After listening to Zhiyan's sobbing complaint, I came to understand how she had been mistreated by others.
When I left previously, I had encouraged her to cling to Moqing's thigh, but she, being dignified and having a high sense of self-worth, did not plan on doing so. She intended on using her own skills to excel in the Wanlumen and seek revenge on Liuwei, the senior of the Jiān xīn mén.
I reacted with a sneer. I thought, "Young lady, you are still too naive."
As expected, after a few days, the demonic cultivators on Xiyue Peak discovered that this "disciple of the sect leader" brought in was not as powerful as they had imagined, and her relationship with the sect leader was not as good as they thought.
So, those who had treated her kindly started to speak harshly, and those who had been caring to her began to mock and even humiliate her. She wanted to quietly rely on her abilities to excel, but that was simply impossible.
In less than a month, the righteous female cultivator who cherished peace had become the target of everyone's dissatisfaction due to her infrequent resistance. The male demonic cultivators on Xiyue Peak started taking advantage of her. Today, the violation had reached her limit, and she finally resisted in anger, but this time, nobody was there to help her.
The female demonic cultivators stood by, and the male demonic cultivators claimed she was a loose woman and intensified their attempts to take advantage of her.
In her panic, Zhiyan escaped on her sword, and the demonic cultivators pursued her until she entered this forbidden area, and finally, nobody dared to follow her.
She choked up as she finished narrating the bitter experience from the past month, and it was almost midnight.
I squatted in front of her and said, "Young lady, it is possible to rely on oneself. In this world, many times, one indeed has to rely on oneself, but the premise of relying on oneself is that you are strong enough. And when you are not strong enough..." I looked at her with confusion. "Can't you think about the things I told you, and try to please Lichenlan?"
"I found that relying on myself is not enough. That's why I came to find you..."
Well, that could indeed be considered a kind of solution.
She wiped her tears and glanced at me. "Moreover, if I seek Lichenlan's help... Lichenlan is the sect leader, so high and mighty. People who have been on Xiyue Peak for decades have never seen Lichenlan. Why should I be able to please him and ask for his help?"
Upon hearing that, I was angry. "I'm also the sect leader! I used to be high and mighty too! Just because I died, do you think I can be easily bullied?"
She looked at me again. "Yes."
I clenched my teeth, feeling that the person in front of me, like the little nosy one who guarded the door before, was equally ungrateful. However, considering that she had offered her body to me, I decided to overlook her disrespectful words.
"Your worry about Lichenlan is completely unnecessary. Didn't I say before, Lichenlan said that trespassers in the forbidden area would be killed? Then why didn't he kill you?"
She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "Why?"
I replied solemnly, "Because he's taken a liking to your body!"
Zhiyan trembled all over and exclaimed, "What!"
"Otherwise, does he have any other reason not to kill you?" I asked.
Zhiyan thought for a moment and said, "At that time, it was you inside my body, um, maybe he saw me at that time and remembered the past you?"
I scoffed, "Moqing is now the leader of Wanlumen. He took that position from me. After finally securing his position, if he finds out that I've borrowed someone else's body, how do you think he'll treat me?"
"Exterminate... root and branch?" she guessed.
"Not too dim," I said, looking at the sky. It was already midnight. I called out to Zhiyan, "It's almost time, let's give it a try."
Zhiyan sat up straight. I also focused my mind, cleared my thoughts, and without distraction, plunged into Zhiyan's body.
In an instant, there was a warm sensation in my fingertips, the ground felt heavy under my feet, and a familiar sense of heaviness surged through my senses. I blinked and looked at the tombstone, and saw Zhiyan's soul standing in front of the tombstone, dazed, having been pushed out by me just now.
Indeed! Taking over someone else's body is better done at night!
I stood up, clenched my fists, felt the strength in my palms, and my heart was suddenly bright - finally! After going back and forth, this body finally belonged to me!
However, before I could celebrate the body I just acquired, I suddenly sensed a presence behind me. As I was about to hide, I felt a hand grab my neck and lift me up.
My breath was instantly taken away, and in my suffocation, I looked at the person in front of me. He was still in a black robe, but his face was cold, his eyes sharp, and he said in a cold tone, "It's you again. Trespassing, don't think I'll spare you again."
Zhiyan's soul was by the side, scared and gasping, "See, see! You wanted me to please the fierce leader and said he was interested in me, almost wanted to kill me! Luckily I didn't go!"
I was so angry. If it weren't for Zhiyan's useless body, I wouldn't have been treated like this by Moqing!
And Moqing was also ridiculous, always coming to trouble me every time Zhiyan and I exchanged bodies. It's like it's destined to kill me!
I grabbed his arm, trying to force open a gap, and said in a hoarse voice, "I was forced last time, and this time... I was also forced."
Moqing sneered and threw me to the ground with force.
I quickly covered my neck and kept coughing and wheezing. Amidst the buzzing in my ears, I heard his mocking, icy laughter, "Forced? By the external demonic cultivators?"
