Chapter 67 The grudges of the previous generation have nothing to do with you

Li Chang was innocent and naive, unable to bear such darkness. She was pure and innocent, and had never done anything immoral. If there was anything excessive about her, it was that when she mistakenly believed that Ling Shu had killed her aunt, she had caused trouble for Ling Shu.

Li Chang usually spends her days watching cats and playing with dogs, playing football, climbing trees and reading storybooks. She often goes down the mountain to feed stray cats. She spends most of her allowance on these things. She is really too far removed from darkness.

She will be unable to accept these things suddenly and will definitely break down. She may even do something foolish in a moment of despair.

The two exchanged a glance and immediately understood each other's thoughts. Zhuang Jinfu was able to detect the direction of Li Chang's aura. Ling Shu's first reaction was that she didn't want to ask her for help and would instead seek out other cultivators to find out which way Li Chang had gone. Knowing that she didn't want to ask him for help, Zhuang Jinfu gave her a handheld compass before she took a step.

The icicle spun in my palm, pointing the way to Shuijia Lake.

Since she did this, Ling Shu had no reason to leave and had no choice but to follow the direction of the aura guide.

Shuijia Lake.

A cold wind howled across the lake. It was late February, and the air had not yet warmed up. The emerald green lake was desolate. Near the center of the lake, a head emerged and moved deeper into the water.

She has long, cloud-like hair, and is a woman with an orange trumpet vine flower hairpin in her hair.

Li Chang liked to wear orange and loved to wear trumpet creeper flowers.

Ling Shu rushed over and went into the water. The lake water in winter was icy cold, and even Ling Shu, who was usually warm-natured, could not stand the cold of being soaked in the cold water all over her body.

"Li Chang!"

Li Chang was startled by the shout and turned around abruptly. Seeing Ling Shu recklessly entering the water, fearing that she might have an accident, she shouted, "Don't come any closer!" Then she choked on her water and coughed.

The water was already up to her chin, yet Li Chang still seemed to be heading towards the center of the lake. People kept walking past her, and she cried out, "Don't save me!" But Ling Shu ignored her, quickly grabbing her and dragging her to shore.

She gripped the hand that was holding her tightly and kicked with her feet. Ling Shu tried to drag her away for a while, but she struggled too frequently. Ling Shu couldn't stand steadily in the water and accidentally stepped on the seaweed at the bottom of the lake. She slipped and the two of them fell into the water together. The place wasn't deep, but the water was longer than an arm. Li Chang couldn't stand up in the water. After struggling a few times, she choked on the water and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Just as Zhuang Jinfu was about to make a move on the shore, he saw Ling Shu grab Li Chang's collar, stand steadily, and move quickly towards the shore with a clear direction. Once out of the water, it was revealed that Ling Shu was controlling a sword with his feet.

When the two reached the shore, they were shivering from the cold. Li Chang's face was wet, and it was hard to tell whether it was tears or lake water. Her wrist was grasped by a warm hand with distinct knuckles.

Li Chang: "Why did you come to save me? Cough cough..." She found the lake water disgusting, her stomach churned, and she vomited a lot of water. After vomiting, she continued: "Wouldn't it be better for someone as superfluous as me to just die?"

"Li Chang!" Ling Shu shouted, silencing Li Chang. She shivered, sobbing uncontrollably, her emotions collapsing.

After shouting, Ling Shu realized she had gone too far and spoke to her politely, "Who said you're superfluous? I never thought you were superfluous. Everyone likes you."

Li Chang burst into tears: "If only I hadn't been born, sob sob sob, without me, my mother wouldn't have suffered so much."

Zhuang Jinfu stepped forward and handed over a handkerchief. Ling Shu took it and wiped away Li Chang's tears, saying gently, "The grudges of the previous generation have nothing to do with you."

"It's all fake, sob sob sob. My mother doesn't love me, and my spiritual root isn't mine. I feel like everything I have was stolen by my mother. I enjoyed sixteen years of peace, like I was in a dream, and when I woke up, I had nothing left..."

