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A noise came from outside the door, and just as A Shang raised her head, the door was pushed open from the outside.
Two maids dressed in sect servant attire saw that she was indeed here and couldn’t help muttering, “She really slept in this place…”
A Shang watched as the two of them walked in. One of them was holding a tray with a small black porcelain bottle on it.
“Miss A Shang, we are here on orders from Qingyu Zhenren to deliver medicine to you,” one of the maids said, then glanced around the somewhat dilapidated room, covering her nose and mouth with a look of disdain.
A Shang looked at the black porcelain bottle on the tray and knew that it contained contraceptive pills.
In her previous life, after she had alleviated Xie Hengyu’s love curse every month, these contraceptive pills would always be delivered on time.
Although she had become Xie Hengyu’s wife, she was not qualified to bear his child.
“Thank you,” A Shang said, knowing full well that the two maids disliked her. She still expressed her gratitude and then took the contraceptive pill in front of them.
After making sure she had swallowed the pill, they turned and left.
“Hey, did you see the marks on her neck? How shameless, using all sorts of seductive tricks to lure Young Master Xie.”
“Exactly. Instead of staying properly in the Jade Extreme Hall, she insists on coming to this filthy place. She must be trying to play the victim. But what’s the use of scheming and pretending to be pitiful? Young Master Xie likes Miss Shen. If it weren’t for her planting the love curse in him, Young Master Xie would never have touched her!”
The two maids hadn’t gone far, and their voices carried clearly to A Shang’s ears.
The fox clan’s love curse is specifically planted by the fox clan for the one they love. Once the curse is planted, it can never be removed, and a fox can only mark one person in their lifetime.
Bound by love as the curse(Sometimes referred to as “gu”, limited by the full moon, sustained by affection, sharing life and death.
This was also the reason why Xie Hengyu had no choice but to marry her. That night, she had unintentionally planted the love curse on him. The curse would flare up once every month, and to suppress it, the two needed to cultivate together, merging their essence and blood.
Alternatively, drinking the blood of the one who planted the curse could also suppress it, though the effect was far weaker than dual cultivation.
However, the fox clan’s love curse was not without a way to completely break it. In her previous life, Xie Hengyu had found the method and personally removed the curse she had planted on him.
This was why, when she died under the lightning punishment, Xie Hengyu was still alive.
A Shang reached up and touched her neck, covering the faint red marks left there. The fox clan’s love curse was originally designed to ensure loyalty to one’s partner, but for her, it had now become a shackle.
She had to find a way to break the curse and sever her spiritual bond with Xie Hengyu.
*
“Why is she here?”
“How does she even have the face to come here?”
The next morning, A Shang arrived at the martial arts training ground of the sect’s sword practice hall. Her appearance immediately sparked whispers among the disciples present.
Now, everyone in the sect knew that she had drugged their pure and noble Senior Brother Xie, forcing him to marry her.
Listening to the gossip and criticism around her, A Shang’s expression remained calm. She had heard far more malicious words in her previous life, thousands of times over. She was already used to it.
In her past life, no matter how much she tried to explain herself, no one believed her. The rumors surrounding her grew like a snowball, weighing her down day after day, leaving her breathless.
She had fallen into a state of constant self-doubt and timidity, living a life that felt less and less like her own.
But this time, she wouldn’t be the same as before. Let them open their mouths and spew all the venom they wanted. She wouldn’t listen to a single word, nor would she care.
A Shang walked past the crowd and picked up a wooden sword from the rack. Following the sword manual from her memory, she casually practiced a few moves. But halfway through, her movements suddenly stopped. Habits were truly a terrifying thing.
Originally, she had been a blade cultivator, but because Xie Hengyu was a sword cultivator, she had switched her blade for a sword.
Blade cultivators were different from sword cultivators in their flexibility and versatility. Sword cultivators focused on techniques and finesse, while blade cultivators emphasized strength and dominance.
Though there was only a single character difference between the two, the distinction was vast. This was why, in her previous life, A Shang had never been skilled with the sword.
Just as A Shang was about to put the sword down, she suddenly sensed something flying toward her at high speed. Her body reacted almost reflexively, dodging to the side. Glancing at the stone that had rolled to the ground, she turned around and saw a young woman in a goose-yellow ruqun striding toward her with an aggressive air.
“So, you’re that half-demon A Shang who dupped Brother Yan? I was just worrying about how to find you, and here you are, showing up on your own,” the girl said, crossing her arms, her posture as haughty as a peacock, her eyes filled with disdain for A Shang. “You, fight me.”
A Shang looked at the girl. She recognized her—Yun Luoyi, the daughter of the Qingyun Sect’s sect leader and a close friend of Shen Yueqing.
In her past life, because she had “stolen” her best friend’s man, this Yun Luoyi had given her no shortage of trouble.
A Shang didn’t want to get entangled with her. She placed the wooden sword back in its spot and prepared to leave.
Seeing that this half-demon dared to ignore her, Yun Luoyi was furious. In the next moment, her lifebound sword, Tianyun, was pressed horizontally against A Shang’s neck. If A Shang took even one step forward, the sword would slice her throat.
The disciples watching couldn’t help but gasp.
Yun Luoyi sneered, “I said I want to spar with you. Are you deaf?”
Yun Luoyi was determined to teach this fox spirit who stole someone else’s man a lesson today. Without waiting for A Shang’s response, she swung Tianyun toward A Shang.
Her sword intent, much like her personality, was fierce and overbearing.
The disciples watching the two spar knew that while it was called a spar, Yun Luoyi was already at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment and had her lifebound sword. A Shang, on the other hand, had been in the sect for less than half a year and didn’t even have her own lifebound sword. She was clearly no match for Yun Luoyi.
In no time, A Shang’s arm was slashed by the sword energy of Yun Luoyi’s Tianyun, leaving several gruesome bloody wounds. The blood dripped onto the ground, a sight that was somewhat shocking to behold.
“Hmph, a half-demon is still a half-demon, a thing that can’t be taken seriously,” Yun Luoyi said, growing more arrogant as she saw A Shang injured. Her sword movements became even more ruthless.
“To be honest, your Immortal Sect shouldn’t even accept lowly half-demons as disciples. What does it matter if they have half-human blood? A beast is still a beast. How laughable it is for a mere half-demon to even dream of cultivating the Dao!”
Yun Luoyi’s harsh words struck the ears of everyone present. Although the disciples disliked A Shang, Yun Luoyi’s words were undeniably cruel.
A few female disciples who had come with Yun Luoyi, seeing the bloody wounds on A Shang’s body, felt that Yun Luoyi had gone too far. They tried to intervene, saying, “Luoyi, she’s already injured.”
This was, after all, the Immortal Sect. While they understood that Yun Luoyi was venting her anger on behalf of Miss Shen, injuring someone so severely on someone else’s turf would surely lead to trouble if the sect leader found out.