Chapter 02: All the Bad Deeds Were Done by Me

The rain outside the cave was chaotic and noisy, irritating Fang Xiyu to no end.

She cultivated the Emotionless Sword Dao, which demanded extreme control over her temperament. From a young age, she had kept her joy and anger hidden, rarely showing any emotional fluctuations. But now, fallen into such a predicament and at the mercy of another, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Normally, she could sit under the eaves and listen to the rain all day long. But at this moment, the sound of the rain felt nothing but noisy and disturbing.

She opened her eyes, her gaze falling once more on the man in front of her.

Qingmian was still casually sitting on the bluestone, roasting by the fire, showing no desire to talk to her. Meanwhile, Fang Xiyu’s eyes stared unabashedly into his, as if she wanted to etch those eyes deeply into her memory.

After about half an hour, Gu Chi looked at Fang Xiyu’s expectant, pleading gaze. The face beneath his mask couldn’t help but break into a smile. Perhaps out of sheer boredom, he finally spoke.

“What are you staring at me for?”

“I’m memorizing your eyes. The next time I see you, I’ll kill you.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be spouting such tough words right now… Because right now, I could do whatever I want to you. Even if I don’t take your virginity, just tearing your clothes off and recording it with a shadow stone—well, in some of those shady auction houses, it could fetch a good price, don’t you think?”

In an instant, Fang Xiyu’s body stiffened, as if plunged into an ice cellar. Only now did she truly recognize her dire situation.

She fell silent for a long time before slowly saying,

“But you haven’t done that.”

“Five thousand spirit stones are enough for me to live comfortably for a long time. Taking your shadow stone to auction would inevitably leave traces, and if they trace it back to me, it’d be trouble. You can think of it as me knowing not to be too greedy, lest I end up like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Or you can think of it as even thieves having their own code.”

Fang Xiyu had just barely relaxed a little when she heard him suddenly add,

“But recording it and secretly enjoying it alone at night… that doesn’t sound half bad, does it?”

The next moment, Fang Xiyu bit down hard on her lip. The more she struggled against the ropes binding her, the tighter they constricted, leaving faint red marks on her fair thighs and snow-white waist beneath her skirt.

“I’m just saying.”

Qingmian shrugged.

“I’d advise you not to struggle. This rope gets tighter the more you fight it.”

“It hurts so much.”

A layer of mist clouded Fang Xiyu’s eyes.

Qingmian stared at her face for about three or four seconds. Beautiful women always had this kind of magic—whenever they showed that pitiful, “I see and still pity” expression, it subtly tugged at a man’s heart.

Unfortunately, Gu Chi’s heart was as cold as iron.

A few breaths later, the aggrieved, pitiful look on Fang Xiyu’s face vanished, and her eyes gradually turned icy cold once more.

Seeing this change, amusement flickered in Qingmian’s eyes.

“You’ve cultivated the Emotionless Sword Dao for so long that this pitiful act of yours isn’t even one-tenth as effective as that Fire Phoenix Saintess’s. I have to say, I never expected the proud and aloof Moon Wheel Fairy to resort to such tactics… It caught me off guard.”

At these words, a flush of shame and anger instantly spread across Fang Xiyu’s face, nearly spilling out from her eyes.

She racked her brains for a retort, but when the words reached her lips, she forcibly swallowed them back down. Right now, she was fish on the chopping block, completely at his mercy. If she provoked him again, who knew what vile things he might do?

So, the best choice was silence.

She pressed her lips shut, closed her eyes, and resolved not to speak to him anymore.

…………………………………………..

Night fell.

A biting chill jolted Fang Xiyu awake.

Cultivators weren’t afraid of heat or cold, but that was only with spiritual energy flowing through their bodies. Her spiritual energy was still there, but her acupoints were sealed, preventing it from circulating, so naturally, she felt an excruciating icy cold.

This was also related to her physique.

She possessed an innate Ice Vein Spiritual Root, but it was flawed. For cultivators, the Ice Vein Spiritual Root was both a blessing and a curse. It made their spiritual energy bone-chillingly cold, giving them a huge advantage in battle, but it also meant they were constantly tormented by their own chill.

When the cold reached its extreme, it produced illusions of intense heat.

Instinctively, in her dazed state, she tried to shed her clothes. But with just a slight movement, the ropes binding her tightened even more, sending a sharp pain that gradually brought her back to clarity.

She opened her eyes.

Across from her, Qingmian was still tending to the campfire, but her wriggling on the bluestone slab had drawn his gaze to her.

Gu Chi noticed the flecks of frost forming on her cheeks, as if the Moon Wheel Fairy before him was about to truly turn into an ice beauty. The brows beneath his mask furrowed slightly.

“Your Ice Vein Spiritual Body isn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Flawed Ice Vein Spiritual Body.”

“No wonder.”

Gu Chi took a step forward, coming right up to where Fang Xiyu lay on the bluestone. Almost instinctively, her voice trembled as she asked,

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll unseal two of your acupoints to let your spiritual energy circulate a bit. You’ll feel better that way.”

With that, Gu Chi extended his finger and lightly tapped the sole of her foot, using a wisp of weak spiritual energy to break through the restriction he had placed on her earlier.

Fang Xiyu’s toes instinctively splayed out, still pink and crystalline under the firelight.

Gu Chi then lightly tapped the sole of her other delicate foot, which was still clad in a white sock. In that instant, Fang Xiyu felt the spiritual energy in her body begin to circulate in a sluggish manner, flowing and gradually dispelling some of the chill.

