Watching the departing figures of Gu Qingying and Gong Shangyu, Feng Lingshuang huddled in the shadow of the bushes, like a lifeless jade carving.
The searing pain in her chest ignited by the “Love Thread Sword” was now replaced by a deeper, more bone-chilling cold.
Master’s aversion to women…
This realization was like a poisoned ice pick, brutally chiseling into the deepest recesses of her consciousness.
If… if Master’s aversion to women truly stemmed from that irreparable betrayal in her past life… if her closeness was nothing but a painful reminder of that trauma for him…
Once she realized this, Feng Lingshuang immediately made a decision in her heart.
In this life, she absolutely must not recklessly reveal herself to Master!
She absolutely must not, as a woman, become the sharp blade that wounds him again!
Then, a thought sprouted from the depths of her despair.
Disguise!
Yes!
Disguise!
She would disguise herself as a man, just like Gu Qingying and Gong Shangyu!
At least until she uncovered the truth and found a way to resolve Master’s heart knot, she must hide her gender.
She would approach him cautiously, understand him, and protect him as a “fellow cultivator,” a “companion.”
Just as Feng Lingshuang secretly steeled her resolve, the time around her, which had been congealed like amber, resumed its flow without warning.
The night breeze once again rustled through the treetops, and the faint clamor from the distance reached her ears once more.
Gong Shangyu’s Time Stop Domain had ended.
Feng Lingshuang took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her turbulent emotions.
She straightened her veiled hat and robes, ensuring there were no flaws, then slowly stood up from behind the bushes and walked out with a slightly unsteady gait.
Lu Li was still maintaining his posture of looking up at the stars.
The moment time resumed, he shook his head slightly, as if sensing something was off.
He instinctively looked back and saw “Fellow Cultivator Jian Mingzi” emerging from the bushes not far behind him, his steps still somewhat unsteady.
‘Huh? Strange…’
A faint trace of doubt crossed Lu Li’s mind.
‘Wasn’t this Fellow Cultivator Jian Mingzi walking ahead of me just now? How did he end up behind me in the blink of an eye? Did I misremember? Or is his movement technique so bizarre that he could silently circle behind me?’
Lu Li tried to recall carefully, but his memory seemed a bit fuzzy, as if he had momentarily lost focus.
Perhaps the night was too dark, and his mind had been elsewhere.
Lu Li shook his head, dismissing this insignificant doubt.
A gentle smile returned to his face as he turned to greet “Jian Mingzi” behind him.
“Ah, Fellow Cultivator Jian Mingzi, what happened just now?”
“Oh… n-nothing. The night is deep. Let’s return to the inn first, and we can discuss further there.”
Lu Li nodded.
“Oh, alright.”
The two walked side by side towards the inn.
The moonlight stretched their shadows long.
Feng Lingshuang’s heart was pounding fast.
She knew this was an excellent opportunity to subtly probe and verify some of the speculations in her heart.
Realizing this, Feng Lingshuang carefully weighed her words and spoke as if making casual conversation.
Her voice, filtered through the veil, carried just the right amount of curiosity.
“Immortal Lu, I have a question. It may be somewhat presumptuous, and I hope you will not take offense.”
“Feel free to ask, fellow cultivator.”
Lu Li turned his head to look at her, his tone still gentle.
Feng Lingshuang took a deep breath and slowly asked,
“I have heard some rumors in the martial world, saying that you, Immortal Lu… seem to avoid women, even… harbor fear towards them? I wonder if there is any truth to this?”
She asked with extreme caution, her heart leaping into her throat.
She held her breath, focusing all her energy on activating her [Heart Reading System], not daring to miss a single trace of Lu Li’s inner voice.
‘Huh? Where did the fellow cultivator hear this from?’
Upon hearing this, Lu Li’s footsteps paused almost imperceptibly.
While his expression remained composed, inwardly, he was roaring with speechless frustration.
‘Huh? Who?! Which damned fool is spreading such gossip behind my back?!’
‘Daring to tarnish my reputation like this, spreading such rumors?! I, Lu Li, act with honor, with a clear conscience towards heaven and earth. When did I ever get a reputation for “fearing women”?!’
‘If this spreads and those meddlesome people in the sect find out, what face will I, the Peak Lord of Duanqing Peak, have left?!’
‘How will I establish myself in the cultivation world from now on?! This is utterly ridiculous!’
Capturing this inner monologue, Feng Lingshuang’s eyes beneath the veil instantly lit up.
An indescribable surge of wild joy rushed to her heart!
