Azure Mystic Sect, Flowing Cloud Peak.
This peak housed the sect's female elders. Clouds and mist wreathed the mountain year-round, and Spiritual Qi was abundant.
Under cover of night, a figure climbed along the mountainside.
Chu Yunfei did not force his way through the restrictions.
Years ago, when the two families had still been on good terms, he had visited Flowing Cloud Residence several times and vaguely remembered a few gaps in the outer formation.
Moreover, the mountain patrol disciples changed shifts every hour, giving him an opening.
He avoided the formation patterns all along the way.
Chu Yunfei slipped soundlessly into the depths of the courtyard.
The Abyss-Devouring Sword was too heavy, so he had already put it into his storage ring. Otherwise, carrying a sword weighing over five hundred jin on a nighttime intrusion into Flowing Cloud Peak would have made as much noise as tearing the mountain down.
Inside Flowing Cloud Residence, the steam had yet to dissipate.
Lin Wanyin sat cross-legged on an immortal couch, dressed in a white silk gown.
Her soaking-wet hair spilled over her shoulders, droplets occasionally falling from its ends and leaving a small patch of dark marks on the bedsheet.
She had just finished bathing, but felt no sleepiness whatsoever.
Ever since leaving that dilapidated courtyard, she had never truly calmed down.
The recording stone.
The strange golden light inside Chu Yunfei.
And the inexplicable loosening of her cultivation bottleneck after that outrageous encounter.
Every one of these things had escaped her control.
What unsettled her even more was Chu Yunfei's parting look.
That little bastard would never let the matter rest.
Just as Lin Wanyin thought this, a teasing voice came from the window.
"Aunt Lin, how did you know I was coming?"
"You've even finished bathing. Were you waiting for me?"
Lin Wanyin stiffened.
She jerked her head up.
In the moonlight, Chu Yunfei leaned against the window, watching her with a faint, ambiguous smile.
His gaze swept over her still-damp hair before settling on her white silk gown.
Lin Wanyin instinctively clutched her neckline.
"Chu Yunfei?"
"How did you get in here!"
She was both shocked and furious.
Although Flowing Cloud Peak was not exactly forbidden ground within the sect, it was not somewhere outer disciples could enter as they pleased.
Besides, there were restrictions here that she had personally laid down.
"I walked in."
Chu Yunfei shut the window and slowly approached her.
"Why are you so nervous, Aunt Lin?"
"Could you be hiding another man in your room?"
"Shut up!"
Lin Wanyin snapped coldly, killing intent already surfacing in her eyes.
"This is no place for you."
"Get out immediately!"
Chu Yunfei did not stop.
He came up to the immortal couch, the smile fading from his face little by little.
"Before I leave, let's discuss something."
"The person you sent to kill me is dead."
Lin Wanyin frowned.
"What person?"
"Still pretending?"
Chu Yunfei looked down at her.
"Seventh Level of Body Tempering. An Azure Mystic Sect disciple who practiced the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique."
"He followed me all the way from the sect to the demonic beast forest. Every strike of his sword was aimed at taking my life."
The confusion in Lin Wanyin's eyes did not fade.
"It wasn't me."
Chu Yunfei stared at her without speaking.
Lin Wanyin sneered. "If I wanted to kill you, would I need to send a disciple at the Seventh Level of Body Tempering? As long as you're still in the Azure Mystic Sect, I have plenty of ways to make you disappear."
"Why take such an unnecessary step?"
Harsh as her words were, they made sense.
Besides, her astonishment upon hearing about the assassination had not looked feigned.
If she really had sent him, she would not have reacted like that.
Chu Yunfei narrowed his eyes.
"If it wasn't you, who was it?"
Lin Wanyin fell silent for a moment, then suddenly thought of someone.
"Ling Feng."
"Him?"
"Ling Feng has been pursuing Shuang'er all along."
Lin Wanyin looked at Chu Yunfei, her voice cold.
"Although your engagement to Shuang'er has been dissolved, as long as you're alive, this matter will remain a thorn."
Chu Yunfei looked thoughtful.
Ling Feng was the sect master's direct disciple, with cultivation and status far beyond those of ordinary inner disciples.
Given his position, sending a subordinate at the Seventh Level of Body Tempering would not be difficult.
The motive fit, too.
"Ling Feng..."
Chu Yunfei softly spoke the name, another layer of coldness entering his eyes.
That debt is on the ledger.
Seeing that he still would not leave, Lin Wanyin's expression darkened again.
"I've said everything there is to say."
"Now get out of Flowing Cloud Residence."
Chu Yunfei raised his eyes to her.
"For now, the assassination has nothing to do with you, Aunt Lin."
"But the old debts between us aren't settled yet."
Lin Wanyin's heart tightened.
"What do you want to do?"
"Fuck Situ's mother!"
Those familiar words instantly reminded Lin Wanyin of everything in the dilapidated courtyard.
Her face paled, only for shame and anger to replace it.
"You still want to do that? Keep dreaming!"
"Chu Yunfei, I'll kill you today, you little bastard!"
Boom!
Spiritual power surged out of Lin Wanyin.
She raised her hand and struck toward the top of Chu Yunfei's head, the force of her palm making the bed curtains shake violently.
Chu Yunfei did not dodge.
He merely watched the approaching hand and spoke unhurriedly.
"Kill me, and your secret gets exposed."
Lin Wanyin's hand stopped in midair.
Her palm was less than three inches from Chu Yunfei's forehead.
Spiritual power kept surging, but the blow never fell.
A mocking curve lifted the corners of Chu Yunfei's mouth.
