Cursed by the World After Love’s Demise - Chapter 3

The first step for cultivators entering the Immortal Sect is to distance themselves from the mortal world and sever familial ties. Thus, I hadn’t returned home for many years, nor seen my parents or siblings.

Yet I knew my mother still worried about me, always finding ways to inquire after my news. I also knew my confinement couldn’t be kept from her sooner or later, it would reach her ears.

I just hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

Lingshu tossed my mother’s letter and a box of my childhood favorite pastries onto the desk, then looked me over from head to toe with meticulous scrutiny. With evident disdain, she said, “Aunt fell gravely ill worrying about you, but frankly, it’s not worth it. If she knew you’d committed such a shameful disgrace, her heart would break.”

Lingshu deliberately mocked me, and perhaps she wasn’t wrong.

I opened the envelope and quickly scanned my mother’s letter. Through her words, I could almost see her grieving tears, but thankfully, there was no mention of “Xuan Ying.”

The sect had likely classified my scandal with Xuan Ying as “internal disgrace.” As the saying goes, one shouldn’t air dirty laundry in public. No matter how well-informed my mother was, she couldn’t uncover the truth.

However, my mother only knew I was confined, not the reason. She assumed I’d broken some rule and received severe punishment, so she privately appealed to my senior sister. She begged her, invoking the years my father had raised her, to show mercy and let me off this once.

This matter was far too significant for my senior sister to decide. Naturally, my mother was rebuffed, and in her letter, she vented her frustrations chiding me for my recklessness and blaming my senior sister for her heartlessness.

At the end of the letter, my mother urged me to speak gently to Lingshu. After all, the Heart Inquiry Sect’s rise as the world’s leading sect owed much to the current emperor’s support. If the emperor applied some pressure, even the sect master would have to show some deference.

Lingshu was right.

At her age, my mother should have been surrounded by grandchildren, enjoying the joys of family. Instead, she worried and suffered for my sake. If she knew the real reason for my confinement, how could her heart not break?

Is there anyone in this world as wretched as I am?

Thinking this, ten years of seclusion didn’t seem like harsh punishment, it was what I deserved.

Only, I’d wronged my senior sister again. Because of me, she was unjustly blamed and labeled ungrateful for my father’s upbringing.

“Your Highness!” I mustered my courage, speaking with difficulty, “Could you please tell my mother that my confinement is my own fault? The ten-year sentence is already a lenient outcome, thanks to my senior sister’s protection. Please ask her not to blame my senior sister.”

Lingshu let out a slightly vicious cold laugh.

On anyone else, such an expression would have been utterly unpleasant. But she had such sweet, pure dimples and such playful canine teeth that even her cold smile carried a childish charm that softened hearts.

She was like a still-nursing leopard cub chest puffed, back arched, fur bristling, tail held high.

So even when she said, “Of course it’s your own fault. In all the world, I’ve never seen a fool like you,” I couldn’t bring myself to be angry with her.

Perhaps because I showed no reaction, Lingshu grew irritated instead. Her originally dark pupils faintly gleamed with a jade-green light. This lake-like emerald hue reminded me of that night years ago, and I instinctively lowered my gaze, avoiding her eyes.

“You Runqing, you’re not just a fool, but a pitiful wretch! Senior sister? Protection? Hah, what a colossal joke. Do you know that the elders, out of respect for Hongxi, originally intended to settle this matter with three strikes of the Heavenly Lightning Whip Punishment? It was your dear senior sister who insisted on adding ten years of solitary confinement for you, no matter what. And to think you’ve been wagging your tail so eagerly at her all these years, otherwise, damn it!”

Though I didn’t look at Lingshu, I knew exactly what change had come over her, forcing her to cut short her mockery of me.

Lingshu’s mother, the revered Imperial Consort, was actually a leopard demon.

According to my mother, the Imperial Consort had accidentally consumed a Ten-Thousand Zhang Lotus by chance, enabling her to take human form overnight. However, as her spiritual intelligence had not yet awakened at the time of transformation, her appearance and behavior were no different from a three-year-old child. A woodcutter gathering firewood in the mountains mistook her for an abandoned child and took her in.

The leopard demon, naive and pure-hearted, gradually developed human nature under the care of the woodcutter’s family. She even forgot she was a demon; aside from her love for meat and exceptionally agile movements, she was no different from an ordinary human girl.

Although the woodcutter had two sons of his own, he doted immensely on this little daughter. When the leopard demon was just over ten years old, he arranged a favorable marriage for her. The groom’s family raised chickens, ducks, and pigs, they were renowned as wealthy households in the surrounding villages. Once the leopard demon married into their family, she would never lack for meat.

However, as the leopard demon grew older, her beauty became increasingly striking, and this eventually brought disaster upon her.

During that year’s Lantern Festival, the leopard demon went with her family to the city temple fair, where she caught the eye of a notorious local magnate. The magnate fell for her at first sight and vowed to take her as his second wife. Impatient, he sent someone to propose to the woodcutter before the temple fair had even ended.

Naturally, the woodcutter was unwilling and declined, saying his daughter was already betrothed and would be married soon. The magnate, lusting after her beauty, refused to give up easily. Using his power and influence, he forced the wealthy family to break off the engagement. Then, he sent a matchmaker with ten chests of betrothal gifts to propose marriage.

