“You!” Xia Qingqing glared at her, but Dongfang Muxue looked completely at ease, clearly not intending to say another word.
“If you’re lying to me, I’ll haunt you even as a ghost,” Xia Qingqing finally conceded, though she had no choice. Since it was to save Song Qingshu, it wasn’t such a big deal.
Watching Xia Qingqing remove her cl0thes one by one in front of Dongfang Muxue, Song Qingshu’s eyes went wide. He quickly transmitted his voice to her: “Is this really okay?”
Dongfang Muxue transmitted back, “I’ve racked my brains for the sake of harmony in your harem. Don’t tell me at this critical moment that you can’t perform.” She had reason to worry. Song Qingshu had already fought two battles, and Lan Fenghuang in particular was deeply seductive. For an ordinary man, it would be impressive just to keep his legs from going weak, let alone rallying again.
“What nonsense,” Song Qingshu shot her a fierce glare, as if deeply insulted. “Your Dongfang Bubai from back then is nothing. Your man here is the ‘Wedding Night Invincible.’ Next time, find a chance not to have Lan Fenghuang help you. See if I don’t make you beg for mercy on your knees!”
Dongfang Muxue’s heart stirred. She couldn’t help spitting softly.
By then, Xia Qingqing had curled up in his arms. She pressed her face gently against his chest and asked shyly, “Big Brother Song, how should I help you?”
Song Qingshu was no rigid old scholar. He smoothly turned over and pressed her down. “Like this.”
“…”
“You smell of other women,” Xia Qingqing frowned instinctively.
“Uh…” Song Qingshu was suddenly awkward. “Should I go wash up?”
“Forget it…” Xia Qingqing sighed softly. She reached up, hooked her arms around his neck, and pulled him back down.
*****.
Watching the tumbling of the bedclothes, the corner of Dongfang Muxue’s mouth curled up. She quietly walked over.
Just as Xia Qingqing was lost in abandon, she suddenly felt an exceptionally smooth, soft body press against her back. She trembled all over. “What… what are you doing?”
“Helping you,” Dongfang Muxue whispered, gently biting her earlobe, her voice full of temptation.
“Go away! I don’t need your help.” Mortified to the extreme, Xia Qingqing reached back to push her away, but in doing so, left herself wide open. The other woman took advantage. “Ah! Don’t touch there!”
Finally pushing her away, Xia Qingqing, her face crimson, began hurriedly putting on her clothes. As she dressed, she gritted her teeth and said, “If you want to be a $lut, do it yourself. Leave me out of it.”
Dongfang Muxue, however, lay on her side as if confident. She smiled at her. “If you don’t come back, you’ll never learn Yuan Chengzhi’s whereabouts.”
“You!” Xia Qingqing was both angry and anxious. *How can there be such a shameless person in this world?* She wanted to lunge at her and bite her, but she knew that with their disparity in martial arts, she would only be throwing herself to the wolf.
While she was distracted, Dongfang Muxue pulled her back. “Come here.”
“Ah—” Xia Qingqing could not resist her strength. She fell back. Song Qingshu quickly caught her to keep her from getting hurt, frowning at Dongfang Muxue. “Don’t take this too far.”
“Feeling sorry for her?” Dongfang Muxue leaned close to her ear and said in a bewitching voice, “Haven’t you always been curious about how I… with women? Today, I’ll let you experience it.”
“Next time, have Lan Fenghuang do it,” Song Qingshu said hesitantly, worried about Xia Qingqing’s embarrassment.
“Fool, do you think I want to be intimate with her? I’m doing this to resolve the enmity between us.” Dongfang Muxue said impatiently.
“I see.” While Song Qingshu was distracted, Dongfang Muxue had already embraced Xia Qingqing from behind.
Watching the two peerless beauties entwined in the blankets like a pair of beautiful snakes, Song Qingshu’s heart pounded. His blood nearly boiled. He stopped caring and embraced Xia Qingqing from the front, kissing her deeply.
“Ahhng…”
Xia Qingqing had never experienced such an onslaught—one gentle and delicate, the other strong and forceful. Before long, she was utterly defeated, reduced to soft, plaintive sounds.
*****
No one knew how long had passed. Xia Qingqing finally sat up. Her face was flushed with a heady glow. Disheveled hair fell across her chest, veiling her alluring, moving body. “Now will you tell me?”
Dongfang Muxue lay languidly in Song Qingshu’s arms, her lips near his ear as she complained, “Feiyan was right. You’re an animal. You nearly broke my waist just now. Have you forgotten my injuries just healed?”
“Who told you to bully Qingqing? I was getting justice for her.” The corners of Song Qingshu’s mouth held the satisfied smile of a man well pleased.
“When I can beat you, I’ll be on top!” Dongfang Muxue fumed.
“You’ll probably never get the chance,” Song Qingshu said, smiling at her.
For once, Dongfang Muxue did not retort. Just as she was stewing, she heard Xia Qingqing’s question. “What did you say?”
“How can you be so faithless? I… I’ve already…” Xia Qingqing nearly burst into tears of frustration.
Song Qingshu quickly rose to comfort her, then said to Dongfang Muxue, “Alright, stop being mysterious. I want to know too.”
