The Mountain Lord's Daughter

"You mean, I should sleep on the floor?"

Before leaving, everyone placed the wedding wine on the table.

Yue Zhi Heng indeed had no intention of touching the wine. His new bedroom was arranged reluctantly by his second aunt under the supervision of the Chitian Mansion. It was evident at first glance that little care had been taken—he hadn't even put away the books on artifact crafting and runic seals that he had brought back to the room a few days ago.

It was still early, not yet time for sleep, so Yue Zhi Heng casually walked over, picked up the book, and continued reading.

Yun Wei saw that he was indeed ignoring her, and unlike in her previous life, she didn't sit there dazed, thinking of her injured father whose fate was unknown, or thinking about Pei Yu Jing.

She walked over to the copper mirror and sat down, beginning to undo the intricate and delicate hairpins from her hair.

As she removed them all, her long, black hair cascaded down like a waterfall behind her.

It had been raining in the capital for several days, but Fenhe County had clear skies for miles. A few fireflies flew through the window and landed on her vanity.

Yun Wei sensed Yue Zhi Heng's gaze. She turned her head and saw that, at some point, he had stopped reading and was now looking at her.

"Why are you looking at me?"

Yue Zhi Heng stared at her loose hair, "Miss Zhan adapts quickly."

He had expected that Yun Wei would be pale, grieving as if mourning the death of a loved one. Or perhaps, as Fang Huai said, she would cry in a corner, feeling heartbroken. He even thought she might be thinking of ways to kill him tonight.

He had gone to read precisely to give her a chance to act.

The imperial court would remain here for several days to prevent the remnants of the Immortal Alliance from coming to rescue people. During these days, he indeed had to stay with her.

If he didn't prevent Yun Wei from venting her frustration, and made her realize how difficult it was to kill someone with Ninefold Spirit Veins, he feared the next few days would not be peaceful.

To his surprise, she did none of those things. She took off her hairpins, didn't cry, didn't cause a scene, but instead stared at the fireflies outside the window.

The tiny lights outside the window paled in comparison to her pair of sharp, watery eyes. Yun Wei seemed completely uninterested in seeking her own demise.

Fenhe County in May was the most beautiful time of the year. The Fenhe River was clear, and the summer insects chirped softly.

Hearing Yue Zhi Heng say she adapted quickly, Yun Wei responded, "What else can I do?"

She looked at him, "Can you let me and my relatives in the prison leave?"

"I can't," Yue Zhi Heng withdrew his gaze and returned to his book, "You know better than I do. The imperial court won't let you leave until the people from the Immortal Alliance are captured."

Yun Wei snorted, "So, does that mean I'll have to stay in the Yue residence for the rest of my life?"

She immediately realized the awkwardness of her words. Both of them paused for a moment.

Yun Wei felt a wave of embarrassment and annoyance, and hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean it like that. I'm saying, evil will never overcome righteousness. You can't possibly capture every member of the Immortal Alliance in the world!"

After a long pause, Yue Zhi Heng's voice finally came, "I didn't think too much about it."

The room fell silent again.

For the first time, Yun Wei wondered if the kitchen's pace of serving food was a little slow. Maybe Yue Zhi Heng thought the same, because he finally broke the silence.

"Miss Zhan, you don't have to belittle yourself. When I die, you'll be able to leave. After all, there are many who want to kill me. You can pray they try harder."

He paused, then added, "But don't bother trying. I'm different from other spirit cultivators. I have no patience for spirit masters, and I don't have any pity for delicate beauties."

The words carried an unmistakable warning for her to behave.

Fortunately, the odd silence was broken. After the previous incident with the spirit artifact, and his directness now, Yun Wei couldn't help but ask, "Master Yue, did I offend you in the past?"

Yue Zhi Heng looked up at her, staring for a while before calmly responding, "No."

Yun Wei indeed had no memory of Yue Zhi Heng, so did he just hate all spirit masters?

She knew that there existed people like him—arrogant, looking down on or even despising spirit masters as "weak." But those with such views were few.

Whenever she thought that perhaps in her previous life, she had misunderstood him, and that Yue Zhi Heng might still be redeemable, he would always remind her that she was overthinking. He was beyond saving, and didn't need anyone to save him.

Coincidentally, the kitchen finally brought in the meal.

After cleaning his hands, Yue Zhi Heng asked Yun Wei, "Are you hungry?"

Yun Wei thought there was no need to starve herself. She hadn't eaten anything since the morning when she left the imperial palace. Nowadays, cultivators didn't advocate for fasting but rather followed a natural approach to eating.

Not eating wouldn't kill her, but it was still uncomfortable to be hungry.

She had never thought she was too shy, but eating with Yue Zhi Heng felt like something utterly unimaginable. However, if she didn't eat, she'd likely starve by midnight, which seemed even more unbearable. So, after some hesitation, she finally sat down and shared the meal with him.

