The Sect Leader's Seat (8)

Lin Qianshuang patted her water-stained skirt and wiped her face. She knew Xiao Lanle had turned a blind eye to her to avoid suspicion, but her mood still soured—especially after the Tianshu City Lord treated her like a human-shaped drink and took a few free sips.

She eyed Xu Zheng critically. He’d rushed over with such clear intent, most likely sent by the city lord to monitor her. Probably worried her health would falter before she had to journey to the Demon Realm.

Ignoring him, Lin Qianshuang sat cross-legged as if nothing were amiss, popping a few magic cores into her mouth. “A mosquito bit me,” she said casually. “Left me peckish. I’ll need a meal before I regain my strength. Wait outside while I change.”

Xu Zheng snapped his fan shut. “The Demon Realm’s gates open in a tea’s time. Don’t linger.”

As Lin Qianshuang slowly chewed the magic cores to aid digestion, the array at the lake’s center suddenly flared with pale blue spiritual light. A star-patterned formation emerged from the mist, trailing two lines of golden characters that swirled through the air like calligraphy penned by the wind.

The ancient hexagrams slithered together in jagged, serpent-like strokes—but she couldn’t decipher a single word.

Lin Qianshuang guessed this must be a divination left by Mu Weiyin, but she’d left in such a hurry she hadn’t had time to study the omens.

As the second-generation master of Tianshu City, Mu Weiyin was also the first person in a century blessed with the “Heavenly Eye”—the ability to perceive the rules of fate and destiny woven into the heavens.

Whatever hexagrams she’d left behind were bound to hide profound secrets.

Grabbing a random spiritual stone, Lin Qianshuang decided to trace the symbols. She sensed crucial information tucked within them—something she could later quiz her dormant system about.

After etching the designs, she stored the stone in her jade talisman. The gilded script glowed faintly, casting shadowy runes that seemed almost alive. Once their full message pulsed into existence, the characters shattered into sparkling spiritual particles, drifting across Jinshui Lake like fallen starlight.

Lin Qianshuang breathed a relieved sigh, grateful she’d copied the text. These ephemeral glyphs, appearing and vanishing like plot devices from a novel, definitely harbored some earth-shattering secret.

In the Tianshu Palace, the silhouettes of the maids flitted across the painted screens. Their embroidered shoes hurried back and forth over the floor as they carried tray after tray of clothing and accessories into the main hall, carefully navigating around the intricately designed gardens to reach the inner chambers.

Xiao Lanle seized the moment while Mu Weiyin changed outfits, dodging the guards’ patrols. She swept past the layered cloud-adorned eaves, her steps swift as she arrived at the palace’s inner courtyard.

Within the Tianshu complex, classified intelligence coursed through the celestial star instrument surrounded by azure dragon sculptures, glowing like a river of stars. Among the radiance, the hexagrams Mu had deciphered shimmered across the rare ice-blue glass flooring.

Xiao Lanle pulled out a silk pouch and imprinted the data into it. Following the smooth glass tiles, she scanned each golden hexagram beneath her feet.

The plain white sole of her shoe brushed the final line of the script, releasing two interlaced butterflies trailing faint gold sparks. Their wings bore the markings of a rare mandarin duck sign hexagram—a Lovers’ Omen¹.

Mu’s latest divination seemed freshly revealed, unrecorded in the celestial archives.

The luminous hexagram inscriptions bore two names, instantly twisting Xiao Lanle’s expression as she recognised them. Spotting three familiar characters, she nearly went frantic, seizing the Plain Inquiry Sword—abandoning her usual poised grace. Her clumsy technique relied purely on brute force as she slashed at the stone glyphs with wild sword energy, tearing the hexagrams apart until the colorful butterflies faded and the prophecies vanished entirely.

When the chaos ended, the sword slipped from her grasp.

Xiao Lanle’s frenzy melted into cold composure. A faint smile flickered across her face as she regained her dignity, tucking the silk pouch back into her waist with proper decorum. Lightly touching the ground, she blurred into a streak of white light, soaring over the rooftops to return unseen.

The grand inner chamber doors swung open. Mu Weiyin emerged crowned with a purple jade dragon diadem, her Tianshu City Lord’s robes cascading in dark violet hues. Pearls glinted along the train’s length as she stepped forward, meeting Xiao Lanle’s anxious gaze.

“Lanle, you look troubled—have you run into something difficult?” Mu Weiyin asked, concern etched into her voice.

Xiao Lanle replied with a pang of guilt. “I’ve been worrying about Senior Sister Lin… Leaving her alone like that. She still looks so frail. Do you think she’ll be alright?”

Mu Weiyin smiled and said, “Her? No need to worry. Have you heard of Yixiang Tower—the most renowned human trafficking hub in the cultivation realm? Your senior sister is their top-ranked assassin, the famed ‘Jieyu Gongzi’ of Tianshu City. When you arrived here and I stabilized the Glazed Temple Gem within your body, it was under her alias ‘Yiqin Jieyu.’”

Senior Sister Lin… she’s actually a demon cultivator? That… Jieyu Gongzi.

Xiao Lanle’s eyes widened in shock. But upon reflection, the small jade pendant around Senior Sister’s neck had never been removed—not even in sleep. Perhaps it concealed her demonic energy.

“Sister! Sister! How did you grow so much… though you’re even more beautiful now, hehehe!”

A simple-minded woman rushed toward Mu Weiyin, flinging herself into her arms. She cradled Mu’s mature face in her hands, grinning vacantly for a long moment.

