Since then, Lin Wu’s daily life in the sect became an act where he played himself.
Goddess Peak, Long Mirror Lake.
White mist drifted along the lake’s edge, and a youth in white stood alone, his figure solitary.
A silver-haired girl crept up, her steps light and cautious, afraid of disturbing his meditation.
“Why are you here alone again? When you first learn the Snow Veil Sutra, the chill pierces the bones. You’re supposed to support each other with the other Azure Lotus disciples! Of course, if a direct disciple of the White Lotus is willing to help, the effect is even better, but most people can’t even get that chance…”
Mu Bingxin lowered her head shyly, her voice growing softer and softer.
But this youth was not like most people; the two of them had braved life and death together.
As long as Cang Wu asked, she would say yes a thousand times, ten thousand times.
Now, revisiting old places, Lin Wu finally understood the hidden meaning behind her words.
This troublesome girl hovered around him every day, hinting endlessly, almost writing her intentions on her face.
“So the mutual support you speak of, Fairy, is actually blood for blood, fueling the fire with your own hands?”
Lin Wu didn’t look back, only let out a long sigh.
Mu Bingxin asked in confusion, “Is there anything wrong with that? This is always how we Kunlun Snow cultivators do it. Outsiders aren’t even qualified for this opportunity.”
Lin Wu shook his head and said no more.
He had already tried cultivating the Snow Veil Sutra a bit and sensed something was off—he knew he’d been tricked.
The technique was indeed marvelous. At higher levels, it could refine the Dao body into skin like ice and bones like jade, but it also mingled in all sorts of strange pharmacological effects.
For example, swallowing an unripe Kunlun Azure Lotus and nurturing it within, supposedly to extract cold blood and transform oneself, eventually becoming a White Lotus, or even a Red Lotus.
But in reality, it used the practitioner’s body to refine heavenly treasures into ever more potent blood!
Wasn’t this just cultivating the disciples into living snow lotuses?
“Let’s not talk about this. Yesterday, Junior Sister returned from town and gifted me a new set of clothes, saying it’s the latest style in the Great Li Dynasty. Does it look good?”
Mu Bingxin bounced in front of Lin Wu and lifted her skirt, twirling on the spot.
The purple wisteria gown was luxurious and splendid, with gold-threaded pleats that accentuated her perfect figure. She was like a princess from the mortal realm, breathtakingly beautiful.
Lin Wu pretended to be dazed and murmured, “Beautiful, whatever Fairy Mu wears looks beautiful.”
Mu Bingxin’s icy eyes flashed with cold light as she rebuked him through sound transmission: “Idiot, he would never say something like that. Don’t forget your role!”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Do it again!”
“Oh.”
The youth always deliberately went out of character, sometimes disgusting the fairy on purpose, and found endless amusement in it.
Lin Wu rubbed his face, returning to his cold and distant manner, polite but reserved.
“Bingxin, I think purple doesn’t really suit you.”
“Really? Th-then I’ll go change it back!”
Mu Bingxin pouted, her pretty face unable to hide her disappointment as she hurried away.
But deep in those icy eyes, a bright excitement glimmered, as if a certain desire had been rekindled.
“Work’s done!”
Lin Wu stretched lazily.
Every time Mu Bingxin finished enjoying herself, she’d leave right away—maybe to sneak back to the Cold Palace to gloat?
To the passionate pursuit of the Alliance’s prodigies, the Iceberg Fairy was indifferent; only to him did she show such affection, and then would deliberately snub him?
Anyway, being fawned on by his enemy made Lin Wu feel thoroughly at ease. Usually so lofty, the sect master fairy humbled herself to the extreme in front of him, just to fill that emptiness inside.
Especially since Mu Bingxin didn’t know the truth, the more times she played out these shameful scenes, the more satisfying it would be to tear off her mask one day.
“Now you’re the sect master, yet you put on the White Lotus robe again and act all pure with me. Just how unwilling were you back then?”
Lin Wu sneered inwardly, quietly deducing.
If nothing unexpected happened, the next scene would be a turning point.
Would Mu Bingxin want to relive old dreams and keep squeezing him like a human lingzhi mushroom, or would she choose another way to ‘rewrite’ the past?
Returning to his small cottage, Lin Wu checked the Storage Pouch Mu Bingxin had given him.
Inside were many treasures: three bottles of blood from direct disciples of the White Lotus, various spirit herbs, and basic magic tools.
The sect master’s companion privileges were quite generous…
During this period, Lin Wu took the opportunity to raise his outward cultivation to Foundation Establishment. The light around his body was restrained, at first glance no different from a newly advanced White Lotus.
His cultivation speed was so fast that none of his peers could hope to match it.
“But there’s also a problem: Mu Bingxin is extremely fastidious. No matter how I tempt her, she refuses to touch me. Last time I used a scratched arm as an excuse, and she acted as if she didn’t even notice.”
