Chapter 2.1 - Red Lotus (1/2)

“You’re doing great.”

Wei Liang’s voice rang in her ears like deep velvet, like how couples would talk to each other in intimate tones. His cold lips brushed against the tip of her ear, feeling like a layer of cold snow and causing Lin Jiu to start.

Wei Liang stood up straight as his palm softly caressed the back of Lin Jiu’s hand. His cold yet gentle expression resurfaced once more. “I’ll come back soon.”

Lin Jiu was bewildered by his actions. She blinked in confusion, then stared at Wei Liang and Liu Qing Yin.

Then it hit her.

Wasn’t this the cruelest and oldest way in the books to make someone jealous? By intentionally flirting with another woman in front of Liu Qing Yin, Wei Liang was trying to make Liu Qing Yin not love him anymore. So who did this female supporting role piss off to be pulled into their relationship problems?!

Wei Liang and Liu Qing Yin stepped out of the room. Lin Jiu jumped off the bed, hurriedly put on her wedding gown, and started to chase after the both of them. Eventually, she followed them to the wooden bridge that connected two mountains together.

Wei Liang’s sect was known at the Thousand Divine Swords. While the name was somewhat arrogant, Wei Liang was a powerful warrior, and he wasn’t the only strong one in the sect either. He trained seven talented apprentices in the cultivation realm, and used his power to turn around the sect’s poor reputation into what it was now.

Wei Liang lived at a mountain peak surrounded by several other peaks like guards. Each peak was presided over by one of the seven swordsmen, and the mountains were connected by a wooden bridge.

By the time Lin Jiu stepped onto the wooden bridge, Wei Liang and Liu Qing Yin’s figures had long disappeared beyond the other side. The strong wind caused the wooden bridge to sway dangerously. There were only two long chains on each side to support someone, and Lin Jiu immediately panicked.

She was only of average skill: she learned her basics at fifteen years of age, and two years of training did not yield any mastery with the sword. She decided to stop wasting resources to cultivate and gave everything to her brother, Lin Dong. As such, Lin Jiu’s skills were barely past a middle beginner’s. She had slightly better flexibility and strength compared to an ordinary person, and could resist hunger somewhat longer, but there was no way she could survive if she fell down this endless chasm dropping steeply below her.

Lin Jiu took a hesitant step backwards. “Forget it, forget it,” she muttered to herself. “It’s just that the story isn’t following the plot, right? Risking my life for a man is not worth it.

Just when she decided to back away, a sudden wind gusted from below the mountains, causing the long wooden bridge to dance like a snake. Lin Jiu didn’t have any time to react, but she just knew that she slipped. The bridge gave another violent turn, and she saw the wooden plank beneath her make a 90 degree flip. She tried her best to hold on to the metal chains on the side of the bridge. Her feet were trapped in between the gap of the planks, but her whole body was dangling in mid-air and was swaying along with the wind.

Lin Jiu’s mind went blank.

She already knew better than anyone else what it was like to drop to her death. Just this morning, her biological parents brought her brother to the tiny one-bedroom apartment she just bought, and tried to force her to give her brother the house for marriage purposes. She would not agree to it, of course. Ten years ago, when she and her family found out she had cancer, her parents chased her out of her own home and had her fend for herself. She never wanted to have anything to do with her family anymore.

Thankfully her cancer didn’t worsen, and a few years later, she managed to buy herself a small place to live with all the money she earned from her hard work. She had barely even settled down when her “family” noticed this and came barging in! They were no different from blood-sucking leaks!

She firmly refused, and when her father saw that she wouldn’t pass the house to her brother—he decided he was going to push her down over thirty stories.