Kingdom of Jin, Xu City, Royal Post House.
Gong Shangyu was utterly terrified by Gu Qingying’s sudden, unrestrained outburst!
She used every ounce of her strength to wrap her arms around Gu Qingying’s waist from behind, holding her back just as she was about to crash through the door and charge out.
“Gu Qingying! Calm down! Stop right there!”
Gong Shangyu’s voice was urgent and furious, infused with spiritual energy as she tried to shock her little sister disciple back from the brink of madness.
“I know you’re anxious right now! But you need to stop! Are you trying to get yourself killed by charging over there like this?”
“Let me go! Gong Shangyu, let me go!”
Gu Qingying’s eyes were bloodshot as she struggled violently like a trapped beast, her spirit sword waving wildly.
Sword qi crisscrossed the room, cutting deep gashes into the tables and chairs, and even slicing off a corner of the bed canopy.
“Master is about to be stolen away by some vixen from outside! How can I not be anxious?! How can I calm down?! How am I supposed to calm down?!”
Gu Qingying whipped her head around, glaring at Gong Shangyu with eyes full of betrayed fury.
“And wasn’t it you who first suggested we go ask Master for an explanation? Huh? Why are you playing the good person and stopping me now? Are you in cahoots with that fox spirit outside?!”
“Hah! Don’t you dare slander me!”
Gong Shangyu was so angered by this twisted accusation that she cursed.
At the same time, she tightened her grip, terrified that if she let go, this madwoman would really run off and cause trouble.
“When I told you to go ask, I meant for you to find a suitable opportunity, use a proper excuse, and inquire indirectly!”
“I didn’t mean for you to charge into Master’s bathing room with your sword drawn, red-eyed and looking like you’re about to kill someone, to catch him in the act!”
Gong Shangyu panted heavily, her voice lowered to a whisper, yet each word hammered into Gu Qingying’s chaotic mind.
“Look at you right now! Jealousy has consumed you, you’ve lost all reason!”
“If you charge in now, before you even open your mouth to question him, Master will know something’s wrong just by looking at you! How will you explain yourself to him then? Say you barged in with your sword because you suspected he was cheating? Say you heard him humming in the bath and decided he must have someone on the side?”
The more Gong Shangyu spoke, the angrier she became, wishing she could crack open Gu Qingying’s skull to see if it was full of water.
“You’re not going to ask for an explanation, you’re going to expose yourself!”
“You’d be telling Master that the two of us have been secretly monitoring and speculating about him! By then, forget about finding out about any vixen…”
“Chances are, our identities, and the secret of our System, would all be completely exposed because of your reckless charge! System erasure? Expulsion from the sect? Can you bear those consequences? Do you really want to get us both killed because of your inexplicable impulse?!”
The phrases “System erasure” and “expulsion from the sect” were like two buckets of ice water poured over Gu Qingying’s head, instantly cooling her boiling blood a few degrees.
Yes… the System, their identities… these were their greatest secrets and bottom line.
Once exposed, it would be eternal damnation.
Thinking of this, the spirit sword in Gu Qingying’s hand suddenly clattered to the floor.
Her body trembled slightly from lingering fear and residual anger.
She stopped trying to charge out the door, but her chest still heaved violently.
The crimson in her eyes hadn’t faded, only now mixed with confusion and helplessness.
She grabbed Gong Shangyu’s arm, her nails almost digging into the flesh, her voice choked with sobs and hoarse with despair.
“Then… then what do we do?! Are we just supposed to watch… watch some wild woman from who-knows-where seduce Master away?!”
“I… I can’t do it! I’d rather die than see that happen!”
Seeing Gu Qingying on the verge of collapse, Gong Shangyu’s heart was also a mess of conflicting emotions.
The shared bitterness of their plight intertwined with her own hard-to-suppress suspicions.
But Gong Shangyu knew she had to be calmer than Gu Qingying at this moment.
Gong Shangyu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the storm in her heart.
She released her hold on Gu Qingying but remained blocking the door.
She pulled Gu Qingying deeper into the room, away from the wall that carried the sound of water, ensuring that even if the soundproof barrier was unstable, no sound would carry over.
“Who said we’re just going to watch?”
Gong Shangyu’s voice regained its usual calm, but deep within her pink eyes flickered a light even more profound and dangerous than Gu Qingying’s.
“My dear sister disciple, rushing headlong into things is the way of a brute, the path to self-destruction!”
“We… need to use our brains.”
Gong Shangyu pointed to her own temple, the corner of her mouth curling into a cold, calculating arc.
“This matter cannot be rushed. We must plan carefully and act only after deliberation.”
“Huh? Plan? How?”
