Empress Xue Tong didn’t hide the truth from the first elder. “The demonic dragon clan’s revival requires that their bloodline successor cultivate a demonic dragon’s true form. That manual was provided for this express purpose by the demonic dragon elder himself.”

When Empress Xue Tong spoke with the demonic dragon elder, he had set up a barrier to prevent important secrets of the clan from leaking out. The first elder had seen Empress Xue Tong receive this manual from the dragon’s hands, but he didn’t know what it did.

“Allegedly, she needs to be a sword saint before being able to cultivate this technique,” Empress Xue Tong continued. “I looked into this manual further and found it abstruse even for me. To understand, learn, and prepare to cultivate a true dragon’s form would take great lengths of time and massive amounts of spiritual energy on her part—so I needed to give her a boost.”

Empress Xue Tong had waited over a decade to exact her revenge, and she was growing more impatient. Coincidentally, she knew of Yun Ruoyan’s unique constitution as a human furnace, and she had a manual for an art suitable for her that would greatly increase her cultivation: the dual cultivation technique.

After a little investigation, she theorized that the dual cultivation technique and the Dragon’s Art could be cultivated in conjunction even before she became a sword saint.

“There’s something curious about this technique,” Empress Xue Tong commented. “If she isn’t resolute in heart and mind, it’ll be very easy for her to become addled in the process of mastering her dragon form. However, she’ll still be able to obediently carry out her duty as the sole bloodline successor of the demonic dragons—and that’s really all they care about, isn’t it?”

“Empress…” The first elder frowned. “The demonic dragon elder must clearly be aware of the shortcomings of this technique, and how perilous it might be. Wouldn’t he have a good reason for stipulating that it only be handed to her as a sword saint?”

The empress mulled it over for a moment. “No. That girl’s mental strength is more than sufficient to handle the technique as she is.”

“Empress,” the first elder began again. “Yun Ruoyan is an irreplaceable part of our plans. If her mental acuity deteriorates too quickly, Xun Mo will surely be suspicious. If that were to happen, things will only get more tricky from there.”

The empress went silent again for a longer period than before. “I… admit I may have been a little anxious,” she finally relented. “Tell Xun Mo that this technique requires particular mental resilience to cultivate, and he can take it from there.”

When Yun Ruoyan awoke, she found herself nude and ensconced in Li Mo’s embrace, as was he. The light of dawn filtered in through the windows and dyed their bodies in gold. When Yun Ruoyan lowered her head to see bite marks and hickeys around her chest, she seemed to freeze in shock until Li Mo opened his eyes.

“Yan’er, you’re awake.” Li Mo extended an arm and draped a blanket over their nude bodies. When he saw Yun Ruoyan’s dazed expression, he reached a hand out and tapped her head. “Are you alright? Still tired from yesterday?”

Yun Ruoyan curled into Li Mo’s embrace. “No, I’m not tired at all. My body feels very comfortable, but my head seems to be stuffed with cotton.”

Li Mo smiled. “Yan’er, your passion last night was a sight to behold. Under your lead, we’ve begun practicing the dual cultivation technique.”

Yun Ruoyan logically knew what had happened last night when she woke up to find herself undressed and with the marks on her chest, but the strange thing was that she couldn’t remember it at all. She had no impression of the passion or the dual cultivation technique that Li Mo spoke of.

Her memory was wiped clean, as though she had fallen into a drunken stupor.

“Li Mo, why don’t I remember what happened last night?” Distressed, Yun Ruoyan placed a hand on her forehead.

By this time, Li Mo had also detected Yun Ruoyan’s unease and discomfort. His thoughts immediately turned to the Dragon’s Art manual: it had only been after Yun Ruoyan began to read it that she had experienced all these unusual symptoms.

“Yan’er, do you remember the contents of the manual I handed you last night?”

Yun Ruoyan shook her head. “No, nothing. But I have a feeling that, if I read it again now, I can understand at least half of it.”

Li Mo had also given the manual a cursory read, only to find it as incomprehensible as Yun Ruoyan found on her first reading. However, he had experienced no mental discomfort or memory loss. Because his mother had emphasized that this was a manual from the demonic dragon clan, he wasn’t too surprised last night that Yun Ruoyan, who possessed the demonic dragon bloodline, had had such an extreme reaction to it.

