Overconfident

The young man moved very quickly. Chang Wan, baffled, could only be depressed for a while and plan for the long term.

However, unexpectedly, when leaving the back mountain, she encountered Elder Xia, whom she least wanted to see.

His hunched figure stood on the narrow mountain path, neither ascending nor descending. Chang Wan was tempted to use her sword to fly past him, but he called out to her with a sarcastic tone.

“Elder Chang, your carefree departure is certainly unconstrained, but I wonder how the Fire Red Sect’s fool will fare?”

Chang Wan, remembering how he had tricked her with poison as an antidote, felt a surge of anger. Although she had always been kind to people, she didn’t mind acting as the original owner for once, asserting her authority as an Elder, and cutting down the insolent old man’s arrogance.

She immediately said, “I have my own plans for how things will end. However, I wonder if Elder Xia’s old arms and legs, after performing such a grand bow, have recovered?”

Elder Xia now most feared others bringing up his shameful conduct in front of Elder Chang’s hall, and his face instantly stiffened.

Chang Wan ignored him, saying chillingly, “Shall I spread the word a bit more—or simply find a storyteller or an artist to illustrate and disseminate Elder Xia’s dignified posture and elegant bearing during his grand bow to a disciple, to be sung for a thousand years, so your hundreds of years of mediocre existence won’t be in vain?”

This immediately made Elder Xia’s forehead steam with anger, his face turning purple. Finally, he sneered, “That Shen family is an aristocratic clan, and Shen Lan is even protected like the apple of an Eye-level Nascent Soul master in the Fire Red Sect. You disgrace her so, just be careful not to get too carried away and stumble, snapping your leg instead of making waves!”

Having vented his angry words, he forgot what he originally wanted to say. Elder Xia flicked his sleeve and walked for more than ten miles on the mountain path before remembering that he had intercepted that young lass midway to probe her about that demonic scoundrel.

As a result, he didn’t get any information, but instead made himself so angry his seven orifices flared.

Chang Wan watched him leave, but fell into deep thought.

Her sister—why hadn’t Elder Xia brought her up again?

For a moment, she actually regretted speaking her angry words too quickly, forgetting to elicit more information.

= =

When Chang Wan returned to the secret room, she brought with her some apples, mulberries, and other spirit fruits that were nourished by spiritual energy and bore fruit in abundance on the mountain, despite being out of season.

She looked up and saw the youth staring directly at her. His normally deep and restrained gaze was now burning, as if trying to bore a hole through her.

Chang Wan felt inexplicably uncomfortable under his gaze. She placed the fruit down for him, “Eat if you’re thirsty.”

Chu Changqing’s voice was cold and thin: “Not thirsty.”

‘Just feeling a bit inflamed inside.’

Chang Wan didn’t possess any extraordinary ability to discern the slightest hint of annoyance on his expressionless face. She simply took him at his word, that he wasn’t thirsty.

She pulled up a stool and sat down, preparing to tell him her plans. It was fine if she didn’t cause trouble, but now that Shen Lan was forcibly pinning the blame on her, she had to find a way to deal with it.

But before that, she first had to resolve this big problem.

“I’m going to…” send you away.

Just as Chang Wan began to speak, the youth suddenly interrupted her: “I’m thirsty.”

Chang Wan: “…”

Chu Changqing looked at her. His usually aloof eyes finally revealed a hint of youthful spiritedness. He pointed to a spiritual orange, “That one.”

Chang Wan’s eyelids twitched for a long moment before she finally asked, uncertainly, for his meaning: “…You want me to peel it for you?”

It was a question.

Chu Changqing lowered his eyes slightly, “Mm.”

He softly feigned weakness: “I’m in pain.”

Chang Wan looked at him with difficulty for a long moment, her heart unmoved.

‘You can read books, climb stairs, and pin her against the wall, yet you can’t peel an orange? You’re lying to ghosts!!!’

However, the youth lowered his head, his soft black hair falling around his face. His cheeks, which hadn’t seen sunlight for days, were pale and bloodless, creating an impression of vulnerability.

It was as if the ruthless youth who had choked her and demanded a hundredfold repayment a few days ago had been reborn through fire, transformed into another person entirely.

Chang Wan comforted herself that at least this was a good sign… at least it meant there was room for redemption.

So she peeled the orange for him.

The young girl’s slender, fair hands dancing over the golden-orange fruit were very beautiful.

She seemed to have something to say, but after he interrupted her, she didn’t bring it up again, just quietly peeled the orange. In the dim candlelight, the girl’s thick, slender eyelashes cast a beautiful shadow on her eyelids.

The agitation in his heart, he didn’t know how to soothe it. He could only stare at her, recording her features bit by bit, inch by inch.

As if carving her entirely into his heart could appease the greed within him.

“There’s a spiritual mountain twenty miles away.” Chang Wan finished peeling the orange. Looking up, she suddenly met the youth’s eyes.

She instantly flinched, her voice also catching.

—There was that look again.

A fleeting glimpse of a greed that seemed to want to tear her apart and devour her, dense and chilling, making her hair stand on end.

But soon, his eyes softened, a gentle warmth that seemed somewhat vulnerable. He asked, “How is the spiritual mountain?”

Even if it was just a fleeting glance, Chang Wan couldn’t convince herself that she hadn’t seen it.

That darkness, that covetousness, possessiveness, and desire for control.