Zhuang Jinfu couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he stood to the side and silently dried the wet clothes off the two of them.

Ling Shu patiently said, "It's better to have something than to have nothing at all. The spiritual root has already been transferred to you without your knowledge. You did nothing wrong."

Upon hearing this, Li Chang cried out, "Then I'll dig it out again, I don't want it anymore!" As she spoke, a sword appeared in her hand, and she quickly stabbed it into her abdomen.

A light, floating ice crystal flew past swiftly and struck Li Chang's wrist. Her wrist ached, and she lost her grip on the sword, letting it slip from her hand and land in Zhuang Jinfu's hand. Zhuang Jinfu, with her usual aloof demeanor, said coldly, "I'll dig it for you."

“Your magic power is weak and your technique is poor. You won’t be able to dig it out in one go. If you operate on yourself, you’ll have to cut open your abdomen at least ten times to dig it out completely. Let me do it.”

"But don't worry, I have a friend who can heal the damage left by having your spiritual root dug out. After you're healed, I'll let you live your whole life as an ordinary person who has nothing to do with the path of cultivation. Are you satisfied?"

Before Li Chang could answer, Zhuang Jinfu finished speaking and walked over with his sword, his whole body cold and his face ruthless: "This is my first time doing this, my technique is not good."

"There will definitely be excruciating pain, and bleeding is normal. It may take five or six diggings. Just bear with it."

As the sword drew near, Li Chang was terrified and hid behind Ling Shu, crying, "I won't dig anymore, I won't dig anymore..."

Ling Shu's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, relaxed. She turned her head to look at Li Chang behind her and said patiently, "The Immortal Venerable is mean. Let's ignore her. It's cold by the lake. Come back with me..."

At this point, Ling Shu choked up. She had nowhere else to go but... Qingxi Mountain was her only home.

"Shall we go back to Qingxi Mountain together?"

Zhuang Jinfu lowered his sword, stunned, and stared at Ling Shu.

The person being watched kept their eyes fixed straight ahead, concerned about Li Chang's reaction.

Li Chang sobbed and whispered, "Yes, I'll go back with you."

We returned to Qingxi Mountain and settled down.

Li Chang held the ginseng soup that Hai Gu had cooked for her, wrapped herself in a quilt, and sat on the couch, looking at the group of people gathered around her.

Ling Shu, Zhuang Jinfu, Hai Gu, Wang Lifu, Li Qiaoyan, Elder An Hong, Zhao Chi, and some of her old friends.

"Don't... surround me, I won't do anything stupid again." She said with an embarrassed laugh, and looking back, she felt incredibly foolish.

Li Qiaoyan was filled with self-reproach: "It's all my fault for not bringing enough people with me when I went out, and for not keeping a close eye on you. If the Immortal Venerable and Ling Shu had arrived any later, I wouldn't have such a good niece as you."

Li Chang cried again: "Auntie, you still recognize me? Waaaaah!"

Li Qiao said, "What are you saying? You have always been the eldest daughter of our Li family. Who said they don't recognize you?"

Li Chang: "But I'm a demon..."

Li Qiaoyan hugged her head tenderly: "What's wrong with demons? Demons are just like humans, they can be good or bad. Chang'er has always been kind-hearted and is the pride of our Li family."

Li Chang leaned close and said sweetly, "Thank you, Auntie."

Ling Shu pondered again, "No, no, no, Li Chang is a pure-blooded demon! Her mother and mother are both demons! The Li family has secrets!"

As if he could read minds, Zhuang Jinfu said in her ear, seemingly casually, "Li Xinzhi, the third young lady of the Li family, is an adopted daughter."

The adopted daughter is a demon—that makes sense now. Ling Shu, however, interrupted her, whispering, "Who said I wanted to know!"

Zhuang Jinfu: "Oh."

Ling Shu: "..."

Wang Lifu, speaking as the head of the sect, said: "Li Chang, you helped the Shangqing Sect survive the great calamity of the Bitan Mountain Wilderness Array. You are the benefactor of the Shangqing Sect. There has never been a precedent of a demon cultivating here before. It is not unreasonable to break this unwritten rule for your sake."

