The Mountain Lord's Daughter

"I'll give you another chance—repeat yourself, and I'll listen," said Zhan Yunwei.

Her expression was far too obvious, prompting Yue Zhiheng to sneer. "If I hadn't stopped you, Miss Zhan, and let you run out of the pleasure barge, I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the consequences."

The scene Yue Zhiheng referred to sent a chill through Zhan Yunwei, making her shudder in hindsight.

Just as she was about to explain that she wasn't here to accuse him—she understood that Master Yue had no other choice—he cut her off.

"Besides," Yue Zhiheng said with cold indifference, closing his eyes in frustration, "I never claimed to be a virtuous gentleman. If anything, Miss Zhan, you should have more confidence in your appearance than in me."

"…"

The storm outside howled, but it couldn't compare to the shock Zhan Yunwei felt upon hearing his words.

She nearly choked. What was Master Yue implying?

If it weren't for the oppressive heat of this June night and the unmistakable realism of everything she sensed, she might have thought she was dreaming.

Was he complimenting her?

Belatedly, her ears turned red. Embarrassed? Maybe. Angry? Not exactly. "Didn't you say, Master Overseer, that you dislike spirit tamers?"

"I'm no Liu Xiahui, unmoved by temptations," Yue Zhiheng replied coolly. "Miss Zhan, I'm just an ordinary man. Lusting after beauty is human nature. Given our opposing stances and my tarnished reputation, you ought to know by now—I've never claimed to have anything in common with sages."

His blunt and unfiltered confession left Zhan Yunwei at a loss for words.

She knew she was considered attractive; before her spirit-taming abilities were revealed, many of her fellow students at the academy had shown her favor. But she had never imagined Yue Zhiheng would acknowledge her beauty.

Her expression turned strange as she looked at him.

"What are you staring at, Miss Zhan?" Yue Zhiheng asked, his fatigue evident. "If you have something to say, just say it. Nothing could be more irritating than what happened last night."

He didn't regret it, not really. Three days had passed, and the anger he'd felt back then had long dissipated. What remained was a faint sense of irony, tinged with mockery.

"I was just… surprised," Zhan Yunwei said. "I thought you…"

What? That he wouldn't harbor such thoughts about her? Or that his preferences might be… unconventional?

"There's no need to look so horrified, Miss Zhan," Yue Zhiheng said coldly. "As long as you behave sensibly, I won't give this matter another thought."

Zhan Yunwei instinctively touched her face.

Was she that easy to read? And she wasn't horrified; she was just…

Well, she couldn't describe it. Since she couldn't remember what had happened or the exact circumstances, the whole thing felt like a fantasy.

But one thing she knew for sure: she no longer had to worry about unintentionally offending Yue Zhiheng and provoking his wrath, leading to her untimely demise.

She lay back down, grumbling to herself: this was all Dongfang Che's fault!

Now that she was prepared, she could distance herself from Master Yue before the next entanglement occurred. However, the matter of the White Jade Butterfly needed to be resolved.

What troubled her more than the past was what to do six days from now. If she wanted to survive, she had to make up her mind before the next episode hit.

But where was she supposed to find a new master for the White Jade Butterfly?

Before she could figure out a solution, something happened the next morning.

At dawn, the guards from the Chetian Bureau reported that Yue Wujie had gone missing.

It had been over a month since Yue Wujie was exiled to Yongning County to clean latrines by Yue Zhiheng. The guards overseeing him had noted his daily grimaces and death-wish demeanor but knew he restrained himself for his sister's sake. They also understood that Yue Zhiheng wasn't one for empty threats—if provoked, he truly would break Wujie's legs. As a result, Wujie hadn't tried to escape and had been relatively obedient.

The guards didn't hover over him daily, assuming that confirming his presence at the county office was enough.

Who could have predicted that by yesterday morning, Yue Wujie would be gone?

At first, they thought he was playing tricks and searched Yongning County thoroughly, but he was nowhere to be found. They then followed his trail back to the Yue estate, only to find no sign of him there either.

A perfectly healthy man had vanished into thin air.

Alarmed, the officials reported the matter to Yue Zhiheng immediately.

"Miss Zhan, may I borrow your Mirror of All-Seeing?" Yue Zhiheng asked.

Zhan Yunwei nodded and retrieved the artifact from the inner chamber.

As Yue Zhiheng activated the Mirror, Zhan Yunwei watched curiously. It was her first time seeing how the artifact worked. She thought it might be useful to learn in case she could afford to check on her own master in the future.

As surges of spiritual energy flowed into the Mirror, its embedded gemstones lit up one by one. In the golden glow, the surface rippled like water, spreading outward in waves until the image began to take shape.

Gradually, the hazy scene became clearer.

It was a dimly lit room filled with chains and shackles. At the center, men and women—barely clothed—

Zhan Yunwei, raised with the righteous teachings of the immortal sect, hesitated. The principle of propriety warned her not to look at indecent sights. Should she avert her eyes?

Unable to resist, she glanced at Yue Zhiheng instead.

Master Yue's expression revealed nothing, his face calm as he scrutinized the scene in the mirror.

His demeanor wasn't much different from when he read books on artifact refinement.

Zhan Yunwei steadied herself. Since this was a serious matter, she reasoned it shouldn't be a problem.

She was about to study the mirror's image as Yue Zhiheng had done when he abruptly cut off the flow of spiritual energy.

"…"

Zhan Yunwei paused. She couldn't very well ask him to channel his energy again just so she could get a clearer look. Instead, she asked, "Master Yue, did you discover anything?"