As she passed Xiao Lanle, the woman bumped into her waist accidentally. The scroll in her hand slipped free, fluttering open and settling at Xiao Lanle’s feet.

A valuable and exquisite scroll depicted a woman seated on the ground playing the zither, its beauty leaving Xiao Lanle momentarily stunned. Though the figure’s face was blurred, the subtle quirks of her posture and the graceful bearing visible from afar left no doubt—the painting portrayed none other than Senior Sister Lin.

Xiao Lanle picked up the scroll and walked to Mu Weiyin’s side, feigning innocence as she asked, “Who is this person in the painting? Did you paint it yourself?”

Mu Weiyin cast a glance at the scroll in Xiao Lanle’s hands before taking it silently. She teased Mu Xiaochi with the rolled-up painting, then placed it in the girl’s arms. Straightening, she replied, “The Demon Emperor commissioned this Lord of Tianshu City to search for this person, but the figure in the painting is no different from any mortal maiden. Likely, she’s just trying to provoke us. Ignore it.”

Xiao Lanle’s lips twitched upward faintly, a flicker of scorn darting across her eyes. Even if every woman in this world looked alike, a lover’s face would pierce through any crowd.

She gently touched the Chinese knot dangling at her waist, her heart clouded with quiet apprehension for Lin Qianshuang’s fate. While her senior sister ventured into the Demon Realm, it wasn’t the journey itself that troubled her—it was the lingering fear that the Demon Lord might scheme against her sister.

Xiao Lanle stumbled upon a portrait of the Demon Realm’s Lord in the Tianshu Pavilion. The woman depicted had jet-black hair, violet eyes, and fiery crimson robes, her beauty unmatched. Legend held her as the Demon Realm’s first-ever beauty.

Though the Tianshu City Lord praised her striking features, Xiao Lanle found her visage grating the moment their eyes met. This was the very woman who, during her first visit to the Demon Realm, had pressed her senior sister beneath a tree and defiled her.

That shamefully explicit scene etched itself into her memory—and now, having fallen in love with the woman in question, it felt even more like swallowing a thorn.

The woman possessed everything Xiao Lanle envied: absolute authority and supreme standing. And she’d molested her senior sister, likely more than once.

Xiao Lanle’s physical form recoiled at filth, yet her inner demon thrived on morbid obsession—whether in love, ambition, or pursuit.

Even after merging with that darkness, her paralyzing fixation hadn’t faded. She realized now: she hadn’t vanquished the inner demon haunting her soul… she had become it.

Xiao Lanle’s hand clenched beneath her sleeve. Beyond seeking vengeance against her father’s accused Chen family—those who’d slaughtered the village that sheltered her and her mother—the Tianshu City Lord and Demon Realm Lord were also marked for eradication on her list.

The City Lord had murdered over thirty of her Xiao clan kin and implanted a Glazed Temple Gem within her body, subjecting her to ceaseless torment. Now she dared to try controlling her, forcing her into the degrading role of a mocked companion. Such bloodshed and humiliation would be repaid in full, one day.

Her worry for Lin Qianshuang drove her to decide to follow the carriage discreetly, armed with a Shark Pearl. Feigning receipt of a message, she turned to Mu Weiyin with feigned urgency: “I must return to Penglai Immortal Sect—the Patriarch seems to need me.”

Noticing her strained expression—and knowing her recently restored form required rest—Mu Weiyin replied, “If anything arises, summon me with the pearl. I’ll be in seclusion for days.”

Xiao Lanle nodded, then soared skyward on her sword. Once out of sight, she veered sharply toward the Demon Realm’s entrance.

Since Liang Jingxuan shattered the barrier between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm with his sword technique, alerting the Demon Emperor, the seals the Demon Realm placed on the Human Cultivation Realm were reinforced multiple times, now heavily guarded. Tianshu City Lord Mu Weiyin had specially arranged one of their signature Qinglong-patterned carriages to shield them from demon cultivators along the journey—and to prevent unknowing ones from harvesting their life essence as “fertilizer.”

Lin Qianshuang brooded inside the carriage. The Beast-Subduing Tower was still unstable since its creation. Demons from Wuji Buddhist Sect’s Beast-Sealing Tower and Penglai Immortal Sect’s underground vault had been unleashed to plague the mortal world. Most demon cultivators were former human practitioners who’d fallen to darkness, despised by orthodox cultivators. Tensions between the two factions were at an all-time high. Yet now, Mu Weiyin dared invite the Demon Emperor herself to inspect the Tower’s construction? Some underhanded scheme was clearly afoot.

As she peered through the curtain, lost in thought, a grape suddenly stuffed into her mouth. She bit down accidentally—the sour, unripe fruit made her tongue tingle.

She dropped the curtain, catching Xu Zheng smirking beside her. Faster than he reacted, she seized another green orb, split it open, and jammed it into his teeth.

“Oof!” Xu Zheng winced as his jaw popped out of place, then popped it back with a grimace. Unfazed, he grinned at her. “Xiao Liu, lighten up—it was just a joke. No need to bite off my head!”

Lin Qianshuang rolled her eyes, plucking another grape. “What’s good for the goose,” she said, popping the fruit into her mouth. “Don’t foist what you can’t stomach onto others. Basic etiquette, really.”

Xu Zheng twirled his folding fan and smirked, pointing first at Lin Qianshuang then at himself. “You—a demon cultivator born from a spiritual beast—dare to lecture me, an upright human cultivator, about human etiquette? Ask yourself: Are you even human? You’re a demon demanding such high standards of yourself. Tired of keeping up the charade yet? I’m already exhausted just watching you.”