Several of her actions today had surprised Yue Zhi Heng. He raised his eyes to glance at Yun Wei and noticed that her lip balm had somehow been wiped off, revealing her natural lip color, which was a slightly lighter red. Oddly, this made her lips appear even more delicate and vibrant.

He withdrew his gaze and ate in silence.

Yun Wei could only think one thing— the food in the Yue residence was really delicious! Even the most ordinary dishes tasted like delicacies from the mountains and seas.

She had heard that when Yue Zhi Heng was young, he wasn't favored at home and often went hungry, without even decent clothes. Later, when he joined the imperial court and rose to power, he insisted on wearing the finest clothes, eating the best food, and living in the best houses. The common folk often criticized him for being extravagant and indulgent.

Yun Wei had once cursed him silently in her heart, but now, as she held her bowl, she couldn't help but think... this food really smelled great.

The lineage of Ling Mountain still adhered to traditions from earlier times, where meals were simple and paired with spiritual fruits to nourish the body. In truth, the food was rather bland, and eating it made life seem unremarkable.

Yue Zhiheng noticed that from the moment they began eating, a faint sense of joy spread across Zhan Yunwei's eyes. She tried hard to hide it, but her bright and sparkling gaze betrayed her. He had heard that on Spirit Mountain, every breath was part of cultivation; the immortals lived in seclusion, preferring to eat only spiritual fruits and drink spiritual dew.

Now, however, it seemed that Zhan Yunwei was not like that.

Whether it was just an illusion, he couldn't tell, but he too felt that the food today was especially delicious.

Unfortunately, before the two of them had finished their meal, hurried footsteps could suddenly be heard outside.

Yue Zhiheng's expression changed as he saw who had arrived. Without waiting for the person to speak, he had already stood up and left the room.

What happened? Yunwei hesitated for a moment, then took a step and followed.

Yue Zhiheng walked very quickly, and by the time she chased after him, she had already lost sight of him, only seeing the direction in which he had left.

Yunwei had lived in the Yue family residence for several years in her previous life, so she immediately recognized that it was the mute girl's courtyard.

The mute girl lived in the most remote courtyard of the residence, rarely leaving. Every time Yunwei saw her, she would smile gently with a hint of timidity.

She had no name, and everyone called her the mute girl.

Later, by chance, Yunwei learned from Yue Zhiheng's wet nurse that the mute girl was actually Yue Zhiheng's biological sister.

She was an ordinary person who had not awakened any talent.

In the dynasty, people like her, born into noble families, were considered a bad omen for the family's downfall, and thus were often executed at birth.

Even if they miraculously survived, they would not be treated like the young masters or young ladies of the family; their status was lower than that of servants.

When Yunwei learned in her previous life that the mute girl was Yue Zhiheng's sister, she had evil thoughts and even considered kidnapping the mute girl to exchange for the Zhan Shu Mirror.

But that time, when an evil anomaly occurred, the mute girl chose to protect Yunwei with her life. Yunwei could not bring herself to harm such a pitiful and innocent girl.

Now, what had happened to the mute girl?

At some unknown point, the moon hung high in the sky, and before Yunwei could reach the courtyard, she heard the sound of pained, hoarse cries from a distance.

The sound was almost unrecognizable, not like a human voice, muffled and eerie.

Using the moonlight, Yunwei focused her eyes and saw a strange creature writhing and rolling in the courtyard.

The creature's back arched high, as if carrying several huge lumps of flesh. Its hair grew wildly, shimmering like cold, swaying seaweed under the moonlight.

"It" painfully covered its face, making a mournful sound, as if undergoing a transformation.

Yue Zhiheng helped "it" up, feeding something into its mouth. "It" finally quieted down, and the strange changes on its body disappeared.

At first, Yunwei thought it was a cultivator who had been possessed by evil energy and was undergoing a transformation. But she soon realized it wasn't.

When a cultivator undergoes a transformation into an evil spirit, their form becomes strange, their memory wiped clean, and they become cruel and violent.

But this creature was nothing like that. It was full of pain and pity, only curled up on the ground, trembling.

As a Spiritual Master, Yunwei had a keen sensitivity to evil energy, yet she felt no trace of it.

When she looked again, she noticed something familiar in the shape of the "creature."

It was the mute girl!

A shock of terror rushed through her heart.

Yue Zhiheng's gaze was cold, and he raised his eyes to look at her. Yunwei instinctively took a step back. For a moment, she almost thought that discovering this "secret" would lead to her being silenced.

But Yue Zhiheng simply said calmly, "Have you seen enough? If you have, you may leave now."

When she confirmed that Yue Zhiheng was not angry, though his expression seemed somewhat melancholy, Yunwei knew this was not the time to ask questions. She turned and walked toward the new house.

