Guide to the Rebirth of the Evil Woman in the Immortal Realm - Chapter 19

The fire had ceased to burn, leaving behind nothing but the charred ruins of the Green Chamber atop the mountain peak.

With her back to the wreckage, Zhao Lanying seemed unaccustomed to extending such an invitation. Her long lashes fluttered slightly as she continued, “Come if you wish; there is no need to bring us a gift.”

Shen Fuxin lowered her eyes with a smile, her gaze sweeping past the sword tip still pointed at her. “Everyone, remember to come on the fifth day of the sixth month. Senior Sister Yu will be handing out wedding candies to everyone.”

Ji Ting could not help but let out a laugh, which sounded jarringly abrupt in the dead silence. Li Jiantai looked at their expressions, unable to quite make sense of it. This was clearly a joyous occasion; why was no one smiling? Then again, though Senior Sister Yu looked fierce, she truly was a considerate and kind person.

Yu Zhanxu stood alone in the vast night, her grip tightening on her sword.

Is this fun for you, Shen Fuxin?

She desperately wanted to demand an answer, but in what capacity could she even ask? Would she ask as the “kind person” Senior Sister Yu who hands out candy at a wedding ceremony?

She lifted her sword, her gaze shifting across everyone present, and her lips curled into a faint smirk.

If she were wise, she should put on a festive smile now. First, she should congratulate her Master on no longer being alone. Then, she should congratulate Shen Fuxin for finally achieving a seven-hundred-year-old wish. Finally, she should ask these fellow young immortals what flavors of candy they preferred. Everyone would get a share. When the banquet came, she, Yu Zhanxu, would take a bag of candy and scatter it everywhere. She would scatter it from day till night, until they lifted the bridal veils and entered the nuptial chamber.

Yu Zhanxu let go, and her natal sword vanished into her palm in a flash.

She could not bring herself to smile. Expressionless, she said, “Congratulations.”

Given the usual temperament of the Hongjing Immortal, Yu Zhanxu expected no response. However, Zhao Lanying actually turned her head, casting a glance at the clearly dejected Yu Zhanxu. “Thank you.”

With that, Zhao Lanying raised her hand, restoring the burnt-out ruins of the Green Chamber to their original state, before turning back toward her Altar of Infinite Law.

It was getting late. The other students retired to rest in small groups, but Shen Fuxin remained standing where she was. Seeing that she seemed troubled, Sword Master Jiexua walked over to offer some words of comfort. But after only a few steps, he saw a familiar figure leaning in close to her.

Looking at Ji Ting standing flush against Shen Fuxin, Sword Master Jiexua said in surprise, “Fuxin, she…”

“She is the Immortal Envoy I have hired,” Shen Fuxin interjected quickly. “Did you need something, Sword Master?”

“It is nothing,” he replied, withdrawing his gaze from Ji Ting. “Remember to come to the Sword Terrace tomorrow. Since you are not practicing the sword now, those two unused alchemy cauldrons are yours to use for the time being.”

This suited Shen Fuxin perfectly. She thanked the Sword Master and, seeing the crowd had fully dispersed, turned to return to her room. Just as she reached the door, a hand lightly caught her wrist from behind.

The sword callouses grazed her skin for a fleeting second, sending a subtle shiver through her. Shen Fuxin turned to find Yu Zhanxu standing behind her with her head lowered. It turned out the once-arrogant Crown Princess could actually lower herself this much.

Yu Zhanxu whispered, “I am sorry.”

Shen Fuxin found it absurd. To think that so many humiliations could be canceled out with a single “I am sorry,” as if Zhao Lanying trying to trick her with a covenant contract was not enough. What was the fundamental difference between Yu Zhanxu and Zhao Lanying?

Shen Fuxin shook off her hand and said indifferently, “Is that all? Just an ‘I am sorry’?”

Yu Zhanxu stared at her blankly. “I will be good to you. Fuxin, do not enter the covenant with Zhao Lanying, okay?”

