Did I force a kiss on her?

Chen Shangqing quickly grabbed the quilt and covered Huaixiang’s bloody body. He turned to Lin Qianshuang and said, “Take Junior Sister Xiao out of the house first. I’ll clean up this mess, and then you can come back in.”

Lin Qianshuang helped Xiao Lanle, who was still in shock, out of the room. The horrifying sight of Huaixiang’s body lingered in her mind. The blood on her body hadn’t even dried yet, as if she’d been dismembered just moments ago. The strangulation mark on her neck was deep and purple, indicating she’d been strangled suddenly.

Huaixiang’s activities in Penglai Immortal Sect were limited, and she didn’t know many people. It was very likely Liang Jingxuan had done this.

But why would Liang Jingxuan put the body in Xiao Lanle’s room?

The death of a servant was insignificant in Penglai Immortal Sect, especially for someone like Liang Jingxuan. Didn’t he want to become the leader of Penglai Immortal Sect? The most important thing was to please Xiao Lanle and find a way to get her. Why would he do something to ruin his good impression in front of her?

Lin Qianshuang remembered the flirtatious words Huaixiang had said when she saw them together behind the rockery. Huaixiang had mentioned the two female disciples from noble families that Liang Jingxuan was still trying to woo. Could they be responsible?

Xiao Lanle gazed at the swing in front of the waterfall, listening to the sound of the water. Her emotions gradually calmed down, and her eyes tilted slightly towards Lin Qianshuang. “Huaixiang’s death was justified. She betrayed the Xiao family. But… she and I have known each other since we were children. If I’m acting inappropriately, I hope you’ll forgive me, Senior Sister.”

“Junior Sister Xiao, there are so many women vying for Senior Brother Liang’s attention. It’s hard to say if some of them won’t be jealous of you. You should be careful.”

Lin Qianshuang spoke, her gaze fixed on the plum trees shedding their blossoms on the cliff. If the person had just died, she could use her magic cultivation to gather their soul and ask Huai Xiang’s ghost to reveal the cause of her death. But she searched with demonic energy for a long time and couldn’t find a trace of her soul. It must have already dispersed and returned to the cycle of reincarnation.

It wasn’t Liang Jingxuan who dismembered her body, so I wonder which one of his admirers decided to cause trouble.

Xiao Lanle watched Lin Qianshuang’s clear, cold profile, listening to her words of caution. She felt a little amused. If Senior Brother Liang was truly surrounded by admirers, the most radiant one was undoubtedly Senior Sister Lin.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be constantly bothered by Senior Sister Lin’s presence in Senior Brother Liang’s heart.

Thinking of Liang Jingxuan’s admirers, Xiao Lanle’s elegant, charming face turned cold. She was aware of the rumors surrounding Liang Jingxuan and those other female disciples, but she had always firmly believed in her heart that Senior Brother Liang treated her differently. She had ignored those rumors.

Now, she no longer felt that kind of affection for Senior Brother Liang. Naturally, she no longer cared about his other admirers or had any desire to control them.

But if she discovered they dared to harm her or the person beside her, the corners of Xiao Lanle’s lips curled up in a cold smile, the cruelty and coldness in her expression seeming to merge with the inner demons within her for a moment. The hand beneath her sleeve unconsciously squeezed Lin Qianshuang’s hand. Then, don’t blame her for being ruthless when the time comes.

Lin Qianshuang’s hand was held, and she looked at Xiao Lanle in a daze, as if countless little people were cheering and jumping in her heart.

Junior Sister Xiao grabbed her hand, oh yeah!

With such friendly hand-holding, their relationship seems to be getting closer.

Lin Qianshuang clasped Xiao Lanle’s hand back, her eyes crinkling in a smile. She was so happy. It was the best thing for Xiao Lanle to trust her.

She knew that as long as she befriended Xiao Lanle sincerely, she would inevitably change her opinion of her step by step.

Even though, she always felt that Xiao Lanle’s communication and thinking were never on the same wavelength as hers.

The incense burner in the room was lit with a light, elegant incense, and the bed was replaced with a new one.

Chen Shangqing placed Huaxiang’s body, along with the bed, into his storage space, intending to find a place to bury her. Lin Qianshuang followed to help.

Lin Qianshuang listened to Chen Shangqing’s account of how he threw the rutting Liang Jingxuan into a pigsty, after specially calling a group of Penglai Immortal Sect disciples to watch. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud and said, “Junior Brother Chen, you’re being too reckless! Junior Brother Liang is the prized son of the Liang family in the Beiling Realm, a treasure they worship. If you offend Senior Brother Liang, you’re not afraid of offending the head of the Liang family?”

Chen Shangqing’s dark eyes looked at Lin Qianshuang with a hint of deeper meaning. He inserted a horizontal log on the grave and said, “Senior Sister Lin, in the past, the one you protected the most was that Junior Brother Liang you mocked.”

Lin Qianshuang clicked her tongue, covered the last bit of soil on the small grave, and said, “People always change. Besides, there’s no shortage of grass in the world. There are so many men in this world, why hang on to a tree?”

Chen Shangqing chuckled and said, “Senior Sister Lin, you’ve really changed. You’re very different from before. If I didn’t know you’d passed through the body examination door, I’d really suspect you’d been taken over.”

Lin Qianshuang’s body stiffened for a moment. She suddenly felt that Chen Shangqing’s gaze made her very uncomfortable, as if she had been seen through.

He wouldn’t… be able to tell that she was a demon cultivator.

