Bad Woman

Twelve years later.

The red maples of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect were like fire, but they could not burn away the coldness on Purple Cloud Peak.

Zhao Wuji was leaving.

He had been selected by a major sect and was about to head to a broader world.

And Xia Lengyue, due to her unstable foundation, was left behind here.

That night, Ye Xuan was chopping wood at the handyman quarters when Zhao Wuji made a rare visit.

Wearing a suit of radiant, precious armor and waving a folding fan in his hand, he wore a sickeningly superior smile on his face.

"Junior Brother Ye, still chopping wood?"

Zhao Wuji kicked over the pile of wood Ye Xuan had just stacked, sending logs rolling all over the ground.

Ye Xuan silently stopped what he was doing and bowed his head in greeting, "Greetings, Senior Brother Zhao."

"Don't be so polite."

Zhao Wuji stepped forward and used his fan to lift Ye Xuan's chin, looking at him like a stray dog. "I'm here to say goodbye, and while I'm at it... to return something to you."

"Return something to me?" Ye Xuan looked confused.

"Junior Sister Xia, of course."

Zhao Wuji laughed heartily, the disdain in his eyes completely unconcealed. "Over these twelve years, I've grown tired of playing with Junior Sister's body. As for the taste, it was fine at first, but nothing special later on. Since I am going to pursue the Great Dao, I'll be merciful and return these worn-out shoes to you, her trash of a husband."

Ye Xuan's fists, hidden in his sleeves, clenched tightly, his nails piercing the palms of his hands.

"What? Are you angry?"

Zhao Wuji leaned close to Ye Xuan's ear and whispered with deep malice, "Don't be angry, you should be thanking me. Over these twelve years, I've trained her quite well for you. She is now... very good at serving men. Hahaha!"

After saying that, Zhao Wuji tossed down a low-grade spirit stone and flew away on his sword, laughing loudly.

That very night, Xia Lengyue got dead drunk and barged into the handyman's quarters.

Her hair was messy, her makeup ruined by tears, completely lacking her usual image of a cold, aloof fairy.

"He doesn't want me anymore... He actually doesn't want me anymore..."

Xia Lengyue slumped on the ground, hugging Ye Xuan's legs, crying her heart out. "Why? For him, I threw away my reputation, even my self-esteem. Why would he abandon me?"

Ye Xuan looked at this once-proud woman, who was now sprawled at his feet like a puddle of mud.

He crouched down and gently patted her back.

"Yue'er, stop crying. You still have me."

"Let's go home, okay?"

Xia Lengyue suddenly raised her head, looking at Ye Xuan with teary, drunken eyes.

Just when Ye Xuan thought she would change her mind, she shoved him away, her eyes filled with disgust and desperate anger.

"Go home? Back to that broken home in the mortal realm?"

Xia Lengyue screamed, "Ye Xuan, you are just a useless coward! Zhao Wuji doesn't want me because I am not strong enough, because my backing isn't hard enough! I will never go back with you to become a mortal, haggard housewife!"

She stood up unsteadily, wiped her tears, a nearly sickening obsession flashing in the depths of her eyes:

"I want to become stronger... I want to find a stronger man... I will make Zhao Wuji regret this!"

This time, she set her sights on the true favored son of heaven of the Cangyun Sect, the Dao Child, Bai Yujing.

Bai Yujing was different from Zhao Wuji.

Zhao Wuji was a true villain, while Bai Yujing was a hypocrite.

He cultivated the Supreme Forgetfulness Dao, viewing women merely as cultivation cauldrons and tools.

Winter Solstice.

Ye Xuan remembered that Xia Lengyue had suffered from a cold constitution since childhood, and her hands and feet would turn icy cold every Winter Solstice.

To nourish her body, Ye Xuan braved the heavy snow and went to the forbidden area in the sect's back mountain to catch a rank-two demonic beast, the Five-Color Brocade Pheasant.

To catch this bird, he lay in a snowdrift for three days and three nights. His legs were frozen numb, and he nearly had his neck snapped by a guardian beast.

When he limped back to the handyman quarters dragging the pheasant, and painstakingly brewed a pot of rich, golden, and fragrant chicken soup, Xia Lengyue returned.

She was wearing a thin gauze dress that perfectly accentuated her figure, it was the style that Bai Yujing liked.

