Yang Guo: I'm invincible in the opening battle against Aunt Guo!

A figure in an apricot-yellow Taoist robe walked through the familiar passageway.

Li Mochou's steps were very light.

She passed by the stone walls that were once engraved with childhood memories, and by the quiet room where her master used to meditate.

Passing by the corner where my junior sister used to play as a child... we finally stopped in front of a half-open stone door.

This is where she has lived for more than ten years.

Push the door open.

Everything inside the stone chamber remained the same.

A simple, almost rudimentary stone bed, a stone table, and a wooden cabinet for storing clothes.

During the day, Lu Wushuang took her old clothes from there and changed into them.

There was a faint smell of dust in the air, mixed with the fresh scent unique to the young girl.

Li Mochou's gaze fell on the stone bed.

Lu Wushuang was sitting cross-legged, using an internal energy cultivation method to regulate his breathing.

Li Mochou was stunned.

The scene was all too familiar—not long ago, she too had meditated and practiced her skills on this very stone bed.

At that time, she was not yet the Red Serpent Fairy, but merely the eldest disciple of the Ancient Tomb Sect, the most talented successor in her master's eyes.

If it weren't for Lu Zhanyuan...

If it weren't for that betrayal...

She should have been the master of the ancient tomb, she should have inherited the "Jade Maiden Heart Sutra", and she should have carried forward the martial arts of the ancient tomb as her master expected.

But now?

My junior sister and a man she had only known for a day were practicing the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra together.

However, she, the legitimate eldest disciple, became a demon who was expelled from her sect and feared by the martial arts world.

Li Mochou's eyes darkened.

On the stone bed, Lu Wushuang seemed to sense something.

She was delighted to realize that someone was watching her.

Brother Yang must have been worried and came to see her at night!

A sweet smile unconsciously curved the corners of the girl's lips as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Yang Da—"

The address stuck in my throat.

Lu Wushuang's smile froze instantly, turning into fear.

She looked at the apricot-yellow figure standing at the entrance of the stone chamber, at that beautiful yet cold face, and her blood seemed to freeze instantly.

"Master...Master?"

The voice was trembling.

Li Mochou did not respond immediately.

She simply watched Lu Wushuang quietly, looking at the Lu family orphan she had rescued from a pool of blood, at the lingering blush on her face and the clear fear in her eyes.

After a long while, Li Mochou finally stepped into the stone chamber.

"Don't move."

Two words, as cold as ice.

Lu Wushuang indeed dared not move.

She sat stiffly on the stone bed, her fingers gripping the hem of her clothes tightly.

Li Mochou walked to the stone bed.

She reached out, her fingertips brushing against the cold stone bed edge.

"I slept in this bed back in the day."

Lu Wushuang dared not reply.

She knew her master too well—this kind of calm was often more terrifying than rage.

Sure enough, Li Mochou's next words were like a knife piercing the air:

"So you betrayed me and sided with him?"

"I didn't!" Lu Wushuang suddenly looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. "Master, I just... I just wanted to heal my foot injury! Brother Yang, he... he healed my foot, I..."

"What?!" Li Mochou interrupted her, her eyes sharp as knives. "You think he's better than me? You think following him is better than following me, the enemy who killed your entire family?"

That's incredibly hurtful.

Lu Wushuang's face turned deathly pale, and tears streamed down her face.

She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

What can I say?

Saying "yes" is tantamount to admitting betrayal, and her master would kill her on the spot.

She said "no," but deep down... she really felt that Brother Yang was better than her master.

At least, Brother Yang wouldn't force her to do things she didn't want to do.

I won't look at her with the kind of eyes that look down on ants.

He wouldn't prick her fingers with the Ice Soul Silver Needle when she made a mistake.

Looking at her disciple's tearful face, Li Mochou found that the fire in her heart inexplicably could not be ignited.

She suddenly felt very tired.

During the day, I had planned to sneak into the ancient tomb and force my junior sister to reveal the "Jade Maiden Heart Sutra"—even if I couldn't learn it completely, just seeing it would be good.

But Yang Guo was there.

That unfathomable young man forced her back with just one finger.

What made her even more desperate was that when she sneaked over at night, she discovered that her junior sister had already been practicing the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra with him, and that things were progressing rapidly.

Li Mochou knew all too well what this meant.

Once the practice of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra begins, the two practitioners will become increasingly connected as the practice deepens, eventually becoming inseparable.

Junior sister... will no longer be alone.

And what about her?

I'm in my thirties.

If she hadn't met Lu Zhanyuan back then, if her master had been willing to pass on the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra to her.

With her talent, she should at least be a Grandmaster by now, right?

Why is he stuck in the late stage of the innate stage for more than ten years without making any progress?

She also needs to rely on the insidious methods in "The Five Poisons Secret Manual" to earn the fearsome reputation of "Red Serpent Fairy" in the martial arts world.

That's... ridiculous.

Li Mochou slowly sat down on the other side of the stone bed.

This action made Lu Wushuang tremble all over, and she subconsciously shrank back into the corner of the bed.

"What are you afraid of?" Li Mochou glanced at her, her tone somewhat weary. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it in broad daylight. Why wait until now?"

Lu Wushuang was stunned.

Master... seems different now.

"Go to sleep." Li Mochou closed her eyes, no longer looking at her. "I will meditate here tonight and leave tomorrow morning."

Lu Wushuang dared not sleep.

She curled up in the corner of the bed, watching her master warily as he closed his eyes to meditate.

Time passes little by little.

Only the sound of their breathing remained inside the stone chamber.

Li Mochou was indeed using her internal energy.

But her mind was in turmoil—the scenes she had just witnessed kept flashing through her mind.

The scene of the junior sister and the young man's palms touching.

The faint light emanating from their bodies when their inner forces merged.

That unspoken understanding between two people...

Jealousy, resentment, regret... all sorts of emotions entwined her heart like poisonous vines.

The internal energy surged through the meridians, gradually losing its order.

The Five Poisons Secret Manual is inherently unorthodox, emphasizing the use of poison to cultivate skills and resentment to enhance power.

Over the years, she had killed countless people, and the resentment she had accumulated in her heart had long since become one with her cultivation technique.

At this moment, the inner demons are at work, and the poisonous resentment that was lurking deep in the meridians is stirred up and begins to backfire!

Li Mochou's face suddenly turned deathly pale.

She groaned and gripped the edge of the stone bed tightly with both hands.

"Master?!" Lu Wushuang exclaimed in surprise.

An ominous bluish-black tinge appeared around Li Mochou's body, veins bulged on her forehead, and her lips quickly turned purple.

This is... a sign of going astray in cultivation!

Lu Wushuang was terrified.

She wanted to go forward, but she didn't dare.

In the midst of the chaos, the stone chamber door was gently pushed open.