Gu Qingying pressed urgently, as if grasping her last lifeline, her purple eyes fixed intently on Gong Shangyu, waiting for her next words.
Gong Shangyu pondered for a moment, then began to analyze clearly and methodically, both to convince her nearly-exploding sister disciple and to sort a feasible path from her own chaotic thoughts.
“First, tonight, we must hold our position and not move.”
Gong Shangyu’s tone was resolute, brooking no argument.
“Master has just finished bathing and is relaxed. If we go now, no matter the reason, it would seem too deliberate and abrupt, extremely easy arousing his vigilance. To startle the snake is the most foolish action.”
Seeing Gu Qingying about to object again, Gong Shangyu immediately raised a hand to stop her and continued, “We need time, and we need to let Master relax and lower his guard. So, tonight ends here. We each go back, calm ourselves, pretend nothing happened, act as usual.”
“Then… what about tomorrow?”
Gu Qingying pressed, her voice still tinged with undiminished anxiety.
“Tomorrow is the key.”
A sudden gleam flashed in Gong Shangyu’s eyes.
“We need a suitable opportunity and excuse to naturally approach Master, and probe the truth without arousing his suspicion.”
Gong Shangyu looked at Gu Qingying and assigned the task.
“Tomorrow morning, you will personally prepare breakfast for Master.”
Gong Shangyu emphasized the word “personally.”
“Make some of the light, tasty dishes Master usually likes. Your attitude should be as obedient and considerate as always, even… a bit more attentive than usual. The goal is to relax Master, make him think we’re no different from usual, create a relaxed, natural atmosphere.”
Hearing this, Gu Qingying frowned but still nodded.
She was willing to cook for Master, of course, but didn’t understand the deeper meaning.
Gong Shangyu saw her confusion and explained, “Only in the most relaxed, natural atmosphere will a person’s guard be at its lowest. Some questions are easier to ask then, and it’s easier to observe their truest reactions.”
Then, she pointed at herself.
“And I will contact the manpower of Dan Jian Pavilion in Yicheng overnight.”
She lowered her voice.
“Have them find a way to get a Lie Detection Talisman here as soon as possible. After activation, this talisman can detect whether the subject is lying based on color changes.”
“If it detects a lie, it turns red. If not, it stays green.”
“At that time, while Master is relaxed, I will activate this talisman at the dining table. If used properly, we can probe during casual conversation and capture any clues from Master’s words, to see if he really met some vixen outside.”
Gong Shangyu laid out her entire plan.
“So during breakfast tomorrow, I will find an opportunity to casually ask Master some simple questions under the pretext of chatting and caring about his recent well-being. At that time, you must cooperate with me as much as possible on the side. Absolutely do not act impulsively!”
After hearing Gong Shangyu’s entire, interlocking plan, Gu Qingying’s restless heart finally calmed a little.
Though still burning with impatience, she had to admit that Second Senior Sister’s plan sounded far more reliable than her own idea of charging in with a sword to confront Master.
This plan involved indirect probing, secret assistance, considered timing, and accounted for consequences.
It truly deserved to be called “using our brains.”
“Alright… fine.”
Gu Qingying took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the jealousy and anger churning in her chest.
She nodded, her voice still a bit hoarse.
“We’ll do as you say. Tomorrow morning, I’ll prepare breakfast.”
Gu Qingying bent down to pick up the spirit sword from the floor and returned it to its sheath, her movements slightly stiff.
Though she accepted the plan rationally, emotionally, the mere thought that Master might really have another “attachment” outside made her feel as if her heart were being gouged, ensuring a sleepless night.
“Remember, Gu Qingying,” Gong Shangyu warned seriously one last time, “tonight, no matter what, you must adjust your state. If you show even the slightest flaw in front of Master tomorrow and ruin our plans, I will not forgive you!”
***
After returning to their own rooms, the two women did not immediately fall asleep.
They needed time to digest this huge shock, and time to forcibly suppress the panic and jealousy that threatened to swallow them whole.
Watching Gu Qingying leave, Gong Shangyu returned to her own bed but felt no sleepiness.
Gazing out the window at the deep night, her pink eyes churned with thoughts.
She took out her communication talisman and began contacting the Dan Jian Pavilion branch in Yicheng, arranging for the Lie Detection Talisman.
Outside the window, the night was as dark as ink.
Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying each lay in their own beds, separated by a wall that blocked their view of each other but could not block the suffocating anxiety and unease that filled the air.
The plan was set, seemingly clear and methodical, step-by-step.
But the suspicion and panic gnawing at their hearts were not so easily dispelled by rational analysis.
Both tossed and turned, the beds beneath them seeming to sprout invisible thorns, making it impossible to rest peacefully.
