Just a Mortal

"Are you really not going to kill Lin Zhishui anymore?" She Xilu asked, biting her lip.

"You threatened to take me down with you. What else can I do?"

The female voice, tinged with a snake's hiss, sighed. "I never expected you to be even more ruthless than you were in your past life. This isn't the first time you've threatened me like this, but this time, it's actually over a mortal... How ironic..."

She Xilu picked up the knife handle from the floor and said softly, "If you really are me, and you've experienced everything between him and me, you should understand."

"My Primordial Spirit was asleep before. I could only sense the outside world when your state of mind changed drastically," her other self said, her tone conflicted. "Most of the time, I couldn't see what you were going through."

"Then take your time and watch."

She Xilu threw the fruit knife and its fragments into the trash. "But if you dare hurt him, even if I can't do anything to you, I'll try every possible way to take you down with me."

"So he's also a line you won't let anyone cross, is that it?" the female voice asked.

"Yes."

She Xilu answered quietly, then said, "I don't want to die either. I want to marry Lin Zhishui. Please don't force my hand. As long as you can do that, I'll live peacefully with you."

"Understood," the female voice said flatly.

Only then did She Xilu sit down on the sofa. After a moment of silence, she asked, "You just said 'also a line I won't let anyone cross.' Did I have other limits in my past life?"

Her other self fell silent for a while before saying, "The other was... not to slaughter cultivators at will. That was also the agreement you made with that person back then."

"That person? Who?"

She Xilu asked in confusion, "Slaughter cultivators? Was I really some great demon in my past life?"

"That person... You don't need to know."

Her other self sounded somewhat conflicted. After a brief silence, she said, "As for being a great demon... to be precise, that's me. All your murderous instincts are concentrated in me. In the past, we were natural enemies of cultivators."

"So we're two personalities, one good and one evil? That reminds me of a TV series. Long Kui in Chinese Paladin was like that too, wasn't she?" She Xilu couldn't help saying.

"I don't know. You and I don't share memories," the female voice said.

"Oh, right."

She Xilu suddenly said, "Then does that mean all those dreams I had were actually experiences from my past life? That well, and the corpses of those strange beasts inside it... And the novel I wrote-was that my past life too?"

"You could say that," the female voice replied. "When you wrote your novel, my memories influenced you too, so you naturally incorporated experiences from your past life. Leaving aside the story you made up, the characters and setting are more or less accurate. But... back then, the Well of Primordial Beginning wasn't called the Demonic Well of Origin yet."

"The Well of Primordial Beginning?"

She Xilu nodded in realization.

Her novel did indeed have such a setting. The Well of Primordial Beginning was located in the benighted Primordial Land, also known as the Demon Realm. Emperor's Flowing Elixir would fall from the sky above the Demon Realm into the Well of Primordial Beginning. A portion fell into the mortal world, while most remained in the Demon Realm.

She couldn't help asking, "Then what about the corpses of the Demon Race in the Well of Primordial Beginning?"

"Naturally, we killed them," the female voice said calmly. "We were responsible for guarding the Demonic Well of Origin and sealing off the entire Demon Realm. Anyone who trespassed was certain to die."

"Why?" She Xilu couldn't help asking.

"There's no point asking about the past."

The female voice sighed. "We've already broken free of it. Knowing these things won't do you any good."

"Oh... All right, then." She Xilu nodded obediently.

As long as Lin Zhishui wasn't harmed, there was nothing wrong with compromising on other things.

"By the way, what's your name?" She Xilu asked cautiously.

"You and I are the same person. Naturally, my name is whatever yours is," the female voice said.

"That won't do." She Xilu hurriedly shook her head. "If you have the same name as me, it'll feel like I'm being cheated on... You're not allowed to have my name."

Her other self remained silent for a long while before saying, "Then... I'll use your name from your past life. Call me 'Youchan.'"

"Isn't that the name of my novel's heroine?" She Xilu asked, stunned.

"Yes," her other self said.

She Xilu nodded. "Then I'll call you Youchan."

Youchan fell silent for a moment, then said, "Speaking of which, what happened today? I thought I'd have to wait for you to grow a little more before my Primordial Spirit could fully awaken. What happened to you today?"

"Today? Nothing..."

Somewhat bewildered, She Xilu said, "I don't know what happened just now either. Out of nowhere, my head started hurting terribly, like it was about to explode. I didn't do anything. All I did was eat a peach, and then this happened. Surely it couldn't have been because of the peach?"

"The headache was caused by my Primordial Spirit awakening," Youchan explained, then pressed her. "You said you ate a peach? What kind of peach?"

"Just a very ordinary peach."

She Xilu thought for a moment, then got up and went into Lin Zhishui's bedroom. Picking up the peach pit on the desk, she said, "This one. Is there something wrong with this peach?"

"This..." Youchan let out a startled cry in her mind.

"What's wrong?" She Xilu asked in confusion.

"Where did this peach come from?" Youchan asked.

"Lin Zhishui gave it to me," She Xilu said, puzzled. "He brought it back today. Is this peach some kind of heavenly treasure?"

"This is a Lesser Immortal Peach," Youchan said gravely.

"An immortal peach?"

She Xilu gave a surprised murmur. Naturally, she had written about this very common thing in her novel too. She couldn't help saying, "Aren't immortal peaches from the Immortal Realm? How would Lin Zhishui have one? Are there immortal peach trees in the mortal world too?"

After a long silence, Youchan asked, "Do you know that Lin Zhishui well?"

"Yes. He's really good to me." She Xilu nodded.

"Do you truly know everything about him? Have you seen the real him?" Youchan asked again.

"Everything... Uh, I wouldn't say everything."

Halfway through her reply, She Xilu suddenly remembered that she and Lin Zhishui weren't married yet, and she had never seen him without clothes. How could she claim to know everything about him?

"Only the environment of the Heavenly Realm can nurture immortal peaches. Since he brought it to you, it certainly can't be as simple as a 'coincidence.' Perhaps the Upper Realm is behind this..." Youchan said softly.

"Could Lin Zhishui actually be a cultivator living in seclusion? An immortal cultivation master in the city?" She Xilu's eyes lit up as she suddenly recalled the urban cultivation novels she had read.

"You're overthinking it."

Youchan said indifferently, "With my Primordial Spirit's Spiritual Awareness, I can count on one hand the beings in heaven and earth, among all the immortals and buddhas, who could escape my notice. He's just a mortal. Perhaps someone in the Heavenly Realm had him bring it to you. It would be perfectly normal even if he knew nothing about it himself. To those old fellows, he's nothing more than a pawn."

"Oh..." She Xilu lowered her head in disappointment.

"Ask him where the peach came from later," Youchan said. "We can investigate it in the future."

Just then, the sound of a key turning in the front door's lock rang out.

"Ah, Lin Zhishui's back."

Delighted, She Xilu hurried toward the door.

"Hm?"

But Youchan, inside her mind, froze for a moment, then said in bewilderment, "How is that possible? Someone is this close, yet my Primordial Spirit's Spiritual Awareness didn't detect him?"

"Huh?" Stunned, She Xilu couldn't help asking, "Didn't you just say you could count on one hand all the beings in heaven and earth who could escape your notice?"

She couldn't help thinking, Could it be that my past self... actually had countless fingers?

PS: Today's second update is up. Time to imitate Guild Leader Ning's expression~