Standing to the side, Ji Ting watched this drama with great interest, eager to see how Shen Fuxin would react. Would she use biting sarcasm, or simply draw her sword? Either seemed entertaining.

Shen Fuxin did not disappoint the spectating Ji Ting. She raised her hand and suddenly stroked Yu Zhanxu’s cold cheek.

Yu Zhanxu was startled, but then, like a kitten or puppy suddenly receiving affection, she leaned into the touch. She grasped Shen Fuxin’s hand with both of hers, her body almost trembling. “Fuxin…”

Shen Fuxin smiled. “Kneel.”

In that instant, the blood in Yu Zhanxu’s veins turned to ice.

She gripped Shen Fuxin’s hand tightly, asking in disbelief, “What did you say?”

“Aren’t you here to apologize? How can you apologize without sincerity?” Shen Fuxin patted her cheek rhythmically with a smile. “Or do you think that after all the terrible things you did to me, I am so cheap in your eyes that I can be brushed off with a hollow ‘I am sorry’?”

Yu Zhanxu felt the light slaps on her face. They were not heavy, but they stung. More than that, she felt a burning sensation, a scorching shame rising with every strike. How could she ask her to kneel? In this lifetime, Yu Zhanxu had never bowed her head to anyone.

Shen Fuxin lightly pinched Yu Zhanxu’s cheek and gave it a shake. It looked intimate, but there was no affection in her eyes. “Senior Sister, take back your apology. I do not need it.”

Without a backward glance, she shut the door, locking Yu Zhanxu out.

Ji Ting saw that Shen Fuxin was in a bad mood and had no desire to talk, so she refrained from teasing her and instead curled back into Shen Fuxin’s large bathtub.

She closed her eyes, listening to the soft crackling of the spiritual fire as Shen Fuxin relit it. The low, quiet sound felt strangely familiar to her.

That night, Ji Ting had a rare dream.

In the dream, she was a small pebble by the roadside, kicked around by passersby, traveling to many places throughout her life. Until one day, a child picked her up and brought her into a temple.

The temple was small, but the scent of flowers and incense never faded throughout the year. The pebble soaked up the incense, developing spiritual wisdom and gradually coming to understand the words people spoke. It was said that the one enshrined here was a majestic War God, a mortal who had ascended to immortality and saved the world from ruin. He was incredibly powerful and deeply loved by the people.

She was very interested in this War God and desperately wanted to see what he looked like. But as a pebble, she was too small. Every day, she could only see the soles of people’s shoes or the colorful hems of their robes. Beyond that, she could see nothing.

Many years passed, perhaps hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands. The child who brought her to the temple had long since turned to dust, but a stone is just a stone; it does not die, age, or vanish. Sometimes she felt lonely, but luckily, she had the company of the War God statue nearby, whom she had never truly seen.

Until one day, she heard a loud crash.

People coming and going said this deity was a false god who had received offerings for nothing all these years, and that it was time to replace him with a new statue.

The old statue collapsed with a thunderous roar, crashing down right in front of the pebble.

She widened her eyes in shock.

She clearly recognized this statue, this familiar face, this familiar sword. The indignant crowd gathered around the statue and swung a hammer.

That familiar face instantly shattered into countless pieces. But she did not forget again; she dared not forget this face.

It was clearly Ji Ting’s own face.

The bell of the Sword Terrace rang, and Ji Ting opened her eyes to see Shen Fuxin with her back turned, putting on her outer robe.

Ji Ting remained curled in the bathtub, silent, still seemingly immersed in last night’s dream. When Shen Fuxin turned around, she saw Ji Ting was uncharacteristically quiet, looking as though she had suffered some kind of shock.

Shen Fuxin was about to head out for morning lessons and did not have time to worry about her. Passing the table, she casually picked up a freshly added lotus flower and tossed it into the bathtub.

