling of having my sinews pulled and bones stripped.

The pain was unbearable.

After days of being in a daze, when I completely regained consciousness, I was already in the Northern Ming Cold River.

All living beings in the world turn into souls after death and journey to the underworld. Souls are divided between good and evil – good souls going to the underworld must cross the River of Forgetfulness, using the waters of forgetfulness to wash away their past; evil souls going to the underworld must cross the Cold River, using the extremely cold waters to wash away their sins.

However, most evil souls are unwilling to enter the Cold River, always fleeing and causing trouble everywhere. Therefore, as the world’s number one Immortal Sect, the Heart Inquiry Sect established a Lookout Tower a hundred miles away from the Cold River.

When I was twenty-one, I served here as Director. At that time, I was still quite young and somewhat playful. The endless desolate wilderness surrounding the Lookout Tower made me extremely restless. I barely endured three months before requesting permission from the sect leader to return to Little Dusting Peak.

The unpredictability of life – who could have imagined that I would now become a prisoner in the Cold River, just like those evil souls.

This small wooden hut, unable to shelter from wind or rain, even seemingly on the verge of collapse, was to be my prison for the next ten years of solitary confinement.

I sat on the eaves in thin silk robes, idly swinging my feet. Spotting someone approaching from afar, I quickly jumped down and pretended to be utterly frail.

The visitor turned out to be Senior Sister Lu, much to my surprise.

Senior Sister Lu had joined the sect earlier than me. Having served flawlessly as Director during her rotations at various lookout towers, she earned the Sect Leader’s favor and was exceptionally promoted to the Discipline Hall. By the time I joined the sect, she had already become the Night Watch of the Discipline Hall, tasked with patrolling and supervising the sect at night.

Meanwhile, accustomed to freedom at home, I found the restrictions hard to bear when I first arrived. With my master Hongxi as my backing, I never took the sect precepts seriously. Yet, every time I caused trouble, Senior Sister Lu would catch me red-handed, and I’d inevitably face punishment whether it was three days in confinement or kneeling for hours, both of which were excruciating for me.

But I never learned my lesson. Confinement, kneeling, chopping wood, sweeping the grounds, no matter how Senior Sister Lu punished or advised me, the moment my gluttonous cravings called, my mind would go blank and I’d dash off without a second thought.

Because of these cravings, Senior Sister Lu would frown and sigh deeply whenever she saw me, and I’d wish I could vanish into thin air at the sight of her.

Our relationship was far from good, so who would have thought she’d be the first to visit me after my confinement?

“Runqing,” Senior Sister Lu said with her usual slight frown and a soft sigh. “The Heavenly Lightning Whip Punishment is no small matter. You should rest and recover properly.” As she spoke, she opened the wooden box in her hand and placed it before me, it was my favorite chestnut cake.

I looked at the chestnut cake, overwhelmed with shame.

I knew very well that Senior Sister Lu was an exceptionally good person, always had been. I constantly caused trouble for her, yet she never grew angry, only hoping I’d be more obedient and well-behaved. I couldn’t even manage that. Now I’d committed a grave mistake, proving myself utterly rotten, and yet she still brought me chestnut cake.

I couldn’t face her. I lowered my head and remained silent.

In the past, whenever I violated the sect precepts, Senior Sister Lu would spend half a day earnestly lecturing me. But this time, she didn’t mention Xuan Ying at all.

“Runqing,” Senior Sister Lu said, “though Cold River is lonely, it is a beneficial place of cultivation for you. With your talent, if you devote yourself to cultivation these ten years, you will surely make great progress. This is also your senior sister’s heartfelt intention. Do not disappoint her.”

Senior sister.

My nose tingled, and my eyes welled up. “Senior sister hates demons to the core, and I have already failed her. She probably will never acknowledge me again.”

Senior Sister Lu raised her hand and gently wiped the tears from the corner of my eye with her fingertip. “Runqing, if you knew today’s consequences, why did you act as you did back then?”

Today, Xuan Ying is a demon cultivator who deceived a disciple of the Immortal Sect and escaped from the Demon Suppression Tower.

But back then…

In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, only murmuring an apology to Senior Sister Lu.

Senior Sister Lu said, “It’s not your fault. It’s mine for failing to discipline you properly.”

I was utterly ashamed.

What followed were three months that felt like years.

Every day, I would sit on the eaves for hours, hoping my senior sister would come to see me. Sometimes, I’d fall asleep waiting, dreaming of her, only to open my eyes to disappointment.

It was so painful.

To make matters worse, several evil spirits drifted around me, coveting this body that could grant them rebirth.

I still had attachments to the mortal world and naturally couldn’t just hand it over. So, I formed a seal, gathered these evil spirits into a ball, and tossed them into Cold River.

The moment I cast the spell, I suddenly thought of Xuan Ying.

For the past three months, I had been restraining myself from thinking about Xuan Ying not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t dare.

I was so timid and cowardly. I feared that Xuan Ying’s treatment of me was nothing but sheer exploitation from start to finish.

