In The Cultivation World, Are There Only Demonesses Left?

Chapter 24: Thus, Time Began to Flow Backward

“Senior Sister Yuehan isn’t easy to get along with. She clearly said that whoever dares to look again will have to spar with her.

But those people thought sparring meant they had a chance, and one by one they came back beaten black and blue.

Still, Senior Sister Xue is better—she doesn’t mind being seen.”

Xia Lianxue could only shake her head: “When I practice the sword, I’m no gentler than Senior Sister Yuehan.”

That junior sister covered her mouth and laughed: “Some people are just gluttons for punishment.

After being beaten by Senior Sister Yuehan, they think she’s the most powerful person in the world, so they all go chasing after her.”

“No more of this,” Xia Lianxue stopped her junior sister’s teasing.

“Let’s first go subdue the demons, we can’t delay the sect’s mission.”

“That’s true. Senior Sister will soon have to spar with Senior Sister Qiu Yuehan, we can’t waste time here.”

It was the eve of the sect’s grand competition, at the time when True Person Hanshui had already passed away.

Next, Xia Lianxue was to return to Jade Temple to spar against Qiu Yuehan.

The perspective suddenly shifted again.

This time, Lu Changyuan saw Xia Lianxue kneeling on the dueling platform, while in front of her, Qiu Yuehan had blood at the corner of her lips: “Junior Sister, I accept your courtesy.”  

Beneath the lofty Immortal Sect gates, in front of tens of thousands of watching eyes at the sect’s grand competition.

Xia Lianxue had lost by half a move.

She gave a bitter smile: “Senior Sister is still stronger.”  

She did not know when Qiu Yuehan left, nor when everyone else departed.

She knelt until midnight, when the entire martial arena was empty, before she slowly stood, step by step walking back to her own quarters.

Lu Changyuan followed her back to her room.

A young maiden’s boudoir was always exquisitely arranged.

Beside the carved windows stood a rosewood bookshelf neatly lined with ancient texts.

In front of it was a wooden desk, with a celadon-glazed vase holding flowers placed at the upper left corner.

On the desk lay an unfolded scroll, upon which was written in ink: *“Frequently dispel desires, and the heart shall be at peace; clear the heart, and the spirit shall be pure.”*

It seemed the girl had not been calm the previous night, using the practice of calligraphy to steady her heart.

Creak.  

The Immortal Fairy opened the door.

She murmured to herself: “A loss is a loss.”  

On her way back, she had already repeated this a hundred times.

Xia Lianxue sat blankly in front of the mirror.

Her white clothes were stained with shocking bloodstains, starkly vivid.

Most of that blood was her own.

The injuries were not severe, only external wounds.

Neither she nor Qiu Yuehan had fought to the death—they had both exercised restraint.

“Not as skilled as others…”  

Xia Lianxue removed her clothes, folding them neatly.

Then her long, pale legs lightly lifted as she stepped into the wooden bath.

The rising steam seemed unable to soothe her fatigue.

Gululu—  

The young maiden submerged her head beneath the bathwater, curling her body tightly like a piece of mutton-fat jade.

When the water covered her head, the tears in her eyes blended into it, impossible to distinguish.

Lu Changyuan stood before Xia Lianxue, watching this scene.

He thought: Pitiful.  

A streak of black light suddenly appeared, climbing onto the tub while Xia Lianxue was unaware.

It was a black spider.

The seed of a Desire Demon.

Lu Changyuan frowned, instinctively reaching out, wanting to crush the spider.

But when his hand touched it, it passed right through.

Ah.

This was Xia Lianxue’s memory—he could do nothing here.

The spider crawled along the tub’s grain bit by bit, until it dropped into the bath behind Xia Lianxue.

Lu Changyuan looked up toward the wooden loft ceiling, where at some point a small hole had appeared.

If one looked in from outside at this moment, they would probably see True Person Han Yi’s face.

But Lu Changyuan had no interest.

Xia Lianxue seemed to sense something, raising her head in confusion, yet finding nothing.

At last she could only pat her face, splashing water, telling herself to pull it together.

Lu Changyuan watched her self-talk with amusement.

He knew well how soft and smooth that pale skin was—he had touched it.

He just hadn’t expected it to appear so… abundant.

Before Lu Changyuan could savor the sight any further—  

Xia Lianxue suddenly screamed: “Who are you?!”  

‘Hm?’  

‘You can see me?’  

‘Wasn’t this a memory?’  

Strange.

With that cry, the Immortal Fairy hastily wrapped herself in a white bathrobe, revealing only her snow-pale toes, reddened by the heat, faint steam rising from them.

She snatched up a longsword, thrusting it straight at Lu Changyuan’s face.

In that motion, her slender calf slipped from the bathrobe, and droplets left by the bath greedily traced down her skin before dripping onto the wooden floor.

For no reason, Lu Changyuan thought—  

Qiu Yuehan’s anklet should have been given to Xia Lianxue.

When he came back to himself, he was already clamping the Immortal Fairy’s sword with both hands.

The girl straightened her back, her face like frost and snow, filled with killing intent.

Yet she had only bathed halfway; her hair was still wet, clinging to her delicate cheeks.

No matter how straight her back, no matter how stern her bearing, she still looked like a springtime beauty with a touch of allure, even stirring a kind of fiery charm.

Lu Changyuan stared fixedly at Xia Lianxue.

It seemed he had to help this moment’s Xia Lianxue break free from her nightmare—though it wouldn’t be too hard.

“Immortal Fairy, who do you think I am?”  

Xia Lianxue tugged at her sword, but it did not budge.

She was a little angry, but not too angry.

That was the strangest thing—as though having her body seen by the man before her wasn’t the first time, and the anger she ought to have had was already spent the first time.

But clearly, she didn’t even know this intruder who was watching her bathe!  

“You are… you are…” Xia Lianxue bit her lip, her pretty face flushed red, as if she were about to cry.

She was always strong-willed.

Just earlier, hiding in the tub and crying had already been her last act of weakness.

Yet somehow, with her sword blocked, all that grievance surged up again, and her tears could no longer be held back.

The Immortal Fairy let go of the sword, tears pattering down.

“They all bully me! Everyone bullies me!”  

Lu Changyuan sighed: “Be good, don’t cry.”  

“I’ll cry!”  

“Don’t cry.”  

“I’ll cry!”  

“Crying still counts as time passing.”  

Xia Lianxue, for some reason, flared up: “So let it count!”  

Lu Changyuan scratched his head: “I came to help you defeat your Senior Sister.”  

“I already lost—what’s the point of winning now!?”  

“Trust me.”  

“I won’t trust you.”  

Lu Changyuan suddenly stepped closer, whispering by her ear: “As long as you want to win, you can win. Even time itself can flow backward.”  

Xia Lianxue stared at Lu Changyuan in disbelief.

But he only picked up the sword, gently prying open her fingers, placing it back in her hand.

“I’ll take you back through time. Would you like that?”  

This was Xia Lianxue’s nightmare.

As long as she wished it—  

She could return to that moment of defeat before Qiu Yuehan.

Lu Changyuan only needed to guide her, to make her believe time could flow backward.

Fortunately, the Immortal Fairy had already been nearly conditioned by him.

So she nodded dazedly, seemingly unaware of how presumptuous Lu Changyuan’s actions were.

Thus, time began to flow backward.

The moon retreated once more into invisibility, and the sky rose again with an identical sun.

She wore her white lotus dress, holding a three-foot sword, facing her Senior Sister: “Senior Sister, please instruct me.”