Ji Ting caught the flower with one hand and looked up at Shen Fuxin.

“I am going to the Sword Terrace. Stay here,” Shen Fuxin said as she opened the door. “Do not go wandering off. If you are bored, play with that.”

The door slammed shut. Ji Ting held the flower and lightly flicked the plain white petals with her finger.

It felt a bit like being looked after. She smiled, finding the sensation interesting.

Though she did not remember her past, she had a vague sense that she was always the one at the front, charging into battle for others. She had never been kept in the back, let alone been given a little toy to play with.

I suddenly do not want Shen Fuxin to enter a covenant with anyone else, Ji Ting thought, plucking a petal and watching it shatter into snow-like fragments between her fingers.

At least Shen Fuxin thinks nothing of her Master or her Senior Sister, Ji Ting mused. Such a fun person should spend more time playing with me.

A moment later, after the sound of footsteps from the surrounding rooms had faded, she tied the lotus Shen Fuxin had given her to her waist and openly walked out the door.

Ji Ting wandered down the mountain and reached the golden, shimmering barrier of the Azure Emperor’s Spirit Mountain. Looking at the entrance, she casually snapped her fingers.

The barrier, which had been impregnable just a moment ago, instantly dissolved into nothingness.

With her lotus in tow, Ji Ting stepped through the barrier without looking back. The moment she crossed, the barrier silently reformed behind her. Like an unrestrained ghost, she lightheartedly departed from the mountain.

By the way, what time do Shen Fuxin and the others finish their morning lessons? Ji Ting checked the sky.

Still early. I just need to be back within two hours, right?

Following her memory, she returned to the Immortal Market where Shen Fuxin had found her. This place was filled with immortals doing business from dawn till dusk. Ji Ting liked this chaotic, mixed environment. After walking through the market for a long time, she finally stopped in front of a teahouse.

She only had fifty spiritual stones on her, which she had stubbornly wheedled out of Shen Fuxin when they returned from the Old Vine Immortal Dwelling. Her reasoning was that the turtle Shen Fuxin threw at her had bitten her, and if Shen Fuxin did not pay up, she would throw the turtle away.

Clutching her stones, Ji Ting entered the teahouse, ordered a cheap pot of tea for ten stones, and sat down to listen intently to the gossip of the surrounding immortals.

Every teahouse had its share of local scandals, and the Immortal Market was different from other parts of the Immortal Realm; it attracted unconventional immortals, meaning there was more to hear.

After a short while, the table next to her began to chat.

“Do you know about that dragon girl from the Ying Sea who descended to the mortal realm?”

Ji Ting held her breath. A dragon girl from the Ying Sea? It sounded familiar. She looked down at the forty spiritual stones she had left and realized.

It must be the Golden Dragon who gave me three thousand stones that day.

“Of course, I know. I heard she is trying to cultivate the destiny of a ten-generation Emperor in the human world. If she succeeds, she will earn tens of thousands of years of merit when she returns,” a fellow immortal replied knowingly. “As expected, the God Realm still favors the Ying Sea. Knowing those dragon princes are useless, they specifically chose a capable dragon girl to descend for trials.”

“That is not how the story goes. I heard the higher-ups want to purge the Golden Dragons of the Ying Sea,” the voice suddenly dropped low. “Her trial is not as simple as you think. If something goes wrong, she might never be able to return.”

Ji Ting sipped her tea, thoughtful. How many years has it been since an immortal ascended to godhood?

“Why purge the Golden Dragons for no reason?” Another was clearly confused. “I heard the Golden Dragon clan has declined over the last ten thousand years anyway; there is no real need to weaken them further.”

The first immortal shook his head and sighed. “Who knows? The Immortal Realm is not what it used to be; there are many who are just coasting. Ever since all those people started ascending from the mortal world for no clear reason, things have changed. No one attains the Tao to become a god anymore. I have stopped trying so hard to cultivate. I just take it day by day.”