The woodcutter had lived his whole life in the mountains, relying on its resources and living by the water, he cared little for wealth and feared no authority. Seeing the magnate’s relentless harassment and underhanded tactics, he grabbed a fire poker, shouting and beating, and drove the matchmaker out. Matchmakers held a highly respected position in the village; wherever they went, people treated them with courtesy. This matchmaker had never suffered the humiliation of being thrown out. She immediately went to complain to the magnate, exaggerating and adding many falsehoods about the woodcutter’s family.

Upon hearing this, the magnate flew into a rage. He felt that, given his high status, lowering himself to propose to a peasant girl was already doing the woodcutter a favor. Yet the woodcutter had the audacity to disrespect him.

So the magnate colluded with local officials, fabricating charges to imprison the woodcutter and his two sons. He then bribed human traffickers to kidnap the leopard demon, truss her up, and deliver her to the bridal chamber.

The magnate, arrogantly confident that a mere girl would cause no trouble once the deed was done, was utterly pleased with himself. When the leopard demon cried and begged to go home, he threatened that if she didn’t obey, he would behead her father and brothers and sell her two sisters-in-law to a brothel.

Terrified, the leopard demon’s primal instincts resurfaced. She bit through the magnate’s throat in one bite, then killed over a dozen guards stationed outside the bridal chamber before fleeing in panic, disappearing into the dark forest night.

Upon learning that the magistrate and over a dozen servants had been killed by a demonic beast, the county official grew deeply uneasy. Fearing the leopard demon might return for revenge, he urgently sought help from mystical clans devoted to immortal cultivation to eliminate the evil. Though he failed to secure the aid of such clans, he managed to enlist several young disciples from an Immortal Sect who were traveling the world to gain experience. These half-grown youths, fresh and eager to prove themselves, were brimming with genuine skill. Hearing of the incident, they didn’t bother with the details but immediately set out to hunt the leopard demon.

The leopard demon only realized she was a demon after killing someone. Already terrified, how could she possibly confront these Immortal Sect disciples skilled in mystical arts? Her only option was to flee without looking back.

She fled all the way to Lingnan, where she encountered my mother.

My mother, being worldly and experienced, was not afraid of the leopard demon. Instead, she pitied her plight, helped her fend off the Immortal Sect disciples, and settled scores with the corrupt officials who oppressed the common people.

Naturally, the leopard demon felt immense gratitude toward my mother and acknowledged her as an elder sister.

Later, the leopard demon left Lingnan and, somehow, became the emperor’s favored consort, giving birth to Lingshu.

Before the age of twelve, Lingshu was no different from an ordinary girl, except that she was particularly fond of meat and unusually agile.

Then, one day, her eyes suddenly gleamed with an eerie green light, and a pair of leopard ears sprouted from the top of her head. These were things Lingshu could neither control nor conceal.

The leopard demon could offer no explanation and had no choice but to confess the truth to the emperor.

Unable to bear over a decade of deception, the emperor, in a fit of rage, banished the leopard demon to the cold palace. Lingshu was sent to Lingnan to be cared for by my knowledgeable mother.

To this day, the leopard demon has long since regained favor, but Lingshu still cannot control the demonic power within her.

I have touched Lingshu’s beast ears.

They were soft, fleshy, fluffy, and utterly adorable.

But to Lingshu, they were an infuriating flaw. Because of these protruding ears, she had to constantly wear a cloak so she could quickly cover them whenever they appeared.

Wearing a cloak was tolerable in winter, but in summer, it inevitably became stiflingly hot.

My master, Hongxi, was often away traveling, and since I became his disciple, I had rarely seen him. With little to do all day, I spent my time buried in the library, poring over ancient texts that had gathered dust for centuries. Unexpectedly, I discovered a method to conceal demonic traits within them.

However, forging such a Magical Artifact required refining ice soul stones with the purest flame for forty-nine days.

Keeping the purest flame burning in the refining cauldron for forty-nine days was no small expense, it was akin to pouring gold, jade, and pearls into the furnace. I saved for a long time before I could start the cauldron, intending to gift it to Lingshu in my mother’s name for her birthday.

I removed the ice soul hairpin from my hair and gently held it in my palm. I wanted to seize this chance to give the Magical Artifact to Lingshu, but I feared she might resent me and refuse to accept it.

“Yu Runqing! Stop pretending to be mute in front of me!”

In just a moment of distraction, the furious little leopard had darted in front of me, grabbing my collar, her eyes wide as if she wanted to devour me whole.

I froze for a moment, then instinctively raised my hand and placed the ice soul hairpin in her hair.

Lingshu also froze, eyeing me suspiciously. “What are you doing?”

“Your ears, they’re gone,” I whispered. “Don’t be angry!”

Lingshu touched the top of her head, her fingers brushing against the ice soul hairpin. After a brief hesitation, she snatched it off and threw it to the ground. “What is this rubbish!”

Her beast ears popped out again.

Looking at the hairpin broken in two, I thought, she really wouldn’t accept it after all.

Support Cursed by the World After Love’s Demise