A beauty that could topple kingdoms

Embarrassed more than I can say. Heads may roll, blood may spill, but face is priceless—Chang Wan, with a burning face, turned around, ready to charge into the secret room to find the jade slip, when a knock sounded at the door.

Accidentally, she caught a glimpse of the mirror nearby.

At the same time, Qiu Hu’s respectful voice came from outside the door.

“Elder. Someone is here to see you.”

In the mirror, the young girl in her white dress had a bloody handprint on her chest.

Sure enough, when she had clutched her chest just now, she had carelessly smeared the blood from her hand onto her clothes.

Chang Wan looked at her hand, and the memory of that moment flashed through her brain.

Chu Changqing had pressed her hand against the bandages on his chest, his gaze deep and inscrutable.

…

Ah—stop it!!!

It’s so dirty!!!

Does he have no shame!!!

~

Li Su stood outside the palace with his books, waiting anxiously.

He was a disciple who had just stepped from Foundation Establishment into the Heart Movement stage, like someone who had just opened the door to a new world.

The old shackles had vanished, but new hardships followed one after another.

First, there were the endless dreams; everything he had ever done transformed into a yardstick to test him.

Every day, various inner demons entered his heart, testing his nature through nightmares—

A single slip could lead to eternal damnation.

This was the most dangerous stage in cultivation: the Heart Movement stage.

In the vast Qingzhou, there were thousands in the Heart Movement stage. Looking around, only a mere dozen or so had managed to break free from it, achieve utter stillness of mind, and step into the lofty Spirit Solitude stage.

That was like ascending to heaven in a single step.

He glanced at the charred red rope on his wrist, his eyes dimming slightly, but they turned firm again in an instant.

The Qingfeng Sect had three Spirit Solitude masters as lecturers, and one of them went to the Sage Hall every day. But after listening to so many, Li Su found that only Elder Chang’s lectures were the most reliable.

Elder Xia would always digress to lecture on how to refine toxins suitable for the Heart Movement stage, and Elder Qiu was younger… that wasn’t a problem, but what was troublesome was that he was a mute who only wrote on the board incessantly… and these past few days, he didn’t even write on the board anymore…

Therefore, even though it was rumored that Elder Chang was cold and fierce, and would strip people’s bones if her temper was bad, in order to safely survive the Heart Movement stage, he had no choice but to brace himself and come to ask for guidance.

Waiting before the magnificent Elder Hall, it took a long time before a white-robed youth came to summon him.

“The Elder summons you.”

Li Su’s eyes widened with pleasant surprise, and he hurriedly followed.

Passing through carved railings and dense gardens, he caught sight of the young girl resting in the courtyard.

The girl sat in a rocking chair, beneath a vine of grapes. She wore a pink dress, her hair tied up casually.

Her fair hands held a blue-covered booklet, and beneath long, slender eyelashes, a pair of light chestnut eyes looked incredibly soft.

Li Su was momentarily stunned.

She looked like a sheltered young lady from a prestigious family in the mortal world, every smile and frown carrying gentleness and grace.

Not the cold, ruthless Elder Chang who acted decisively as rumored.

She also saw him, did not smile, closed the book in her hand, and said in a somewhat cold voice, “What is your business?”

An invisible pressure suddenly spread!

The young girl’s light chestnut eyes looked gentle, but there was no emotion within them.

Li Su suddenly sobered up—

This was not a sheltered young lady of the mortal world.

She was indeed the cold and ruthless Elder Chang.

Li Su lowered his head, gathering all his romantic notions into nothingness: “Replying to the Elder, disciple… disciple has come to ask you some questions!”

When Chang Wan saw the book about the Heart Movement stage in his hand, her eye twitched slightly.

She glanced at her closed bedroom door.

Her cheating jade slip was lost in the secret passage behind the wardrobe, its fate unknown… what was she to do about this person asking her questions…

Chang Wan decided to use feeling unwell to fob him off. She looked at the sky, “Today…”

“Today is Elder Xia’s lecture day.” Li Su suddenly knelt down, looked up at Chang Wan, his gaze firm, “But I only want to listen to your guidance!”

Each of the three Elders had disciples who followed them.

Just like when Elder Xia caused trouble the other day, he brought a team of lackeys who rode the coattails of his power…

Chang Wan was also an Elder of a faction, and she had followers too; usually, they were useless, but they were good for creating momentum at critical moments.

And every disciple who had just entered the Heart Movement stage had to choose an Elder after one year to receive their guidance.

The existence of the Sage Hall was also to let these disciples understand the character of the Elders so they could make a choice.

And now that Li Su said this, it meant he didn’t want to wait a year but chose to follow Chang Wan now.

Chang Wan: “…”

…It seemed she couldn’t fob him off after all.

Chang Wan released her pressure, feeling her scalp tighten, but her face remained composed, “What do you want to ask?”

