The Villain Fox's Sickly Beauty Master - Chapter 25.1

Chapter 25.1: You are the Heartthrob of the Immortal Sect.

Fu Yi never expected such an answer. She followed the direction of Jiang Jinheng’s fingertip and indeed saw a deep pit containing a severed arm, lifeless and even somewhat decomposed, covered by wind and sand.

She had noticed this large pit earlier when fetching water by the lake but hadn’t realized such a thing was inside.

What intrigued her more was Jiang Jinheng’s attitude.

She had heard people mention Jiang Jinheng’s friendship with the previous Mo Clan Patriarch more than once in her previous life, which was why she was so kind to the Mo Clan orphan. But now, she had severed his arm.

A look of confusion hung on Fu Yi’s face as she looked back at the still-smiling woman.

“W-Why?”

Jiang Jinheng was slightly dissatisfied with Fu Yi’s reaction. She had expected the young girl to be delighted by this news. After all, before she arrived, they had bullied her so badly. Seeing this now should have given her a sense of revenge.

However, Jiang Jinheng quickly figured it out. A young girl who had always stayed within the sect and had never witnessed bloodshed or killing might be frightened by such a gruesome sight.

Thinking this, she pulled Fu Yi back, her tone light: “If you don’t like it, don’t look. As for why…”

Suddenly, Jiang Jinheng’s voice took on a hint of arrogance: “Those two, old and young, bullied my disciple like that and even attempted a fatal blow in the Secret Realm. Cutting off only one of his arms is letting him off easy.”

“But I heard…” Fu Yi suddenly looked up, meeting the other woman’s eyes: “that you had a personal friendship with the Mo Clan’s previous Patriarch. Treating him this way…”

Before Fu Yi could finish, Jiang Jinheng interrupted her.

“You know Mo Tong?”

Hearing this, Fu Yi became instantly alert but still nodded, saying, “Not well.” Fortunately, Jiang Jinheng didn’t press the matter, only explaining to her.

“Just children’s gossip. I did have some fellow-disciple affection with Mo Wensheng, but our relationship is not as close as it is with your mother’s.”

“You know her?”

Fu Yi’s attention was immediately drawn by Jiang Jinheng’s words. She looked at the person with anticipation but was abruptly tapped on the forehead.

“Of course. If your mother hadn’t inexplicably run off, would an idle person like me bother to be this Peak Master?” Saying this, Jiang Jinheng’s eyes, looking at Fu Yi, suddenly sparkled: “You must cultivate diligently. This burden will fall to you someday.”

Fu Yi suddenly felt that she didn’t understand Jiang Jinheng at all. She blinked blankly at the person, then lowered her eyelids. When she looked up again, there was a trace of sincerity in her eyes.

“Can you tell me about her?”

Ever since she could remember, Fu Yi’s memories of her mother were limited to the few scattered descriptions from others. Even when she asked Xuan Mingzi, he often couldn’t say much.

Hearing her question, Jiang Jinheng looked momentarily stunned. She suddenly recalled her own childhood experiences, thought for a moment, then smiled, and held Fu Yi’s hand.

“First, let’s prepare to continue heading south. I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

As she spoke, Jiang Jinheng noticed the excessively large storage ring she had personally placed on Fu Yi’s thumb in her peripheral vision. She pulled her hand up again, looked at the item, and explained: “I also got this back from Cang Yu. He had many good things, but unfortunately, he only brought this much today. However, this ring is quite ugly. When we return to Water Cloud Peak, I’ll help you reforge it.”

Jiang Jinheng was also thinking about when she would find good materials to forge a spiritual sword for Fu Yi. With her aptitude, it would be a waste of her spiritual roots not to cultivate both swordplay and cultivation.

Fu Yi wasn’t sure what Jiang Jinheng was thinking. She only looked at the “quite ugly ring” mentioned in her words with a slight daze. She knew this item was probably obtained from Cang Yu, but hearing this person so casually distance herself from Mo Tong and lightly discuss the “trophy,” she felt a sense of unreality.

If not for the decades of torment that had left an indelible mark on her, Fu Yi would truly struggle to distinguish between reality and illusion.

