Chapter 201 - 142: A Crimson in the Snow

Chapter 201: Chapter 142: A Crimson in the Snow

From the very first day Lu Changyuan had planted the Demon Pattern in her, she had imagined this scene. Especially before she’d recovered her memories, she’d watched Xia Lianxue’s complete obedience to Lu Changyuan with trepidation. Qiu Yuehan had been terrified that she too would become like that.

She never thought she would be the one to take the initiative.

At some point, Lu Changyuan’s hand had already slipped slowly through the slit on the side of her black dress.

The Fairy tilted her head back, offering her lips once more. Her whisper carried a hint of teasing. "What’s wrong? Can’t undo a dress?"

Her eyes radiated an extremely dangerous aura. A Fairy falling from the clouds, plunging into the path of the Red Dust, was a truly terrifying sight.

Just as Lu Changyuan was about to speak, Qiu Yuehan murmured darkly, "If you dare say anything to ruin the mood, I’ll take over the Path of Death right now. Then it won’t be you on top."

Qiu Yuehan was dead set on it today. Light passed through the Fairy’s hair, falling upon the snow. The shadows of their dark locks cast upon the snow’s surface, evoking a sensual warmth.

The Five Desires assaulted him again.

Lu Changyuan gritted his teeth. "You’d better not beg for mercy later."

As his words fell, Lu Changyuan felt the mark of Yu tremble wildly, nearly making him lose his senses.

But this Moon Fairy was not afraid. Instead, she increased the pressure.

"You!"

Lying in the snow, Qiu Yuehan smiled faintly. She extended an alluring leg, using her delicate little foot to lift Lu Changyuan’s chin. "I might not be the one begging for mercy."

On her cool, snow-white arch, the Fairy’s healthy, faint blue veins were visible. Her small, soft foot trailed down Lu Changyuan’s chest.

The jadeite bracelet reflected the moonlight. The Fairy’s voice meandered in the snow, the occasional tremor audible at the end of her words.

Lu Changyuan sneered. For the first time, he maliciously activated the Heart-Devouring Demon Pattern, and the proud Moon Fairy could no longer even speak clearly.

Slender, green bamboo swayed gently. Snowflakes fell one by one. A winter crane took to the sky, carving a white streak through the heavy snowfall before letting out a clear cry. Crimson plum blossoms drifted down, dyeing the verdant bamboo forest red.

"Chronologically, I should have been the one to meet you before my junior sister, shouldn’t I?"

Lu Changyuan chuckled in spite of himself. This tigress from Miao Yu Palace was on the prowl and out for blood today. Nothing she said right now could be taken at face value.

RUSTLE.

The winter wind blew through the bamboo forest. The bamboo, green throughout the Four Seasons, rustled, sending a chill through the air. Their cool skin seemed to prove that it was indeed the dead of winter.

Qiu Yuehan saw a gentle breeze and a brilliant sun, and for a moment, her vision blurred.

Past memories began to melt away, bit by bit. Her memories as the Nether Monarch were already indistinct, so what was melting now were the memories from after she entered Miao Yu Palace for her cultivation.

The Spirit Race had raised her for only a few years before sending her to Miao Yu Palace. Unlike others, she didn’t climb the nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-nine steps. Instead, she took a back door and directly became an Outer Disciple.

Her talent was outstanding. Among her peers, with the exception of a junior sister named Xia Lianxue, no one could last more than three moves against her.

This led to a problem. So far ahead of the pack, she had no peers to talk to... and she wasn’t very good at talking with them anyway.

Qiu Yuehan had no common topics with the other disciples. She had no interest in romantic trifles and dalliances, nor did she care about promotions or competing for opportunities.

So all she had was the sword in her hand. So she practiced with her sword day after day, and the sword in her hand became her refuge and her only friend.

Han Ze Master said, "Cattle and sheep flock together; tigers and wolves walk alone."

He was praising her.

But when Qiu Yuehan returned to her room that day, she just shook her head softly.

’Only animals rely on instinct. Humans are social creatures. No matter how strong a lone wolf is, it can’t beat the combined efforts of a group.’