“Why are you helping her and not me?” Dongfang Muxue protested.
“Because your martial arts are too high. If I helped you, Qingqing would be bullied to death,” Song Qingshu said with a wry smile.
Dongfang Muxue: “…”
In the end, however, Dongfang Muxue laid out the whole story. It turned out she had realized long ago that she could not hide her identity as Dongfang Bubai from Xia Qingqing forever. Preparing for a rainy day, she had been thinking about how to handle this matter for a long time.
One day, she received intelligence that someone in the Liao Dynasty resembled Yuan Chengzhi in both appearance and martial arts. At first, she paid it no mind. She had confidence in her own power. No one could survive a fatal blow to the head from her. But on her way south, passing by the Golden Serpent Camp, she had a sudden impulse to check Yuan Chengzhi’s grave. She found it empty.
“That’s impossible. I buried Big Brother Yuan with my own hands!” Xia Qingqing exclaimed.
Dongfang Muxue rolled her eyes. “Why would I lie about something so easily verified? Go back and check for yourself.”
“Could an enemy have stolen his body?” Song Qingshu frowned. Personally, Yuan Chengzhi’s resurrection would do him no favors—after all, he had “inherited” his name, his territory, and even his wife.
Of course, Song Qingshu’s heart was not so dark. If Yuan Chengzhi were truly alive, he had no fear of competition. In a sense, they were no longer opponents on the same level.
“I thought the same,” Dongfang Muxue admitted. Resurrection was too far beyond common sense. She had not considered that possibility. Even before the battle, she had still intended to use someone else’s blade to eliminate Xia Qingqing. But when Xia Qingqing had fought her with such desperation, with Song Qingshu caught in the middle, a thought had suddenly occurred to her: *If only Yuan Chengzhi were alive.*
Once that thought took hold, it grew uncontrollably. Many previously ignored details began to form a coherent picture. This is how many things work: if you believe something impossible, you’ll find countless reasons to reject it. But once you decide something is possible, no matter how many difficulties, you’ll overcome them one by one.
Dongfang Muxue was like that. Once she assumed Yuan Chengzhi was alive, she found that many things suddenly made sense.
“After all that, it’s just your speculation?” Xia Qingqing could no longer contain herself. She had let Dongfang Muxue lead her by the nose, doing this and that, all to learn Yuan Chengzhi’s fate. This answer clearly did not satisfy her.
“Of course not,” Dongfang Muxue explained unhurriedly. A major reason she had made Xia Qingqing do all those things was that she needed time to organize her thoughts. Now, she had pieced together most of the puzzle. “The world doesn’t believe Yuan Chengzhi could be alive because they trust in my power. A full-force strike to a vital acupoint on the head—no one could survive that.”
Song Qingshu nodded. “Not to mention Yuan Chengzhi. Even with my current level, if you hit me there without my channeling energy to protect myself, I’d likely be in grave danger.”
“Exactly. That’s what I thought at first too.” Dongfang Muxue continued. “But then I reconsidered: if Yuan Chengzhi is alive, something must have helped him survive. He was struck on the forehead—he couldn’t have been wearing armor. After much thought, the only possibility is his internal cultivation.”
“How could the Primordial Unity Skill be that miraculous?” As Yuan Chengzhi’s wife, Xia Qingqing knew quite a bit about the skill. Her feelings were deeply conflicted. On one hand, she hoped Yuan Chengzhi was alive. On the other, common sense denied the possibility.
“The Primordial Unity Skill isn’t that miraculous. But what about the Nine Revolutions Primordial Unity Skill?” Dongfang Muxue smiled.
“The Nine Revolutions Primordial Unity Skill?” Song Qingshu frowned. Even he had never heard of such a martial art, let alone Xia Qingqing.
Dongfang Muxue did not immediately explain the art. Instead, she said, “Mount Hua is a very mystical sect. Though the current generation has declined, throughout history, it has produced many experts. The main reason is Mount Hua’s vast collection of martial arts manuals. Besides the well-known Nine Arts of Mount Hua, the sect also possesses many hidden divine arts. For example, Feng Qingyang’s *Nine Swords of Dugu*. And our Sun Moon Holy Cult’s *Sunflower Manual*, which was originally taken from Mount Hua.”
“The *Sunflower Manual* came from Mount Hua?” Xia Qingqing exclaimed. The *Sunflower Manual* was famous throughout the *wulin*. She had never imagined such a connection.
“Correct,” Song Qingshu nodded. Having read *The Smiling, Proud Wanderer*, he knew this piece of *wulin* lore.
“Actually, besides the *Sunflower Manual*, our cult also received intelligence that the *Nine Revolutions Primordial Unity Skill* was also hidden within Mount Hua. Unfortunately, the Five Sacred Mountain Sword Alliance had assembled their elite on the mountain that time. Our cult suffered heavy losses. We only seized the *Sunflower Manual*—we never found the *Nine Revolutions Primordial Unity Skill*.” Recounting this tragic history, Dongfang Muxue sighed. After a pause, she continued, “If Yuan Chengzhi truly returned from the dead, there’s only one explanation: the *Primordial Unity Skill* is actually the legendary *Nine Revolutions Primordial Unity Skill*!”