Tossed by Wind and Rain

She seemed to have truly wronged Junior Sister Xiao, but she genuinely had no memory of it, and the system had crashed, leaving the original circumstances unrecoverable.

“…” Lin Qianshuang watched silently as Mu Weiyin glared at her, her face flushed with anger. She felt wronged but could find no words to defend herself.

Mu Weiyin snorted coldly, clasping Lin Qianshuang’s fingers and bending them inward with force, her grip tightening as if to crush the bones. “I ordered you to protect her, yet you did this?”

“I had no knowledge of this. Please forgive me, City Lord.”

Lin Qianshuang felt her finger bones crackle, the pain searing through her like fire. Ten fingers connected to the heart—agony made her forehead glisten with sweat, but she dared not summon her demonic qi to withdraw her hand, fearing it would reignite Mu Weiyin’s disdain.

Her meek compliance softened the City Lord’s wrath just a fraction.

“When Lanle left, she asked me for a copy of the Dual Cultivation mental technique, claiming she wanted to study it further. As City Lord, I didn’t wish her harmed, so I only gave her methods to gather and nurture energy. Now I realize—she might have sought this technique for you.”

“Jieyu, Lanle’s attentions toward you are too… excessive. You must distance yourself from her and sever this connection. If you defy me again, this City Lord will kill you. Remember this well.

“Will you choose to be the Tower Lord, or remain a mere Cauldron for others to exploit? You’re no fool—your decision should be clear.”

Mu Weiyin leaned half-asleep against Lin Qianshuang’s shoulder, her lashes like raven wings shadowing half-closed eyes that glinted with latent menace. The body she inhabited—Xiao Lanle’s—still trembled with residual weakness from her injuries.

Lin Qianshuang shifted Mu to a more comfortable position on her shoulder, her tone respectful. “I understand. I’ll stay far from Xiao Lanle and ensure she ceases her feelings for me. Human cultivators and demon cultivators are as oil and water—there can be no future between us.”

The Gem’s surging spiritual energy swirled around them, filtered through the Dual Cultivation mental technique, before merging into their dantians.

“As long as you understand.”

Mu Weiyin felt Xiao Lanle’s body had regained most of its strength. Facing Lin Qianshuang, their palms touched to channel the technique, energy flowing between them.

She studied the flushed, breathless woman before her. Lin Qianshuang’s face—pure yet striking—held a delicate radiance, her autumn-water eyes glinting with unexpected allure. The tear mole beneath her left eye added a touch of coy charm.

Mu Weiyin’s gaze lingered on Lin’s unassuming, almost innocent features. She’d seen countless peerless beauties, but none like this: not conventionally stunning, yet endlessly captivating. Each glance unveiled new depths of grace.

A flicker of curiosity stirred within her, as though discovering a rare treasure. Her tone softened imperceptibly.

Having diagnosed Lin’s weakened pulse, Mu Weiyin warned, “Your body is drained from her energy-sucking technique. If the practitioner isn’t satisfied, the ritual won’t cease until you’re utterly exhausted. This injury demands rest. Consider it a lesson—if you insist on becoming her Cauldron, first fortify your magic core. A vessel must be prepared to endure.”

No wonder when she rose that day, her demonic energy had dried up, leaving her strengthless. Her head throbbed, her vision swam black—she’d been drained by energy-sucking.

She’d wondered why Junior Sister Xiao seemed so refreshed, showing no signs of exhaustion.

Why, after all, it seems I’m the one who’s suffered.

Lin Qianshuang heard Mu Weiyin mention the Cauldron again and quickly donned an eager expression. “City Lord, don’t toy with me. Your subordinate only wishes to serve you loyally.”

Mu Weiyin stretched her waist within Xiao Lanle’s body and stood, the dual cultivation method now complete. One hand rested behind her; the other held the Penglai Immortal Sect’s most precious treasure, the Glazed Temple Gem. After studying it, she transformed the artifact into a hairpin and inserted it into Xiao Lanle’s bun, brushing her hair as she murmured, “What I truly sought was this ancestral heirloom. Yet since it belongs to you, rest assured—the Penglai Sect will eventually fall to me. Consider this, Lanle, a betrothal gift.”

Lin Qianshuang watched as Mu Weiyin absently twirled her hair while muttering to herself, her mind inexplicably drifting to a horror film—sending a shiver down her spine. Mu Weiyin’s gaze settled on her, and noticing Lin’s fearful expression, she assumed it stemmed from worry that the black water in the pill furnace might overflow. With a few steps forward, Mu reached out and gripped the collar of Lin’s robes.

“…” Lin Qianshuang was yanked upward by the collar, her throat nearly choked as Mu Weiyin dragged her skyward. What is this lord thinking? she thought. She could ascend alone with ease, yet Mu insisted on pulling her along.

The vengeful spirits trapped within the Nine Cauldrons had already fled their prison, their wails and howls echoing over the Penglai Immortal Sect’s peaks, audible even from the earth below.

After emerging from the pill furnace, Lin Qianshuang and Mu Weiyin—now inhabiting Xiao Lanle’s body—found Liang Jingxuan surrounded by disciples and hauled toward the water prison. He clutched the impossibly heavy Purple Heavenly Sword at his waist, six cultivation nails piercing his shoulder blades. His brows knotted in fury as he glared at Penglai’s leader, Xiao Shen, and Xiao Lanle. When his gaze flickered past Xiao Lanle to Lin Qianshuang, it wavered briefly before retreating, a flicker of desolation in its wake.

