The next day.
Gu Linshu went out to purchase supplies. Wen Li had mentioned they would stay in this mortal village for the rest of the month to allow Zongzheng Huangyue to recover. Their daily life was to follow the pace of ordinary mortals.
Even with Wen Li’s treatment, Zongzheng Huangyue’s knees had been injured by the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator. They were practically ground to powder and extremely difficult to repair. Aside from occasionally using spiritual energy to lift herself and move about, she mostly relied on Wen Li for help.
As soon as Gu Linshu left, Wen Li carried Zongzheng Huangyue into the courtyard and onto the arched bridge by the pond. She gently placed her on a rattan chair and sat down beside her.
The midday sun had been harsh, but the temperature from the setting sun was now just right.
The horizon was stained with vibrant orange clouds, and the infinite sky was a clear, translucent blue. The clouds rolled and stretched like overlapping layers of heavy oil paint. Golden light shimmered over the courtyard pond, where green willows by the edge brushed against the lotus flowers, whispering summer secrets to the fish beneath the lily pads.
Frogs croaked and birds chirped; the lush trees surrounded the courtyard, creating a cozy little world secluded from the outside.
Mottled shadows of light fell across their faces, peaceful and serene.
Zongzheng Huangyue’s nostrils flared slightly as she breathed in the fresh, free air. Her small face tilted upward toward the herons flying high in the sky as she slowly began to speak of her memories.
“Zongzheng Yuanling and I are biological sisters, both illegitimate daughters. Our father’s official wife was a formidable woman, the eldest daughter of an Imperial Prince from the Zongzheng clan. Fearing our existence would tarnish his reputation, he discarded us and our mother in an old residence, ignoring us completely. Our mother died early, so we depended on each other from the time I was eight years old.”
“We survived by making hairpins to sell. Occasionally, I would go into the mountains to set traps and catch wild rabbits for sale. My younger sister was kind—three years younger than me. She always preferred to stay up late, secretly making hairpins to sell, or gathering medicinal herbs when we lacked money, just so she could give me the coins and beg me to release those rabbits. She was the only family member my mother left behind, so I cherished her and stopped catching rabbits to keep her from being sad.”
“Actually, I didn't always agree with her kindness and mercy. As long as we weren't harmed, what did other people or matters have to do with us? We survived entirely on our own. But she was very dependent on me and treated me well, and she was my only sister. So, I raised her, protected her as she grew, and allowed her to keep that kindness.”
“As we got older, my sister gradually revealed her cultivation talent—a Supreme Grade Fire Spiritual Root. My own aptitude was mediocre. People around us began to shift the respect and enthusiasm they once had for my competence onto her. I, who had always stood in front to protect her, retreated behind her back. I accepted it; after all, people are like that. My sister, as always, treated me well and respected me.”
“But when I was twelve, her cultivation surpassed mine. Father noticed her and brought her back to the Imperial Prince’s Estate, while I remained in that small courtyard. My sister always wanted Father to bring me back, even threatening her own life. Father yielded and brought me back as well. However, his cultivation resources and attention were always focused on her. I wasn’t reconciled to it—we were both his daughters, so why did he never look at me?”
“My sister and I looked very much alike. When Father had to enter the palace to see the Saint Emperor, my sister wanted me to go in her place so the Saint Emperor would see my abilities. So, I went. But I truly caught the Saint Emperor’s eye; he discovered my special constitution—the rare Nether Ghost Physique. Even at the Qi Refinement realm, I could seize another’s body.”
“The Saint Emperor summoned me and asked if I was willing to take a risk to stand above others, even at the cost of everything, even death. I wasn’t reconciled to being just an ordinary cultivator for the rest of my life, so I agreed. In truth, I knew the Saint Emperor wouldn't have allowed me to refuse; agreeing simply made me more valuable. The Saint Emperor killed ten thousand members of the Zongzheng clan—no, to be precise, I killed them. It had to be stained with my karma. I held the dagger and slit their throats to bleed them. Their essence blood collected in a blood pool sealed for ten thousand years beneath the Houchi Kingdom’s palace, where I soaked for three months.”
“During those three months, my skin rotted and turned to pus before falling off in chunks. Then my flesh peeled away until only a skeletal frame remained. Finally, even the skeleton was gone. I don’t know how many times I wanted to die. That pain is something I will never forget. Whenever it hurt, I could feel the ghosts of those ten thousand clansmen tearing at me. Fortunately, I endured, though only my soul remained.”
