Chapter 34
Lou Yuqing’s brows knit together—then slowly eased.
[This is actually for the best. Dying now would be a mercy for them.]
[According to the original timeline, Cen Xiaoyun and Yin Pipa had a massive falling-out after splitting Song Li’s storage bag… and went their separate ways.]
Si Nidie tilted her head, already guessing. Unequal division?
[They agreed beforehand—sixty-forty. Cen Xiaoyun takes sixty, Yin Pipa forty. But who would’ve thought… the storage bag barely had anything inside?]
Above Lou Yuqing’s head, the screen flickered to life once more.
Items lay scattered across the ground.
Yin Pipa crossed her arms, suspicion sharp in her eyes. “A storage bag worth a million spirit stones… and this is all we get? Scrap?”
Cen Xiaoyun looked even more unsettled, frantically rummaging through the pile. “That’s impossible. I saw Aunt Wen give Song Li plenty of treasures with my own eyes. Where are they? Where did she hide them?!”
Yin Pipa let out a cold laugh. “Don’t tell me you staged this yourself. We’ve known each other for years—do you think I don’t know what you’re like?”
“What do you know?” Cen Xiaoyun snapped. “You don’t know anything! I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Why are you yelling at me?” Yin Pipa’s voice turned sharp. “I risked offending a Nascent Soul cultivator to help you kill her daughter. If she had noticed us, neither of us would’ve escaped.”
“Coward,” Cen Xiaoyun sneered. “I told you long ago Aunt Wen wouldn’t survive. What are you so afraid of? You did it, and now you want to back out?”
“You still call her Aunt Wen?” Yin Pipa scoffed. “Ridiculous. I’m not backing out—I just want sixty percent. If you hadn’t misled me, I wouldn’t have agreed to this losing deal.”
“Don’t even think about it!” Cen Xiaoyun shouted. “Sixty percent is mine. Aside from luring the snakes, I handled everything. I deserve the larger cut!”
“Why should you?” Yin Pipa sneered. “Do you think luring those snakes was easy? One wrong move and I’d be dead. Now that it’s done, you want to toss me aside. Who knows if you already pocketed the real treasures? Maybe this whole thing was just a way to use me to get rid of her.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Cen Xiaoyun snapped. “You were the one who pushed Song Li down there! I never planned to kill her. She’s still my sister. You’re the ruthless one—not even sparing her!”
Yin Pipa rolled her eyes. “Sister? You have the nerve to say that? From the start, you only got close to them for their money. Don’t pretend otherwise. And who was it that told you how much you resemble them?”
“I paid you. What more do you want?” Cen Xiaoyun’s breathing grew uneven. “Be honest—weren’t you jealous of Song Li? Isn’t that why you pushed her?”
Yin Pipa snorted but didn’t deny it. “And you weren’t jealous? Same face, completely different treatment. You wanted her gone too, didn’t you?”
Cen Xiaoyun’s lips trembled. She wanted to deny it—wanted to argue—but in the end, she said nothing.
Silence was answer enough.
Yin Pipa smiled, satisfied. “There it is. In front of me, you can drop the act. We know each other too well.”
The scene froze.
Silence fell over the plaza.
“…Disgusting,” Si Nidie muttered, eyes full of contempt. “One’s fake to the bone, the other’s heart is venom.”
Lou Yuqing nodded.
Wasn’t that exactly it? They drained Song Li dry, then tried to take her place. Song Li must have had the worst luck imaginable to cross paths with them.
This wasn’t just betrayal—it was leeching off her life.
Wei Houming watched the scene, his chest tightening. Betrayed by someone you trust… he understood that pain all too well.
The difference was—he still had a chance to make things right.
Song Li didn’t.
He glanced at the sect leader and sighed.
Qingxuzi felt that gaze and clenched his fists. If not for the disciples present, he would have already killed those two on the spot.
Then Lou Yuqing’s voice rang out again—lighter this time.
[Fortunately… Song Li didn’t die in the snake pit.]
[Not only did she survive, her body reached a strange equilibrium under the venom of countless snakes.]
[With sheer willpower, she endured forty-nine days. The toxins fused with her spiritual root… awakening a rare Fire Poison Physique.]
[She walked through a sea of snakes—untouched. She escaped the pit. Reborn.]
Qingxuzi froze.
Alive.
His daughter… was alive.
The world blurred. His knees nearly gave out—until a surge of spiritual energy steadied him.
He stared at Lou Yuqing, disbelief and hope colliding in his chest.
She’s alive.
She must be alive.
Around him, the crowd erupted in stunned disbelief.
Surviving a snake pit was already a miracle—awakening a special physique on top of that?
That was the stuff of legends.
Madam Hongyan’s eyes flickered.
A Fire Poison Physique… perfectly suited to her cultivation method.
Si Nidie pressed a hand to her chest and exhaled. “I knew it. Good people can’t just die like that. That’d be too unfair.”
But Lou Yuqing’s thoughts continued.
[Cen Xiaoyun and Yin Pipa parted ways. Cen Xiaoyun went one way… and immediately ran into a Golden Core fire beast, getting poisoned.]
[If she hadn’t blown up several treasures left to her by Song Li’s mother, she’d have died on the spot.]
[At the critical moment, Sect Leader Qingxuzi arrived at the Nanling Mountains, mistook her for his daughter… and saved her.]
