Breaking the Precept

Baili Xi had always been Jian Xiaolou's idol. Whether it was her intelligence or personality, Jian Xiaolou wished to emulate her.

However, it seemed impossible in this lifetime.

Suddenly, a fiery blaze erupted, causing Jian Xiaolou's head to heat up sharply. Startled, she turned around, thinking something had gone wrong again, only to find the demon spirit dissipating its energy. The fire spilling out was merely due to instability in the formation.

She glanced at Wu Chang, who was controlling the array. His face, pale as death, remained as bloodless in the firelight as ever.

Despite being struck by Chu Fengchen's sword earlier, Wu Chang hadn't wavered while controlling the formation. Yet now, with the demon spirit nearing its end, he seemed momentarily distracted. But he quickly regained composure, rotating his hands in complex gestures. Flames roared within the array as the demon spirit let out a final, piercing scream and disintegrated completely.

Wu Chang patted the main coffin on his back, and the eight coffins within the array disappeared simultaneously.

"Is it dead?" Jian Xiaolou asked.

"Mm." Wu Chang nodded before his body swayed slightly and vanished.

As the demon spirit perished, the sword Wuwo lying on the ground flickered briefly, emitting a puff of white mist. Chu Fengchen remained frozen, his face blank as though sealed in a trance.

After a long pause, he bent down to pick up his sword but avoided Baili Xi. Taking a few steps forward, he grabbed Jian Xiaolou's arm and demanded, "Tell me—is she Baili Xi?!"

The force of his grip made Jian Xiaolou wince. "What's wrong with you? She's right there; ask her yourself! I'm just a bystander!"

Chu Fengchen's heart had already confirmed the answer. "Is Baili Xi a man or a woman?!"

Jian Xiaolou was speechless. Only Chu Fengchen could still be asking this at this point.

Baili Xi interceded, sparing Jian Xiaolou. "Whether I am a man or a woman, shouldn't you be the one who knows best?"

Unable to believe the truth, Chu Fengchen dared not turn around. Instead, he tightened his grip on Jian Xiaolou's arm. She groaned in pain, striking his wrist with her palm like a blade. "Let go! Do you want to dislocate my arm?!"

What kind of world is this where even being a bystander puts my life at risk?

Chu Fengchen complied, releasing her, his back straight and lips tight. He finally mustered the courage to face Baili Xi. His gaze was ice-cold as he demanded, "Why is it you?"

"Why not me?"

"With the Baili family's opportunistic ways, you approached me deliberately back then, didn't you?!" Chu Fengchen was teetering on the edge, fury swelling within him. His sword trembled in his hand, exuding a biting chill.

The sword tip hovered just an inch from Baili Xi's eye, yet she didn't blink. "Yes."

"What was your goal?"

"Of course, to bed you."

"Was it for my Pure Yang Sword Energy?!"

Chu Fengchen's hand shook slightly as he suppressed the urge to strike her down. Deep down, he had already guessed the answer but needed to hear it from her own lips.

His anger was tinged with bitterness. His master had deceived him again! His pride in his integration of man and sword was all a lie!

A dignified man of seven feet had been reduced to a mere shell by this woman's draining techniques, losing nearly half his life. What face could he have left to show the world?!

The most humiliating part was that he had once harbored affection for this shameless woman.

Liars, all of them!

Baili Xi observed him silently, her spiritual energy fluctuating, faint traces of black mist curling around her. This was a sign of impending Qi deviation.

The torment inflicted by Yutian Jiao earlier had clearly destabilized his mental state to this extent.

Jian Xiaolou also noticed the worsening situation. It seemed the demon spirit had left a significant impact on him. She tilted her head, silently asking Baili Xi if she should forcibly remove the demonic Qi with her Red Lotus.

Baili Xi hesitated briefly before speaking to Chu Fengchen. "I have no interest in your Pure Yang Sword Energy."

Chu Fengchen sneered, veins bulging on his forehead. "No interest?"

Baili Xi placed a hand on her stomach. "The Baili family has always been thinly populated. Disguised as a man to sustain the family business, I couldn't marry. But I still wanted a child… Out of all the candidates, I found you the most suitable. Handsome, talented, and filled with righteousness…"

Her hand rested gently on her slightly rounded belly, and Chu Fengchen felt a loud "boom" reverberate in his mind.

What was she saying?

A child…

The child in her womb was his?

Impossible. More than twenty years had passed…

Chu Fengchen's mind wandered back to when his master had asked about the "child"… So his master had known all along. It wasn't deception—it was his own misunderstanding of the sword spirit.

His heart twisted painfully, and he froze once more.

Baili Xi adjusted her veil, turned, and returned to her room. "Xiaolou, leave Chu Fengchen to me. You should head back to Wangyu Forest quickly. With only six days left until the Double Ninth Festival, the treasure trove will be fraught with danger. Be careful."

Feeling reassured by her master's confidence, Jian Xiaolou patted her storage bag, satisfied. "I will!"

After receiving a fortune of high-quality talismans and elixirs from her generous master as a reward for slaying the demon spirit and acquiring a Heaven-grade technique, Jian Xiaolou now felt like a sudden millionaire. She hadn't done it for payment, but if her master offered, she wasn't about to refuse.

"I'm giving you these items not out of gratitude," Baili Xi remarked from her reclining chair by the window, her gaze warm and gentle.

"Then why?" Jian Xiaolou was puzzled.

"Simply because I wish for your safe return."

A wave of warmth filled Jian Xiaolou's heart, akin to being confessed to by her goddess. Embarrassed and unsure of what to say, she nodded and departed. Though she wanted to bid farewell to Chu Fengchen, his current state made her decide against it.

Taking flight, she headed toward Wangyu Forest, her spirit sweeping past the Kaye Temple bell tower. She noticed Wu Chang's lonely silhouette atop the tower, gazing toward Baili Xi's window.

Jian Xiaolou pondered his feelings. Could it be that Wu Chang harbored unspoken affection for her master? If so, why seek someone with a Pure Yang body to "borrow seed"? She felt both pity and exasperation for him.

Lost in thought, a sudden gale swept her away…