Lin Qianshuang watched the scene with a calm expression. The plot remained faithful to the original: Liang Jingxuan had used the Star-Plucking Sword to open the forbidden land’s gate, claimed the horned dragon as his mount, and obtained the Superior Purple Lightning Fire. However, he had destroyed the array eyes set by the previous sect leader within the forbidden land, releasing the demons and monsters imprisoned in the Nine Cauldrons. As punishment, he was now being hauled to the water prison by the sect’s orders.

The only changes were to the earlier scene where he and Xiao Lanle had tearfully parted ways and exchanged vows—now altered to Liang Jingxuan nursing a grudge against Xiao Lanle, with Lin Qianshuang inserted as his White Moonlight, leaving the male lead disoriented. The rest of the narrative stayed the same.

This sequence set the stage for Liang Jingxuan’s eventual murder of Xiao Shen, the Penglai Immortal Sect leader, and his ascension to the sect’s leadership. It also marked the turning point for his cultivation power to skyrocket.

She had gone to such lengths to seize the Star-Plucking Sword and thwart Liang Jingxuan’s fortune, yet still failed.

Xiao Shen, standing with his hands behind his back, glanced at Lin Qianshuang and Xiao Lanle. Noticing their close proximity, his gaze swept over her several times, dark and foreboding.

Lin Qianshuang locked eyes with Xiao Shen, her gaze flickering with comprehension. In the original text, Xiao Lanle’s heart demon had remained dormant due to her connection with Liang Jingxuan—a mystery that had long puzzled her. The first-person perspective of Liang Jingxuan was too limited, and while the system offered third-person viewpoints, they mostly centered on minor characters orbiting the male lead, failing to explain the anomaly. Yet Mu Weiyin’s words now clarified it all.

Xiao Lanle’s heart demon stemmed from the Glazed Temple Gem’s malevolent aura and her own inner corruption. To extract the Gem, she and her beloved had to perform the rite of union. As recounted in the original novel, during their lantern-viewing in Tianshu City, Xiao Lanle and Liang Jingxuan had already been deeply in love. That night, they consummated their bond, severing the Gem from her body and freeing her from its influence.

Xiao Shen, the Penglai Immortal Sect leader, coveted the Glazed Temple Gem. Knowing it resided within his own daughter, he had used her as a living vessel to purify the sacred artifact. Liang Jingxuan, who had cherished Xiao Lanle most during his time in the sect, saw the injustice done to the woman he loved. This likely fueled his eventual betrayal and murder of the sect leader.

Lin Qianshuang weighed these revelations, then addressed Mu Weiyin, still possessing Xiao Lanle’s form: “City Lord, I seek clarification. Xiao Shen implanted the Glazed Temple Gem within Junior Sister Xiao. Did she know of this?”

“She did not. Nor was she meant to.”

Mu Weiyin addressed Lin Qianshuang: “Jieyu, Lanle and the Glazed Temple Gem have been separated. Now, using the zither melody I taught you, you can once more delve into the depths of her resolved heart demon and witness the truth. Then, you will understand why this City Lord commanded you to slay Xiao Shen.”

“Your subordinate comprehends.”

Lin Qianshuang replied with solemnity, though her thoughts drifted indifferently: Even if she refrained, Liang Jingxuan would kill the sect leader upon his return after being expelled from the Penglai Immortal Sect—no need for her to fret. Her true concern lay elsewhere: Xiao Lanle now stood on Liang Jingxuan’s hate list, and she feared his vengeance might extend to her when he returned.

The Penglai Immortal Sect’s protective array shattered, unleashing the Nine Cauldrons’ century-old trapped specters and ferocious demons. That night, the ancient bell atop the Immortal Mountain tolled with weighty clarity, its urgent peals echoing through the valley. Villages at the mountain’s base were slaughtered mercilessly. By the time sect disciples arrived, the fields lay strewn with corpses, not a soul surviving.

Lin Qianshuang bore the unconscious Xiao Lanle on her back, gliding above the blood-drenched village. Below, grotesque piles of severed limbs and collapsed homes sprawled in horror. She had no wish to witness this carnage, yet curiosity drove her: Where had the long-imprisoned demons and monsters fled?

The fierce ghosts wailed and were swallowed by unknown monsters, their bodies dissolving into nourishment. The demons devoured the weak during their exile, some swelling into grotesque, obsidian masses before vanishing beyond the horizon.

This direction… leads straight to the Wuji Buddhist Sect.

Within its Beast-Subduing Tower lie the ancient beasts. They aim to shatter the tower and unleash those primordial specters.

Lin Qianshuang’s gaze sharpened. As her master had explained, the Beast-Subduing Tower was still under construction. Once Tianshu City completed it, the Beast-Subduing Formation would bind the Five Cultivation Sects into an unbreakable barrier against evil. These beasts would never permit its rise—and Tianshu City would face ruin when they came for it.

Liang Jingxuan was no longer the man he once was. His cultivation had plummeted to mere Golden Core, and he’d disgraced himself before his peers. The Beiling Liang family severed ties the moment they learned of his forbidden trespass. The three aristocratic clans who once allied with him fell silent after his marriage to Xiao Lanle dissolved. The bond he’d shared with the Demon Realm’s Holy Maiden now existed only in memory, and the Shark Pearl that once belonged to him now glinted in her possession. Tianshu City Lord Mu Weiyin had claimed Xiao Lanle as her Taoist companion, leaving Liang Jingxuan without a single ally behind him.

Lin Qianshuang shielded Xiao Lanle on her back with one hand, her gaze fixed on the girl’s sleeping visage, a faint trace of worry clouding her eyes.

The calamity about to engulf the mortal realm—unleashed by Liang Jingxuan—had been his burden to resolve. Now, its outcome hung in the balance, uncertain as ever.