As soon as Lu Li stepped into the room, Gu Qingying and Gong Shangyu—who had been pretending to play chess—hurriedly went up to greet him, showering him with all sorts of concerned questions.
The two girls, one on either side, crowded close to Lu Li, asking their questions even though they already knew the answers.
“Um… Master, why did His Majesty the Emperor of Jin suddenly summon you just now? He didn’t make things difficult for you, did he?”
Gu Qingying blinked her Purple Eyes, her face full of innocent curiosity as she asked.
Gong Shangyu nodded immediately, “That’s right, Master. We were waiting for you at the Inn, so worried the whole time. Why did the Emperor of Jin want to see you?”
Looking at his two concerned disciples, the doubts that Lu Li had just managed to suppress started creeping back up again, but he forced them down.
After a moment of silence, remembering his promise to Zhou Ruolin not to mention this matter to his disciples, he decided to give a vague explanation.
“It’s nothing, really, you don’t need to worry. His Majesty only heard that I know a little of Pill Dao, so he summoned me to ask a few questions about… well, some longevity and health-preserving methods. He just asked for a few Nourishing Pills, that’s all.”
Lu Li deliberately steered the conversation towards alchemy, hoping to brush off his disciples’ questions easily.
But Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying, who had already sneaked into the Imperial Palace with Lu Li earlier and knew all about his private conversation with Zhou Ruolin, instantly covered their mouths, giggling to themselves.
They thought, Our Master really can’t lie to save his life.
Even though the two girls secretly laughed in their hearts, their faces both showed expressions of sudden realization.
“Oh~ so that’s how it is!”
Gu Qingying patted her chest, letting out a long sigh of relief, “You scared me, Master! I thought something big had happened…”
Gong Shangyu played along, giggling, “His Majesty really could’ve just asked for the pills directly. Making you take that extra trip, Master!”
Seeing that they seemed convinced, Lu Li didn’t want to dwell on the topic for fear his clever disciples might catch on to something more.
He waved his hand, his tone carrying a hint of unnoticeable fatigue, “Alright, it’s just a small matter.”
“You two go ahead and keep playing chess. I’m a bit tired—I’ll meditate and rest in my room for a while. Unless it’s something important, please don’t disturb me.”
With that, without giving the two girls a chance to say more, he headed straight to his own room, closed the door, and left Gu Qingying and Gong Shangyu staring at each other.
As soon as Lu Li’s door closed completely, the obedient expressions on their faces immediately collapsed.
Gu Qingying turned her head, glaring at Gong Shangyu with a murderous look as she sent a soundless accusation, “It’s all your fault! You were dawdling in the Imperial Palace just now! You nearly got us killed! If Master had found out we snuck out, just see how I’ll settle accounts with you!”
Gong Shangyu shot back without backing down, a glimmer of luck and pride in her pink eyes, “Hmph! Didn’t we manage to fool him? If I didn’t have the Time Stop System, would we have made it back so fast? Could we have set up the scene in advance? You should be thanking me!”
Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying exchanged an intense silent battle of glares, and finally both snorted coldly and turned away from each other.
***
At nearly the same moment, in the Imperial Study of the Jin Imperial Palace, the scent of sandalwood drifted in the air.
About the time it takes to burn one incense stick after Gong Shangyu and Gu Qingying had left using the Time Stop Domain, Zhou Ruolin, the Emperor of Jin, who had been calmly reviewing memorials on his dragon throne, suddenly stopped his Vermilion Brush.
He slowly looked up, and in his slightly androgynous but exceptionally deep blue eyes, a mysterious glint flashed.
He did not look toward the door, but instead set his gaze on the huge, intricately carved Nine Dragons Playing with Pearl Screen behind the throne.
“Oh? You actually came out?”
Zhou Ruolin’s voice was calm and smooth, yet carried the unquestionable authority of an emperor.
“Since you’ve decided to come out, does that mean your two lively Senior Sister and Junior Sister have already left?”
After his words, the study fell into silence, broken only by the occasional soft crackling of candle flames.
A moment later, a slender, graceful figure silently emerged from behind the heavy screen.
She wore a palace gown with a long skirt embroidered with exquisite clouds and water motifs.
As she moved, the patterns rippled gently, like waves on the sea.
She was a stunningly beautiful young woman, her hair a shade of deep-sea icy blue, simply tied up with a jade hairpin, with a few strands softly brushing her cheeks, making her skin look even fairer and more translucent.
Her features closely resembled Zhou Ruolin’s, almost like a mirrored reflection.
Her beauty was cold and distant, with a kind of aloofness—like a snow lotus on the mountaintop, only to be admired from afar.
Most striking of all were her rare ice-blue eyes, clear as crystal, yet seemingly holding ten thousand years of ice within, giving off a chilling feeling to all who met her gaze.
