At the first sound of those words.
Jian Wushuang's handsome face cracked, bit by bit.
Especially with the little girl gazing at her in adoration and admiration, practically ready to glue her eyes right onto Jian Wushuang.
Was the Ghost Fire Flying Sword really that useful?
Seeing how easily she could win over Junior Sister, Jian Wushuang suddenly had a few new ideas.
This was cultivation practically delivered to her doorstep. Why turn it down?
Just once. Just once, and she could spoil Junior Sister all she wanted afterward.
It would be a good chance to teach Junior Sister just how cruel the mortal world could be.
As for whether Heavenly Sword Venerable would kick her out, Master hadn't bothered with these affairs in ages. It was only a Junior Sister, so surely it wouldn't come to that.
"Senior Brother, Senior Brother."
My innocent, bright-eyed tone made Jian Wushuang beam.
"You called it exactly right. I really am your Senior Brother, a Direct Disciple of Heavenly Sword Peak—Jian Wushuang."
"Want your Senior Brother to take you out for a spin?"
I didn't miss Jian Wushuang's brilliant performance. Like a lovestruck young girl, my red eyes sparkled as I stared right at her forehead. "I'll do whatever you say, Senior Brother."
[Jian Wushuang: Talent?]
A notification from her Communication Talisman made Jian Wushuang pull out her communication device and glance at it. "Sorry."
"Second Senior Brother will take you for a ride next time. You're the new Junior Sister Master just took in, right?"
"New?" I tilted my head in confusion. "I guess... I count as new?" It had only been a little over ten years, so it was still pretty recent.
In the Cultivation World, a single retreat could last decades.
She tossed me a Communication Talisman. "If you need anything, come find me. Your Senior Brother is invincible under heaven."
Jian Wushuang vanished on the spot, leaving me standing there, fiddling with the Communication Talisman. Quite the brag. She really dared to say she was invincible under heaven. I doubted she could even beat Yue Wuhua, let alone go pick a fight with the Female Protagonist.
This time, I'd show her what it meant to be despised by the ways of the world.
A wicked smile tugged at my lips as I hopped home.
Jian Wushuang returned to her cave dwelling. While waiting for Ye Qingxian to visit, she habitually took out the Ghost Fire Flying Sword.
The sword's hazy glow left her more and more perplexed the longer she looked at it.
There was something... a little uncanny about it.
As if it were bound by some kind of fixed rule.
She only had to take it out, and it could capture a young girl's heart.
She unconsciously touched her blond hair.
Their first encounter today had gone smoothly. It shouldn't take long to win over Junior Sister. Now all she had to do was wait for Junior Sister to lose patience and confess first. Then her Ruthless Dao cultivation would surge.
As a peerless heartbreaker, Jian Wushuang had only ever held to two principles.
First, she wouldn't covet anyone's body—not even hold hands.
Second, everything was for the sake of cultivation, and afterward she would compensate them with a huge amount of spirit stones.
In her view, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, one that helped both sides improve their state of mind.
That was why, after all these years, no one had stormed Heavenly Sword Peak, and no one had exposed her as a woman.
As the saying went, if you hunt geese long enough, one day a goose will peck your eyes out.
Jian Wushuang would never have guessed that a true hunter often appeared in the form of prey. A hat so big it would leave her gasping was about to land on her head.
Knock, knock, knock.
After three proper knocks, Ye Qingxian entered. Her gaze first settled on the Ghost Fire Flying Sword Jian Wushuang was playing with, then she looked away as if nothing had happened.
Her tone was cool and even. "Second Senior Brother, I have something to discuss with you."
The two finished discussing the matter.
Just before leaving, Ye Qingxian suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere, "Have you met Junior Sister?"
"Met her—no, I haven't." Jian Wushuang almost let it slip, but hurriedly denied it.
If Ye Qingxian, with her overstuffed sense of justice, found out ahead of time—
Wouldn't the whole plan be ruined?
Ye Qingxian was so clever she seemed almost demonic. Her voice turned cold at once. "You'd better not have met her."
Ye Xiaoyao's cave dwelling.
Jian Wushuang.
Second Senior Brother of Heavenly Sword Peak.
I'd never met Jian Wushuang, but I'd heard her name.
Who would've thought?
The famous Second Senior Brother of Heavenly Sword Peak was actually a black-hearted scumbag.
I absolutely wouldn't allow anyone to be worse than me.
So, I wouldn't hold back.
My beautiful red eyes kept flickering. As I hummed lightly, feeling relaxed and cheerful, they finally curved into a pair of sly fox eyes.
The days gradually settled down. I stopped going out and stirring things up, content to stay in my little courtyard and nurture the baby. I only went out occasionally to briefly meet with Jian Wushuang. Even when she seemed to grit her teeth at me, I kept just the right distance—not too close, not too far. She could see the hope of winning me over, but I didn't have to suffer for it.
I knew what she wanted to say. She hadn't expected Ye Xiaoyao to be this hard to handle, had she?
Don't worry. Let's see how long I can keep the Female Protagonist on her toes. I guarantee I'll give you a huge surprise someday.
One day, I was outside in the courtyard, sunning the baby, when I suddenly heard voices beyond the gate.
"Senior Sister Nan, have you heard? There's a thief on Heavenly Sword Peak lately, targeting female cultivators with low cultivation and stealing from them."