As soon as she entered the door, she smelled the aroma of the chicken soup, and her eyes lit up.

"Smells so good..." Xia Lengyue swallowed hard and walked over.

Ye Xuan's heart warmed. He quickly scooped out a bowl and handed it over. "Yue'er, drink it while it's hot, this is..."

"Wait." Xia Lengyue didn't take the bowl. Instead, she stared at the pot of soup, her eyes flickering as if she had thought of something.

She took out an exquisite jade flask from her storage bag and directly poured more than half of the pot's essence chicken soup into it, leaving Ye Xuan with only a few dregs at the bottom.

"Yue'er, what are you doing?" Ye Xuan was stunned.

As Xia Lengyue carefully sealed the jade flask, she said as a matter of course, "Senior Brother Dao Child has recently hit a bottleneck in his cultivation and needs nourishment. This Five-Color Brocade Pheasant soup greatly replenishes vitality, so it's perfect to send to him. Ye Xuan, your culinary skills are quite good. Catch a few more next time."

Ye Xuan held the bowl of soup he hadn't managed to give her, his hands trembling violently.

"This is... I brewed this for you. Your cold affliction..."

"I'm fine!"

Xia Lengyue interrupted him somewhat impatiently. "As long as Senior Brother Dao Child is happy, he just needs to give me a few pointers, and my cultivation will break through. Then my cold affliction will naturally be cured. Don't be so selfish, okay? Can't you think about my future?"

After saying that, she hugged the jade flask as if holding a rare treasure and rushed out into the wind and snow, running toward the unapproachable Dao Child Peak.

Ye Xuan stood frozen in place, looking at the pitiful dregs left at the bottom of the pot.

He lowered his head and silently drank the bowl of soup in his hands, which was gradually turning cold, sip by sip.

The soup was very savory, yet it was so bitter it made him shed tears.

Half a month later.

Xia Lengyue urgently summoned Ye Xuan to Dao Child Peak via a voice transmission talisman.

Ye Xuan thought something had happened to her and rushed over like a madman. When he arrived, he found out that Bai Yujing was hosting a banquet for guests and felt that the spirit fruits cut by the handyman quarters were too messy, so he asked Xia Lengyue to find someone to help.

Xia Lengyue thus thought of Ye Xuan.

At the banquet, cups and goblets intertwined.

Bai Yujing sat in the main seat, his white robes purer than snow, noble and inviolable.

Xia Lengyue knelt at his feet like a lowly maidservant, peeling spirit grapes for him, her eyes full of worship and flattery.

Ye Xuan, wearing a dusty gray handyman uniform, kept his head down in the corner, slicing fruit.

The knife in his hand moved very fast, each slice of fruit as thin as a cicada's wing. He did not dare to raise his head, afraid that he wouldn't be able to hide the killing intent in his eyes.

At this moment, a guest teased, "Brother Bai, Junior Sister Xia was once a Heavenly Spirit Root genius, but now she is willing to serve you so intimately. You truly are lucky in love."

Bai Yujing carelessly took a sip of wine and reached out to pinch Xia Lengyue's chin, looking at her like a piece of merchandise. "Her aptitude is decent, but her body isn't very clean. I heard you had an arranged marriage in the mortal realm?"

Xia Lengyue's face instantly turned deathly pale.

She subconsciously glanced at Ye Xuan in the corner, a trace of panic flashing in her eyes, but it immediately turned into resolute denial.

"Senior Brother Dao Child is joking."

Xia Lengyue forced a smile, her voice trembling slightly. "The marriage contract in the mortal realm was nothing more than the orders of our parents. We never... never consummated the marriage. My entire heart is devoted to the Great Dao of Immortality, and... to you, Senior Brother."

Clang.

In the corner, the knife in Ye Xuan's hand dropped onto the plate.

The eyes of everyone in the room turned toward him.

"What is wrong with this servant? So clumsy." Bai Yujing frowned in displeasure.

Xia Lengyue was scared out of her wits, terrified that Bai Yujing would get angry and drive her away.

She abruptly stood up, rushed over to Ye Xuan, and gave him a vicious shove, scolding angrily, "You cannot even handle such a trivial matter! Are you trying to humiliate me on purpose? Get lost! Get out!"

Ye Xuan stumbled a few steps back from the push, his back hitting a cold pillar.

He looked at the woman with a twisted expression before him.