Yet, in the end, I couldn’t avoid thinking of her.

Xuan Ying was the most intelligent person I had ever met in my life. No matter how complex a spell was, she only needed to see it once to grasp its essence, and by the third time, she could wield it with ease. If my understanding of spells was considered top-tier in the world, then she was a genius among geniuses.

The spell I had just used to deal with the malevolent spirit was one Xuan Ying and I had developed together.

When it came to spells, I had always been rather careless and casual, while Xuan Ying pursued perfection. I still remember that day when she argued with me over a tiny detail for a long time, and in the end, she successfully convinced me. I conceded defeat and praised her. She was overjoyed, her eyes shining like a brilliant sun so bright and intense that it scorched my heart.

Senior Sister Lu brought me food every few days, and I gradually grew accustomed to it, learning the pattern.

Before Senior Sister Lu arrived, I would fold the bedding, change into clean clothes, and fix the wooden door that had been battered crooked by the fierce winds again. I wanted Senior Sister Lu to see that I hadn’t given up on myself, that I wasn’t beyond redemption.

But on this day, a long-unseen acquaintance came in place of Senior Sister Lu.

“Yu Runqing.” Lingshu, dressed in an elaborate and ornate gown, looked down at me with an air of haughtiness. After a long while, she finally spoke with a hint of disdain, “To have cultivated to this state, you truly have talent.”

If facing Senior Sister Lu made me feel ashamed, then facing Lingshu filled me with overwhelming humiliation.

Lingshu was a princess of the Jin Dynasty, the most beloved among the emperor’s many children. This favor stemmed from her mother, the Imperial Noble Consort, whom even the empress dared not contend with.

My family, a declining noble clan, was originally unworthy of associating with a princess. But in the year I turned fourteen, the Imperial Noble Consort, for some reason, angered the emperor and fell out of favor overnight, placed under house arrest within the palace. To protect Lingshu, the Imperial Noble Consort arranged to send her to my home.

At the time, I didn’t know that my mother and the Imperial Noble Consort were old acquaintances, nor did I know Lingshu’s true identity. All I knew was that Lingshu was a distant cousin of mine.

To be honest, among prominent noble families, there were always numerous distant relatives. My various cousins and such seemed to sprout up like bamboo shoots after rain, coming to my home one after another to seek favors. My siblings and I usually paid them little mind.

Lingshu was different.

She had come unwillingly. On her very first day in our home, she cried and threw tantrums for most of the night. No matter how my mother tried to soothe her, it was useless. By the next day, she was leaping about like a little tyrant, even pulling out a handful of my father’s hair.

When my siblings heard about her, they were intrigued and insisted on going to see her for themselves.

At that time, I was still quite close with my senior sister, so I dragged her along to join them.

When we saw Lingshu, she was squatting high up in a towering tree, crying and demanding to go home. My parents stood beneath the tree, looking up with trembling legs and pale faces, pleading desperately for her to come down.

My second sister and third brother couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight. My mother turned around angrily, intending to scold them, but the moment she saw me, her face lit up with relief: “Runqing, quick, carry her down.”

Second sister teased me from the side: “All those years of hard training have finally found their use. Don’t waste any time.”

That’s right, I’ve loved climbing heights since childhood. I’ve climbed this very tree no less than a hundred times – you could say it’s as easy as walking on level ground.

Rolling up my sleeves, I climbed up and plucked Lingshu down like picking fruit.

“Aren’t you afraid of climbing so high?”

“Not at all!”

“Such courage! Then dare you come play on the water swing with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I dare!”

Not wanting to trouble my mother, I entertained Lingshu for several days. Unexpectedly, Lingshu and I got along wonderfully. We played polo together, hunted wild rabbits together, swung on water swings together. During that period, Lingshu and I were practically inseparable.

Later, when the Imperial Consort regained favor, Lingshu wanted to bring me back to the capital with her.

Though I liked Lingshu, I couldn’t bear to leave my senior sister no matter what. So I made an agreement with Lingshu that she would return to Lingnan the following year at the time of the Awakening of Insects.

Thus, in the second year, the third year, and the fourth year, Lingshu would always arrive as promised on the day of the Awakening of Insects.

A sultry, humid midsummer night.

Occasionally, a gentle breeze would sweep across the lake surface, carrying the fragrance of lotus blossoms as it softly drifted into the waterside pavilion.

Lingshu was wearing sheer, gauzy plain clothes, curled up in a recliner drenched in sweat, her cheeks flushed crimson, her gaze hazy. Whenever she looked at me, she would smile, revealing two sharp little canine teeth.

She was drunk, and so was I.

My memories are blurred, fragmented.

I think I must have been possessed by a ghost, otherwise why would I have pinned Lingshu down and kissed her.

I don’t know if Lingshu still remembers, but after committing such an act, how could I dare approach her again.

After avoiding her for half a month, my father sent my senior sister and me to the Heart Inquiry Sect.

Through these years, Lingshu and I have gone from being best friends to what we are today.

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