She, the maverick, wanted to touch the warmth of humanity more than anyone. Only later did she understand that this desire to integrate into the Human Race was a remnant of the Nether Monarch. That powerful Female Monarch who ran rampant in Ancient Times had most admired the Human Race’s resilience and communal nature.

Later, one year, while on a mission in a Mortal Dynasty called Wei, Qiu Yuehan was hunting a demon when she happened upon a commotion inside an establishment called Hong Lou.

She vaguely overheard bits and pieces: "You have a limitless future, why are you still so attached? I’ve already sent her back to her hometown, she won’t affect your career," and other such words.

As it turned out, when the Champion Scholar had fallen on hard times, one of Hong Lou’s courtesans had taken him in and given him money for travel, supporting him until he could achieve his scholarly rank. The Champion Scholar was truly a man of great literary talent, ultimately placing first in the examinations. He had just met with the Emperor that morning, yet by nightfall, he had come back to Hong Lou to buy the woman’s freedom.

A Champion Scholar with a limitless future wanting to marry a woman from a brothel—it was simply unheard of.

Human sentiment is as thin as paper.

The way of the world is like a game of chess, always new.

That was why Qiu Yuehan had always remembered this scene. She had always wondered just how strong the bond between a man and a woman had to be to make someone so reluctant to let go.

Today, the Fairy finally understood. She bit down hard on Lu Changyuan’s shoulder. "Use some force. Are you afraid of hurting me? Or are you the one who’s going to beg for mercy?"

Waves crashed in her ears, one after another, washing away the feeling of loneliness. The sands of time turned to mud, oozing water.

Flowing water, fallen flowers, spring too has passed—yet this moment was heaven in the Mortal World.

The Fairy’s legs were incredibly long. Her pale, tender foot slid across the skin of Lu Changyuan’s back. The feel of the jadeite bracelet formed a sharp contrast with her warm, soft arch.

Just like the Fairy herself—both cold and hot.

Qiu Yuehan seemed to think of something. Her eyes glazed over as she parted her lips and said, "Now... what are we?"

She had no expectation that Lu Changyuan would answer her. Lu Changyuan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the Fairy pulled him in tightly, sealing his lips.

What the Nether Monarch had failed to do, Qiu Yuehan had accomplished. This was proof enough that Qiu Yuehan was stronger than her past self.

Ripples spread across a tundra of eternal ice. Bamboo leaves of crystal frost refracted a hazy halo in the twilight. Snow dunes covered in silver sand trembled slightly. Icicles melted away. Heaven and Earth seemed like wine sloshing in a Glazed cup, quietly overflowing.

The snow of winter, the resilience of green bamboo, the red of plum blossoms—all of it rode the warm breeze as it caressed their faces and swept over the hills, bringing with it a feeling of utter bliss and release.

’The moon is so beautiful tonight,’ Qiu Yuehan thought.

’It’s not just the moon that’s beautiful.’

’Everything is beautiful. Everything is perfect. And my junior sister isn’t here, which is even better.’

The heat that could banish loneliness was like a torch lit in the dead of night. With a FWOOSH, it tore through the dark curtain, shining brightly in the cold night, finally growing into a savage, world-consuming wildfire.

Qiu Yuehan found the feeling from her dreams—utterly intoxicating, a surging passion that also brought warmth and peace.

Lu Changyuan sighed. "The sun has set."

"I don’t care."

A rouge-like blush bloomed anew in the moonlight. The warm night breeze set the plum blossoms in the bamboo forest into brilliant relief. A tipsy, sunset-like flush rose on her cheeks, as pale as ice and snow, and a scattered, pearlescent light spilled from between her crimson lips.

Qiu Yuehan arched her neck, her allure so breathtakingly potent it was frightening. There was no trace left of the cold Female Sword Immortal. Her cherry-pink tongue licked lightly over her parted lips, like a wave’s crest curling up the shattered reflection of the moon on a lake.

"We’re going until morning... Later, if I beg for mercy, you’re not allowed to let me go. Understand?"

"That bold?"

"If you have what it takes to make me less bold, then I’ll do whatever you want." The Moon Fairy whimpered softly, drawing her jade-like legs together.