“What about that War God in the God Realm?”

At this, Ji Ting’s hand holding the teacup paused.

“Are you talking about Lord Jie Fanyin?” The immortal set down his cup. “Lord Jie Fanyin is the incarnation of a Bodhi seed from the God Realm. He was born and raised there and was enlightened by the Heavenly Tao. It is quite a legendary tale. In short, he attained godhood within the God Realm; it does not count as an ascension.”

Ji Ting sat there as her tea grew cold. Suddenly, she felt a sense of emptiness.

She did not know how long she sat there, but once the immortals at the next table paid and left, she stood up. Wu Zhen, Jie Fanyin, Shen Sha, Wenren Yi; these names cycled through her mind like a lantern show, yet she still could not remember.

I really should follow Shen Fuxin down to the mortal realm to see that Shen Sha who was banished back then.

Oh, right. Shen Fuxin is still inside the Azure Emperor’s Spirit Mountain.

Ji Ting checked the sky. It was getting late; Shen Fuxin would be finishing her morning lessons soon. She hurried back toward the mountain. If Shen Fuxin returned to the room first and found her missing from the tub, it would be difficult to explain.

Actually, I do not need to explain anything to her, Ji Ting thought, stopping abruptly.

She was not Shen Fuxin’s anyone. She was not her Master, not her Senior Sister, and certainly not the mother she longed for. She was just a nominal Immortal Envoy; Shen Fuxin had no right to control where she went.

Having reached this conclusion, she slowed her pace. After walking a bit, she noticed an immortal at a street corner selling glittering plum candies.

These plum candies were beautiful, kept in glass jars, which was a rare sight in the Immortal Realm. Ji Ting leaned down to look at the jars. Each candy was shaped like a little rabbit with long ears, crystal clear, with a tiny plum buried inside the rabbit’s face.

Besides the rabbits, there were also fish, cats, and tigers. All were very adorable.

Looking at the jars, Ji Ting suddenly remembered Shen Fuxin standing under the corridor that day.

These candies were for coaxing children, but had Shen Fuxin ever eaten candy as a child? During those hundreds of years spent kneeling in the corridor through wind and rain with no one to plead for her, perhaps she had been like that young swordsman from the other day; exhausted, with cracked lips and a pale face.

During those days in the Old Vine Immortal Dwelling, would anyone have truly given her candy to eat?

The young immortal running the stall could not take it anymore and said flatly, “Ten spiritual stones a jar. Are you buying or not?”

There were over a dozen jars on the stall. Fine, who told her she was such a good person?

Ji Ting pulled out forty spiritual stones. After a thought, she said to the young immortal with a profound air, “Fellow Daoist, would you like your fortune told?”

A moment later, she had bought out the entire stall. She stuffed the jars one by one into her sleeves and clinked all the way back to the mountain.

Yu Zhanxu walked along the path, dazed.

She had not slept a wink last night. It was not that she did not want to; it was that as soon as she closed her eyes, countless versions of Shen Fuxin ran through her mind. Some “Shen Fuxins” stroked her face affectionately and called her “Senior Sister,” others slapped her face repeatedly, and still others coldly ordered her to kneel.

Kneeling is impossible, Yu Zhanxu thought, and then, in her hallucination, she fell to her knees with a thud and gently stroked Shen Fuxin’s calf.

No. Yu Zhanxu felt she was very close to a dangerous line. She quickly chanted a heart-clearing mantra to suppress the erotic thoughts about to play out in her mind and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, seeing Shen Fuxin at the Sword Terrace today, the girl seemed to have completely forgotten yesterday’s events, focusing entirely on her alchemy cauldron. Yu Zhanxu felt restless. She was annoyed that Shen Fuxin ignored her, annoyed that she was entering a covenant with Zhao Lanying, and annoyed by that “Immortal Envoy” who had nothing but a pretty face and a bad attitude.

