Qin Music from the Forbidden Land

“You idiot! Do you know how to knock? Who allowed you to barge in like a fool?”

Bai Wan was a little peeved and embarrassed, so she put on her coat and drew the bed curtains. She spoke to the green-clad youth still standing outside the door, “What are you still doing at the door? If you have something to say, come in. Are you trying to get caught?”

Xia blushed and quickly closed the door. She rushed to Bai Wan and crouched down, placing a shoe on her bare foot. “Young Master, the floor is cold. You should wear your shoes when you get out of bed.”

He helped her put on the other shoe with ease, lowered his head and said, “Even if you don’t care about your body, you must consider the master. She already has a lover. If you act recklessly and play the home-wrecker, where will you let her go if the Beast Emperor ever wakes up?”

“To question me, are you tired of living?”

Bai Wan’s fox tail emerged from behind and lightly struck Xia’s back. She expressed her discontent with a dissatisfied look on her face, “I am myself, and my sister is herself. We have different personalities but were forced to coexist in the same body. Why should we like the same person? Besides, my sister’s human lover died hundreds of years ago without even having a drink with my sister. Now, only a body remains in an ice coffin.”

“Hmph. The mighty Beast Emperor fought to the death for a corpse, and even lost her lifebound artifact, the Cold Cicada Zither. It’s a laughingstock.”

Bai Wan sat in front of the dressing mirror, picked up a wooden comb, and gently brushed her black hair. Looking at her delicate face in the mirror, she suddenly thought of something and smiled like a flower, “I, Xuan Luo Wan, am different from that fool Xuan Luo Qing. If I want to get married, it must be a grand spectacle. I want my beloved to personally put on my wedding dress, draw my eyebrows… and then, together with red makeup, walk up the stairs hand in hand. I want everyone in the world to see that this person is mine.”

Xia looked up and saw his sly and cunning master wearing an unprecedentedly sweet expression. Her already seductive fox eyes shone brightly, appearing mesmerizing and moving.

He glanced at the hazy figure in the bed curtain, the young junior sister that caught his young master’s eye. He did not know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but the two were still together late at night, and their friendship must be extraordinary. Perhaps there was also a hidden transaction that he did not know about.

Xia let out a slight sigh. Little junior sister is in the position of Left Protector. The situation was clearly complex, what qualifications does he have to make judgements?

Bai Wan set down the comb and inserted the red hairpin into her hair. Turning, she said, “Elder Xia, you didn’t come here just to admonish me on these trivial matters.”

Xia shifted his sympathetic gaze toward Lin Qianshuang and respectfully said to Bai Wan, “Young Master, the beast cultivator world has detected your departure. Subordinates have already sent a group of elders to take charge, so there are no problems at this time. Additionally, Ruan Qianmei of the Blood Demon Sect has made a move. Tomorrow is the Demon Emperor’s birthday, and the Demon Realm will celebrate together. Someone intends to attack you while you dance for the Demon Emperor tomorrow.”

In the beast cultivator world, besides this Emperor, the Nine-Tailed Beast Emperor, who else can sit on this throne? My sister has not yet awakened, and our demonic energies cannot be reunited. Returning to the Three Thousand Realms where the beast cultivators are located will be of no use. There are stubborn, conservative old antiques in charge, how could that group of elderly men sit idly by if trouble unfolds? Besides, their saliva alone could kill the group of little monsters below. I’m really not afraid of any trouble.

“Rather, it’s this Ruan Qianmei who truly thinks highly of herself.”

Bai Wan pushed away her seat and rose, smoothing her clothes.

Her eyes held a hint of ruthlessness as she caressed her false pregnant belly and smiled coquettishly at Xia. “Don’t tell me I’ve truly forgotten? I’ve carried this belly for so long, and by all accounts, I’m about to give birth. It just so happens to be this very moment, and I’ve also managed to trick Ruan Qianmei’s child.”

Bai Wan glanced at Lin Qianshuang on the bed and gently stroked her ten round nails painted with fine rouge. She laughed seductively and said, “Qianshuang lacks the ability to absorb magic cores. Though she is a demon, she possesses the moral integrity of talent. She will never resort to using Cauldrons to replenish it.¹ If Ruan Qianmei and the demon fetus were to be refined into a magic core, it would certainly replenish her cultivation for a hundred years. If I give her that core, it would be a beautiful thing.”

Xia listened to Bai Wan’s words and looked at the figure within the bed curtain with a complicated expression. Then he said, “Young Master, it’s probably inappropriate for the Left Protector to remain in Yanbo Hall. How about I take her back to Tianyi Hall?”

“Very well. After all, the Left Protector and I have long been rumored to be at odds. It is indeed unreasonable for her to stay at Yanbo Hall.”

“Take her away.”

Xia watched as Bai Wan walked towards the bed. He couldn’t help but lower his head. After a while, Bai Wan tightly wrapped the person and placed them in Xia’s arm.

“Be careful not to wake her. I cast a spell, and she’s almost awake.”

Xia noticed Bai Wan’s cautiousness as she handed the person over. She glanced at Lin Qianshuang, who was wrapped up like a dumpling, and couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry, young master. I will definitely send the young master’s wife back to her bedroom.”

Bai Wan’s face lit up with a smile, but her tone was harsh. “Come on, you’re so good at talking. But don’t shout like that in front of Qianshuang, or I’ll break your dog legs.”

Xia hurriedly answered and walked out with the sleeping person, closing the door behind him.

Upon returning to Tianyi Hall, Xia gently laid Lin Qianshuang on the bed and placed the note penned by Bai Wan by her coreow. He carefully lit the incense burner on the table, releasing a soothing fragrance that promoted sleep.

“Sweet dreams, little junior sister.”