Wonderful!
Master… he doesn’t fear women!
Those rumors are false! At the very least, deep down, he doesn’t identify with this notion of “fearing women”!
Lu Li cleared his throat, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness and solemnity as he explained to Feng Lingshuang.
“Fellow Cultivator Jian Mingzi, you must not listen to such baseless talk. I, Lu, have cultivated for many years, always upholding the righteous path. I treat all living beings equally. How could I show bias or fear based on gender? That is merely the idle talk of those who don’t understand the situation and love to stir up trouble.”
His denial was resolute.
However, Feng Lingshuang’s heart, which had just settled, was once again lifted by his subsequent inner thoughts.
‘But… to be fair, the rumor isn’t entirely unfounded… After all, it’s true that under my tutelage… sigh!’
Feng Lingshuang’s heart stirred.
She immediately seized the opening and pursued the topic, feigning confusion, her tone even more earnest.
“I see. It was my indiscretion. Please forgive me, Immortal Lu. However… since you hold no prejudice against women, why… why is it that I’ve heard you currently only have two male disciples under you, with no female disciples? With your abilities, if you were willing to open your doors widely, surely there would be no shortage of talented female disciples, right?”
Feng Lingshuang’s question was extremely pointed, striking directly at Lu Li’s core dilemma.
The smile on Lu Li’s face stiffened almost imperceptibly for an instant.
Alarm bells rang loudly in his heart as he inwardly cried out in dismay.
‘Damn it! How did the conversation steer here?! How do I answer this? Am I supposed to confess to a stranger I just met that it’s not that I don’t want to take them, but that I don’t dare?! Where would I, the dignified Peak Lord, put my face then?!’
Outwardly, he struggled to maintain his composure, even managing to reveal a mysterious, inscrutable smile.
He used the high-sounding, prepared excuse to brush it off.
“Fellow cultivator, you are unaware. The inheritance of my Duanqing Peak lineage is special, with extremely stringent requirements for a disciple’s temperament and aptitude. When accepting disciples, the primary focus is on temperament and affinity with the Dao. Gender is not a consideration. It’s just that the destined opportunity has not yet arrived. I have simply not yet encountered a female disciple truly suited to inherit the Dao lineage of my Duanqing Peak.”
Lu Li spoke with an air of nonchalance, as if it were truly just a matter of timing.
However, his inner heart was screaming like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
‘You think I really don’t want to accept them?! I dare not! Understand?! Do you think I don’t want a few fragrant, soft, cute, and adorable female disciples who know how to act spoiled and clingy, sweetly calling me ‘Master’?!’
‘Just imagining that scene feels like a fulfilled life! The problem is… the damn problem is that the broken cultivation method of our Duanqing Peak has a flaw! It has a heavenly pit waiting for me to jump into!!!’
‘The Supreme Severing Emotions Art! Listen! How domineering! How intimidating! Those who don’t know would think it’s some supreme Dharma gate pointing directly to the Great Dao!’
‘But who the hell knew that for women who cultivate this method to a later stage, there would be such terrifying, such unreasonable side effects?!’
‘Any female disciple who cultivates this method, as her cultivation deepens, nine and a half out of ten will end up taking the wrong path, turning into that kind of obsessive, possessive, yandere who wants to tear me apart and devour me, betraying their master and ancestors!!!’
‘First Cycle! Feng Lingshuang! My first disciple! What a fine sword dao seedling! Gifted and pure in temperament! I poured so much effort into nurturing her! And the result? Killing Husband to Attain the Dao! The bullshit principle she comprehended! She directly slaughtered me as a sacrifice for her sword! I didn’t even have time to utter last words! It was so damn tragic!’
‘Fourth Cycle! Gong Shangyu! The pitiful little beggar I picked up! So sweet at the beginning! ‘Master this, Master that’ all day long, skilled at alchemy and pill-making, taking care of me meticulously!’
‘At first, I thought this round was stable! And the result? After turning dark, she imprisoned me to be her exclusive medicine slave for drug testing! Were those days fit for humans?! All sorts of strange and bizarre pills shoved into my mouth, a living hell!’
‘Seventh Cycle! Zhou Ruoxi! Looked so honest and simple, a quiet kid! And the result? Treated me as the perfect furnace for cultivating some secret technique! Sucked me dry until I was almost exhausted, my form and spirit on the verge of extinction!’