Regarding your affiliation within the sect, I say everything will remain the same. You will continue to cultivate under Elder An Hong. From now on, remember the sect rules, cultivate sincerely, and never do anything immoral or unethical.

Li Chang happily agreed, got off the bed and bowed, saying, "This disciple will remember the sect leader's teachings." She then bowed to Elder An Hong.

Elder An Hong helped her up, heartbroken: "You're my only good disciple! What will I do without you! Who will accompany me down the mountain to watch the play?"

Li Chang grunted and said, "Master, I know what bitterness tastes like now. It's much more bitter than bitter melon."

Ling Shu: "Will you still like to eat bitter melon in the future?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone laughed.

Li Chang stamped her foot, feeling embarrassed: "Hmph! I won't tell you!"

Zhuang Jinfu instructed, "Hai Gu, add a bitter melon to tonight's dishes."

"Immortal Venerable, how could you be like this too!"

Everyone: "Hahahaha."

After Li Chang's matter was settled, the rabbit demon's identity was also discovered.

She was originally a peasant girl named Dai Dan from Jinde Mountain Village in Nanxi City. None of her family members had the potential for cultivation. They worked hard to farm and support their family. In an era when cultivators were killing demons to seize their demon cores, she was fortunate enough to survive because the demon cores had no value and her spiritual roots were poor.

Later, she was forcibly taken by Li Xinzhi, ruining everything. After Li Xinzhi died, she took her place and hid in the Li family. After tasting the superiority of a noble family, she stole other people's spiritual roots to replace her own, used forbidden techniques to cultivate, seized power and rose to a position. She secretly traded spiritual roots. Wang Lifu's people were secretly monitoring her until Dai Dan failed to assassinate Ling Shu and Ling Shu discovered her secret.

Ling Shu was a troublemaker; if anyone bullied her, she would retaliate many times over. She wouldn't let it go, which pushed Dai Dan to the brink. Dai Dan wanted to "wipe out" Ling Shu and the others. Previously, she had been secretly fighting with Wang Lifu, suppressing each other, and neither could win. She caused trouble at Wang Lifu's birthday banquet and ended up with a tragic end.

"The fact that Dai Dan's case was closed so quickly is all thanks to you, Ling Shu." Li Qiaoyan flipped through the transcript with a headache.

"I didn't help much," Ling Shu said calmly.

She responded to these words, but her mind was elsewhere. According to the book, she and her mother, Wen Ji, were the last demons in the world. However, according to the investigation, the Dai family had survived because they were useless. Her textbooks did not have the problem of being outdated. They were revised and updated every year to fill in the gaps. It was impossible for her to miss such an important matter as the existence of demons in the world.

That question has only one answer.

That means someone deliberately concealed the fact that other demons still exist in the world.

There must be other demons like the Dai family, who have changed into human skin and secretly live in the human world, not doing evil, but only seeking a peaceful life.

"Thank you in the torture chamber. If it weren't for you, my third sister's matter wouldn't have been solved so quickly. As Dai Dan said, I sent people to investigate, and what she said was the truth."

Li Qiaoyan's words brought her back to reality. Ling Shu held the sword in her arms, sat half-sitting on the desk, dangling one leg and swinging it. Behind her was a pile of files and records that she had pushed around. She said indifferently, "It's good that things are over."

Li Qiaoyan smiled as she read, "I should thank you no matter what." She was happy that Ling Shu was starting to talk to her.

Ling Shu said lazily, "There's no need for a meal."

Li Qiaoyan: "Okay, then... do you want the complete set of Chibi Maruko-chan storybooks?"

Ling Shu looked at her incredulously, her expression softening slightly.

Li Qiaoyan continued to add: "Want some uncut versions of 'The Ambitious One' and 'Accidentally Provoking a Powerful Minister'?"

After saying that, Li Qiaoyan closed the notebook, glanced at the person sitting opposite him, pressed the notebook down with his fingertips, and pushed it to the side. The notebook slid from one end of the desk to the other. A hand with dark blue nails pressed down on it, and the notebook stopped sliding. Cang Luo opened it, checked if the number of pages was complete, and said without looking up, "Don't corrupt the child."