…

Jiang Jinheng took her on her sword, naturally moving much faster than before. She calculated the time. The future Sword Head of the Thousand Blades Sword Sect, Li Jingzhu, had not yet obtained the ancient divine sword Dragon Roar. It was certainly beneficial to take Fu Yi to make an acquaintance.

Along the way, Jiang Jinheng genuinely recounted many stories about her mother. That person was three hundred years older than her and was also apprenticed under their Master, He Yun. If she were to appear before Fu Yi now, in terms of kinship, she was her mother, and in terms of sect seniority, Fu Yi would have to call her Martial Aunt.

However, Jiang Jinheng only mentioned this because she found it amusing. She also told Fu Yi many stories about Fu Yanqing’s travels in the mortal world. Jiang Jinheng told these stories to remind Fu Yi that her mother was not a cold-hearted person but one with a sense of chivalry, who respected her teacher and friends, and loved the world.

“Then why did she leave so decisively, making a promise but not fulfilling it?”

Fu Yi knew about the ten-year promise between Fu Yanqing and Xuan Mingzi. From her perspective, in both the previous life and this one, she was the one who had been abandoned.

Jiang Jinheng was initially unclear about the whole story, but after learning about Fu Yi’s background through 007, she gradually understood the situation.

Ten years ago, the Demon Race experienced turmoil. The Qingqiu Fox Clan underwent a massive reshuffle due to factors both within and outside the clan. The Nine-Tailed Fox lineage, which had been highly respected, vanished after the upheaval. The Fox Clan leadership was taken over by the Spiritual Fox lineage, and Fu Yi’s birth mother was Ji Xuejun, the former ruler of the Nine-Tailed Fox lineage.

Fu Yanqing’s departure ten years ago was likely to search for her wife, but with no news to this day, it was likely that something terrible had happened.

Jiang Jinheng did not share her speculation with Fu Yi. She just patted her head and said reassuringly, “Maybe she made your mother angry and hasn’t managed to coax her back yet.”

This was the first time Fu Yi heard someone mention her other mother. She was aware of her half-demon identity and naturally knew where this half of her demon bloodline came from.

The bloodline inheritance of the Demon Race was much stronger than that of humans. In the Bloodline Secret Realm in her previous life, Fu Yi had even seen that woman.

It was also because of her that Fu Yi slightly resolved the knot in her heart regarding Fu Yanqing and, more importantly, learned the cultivation secret technique of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan in the Bloodline Secret Realm.

Fu Yi estimated that Jiang Jinheng probably didn’t know as much as she did in this regard and didn’t want her to become aware of her heritage and invite disaster, so she stopped asking. Then, thinking of something else, she changed the subject.

“Master, why are you in the Secret Realm? I remember Senior Sister Xue Qin saying that you and her Master had important matters to attend to and couldn’t accompany me into the Secret Realm. And where is Senior Sister Xue Qin now?”

Fu Yi had known Jiang Jinheng’s identity for a long time, and when she woke up and saw her back, she had wondered why this person showed her true form. But she quickly figured out the reason: perhaps this face held more deterrent power in Cang Yu’s and Mo Tong’s eyes, and at the time, she was unconscious in Jiang Jinheng’s view.

The second time they met, she was so severely injured that she naturally lacked the spiritual energy to maintain the illusion. Furthermore… she didn’t seem to have remembered to maintain the pretense of her new identity after waking up, otherwise, she wouldn’t have so easily mentioned cutting off Mo Tong’s arm, indirectly admitting that she was the one who saved her.

Fu Yi had thoroughly thought through the reasons during those two days of meditation, but now she deliberately asked, intending to challenge Jiang Jinheng a bit, point out her mistake, and see how she would try to cover up the lie.

The moment Fu Yi asked the question, Jiang Jinheng’s sword technique paused for a moment. The two stumbled significantly in mid-air. By the time Jiang Jinheng reacted and resumed control of the sword, she realized that Fu Yi’s face was pale and she was gripping her robe tightly, which made her feel a little guilty.

But these two consecutive questions were too sharp. Jiang Jinheng had to quickly formulate a plausible explanation in her mind:

“Naturally, I entered the Secret Realm after handling the affairs. I used the Secret Realm’s teleportation to go to Xue Qin’s side, explained the situation to her, and then had her leave the Secret Realm as well. If you want to see her again, you’ll probably have to wait until we leave the Secret Realm.”

