Ch. 10 Demon

After Xiong Yu Lian left, Lin Jiu sat in silence for a while.

After the Red Lotus began to spin on its own, it continuously drew in the spiritual energy from around it and pooled it into itself. Wei Liang had only been gone for a little under an hour when a hair-thin wisp of spiritual energy gathered in her meridians and slithered according to the path Wei Liang had guided to.

Lin Jiu wasn’t hungry right now. Even if she was, she had no intention of eating what that black-hearted lotus Xiong Yu Lian brought her. Even if the maid didn’t dare to poison her meal, she could add some snot or saliva into it or whatever.

As for the aphrodisiac incident…

Lin Jiu quickly made up her mind.

Although she didn’t want to get involved with the matters between Wei Liang and Liu Qing Yin, she couldn’t step into the old path of the original villainess either. She would take this opportunity to see what kind of person Liu Qing Yin was first.

She turned Wei Liang’s house upside down and found quite a few bottles and jars.

In the evening, Xiong Yu Lian brought the medicine over.

She smiled eerily at Lin Jiu. “Senior Master Mu Rong went to the Stunning Luan Peak to speak with my Master. It looks like he’s going to stay for dinner! I’ve already mentioned to my Master that it would be lonely for her to stay alone in the main peak, so Master asked me to ask you if you would be willing to visit the Stunning Luan Peak as a guest? It would be a great opportunity!”

Lin Jiu took the tiny white jade bottle and weighed it in her hands. “Wait for me outside. I’ll get changed.”

She closed the door and tucked the white jade bottle under the pillow. Then, she found a similar empty bottle left behind by Wei Liang and slipped it inside her sleeve.

Xiong Yu Lian’s cultivation wasn’t high either, maybe just around the Middle Foundation Establishment stage. After arriving at the wooden plank bridge between the two peaks, Lin Jiu began to feel a little scared and asked Xiong Yu Lian to go first. She saw Xiong Yu Lian spread her arms and lightly step onto the wooden planks while holding on the steel chains on both sides, leaping far with a single jump without any signs of tipping over.

Lin Jiu blinked her eyes and tried it like she did. Sure enough, it was as steady as a mountain.

The two arrived at the Stunning Luan Peak without incident, and Lin Jiu could just see the cave abode that was lit with long white candles like jade. The light inside was as bright as day, not at all dim. Liu Qing Yin and Mu Rong Chun were sitting across each other on stone tools and playing chess. They had an immortal air about them, as if they weren’t of this world.

When they saw Lin Jiu enter, the two got up and nodded to her. After all, they were great sword immortals with unparalleled levels of cultivation. It was too much to ask them to call Lin Jiu Martial Aunt.

Lin Jiu didn’t dare ask that from them either, and she waved her hand dismissively. “Please, go ahead and enjoy your game. Don’t mind me. I just came to join for a meal.”

Liu Qing Yin frowned slightly as if she wanted to say something, but she ignored the edge. Mu Rong Chun could see that she seemed to have something to say to Lin Jiu, so he tossed his bead back into the chess basket.

“Please, take a seat. I will go and urge them to deliver the meal,” Mu Rong Chun said.

Liu Qing Yin tidied up the chessboard in silence and lifted her sleeve, pouring two cups of tea and inviting Lin Jiu to take a seat.

Xiong Yu Lian cheerily bowed to Liu Qing Yin. “Master, when I was circulating my cultivation, I kept feeling a disturbance in my spiritual energy. Help me take a look at it!”

She had deliberately led Liu Qing Yin to turn her back to Lin Jiu. When the maid lifted her sleeve to let Liu Qing Yin check her pulse, she shot Lin Jiu a look as if signaling her to put the drug in Liu Qing Yin’s tea.

Since they had already set everything up this far, wouldn’t it be a waste of her efforts if she didn’t comply a little? Lin Jiu laughed inwardly and took out the jade bottle from her sleeve, hesitantly opening the bottle and slowly extending it towards Liu Qing Yin’s teacup, shaking it a few times in a performance.

Just as Lin Jiu was about to withdraw her arm, Liu Qing Yin, who originally had her back turned around, grabbed Lin Jiu’s wrist, catching her in the act.

“What are you doing!” Liu Qin Ying cried threateningly, stunning Lin Jiu’s heart.

Lin Jiu’s breath halted and her chest felt stuffy. Her throat seemed filled with blood. If Wei Liang had not quenched her meridians with the Dripstone Spiritual Milk, then Liu Qing Yin’s Smothering Fist would have kept her unable to speak for more than an hour. So this is the reason why Lin Jiu never sold out Xiong Yu Lian?

“What happened here?!” a man’s voice suddenly called out at the entrance. Mu Rong Chun rushed in while pushing a wheelchair. Seated in it was Qin Yun Xi, whose sunken eyes stared straight at Lin Jiu. He didn’t hide his killing intent at all.

Then, the Red Lotus’ third petal suddenly bloomed to forty percent!

Lin Jiu was surprised. The Red Lotus needed more and more malice as time went on. Even though Qin Yun Xi clearly had no malice towards her usually, how was one look able to push the lotus to open forty percent now?

But what puzzled her even more was that the Red Lotus continued to bloom!

The following malice that trickled in was not as intense as when he first looked at her, but it was like a continuous stream that wouldn’t stop.

Lin Jiu pressed down her suspicions and shook her head, which was still clutched in Liu Qing Yin grip. “I found this by Wei Liang’s bed and I have no idea what sort of treasure it is, so I brought it here to ask you. Why are you so agitated?” Lin Jiu said without changing her expression.