At some point, Shen Fuxin seemed to have become popular, with so many people around her.

Yu Zhanxu’s frustration had nowhere to go, then she spotted that annoying envoy. She had clearly just returned from somewhere and was climbing the stone steps toward the Green Chamber.

Anger flared in Yu Zhanxu’s heart. She caught up in a few strides and, with a flick of her wrist, summoned the Prince’s Sword that had accompanied her for centuries. Ji Ting turned around just as a chilling sword wind slashed toward her, turning the passing clouds into the shape of azure dragon scales.

Yu Zhanxu waited to see this envoy named “Xiao Ting” make a fool of herself, but to her surprise, the girl merely withdrew her smile and plucked a plain lotus petal from her waist.

“Your sword intent is quite pretty,” Ji Ting said as the soft petal flew from her fingertips, instantly shattering Yu Zhanxu’s full-strength strike with crushing force before exploding into a million mist-like fragments. “But it is useless.”

Yu Zhanxu spat out a mouthful of blood, watching helplessly as Ji Ting looked down at her with a gaze that was half-smiling and half-disdainful.

How is this possible?

She had not even used a sword, and the power from that petal was not even sword intent. More terrifyingly, Yu Zhanxu realized the girl had not even used ten percent of her immortal power.

Clutching her injury, Yu Zhanxu struggled to speak: “You… stop! Why are you…”

Ji Ting let out a laugh and turned to leave. “I am not your Master. I have no obligation to teach you.”

Having shaken off Yu Zhanxu’s harassment, she climbed the rest of the stairs in one go and finally returned to the chamber at the peak. Seeing Shen Fuxin’s door slightly ajar, Ji Ting felt a sense of unease.

She pushed the door open gently to see Shen Fuxin sitting in a chair, engrossed in the alchemy book given by the Great God Yandan.

It was impossible to tell how long she had been back.

For some reason, Ji Ting felt a twinge of guilt. She quietly closed the door. Before she could even turn around, Shen Fuxin put down the book and said with a faint smile, “Xiao Ting, where did you go?”

Ji Ting did not say a word; instead, she began rummaging through her ethereal sleeves.

Shen Fuxin pursed her lips, but when she saw the candies being pulled out, she could not help but be slightly dazed.

Ji Ting kept pulling them out, soon filling the small, worn wooden table to the brim. In the dim and simple room, these candy jars suddenly appeared like night-pearls falling into a thatched hut, making the space sparkle.

Shen Fuxin stared at the jars, then carefully picked up the one with the rabbits and held it up.

The candy wrappers shimmered, and Shen Fuxin’s light-colored eyes began to sparkle too. She shook the jar and turned to Ji Ting. “Where did these come from?”

Ji Ting said seriously, “I swindled them out of someone while pretending to be a fortune teller.”

Shen Fuxin was silent for a moment before unscrewing the jar. “Are they for me?”

“If you like them, I will give you half,” Ji Ting said, her tone shifting to one of grievance. “Just now, that Senior Sister of yours chased me with a sword, trying to mince me with her sword wind. I fought for my life and almost broke the candy jars while running away.”

Shen Fuxin was well-used to Ji Ting’s mix of true and false complaints. She pinched a rabbit candy from the jar and then opened the others to take more. She lowered her eyes, unwrapped the paper, and stuffed several candies into her mouth at once.

It was so sweet. She had never eaten anything this sweet.

Shen Fuxin licked the sugar, then crunched and chewed them all up. For a moment, sweetness and sourness flooded her senses; it was a taste she had never experienced before.

Ji Ting was still aggrievedly describing how Yu Zhanxu had chased her, but while she was in the middle of her performance, something cold was suddenly pressed into her palm.

She looked down; it was a plum candy.

Shen Fuxin handed her some spiritual stones along with it. Her cheeks were bulging with candy, but she maintained a deliberately cold expression. “I will not press you on where you went today. If you see them again, buy more for me.”