What’s she planning?

Li Xun couldn’t get those last few questions Mistress Tianzhi had asked out of his head. The more he thought about them, the deeper his frown grew.

That definitely wasn’t something said offhand. But if it wasn’t casual, then what did it mean?

Was she suspicious of him?

Knowing Mistress Tianzhi’s temper, if she actually had doubts, she wouldn’t be dancing around with words. She’d have dragged him straight to the sect elders to answer for a capital offense.

She must have a reason. The question was, what is she after?"

He thought it over for a while, then, looking pensive, took out the Constellation Plate. Following the technique the presiding master had taught him, he adjusted it a few times. The intricate, shifting patterns on its surface soon drew him in completely.

After a long while, he let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong with this world? Why is everyone so eager to stand behind someone else. Holding their breath while they do it, too…”

“Huh? How did you spot me?”

The female voice behind him sounded strangely familiar, but the tone was all wrong. Li Xun’s expression flickered, and he whipped his head around. There was no one there.

The voice came again from behind him. “What’s wrong? Not happy to see me? You looked quite pleased when Tianzhi did that just now.”

Pleased? Which eye of yours saw that?

Of course, Li Xun didn’t say that out loud. The woman’s tone was throwing him off more and more.

Something didn’t add up. That voice, that attitude... they didn’t belong to the same person.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the edge of a skirt and spun around sharply.

No luck. Still nothing.

Behind him, the woman laughed softly, a sound full of mischief and playfulness.

From that laugh alone, you’d never guess she was capable of using such an advanced shadow-trailing technique so effortlessly.

But amidst the laughter, Li Xun realized something.

He paused for a moment, then called out, “Zhuang Chu!”

A soft ‘hmm’ came from behind him. Li Xun raised an eyebrow and calmly turned around.

This time, the person didn’t move. What he saw was none other than the so-called guest elder from the Heavenly Vigorous Sect. Zhuang Chu, whom he’d “met” for the first time not long ago.

The woman who’d seemed icy before now wore a teasing smile, still tugging at her look of surprise.

Seeing that same face wearing a completely different expression, Li Xun grew more certain of what he’d guessed. He shook his head and sighed. “Shui Die Lan.”

This time, “Zhuang Chu’s” expression changed completely. Real shock flashed across her face.

“How did you figure it out?” she blurted out.

No sooner had she spoken than she shimmered and blurred. Li Xun blinked, and when he looked again, the woman standing there was no longer Zhuang Chu, but someone else entirely.

The delicate features with a touch of masculine sharpness, those unnaturally blue lips, and the icy-blue eyes... who else could it be but Shui Die Lan?

And it wasn’t just her face. In the blink of an eye, her clothes had shifted too, becoming her signature gauzy butterfly gown.

Li Xun’s smile froze.

Shui Die Lan was bold, powerful, and unrestrained. Her showing up here wasn’t all that surprising. But he... an upright disciple of the righteous path, standing here smiling and chatting with a known demoness? What was he doing?

“Change back! Change back!”

He waved his hands frantically, all the smug satisfaction he’d felt a moment ago completely gone.

Shui Die Lan, on the other hand, looked even more pleased with herself. Not only did she refuse to change back, she twirled gracefully in midair, her skirt billowing, black hair flowing. For a moment, she looked dazzling, charming and wild all at once.

“What’s the matter? Don’t tell me this look isn’t prettier than that Zhuang Chu girl’s?”

Li Xun cursed under his breath, but he knew that if he showed even the slightest trace of unease and started glancing around, he’d never be able to hold his head high in front of Shui Die Lan again.

He thought for a moment, then let out a long sigh. Under Shui Die Lan’s curious gaze, he drew his sword and gave it a couple of test swings.

“Alright, whatever it is, just say it. Hey, why are you spacing out? Might as well talk while we fight!”

Shui Die Lan glared at him fiercely at first, but then suddenly burst into a laugh. Her figure flickered, and in the next instant she had turned into Zhuang Chu again. Her face and clothes changed in the blink of an eye. Her technique was nothing short of amazing.

Li Xun frowned, sliding his sword back into its sheath. “That’s not disguise technique. Illusion, is it?”

Shui Die Lan nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Li Xun gave a wry smile. “You’ve got some nerve. You do realize the Rainbow Shade Pearl! I used to see through your illusions before was a gift from Mistress Tianzhi? And you still dare wander around here throwing illusions about? What if—”

“What’s there to be afraid of? I’m just having a little fun. I’m not provoking her. I doubt she’d risk turning against me over this.”

Her playful smile on Zhuang Chu’s stern face was a truly bizarre sight.

But then she circled back to what she’d been asking before. “You still haven’t told me. How did you find out? Don’t tell me it was that Rainbow Shade Pearl again!”

“Of course not. It was just that little bug you planted in me started jumping around like crazy, so I got suspicious.”

What Li Xun had actually relied on was the extremely subtle fluctuation of qi mechanism inside his body.

