The Past

Lou Ji recounted the scene in an airy, casual tone, even laughing as she cracked a joke: "It was all thanks to my father's former post that your elder sister knew a thing or two about the habits of low-tier demonic beasts." Even knowing how it turned out, Xu Yuan still broke out in a cold sweat on her behalf. Unlike a green fledgling who had just arrived in this world, he understood all too well that even the lowest tier of demonic beast was not something an ordinary mortal could handle alone—let alone a six-year-old girl. Had the slightest mishap occurred, he likely never would have met the breathtakingly alluring elder sister standing before him now. *If it had been me in that situation…* Xu Yuan tried placing himself in the scene back then. The conclusion was quite simple: had it been him, he would have had a chance of surviving as well. He would just need to keep one principle firmly in mind. Low-tier demonic beasts possessed little intellect, barely distinguishable from ordinary wild predators or livestock. Better a fellow traveler perish than oneself. You did not need to run faster than the beast; you only had to outrun your companions. Once the beast ate its fill, you would naturally have a chance to slip away. Yet surviving in the desolate wilderness required considering far more than merely escaping an initial beast attack. First, one could not afford to be wounded. The stench of blood would not only attract demonic beasts, but also draw every keen-nosed wild predator lurking in the mountain forests. Second, one had to plan for sustenance while fleeing. Eighty percent of Great Yan's territory was barren and uninhabited. On remote official post roads, it was common not to see a single horse or carriage for ten days or half a month. It would be best to grab some provisions from the prisoner carts transporting the female kin. Therefore, the instant the beast attack began, one had to stay calm, plot how to use others as bait to draw the beast away, and map out an escape route… Reaching this thought, Xu Yuan fell into a momentary silence. He realized something. Her age when she had lived through all of that. Six years old. "..." What could he, Xu Yuan, have done at six years old? He briefly searched his memories. In his previous life, he seemed to have been shooting birds with a slingshot and playing with mud in his hometown; in this life, he had spent those years raising hell all over the Prime Minister's Manor. Recalling those days brought a faint, wry smile to his lips, but it also gave him the distinct sensation of listening to a storybook. A storybook with an indomitable female protagonist. Yet this was no storybook; it was Lou Ji's lived past. After surviving the beast attack, Lou Ji had relied on the dry rations she pilfered during her escape to scrape by in that desolate mountain forest, where no village lay ahead and no inn offered shelter behind. Lou Ji glossed over that entire period in a single breath, however. As a wilderness survival enthusiast in his past life, Xu Yuan could not help feeling a twinge of regret. Just as she always did, Lou Ji read his thoughts. Raising a slender finger, she gave a soft, amused chuckle: "There's nothing much to say about that time. I memorized the path I took to flee, burrowed in the mountains for three or four days living on the rations I'd swiped, and then headed right back to the site of the attack. "After all, low-tier demonic beasts only eat meat; they don't eat dry rations." Xu Yuan was left speechless. He had never imagined this elder sister of his had been so daring from such a tender age. The heavy stench of blood would draw beasts from miles around. Once the demonic beasts finished the first round, a second wave of large wild predators would move in to scavenge the leftovers, followed by a third wave, and a fourth, until those pitiful wretches were reduced to nothing but unidentifiable gnawed bones and gory scraps. Judging by the size of the convoy Lou Ji had described, three or four days would have been far from enough for that gluttonous feast to end. Yet Xu Yuan quickly understood. Going back might mean death. But not going back meant certain death. A calm temperament might be inborn, but survival skills were never innate knowledge. The young Lou Ji must have known all too well that she had no ability to forage for food in the deep mountains, so she could only take the risk and return for the rations. After that, little Lou Ji was taken in by a merchant caravan, worked as a tavern hand, and even served as a maidservant to a bandit chieftain's wife in a mountain stronghold. Passing through countless hands, she clawed and scraped her way through the dregs of society. In the forty-third year of Yongqing—eleven years after Xu Yinhe entered the capital—Lou Ji, delayed by three years, finally arrived at the heart of Great Yan: Di'an City. As they talked, the two had already arrived before another elegant pavilion with its courtyard gates tightly shut. Lou Ji took hold of the door knocker, tapped it twice, and said with a soft, gentle laugh: "Speaking of coincidences, I actually caught sight of your father the very first time I entered the capital. Back then, though, he was riding through the streets in grand style in a carriage. Nearly everyone along the road was talking about him, and I only caught a fleeting glimpse of him through the carriage window." Interest sparked in Xu Yuan's eyes. "What did you think of him?" "What could I think? With that brief glimpse, all I thought was that this young man was truly handsome… Oh, your father was probably pushing thirty by then, just looking young because of his cultivation." Lou Ji murmured a playful tease, then added with a low chuckle, "To tell you the truth, the very moment I saw your father, I set my sights on him." "Set your sights on him?" Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Don't you dare run off and tattle to your father." Lou Ji glanced at him from the corner of her eye, her smile radiant. "Back then, your father was already the rising star of the imperial court. Not yet thirty, he had been renowned throughout the realm for over a decade and held the post of Libationer of the Imperial Academy. If I could cling to him and use his power, it would surely aid my revenge." Lou Ji must have been only nine at the time, yet Xu Yuan did not find such a scheme out of place coming from her. He asked softly: "And then what happened?" "..." Lou Ji merely smiled, refusing to answer and leaving him hanging on a cliffhanger. The door opening right then provided an excuse for the abrupt cutoff: the retained elder residing within had come to answer. Unlike the gentle Granny Long from earlier, the woman living here was middle-aged, with high cheekbones and fox-like eyes. Though handsome at first glance, she gave off an unmistakable air of sharp, biting malice. Xu Yuan briefly recalled her identity. The current Libationer of the Imperial Academy. Although the lower strata of society remained strictly patriarchal, women from top aristocratic clans could enter officialdom once they advanced into the higher tiers and gained access to the Dao of cultivation. Even so, owing to certain natural physiological traits, the proportion of female officials in the Great Yan Dynasty remained very small. Just as he was pondering this, an abrupt shift unfolded. The moment the shrewish, mature beauty laid eyes on Xu Yuan's face, she struck. Straight at Xu Yuan. A ripple of frigid light bloomed in the winter night. The violent gale it whipped up sent the long hair trailing at Xu Yuan's temples fluttering wildly, churning the snow on the ground into a dazzling flurry before the courtyard gate. By the time Xu Yuan could register what was before him, a flexible sword shimmering with emerald light was already hovering mere inches from his brow. The distance was minuscule. Yet that tiny gap was an insurmountable chasm. Lou Ji reached out and caught the sword's tip, which was visibly smeared with lethal poison, her gaze entirely tranquil. The shrewish beauty bit her lip tightly, her figure wrapped in a gauzy gown trembling faintly in the wind and snow. With that single thrust thwarted, the outcome was already sealed. The woman looked at Lou Ji, her lips twitching. "Sister… why?" Compared to when she had faced Granny Long, Lou Ji's gaze was far colder now, though her voice remained as airy and sultry as ever: "That husband of yours crossed the line—more than once. And you merely acquiesced." "..." Hearing this, the light in the shrewish beauty's eyes dimmed somewhat, as though she had accepted her fate. Yet in the very next instant, Xu Yuan suddenly felt a suffocating tightness squeeze his chest. A surge of dizziness engulfed his mind before he could even circulate his cultivation to resist, and he slumped toward the side. The shrewish beauty snapped fiercely: "Lou Ji, don't move, or I will—" Her words cut off halfway through. Without the slightest warning, the middle-aged beauty clutched her throat and dropped to her knees in the snow before them, strangled, rasping gasps tumbling incessantly from her mouth. Her handsome features twisted in what seemed like the utmost agony. Drawing Xu Yuan into her arms, Lou Ji let him lean against her shoulder and looked down at the woman writhing in torment on the ground, her voice indifferent and calm: "Xinming, you look unsightly like this. Don't forget who taught you your poison arts." With those words, the woman collapsed agonizingly into the snow before the gate. Cradling his elder sister's soft, sweet-scented body, Xu Yuan silently watched the woman thrashing on the ground, sighing inwardly. When facing death, some chose dignity, while others required a little help. Silence stretched through the falling snow. Only after roughly half a quarter of an hour did the woman gradually cease her struggles. Blood leaked from her seven orifices; her death was excruciatingly painful, as though she had suffered every extreme of despair known to the mortal world. In that lingering silence, Xu Yuan felt a chill and tightened his hold on the soft, warm beauty beside him. Sensing his movement, Lou Ji gave a soft huff: "Still not letting go? Do you want a taste of this poison too?"