[He brought her back. Took care of her personally.]
At that exact moment—Song Li had just been thrown into the snake pit.
Qingxuzi’s pupils shrank violently.
His breath hitched.
He had… saved the wrong one.
His fists trembled.
It was his fault.
He had protected a traitor—while his real daughter suffered alone.
Cen Xiaoyun shrank under the crowd’s hostile gazes, confusion and unease rising in her chest. She didn’t understand why they were suddenly looking at her like she was something filthy.
She hadn’t hurt them.
…but instinct told her to be careful.
Or they would turn on her next.
[What Cen Xiaoyun didn’t know—Yin Pipa’s motive wasn’t just jealousy.]
[She had obtained a secret method to tamper with bloodline tests.]
[Before pushing Song Li down, she took her heart’s blood—planning to replace her completely. But she was too late.]
[When Yin Pipa returned, she saw a powerful cultivator taking Cen Xiaoyun away.]
[That man… was most likely Song Li’s father.]
[The prize slipping through her fingers—how could Yin Pipa accept that?]
[Cen Xiaoyun might play along… but a false identity would never withstand scrutiny forever.]
[So Yin Pipa traveled to the Wendao Sect, waited for the Spirit Testing Conference—and used the perfect stage to seize everything.]
[Just like today.]
[At her plea, Qingxuzi had once spared Cen Xiaoyun.]
[Who could have imagined—these two would go on to stir chaos after chaos, dragging the sect into decline?]
Elder Wei Tu and the others stiffened.
Had they… unknowingly paved the way for disaster?
Qingxuzi pressed his temples, a dull ache pounding through his skull.
He remembered handing over the sect leader’s token.
Remembered trusting her.
Guilt crashed over him like a tidal wave.
“Senior Brother…” Zeng Xuangan steadied him.
Qingxuzi closed his eyes. “I was wrong. Terribly wrong.”
“It hasn’t happened yet,” Zeng Xuangan said gently. “There’s still time.”
Others echoed him.
But a calm voice cut through them all.
“Enough. Let him face it.”
Gu Buqi.
The others fell silent.
His gaze swept over the two women below, cold as steel. Beneath it, something deeper stirred—rare, unmistakable killing intent.
What had truly destroyed the Wendao Sect in the future?
Two Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t possibly cause that much damage.
Unless—
His thoughts sharpened.
Unless everything else had already fallen apart.
If his cultivation had been sabotaged… if Wei Tu had died… if the sect’s pillars had collapsed… if Qingxuzi had been misled…
Then yes.
It was possible.
A chill crept down his spine.
Below, Cen Xiaoyun and Yin Pipa trembled under his gaze, the air around them distorting, suffocating—
“Uncle-Master?” Wei Tu reminded quietly.
Gu Buqi withdrew his aura at once. “Mm.”
Wei Tu wiped cold sweat from his brow.
For Zixiao to lose his temper… that was no small matter.
Ling Yunxiao watched in silence, his thoughts mirroring Gu Buqi’s.
Was his so-called “bad luck”… really that powerful?
Could it bring down an entire sect?
…No.
It shouldn’t.
His gaze drifted to Lou Yuqing.
Confidence returned, quiet but firm.
As long as she was here—things might turn out differently.
Lou Yuqing, however, was busy staring at someone in the crowd, her eyes full of sympathy.
[First victim—this poor guy.]
[Cen Xiaoyun later found an ancient forbidden technique in the Enforcement Hall.]
[It could enhance aptitude… but required a cultivator’s spiritual root. Yin-attributed roots were especially effective.]
[And just when she was looking for a target—this unlucky guy with a blood spiritual root fell for her at first sight.]
[Brother… chasing blindly like this is dangerous. In your case, it’s fatal.]
[During a mission, she drugged him. Instant trip to the underworld.]
[Official story? Killed by a demon beast.]
[Tsk. If he knew the truth, he’d probably die twice out of sheer disbelief.]
The “unlucky guy” froze.
His face turned green.
That tiny flicker of interest he once had—completely extinguished.
He suddenly felt like he would never love again.
Si Nidie sucked in a breath. “So that’s when she started plotting…”
Wei Houming’s expression darkened.
He remembered that case.
The Blood Fiend Wanderer.
A demonic cultivator who slaughtered disciples and stole spiritual roots, advancing rapidly—until the Purple Cloud Immortal Venerable intervened and killed him.
Those techniques had long since been sealed away.
Qingxuzi’s face drained of color.
This… had happened under his authority.
A karmic stain he could not erase.
“Uncle-Master… please appoint someone else as sect leader. I am unfit for this position.”
Gu Buqi’s gaze sharpened. “Running away? Is that your solution?”
Qingxuzi lowered his head. “I was wrong.”
“Then fix it,” Gu Buqi said coldly. “Don’t leave a mess behind and call it responsibility.”
Qingxuzi looked up, startled.
“…You still trust me?”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Warmth surged in Qingxuzi’s chest.
Around him, the others offered quiet support.
For a brief moment, the weight lifted.
Then—
Lou Yuqing’s next thought crashed down like thunder.
[How am I supposed to tell him… that after escaping the snake pit, Song Li was captured by her mother’s enemies… and trapped in a living nightmare for the rest of her life?]