He’d never kept a gu before, so he had no clue what signs this Heart Knot would show in the body. But then he saw Zhuang Chu. And those strange, repeated fluctuations targeting her so precisely.... how could he not be suspicious?

Thinking back, the moment he entered the polar region, Shui Die Lan had just happened to show up right away. That had to be related to the Heart Knot.

And besides, among the few people capable of shadowing someone so closely while still pulling off something this “pointless,” there was really only one person Li Xun had ever crossed paths with. And that's Shui Die Lan.

Seeing the look of dawning realization on her face, Li Xun frowned. “Why are you here anyway? What’s with this face, this identity? And when we met last time, why didn’t you tell me?”

He fired off three questions in a row, but Shui Die Lan only latched onto the last one. She gave a cold snort. “I noticed you when you were still three thousand li from the polar region. And you? You didn’t even recognize me when I was right in front of you. So what good would it have done to tell you?”

Her tone was so odd that Li Xun felt a little awkward, though he managed to reply in time. “I’m not like you, Fairy Shui. I don’t know a thing about gu art, and I don’t have little bugs wriggling around inside me to give me hints. How could I tell? Besides, your illusion work really is impressive… but was it really necessary?”

“I’m running for my life, aren’t I?” Shui Die Lan’s expression shifted in an instant. The next second she was smiling sweetly again, though there wasn’t a trace of sincerity in her voice.

“I’m being hunted by both the Vermillion Hook Sect and Falling Feather Sect. Things are bad. Without a new identity, how could I possibly get away?”

Do you take me for a fool? Becoming a guest elder isn’t something you can just fake overnight!

Li Xun shot her a glance, thoughts racing behind his calm expression.

A “guest elder” identity like that was more common among the demonic sects.

Rogue cultivators valued the vast resources and protection that big sects offered, while the sects, in turn, valued the strong personal power those rogues brought. When both sides found what they wanted, the arrangement worked out perfectly. Something like a hired bodyguard or protector in the mortal realm.

But within the righteous sects, such arrangements were handled with extreme caution.

Regardless of a person’s cultivation level, their reputation had to be spotless.

And a good reputation like that couldn’t be built overnight. It took centuries, even millennia, of continuous word-of-mouth. Shui Die Lan had no such foundation.

“You really don’t understand what it means to rob someone on the road, do you?” Shui Die Lan lightly patted “Zhuang Chu’s” cheek, smiling. “All it takes is letting her have a nice little dream, and she’ll tell me everything. So from now on, I’m Zhuang Chu. Don’t forget it!”

“Got tired of being an assassin and decided to play gentleman instead?”

Li Xun couldn’t help but chuckle, though he didn’t believe for a second that Shui Die Lan was acting on a whim.

With her temperament, there was no way she’d stomach the rigid rules and moral airs of a righteous sect. And besides, why hadn’t she fled somewhere else? Why come straight to Heavenly Vigorous Sect, where Gu Pin’er happened to be?

Li Xun just shook his head with a quiet "heh," not wanting to spell things out too clearly. "So, what," he asked naturally, "is Gu Pin'er here, too?"

“Hah, not this time. You’ll be disappointed; she stayed at the sect to continue her cultivation.” Shui Die Lan shot him a sidelong glance. “Besides, even if she had come, this isn’t the Southeastern Forest. If you two wanted to fuck in broad daylight, I doubt you’d even find a place to do it.”

Taking that kind of teasing seriously would only lead to an endless back-and-forth, and Li Xun wasn’t about to take the bait. He just smiled, then suddenly remembered something.

“You were… right there just now?”

When Shui Die Lan nodded, Li Xun’s mouth twitched. “Mistress Tianzhi isn’t exactly an easy one to deal with. You’re really...”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Shui Die Lan said proudly. “Even if she could fight me, and I’m not saying she can, I’ve got dirt on her. You think she’d dare go against me?”

That was the second time she’d said Mistress Tianzhi didn’t have the nerve to fight her. And now she’d added that “dirt” part.

Li Xun shook his head with a wry smile, but halfway through, something clicked in his mind. And the smile froze on his face.

Shui Die Lan could tell what he was thinking. She giggled and lowered her voice a little. “Careful now, it’s a very big piece of leverage.”

Li Xun shot her a glance. “Jade Wanderer?”

Shui Die Lan let out a sigh. “Too bad. Looks like it won’t be of any use anymore.”

Both of them paused for a second, then spoke at the same time.

“What do you mean, ‘not of any use’?” “No way, don’t tell me everyone already knows about it?”

They stared at each other. Li Xun recovered first and gave a small laugh. “Sounds interesting. Mind telling me what happened?”

But Shui Die Lan wasn’t that easy to deal with. Folding her arms, she smiled. “And why should I?”

Seeing that she didn’t look all that firm about it, Li Xun thought for a moment, then smiled back. “Come on, with the kind of relationship we have, no need to keep secrets. You know my biggest, most dangerous secret, don’t you? Compared to that, this little thing of yours doesn’t seem like much, does it?”