Before he could puzzle it out, the demon phoenix let out a laugh and said, “What you don’t know is, she’s quite interested in that boy, Li Xun. She’s not trying to give you a hard time on purpose.”

There was a hint of mockery in the demon phoenix’s voice, but Gu Yin acted as if she hadn’t heard it. She nodded. “It’s rare to come across someone whose face and temperament are both this interesting. How could I let him slip away so easily? But as for you, Qingyin. You’ve spent all this time with him. What do you think of him?”

Qingyin gave a cold sneer and said nothing.

Gu Yin clapped her hands. “Ah, just as I thought. Our Fairy Qingyin truly has the iciest heart. Aside from that lecherous uncle of mine, you don’t give a thought to anyone else, do you?”

“Bullshit! Bullshit!”

Li Xun cursed under his breath. Afraid he’d been too loud, he pressed his knuckle to his lips. His teeth ground against the bone until the skin broke and bled, without his even noticing.

But then, to his surprise, a faint smile appeared on Qingyin’s face. Li Xun knew her all too well. The moment he saw it, he understood. She didn’t need to say a word; that smile was her quiet way of admitting it.

There was a sharp crack as Li Xun bit through the bone of his finger. He kept his eyes fixed on the image in the water mirror, every muscle in his body frozen.

At last, Gu Yin seemed to have had her fun. She pulled up a chair beside Qingyin and sat down with a light laugh. “Enough. Let’s drop the subject of that brat. Tonight we’re here to celebrate you.

“Zhong Yin has run rampant in this world for nearly a thousand years. Countless people have paid the price, yet no one could do a thing about him. But you, on your own, you’ve rid us of this enormous trouble. When the day comes to tally our achievements, Fairy Qingyin, this one will be yours.”

With a twist of her wrist, she conjured two cups, then drew out a flat-bellied jade flask and filled them to the brim. She handed one cup over. The demon phoenix poured herself a drink as well, raising it in a distant salute.

Qingyin’s eyes swept over the pale green liquid in her cup, and her expression shifted slightly. “This is Sanhe Bi?”

“Exactly,” Gu Yin said with a smile, raising her cup.

“It’s been over a hundred years since my uncle last brewed Sanhe Bi himself, and there’s less of it with each passing day. This time, he had me bring a bottle especially to celebrate you, Sister.”

Then, with another sudden smile, Gu Yin added, “Who knows, before long, I might have to start calling you Aunt.”

Qingyin shot her a glance, then downed the wine in one go. Two faint blossoms of red bloomed on her snow-pale cheeks, a beauty almost too much to behold.

Gu Yin and the demon phoenix exchanged a knowing look, then drained their own cups.

After the drink, Qingyin’s demeanor softened noticeably. She spoke first this time. “Actually, you’re not wrong.”

Both Gu Yin and the demon phoenix turned to look at her. Qingyin tossed aside her cup and rose from the bed.

Meeting their eyes, she gave a helpless little laugh. “If it weren’t for that Li Xun, would Zhong Yin have left so easily? Without him, no matter how convincing my act, there’s no way I could have fooled Zhong Yin. He did quite well, really.”

Far below the cliffside platform, Li Xun’s body gave a violent shudder, but the voices from above continued to spill from the water mirror.

This time it was the demon phoenix who spoke, smiling lazily. “That spineless little thing… and yet you two think so highly of him.”

“Not me,” Qingyin said with a smile. “If you killed him right now, I’d count myself in on it.”

Li Xun’s eyes flew wide. He lunged forward, grabbing the edge of the water mirror, desperate to be sure of who had said those words.

Then he saw Qingyin’s red lips part slightly as she said, “I don’t want there to be another face in this world that looks like his. That’s all there is to it.”

Needless to say, this gave her previous words an entirely different meaning.

And with just that one line, Li Xun was utterly crushed.

In a daze, he heard the demon phoenix’s sighing laugh. “Oh, you…”

He didn’t listen any further. For him, this much was already more than enough.

Nether One and Nether Two slipped one after the other into the void, and Li Xun floated among the clouds and mist, rising and falling, his mind a complete blank.

“So that’s how it is… so that’s how it is. All that talk about changing appearances, getting rid of trouble…”

The corner of his mouth twitched, as if to shape a smile. To prove his openness, his indifference; but the muscles in his face were no longer his to control.