But she was still so cold she was on the verge of losing her mind, her blood feeling like it was about to stop flowing.

“It’s this bad?”

Gu Chi’s fingertips swiftly tapped several more acupoints on the sole of her foot. After a moment’s hesitation, he formed a hand seal, manipulating the ropes to lift her body and flip her over, leaving her prone on the bluestone slab.

Perhaps he had bound her too securely, but now, in this position, her powder-dyed buttocks under the blue gauze skirt were slightly raised, forming an alluring curve.

Gu Chi’s fingertips tapped a few more acupoints on her back. Fang Xiyu’s spiritual energy began to circulate even faster, gradually driving away more of the chill. She no longer trembled as violently as before; her body slowly warmed up. She struggled to lift her head and saw a pair of ink-black eyes.

This warmth created a certain illusion in her mind, making it seem like his eyes held a trace of gentleness at that moment. But the next instant, a wave of disgust washed over her, and her gaze turned to loathing.

“A flawed Ice Vein Spiritual Body isn’t without a way to fix it. You just need to find a few spiritual herbs, refine them with a secret method into spiritual liquid, and soak in it overnight to absorb it.”

Gu Chi returned to his bluestone seat, but now he gazed at Fang Xiyu, forced to lie prone on the slab. Looking at the curves pressed out from her snowy chest, he thought to himself that she truly lived up to being the daughter of the Moon Wheel Sect Master—she had even inherited her mother’s voluptuous and seductive figure.

Gu Chi had once seen Fang Xiyu’s portrait to confirm he had the right target, and by chance, he had also glimpsed her mother’s portrait beside it. Compared to the current her, who was as pure and cold as a lotus emerging from clear water, in terms of beauty alone, Gu Chi preferred her mother… That combination of alluring fullness and eyes so cold they kept people at bay three feet away was especially enticing.

“That’s easier said than done.”

Fang Xiyu gritted her teeth in response.

She had been plagued by this flawed Ice Vein Spiritual Body since childhood. Her mother had searched for medicines for her for years, managing only to barely alleviate it. On the fifteenth and last days of every month, in the dead of night, she had to soak in scalding hot springs until she froze the entire spring’s boiling water into ice to get even temporary relief.

Gu Chi unhurriedly took out paper and pen, wrote down a prescription, and stuffed it into Fang Xiyu’s storage ring. He said indifferently,

“Here’s the prescription.”

Fang Xiyu was slightly stunned. Even though her eyes were still filled with hatred, a hint of bewilderment crept in.

But Qingmian still had that amused look in his eyes.

“A healer’s benevolence.”

“You? Benevolent?”

“People aren’t always just black or white, you know.”

Gu Chi grinned.

“As if the person who killed the Flying Snow Sect’s Young Master… wasn’t you.”

Fang Xiyu’s voice dripped with contempt and disgust.

“Sigh.”

Gu Chi let out a light sigh.

“Do you really think you’d believe me if I explained that your Flying Snow Sect’s Young Master took his junior sister into a cave with ill intentions, I happened to stumble upon it and killed him on the spot? It sounds coincidental, but the truth is, he had just dropped his pants when I passed by and heard her begging and crying. Enraged, he tried to silence me forever, and I just thrust my sword through him.”

“You all only believe that your precious Flying Snow Sect Young Master died protecting his junior sister from being defiled by me.”

Fang Xiyu sneered.

“So you think the testimony of that female disciple who luckily survived you is fake?”

Gu Chi just smiled.

“Would you choose to take a sum of spirit stones to maintain the Flying Snow Sect’s reputation and live, or tell the truth and get silenced by the sect right away? If it were you, which would you pick?”

Fang Xiyu was at a loss for words. After a long while, she could only reply coldly,

“That’s just your side of the story.”

“Exactly, it’s all just my side of the story. Take it as a joke.”

Gu Chi still remembered that woman who had cried her heart out back then, looking like a pear blossom in the rain. He couldn’t quite recall her face, but he knew the nature of these so-called righteous sects—they would never let her speak the truth to preserve their reputation. So, Gu Chi had taught her that script.

The lazy amusement in Gu Chi’s eyes made Fang Xiyu grit her teeth in frustration she couldn’t quite articulate.

“Then what about all the spirit stones you’ve robbed from people in secret realms over these years? Kidnapping the Fire Phoenix Saintess last time? The dozens of cultivators who’ve died by your hand? Can you wash your hands clean of all that too?”

At her words, Gu Chi slowly walked toward her. Fang Xiyu, who had been righteous just a second ago, instantly deflated, her voice trembling slightly.

“What are you doing?”

“Since you already think I’m a bad guy deep down, if I don’t do something bad to you… wouldn’t that be letting down your expectations?”

Right now, Gu Chi’s eyes held a hint of grievance.

“You Eastern Domain b*stards, ever since I showed up, you’ve pinned every dirty deed you’ve done in secret realms on me… Last month, it was me wearing the Qingmian mask raping female cultivators. The time before that, it was me wearing the Qingmian mask killing and looting in the Hai Lan Secret Realm. Clearly, I haven’t even left my house for two months. Fine, whatever—all the bad deeds were done by me.”

“If you don’t care about your reputation, make sure to announce to the Eastern Domain when you get out: On the seventeenth of the twelfth month, Qingmian kidnapped the Moon Wheel Fairy, tied her up at night, and viciously spanked her ass ten times.”