However, the symptoms she was experiencing seemed too severe to be worth the risk. “This technique might simply be too advanced for you at present,” Li Mo began. “Let’s ignore it for the moment and focus on the dual cultivation technique instead.”

In the past, it had always been Yun Ruoyan’s unique constitution that had nourished his body and spiritual vortex, but this time, it felt as though their cultivations were intermingling and supporting each other. Even Li Mo, used to asceticism and restraint, couldn’t resist wanting to experience the sensation again.

He kissed Yun Ruoyan’s hand, his full, red lips imprinting on Yun Ruoyan’s skin, so white as to be almost translucent, and then left a trail of kisses all the way up her arm.

“Yan’er, let’s try to delve further into this dual cultivation technique today,” he murmured, his husky voice sending frissons of desire up her body.

Li Mo pinned her down and began activating the technique, and a white film of spiritual energy cocooned them both. Because Yun Ruoyan didn’t have any memory of the process from yesterday, and because she had lost her boldness from yesterday, Li Mo had to slowly coax her into the act. Eventually, a film of spiritual energy covered her body as well.

As both of them circulated the technique, the two films of energy merged together, and the two of them began to cultivate once more…

Yun Ruoyan spent the entire day in cultivation with Li Mo in her cottage by the cliff. The Lin sisters came to find her during the day, but when nobody responded to their knocks, they left. Yun Ruoyan had often vanished in the past, so the Lin sisters had grown accustomed to being unable to find her.

As they entered the southern college, they heard Zong Yang and Guan Ruliu talking, and the two Lin sisters walked up to them.

“Guess who I saw today?” Zong Yang tried to exude an aura of mystery.

“Who?” Lin Qingxue replied, playing along with him.

“I bet you won’t believe me. I saw that girl from the northern college, Yi Qianying!”

“What? Yi Qianying?!” The Lin sisters both jumped in shock. “Are you certain? Hasn’t she been imprisoned in the hall of penitence?”

Yi Qianying had been imprisoned after it was revealed that she was directly responsible for Guan Tianyu’s death, a fact known to one and all within Kongming Academy. The punishment for such a severe crime was almost always lifelong imprisonment, so how could she have been let out?!

“No, I’m certain I saw her! There’s no one I don’t recognize in Kongming Academy, students from the four institutes or the outer disciples alike!” Zong Yang affirmed. “When I saw her, she was dressed in a prisoner’s clothing, and Master Rong was leading her from the hall of penitence to the northern college.”

At the start of Yi Qianying’s imprisonment, Empress Rong had sent the second elder a symbolic letter requesting her release, but after the second elder rejected her appeal, the crown prince Li Qianxiao had divorced her. Her release could have nothing to do with the royalty of the Li kingdom, so who could have helped her?

The Lin sisters stared at each other, unable to think of a reason for her sudden release.

In the northern tower of the northern college, Yi Qianying stood outside the second elder’s door, with Master Rong by her side. She was dressed in drab grey clothes, and had wasted away during her imprisonment that she was nothing but skin and bones.

“Master, I’ve brought Yi Qianying here,” Master Rong called out.

After a moment, the second elder’s voice coldly announced, “Bring her away and make her presentable. There’s no need for her to participate in the training; send her directly into the otherworld two months later.”

“Yes, Master,” Master Rong replied.

Yi Qianying knelt on the ground, her body bowed like a little shrimp. With a quavering voice, she said, “Second Elder, thank you for your gratitude!”

Yi Qianying had imagined that she would have been left to rot and die in the hall of penitence, but the heavens had seen fit to grant her a second chance at life. Of course, to the second elder, she was just a substitute to be sent to death in place of one of his college’s students.

Master Rong brought Yi Qianying to a secluded cottage in the northern college, telling her to remain in those quarters to rest. Someone would bring her food daily, and she simply had to wait for the Second Elder’s summons.

When Master Rong left, Yi Qianying stood alone in the quiet cottage. The pitiful, subservient gaze she had shown to Rong Tianhai and the second elder instantly vanished, replaced by a mask of ice. Her body was thin and frail, her face ash-gray, but her bowed spine slowly straightened as she walked into the cottage.

She opened the door, went inside, and locked it shut. The cottage was dark and cold, but it was far better than the hell she had experienced in the hall of penitence.

Yi Qianying sat down in a chair, coughed, and muttered, “You can come out now.”

A near-transparent shadow mysteriously appeared from behind Yi Qianying, passed through her body, and drifted to its front...