He had meant to smile. Somehow, though, it tugged at his tear ducts, something caught in his throat, and in the end, he covered his face and could not bring himself to let go.

When he learned that, in Qingyin’s heart, he wasn’t the only one, he could accept that.

When he learned that, in Qingyin’s heart, he wasn’t the most important, he could endure that.

When he learned that, in Qingyin’s heart, he was only “a substitute,” he could still cling to a shred of hope, mock himself, and find a new place to stand.

But when he learned that, in Qingyin’s heart, he was nothing at all…

And now… what expression was he supposed to wear to face it?

This was a nightmare.

Why had he come back? He had abandoned his increasingly secure position in the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect, risked having his identity exposed and losing everything, done childish, foolish, utterly meaningless things… Was it all just so he could stand here, at this very moment, and hear Qingyin say those words?

If this was retribution…

Yes. It was retribution.

Retribution for deceiving everyone in the Mingxin Sword Sect. Retribution for humiliating his own master with his own hands. Retribution for killing the disciples of the Heavenly Vigorous Sect. Retribution for conspiring with two Wanderers to wipe an entire city from the map. Retribution for all he had done in the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. Retribution for his fickle, self-assured manipulations of other people’s feelings…

If this was retribution, then he accepted it. Fine. Fe accepted it!

His body slowly sank deeper into the sea of clouds.

Eyes wide open, he watched the mist drift before him, shaping and reshaping itself in the mountain wind. Figures flickered past like a turning lantern slide.

Qingyin. Gu Yin. The demon phoenix. Jade Wanderer…

What were they doing?

Where were their eyes looking?

And the smiles on their faces. Who were they meant for?

Li Xun closed his eyes. Only the thick, murky darkness could bring him any calm now. But it was in that very darkness that a sudden flash of light crossed his vision, and he jolted upright.

Retribution?

Jade Wanderer had run rampant through the world, committing countless atrocities beyond measure…

The demon phoenix had defied the heavens to bear a child, and Gu Yin had aided and abetted evil…

And Qingyin… Qingyin had deceived his feelings, deceived Zhong Yin, betrayed the Mingxin Sword Sect, and willingly served as Jade Wanderer’s claw and fang!

Where was their retribution?

Where was their retribution?!

…Of course. With me. It’s with me!

No one knew more than he did. He held the secret, he had the means to take revenge.

Given enough time, the whole world will see you for what you really are. You bunch of.... 

Sluts!

And the instant those last words left his mouth, it was as if a thick, poisonous fluid burst from his heart, making all his insides twist and writhe in a strange, almost living way.

He realized that in all his twenty years of life, he had never felt so utterly, blissfully satisfied.

But after that rush of pleasure came a hollow shrinking deep in his gut.

From that moment on, every breath he exhaled was scalding hot. He felt as if all the blood in his body had been boiled away, leaving behind nothing but excitement. Excitement. Excitement!

Without the slightest restraint, he flung his vilest, most shameless, most sordid thoughts outward. It was an incomparable thrill.

He wanted to throw back his head and laugh madly, but when the sound came out, it broke into a string of choking coughs and tears.

Qingyin… Qingyin… you betrayed me!

In the boundless clouds and mist, he seemed to see once more that flawless, jade-like face, the gaze she had cast into these sky-high mists, and to hear some words he could swear he’d heard before.

If I jumped from here, what would it feel like to fall for that long?

The despair I felt right here, when I couldn't see any hope at all...

That feeling....cut deep

Li Xun closed his eyes again. His body loosened. Then, like a falling star, he plunged.

Down into the deepest heart of the clouds.

….

(The end of the First Part of The Forbidden Path to Immortality)

Things are about to get pretty wild. Unlike most xianxia stories where the world keeps getting bigger as the plot moves along, this one does something different. The world is already established, and most of the key players have already been introduced. So instead of expanding outward, the story is going to go deeper.

I see the plot as something built on many layers. We're going to keep digging down, layer by layer, until we reach the center. That's where the big secret is, the one that makes sense of everything that's happened since chapter one. You're gonna see how all the plot points and characters connect in ways you never saw coming.

If you're on NovelUpdates, please share your thoughts about the story over there. Letting other readers know what to expect is a huge help. And if you're part of any other communities, recommending it would help more people discover it and give fans of this genre a solid hidden gem to check out.

That's about it. See ya