Xia watched the movement outside the door, saw no one around, and gently closed the door, leaving in strides.

At the moment when the lights in Tianyi Hall were completely extinguished, the person sleeping on the bed suddenly woke up, seemingly having a nightmare and sweating profusely.

Lin Qianshuang rubbed her temples, feeling waves of pain in her cerebral cortex. She tightly grasped the blanket, her face still trembling with fear.

How could she have forgotten that in addition to the top-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill, there was also a Oceanic Shark Pearl from the city lord of Tianshu City at the Treasure Battle Tournament?

The Oceanic Shark Pearl played a crucial role in the plot of Tianshu City. If Liang Jingxuan were to seize it, it could lead to undesirable consequences.

A hint of determination flickered in Lin Qianshuang’s eyes. It seemed that she needed to accelerate her training in the Floating Sword Technique. She resolved to seize the opportunity of her visit to Yixiang Tower to meet with Du Shuang and inquire about the whereabouts of the Oceanic Shark Pearl.

With this plan in mind, she reached out to retrieve the Marrow Cleansing Pill from the jade slip using her magic qi. However, her elbow accidentally brushed against the note on the coreow.

When she went to sleep, her coreow was embroidered with hibiscus flowers, how did it turn into white peonies? And she remembered only taking half the quilt, so why is her entire body covered?

Lin Qianshuang pondered for a moment. When she fell asleep, she was in Bai Wan’s Yanbo Hall. Now she has returned to the Tianyi Hall, and it is obvious that Bai Wan entrusted someone to send her back.

The two of them are now in opposition to each other in the eyes of outsiders, and it is inappropriate for her to stay overnight in Bai Wan’s bedchamber like this.

Lin Qianshuang sat cross-legged on the bed, swallowing the Marrow Cleansing Pill and carefully reading the note beside her coreow. A contemplative expression crossed her face.

She had seen similar scenes in palace dramas, but experiencing them firsthand was an entirely different matter.

Recalling Ruan Qianmei’s brazen conduct before her and the unknown fate of her three senior brothers’ corpses, a sense of satisfaction coursed through Lin Qianshuang.

It wasn’t that she was narrow-minded or vindictive, but such an insolent maiden would be doomed in even the most basic courtly intrigue, let alone against a seasoned actress like Bai Wan, who was determined to outshine her. With her inferior skills, Ruan Qianmei’s demise was inevitable.

Within her dantian, an exceptionally potent aura emanating from the Marrow Cleansing Pill surged towards her meridian channels.

Lin Qianshuang felt the acupuncture points throughout her body gradually unseal, while intense agony permeated her skin, flesh, and even her soul.

A chilling qi pierced her spinal cord and spread to her neck, causing the delicate vertebrae to disintegrate instantly before being forcefully reconstituted by the demonic energy surging from her dantian.

Two breaths of energy entwined around each of her bones, realigning them and shattering her veins inch by inch.

Lin Qianshuang vomited a large amount of blood and clung desperately to the bedrail in agony. If it weren’t for Phoenix Yang Blood healing her internal organs in time, she would probably have exploded and died long ago.

She regretted that she had only read modern romance in the beginning and hadn’t delved much into cultivation literature. This Marrow Cleansing Pill sounded amazing, but it seemed it also had requirements for level and so on.

Thinking back carefully, Xiao Lanle’s cultivation level when she received the Marrow Cleansing Pill was halfway to the Golden Core’s Nascent Heart Stage, and yet she herself had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

With such a low cultivation level, had she been too aggressive in using the core, causing it to have the opposite effect?

Lin Qianshuang regretted it deeply, but now she could only sit down and regulate her breath, forcefully turning her magic energy away to protect her heart and brain, barely hanging onto her own life.

She could not care about any cultivation or promotion now; living was the most important thing. She had to get through this marrow cleansing process completely.

As the demonic energy gradually dissipated, Lin Qianshuang regained her senses and transformed into her beast form.

Gritting her teeth, she immediately retreated into meditation, separating her consciousness from her body. She feared that if she continued to endure this pain, she would lose her mind.

“Clang…”

A silver light, emanating from the sound of a qin, suddenly spread out from the forbidden Refining Valley of the Jiuchong Demon Palace.

In a daze, Lin Qianshuang felt as if someone was approaching her with an umbrella. She lifted her head to look at the person’s face, but her vision was blurry.

The moment the umbrella covered her, a silver light bathed her entire body, erasing all pain. Instead, she felt a sense of relief and ease, as if all her fatigue had been swept away.

Subsequently, a copious aura gradually restored her meridians and bone marrow to their original positions. The demonic energy in her dantian coalesced anew, and her cultivation surged three levels, reaching the Condensation Realm.

Lin Qianshuang instinctively reached for the magic seal on her forehead. As her fingers brushed against it, the seal gradually dissolved into her skin. She activated her demonic energy once more, and its circulation was noticeably smoother than before.

From whence did that silver light originate, and why had it intervened to save her?

Lin Qianshuang had serendipitously received aid from an unknown benefactor, a fact that left her somewhat disquieted.

However, she had no time to dwell on such matters at present.

With a deep exhalation, she resumed her unfettered cultivation of demonic qi.

Now was the perfect moment to cultivate the next two levels of the Floating Sword Technique.

She closed her eyes and immersed herself in meditation, meticulously executing each move according to the sword technique’s instructions.

Meanwhile, in the forbidden depths of the Jiuchong Demon Palace, within the secluded caverns of Refining Valley, the seven-stringed qin encased in ice pulsated with bursts of silver light. Its body quivered as if struggling to break free from its icy shackles. After its futile attempts, the melody from the qin gradually subsided, and the glow of its body waned, returning it to the stillness of an inanimate object.