The last time Moqing met me, he used two sword moves against me. According to the strength of those two moves, all the low-level demonic cultivators on Mount Xiyue were no match for me.
But at the time when this body was being bullied, it was Zhiyan, who was weaker than a chicken, in control! Unable to explain, to prevent Moqing from suspecting, I had to hastily point to my own tomb, "It's her, I was forced by her."
Upon hearing this, Moqing suddenly fell silent for a moment.
I looked up at him again, seeing a scrutinizing glint in his eyes as he looked at me on the ground, and he asked, "Do you know whose grave this is?"
"I know, Lou Zhaoyao..."
His eyes were cold, full of solemnity and killing intent: "How did you know?"
"In a dream," I said as I thought and fabricated, "She comes to my dream every night, forcing me to burn paper for her."
"She enters your dreams?" Mo Qing interrupted me, squinting his eyes, full of scrutiny and suspicion.
I pondered for a moment, realizing that letting Mo Qing know my soul still existed might not be a good idea. But, whatever. If I hadn't died, I wouldn't know if people turned into ghosts after death. Such elusive matters to the living were beyond his understanding, even if he investigated.
I decided to set a trap.
I would let Mo Qing know my soul still existed, but he wouldn't be able to find me. In order to protect his own position, Mo Qing would definitely make efforts to search for ghosts. And when he did that, I could use Zhiyan's body to hide by his side. Under the guise of helping him find "Luzhaoyao" while disrupting his thoughts, I could get close to him and gain his trust, thus becoming his enemy in plain sight while being hidden in secret, and then strike a fatal blow when he let his guard down!
How perfect it was!
I was momentarily awed by my own ability to come up with such a plan. Then, I continued to stare at Mo Qing, with a serious look on my face, and said, "Yes, she asked me to burn paper for her, or she would haunt me and kill me."
Mo Qing remained silent for a while, and his black pupils seemed like a whirlpool, concealing all emotions, making it impossible for me to fathom his thoughts.
I waited for his response, but after a while, he only said three words: "Not possible." He lowered his head, as if murmuring to himself, "If she's still around, she would definitely have come to find me first."
Ha, the little clown and weirdo did get this part right about me. My only regret in this world is that I couldn't take you with me in the end. If I were to return, the first thing I would do is to come find you and then take you with me.
Just like now.
But at this moment, I couldn't say that. I had to say, "I don't know why she only comes to me. Perhaps... it's because I accidentally knocked into her grave the other day and she latched onto me... She's truly terrifying in my dreams, and I had no choice... Sect Leader, I really shouldn't have trespassed into the forbidden area."
I looked at him pitifully, my eyes still a bit swollen from Zhiyan's earlier tears, trying hard to keep them open and unblinking, but soon enough, the fragile eyes were filled with tears again.
He remained silent and kept looking at me for a long time.
I knew deep down that playing the pitiful card in front of a Wanluo Gate member wouldn't work. Mo Qing was someone I had raised, and if acting pitiful worked now, then it must be because...
"Get up."
He spared me. I secretly confirmed in my heart that indeed, Mo Qing was interested in Zhiyan's face! He couldn't bear to kill her!
Mo Qing glanced at me and asked, "How is she in your dreams?"
"Who? The witch Luzhaoyao?" I glanced at Mo Qing's expression, carefully choosing my words, "She, she has a pale face and no feet, and looks fierce..." I spoke, but seeing Mo Qing squinting with suspicion, I realized he was scrutinizing me, so I immediately injected my own emotions and said, "She's actually not that much different from a living person; it's just that she hates you. She said you took her position and caused her death, so she wants to come back and take revenge on you."
Back then in the Sword Mound, everyone should have been killed by the sword energy released from the Wanjin Sword. Even if people speculated, they wouldn't be able to confidently say that it was Mo Qing who killed me. That's why I revealed something that only he and I knew, something that would dispel his doubts.
Sure enough, as I expected, when Mo Qing heard this, he fell into a contemplative silence for a long time before he turned slightly and stared at the wordless monument.
Zhiyan's soul was over there, staring blankly at Mo Qing, until Mo Qing lowered his head.
He murmured, "Why hasn't he come yet?"
Oh, challenging me.
I felt like rolling up my sleeves.
But soon I adjusted my emotions. Now is not the time to confront Moqing head-on. I held my breath, reminding myself to endure humiliation, resort to indirect tactics, and not act impulsively.
After Moqing murmured those words, he silently turned and left.
He didn't say how to arrange things for me, so I stood there, watching his back. Zhiyan, however, came up to me, puzzled, saying, "This stern leader... his expression just now seems sad." She said, "He doesn't look at all like a stern leader, but more like a lonely child who has been abandoned..."
With Moqing ahead, I couldn't talk to Zhiyan, so I just rolled my eyes at her.
The orthodox sects always raise some presumptuous scum.
Moqing sad? He's now in control. If he were to be sad, it would only be to sigh about the loneliness of being the most misunderstood in the world!