‘Ninth Cycle! Mo Qingyou! This one was even more extreme! Usually silent and deep-thinking. In the end, she secretly researched puppet arts and directly refined our entire peak, me included, into living puppets that only obeyed her commands! I watched helplessly as I was played with like a marionette! That feeling was worse than death!’
‘Twelfth Cycle! Gu Qingying! Usually the most timid and dependent on me, that little disciple! Her Heart Demon ran rampant, completely out of control. In the end, her Heart Demon incarnation directly… sucked me dry! Literally sucked dry!’
‘With this situation… and these precedents… how do you expect me to dare accept female disciples?! Huh?!’
‘Sigh… messing around in the game was one thing, but now that I’ve crossed over, I only have one life! Accept female disciples? That’s not accepting disciples, that’s accepting death warrants! It’s asking for a faster, more miserable, more creatively varied death! I’m avoiding them like the plague!’
Lu Li’s inner roars crashed against Feng Lingshuang’s [Heart Reading System] like a tsunami.
Although she didn’t fully understand some terms, like “Cycle,” “game,” “crossed over,” or “restart,” based on the context, she could roughly grasp that they seemed to refer to the number of times Master had been reborn.
So…
Master has already experienced so many cycles of reincarnation without me knowing?
So… we disciples, in each and every one of those past lives, actually… all hurt Master so cruelly?
At this moment, Feng Lingshuang’s heart was filled with both joy and sorrow.
She was glad she wasn’t the only one who had hurt Master, but distressed that they, these disciples, had wounded Master so deeply in every past life.
Under these circumstances, if Master still dared to accept female disciples and had no issues with them, that would truly be strange!
Killing Husband to Attain the Dao, imprisoning as a slave, using as a furnace, refining into a puppet… even sucking dry…
Every word that surfaced in Lu Li’s heart was like a red-hot branding iron, searing Feng Lingshuang’s soul!
The pain was so intense she could barely breathe, her entire body icy cold!
A tremendous sense of guilt, like an abyss, instantly engulfed her.
So Master doesn’t accept female disciples not out of disgust, but out of fear!
The bone-deep fear born from being betrayed and hurt by them time and again!
It’s for self-protection!
But he… he doesn’t hate them for it.
Feng Lingshuang searched her heart.
If she were the one betrayed and treated like this by her most trusted disciples again and again, she would surely hate them to the bone, even wishing to kill them, right?
But Master didn’t do that.
He just silently let them go and resolved to never meet them again in this life.
Master… endured so many cycles of pain and betrayal alone, yet still preserved the goodness in his heart.
Feng Lingshuang’s eyes beneath the veil instantly reddened.
Tears uncontrollably welled up and streamed down her cheeks.
She bit down hard on her lower lip.
Her pearly white teeth sank into the soft flesh, and she tasted the faint metallic tang of blood.
She used this sharp pain to force herself not to make the slightest sob or whimper.
Simultaneously, the surging pity for Lu Li, the heavy guilt, and the desperate resolve to protect him intertwined and soared within her, reaching an unprecedented peak.
It was like a volcano that had accumulated for ten thousand years suddenly erupting, sweeping away all hesitation, hesitation, and uncertainty.
‘Master… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… We actually… actually did so many unforgivable, heinous things to you… We are unworthy of being your disciples!’
‘But please, wait for me! In this life, I will definitely protect you! I will use everything I have, burn even my soul, to ensure no one hurts you again! I will never allow those tragedies the slightest chance to replay! I will guard by your side, watch you live a peaceful, joyful, smooth, and worry-free life! This is the only atonement your disciple… can offer!’
Thinking this, Feng Lingshuang silently made the most solemn vow in her heart, like the most devout believer making a wish to a deity.
No matter how many thorns lay on the path ahead, how many unknown dangers were hidden, no matter what price she had to pay or what loneliness she had to endure…
She would stay by Master’s side.
Using this fabricated identity of “Jian Mingzi,” she would be his most inconspicuous shadow, silently guarding him, compensating him as best she could.
She would ensure that in this life, her Master would no longer suffer any harm from them, these disciples with long criminal records of rebellion.
Feng Lingshuang clenched her fists tightly.
Her nails dug deeply into her palms, bringing sharp pain that made her even more clear-headed and resolute.
She raised her hand and gently touched the cold white gauze on her face.
Her gaze gradually turned sharp and decisive.
“Gu Qingying, Gong Shangyu… what you can do, I, Feng Lingshuang, can do too!”
“Master… in this life, no matter what you become, no matter how many obstacles lie ahead, I will never leave you again!”
“I will return to your side in a way you can accept! Definitely! Definitely!”