Chapter 8: Thinness and frivolity

Luo Qingchen watched the Green Scale Sword, which was only half an inch from her throat, and her Adam’s apple bobbed.

‘This woman is truly out for blood.’

Her eyes reddened instantly.

This wasn’t an act; she was genuinely terrified.

However, in Ling Xiyue’s eyes, this looked like the pinnacle of someone suffering a great grievance.

“I’m sorry, Fairy. It was my lack of skill.”

Luo Qingchen’s voice trembled, and two drops of tears squeezed out from the corners of her eyes.

“I thought I could help you change your fate against the heavens, but I failed your expectations and caused you to lose a precious treasure for nothing.”

Ling Xiyue’s hand holding the sword was as steady as a rock, her voice chillingly cold.

“So, these are your last words?”

Luo Qingchen wiped away a tear and rolled up her sleeve, revealing her snowy-white forearm.

The hideous blood-red line had already spread to her elbow.

The color was deeper than before, radiating an eerie aura that made one’s heart skip a beat.

“If you don’t believe me, Fairy, look at this.”

Luo Qingchen pointed at the red line, her tone desolate.

“This is the backlash from failing to change fate. The curse has already transferred to me.”

Ling Xiyue retracted her long sword and leaned in to take a closer look.

She could sense the energy fluctuations within that red line.

It was the power of laws far beyond the Golden Core stage, carrying an ancient and desolate aura of death.

Something of this level was definitely not something a small cultivator who had just reached the Foundation Building stage could fake.

Ling Xiyue’s heart sank.

‘Could it be that she really ended up like this just to help me?’

Seeing the killing intent in her eyes dissipate, Luo Qingchen breathed a sigh of relief and performed a sliding kneel right next to Ling Xiyue’s legs.

She moved extremely fast, her hands carefully cupping one of Ling Xiyue’s hands.

She looked up with a pitiful expression.

“I couldn’t save the Thousand-Year Cold Marrow either. It was all consumed during the ritual, yet I still couldn’t help you break the deadlock.”

Luo Qingchen sniffled, her voice choking with emotion.

“I failed your trust. I’m useless. Just kill me. I can’t afford to compensate you for such a precious treasure anyway.”

Looking at her in this state, Ling Xiyue’s originally cold heart suddenly lost its rhythm.

In Hidden Sword Mountain, everyone she met either avoided her or mocked her.

No one had ever been willing to sacrifice so much for her, even at the cost of their own life.

A crack appeared in the solid ice of her heart.

“Fine. You had good intentions.”

Ling Xiyue tried to pull her hand back, but she found that Luo Qingchen was holding it very tightly.

Luo Qingchen was staring at the back of that fair, jade-like hand, her heart pounding wildly.

‘Kiss the back of her hand.’

The mission issued by this damn jade slip was simply perverse.

She slowly leaned in, her lips about to make contact.

Sensing something was wrong, Ling Xiyue abruptly pulled her hand back and turned her head to look at her.

“What are you doing?”

Luo Qingchen’s kiss hit thin air, and she almost tumbled over.

She cursed the Deception Jade Slip eight hundred times in her mind.

This mission’s difficulty was far too high.

“That… Fairy, I was just sensing the fluctuations of your fate within your body.”

Luo Qingchen’s mind raced, and nonsense poured out of her mouth.

“I saw that your fate seems to have a tiny turning point. Could you let me look at your palm to confirm?”

Ling Xiyue looked suspicious.

“Aren’t you a physiognomist? Why do you need to look at hands?”

Luo Qingchen replied without blinking.

“Palmistry is also a form of physiognomy. My sect taught it. It’s called the ‘Union of Face and Hand,’ and it’s much more accurate. Just now, I only wanted to see your palm lines from a closer distance.”

Ling Xiyue hesitated for a moment but eventually held out her hand again.

Luo Qingchen knelt on the ground, once again cupping that boneless, jade-like hand.

This hand was truly cold, no different from a block of ice.

She pretended to stare at the palm lines, getting closer and closer until her face was almost buried in it.

Ling Xiyue felt Luo Qingchen’s breath brushing against her palm.

It was itchy and made her very uncomfortable.

She felt her body grow a bit warm and wanted to pull her hand away, but she felt that doing so would be too hurtful.

After all, the person had just suffered a curse for her sake and was about to lose their life.