Their minds uncontrollably replayed the faint, relaxed, even somewhat cheerful humming and water sounds from next door that belonged to Master.
That sound was like countless red-hot needles, densely piercing the most sensitive ends of their nerves.
Time flowed slowly in the silence, each breath feeling exceptionally long.
Finally, after another restless turn, Gu Qingying’s suppressed voice, tinged with a tremor and confusion, pierced through the dark barrier, floating over softly as if afraid to wake something, yet heavy as if bearing a thousand pounds of fear.
“Gong Shangyu… are you asleep?”
After a moment, a faint rustle of fabric came from the opposite bed, along with Gong Shangyu’s equally sleepless, icy-clear reply.
“No.”
A brief, heavier silence fell again.
Gu Qingying seemed to be gathering courage, or weighing her words.
After a long while, she finally asked the core question that hovered in both their hearts, keeping them awake and restless, in a tone that seemed squeezed from the depths of her throat, carrying an air of despair.
“If… I mean if… tomorrow, the Lie Detection Talisman really proves that Master… he really has another ‘attachment’ outside…”
Her voice here clearly took on a choked quality, but she forced it down and continued, “You… what do you plan to do?”
Gu Qingying’s question was like a huge rock thrown into a silent, deep well, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.
On the opposite bed, Gong Shangyu’s figure seemed to stiffen in the darkness.
She did not answer immediately.
In the dark, only the sound of their slightly rapid and suppressed breathing intertwined.
After a long while, just as Gu Qingying thought Gong Shangyu wouldn’t answer, or would say something equally hopeless and powerless, Gong Shangyu’s voice finally sounded.
That voice no longer held the earlier urgency or anger.
It had become extremely calm, even carrying a trace of eerie gentleness.
Yet, beneath this calm surface, Gu Qingying could clearly perceive a bone-chilling coldness that had frozen all emotion, and a kind of near-mad determination.
“What do I plan to do?”
Gong Shangyu softly repeated the three words, as if savoring them.
Then, a very faint, almost inaudible cold laugh came from the darkness.
“My dear sister disciple…”
Her voice was slow and clear, each word like an ice-coated blade.
“Do you think, after we exhausted our efforts, deceived heaven and earth, even went so far as to use the System’s power, disguising ourselves as men to return to Master’s side… what was it all for?”
“Was it to stand by and watch some wildflowers and weeds that popped up from who-knows-where easily snatch away the Master we treasure and have guarded for two lifetimes?”
Gong Shangyu’s tone suddenly turned sharp, carrying an unshakable obsession and ruthlessness.
“No! Absolutely impossible!”
“If that day ever truly comes…”
Gong Shangyu’s voice dropped extremely low, yet carried a chilling, resolute finality.
“If there really is some creature that doesn’t know how to live, daring to lay a finger on our Master…”
In the darkness, there seemed to be the faint sound of her fingertips lightly rubbing against some cold object.
“Then, I will let her know what it means to vanish from the face of the earth.”
Gong Shangyu’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
“The number of ways to make a person disappear without a trace, even if not a thousand, is at least eight hundred. Whether it’s a mortal, or some blind female cultivator…”
Gong Shangyu paused, her tone even taking on a chilling hint of “pity.”
“It’s just that doing so would inevitably dirty our hands, and also… might sadden Master for a while. So, that is the last resort, the choice of absolute necessity.”
“Before that…”
Gong Shangyu’s words shifted, the cold calculating intent surfacing again.
“We will first ask her to leave. With spirit stones, with power, with conditions she cannot refuse, or… with threats she cannot bear. In this world, there are far too many ways to make a person compromise.”
Finally, her voice was tinged with a thick, twisted possessiveness.
“Master can only be ours. He was in our former life, and in this life, he must be too!”
“Anyone who tries to take him from our side is our mortal enemy! A fight… to the death!”
Gu Qingying listened quietly.
In the darkness, her purple eyes flickered with complex light.
There was fear of Gong Shangyu’s ruthlessness and darkness, but also a twisted sense of relief at finding a “kindred spirit” and “ally” in this madness.
Gu Qingying didn’t speak.
She just pulled the quilt higher, covering half her face, as if this could block out everything outside and also conceal the equally dark, equally unsharable obsession in her own heart.
Just then, Lu Li, having finished his bath next door, suddenly walked up to his two disciples’ door and pushed it open, looking inside at the two disciples who were whispering.
“Bai Yu, Shang Qingkong, it’s so late now, you two still aren’t asleep?”
As the door opened and Lu Li’s voice sounded, the two yandere disciples who had been “plotting” inside instantly felt their hearts leap into their throats.