This blue-haired woman was none other than Zhou Ruoxi, Zhou Ruolin’s full-blooded younger sister, and the Regent Princess of Jin.
At the same time, she was one of the five female leads from that virtual reality game Lu Li played in his previous life—a Fusuan master who, in some endings, imprisoned the protagonist in a Magical Formation and turned Lu Li into her Luding, the yandere “Third Lady” Zhou.
Zhou Ruoxi slowly walked to the imperial desk, her ice-blue eyes sweeping over the spot where Lu Li had just been sitting, her gaze full of longing.
“Royal Brother… Did you meet my Master?”
Zhou Ruolin set the Vermilion Brush on the Brush Stand, leaning back slightly as he carefully sized up his younger sister, who had suddenly awakened some Sundering Fate and used her memories and foresight from a previous life to help him ascend the throne.
He nodded, his tone carrying an unnoticeable hint of emotion.
“I met him. Indeed… he’s extraordinary.”
He paused, searching for the right words before continuing, “Immortal Master Lu is completely different from those arrogant cultivators who look down on ordinary people.”
“There’s not a trace of arrogance about him—he speaks gently, his gaze is clear, and he shows no contempt for the mundane world…”
“Instead, he has a rare sense of compassion and understanding. Truly a Daoist who has attained enlightenment.”
Hearing her brother praise her Master so highly, a rare, soft smile melted the icy beauty on Zhou Ruoxi’s face, like spring sunlight thawing snow.
That smile softened the chilly aura around her a bit.
“Yes,” she replied softly, her ice-blue eyes brimming with gratitude and nostalgia, “Master… he’s always been so kind.”
“In my previous life, if not for his compassion, his benevolent heart for the world… He wouldn’t have taken me in when I escaped the palace, clothes in tatters, wandering the streets…”
“…nearly freezing and starving to death.”
Zhou Ruoxi’s voice was gentle, tinged with a barely noticeable choking, as if she were reaching across the long and painful years of Rebirth, once again touching the warmth her Master gave her in those desperate times.
In his previous life, the Fourth Prince Zhou Ruolin, because he didn’t have his sister Zhou Ruoxi’s early warnings and planning, was utterly defeated in the court struggles of the Jin Kingdom.
He and Zhou Ruoxi’s mother, Xiao Shufei, were framed by the Jin Royal Family for practicing witchcraft and disturbing the harem, and in the end, the Old Emperor of Jin had them both executed by five horses tearing them apart.
The Fourth Prince Zhou Ruolin was also exiled to the Barbarian Wastelands and died there in depression.
As for the surviving Fourth Princess Zhou Ruoxi, she was locked away deep in the palace.
Nominally still a princess, in reality she was treated worse than a servant or a dog.
Any eunuch or maid could bully her, and she suffered all manner of humiliation.
Later, the deranged Jin Royal Family even planned to send her away to marry the Barbarians.
On the journey to the Barbarian Wastelands, unwilling to become a plaything of the Barbarians, Zhou Ruoxi took advantage of a moment of carelessness by her guards and decisively jumped off a cliff.
Thus, in the official records of the Jin Kingdom, Princess Zhou Ruoxi of the previous life became a deceased person.
But after her leap, Zhou Ruoxi didn’t die. Instead, she found a stroke of fortune in a mountain cave, accidentally consuming a Random Heavenly Treasure, awakening her Spirit Root and Cultivation Talent.
Later, she began wandering the wilderness, secretly swearing in her heart:
If she ever gained power, she would make those who wronged her pay!
In the end, while wandering the wilds, Zhou Ruoxi met Lu Li by chance. Seeing her pitiful state and sensing her talent for cultivation, Lu Li brought her back to the Xuling Sect as his disciple.
Recalling the events of her previous life, tears shimmered in Zhou Ruoxi’s eyes.
Zhou Ruolin watched her in silence, a little curious as he asked, “He treated you well?”
“Mm… extremely well.”
Zhou Ruoxi answered without hesitation, then slowly walked over to the seat where Lu Li had just sat, feeling the lingering warmth from his hand on the wooden armrest, her fingers unconsciously caressing it.
She slowly looked up at the ceiling, a hint of longing flickering in her eyes.
“Master Lu Li… always kept a stern face, and was exceptionally strict with us…”
“But he would leave all the best cultivation resources for us disciples, and would stand in front of us without hesitation whenever we were in danger, even secretly rejoicing at our slightest progress…”
“It’s a pity… he never learned how to protect himself, or the things he truly cared about.”
Zhou Ruoxi’s tone was full of defense, a flash of heartache passing through her ice-blue eyes.
Her Master’s fate in the previous life had always been a wound she could not heal.