She still remembered the plot she had bought and read earlier.

He liked the appearance of this body and eventually peeled off its skin…

All her previous inexplicable confidence suddenly withered away. Chang Wan belatedly realized that being with him was like playing with fire.

What confidence did she have… that she wouldn’t repeat the tragic fate in the book?

Thinking of the way he looked at her, and his steadily rising Blackening Value, Chang Wan felt a sudden panic and confusion.

Chu Changqing naturally noticed the panic in her eyes.

Somewhat adorable.

Like a fawn that suddenly discovered leopards all around, with nowhere to run, yet still trying to bluff its way out.

Truly beautiful.

Chu Changqing let out a low chuckle, appearing gentle and harmless, and repeated his question: “The spiritual mountain… how is it?”

Chang Wan tried to compose herself and handed him the orange. The youth took it obediently, but his slender, fair fingers accidentally brushed against the young girl’s cherry-pink fingertips—

Just a light touch.

But it was like an electric shock.

Chu Changqing’s heart stirred, and his gaze instantly deepened.

Chang Wan immediately pulled her hand away, like a startled bird. Chu Changqing, with quick eyes and hands, caught the peeled orange segments.

Chang Wan made herself calm down. She was a Spirit Solitude… master. There was no need to fear a Heart Movement cultivator like him. At least for now, he couldn’t threaten her at all, and she didn’t need to worry about being controlled by him.

Thinking this, her heart was still pounding.

But her expression remained composed as she said, “That spiritual mountain is very secluded. If I send you there, you can recuperate in peace, and no one will disturb you.”

Chu Changqing plucked a segment of orange. His strong bones were stained with a pallor that never saw daylight. He smiled faintly at her, “So eager to send me away? Aren’t you afraid I’ll escape?”

She had expected her to argue earnestly.

But the young girl seemed to hesitate for a long time, “If you escape, will you still do bad things?”

She looked up at him, as if having made some decision, “If you promise me that you won’t do bad things anymore and will be a good person, I will just let you go…”

Before she could finish speaking, Chu Changqing couldn’t listen anymore. He broke off an orange segment and put it into her chattering little mouth, his voice aloof and flat: “For a person like me, who is full of evil, if I wished to become a Buddha instantly in this life, I fear even if I shed a layer of skin and lost a circle of flesh and blood, I wouldn’t be able to atone for the sins I committed.”

The orange was soft and sweet, successfully silencing Chang Wan.

Actually, this idea was just a thought she had.

Chu Changqing was forced into Qi deviation and annihilated the entire Qingfeng Sect, which was the most important turning point before he became a villain in “Against the Gods.” If she pretended to be a good person now and just let him go off into the distance, the Qingfeng Sect naturally wouldn’t persecute him, and he wouldn’t suffer Qi deviation. Although he might not smoothly pass the Heart Movement stage—at least it would have nothing to do with her, right?

As for her main mission of redemption—wouldn’t him not annihilating the entire Qingfeng Sect be the best form of redemption?

But what would he do after he left?

Perhaps he would be hunted… His notoriety was widespread. Even if he escaped one Qingfeng Sect, there were countless others. Such was the world; there was no way. She had thought too simply.

Chang Wan lowered her head, “…You are not some person overflowing with evil.”

Chang Wan regretted saying that; she felt the sentence didn’t sound like something the original owner would say.

So she just repeated her earlier words, “I have some trouble on my end; I need to move you to the spiritual mountain first.”

Chu Changqing paused, didn’t reply, and looked at her thoughtfully.

He deliberately brought up his previous notoriety, yet this person, who supposedly hated evil, showed no reaction at all… Was her previous aversion all an act, or did she have new plans?

Right, she was currently in trouble and couldn’t spare him much thought.

“What kind of trouble do you have?” Chu Changqing asked smoothly.

Chang Wan felt there was no need to conceal it and simply told him about Shen Cong becoming foolish.

Last time she made a mistake, it was he who pointed it out. Perhaps now, acting as a humble disciple willing to learn, she might even find a solution.

The young girl’s worried expression, under the dim candlelight, had a kind of melancholic beauty.

She seemed to hide nothing, her face full of trust, making one’s heart stir.

It made one want to reach out and smooth those furrowed brows, to coax a sweet smile from him.

Chu Changqing’s eyes darkened slightly, “You want to help that fool recover?”

Chang Wan: “Yes.”

“Why?” The youth seemed intrigued.

She was so eager for that person to recover; could it be that she liked…

Chang Wan: “Since everyone says it’s my fault, then of course I need to make the person clear-headed and prove my innocence.”

Chang Wan thought about it and decided there was no need to mention the threat from the Shen family behind the scenes.

If she could really make that fool clear-headed, the Shen family would have no reason to bother her anymore.

“But I don’t think that person suffered Qi deviation because of inner demons. It looks more like internal energy imbalance, which then…”

Chu Changqing’s fingertips curled slightly, then he said nonchalantly, “I know what happened.”

Chang Wan’s eyes lit up: “You know?”

The young girl’s eyes were bright, like stars falling into the night, so beautiful they made him hold his breath.

Chu Changqing slightly averted his gaze, suppressing the obsessive light in his eyes: “I have a way to restore him.”

‘That was merely a puppet that had died and been resurrected under his bloodline power.’

‘Life and death, joy and sorrow, were but a thought away.’