"I've heard. Be careful, too."
The cave dwelling had a barrier, so other people couldn't see what was inside, but I could hear what passersby were saying.
Hearing there was a little thief around,
I was so frightened that I reinforced the barrier around my cave dwelling that very night.
Then I yawned lazily and lay back down on the deck chair.
I was seven weeks pregnant, almost two months along.
My morning sickness had been getting worse lately. I was also inexplicably more sleepy than ever, and my appetite had improved significantly. Overall, it wasn't a bad thing. At least it let me know the baby was developing healthily.
Perhaps because I'd made no big moves and had only kept up my discreet contact with Jian Wushuang, Ye Qingxian assumed I'd settled down. She stopped lecturing me about the basic principles female cultivators should follow.
Time passed little by little. I reached two months of pregnancy and went out once or twice more. Most of the time I met with Jian Wushuang, one or two female cultivators who didn't think much of it happened to see us.
A tiny seed was planted, waiting for the day it would explode like a bomb.
As a qualified villain, I knew exactly how this worked.
At two and a half months pregnant, I rubbed my swollen belly. I really wanted to stay in my cave dwelling and take care of the baby, but even the landlord's family was running out of grain. I had no choice but to get back to work and earn some milk money for the baby who hadn't even been born yet.
Besides, I had to get out and walk around once in a while. Lying around at home all day was making me feel awful.
I had just accepted a farming mission
when someone up ahead spoke so loudly that I couldn't help hearing.
"Junior Sister, have you heard? There's a Senior Sister in the Inner Sect who dared to have a child without a Dao Companion. For us cultivators to do something so scandalous is a disgrace to all female cultivators."
My little face stiffened.
Gossip behind my back all you want, but why were you speaking so loudly?!
You'd think you were saying it for me to hear.
Behind a towering tree, I failed to notice Ye Qingxian's figure, and couldn't possibly see her eyes narrowing.
My little face stayed stiff for a long while, then I stopped caring.
It didn't matter. Ye Xiaoyao had thick skin.
How could anyone without thick skin dare to boast about having a hundred babies for the Female Protagonist in one go?
This was only the first baby. Nothing could make me give up halfway.
The next moment, a low voice beside my ear nearly made my soul scatter.
"Junior Sister, are you nervous?"
Ye Qingxian seemed to have been right beside me all along. Her sudden question nearly shook my soul right out of me.
Ye Qingxian was in charge of all the order on Heavenly Sword Peak. What I'd done was certainly within her jurisdiction.
Only then did I suddenly realize: those female cultivators gossiping were just bait to lure me in.
So they'd been talking about me all along!
Ye Qingxian's tone was calm. "Wu Xiao, an Inner Sect Disciple, has no Dao Companion and is carrying a child. It's scandalous, so I personally decided to revoke all her future resource allocations."
Ye Qingxian's emotionless gaze made me feel as if I were sitting on pins and needles.
Resource allocations?
Ha ha, well, um...
I didn't get any.
I knew it. Ye Qingxian, clever as she was, had never once let go of her suspicions.
But I was Ye Xiaoyao.
A great villain every bit as clever as she was. How could a few words from her scare me?
"Senior Sister, you know what kind of person I am. You've seen how well-behaved I usually am." I raised my little hands as if I meant it, swearing solemnly as I started spouting nonsense. My baby-fat cheeks made me look so sweet and well-behaved that Ye Qingxian's doubts finally eased a little.
Ye Qingxian's gaze drifted down without her noticing, following the little girl's fair hands, not even half the size of her own. It lingered on my fingernails, all painted a pale black. Then she suddenly patted my shoulder. "You should know that I'm only worried about you, and want you to have a better life. No one taught you when you were growing up, and I was the one who brought you to the sect, so I have a responsibility. I can't stand by and watch you lose your way. I've been negligent in the past. This world is full of temptations, and you're still young—you can't tell right from wrong. Now you've got a baby on the way. The child's other scumbag of a parent might run off on the very first day. Are you going to pick through trash with your baby?"
When Ye Qingxian said "scumbag," her expression darkened for some inexplicable reason.
Over the years, countless young women on Heavenly Sword Peak had suffered over matters of the heart.
To be honest,
before the Female Protagonist went off the deep end, she really was the kindest person in the world. Otherwise, so many people wouldn't have treated her as their moonlight.
Seeing that Ye Qingxian had finished talking, I was about to leave the Mission Hall when my morning sickness hit like a tide.
I cursed nonstop in my heart.
Baby, don't do this to me!!
How could anything be this ridiculous? It was as if you were waiting for the Female Protagonist to show up.
How many coincidences had there been already? I'd been fine just a moment ago, and now you were making me falter at the exact right moment.
Almost by instinct, I covered my mouth and suddenly crouched down.
I retched, unable to stop.
The intense nausea, along with my curled-up body, made me look so pitiful.
The previous second, I'd been a soft, adorable little girl confidently promising that I'd never been involved with any scumbag. The next, I was crouched in front of her, retching nonstop. The sharp contrast hit Ye Qingxian so hard that even her exquisite face cracked a little.
Ye Qingxian's expression changed on the spot. She grabbed my arm with a grip that brooked no argument.
"Ye Xiaoyao, have you been lying this whole time?"
"Don't move."
"I'm going to take your pulse."
Before you continue