Princess Hongyu didn't know much about cultivation, but she'd grown up under a fiend's control and had seen her fair share of demonic methods.
Over the years, countless people had vanished from the imperial palace without a trace. To others, they were simply missing, presumed dead. But Princess Hongyu knew the truth: they'd been skinned and dismembered, without even a bone left behind.
At the thought of it, Princess Hongyu felt sick and nearly threw up.
She'd considered countless possibilities, but she'd never dreamed that the Qinghe Sword Sect would be a demonic sect too.
Lan Shi couldn't believe it. She hurriedly asked, "Your Highness, isn't the Qinghe Sword Sect supposed to be an upright sect?"
It was Lan Shi who had helped gather information about the Qinghe Sword Sect. Princess Hongyu had gone to great lengths to lure its cultivators here.
The difficult part wasn't spreading the word. It was figuring out how to spread it without making the Old Devil by her side suspicious.
At long last, the Old Devil had closed himself away to cultivate, his lifespan nearly spent. Only then had Princess Hongyu found the chance to smuggle out the information. By the time Jiang Shiyue discovered it, Princess Hongyu would have been dead if she weren't the Old Devil's intended vessel for possession.
Jiang Shiyue suspected something was amiss, but he didn't dare disturb his master in seclusion. Both he and Princess Hongyu knew the Old Devil was as capricious as they came. Even if you had his best interests at heart, anger him and you'd wish you were dead.
After all, demonic cultivators could hardly wait to betray their masters. Why would one truly act like a devoted disciple and risk punishment to warn him?
Jiang Shiyue wouldn't. He'd rather use the situation to kill people and improve his cultivation, taking full advantage of it, than play the good disciple.
But after all their careful calculations, they'd never expected that the cultivator they'd worked so hard to lure here would turn out to be another fiend.
Only demonic cultivators would take the corpses away. Flesh and bone alike were choice materials for practicing all manner of vicious spells and refining cruel, blood-soaked magical treasures.
Seeing the worry on Princess Hongyu's face, Lan Shi couldn't help reassuring her. "Your Highness, that young man doesn't seem like a fiend to me."
Princess Hongyu sighed and stroked Lan Shi's head. "How can you tell good from evil by looks alone? Is Jiang Shiyue not handsome?"
Lan Shi recalled the two men she'd seen, then said, "He doesn't even come close. That young man is ten times better-looking than the little fiend. No, a hundred times."
Princess Hongyu looked astonished.
Jiang Shiyue might not be a good person, but he'd used all sorts of secret arts to alter his appearance and truly was a rare beauty. How could anyone be ten or a hundred times more handsome than him?
Oh no. Could Lan Shi have been bewitched?
Princess Hongyu knew demonic cultivators had ways to bewitch people. She'd seen Jiang Shiyue use them before. The technique was cruel, forcibly twisting the brain and often causing the victim to bleed from all seven orifices.
The slightest mistake could kill the victim outright. Even the lucky ones suffered serious harm. But once bewitched, they obeyed the caster's every word and lost all sense of self.
That was how Jiang Shiyue had gathered the martial artists under his command. Every one of them was willing to die for him.
Princess Hongyu felt half her heart turn cold. She was terrified that Lan Shi had been bewitched by that fiend and would become someone else's puppet. That would be worse than death.
After a moment's thought, Princess Hongyu said to Lan Shi, "I order you to find the fiend hiding somewhere and kill him!"
"Huh?!" Lan Shi was surprised, but quickly replied, "As you command, Your Highness. I... I'll do my best."
Though she didn't know why, Lan Shi obeyed the princess without hesitation. Still, it wouldn't be easy for a mortal to kill a cultivator.
Hearing Lan Shi's answer, Princess Hongyu relaxed a little. It seemed she hadn't been bewitched.
Princess Hongyu warned her, "Xiao Shitou, never act rashly when you encounter a cultivator. Protecting yourself comes first."
"But, Your Highness, didn't you just order me to kill that cultivator?"
"Silly girl, I was only joking. You don't even know where he is. If a cultivator wants to hide, how could a mortal..."
As she spoke, Princess Hongyu suddenly realized something. If he really was a fiend, why had he left that message challenging Jiang Shiyue?
Princess Hongyu didn't believe demonic cultivators kept their word. That challenge for seven days from now had to be a trick.
"If the Qinghe Sword Sect cultivator really is a fiend, then it makes sense that he killed Jiang Shiyue's men and took their corpses. But the challenge must be a ploy to mislead Jiang Shiyue. Why would he want to mislead him? Is he planning to flee, or lay a trap and harm someone?"
In Princess Hongyu's eyes, fiends were selfish and cruel. They wouldn't risk their lives fighting other cultivators just to defend the innocent. They would only fight if there was something to gain.
So what did this fiend want?
"If I can learn what he's thinking, perhaps I can set one wolf against another."
Princess Hongyu pondered for a long time, until the moon was high and the lamp wick had burned to ash. By the time Lan Shi was nearly asleep, she woke the girl and whispered a few instructions in her ear.
Lan Shi listened, nodding repeatedly, then said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I won't let you down."
Princess Hongyu replied, "Protect yourself first. This is only my guess, and whether it works is up to fate. If you really find him, you can leave him a letter. You don't need to meet that cultivator alone."
Lan Shi nodded. "Please rest assured, Your Highness. I'll take care of it now."
Lan Shi was about to get up, but the princess caught her hand.
"There's no need to rush. He set the challenge for seven days from now, so he must be buying time. If you hurry out now, you might come up empty-handed. Get a good night's rest first, then go."
Lan Shi's face brightened. "Then can we do what we used to when I was little?"
Princess Hongyu smiled faintly, stroked Lan Shi's head, and began to hum softly.
The melody was as gentle as moonlight. The girl lay beside the princess and soon drifted off to sleep.
When Lan Shi was fast asleep, Princess Hongyu looked at the little girl curled into a ball and couldn't help whispering, "Xiao Shitou, remember: protecting yourself comes first. Don't take risks, don't let your guard down. Rest well and eat well. We don't have much time left. You have to live—for all of us."
Her eyes reddened, and crystalline tears welled up in them. Just as they were about to fall, the light before her suddenly dimmed.
Startled, Princess Hongyu looked up toward the windowsill.
At some point, someone had appeared by the window, as quiet and light as a breeze.
His figure blocked half the moonlight, yet seemed to be bathed in silver radiance.
Their eyes met. Princess Hongyu felt her heartbeat slow. The moonlight cast his shadow into her eyes, then deep into her heart.
Princess Hongyu had read countless books, but couldn't find the right words to describe the breathtaking sight before her. Could anyone in this world really be so beautiful? Perhaps this was how an immortal would look after descending into the mortal realm.
She didn't need him to introduce himself to guess who he was.
Lan Shi hadn't exaggerated in the slightest. There really was a man in this world ten, even a hundred times more handsome than Jiang Shiyue.
But after the astonishment came unending fear.
Why had this fiend from the Qinghe Sword Sect come here? What did he want?
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