"I've already made contingency arrangements."
"If I don't send word back tonight, copies of the recording stone will spread throughout the Azure Mystic Sect."
"When that happens, everyone, from the sect master and elders down to the outer-sect servants, will get to see the exquisite figure of Flowing Cloud Peak's master."
He leaned down slightly, lowering his voice.
"Oh, right. They'll also see that little red birthmark on your ass."
"Chu Yunfei!"
Lin Wanyin trembled all over with rage.
But Chu Yunfei did not stop.
"Of course, that's not the most devastating part."
"If Situ Shuang'er finds out that the woman she's called Mother all these years isn't her birth mother at all..."
"How do you think she'll feel?"
Boom!
The spiritual power in Lin Wanyin's palm instantly dispersed.
She stared blankly at Chu Yunfei, all color drained from her face.
"You..."
"How could you know?"
Shuang'er was not her biological daughter.
She had always buried this matter extremely deeply.
Not only were the other elders of the Azure Mystic Sect unaware, even Situ Shuang'er herself knew nothing about it.
Chu Yunfei could not possibly know this secret!
Chu Yunfei straightened.
"Was it hard to guess?"
"That day was your first time."
Lin Wanyin's breath caught.
Chu Yunfei continued, "The bloodstains in the room couldn't lie."
"How could a woman who'd never consummated a marriage with a man give birth to a daughter who's nearly grown?"
"Aunt Lin, this secret isn't actually as tightly sealed as you think."
Lin Wanyin opened her mouth, but could not utter a word.
She collapsed onto the immortal couch, her mind utterly blank.
If the recording stone spread, her reputation would be completely ruined.
But what she truly could not bear was Shuang'er's parentage being revealed.
Over the years, she had long since come to regard Shuang'er as her own daughter.
Shuang'er was also the person she cared about most in this world.
Once the secret was exposed, how would Shuang'er look at her?
And how would she face the rumors within the sect?
She could not afford that gamble.
Whether Chu Yunfei was bluffing no longer mattered.
As long as there was even the slightest possibility, she dared not put Situ Shuang'er at risk.
"Chu Yunfei."
Lin Wanyin raised her head, her voice icy.
"If you dare tell Shuang'er about this..."
"Don't worry."
Chu Yunfei interrupted her.
"As long as you obediently do as you're told, I have no interest in your family's past."
Lin Wanyin stared coldly at him. "What exactly do you want?"
"It's simple."
Chu Yunfei looked at her and spoke evenly.
"Put your hair up."
Lin Wanyin's body gave a violent shudder.
"You..."
"Don't make me help you myself."
She bit her lip hard, the killing intent in her eyes almost taking solid form, but the hand that should have struck down finally fell limply to her side.
After a long time, Lin Wanyin closed her eyes.
Two trails of tears slid down her cheeks.
She raised her trembling hands, untied her hair ribbon, and slowly coiled her soaking-wet black hair behind her head, revealing her fair, graceful, swanlike neck.
Every movement was filled with endless humiliation and fury.
Chu Yunfei nodded in satisfaction.
"Aunt Lin, don't make that face."
"You benefited quite a bit too. You should be thanking me."
The next moment.
Lin Wanyin's beautiful eyes flew wide, and she forced a word through clenched teeth.
"Beast..."
Chu Yunfei did not respond.
The Dragon and Phoenix Dao Yellow Scripture circulated madly within his body.
Hum!
Drawn by it, the Spiritual Qi in the room converged from every direction.
Outside the window, clouds and mist churned.
The lights went out in the wind, and the Flowing Cloud Residence sank into darkness once more.
Two hours later.
The turbulent Spiritual Qi finally began to settle.
Lin Wanyin sat leaning against the immortal couch, raising a hand to cover her still-unsteady breathing.
She had intended to strike immediately, but the moment she circulated her cultivation technique, her expression abruptly froze.
The bottleneck within her that had held her back for so long had actually loosened again.
The spiritual power in her meridians was nearly ten percent more substantial than before, and even her soul had become more solid.
Her strength had increased again.
"How could this..."
Lin Wanyin felt the changes within her body in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Chu Yunfei slowly opened his eyes.
Boom!
His blood and Qi shook.
A force several times stronger than before surged from every limb and bone.
The seventh level of body tempering!
After several consecutive days of accumulation, coupled with the nourishment returned by the Dragon and Phoenix Dao Yellow Scripture, he had finally crossed this threshold.
Chu Yunfei clenched his fists, yet he was not satisfied.
"Two hours, and I only reached the seventh level of body tempering?"
"Isn't this cultivation technique a little biased?"
Most of the benefits seemed to have gone to Lin Wanyin.
Hearing this, Lin Wanyin was so furious that she nearly struck again.
What did he mean, he had only reached the seventh level of body tempering?
An ordinary martial artist would need at least several months of arduous cultivation to cross this level.
This little beast had broken through in two hours, yet he actually thought it was too slow!
Just then, Chu Yunfei took a pill from his storage pouch and tossed it straight into his mouth.
Lin Wanyin's expression changed.
"What did you take?"
"Don't be nervous. It's just an ordinary Spirit Gathering Pill."
As Chu Yunfei felt the medicinal potency spreading through his abdomen, a smile returned to his face.
"I bought it before returning to the sect. It's only meant to improve the effects of cultivation."
A bad premonition arose in Lin Wanyin's heart.
"What are you planning to do?"
Chu Yunfei turned to look at her, his smile exceptionally bright.
"Hehe, I'm not satisfied."
"Let's keep cultivating."