Mutation

The three girls sat in the room, eyeing each other in silence.

Tao Lingling spoke first.
“Hey, I should be older than you, and we entered at the same time. You should be calling me Senior Sister.”

To open with such a petty matter after so long apart—clearly, she hadn’t matured at all. No wonder the Master was always most worried about her.

“We may not have sat together like this in a long time,” Lu Yunling replied, “but we don’t have time for idle chatter.”

Tao Lingling realized she was being foolish. This wasn’t the moment.

“Lu Yunling, why didn’t you join Master’s discipleship? Third Sister said you don’t even know her, and also that—”

“She’s someone you don’t fully understand yet.”

Fair point. Beware fire, beware theft, beware the third sister. Good thing she hadn’t blindly believed her.

Tang Qiaohuan stuck out her tongue, but subtly gathered spiritual energy—just in case either of these two decided to ‘educate’ her for being annoying.

“Let me answer your question first. I joined the Sword-Steering Hut for two reasons. One, to maximize my talent. Two, to ensure Master’s safety. Master gained too much fortune in her youth—Gong Chengyun and others won’t let that go easily. Being inside the enemy’s camp allows me to do more.”

She was as steady and reliable as ever.

Lu Yunling then asked, “And you? Will you still act the same as in your past life?”

“So far, no regrets have occurred.”

She answered seriously—honest, as it should be. But those two words, so far, left a lingering unease in Lu Yunling’s heart.

If another righteous sect still colluded with Xuan Yuan Sect to harm her family, Tao Lingling would probably throw everything away for revenge again.

The titles given by the Ling Shu Governance Institute were always meaningful.
They came from the Great Yan Observatory, after analyzing one’s fate and destiny star.

‘Vessels of Calamity, Demoness’—though it sounded derogatory, it was frighteningly accurate.
Because that’s exactly what she was.

Tao Lingling continued, “But now I’ve hit a problem… Master seems suspicious of me.”

“Suspicious how?”

“When I joined, I… exaggerated a bit. You know, to get in. I made Master think my family was wiped out…”

Oh, how filial of you.

Seeing their expressions, Tao Lingling’s face flushed red.

“Well, what can I do? Lu Yunling, you’re so talented—Master just met you today and already treats you so well…”

Sigh. Insecurity. Deep-rooted inferiority.

“Since your family is still alive, why come to the Central Land?”

“One, to assure them I’m safe. Two, to keep Master away from Xuantian Sword Sect for now. As much as I hate to admit it, only Jiang Yuyao can truly protect her.”

Tang Qiaohuan suddenly said, “Second Senior Sister, the reason Master came with you to the Central Land is to investigate you.”

Tao Lingling paled. When it came to matters concerning her Master, she couldn’t easily dismiss Tang Qiaohuan’s words as lies.
“Did I do something to make her dislike me?”

Lu Yunling glanced at Tang Qiaohuan.

The Master wouldn’t suspect without reason. Even if Tao Lingling had lied, she’d hidden it well. Unless someone had leaked the truth, the Master wouldn’t act so distantly.

It had to be Tang Qiaohuan.

“Linling,” Lu Yunling said, “all relationships are built on trust. If you’ve done nothing wrong, let her investigate freely.”

“But that’s too stupid,” Tang Qiaohuan sneered. “She once said, one lie needs a thousand lies to cover it. What if Master doesn’t find out? What if she keeps doubting you later? What lies will you tell then?”

Lu Yunling’s expression darkened. She couldn’t stand Tang Qiaohuan’s playful cruelty.

“If you could just keep your mouth shut, half our problems wouldn’t exist.”

“This is the truth!” Tang Qiaohuan snapped. “Can’t you think bigger? Just tell the truth—then hide a few things, sprinkle in some harmless lies. Honestly, you’re just too dumb. To compete for favor, you’d lie about something like that… hehe.”

Satisfied. So satisfied.

Seeing Tao Lingling’s distressed face, Tang Qiaohuan finally felt content.
All her behind-the-scenes scheming had paid off.

The price of exploiting the Master’s kindness to get ahead?
A heavy burden of guilt.
Haha.

“Let’s set that aside for now. We have a more urgent matter. In our past life, we didn’t participate in the Xuan Yuan chaos. Now, though we’re weak, we hold critical intelligence. We’ll pretend to investigate, then pass the findings through you to Master. Then—”

She suddenly stopped.

Her face turned deathly pale.

In one swift motion, she drew her sword.

Tang Qiaohuan’s playful expression vanished. She frantically dug through her spatial pouch for a talisman.

Tao Lingling was stunned at first—then instantly understood.

Only one thing could make these two react like this.

Master!

She summoned her Void Spirit and sent it flying toward the Master’s room.

Lu Yunling had already dashed inside.

Tao Lingling arrived moments later.

The room was empty.

Only the open window remained, cool wind drifting in.

The Master was gone.

Lu Yunling’s face darkened. She clenched her teeth.
“Damn it. How could we forget that!”

Tang Qiaohuan strolled in late.
“If even I forgot, it’s only natural you did too…”

Tao Lingling, still in the dark, panicked.
“Can you stop speaking in riddles? What’s going on?”

“The demoness who turned Master into a woman—do you remember her? Since the transformation, she’s been obsessed, always looking for a chance to kidnap Master. But in the last life, Master never left Xuantian Sword Sect, so she never succeeded.”

When Gong Ning finally left the sect once, the demoness tried to strike—only to be driven off by Lu Yunling. They’d thought it over.

They never expected it to happen here.

“Then why are you still standing around? Go save Master!”

Tao Lingling rushed toward the window, ready to leap out.

But Tang Qiaohuan grabbed her arm.

“Calm down.” She pulled out a small bell. “I have the Retro-Wind Chime. It’ll tell us where Master is. That demoness is at fifth layer of Golden Core cultivation. Going alone is suicide.”

Teasing her senior sisters was fun.

But letting them die? That was going too far.

“For now… I’ll go to the Governance Institute and try to contact my father. You two should go look for Jiang Yuyao.”

Gong Ning was currently slung over someone’s shoulder.

She recognized her captor well.

In fact, this person was the beginning of it all.

When the window opened, Gong Ning didn’t cry out.

Her disciples were next door.

If she caused a scene, tragedy might follow.

So she let herself be taken.

About two quarters of an hour later, the demoness finally set her down—on a stone pillar.

No restraints.

No violence.

Instead, she stood back, eyes wide with curiosity, studying Gong Ning like a rare artifact.

No aggression.

Only endless, unmasked fascination—examining every inch, every detail, with raw, unfiltered desire.