Chapter 492 466: Ji Shenyun Awakens a Strange Attribute (Part 2)

'She remembered being hit by someone... They were so ruthless. What kind of grudge did they have against her...?'

"Yueqiu…"

A familiar male voice called out softly, making Little Yueqiu tremble.

She snapped her head up and blinked hard, finally making out the scene before her—

"Master?!"

Little Yueqiu's voice shot up, the end of her words trembling slightly.

Pei Yuhang was bound tightly with coarse hemp ropes, his arms stretched to their limit. His back was forced into an arch, and he was suspended between two withered trees, like a depiction of a suffering Saint.

Little Yueqiu looked at Pei Yuhang's normally spotless white robes, now stained with blood, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"Master! Are you all right?!"

Pei Yuhang's gaze was as gentle as ever. He looked at the tearful Little Yueqiu and said softly,

"Yueqiu, don't be afraid…"

"Ji Shenyun wants to use me to crush your Dao Heart and stop you from fully awakening… You must not let her succeed—Ugh!"

Pei Yuhang's brow suddenly furrowed. Little Yueqiu cried out in alarm as she watched the ropes binding his body begin to constrict like a python.

"So talkative, Pei Yuhang."

A chilling female voice drifted from the shadows.

Ji Shenyun approached slowly, her black skirt sweeping across the dead leaves like the belly of a snake slithering over the ground.

She came to Pei Yuhang's side, where he was forced into a cross-like posture, and laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

With a flick of her fingertip, she cut a bloody line across Pei Yuhang's face.

Beads of blood welled up, making Little Yueqiu's eyes tremble.

"Since you are my captive, you should be quiet."

Ji Shenyun smiled, her red lips almost touching Pei Yuhang's earlobe. "As the prey… shouldn't you have a little self-awareness?"

With that, Ji Shenyun glanced at the resentful Little Yueqiu, then provocatively extended the tip of her tongue and licked away the bead of blood trickling down Pei Yuhang's face, her phoenix eyes narrowing into a pleased curve.

"Bastard! Let him go!!"

Little Yueqiu's eyes were wide with fury, and her voice was hoarse from screaming.

She struggled to get up, only to find her limbs bound by thick iron chains. The chains stretched all the way into a dry well, weighing her down with what felt like tens of thousands of pounds!

Just getting up was a hopeless wish, let alone getting over there to pull that Demoness away from her master she was insulting.

Ji Shenyun looked down at the fruitlessly struggling Little Yueqiu and the furiously writhing Pei Yuhang in her arms. Her red lips curved into a bewitching smile, her eyes glittering with the cruel interest of a cat toying with a mouse.

For some reason, she now understood the kind of pleasure those boring women who always pestered Pei Yuhang must have enjoyed.

This feeling of watching another woman, the loser, only able to look on helplessly as she herself plucked the "fruits of victory," was truly, unexpectedly intoxicating.

Ji Shenyun glanced at Little Yueqiu, then placed her fingertips on Pei Yuhang's collarbone.

"Stop!"

Little Yueqiu's voice cracked. She shrieked like a spooked cat, "Let him go!"

She struggled to stand but stumbled and fell to her knees.

Ji Shenyun ignored Little Yueqiu's defiant struggles. Instead, with a little pressure from her nail, she sliced down from Pei Yuhang's collar to his chest as if with a razor, tearing his white robes open.

"RRRRIP—"

The sound of tearing fabric was exceptionally piercing in the silent air.

Pei Yuhang's white robes were easily rent open, revealing a wide expanse of pale skin. The lines from his collarbone to his chest were laid bare.

Little Yueqiu let out a sorrowful cry, tears of desperation welling in her eyes. Seeing this, Ji Shenyun was even more pleased.

This feeling of grabbing someone's weakness and torturing them with it was becoming more and more addictive.

Moreover, she could feel that as Little Yueqiu's state of mind crumbled, the awakening of Qing Yueqiu began to slow, and even stagnate.

'Now, it's time for General Gu~!'

Ji Shenyun admired her crumbling form, a sick pleasure glinting in her eyes.

She watched as Little Yueqiu's fists clenched so tightly her nails dug deep into her palms, drawing blood that dripped between her fingers. Yet, she continued to stare fixedly at her, her eyes filled with despair and hatred.

'What a delightful expression.'

She tilted her head, her red lips parting slightly. Her voice was lazy and cruel. "What, you can't take it already?"