This was the wife who had once shared intimate whispers with him and sworn to follow him in life and death.

"I am sorry... Fairy Xia."

Ye Xuan lowered his head and picked up the knife from the ground, his voice as hoarse as if he had swallowed burning coals. "I was clumsy."

He turned and left the grand hall.

Behind him came Bai Yujing's satisfied laughter, along with Xia Lengyue's relieved, charming giggles.

However, Xia Lengyue's one-sided devotion and fawning would ultimately fail to win true affection.

Bai Yujing was merely using Xia Lengyue's Lunar Physique as a cultivation cauldron. Once the novelty wore off, his attitude would take a sharp turn for the worse.

Late one night, three months later.

The dilapidated wooden door of the servants' quarters was busted open.

Xia Lengyue stumbled inside. She was a wretched mess, her clothes disheveled, bearing a clear slap mark on her face.

It was from Bai Yujing.

Because she had resisted slightly out of pain during their dual cultivation, Bai Yujing felt his mood ruined and kicked her out.

"Ye Xuan..."

As soon as Xia Lengyue saw Ye Xuan meditating, her tough exterior instantly crumbled.

She threw herself into Ye Xuan's arms and wailed, crying like a wronged child.

"He hit me... He actually hit me... I love him so much, I would do anything for him. Why would he treat me like this..."

Ye Xuan's body stiffened for a moment.

He smelled the strong stench of alcohol on her, along with the nauseating scent left by that man.

Reason told him to push her away, mock her, and tell her this was karma.

But when his hand touched her swollen, red cheek, his heart still softened completely.

After all, this was the woman he had loved his entire life.

"Do not cry."

Ye Xuan sighed and took out a bottle of top-grade Jade Dew Ointment he had refined himself. It was a holy healing medicine that was hard to buy with even a thousand gold pieces on the market, yet he applied it to her wounds as gently and freely as if it cost nothing.

"Does it hurt?" he asked softly.

Xia Lengyue looked up with teary eyes at Ye Xuan's ordinary yet focused face.

In this moment, she felt a long-lost sense of security.

In this cold and unfeeling sect, only this small servant's room held any warmth.

In this cruel cultivation world, only the man before her truly saw her as a human being rather than a tool.

"Ye Xuan, you are still the one who treats me best."

Xia Lengyue hugged Ye Xuan's waist tightly, burying her face in his chest, and murmured, "I will not pursue the Great Dao anymore. I will not try to please Bai Yujing anymore. Let us just live a good life together, okay?"

Ye Xuan's hand paused in mid-air.

A glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. "Really? Yue'er, as long as you are willing, we can leave the sect tomorrow. We can return to the mortal realm, or find an uninhabited place to live in seclusion..."

"Mhm..."

Xia Lengyue responded drowsily and soon fell asleep in his arms.

That night, Ye Xuan did not sleep a wink.

Looking at his wife in his arms, the yearning for their future reignited in his heart.

He even planned out their escape route and their future life together.

However, dawn broke.

When the first ray of sunlight shone into the room, Xia Lengyue woke up.

She touched her no-longer-swollen cheek and felt the trace of spiritual energy that had grown in her body from the dual cultivation.

Last night's weakness and tenderness vanished into thin air with the morning sunlight.

She pushed Ye Xuan away, stood up, straightened her clothes, and returned to her aloof and cold demeanor.

"What I said yesterday... just pretend you never heard it."

Xia Lengyue turned her back to Ye Xuan, her voice indifferent. "Cultivation is like sailing against the current; if you do not advance, you fall back. If I leave, all my efforts in this life will be wasted. Although Bai Yujing has a bad temper, he is the Dao Child after all. Only by following him will I have a chance to form my Golden Core."

Ye Xuan sat on the bed, looking at her resolute back.

The hope in his heart shattered like a bubble.

"You... are still going back to him?" Ye Xuan's voice trembled.

"Yes."

Xia Lengyue looked back, casting a complicated glance at him. "Ye Xuan, you are a good man, suited for a quiet life. But you cannot give me the immortality I desire, nor can you give me what I want. Please... do not blame me."

With that, she pushed the door open again and left without looking back.

Ye Xuan closed his eyes as two lines of clear tears rolled down his cheeks, his eyes filled with bitterness:

"This game's plot is way too angsty. Why is it so hard just to clear a level?"