Li Qiaoyan said to her in an unfriendly tone, "Ling Shu is not young anymore. Once she passes the Heavenly Tribulation, she will be an adult. What's wrong with an adult reading a storybook?"

He then turned to Ling Shu and said gently, "Elder Ling, would you be willing to accept my return gift?"

Cang Luo was used to her attitude: "You're calling her too early. She hasn't officially joined the Elders' Council yet."

"It's a done deal." He then looked at Ling Shu: "Elder Ling, you don't like it?"

I love it! Little Frog Maruko is a wildly popular yuri (lesbian) novelist from the Yamashita era, and her works are incredibly hard to find, let alone a complete set! Although she didn't mention the full names of "The Ambitious One" and "Accidentally Provoking a Powerful Minister," the two of them tacitly understood what they were about.

These were the two books that Zhuang Jinfu had Hai Gu hide before. They were abridged versions, censored books that were all over the place and whose content was unclear. They contained important plot points, but they were all cut out when the books were published. Good heavens! What's so funny about that!

However, the person who delivered the book was Li Qiaoyan. Wang Lifu, that bastard, married her after leaving her biological mother. If she acknowledges Wang Lifu as her mother, then Li Qiaoyan would be her stepmother.

Ling Shu's expression was enigmatic, as if he had something to say but didn't. His eyes were fixed on her, seemingly expectant yet indifferent, his expression as indescribable as something made by mixing all the essential ingredients together.

Li Qiaoyan thought she had changed her mind and didn't want it anymore, so he said, "Don't you like these storybooks...?"

Ling Shu looked at her intently, and after a long pause, finally managed to ask, "When will it be delivered?"

Li Qiaoyan breathed a sigh of relief and beamed with joy: "I'll arrive tonight."

Ling Shu jumped down from the desk, and Cang Luo helplessly steadied the desk and stopped the accidentally damaged files. Ling Shu walked away gracefully, saying, "Then I'll wait for your book at Qingxi Mountain." Li Qiaoyan replied, "Okay, I'll deliver it tonight."

Cang Luo: "Hey! Don't try to bribe me in front of me!"

Li Qiaoyan tapped her on the head with his fan: "This doesn't count as bribery. I'm just thanking my good daughter for her kind help. Don't put such a big accusation on me, okay?"

"OK."

"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going back to pack up my daughter's storybooks. I'm going to tie a pretty bow..." With that, she went out.

Cang Luo watched the graceful figure disappear through the doorway, his hand stroking the spot where the fan had struck, a hint of morbid resentment in his eyes: "A daughter... ha."

Her palms clenched so tightly that her nails almost dug into her flesh. She was jealous of the title she used. The word "daughter" represented her self-identification as Wang Lifu's wife, and she no longer had any other thoughts. She could wholeheartedly love the child that was not her own, but that of the other party. Li Qiaoyan was content with this relationship. Cang Luo used pain to tell herself to accept reality, that she should not have any feelings, she should not have any.

Cang Luo, you love the wife of the man who gave you a chance. Do you think you're being fair to her?

She stood up from her seat, intending to go out for a walk to clear her head, when a chilling aura swept over her from the opposite side. A white-robed immortal venerable, sword in hand, stepped into the execution platform hall. His demeanor was not that of someone coming to have a heart-to-heart talk or to investigate a case, but rather that he was there to interrogate someone.

She was indeed guilty. She stopped at the door, letting the evil sword aimed at her heart. Cang Luo smiled and said, "It's a pity we didn't kill her."

The sword energy, with its overwhelming power to sweep away everything, caused her chest to ache, and she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Zhuang Jinfu said coldly, "My affairs are none of your business."

Cang Luo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and laughed, "You used to call me 'good sister,' cling to my arm and beg me, 'Good sister, please help me avoid Master's punishment.' Now you have a cold face and keep a clear distance from me, saying it's not my place to interfere. Qingxi, you have a cruel heart."