“The Saint Emperor taught me Ghost Cultivation techniques to help restore my soul. He said he would find a body for me to possess. Without a second thought, I designated my sister, Zongzheng Yuanling. When she was little and saw ghosts at night, she would tell me she was scared and could only sleep if I held her. To comfort her, I told her it was all fake and there were no ghosts. She thought I couldn't see them, but I could. I knew I hadn't truly succeeded yet. If the possession failed because the body wasn't compatible, the pain I endured would be for nothing, and I would die.”
“I also feared that the Saint Emperor would eventually discover that Zongzheng Yuanling had the same constitution as me. She had better talent and was more likable; I was afraid he would discard me as an experimental subject and choose her instead. So, I didn't tell him she was also a Nether Ghost Physique. I chose her to possess.”
“I succeeded. When I seized her body, she looked at me with eyes full of shock and grief, asking me why. I didn't say a word; I annihilated her soul and occupied her body, becoming the noble Princess Huangyue of Houchi Kingdom, provided for by ten thousand citizens.”
As she spoke, Zongzheng Huangyue gave a mocking smile, her cool eyes devoid of humanity like a venomous snake.
Sitting beside her, Wen Li listened quietly. She wouldn't ask if the girl felt she owed her sister anything, because she already knew the answer.
If she felt guilt, Zongzheng Huangyue wouldn't be standing here right now, calmly telling her these things.
Wen Li only asked one thing: “If she had been the one chosen by the Saint Emperor back then, would you have felt pity or jealousy?”
Refining essence blood with such sinister and toxic secret techniques to forge a pseudo-bloodline purity involved dangers and tortures beyond ordinary imagination. Soaking for three months and enduring the pain of one’s physical body rotting away required an inner strength that far surpassed most cultivators.
Did she have no feelings for her sister, Zongzheng Yuanling? She did, but they weren't enough to outweigh the torture she had suffered, nor enough to counter her determination to become strong.
“Jealousy...”
Zongzheng Huangyue was momentarily dazed, remembering the sister who used to follow behind her as a child. She quirked her lips and sighed softly. “I would have been jealous of her. From the moment her talent surpassed mine, I was jealous. If I knew she was chosen by the Saint Emperor because of the Nether Ghost Physique, I would have pitied the pain she would suffer, but I still would have killed her and replaced her.”
“So that I would be the only Nether Ghost Physique left in this world. That way, no matter how angry the Saint Emperor became, he would have no other choice.”
She wanted to be strong; she wouldn't allow anyone to stand in her way.
No one.
Wen Li understood. This obsession with profit and ambition wasn't just a product of her environment; it was in her very bones—the drive to become strong and refuse to be bullied, discarding benevolence and justice at any cost.
It was a personality well-suited for the law of the jungle, and for being a ruler.
Because those in high positions didn't need to consider too much. They only needed to uphold a single goal—“self-interest”—to command the entire board. Even if variables arose, they only needed to consider how it affected that central core to mitigate risk.
The sunset gradually dipped below the mountain peaks, and a cool breeze began to rise. Wen Li took out a blanket and draped it over her.
“There is no right or wrong in your actions. If you achieved your goal, then it was right. The lives of others have nothing to do with you; you are the only one who matters to yourself.”
Zongzheng Huangyue couldn't help but look up at her upon hearing this. She had never met anyone like Wen Li—someone with schemes and hidden depths, who seemed weak in cultivation but possessed a mysterious air, who was sometimes eccentric and amusing, yet other times ruthless and cold. At one moment, she showed a master’s maternal care to her and Gu Linshu, and at the next, she looked down upon all living things with contempt.
These traits would seem fragmented and contradictory in anyone else, but as she stood there, they were harmoniously unique, making it impossible for anyone to truly see through her.
Even a person as cold and ruthless as Zongzheng Yingchu thought she was wicked and corrupt, believing that making her Wen Li's disciple was a fitting humiliation. Yet, her Master had never once thought she was bad or wrong.
Zongzheng Huangyue couldn't help but speak.
“Master...”
“Hmm?”
Wen Li responded absently, holding the dagger named Hold On as she peeled a peach, seemingly indifferent to everything that had just been said—or perhaps she simply didn't find anything improper about it.
“What would I have to do for you to get angry and think I'm wrong?”
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