Liu Qing Yin released her hand and smiled coldly. “I clearly saw you pouring something into my tea.”

“Ahem.” Qin Yun Xi coughed in his wheelchair to draw all the attention to him.  “I saw it too. No need to deny it,” he said to Lin Jiu.

A faint smile curved Lin Jiu’s lips and she thought to herself,  ‘Here this guy is clearly Liu Qing Yin’s brain dead fan. Both of them clearly rushed in after hearing Liu Qing Yin’s voice, so with which eye did he see it?

Lin Jiu shrugged indifferently. “So? I said I wanted to ask what it was and I was just about to pour some out so you can see. Then began wronging me. Hey, what exactly am I guilty of?”

Mu Rong Chun here was considered the normal guy. Frowning faintly, he tried to break up the argument. “Big Brother, Little Sister Liu, please don’t be in a hurry to get angry. It’s not too late to see what is up before saying anything.”

“There’s no need, it’s Passion Lure!”

“No need to look, it’s aphrodisiac!”

Qin Yunxi and Xiong Yu Lian both said at the same time.

Lin Jiu raised her brows.  “Tsk, these are the private things Wei Liang keeps by his bed, why are all of you so clear about it?!”

Qin Yun Xi was so angry that he scoffed.

Xiong Yu Lian jumped up and spoke in a loud voice. “She begged me to find a powerful aphrodisiac for her when I brought her her morning meal. She said the Sword Monarch needed it and not to tell anyone. The Sword Monarch wasn’t in and I dared not question whether it was true or not, so I secretly took some and gave it to her, thinking that I would wait for the Sword Monarch to return before asking. But unexpectedly, when my Master was checking my meridians, Lin Jiu poured the drug in my Master’s tea! Her motives are questionable!” she said without a single pause or stutter. Clearly, Xiong Yu Lian  rehearsed these words a thousand times.

Lin Jiu sneered inwardly, but her face remained an outward lake of calm. “This is just your side of the story. I can very well say that every single one of your words is bull. Shit.”

The gazes of all the people present turned the faintly reverberating liquid inside the cup. Lin Jiu and Xiong Yu Lian’s words proved nothing, so they would have to check the physical evidence themselves.

Lin Jiu stared provocatively at Liu Qing Yin.

According to the original direction of the plot, Liu Qing Yin should drink the tea in anger to test the medicine herself.

But even after waiting for a while, Liu Qing Yin never moved.

Lin Jiu was surprised for a moment, and she suddenly felt her scalp go numb. Why didn’t Liu Qing Yin test the tea like she did in the book? And it turns out the reason for that—is Wei Liang’s absence!

In the original story, Qin Yun Xi had already died, so Wei Liang had no need to go to Cloud Water Song to fetch the Essence Strengthening Grass for him. When the aphrodisiac incident happened, Wei Liang was here.

Liu Qing Yin drank the tea in front of Wei Liang, so naturally, Wei Liang wouldn’t be able to sit still and just watch. After the ambiguous treatment of the drug, it was hard for their relationship to not warm up.

Now, things were a bit difficult.

And even more so, the reaction of the Eldest Big Brother Qin Yun Xi caused a shiver to run down Lin Jiu’s spine.

How did a dead man even know the name of the drug?!

But at that thought, Lin Jiu suddenly felt a chilling gust of wind in the cave. Qin Yun Xi who was sitting in his wheelchair looking pale and weak, but no matter how you looked at him, he was like a demon who had crawled out from beneath the ice.

Lin Jiu shivered several times in succession.

The dark glow of the Red Lotus in her consciousness slowly bloomed, and the third petal soon reached ninety percent.

Eldest Big Brother Qin Yun Xi contributed most of the malice. The remaining trickle must have come from Liu Qing Yin and Xiong Yu Lian.

Very good. She successfully provoked the female lead.

Lin Jiu could feel her momentum weakening. The feeling of being surrounded by enemies was not pleasant.

In a daze, it felt like she had returned back to her previous world and was being surrounded by her “family” with malicious intent. It really made her shudder.

Lin Jiu took a racing breath and reached out to snatch the cup in front of Liu Qing Yin.

Just when everyone thought that she was going to drink the tea to prove her innocence, Lin Jiu soared to her feet and stepped towards Yin Yunxi in his wheelchair. She stared into his eyes as she brought the cup to his lips.

“Since you are so sure it is an aphrodisiac, why don’t you test it with your body?” Lin Jiu’s body was feeling very cold and she was shivering faintly. There was an unidentified emotion of either excitement or pain that slowly rose up inside her heart.

The image of the man who pushed her down the stairs flashed wildly in her eyes. This Qin Yun Xi in front of her was the same as that man. They were all demons in human skin that wanted to push her into hell.

This time, she was going to pull him down hard!

Qin Yun Xi was quite clearly stunned. After a moment, he sluggishly pointed to himself. “Me?”

Lin Jiu slowly cracked a grin, a smile laced with the venom of her past life adorning her face.

“Naturally so. You instantly insisted that this must be an aphrodisiac, am I wrong? Who is responsible for what happens if they take the medicine? Then we may as well use a cripple like you to test it. Even if you take the aphrodisiac, it’s not like you could do anything, isn’t that right?”

Qin Yun Xi looked at her, dumbfounded. His eyes slowly shrunk into a pinpoint, then he looked around anxiously.

The malice from Qin Yun Xi stagnated, but there was a dense stream of malice coming from behind her. Without even looking, she could tell this came from Liu Qing Yin.

Lin Jiu brought the teacup straight to Qin Yunxi’s mouth and raised her hand to pour it in!

Yes, the easiest target to bully!