Acting Off Each Other

As she spoke, Mu Qingxue deliberately circulated her spiritual power, adding a touch of pallor to her face.

But her right hand, hidden within her wide sleeve, was tightly clutching an ice-cold communication stone.

It was the one Ye Xuan had personally given her, her only bond with her master. Holding it, Mu Qingxue felt as though Ye Xuan was still caressing her skin, and the excitement made her legs grow faintly weak.

"How could this be... He used to be someone who couldn't bear to harm even an injured spirit crane..." Bai Ningbing covered her face in despair, sobbing uncontrollably.

Just then, another burst of hurried sonic booms came from outside the palace.

"Bang!"

The hall door was shoved open. Third junior sister Su Xingyao stumbled in, her clothes disheveled and her hair in disarray.

She had taken the battle-worn makeup look to the extreme—not only had she deliberately bitten her lip to draw a trace of blood, but the hem of her outer robe was torn in several places, revealing a slice of fair, jade-like calf.

Like Mu Qingxue, deep in Su Xingyao's eyes lurked a fervent heat born of utter conquest, her cheeks flushed red enough to drip water.

"Third junior sister! What happened to you?" Mu Qingxue pretended to be utterly shocked and hurriedly rushed over to meet her.

"Senior sister... wuwuwu..." Su Xingyao buried her head in Mu Qingxue's arms and burst into loud tears. "I went to find senior brother too... I wanted to beg him to forgive Ningbing, to beg him to change his mind..."

Mu Qingxue patted Su Xingyao's back, but inwardly she was sneering: 'You idiot. Someone as heaven-defying as Ye Xuan—do you think a few tears from a silly girl like you could move him? You probably couldn't even withstand a single move of his, and got beaten to a pulp, right?'

Su Xingyao lay in Mu Qingxue's arms, weeping like pear blossoms in rain, but her own mind was equally frantic with ridicule for her second senior sister: 'Second senior sister is such a waste, she must have been swept away by a single sword strike from senior brother. How could she possibly know senior brother's true gentleness? Senior brother just hugged me tight and said I'm his most beloved good girl, and even gave me this one-of-a-kind communication stone!'

'I'm the only spy senior brother has in the holy land! You poor wretches, you don't know anything!'

The two clung to each other, on the surface a pair of bitter sisters comforting each other after being beaten by Ye Xuan.

Behind the scenes, each clutched her own burning communication stone, each crowning herself as Ye Xuan's "lawful wife," and despising the other with all their might.

"Xingyao, you've suffered. Did he show you no mercy for old times' sake and treat you so cruelly as well?" Bai Ningbing looked at the pitiful Su Xingyao, and the guilt in her heart deepened.

"Ningbing, you don't understand..."

Su Xingyao lifted her head, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and began to fabricate vividly: "He wouldn't even listen to me! He trapped me using utterly humiliating means, and even... even used his sword qi to tear my clothes as a threat! He's a complete demon!"

When she said "humiliating means," Su Xingyao's mind uncontrollably conjured certain images.

Her breath instantly quickened, her legs subconsciously pressed together, and the flush on her face spread all the way to the roots of her ears.

Mu Qingxue keenly noticed Su Xingyao's strangeness and couldn't help feeling baffled: 'This girl gets beaten to such a state, yet instead of resentment, she's going into heat? Could it be that Ye Xuan's terrifying pressure scared her into losing her dao heart? What a naive little girl who's never seen the world.'

In order to display her composure as the senior sister before Bai Ningbing, and also to curry favor with the exclusive position she fantasized about in her own mind,

Mu Qingxue cleared her throat and said sternly: "Enough, stop crying. Ningbing, Xingyao, we must face reality. Ye Xuan is no longer the hard-working, long-suffering senior brother he used to be. He is now a butcher covered in blood!"

"That's right!" Su Xingyao immediately chimed in. She had to appear absolutely hateful toward Ye Xuan in front of Bai Ningbing so as not to reveal any cracks: "We can't hold any more illusions about him! From this day forward, we sever all ties with him!"

'Sever all ties? Impossible!' Su Xingyao screamed inwardly. 'Tonight I'm going to sneak a message to senior brother from under my blanket and tell him how much I miss him!'

"Senior sister, Xingyao... I've dragged you both into this." Bai Ningbing looked at the two sisters who had been hurt for her sake, her heart aching as if twisted, utterly unaware of the incredible acting performance the two were putting on.

Night fell.

The encampment of the Nine Heavens Holy Land fell into deathly silence. After the day's farce, everyone was mentally exhausted and went to rest early.

Mu Qingxue and Su Xingyao, at almost the exact same moment, carefully set up multiple layers of soundproofing and anti-eavesdropping barriers.

Mu Qingxue sat before her dressing mirror, gazing at her own breathtakingly beautiful, peach-blossom face reflected in the bronze mirror, a trace of obsessive smile curling at the corner of her lips.

With trembling hands, she took out the faintly glowing communication stone from her innermost garments.

She took a deep breath, extended her divine sense into the stone, and reported in the sweetest, most fawning tone:

"Master... Qingxue misses you so much. Qingxue has successfully infiltrated Bai Ningbing's side. She cried a lot today, but Qingxue's heart holds only you. Watching her suffer, Qingxue actually feels quite vindicated."

"Also, third junior sister Xingyao went to find you today too. Judging by her pathetic state, she must have been soundly taught a lesson by you. Master is truly mighty! Qingxue will keep a close watch on that waste Bai Yujing's every move. Qingxue's body... still aches faintly, and I await master's next favor..."

After sending this long-winded message, Mu Qingxue pressed the communication stone to her chest, her face burning red, as if she could feel Ye Xuan's heartbeat through it.

In the side hall just one wall away,

Su Xingyao was buried entirely under her blanket, clutching her communication stone like a thief. Her big eyes shimmered with fanatical light as her divine sense poured into the stone like flowing water:

"Senior brother~ Your little Yao'er is reporting in! That idiot second senior sister got beaten back by you today too, didn't she? She's still pretending to play the good person in front of Ningbing. But little Yao'er knows—I'm the only one who is senior brother's true secret weapon!"

"What senior brother did to Yao'er during the day, Yao'er will never forget. That hypocrite Bai Yujing smashed a bunch of things tonight, looks like he was driven mad by what senior brother said during the day. Yao'er will keep up the infiltration. If senior brother feels lonely, feel free to summon Yao'er anytime. Yao'er is willing to learn any position..."

After sending out this message, so like a cat in heat, Su Xingyao hugged her blanket and rolled around on the bed in excitement, too stirred to sleep all night long.

Hundreds of miles away from the Nine Heavens Holy Land's encampment, inside a hidden cave on a cliff,

Ye Xuan was sitting cross-legged by a campfire, toying with two mother communication stones that kept flashing with light.

Ying'er sat nearby, chin resting on her hands, curiously watching the two stones.

The two stones lit up almost simultaneously, transmitting every word of Mu Qingxue's and Su Xingyao's fawning, provocatively flirtatious, and mutually denigrating messages into Ye Xuan's mind, without missing a single syllable.

Hearing these two holy land prodigies, who were usually so aloof and ethereal, cursing each other as "idiot" and "fool" in their messages, while both shamelessly flattering him, each claiming to be the "one and only secret weapon"...

A smile that was at once absurd and cruel finally tugged at the corner of Ye Xuan's lips.