“I want to ask… how to resist inner demons.” Li Su knelt on the ground, his tone tense but respectful, “As a mere mortal disciple, I have made many mistakes—the Heavens have their ways, evil receives retribution, and now the mistakes I have made in the past have all become inner demons.”

The Heavens have their ways, evil receives retribution?

Screw that.

Chang Wan got a headache the moment she heard that phrase.

Li Su, unaware of his admired Elder’s intense hatred for this saying, remained thirsty for knowledge.

“Disciple wishes to ask, do you also have inner demons? How did you overcome your own inner demons?”

Chang Wan: “…”

She wasn’t the original owner; what kind of inner demons could she have!

Chang Wan thought for a long time, recalling the content of the jade slip, combining it with her own experience, and finally said calmly, “…It is like this.”

She mimicked the tone of a primary school teacher teaching pupils.

“…Inner demons are what you fear; the way to overcome them is to face them bravely.”

…

She bluffed her way through based on the content of her memory and finally dismissed the troublesome disciple.

After Chang Wan got up and lay down again, she lifted her fingertip slightly, and crystalline Wind Spiritual Energy rolled a crystal grape into her hand.

Just as Chang Wan was about to peel and eat the grape.

Suddenly, she heard a “thud.”

Very faint.

Chang Wan paused, not moving.

Another “thud.”

…It was the wardrobe.

She looked around; there was no one, and the sweeping disciples were not here.

Her face twitched. She stuffed the grape into her mouth, stormed into the room, slammed the door shut, and pulled the wardrobe open with a bang—

Warm sunlight leaked a sliver of light through the closed paper window.

The youth wearing simple black clothes, exposing his bandaged chest, leaned against the wardrobe, the secret door wide open. His eyes were crinkled with soft smiles, a tear mole beneath one eye—one part artistic, three parts charming.

In his slender, fair hands, a blue jade slip shone brilliantly.

“Chang… Wan.”

This was his first time.

Saying a woman’s name.

—“Clang!”

Chang Wan pulled the wardrobe shut again. She leaned her back against it, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

It really was him—how did he get out? She clearly locked the secret passage! How did he—

And—the jade slip!!

The light was buried, and darkness emerged. The jade slip in the youth’s hand radiated a blue-green light.

He closed his eyes and could hear the young woman’s soft, somewhat anxious breathing outside the wardrobe.

After a while.

Seeming to have calmed down, Chang Wan asked with difficulty: “How… how did you get out?”

Chu Changqing did not answer her question, only saying, “You were wrong.”

Chang Wan: “…”

Chang Wan: “What?”

Chu Changqing’s lips curled up slightly, “The words you just said to that person were wrong.”

Chang Wan understood, and her scalp tingled, “Nonsense! I was just—why am I explaining myself to you.”

It was just thinking about what this person had done, and for a moment, she couldn’t care about her persona.

Moreover, she had spoken based on the analysis from the jade slip; although it might have been a bit of a bluff, it couldn’t have been wrong!

The wardrobe door was pulled open again, and light rushed in. The jade slip in the youth’s hand was forcefully snatched away. Chang Wan said angrily: “You are not allowed to come out! Go back!”

She was so cute when she was angry—standing in the light like an irritated sheep, stamping her soft hooves, eyes wide open, yet she couldn’t make him feel the danger like she had before.

As soon as she finished speaking, she wanted to pull the wardrobe door shut, but she was stopped by him.

At that moment, Chang Wan’s expression was as if she had seen a ghost, her almond eyes wide, with a flash of panic.

Chu Changqing pressed his tongue against his teeth.

She was truly cute.

…It made one want to bully her.

“The dead will come back to life in one’s heart and become inner demons.”

Before he knew it, two of his fingers were pinching the jade slip she held; his movements were as light as his voice, “Torturing them day and night, letting them have no peace.”

Just like him.

The old inner demon lived in his heart; the new inner demon lived in his eyes.

—Without madness, there is no life.

“Since it was wrong from the beginning, no matter what you do… it is still wrong.”

“Some debts that cannot be repaid, even if you face them, you still cannot repay them.”

Chang Wan’s pupils were the size of needles, her mind a blank slate.

He looked at her slightly panicked expression and thought.

—She is truly beautiful.

She possessed beauty that could topple cities and states.

His voice turned low and hoarse.

“If you squeeze too tight, people will go mad.”

Her beauty was worth him toppling cities and states for her.

~

Ink-scented and elegant, the youth held a brush, outlining on paper.

Light pink flowers, dark green leaves, the color of burning peach blossoms.

“Elder Chang asked for a black undergarment and a clay flute a few days ago…”

“Except for going to the Sage Hall, she hasn’t gone out much recently, but she seems to have some interest in mundane snacks…”

“…”

The youth stood behind the young man, properly, giving every detail.

Qi Bing’s eyes were gentle, but the depths of his pupils were stained with the chill of autumn. “I understand.”