The Unlucky One, No. 021

[]

Chapter 21

Yan Qi felt he had sighed more in the past few minutes than he had in the previous twenty years.

"Her mind is unsettled, and her breathing is a little disordered. Some rest will set her right. Has something happened recently to disturb her?"

Understanding dawned on Wen Que.

Her junior sister had been through so much lately. An unsettled mind was probably a mild symptom, all things considered.

Wen Que had worried about whether her junior sister could bear it. First, she had been toyed with—though she had cut her losses in time—and then, the moment she went home, the truth about her birth came out. Wen Que thought it impressive that she had stayed clearheaded instead of simply exploding.

And her junior sister had seemed fine all along. In the imperial city, she had even appeared to have an epiphany and nearly advanced.

Now it seemed her junior sister had been suppressing her feelings the whole time. Once they returned to the sect and she let her guard down, the trouble finally surfaced.

But Wen Que had no idea how to explain that to the junior martial uncle before her.

While Wen Que busied herself settling Ming Xi in, Yan Qi stood beside her with his arms folded, watching the... spectacle?

He was curious too. He even wondered whether his initial judgment had been wrong. Had that glimpse of peach blossoms swirling through the air been his imagination?

But the peach-colored haze on the young woman's face, and the peach-blossom mark that had nearly formed between her brows afterward, had been real. What else but the Peach Blossom Curse could cause that?

The Peach Blossom Curse was nothing wholesome. On the surface, it seemed to do no other harm, but at just the right moment, it could sway a person's thoughts. The Demon Prince, for instance, had used it on Ming Xi to magnify whatever fondness she had for him. Over time, it would work on her imperceptibly until she loved him with a devotion that would endure through life and death.

If it really was the Peach Blossom Curse, then Wen Que's reaction was... Yan Qi could not quite say what was wrong with it, but she certainly did not look like someone under its spell.

The Peach Blossom Curse appeared as a hazy, peach-colored mist with the fragrance of peach blossoms. It was visible only for the instant it first appeared, as lovely as a dream, before vanishing in a flash. Only at that first moment could anyone see the peach-colored haze on the afflicted person's face. It would then become a peach-blossom mark between the brows and disappear without a trace.

Miss that moment, and there was no way to detect the curse in the body again. It was a poison with no cure.

When Wen Que opened her eyes just now, Yan Qi had been afraid the curse would take effect exactly as the rumors said: she would fall in love with the first person she saw.

There had been wonder and delight in the young woman's eyes, but it was not quite what he had imagined.

So either Wen Que had not been cursed, or the Peach Blossom Curse had expired and lost its potency?

As far as Yan Qi could see, Ming Xi was fine. The real problem was Wen Que, right in front of him.

Yan Qi kept studying her with a look she could not read, and Wen Que suddenly felt at a loss. She was not normally afraid of people, but the way he looked at her was enough to make her nervous.

"J-junior martial uncle? Did you need something?"

Yan Qi burst out laughing. "Junior martial uncle is fine, but why did you stutter over it like that?"

"Ah," Wen Que said. "So you really are my martial uncle?"

Yan Qi raised an eyebrow.

He was brimming with youthful spirit and a swordsman's boundless daring. He looked nothing like a cultivator and more like a young wandering hero who had stepped out of a martial-arts tale, his face full of free-spirited defiance.

He certainly did not look like a martial uncle. He looked more like a newcomer who had just entered the sect.

Of course, she could not say that. It would be rather offensive.

"What, you've never heard of me?"

Wen Que looked up at the sky and thought hard. "I... might possibly have heard of you?"

The instructors certainly never mentioned him in class, and her master had never brought him up either. Gossip about Endless Peak, on the other hand, was endless. Although no one had told her about him outright, she knew a little of her sect's history.

For example, her master's wife had ascended to immortality long ago, and mentioning her was a sure way to touch a raw nerve. Her master also had a junior martial brother who had left home years ago and had not returned since.

As for what that junior martial brother—their martial uncle—was like, she truly had no idea. She had not even heard anyone mention his name, as though it were some forbidden subject.

But her junior sister had identified him as their junior martial uncle herself. Ming Xi had joined the sect later than Wen Que, yet she was clearly the more reliable of the two.

If Ming Xi said he was, then he probably was.

Wen Que hemmed and hawed. Even without hearing her thoughts, Yan Qi could read plenty in her guilty expression.

"Come on. What exactly happened?"

In her rush earlier, Ming Xi had only mentioned that they had been attacked by the Demon Race. But Yan Qi had caught their later conversation about the Demon Prince, and he knew there was more to it.

"Tell me what happened. Whether you're supposed to say it or not, I'll hear it. If I'm in a good mood, I might even help you settle the score."

Wen Que's eyes lit up. Of course!

She could not tell what cultivation level this strikingly youthful junior martial uncle had reached, but he was still their martial uncle. His seniority alone was more than enough. With her master in seclusion and no telling when he would emerge, this elder could stand up for her second senior sister and the others!

Wen Que immediately