Jiang Jinheng spoke these words without blushing or a racing heart. Fu Yi raised her head slightly to the side and looked at her, seemingly trying to catch a glimpse of any nervousness, but found none.

“Senior Sister Xue Qin is gentle, and Fu Yi genuinely wishes to befriend her. Perhaps I can run into Master and her together at the peak in the future.”

Hearing this, Jiang Jinheng couldn’t help but cough a few times, finally feeling a bit guilty.

“Of course.”

Finally getting the reaction she anticipated, Fu Yi stopped there. She didn’t want to expose Jiang Jinheng at this moment. After all, she still needed to figure out this woman’s purpose for approaching her with a new identity, and startling the snake prematurely wouldn’t be wise.

Their starting point was thousands of li away from their destination. Even with sword travel, it required a significant amount of time. Apart from a few conversations, the journey was quite boring.

But traveling south, Fu Yi felt the heat in the air intensifying. She had a mutated fire-attribute spiritual root and could sense the extremely high concentration of the fire element origin not far ahead. The closer they got, the higher the concentration of fire-element spiritual energy became.

However, Fu Yi’s cultivation was too low, and she hadn’t practiced any advanced cultivation methods. Otherwise, she would have started automatically absorbing and refining this pure fire spiritual energy long ago, instead of sweating and panting, feeling as if she were about to be roasted by the heat.

“Why are we coming here?”

Through the layers of clouds, Fu Yi saw a volcano in the distance, bubbling and about to erupt. Even before landing, she felt a sensation like being scorched in a raging fire.

“Divine light can be seen from afar here. It seems a divine artifact is about to emerge.”

Knowing Fu Yi would ask, this wasn’t the first time Jiang Jinheng had lied to her. Moreover, what she said was partly true, only that the fortune belonged to someone else.

“Dummy, she’s about to be roasted to death! You have a spiritual fire refining your body and a natural ice spiritual root. At the Body Integration stage, you naturally don’t fear the high concentration of fire spiritual energy erupting from this volcano, but you have to consider that Fu Yi is just an ordinary person who hasn’t fully stepped into the door of cultivation and is also injured!”

Since Jiang Jinheng woke up, 007 hadn’t been as talkative as before. Little did she know that it had been worried for a long time during her unconsciousness. Later, after realizing she had just fallen asleep, it went to report the events to the main system, grumbling all the way. After some time, it came back and saw her being so careless in raising a child that it couldn’t help but interject.

Reminded by it, Jiang Jinheng realized that Fu Yi’s clothes were almost soaked with sweat, but because she was wearing dark robes, it was hard to tell immediately.

Thinking this, Jiang Jinheng took Fu Yi’s hand, retrieved a silk handkerchief from her storage ring to wipe her sweat, and slowly channeled her spiritual energy into her body. Feeling helpless and a little distressed, she suddenly thought that sometimes, a child who was too sensible wasn’t easy to take care of. She couldn’t help but offer a piece of advice.

“If you’re uncomfortable, you have to say it. Otherwise, no one will ever know.”

The internal irritability was immediately suppressed. Fu Yi looked up at the woman who was slowly wiping her sweat. A flicker of subtle hesitation crossed her eyes, and she did not answer.

Aside from bringing her to witness the emergence of a divine artifact, Jiang Jinheng had something else she wanted to verify.

According to 007, this Li Jingzhu would also become one of Mo Tong’s harem members in the future. Now that the fellow had left the Secret Realm due to his severed arm, and she had severed this first meeting fortune between them, Jiang Jinheng wanted to see if she would be like Yuan Yi and break free from the constraints set by the Heavenly Dao.

As for how to see this, she would have to rely on her little disciple, who was good at attracting hate.

After all, the story said that anyone who knew Mo Tong, whether from the Immortal Sect or the Demon Realm, harbored hostility toward Fu Yi.

Although the incident of attempted molestation hadn’t happened yet, seeing what Cang Yu did just now, Jiang Jinheng had already realized that Mo Tong’s resentment towards Fu Yi was no less than what was described in the story.

After all, the failed molestation only challenged his male dignity. Now, he felt that Fu Yi not only surpassed him in seniority and resources but also caused him to lose an arm. Oh dear, he must be yelling “Don’t bully a young man into poverty” a lot, right?