"You little bitch. When you stole my power and broke your promise to leave the Kunlun Secret Realm, did you ever think this day would come for you?!"

"Isn't this man the most important thing to you? I will destroy him completely!"

Ji Shenyun spat viciously, but Little Yueqiu didn't respond.

She had already collapsed and passed out.

"Hmph, useless!"

Ji Shenyun looked at the unconscious Little Yueqiu and snorted coldly.

Then, she turned to the silent Pei Yuhang.

"Sword Immortal Pei, you've lost after all. Your disciple is even more fragile than I imagined. No matter how well you laid your plans before, now you've lost everything."

Pei Yuhang shook his head gently, his voice as cold as ever.

"Demoness, your time to run rampant is nearly over. Yueqiu… is about to wake up."

Ji Shenyun's eyes narrowed, and she licked her lips.

"Since you trust this piece of trash so much, then I'll let you watch with your own eyes… the entire process of your disciple's complete fall and my possession of her body!"

...

...

「In a vast expanse of darkness.」

Little Yueqiu walked aimlessly, stepping on the white snow beneath her feet, feeling lost.

"Where is this? I have to get out! Master needs me!"

Little Yueqiu began to run anxiously.

Finally, she saw a beam of light ahead and plunged into it.

The world before her suddenly opened up. Sound and color flooded her senses, and Little Yueqiu's eyes widened as she took in everything before her.

'Is this… Prince Ning's Mansion?'

'How did I get back to Prince Ning's Mansion?'

WAAAAH—

The sound of a baby crying caught Little Yueqiu's attention. She subconsciously followed the sound and ended up in a courtyard where she saw a young couple.

The woman was gentle and beautiful, while the man was handsome and tall, with striking silver hair.

"Father, Mother?"

Little Yueqiu called out, but they didn't answer her.

"Father, can't you see me?!"

Panicked, Little Yueqiu ran over and tried to touch the man, only to find her hand passing right through his body.

The man, completely unaware, simply smiled and teased the little girl in his wife's arms.

"Lingling, there there, don't cry now~ hehehe."

Lingling…

Little Yueqiu's head buzzed. 'Isn't that my childhood name? Does that mean… the little girl in Mother's arms is me?'

Little Yueqiu fell silent, staring blankly at the tiny version of herself held in her mother's arms, completely at a loss.

For some reason, her heart grew calm. She quietly watched her father and mother soothe her younger, crying self.

In that moment, Little Yueqiu felt as if she had become a mindless stone statue, merely observing the self being held in her parents' arms.

Day and night alternated, and the years passed by faster and faster. Little Yueqiu watched her past self grow up.

From being a swaddled baby to learning to walk, then to babbling her first words, and then to mastering the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting…

Her childhood and girlhood were so happy, carefree under the protection of Prince Ning's Mansion.

Until one night, her usually calm and steady father came to her, a hint of anxiety on his face.

"Lingling, your father has failed you…"

"Prince Ning's Mansion is doomed… but you are not."

"No, I won't go! I want to stay with Father and Mother!"

"Be good, Lingling… I asked an Immortal Master for a divination. After you leave, if you forget everything about Prince Ning's Mansion, you can sever the karmic ties to this disaster. When that time comes, a fortuitous connection will find its way to you…

Lingling, you must take care of yourself! You must live, you must live…"

Little Yueqiu watched as her father forced an Elixir down her throat, and she lost consciousness. Then, she was secretly escorted away.

The person escorting her took her out of the Zhao Kingdom, but they were attacked. In his haste, the guard hid her well, saying he would lead the pursuers away and then come back for her.

But he never came back.

Two days later, she slowly opened her eyes.

But she had lost her memories, becoming a dazed and foolish little beggar who had forgotten everything about her past and begun to wander…

Until that snowy night.

She had caught a cold and was about to die unceremoniously on a snowy night, just like a stray cat or dog in the city.

Perhaps the Immortal Master her father had consulted truly possessed Divine Abilities, for the fortuitous connection he had divined arrived…

A young master in white, holding an umbrella, happened to pass by the dark little alley she had chosen as her grave, just at the moment before she froze to death.

In a daze, the her who had already resigned herself to fate was suddenly struck by the instinct to survive, and she murmured for help.

And that young master in white, as if by telepathy, stopped in his tracks.

"Junior Sister Ye, is there a girl calling for help in there?"