She touched her chest, where the Spirit Conversion Stone still hung, effectively masking her demonic energy. There were only two ways someone could see through her disguise: if the stone was broken or lost, or if their cultivation level far surpassed hers.

Lin Qianshuang eyed Chen Shangqing with suspicion. He was merely a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, only slightly stronger than Xiao Lanle with her blood enhancement. How could he possibly hope to detect her Demon Infant strength? Was he simply incredibly perceptive, or was she missing something?

“Senior Sister Lin, please don’t take my words too seriously,” Chen Shangqing said, sensing her unease. He then changed the subject, saying, “Tomorrow, the Lingxiao Sword Sect will meet with our sect for a competition at the Jinshui Lake in Nanling Luochuan. The head of the Chen family will be there as well. You may not know this, Senior Sister Lin, but my younger brother, Shangying, was actually betrothed to you. However, Junior Brother Liang had already given the betrothal gift, so Shangying gave up the idea. Now that your engagement with Senior Brother Liang is broken, Shangying has been asking about you constantly. He will be representing the Lingxiao Sword Sect in the duel tomorrow. If you’re interested, you could meet with him and see what he’s like.”

Lin Qianshuang’s lips twitched, and her tense nerves relaxed. She’d thought Chen Shangqing was going to continue his line of questioning, but instead, he was acting as a matchmaker for his brother.

Back in the room, the night was already deep.

Xiao Lanle, sleeping on the single bed to the left, lay on her side, seemingly asleep.

Lin Qianshuang tiptoed to her own bed on the right, removed her clothes, and slipped under the covers. Her skin touched the cool quilt, sending a shiver through her. She curled up, her mind replaying Chen Shangqing’s words.

Senior Sister Bai Yueguang and Chen Shangqing’s younger brother had been betrothed. Chen Shangqing had mentioned that the man, Chen Shangying, seemed to admire her.

The head of the Chen family was on the assassination list of Mu Weiyin, the Tianshu City Lord.

The assassination intelligence stated that Chen Xi, the head of the Chen family, was weak, only reaching the Golden Core stage. The only difficulty in assassinating him was that he rarely left the mansion, and the Chen family mansion was heavily guarded, allowing only family members entry.

A plan formed in Lin Qianshuang’s mind. Tomorrow, it would be rare for the head of the Chen family to be out, and the disciples of the two sects would meet for a competition. During this time, she could find Chen Xi’s location and take the opportunity to kill him.

If this assassination attempt failed, she would have to take the worst possible route. She would become part of the Chen family, using a betrothal as an excuse to marry Chen Shangying, a man who had never even been mentioned in the story, and use that to get close to Chen Xi and assassinate him.

However, before that, she needed to find a way to make Liang Jingxuan break off his engagement with Xiao Lanle, to avoid any unforeseen complications while she was away.

Lin Qianshuang pulled the covers tighter as she thought, her lips accidentally scraping against the rough fabric. The pain was sharp and stinging, as if she had broken the skin.

Could she really have been bitten by an insect, as Senior Brother Chen said?

But why would the insect be so picky? There wasn’t a single mark on her face, just multiple bites on her lips.

She felt confused, remembering the osmanthus wine she drank in front of the tombstone. It made her whole body feel hot, and then her mind went blank.

Lin Qianshuang nervously touched her lips, thinking that only Xiao Lanle was present when she blacked out. Could it be that she had acted foolishly in front of Xiao Lanle while she was disoriented, rubbing her lips against the tombstone and causing these cuts?

[Host, why don’t you consider the possibility that you, while drunk, forcibly kissed Xiao Lanle? Your lips are swollen, not bleeding from friction.]

The system, unable to contain itself any longer, spoke up, breaking the silence.

“I… I forcibly kissed Junior Sister Xiao?! System, don’t lie to me! This… this… this is going to cost lives!”

Lin Qianshuang was so terrified by the system’s words that she almost leaped out of bed, flinging the covers to the floor.

[Host, this system witnessed you, not only undressed, but also pressing someone against the tombstone, touching and kissing them. For the sake of your privacy, the system chose to block the view of the beautiful scene. When you kissed, the system automatically turned off the visual screen to prevent censorship from the operations far away in another parallel world. Please understand that this system was unable to capture relevant video clips.]

The system’s words fell with a clattering sound, and soon quietly disappeared into the air.

Lin Qianshuang felt as if she had been struck by lightning, her mind filled with thoughts.

“Holy crap! I forced a kiss on Junior Sister Xiao, who’s hopelessly in love with a scumbag, is stubbornly straight, constantly spouting about morals and integrity, hates anything remotely feminine, and spends all her time daydreaming. A girl like that, and I kissed her… so forcefully!”

And at her mother’s grave even!

Lin Qianshuang’s whole body slumped, and her heart began to tremble.

She wondered why Junior Sister Xiao was so friendly today, especially since their relationship had only recently begun to ease. They were still holding hands, which seemed like the prelude to a storm.

Recalling Xiao Lanle’s bitter mention of Huaixiang, she noticed a sneer in her expression that she had never seen before.

Now, she couldn’t help but feel terrified. Was Junior Sister Xiao indirectly warning her with those words?

Lost in dark thoughts, Lin Qianshuang was suddenly startled by the rustling of the quilt. A hand lifted the covers, and a soft body slipped into the bed, lying beside her.

“J-, Ju-Junior Sister Xiao.”

As she gazed at the beautiful face of the fairy-like Junior Sister Xiao sleeping next to her, Lin Qianshuang felt her tongue falter, unable to speak from nervousness.