Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I had only two goals in coming to the Sword Sect.

Overcome my fear of men.

Then find a suitable partner for dual cultivation.

As for what Xie Lingyu was plotting, I originally couldn’t have cared less.

But I hadn’t expected that he seemed to genuinely want to make it up to me.

He was the Sword Sect Chief, yet he no longer did anything proper. All day long, he only knew to circle around behind me like a watchdog that refused to leave my side.

This seriously affected my efforts to hook a dual cultivation partner.

To drive Xie Lingyu away, I, an expert in the psychology of male cultivators, reached out and asked him for money.

But Xie Lingyu wasn’t scared off. Instead, without another word, he handed me his Qiankun Bag.

When he saw me accept it as if it were only natural, Xie Lingyu even seemed rather happy.

“If Yanyan needs anything else, just tell your brother. I’ll give you the very best of everything.”

Me: “…Tch.”

Pretty words. As if I really were the most important person to him.

But if I truly mattered that much, why had Xie Lingyu thrown me away back then?

Years ago, disaster had suddenly struck the mortal realm.

The Xie Family had set up porridge stations to save people, only to catch the attention of bandits, who slaughtered my entire household.

Only Xie Lingyu and I, protected by the adults, escaped through a dog hole.

Twelve-year-old Xie Lingyu held on to filthy, ash-covered me and swore to the heavens that he would take care of me forever.

But less than half a month later, he abandoned me in a ruined temple while I lay unconscious with a high fever, and fled on his own.

If I hadn’t been lucky enough to be picked up by a passing cultivator from the Joyful Union Sect, I probably would have ended up as a pot of meat porridge in that ruined temple long ago.

It wasn’t that I had never made excuses for him.

I had even lied to myself, thinking maybe my brother had gotten lost and had simply missed me by chance.

Until one year, when Senior Sister took me to the Sword Sect to look for prey, and through the crowd, I caught a distant glimpse of the Sword Sect Chief standing upon a high platform.

Clear as wind and bright as moon, the focus of every eye.

A world apart from me.

So there had been no accident. No unavoidable reason.

He had simply wanted to throw away a burden like me so he could chase his own bright future.

In that instant, every feeling I had once held for Xie Lingyu transformed completely into hatred.

That resentment flowed through my blood for years, corroding my bones and flesh.

So even though I knew there was no need to make an enemy of him, even though I knew I should use him to maximize my own benefit…

When Xie Lingyu stood before me, wearing that guilty, heartbroken expression…

I simply couldn’t restrain my malice toward him.

Suddenly, Senior Brother’s words echoed in my ears.

…Something that the Joyful Union Sect finds exciting would definitely disgust Xie Lingyu, wouldn’t it?

Looking at the noble, proper, exiled-immortal figure before me, I suddenly laughed.

“Brother, will you really give me anything I want?”

Hearing that I was finally willing to call him brother, Xie Lingyu was overjoyed and immediately nodded, making his promise.

“Anything at all. As long as it’s what Yanyan wants.”

So I raised my hand and touched the side of his face, my fingertips wandering ambiguously over that perfect face.

“Then right now, I’m short one cultivation cauldron.”

Xie Lingyu froze in stunned disbelief.

I pressed my thumb against Xie Lingyu’s thin lips, grinding his originally pale lip color into a decadent, ruined crimson.

“Didn’t you say you’d give me anything, and that you’d give me the very best? In my eyes, you’re the best.”

“So, are you willing to become my cultivation cauldron, my dear brother?”