Amidst the glaring whiteness of the scene, was Yue Wujie present?

How had Yue Wujie managed to scrub latrines his way into such a peculiar place?

Yue Zhiheng answered, "The surroundings were dimly lit, faintly illuminated by candlelight. The furnishings were not crude. On the ground, there were traces of spiritual fruit juice. Yue Wujie is being held in a secret chamber, along with several spirit tamers."

Zhan Yunwei felt her heart sink.

Spirit tamers held a prestigious status in the spiritual realm. Who would dare detain them privately? From what she had glimpsed, their situation was dire—worse, even, than when members of the immortal sect had been taken as prisoners.

Yue Zhiheng's gaze turned icy as he went to the inner chamber to change into a set of plain robes, clearly preparing to leave.

Seeing his demeanor, Zhan Yunwei guessed he knew who the culprit was.

"I'll go too," she said.

Yue Zhiheng glanced at her.

"I'm not trying to run away," she said earnestly. "You can trust me. If necessary, I'll swear a soul oath."

Given the state of those spirit tamers, it was better for her to help bring them out than for Yue Zhiheng to go alone.

Yue Zhiheng lowered his eyes, his expression unreadable. He didn't insist on the soul oath and simply said, "Let's go."

Yongning County was adjacent to Fenhe County, but it was much poorer. Despite its name meaning "eternal peace," it harbored the most corrupted populace in recent years.

To save time, Yue Zhiheng didn't use the slow Xuanwu carriage. Instead, he summoned his Green-Faced Ghost Crane.

When Zhan Yunwei saw the crane, her gaze fell on the numerous scars on its body—her handiwork from their last encounter.

It seemed Yue Zhiheng had been too busy recently to repair it. He never let anyone else handle his Ghost Crane, which explained why it had been left in this state.

Zhan Yunwei forced herself to remain calm as she sat on the crane, hoping he wouldn't bring up her previous escape attempt.

Fortunately, Master Yue wasn't that petty. He seemed disinclined to revisit old grievances.

The last time they had shared the crane, Yue Zhiheng had been unconscious, a puppet under her control. She had practically sat in his lap, and he had neither objected nor resisted.

This time, he sat cross-legged at a distance, fully in control of the crane.

It was as if an invisible boundary had been drawn between them. Although they had cleared the air last night, a heavier tension seemed to linger.

Zhan Yunwei understood that some matters had to be addressed.

"Master Overseer," she began, "I thought about it all night. What should I do about the Love's Entanglement curse?"

He glanced at her. "Have you come up with a solution, Miss Zhan? Hoping I'll let you run to your Senior Brother Pei?"

"Master Overseer, don't joke about such things. I would never think that," she said.

He chuckled softly, a hint of mockery in the sound.

Was he laughing at her denial, or something else?

Zhan Yunwei pressed on. "But if you'd be willing to let me go temporarily…" At least she could find someone willing to help. Six days later, she could return voluntarily.

Though Yue Zhiheng had admitted last night that he wasn't a gentleman and had even acknowledged her appearance, if he truly had any feelings for her, he wouldn't have used the Purple Pavilion Lotus Lamp to suppress the curse.

Nothing had happened between them, proving that Yue Zhiheng cared about maintaining boundaries.

He didn't want to be entangled with her, and Zhan Yunwei had no intention of dragging him down either. Strictly speaking, he was merely the dynasty's appointed warden over her. Neither of them had ever considered the other a partner.

"Forget about me letting you go," Yue Zhiheng said coldly. "My family can't bear the consequences, and His Majesty doesn't keep dead weight."

She had expected that.

"But I can't just stay by your side and wait to die," she said gloomily. When the curse struck again, even the Lotus Lamp might not work.

She couldn't let her spiritual energy unravel and die a pitiful death, could she?

Yue Zhiheng shot her a cold look, saying nothing.

Feeling cornered, Zhan Yunwei resolved to make plans while she was still clear-headed, giving herself a chance to survive.

"I don't want to die, Master Yue," she said solemnly. "At least not for such a ridiculous reason."

Her previous life had been arduous, yet she had clung to the desire to live. She wouldn't give up now. Zhan Yunwei didn't want to fall victim to the Love's Entanglement curse, but she valued her life far more than the so-called chastity used to bind spirit tamers.

She still wanted to return to her father and witness the downfall of the dynasty one day.

"Master Overseer, may I ask you a favor?" she said.

"Speak."

Clenching her lips, she made up her mind. "Could you help me find a few attendants from the dynasty's Chu Pavilion?"

Her plan was to ask them one by one. Surely someone would accept her spiritual stones and allow the White Jade Butterfly to transfer into their body. She would pay the person, find nectar, and later extract the spirit butterfly from both bodies.

After speaking, she heard no response from Yue Zhiheng.

Zhan Yunwei turned to gauge his expression, only for her chin to ache suddenly. She gasped in pain and looked up into his eyes.

She had never seen such an expression on him before.

His eyes were filled with cold fury, and the force of his grip nearly made her cry out. For some inexplicable reason, Zhan Yunwei suddenly recalled her senior sister's remark from years ago about artifact cultivators lacking any sense of tenderness.

"Zhan Yunwei, do you even realize what you're saying?" Perhaps he was so angry that he laughed instead, lowering his gaze slightly. "This is the solution you've come up with? You want me to find you attendants?"

He spoke slowly, deliberately, enunciating each word:

"I'll give you a chance. Say it again so I can hear it clearly."

"…"

But hadn't he already heard it clearly?