“It’s true. Based on this master’s judgment, that girl’s already at the peak of Nascent Soul. Her Dao heart is far firmer than Yun Mengyao’s. The fairy’s obsession is with that Cang Wu who always ignored her, and she’s still full of misgivings about Lin Wu.”
Fox Ball poked its head out from the youth’s collar, voice childish and soft.
Mu Bingxin probably never drank another man’s blood in her whole life…
So how could he possibly get the fairy drunk?
Lin Wu suddenly smacked his forehead.
“I’ve got it. As the Ice Lotus Sect Master, she still needs to rely on the blood of the Ten Halls’ Red Lotus elders for cultivation. Why not start with her usual rations?”
“Mmm-hmm, that makes sense. Infecting her with bloodlust through the Red Lotus is just as good.”
The little fox nuzzled its disciple’s head, grinning mischievously.
So have I just been putting on an act for nothing all this time?
Lin Wu shook his head. Well, it wasn’t all for nothing.
At least spying on the inner theater of this acting fairy was plenty of fun.
Two nights later, Mu Bingxin came as expected, worry clouding her face.
Lin Wu sat cross-legged in meditation, eyes tightly shut, frost forming over his body, trembling from the cold.
Cang Wu refused to associate with the Azure Lotus disciples, and even more so to absorb Mu Bingxin’s fresh blood for cultivation, enduring the suffering of nightly cold surges.
“Just drink a little, Big Brother Cang Wu. If you keep this up, you’ll die!”
The silver-haired fairy extended her pale, delicate wrist to the youth’s lips, pleading softly, completely absorbed in her own world.
Lin Wu shook his head resolutely, unmoved.
He really wanted to open his mouth and bite this wicked woman hard, but on the surface he had to act proper.
Because Mu Bingxin sent him a warning through sound transmission: “Touch me and I’ll kill you.”
“You want me to drink human blood to enhance my cultivation. How is that any different from being a snow demon? I never thought the Kunlun Snow Lotus Sect would be such a place. I shouldn’t have come back with you!”
Lin Wu turned away, voice full of disappointment toward his close friend now that he knew the truth.
Mu Bingxin’s pretty face went pale, flustered and at a loss; more than feeling despised by Cang Wu, there was pain in her icy eyes.
“But cultivating the Dao is to defy the heavens. The strong prey on the weak—what’s wrong with that?”
“Quibbling!”
Lin Wu slowly opened his eyes, forced himself to speak through the pain, “It’s not too late to turn back, Bingxin. You’re a victim too. Come with me, let’s leave this den of demons together and find another way to break free from these evil arts!”
Reciting these shameful lines again, Lin Wu felt complicated.
Just because he once had such naïve thoughts, he’d repeatedly become the fairy’s plaything.
“What? You want to defect from the sect!”
Mu Bingxin’s face changed dramatically as she took two steps back.
Lin Wu had wanted to run then, but still had hope for the fairy, thinking her nature was not bad.
In the words of his master: If you trust the fairy, who will die if not you?
“That’s right. Tomorrow night you’re on patrol. At midnight, we’ll leave down the Misty Forest. If you don’t come… I won’t blame you, let’s just pretend we never knew each other.”
With that, Lin Wu closed his eyes again, waving her off, mind made up.
“This…”
Mu Bingxin hesitated, lost and hollow as she left the cottage, reliving that inner struggle from before.
On one side were the sect’s elders, on the other, the lover her heart chose.
Leaving meant giving up her path to immortality; staying might leave her full of regrets.
After a while, the silver-haired fairy, ponytail now let down, had changed back into the Sect Master’s form, her skin glimmering like ice and jade.
“So you’ve built your White Lotus Foundation already? You really are talented—so quick to grasp things.”
Mu Bingxin folded her arms under her chest, propping up her proud peaks, raising one shimmering leg, and flicked her sleeve, tossing out another bottle of White Lotus Blood.
She said this, but her sharp, icy eyes were filled with mockery.
“All thanks to Sect Master Fairy’s guidance. But… tomorrow night, should I really run away?”
Lin Wu scratched his head, and just meeting Mu Bingxin’s deep blue gaze made his heart skip a beat.
That old hag was always beautiful, and as her cultivation in the Ice Skin and Jade Bones realm deepened, her elegance only grew more ethereal.
Now, as the Kunlun Snow Lotus Dao Master, she was admired by all in the cultivation world, an unrivaled prodigy among the younger generation of the Alliance, with countless admirers.
“Run if you like. Your legs are on your own body. You think you can escape from my Goddess Peak?”
“Yes.”
Lin Wu really couldn’t tell who that ridicule was meant for.
Mu Bingxin stretched lazily, her graceful curves displayed, a slender waist peeking out from beneath her blue silk robe.
From her chest down, the Snow Lotus Sect Master’s exquisite Dao body was as translucent as crystal, the Jade Palace faintly visible within, her energy swirling like mist.
So seductive…
Lin Wu turned his gaze away, not daring to look too long.
So, you’re not coming with me to make up for past regrets, but to catch me again, aren’t you?
A fairy is still a fairy—don’t expect her to ever truly change!