007, upon learning of Jiang Jinheng’s thoughts, scolded her for becoming increasingly wicked. She had just pretended to be a good Master, only to turn around and use her disciple as bait.

Jiang Jinheng was unfazed by this and instantly shifted the blame onto 007. Who told it not to learn good all day, constantly narrating storybooks that were similar to the world’s progression line? And the supposed “male protagonist” in those stories just loved to shout those words.

Anyway, with her by her side, how could those novice children have any chance of truly bullying her own disciple?

Besides, this experience might bring an unexpected surprise.

In the time they spoke, the two had already arrived at their destination. Fu Yi saw two figures standing in the distance. Jiang Jinheng, standing behind her, also had Chongxiao land and even put on a regretful expression.

“What a pity. It seems someone has arrived first.”

Fu Yi listened to Jiang Jinheng’s tone and glanced at the two people standing not far away. The two turned around upon hearing the sound. Fu Yi glanced at them and quickly recognized one of them.

Li Jingzhu.

After recognizing the person, her eyes deepened considerably. Although the three major Immortal Sects were closely related, there was usually little interaction between ordinary disciples. However, Fu Yi remembered that in the previous life, this Li Jingzhu, as the Sword Head of the Thousand Blades Sword Sect, didn’t focus on the Way of the Sword or her sect, but instead frequented the Azure Vast Immortal Sect for one person.

This world is truly small, as if everyone revolves around Mo Tong.

Thinking this, Fu Yi suddenly remembered the divine artifact emergence Jiang Jinheng had just mentioned. She vaguely recalled that Li Jingzhu had obtained her sword intent inheritance right here in this Secret Realm and also took the divine sword Dragon Roar into her possession. She subconsciously said:

“So what if they arrived first? Can’t we just try to snatch it?”

The moment Fu Yi spoke these words, she regretted it. She wanted to slap her own mouth. How could she utter such rebellious words due to her inner emotions?

This sentence equally astonished Jiang Jinheng. She looked at Fu Yi, then glanced at the two figures in the distance, and predictably noticed a guarded expression on the face of the old man beside Li Jingzhu.

As for Li Jingzhu, her expression was calm, with no visible emotion.

Just when she thought this young girl was too docile, and she had just taught her to speak her mind, such somewhat unorthodox words came out of her mouth, making Jiang Jinheng feel both amused and helpless.

Even if you want it, you can’t say it so openly! Don’t you see they are still here? Aren’t you afraid of being overheard, forming a feud, and suffering a loss in the future?

But Jiang Jinheng couldn’t bring herself to blame her. She just patted Fu Yi’s head and said to the two people from a distance, “My young disciple is inexperienced and disturbed the two of you. I didn’t mean to offend. Luan Qiu apologizes to the two of you on her behalf.”

Her words served as both an apology and a declaration of her name, making the opposite side wary and hesitant to take any action. However, unexpectedly, Li Jingzhu, who had been motionless, heard her words and walked towards her, the ice on her face seemingly melting as she smiled and bowed to her.

“I’ve heard that Immortal Venerable Luan Qiu possesses an otherworldly grace. Jingzhu holds deep respect and has long hoped to meet you. I didn’t expect to fulfill this wish in this Secret Realm.”

After speaking, she looked at Fu Yi, who was standing beside her, and greeted her as well: “Presumably, this is the Immortal Venerable’s new disciple. My name is Li Jingzhu. I just joined the Thousand Blades Sword Sect and am cultivating the Way of the Sword.”

Jiang Jinheng looked at the scene before her, somewhat petrified. Fu Yi also hadn’t expected their first meeting in this life to begin so politely. Her throat felt a little dry. Although she still held hostility toward her, she couldn’t ignore her, so she could only report her name.

“Fu Yi.”

“Hmph, Host’s desire to see a confrontation between beautiful girls has been dashed, hasn’t it?”

“I’m not that malicious. I just feel that this mission is beneficial now that I see these two young girls getting along quite well.”

If viewed according to the story’s content, among these three, two were harem characters, and one was an arch-nemesis.

These three mixing together would never interact so harmoniously in the original plot.

But now, it seemed that controlling the relationship progression between Mo Tong and related characters was working. If all three of them could coexist peacefully, it proved that the halo around Mo Tong had at least faded.