"Who would dare lay hands on someone from Yunxiao Peak? Have they gone mad?! Ugh…" An Ze winced, coughing violently as his wounds were jostled. Clutching his chest, he still harbored resentment toward Song Wanníng for being so heartless.
Bai Yang, face pale as paper, said nothing. He only stepped forward and knelt down beside Ye Chuxue's bed.
"Junior Sister, how are you feeling?"
Ye Chuxue looked at him with quiet gratitude. "Much better. Thank you, Junior Brother Bai." She had no idea what had happened while she was unconscious. In her mind, it was Bai Yang who had secretly obtained the pill that saved her. Her eyes shimmered with soft warmth.
"You went so far for me... will Aunt Song be angry with you?" she asked, worried.
Bai Yang froze. His expression shifted awkwardly, tangled in uncertainty and frustration. He didn't know how to explain the truth, so after a few brief words of comfort, he left in silence.
Lu Nanfeng and An Ze followed close behind. Ye Chuxue gazed after Bai Yang's retreating figure, her chest tight with disappointment—but also a hint of sweetness. He had defied their master and stolen a pill, just to save her...
Just then, Gu Qingyuan stepped through the doorway, his face shadowed with brooding intensity.
The sect master had just warned him again: do not make a decision you'll regret.
Ye Chuxue was his disciple. There could never be anything between them.
Gu Qingyuan clenched his fists, eyes burning with frustration.
Status should not be a chain between them. But morality kept drawing the line. Conflicting thoughts tangled endlessly in his mind, like vines, ready to drive him mad.
On Yunxiao Peak, Bai Yang knelt at the gates of the main hall.
He had been caught stealing a Dan. Passing disciples kept throwing glances his way—some curious, some judging. Song Wanníng stepped out from the hall and locked eyes with Bai Yang's bitter, resentful gaze.
She said nothing.
Expression unreadable, she turned and walked away.
Bai Yang bit down hard on his lip. The taste of blood filled his mouth as he forced himself to bow his head.
Lu Nanfeng rushed over the moment she disappeared from view. "Senior Brother, I told you to apologize! She would have let you off if you just admitted fault. Why make things worse?"
"I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Bai Yang lifted his head, eyes cold and gleaming. "If I'm not wrong, then I won't bow my head."
"Shhh!" Lu Nanfeng immediately gestured for him to lower his voice. If their master heard that, they'd both be in trouble.
But Bai Yang only scoffed, stubbornly refusing to bend.
Lu Nanfeng threw up his hands. "Fine, whatever. At most, she'll cool off in three days. Just kneel two more and tough it out."
"Father, Mother, I'm back!"
Song Wanníng walked quickly into the courtyard. At the sight of those two familiar figures, her eyes instantly reddened.
Thank the heavens. It wasn't too late.
Her parents were still alive.
The Song clan was still standing.
Song Qingyun's eyes widened in joy. He tugged Mu Yuan outside with him, his face softening with relief.
"Wanníng? You're back?"
Mu Yuan beamed. "Why didn't you send word first? We'd have gone to pick you up, silly girl."
She was a Nascent Soul cultivator now, already over a hundred years old, yet in their eyes she was still the girl who needed help reaching high shelves or crossing the stream near their old house.
Song Wanníng's throat constricted. She didn't speak. She simply stepped forward and embraced them both, holding on tightly as if afraid the moment would vanish.
Mu Yuan and Song Qingyun exchanged a look behind her back. Something was wrong. They felt it in the way she trembled.
When she finally explained that her engagement with Gu Qingyuan had been annulled, their expressions changed at once.
"What happened?"
"You've loved him for over a hundred years," her mother whispered, stunned.
Song Wanníng only shook her head, then summoned the Mirror of Three Lives and showed them everything she had seen.
"Unforgivable! Absolutely disgraceful!"
Song Qingyun was shaking with rage, his vision darkening.
His beloved daughter, burned to ash by Bai Yang!
The entire Song clan, slaughtered to the last, under Bai Yang's orders!
"How dare they!" he roared. "I'll kill them all!"
Mu Yuan's eyes were bloodshot. Her killing intent boiled over.
She wanted to tear those people apart with her bare hands.
She pulled Song Wanníng into her arms, trembling.
"My sweet girl, how could they treat you like this?"
They had always seen how much she gave, how selfless she was.
To betray her that cruelly, what kind of monsters were they?
"I'm not sad anymore," Song Wanníng said softly, calming them both as she led them inside. She raised her hand and laid down a boundary formation. Her smile faded, replaced by cold, deadly resolve.
"Forget them for now. They're more useful alive. I've seen the future. I have ways to destroy every last one of them."
A villainess who knows the future is no different from a wolf set loose in a pen of sheep. She had never claimed to be kind, and she sure as hell wasn't going to repay betrayal with virtue.
"'Wanníng, don't go down a dead-end path. Don't let your hatred become a demon seed," Song Qingyun warned. His worry only deepened.
Their daughter had always been a little spoiled, but he had never seen such ruthlessness on her face before.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing," Song Wanníng replied calmly.
A heart demon?
I was the demon.
What was there to fear?
"I know a place. There's a supreme spiritual vein buried there. Father, Mother, listen to me..."
The Song clan had always been her foundation. Her shield. Her home.
Now, she would raise them up with her own hands, rise to the heavens, and grind those betrayers into the mud.
As for those so-called 'protagonists' and their fated chances?
Let's see who plays the better game.
Day three.
Day four.
...
Day seven.
Bai Yang had been kneeling for seven days straight. His wounds hadn't healed. He coughed constantly and endured every whisper, every look. His mood dropped into the depths of despair.
Lu Nanfeng stood nearby, increasingly anxious. Why wasn't their master back yet?
Seven days. His Senior Brother had knelt for seven full days!
"This is too much. She's doing it on purpose. She knows he's out here kneeling, and she hasn't shown up once!"
"She's clearly trying to punish him!"
An Ze's anger surged. "Senior Brother, you shouldn't have just taken it. If she told you to kneel, you could've stood up when she wasn't around! She'd never know!"
Bai Yang kept his head down and said nothing.
An Ze continued venting, trying to stand up for Bai Yang—and also, truthfully, to let out some of his own frustration about the beating he'd taken earlier.
Finally, just before dusk, the three of them saw Song Wanníng return at last.
To their surprise, she wasn't alone.
At her side stood a small girl, seven or eight years old at most, timid and clinging to her sleeve.
The three of them froze.
"Master, you're back!" Lu Nanfeng said, voice filled with relief.
But Song Wanníng simply gave the girl a gentle nudge.
"Let me introduce you. This is my closed disciple—Li Ruo."