I Came to Harm You

Song Yao was in agonizing pain, her consciousness flickering. She had no idea what she was doing or where she was.

Voices constantly clamored in her mind.

Sometimes, it was several elders with hands on their hips, glaring and scolding her. Other times, it was her Fifth Junior Sister, holding a freshly copied drawing and smilingly asking for praise. And sometimes, it was the endless clucking of chickens and ducks in the small yard, pecking at each other until feathers flew everywhere.

The scene shifted. Her master squatted before her, gently stroking her head and asking, “Good girl, Yao'ao, why don't you come back to the Nine Saints Hall with Master? There are delicious foods and fun things there, and your senior brothers and sisters will keep you company every day.”

Song Yao pouted at him, feeling an overwhelming, inexplicable wave of grievance.

Just as she was about to speak, a sudden, blood-curdling shriek jolted her awake.

Opening her eyes dazedly, she found herself still lying on the cold jade bed, her body tangled in a chaotic mess of red threads.

She instinctively turned her head toward the source of the sound, her pupils shrinking in shock at the sight.

Near the steps not far away, her Fifth Junior Sister—who in her memories had always been the brightest, most cheerful girl—had just run her sword straight through Ye Chang'an's chest. An empty, chilling coldness filled her eyes, and her tone was contemptuously slow: “Try touching her again.”

Song Yao: “?”

Wait.

Something was wrong.

Was something not right?

She had thought that if she got the chance, she would look for her Fifth Junior Sister in Black Cloud Mountain.

But she never expected their reunion to happen like this.

Why did her Fifth Junior Sister seem so different from her memories?

And...

Why did she suddenly attack and try to kill Ye Chang'an?

Wasn't she being controlled by the people of the Taiqing Pavilion?

Song Yao's mind was already a muddled mess. As she struggled to push herself up, the movement pulled at her internal organs, and the agonizing pain made her eyes roll back as she blacked out once more.

...

Ye Chang'an was also twitching in extreme pain.

He looked down in disbelief at the sword blade piercing his chest, a torrent of blood welling up in his throat.

Everything had been fine just moments ago. Where on earth did things go wrong?

Just because Lin Mu grabbed her?

He had said so many provoking things without triggering her. There was no way Lin Mu saying a couple of harmless words could make her lose control and go completely mad like this!

Completely baffled and filled with despair, he squeezed the red string in his palm with the last of his strength, attempting to activate the spell to regain control over Wen Tang.

A brief struggle flickered in Wen Tang's eyes, but in the next second, she flicked her wrist and violently pulled the sword out of Ye Chang'an's chest.

The blade dragged out a spray of warm blood, which splattered onto the cold ground, forming a shocking trail of dark crimson.

Ye Chang'an's entire body convulsed. Struggling to seal the wound in his chest with spiritual energy, he couldn't even form a coherent sentence. He dragged himself backward through the pool of blood in a pathetic state, his voice hoarse and broken. “Someone... someone! Help! Save me...!”

Hearing the commotion, dozens of evil cultivators guarding the outside of the cave rushed in with their weapons drawn. The moment they stepped inside, their feet froze in place, and they gasped in horror, “Young Master Ye!!”

“What's going on?!”

“Wen Tang... Wen Tang has lost control?!”

They knew exactly how powerful Wen Tang was.

With a mere wave of her sleeve, she could poison a Nascent Soul expert to death. They had only been safe because Hall Master Ye had a way to control her.

But looking at her now...

She had clearly broken free of her restraints!

Ye Chang'an panted heavily, screaming with all his might, “Kill her! Hurry up and kill this traitorous wretch!”

Terror filled the eyes of the evil cultivators, their hands trembling as they gripped their weapons. Before they could even make a move, Wen Tang lazily raised her eyes once more.

In an instant, countless stiff figures dropped down from the ceiling of the cave.

Their pale faces were entirely devoid of life, and a bright red thread was tied tightly around each of their necks.

