Qiuyuan, heart demon, true nature, slut

Inside the room, Qiuyuan sat cross-legged on the bed with her eyes tightly shut. Fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead, and her plain white robe was soaked through, clinging tightly to the slender, curving outline of her body.

Her clenched fists rested on her knees, her knuckles white from the strain. Her lips were pressed into a taut line, as though she were enduring some terrible torment.

Across from her, beyond a flickering candle flame, sat another Qiuyuan.

The exact same face, the exact same blue hair, the exact same clothes.

But the other Qiuyuan's eyes tilted slightly upward at the corners, and her lips were redder than usual. Though her features were identical, she gave off an entirely different air.

If the cross-legged Qiuyuan was ice that had endured a thousand years on a snowy mountain without melting, then the Qiuyuan opposite her was a ghostly blue flame burning beneath its surface.

She leaned against a bedpost, lazily propping up her chin with one hand, a bewitching and dangerous smile on her lips.

The other Qiuyuan wound a lock of hair around her fingertip, twirling it idly as she spoke with a lazy, almost teasing disdain:

"You know perfectly well that the easiest way to get rid of me, your heart demon, is to kill him. Kill the brat who sullied your purity. One stroke of the sword-is that so hard for you?"

Qiuyuan's tightly shut eyes trembled slightly. "He is my disciple."

"Disciple? Ridiculous. How utterly ridiculous."

The other Qiuyuan chuckled and leaned forward slightly, her bewitching eyes filled with undisguised mockery.

"In the eight hundred years since the Mystic Sect was founded, he isn't the first to want to be a rebellious disciple who defies his master. How were the others dealt with? Their cultivation was crippled and they were expelled from the sect, or you even personally reduced them to ashes on the spot."

She rose and walked soundlessly up to Qiuyuan, then bent down and brought her face close to Qiuyuan's ear, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"So why is it that when it comes to Kexi, all he gets is two slaps, a kick, and three months of confinement? How is that punishment any different from a tickle? Qiuyuan, when did you become so softhearted?"

Qiuyuan's eyes flew open. Emotions unlike any she had ever felt churned in those eyes, cold as a frigid pool-anger, struggle, and a trace of something even she dared not look at directly.

"He jumped off a cliff," she said, her voice low and hoarse, as though defending herself, or perhaps trying to convince herself. "He has already been punished. Besides, that spirit fruit really did work. My cultivation improved a little-"

"Ha." The other Qiuyuan gave a soft laugh and straightened, looking down at her from above, the smile on her lips growing more dazzling. "Your cultivation improved? Yes, that fruit was quite effective. But I was talking about something else."

She suddenly reached out and gently tipped Qiuyuan's chin up with her cool fingertips, forcing her to meet her gaze.

The gesture was exactly the same as the one Qiuyuan had used on Kexi earlier that day, except now it was Qiuyuan's own chin being lifted.

"Today in Clear Heart Hall," the other Qiuyuan said, her voice suddenly becoming impossibly gentle, gentle to the point of cruelty, "how did your body react when you touched him?"

The other Qiuyuan answered for her. "Tsk, tsk. When you touched him, your whole body burned up, so hot you were trembling. Hahaha~"

Qiuyuan's pupils abruptly contracted, as though someone had plunged a blade into the softest part of her heart.

"You're talking nonsense." Her voice shook, but her tone remained cold and hard. "I did not."

"You didn't?" The other Qiuyuan released her chin, only to slowly press that hand against her cheek. Her fingertips slid down from her cheekbone, over her jaw and neck, finally stopping at her collarbone.

She tilted her head, watching the expressions shift across Qiuyuan's cold, beautiful face in the candlelight, her tone full of amusement.

"When you slapped him, when your palm touched his cheek-his skin was hot, wasn't it?

That heat started in your palm and crept up your arm, over your shoulder and into your chest, where it burst open in your heart like a flame doused in oil."

With every word she spoke, Qiuyuan's body trembled a little more violently.

She bit down hard on her lower lip, nearly drawing blood.

"Admit it, Qiuyuan.

When you kicked him, when you stepped on his chest, the sole of your foot felt the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump. It was beating fast, wasn't it?

You had your foot on him, and he was lying on the ground, looking up at you. There was fear and grievance in his eyes, and that stubbornness that made him raise his head to look at you even with your foot on him-you thought it was cute, didn't you?"

"Shut up!" Qiuyuan abruptly swatted her hand away, her voice as shrill as a cornered beast's.

The other Qiuyuan's hand was knocked aside, but she paid it no mind.

The smile on her face grew brighter, as though she were enjoying a magnificent show.

"Qiuyuan, you can fool others, but you can't fool yourself. I've lived in your heart for hundreds of years. How could I not know what you're thinking? Every moment you touched him today, your body was burning, your hand was shaking, and your heart was beating so fast it was like hahaha-"

After laughing for a while, she paused and bent down, her lips almost brushing Qiuyuan's ear. In a voice only the two of them could hear, she spoke those words, enunciating each one.

"Admit it, Qiuyuan. Your true nature-you're a slut who's cold on the outside and wanton on the inside."

"No! I'm not!"

Qiuyuan finally broke down.

She sprang up from the bed, her spiritual power making her plain white robe snap and flutter. Every candle flame in the room flickered violently in that instant.

Her sword had left its sheath at some point, and its tip was aimed straight at the other Qiuyuan's throat. The blade buzzed and trembled, its cold light reflected on her face, rendering her cold beauty as pale as paper.

But the sword point struck nothing but air.

The other Qiuyuan turned into a wisp of black smoke, so faint it was barely visible. She dispersed from the sword tip, then took shape again behind Qiuyuan.

She wrapped her arms around Qiuyuan's waist from behind and rested her chin on her shoulder, their pose as intimate as a pair of twin sisters.

"See?" Her voice drifted into Qiuyuan's ear. "Even you know I'm right. You stabbed at me because you don't dare stab yourself. You say you're not-then explain it to me."

Her hand slowly slid down and covered Qiuyuan's sword hand, her fingertips slipping between Qiuyuan's fingers with a bewitching, irresistible force.

"Explain why, when you played the zither to calm your mind just now, a string snapped.

Explain why, when you sat cross-legged and regulated your breathing, your thoughts fell into chaos by your third breath.

Explain why your hand-this very hand that touched him-has been trembling ever since this afternoon."

"I told you to shut up!"

Qiuyuan roared hoarsely, whirling around and sweeping her sword across. The sword qi extinguished every candle flame in the room.

The room plunged into darkness, with only the moonlight shining through the window to spread a thin layer of silver frost across the floor.