Although her body had returned, her mind remained in that courtyard. She couldn't help but wonder, what had happened to the mute girl?

Later, the Yue family claimed she had passed away from illness, but did this have anything to do with the events that just unfolded?

The mute girl opened her eyes and saw Yue Zhiheng beside her.

She looked at him with a mixture of guilt and urgency, gesturing with her hands, pushing him away, and glancing toward his courtyard, as if urging him to leave quickly.

Yue Zhiheng said, "It's fine. It was a royal marriage arrangement, and she has someone she loves. I left because it was what she wanted."

The mute girl looked at him disapprovingly and pushed him again.

"Fine, I'll leave. Remember to take your medicine, don't skimp on it. I can always get the medicine ingredients for you."

The mute girl gazed at him with sorrow, then suddenly slapped herself. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stopped them from falling, remembering that today was Yue Zhiheng's special day, and shedding tears would bring bad luck.

"I didn't kill anyone, it has nothing to do with you. Don't blame yourself. I've always said, I refuse to live a life like that. If I do anything, it'll be to become someone exceptional."

He said this with a cold smile and decisive tone. The mute girl felt a strange unease and shook her head, as if trying to tell him he was wrong.

But Yue Zhiheng did not look at her. He simply said, "I'm leaving."

She no longer tried to stop him.

She anxiously watched as Yue Zhiheng walked away, her eyes full of longing. She hoped that he would marry his wife and treat that girl well, living a normal life like everyone else. Why pursue fame and fortune, and rise to power?

Yunwei had thought that Yue Zhiheng would stay with the mute girl tonight, but by the time the moon rose to its zenith, he had returned.

Unable to stop herself, Yunwei glanced at Yue Zhiheng, only to see that his expression was calm and indifferent, as though he had just gone for a walk. It seemed as if nothing had happened.

If not for the grass and mud stains on his clothes from the mute girl's struggles, Yunwei might have almost believed that everything she had just seen was a hallucination.

She thought that when Yue Zhiheng returned, he would warn her about something, but to her surprise, he looked at her with a hint of cold indifference and exhaustion, saying, "I'm going to take a bath. Do you want to go outside, or would you prefer to wait in the outer room?"

"…" Yunwei widened her eyes. If there had been a mirror in front of her at that moment, she thought her expression must have been quite comical.

Is this really happening? No talk first?

Seeing that she didn't respond, Yue Zhiheng looked at her with his clear, watery eyes, now slightly narrowed. He said, "If you have no objections, I'll go ahead."

His current room was indeed the best in the entire Yue household, and it had a special section partitioned off for bathing. Yue Zhiheng gave the orders, and soon hot water was brought in.

Yunwei had never noticed in her previous life how calm Yue Zhiheng could be when she wasn't showing any murderous intent. It was as though, whether she was there or not, he could carry on with his life, even as if she didn't exist.

As she sat in the outer room, listening to the sound of the water, an odd thought crossed her mind. If it hadn't been for her having to kill him in her previous life to deal with him and not being able to sleep well, perhaps Yue Zhiheng would have just stayed and wouldn't have gone to the Che Tian Mansion.

Lost in her thoughts, she suddenly saw Yue Zhiheng had changed into new clothes and was coming out, thankfully still well-dressed and neatly put together.

Seeing him looking at her, Yunwei said, "I'll use the cleansing charm."

No matter what, even though she knew Yue Zhiheng wasn't interested in women and had no interest in her, she still couldn't bring herself to bathe near him, separated only by a few screens.

Yue Zhiheng seemed to have no objections. He let her do as she wished. After a brief silence, he said, "Then, Miss Zhan, let's talk about how we'll rest afterward."

She bit her lip and nodded. Indeed, she knew that to prevent any attacks from the Immortal Alliance, Yue Zhiheng wouldn't be staying apart from her these days.

Yunwei's gaze held a trace of eagerness, hoping that, considering they hadn't had a falling out this time, he might say something more reasonable.

Yue Zhiheng said, "You can sleep wherever you like, but don't think I'll sleep on the floor."

"Yue Zhiheng!" She gritted her teeth, her face a mix of embarrassment and frustration at being seen through. "Are you saying you want me to sleep on the floor?"

"I didn't say that."

Yunwei's spiritual power had been sealed, so she was no different from an ordinary person now. Although the summer night wasn't cold, the evil energy in the spirit realm was everywhere. Even if she didn't mind sleeping on the floor, she had to consider how many lives she had left.

She still remembered that in her previous life, because she despised him, she stubbornly slept on the floor. Yue Zhiheng couldn't be bothered with her, and after two days, the evil energy entered her body, almost costing her half her life. She nearly became the first "Spiritual Master" to die from being contaminated by evil energy.

Yunwei laughed in anger and frustration, deciding to just give in, "Fine! I'll sleep in the bed!"

No one was getting anything good!

"…"