They were actually the Yin soldier puppets that Ye Chongguang had previously ordered her to refine!

In the blink of an eye, the puppets surrounded the evil cultivators, trapping them in the center. Enclosed in a suffocating circle, the cultivators were scared out of their wits, crowding together in a panic, their weapons shaking so violently they could barely hold them.

Wen Tang raised her gaze, her eyelashes half-drooped as her thin lips parted slightly. “Aren't you going to kneel?”

An invisible pressure suddenly radiated from her, crashing down like a collapsing mountain.

Everyone felt a deep ache in their very bones. Their spines bent inch by inch under the weight, their joints emitting soft, strained creaks. Their weapons clattered to the floor as they were forced to fall to their knees, one after another.

While tortured by the agonizing pain in his chest, Ye Chang'an was also being suffocated by the pressure. His eyes threatened to split from sheer rage, and he roared hoarsely, “You useless trash! Traitors! Just wait, my father will tear your bones apart and skin you alive!”

Before he could finish, two puppets stepped forward and grabbed his limbs. Their grip was so powerful it nearly crushed his bones, and they dragged him half-standing toward the dark depths of the cave.

As if finally realizing what fear felt like, Ye Chang'an shrieked, “Wen Tang! Wen Tang! I am your fiancé, you can't do this to me! Wen Tang...”

His screams grew more distant and were quickly swallowed by the heavy shadows, leaving only a few dull thuds.

Wen Tang seemed completely oblivious to this. She turned slowly, her dark robes sweeping over the bloodstains on the floor as she walked unhurriedly back to the white jade bed.

She stopped by the side of the bed, her gaze dropping to rest on Song Yao.

It was an entirely unfamiliar face.

Pale and beautiful, she looked like a genderless deity enshrined in an ancestral hall, devoid of joy or anger.

Only the faint red mole at the corner of her eye was exactly the same as in her memory.

She reached out to touch the face, her fingertip gently brushing against the mole. “Third Senior Sister,” she murmured, “you've come too late.”

...

During this blackout, Song Yao had a very long dream.

In the dream, she challenged a dozen sword cultivators in one go, climbing her way into the top fifty of the Heavenly Revelation Board.

Who would have thought that a few of them were petty enough to band together and ambush her on her way back to the sect.

Caught off guard, she had gritted her teeth and beaten them all until they cried for their parents just to save face. However, she was also heavily injured herself. She had crawled and stumbled her way back to the main peak, only fainting after falling headfirst into her Eldest Senior Brother's courtyard.

In the past, if she fainted for a while, her Eldest Senior Brother would have picked her up and brought her inside to heal her wounds.

But this time, no one cared when she woke up.

Her Eldest Senior Brother had hated her from the very beginning, so this was normal.

Song Yao simply assumed her Eldest Senior Brother was angry again. Thick-skinned as ever, she crawled further inside, tumbling into his room to seek help.

But there was no one in his room.

There was no one on the entire main peak.

Eventually, her Fourth Junior Brother rushed over and brought her to the Ward-Off-Illness Hall for treatment. He told her that something had happened to the Wen family—they had been attacked by demons. Her Fifth Junior Sister had gone back to help but had gone missing, and everyone was currently out looking for her.

Song Yao thought to herself: Isn't this the perfect time to farm some corruption values?

If she went to kick her while she was down, her Fifth Junior Sister's resentment toward her would surely deepen.

Before her injuries had even fully healed, she cheerfully ditched her Fourth Junior Brother and ran off into the demon realm to search for her.

After searching high and low without finding a trace, she finally barged into the demons' nest, only to find her Fifth Junior Sister covered in wounds.

Under normal circumstances, a demon realm like this wouldn't have been able to trap her.

But she had used her spells, triggering her dark poison and causing her such unbearable pain that she had fallen into danger.

Song Yao was as wicked as could be. She looked down at her from above, pointing her sword at her.

Seeing her look up with such a pitiful expression, Song Yao actually managed to smile. “What? I didn't come to save you. I came to harm you.”