While Ling Xiyue was distracted, Luo Qingchen instantly flipped her hand and planted a forceful kiss on the back of it.

*Smack!*

The sound was crisp and loud, echoing far through the quiet ruins of the cave.

Ling Xiyue froze.

Luo Qingchen was also stunned.

She hadn’t expected to kiss so hard in her excitement; her lips felt a bit numb.

In the next second, Ling Xiyue reacted with lightning speed, reaching out to pinch Luo Qingchen’s cheek.

Luo Qingchen’s lips were pinched into a pout, and her eyes widened.

She looked incredibly ridiculous.

“You lecherous little thief!”

Ling Xiyue gritted her teeth, increasing the pressure in her hand as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

“No… I didn’t! This is the consecration ceremony for palm reading!”

Luo Qingchen explained indistinctly, her voice changing pitch as her eyes watered from the pain.

“A consecration ceremony?”

Ling Xiyue snorted coldly.

“Do you take me for a three-year-old child? Which physiognomist needs to kiss someone’s hand for a consecration?”

Right then, the jade slip in Luo Qingchen’s Dantian began to vibrate.

**[Mission complete. Obtained Spiritual Tool: Five Elements Blade.]**

**[Jade Slip storage capability enabled.]**

A dagger shimmering with five-colored light appeared out of thin air within Luo Qingchen’s jade slip space, emitting waves of sharp aura.

Before she could celebrate, the writing on the jade slip changed again.

**[Mission updated: Escort Ling Xiyue and escape from the pursuit of a Peak Golden Core cultivator.]**

Luo Qingchen’s heart sank.

‘Peak Golden Core?’

This was no joke.

The Heaven Stealing Sect had been exterminated because of this jade slip.

There were bound to be powerful figures searching for survivors to recover it.

“Fairy! Let go, quickly!”

Luo Qingchen’s expression suddenly changed.

Her tone was urgent, even carrying a hint of terror.

Ling Xiyue didn’t let go; instead, she pinched harder.

“What trick are you trying to pull to escape now?”

“Do you have any enemies?”

Luo Qingchen shouted, her voice echoing among the ruins.

“I just saw it in your palm! A bloody disaster, happening today! It’s almost here!”

Ling Xiyue felt a surge of anger.

“If I believe you again, I’ll truly be a fool!”

She was about to give the little thief a lesson when her expression suddenly shifted.

She felt it.

Several powerful auras were rapidly approaching from the distance at an incredible speed.

One of the auras was steady and oppressive, weighing down on her so much that the flow of spiritual energy in her body became sluggish.

That was the pressure of a Peak Golden Core!

Waves of shock crashed through Ling Xiyue’s heart.

‘This little thief is only at the early stage of Foundation Building. How could she sense them from further away than I can?’

‘Could it be that she really didn’t lie to me?’

“Move!”

Ling Xiyue didn’t have time to worry about the kiss anymore.

She grabbed Luo Qingchen by the back of her collar, lifting her like a kitten.

The Green Scale Sword instantly enlarged.

With a light tap of her toes, she turned into a streak of purple light, racing away in the opposite direction.

Less than ten breaths after they left…

*Boom!*

Several streaks of black light landed on the ruins.

Leading them was a Black-robed Elder with a grim face, holding a compass.

The needle on the compass spun wildly before finally pointing in the direction Ling Xiyue had fled.

“The aura of the Ancestor’s curse.”

The elder’s voice was hoarse, carrying a bone-chilling killing intent.

“Pursue them! Not a single one is to be spared!”

***

In mid-air, Ling Xiyue carried Luo Qingchen through the clouds.

Luo Qingchen couldn’t open her eyes due to the wind.

Being dangled in the air like that was an extremely uncomfortable position.

“Fairy, can you change positions? I’m being strangled to death!” Luo Qingchen shouted at the top of her lungs.

Ling Xiyue ignored her, simply pulling her closer into her embrace and gripping her shoulder tightly with her right hand.

“It seems I have misjudged you,” Ling Xiyue said softly through the wind, her tone carrying a hint of apology.

“What do we do now? The cultivation of those behind us is far above mine. Especially the leader—I am no match for him at all!”

Luo Qingchen felt the terrifying aura drawing closer from behind and began calculating frantically.

‘Peak Golden Core.’

If they were caught, she would definitely be minced into garlic paste.

And if they had any perverted hobbies… now that she was in a woman’s body, her fate would only be more miserable.