Chapter 13 : Death Date

Four lotus lanterns drifted down the Zhuoyue River, merging with thousands of others until their shapes became indistinguishable, carrying hopes and wishes into the vast sea.

“It’s getting late,” Xu Chang said as the crowd thickened around them.

“Master, let’s head back.”

Lin Mozhi nodded and reminded them, “Stay close. If you get lost and end up sleeping on the streets, don’t expect anyone to come looking for you.”

“Did Sister Luyi get lost before?”

Shen Jixue caught on quickly.

“Ah, Ah Xue is sharp,” Xu Chang chuckled, in a rare relaxed mood.

“Your Sister Luyi got lost just two years ago. Made me search half the night for her.”

Luyi huffed, hands on her hips.

“What’s wrong with you all today? Picking on my misfortunes! How about I tell Ah Xue some of yours?”

Ahem.

Xu Chang cleared his throat and straightened up.

“Time to go. Master, let’s move.”

Lin Mozhi acknowledged and turned, bamboo cane in hand.

Xu Chang waved at the others.

“Hurry up and follow!”

Luyi stomped her foot, dragging Shen Jixue along.

“Big, brave men—don’t you dare run away!”

Laughing and joking, the four made their way toward Qinghong Bridge.

They were heading back, and the bridge hadn’t seemed crowded at first.

But by the time they reached the middle, a surge of people flooded in.

The crowd was heading to the other side to release lanterns, while they were going against the flow.

Four against many, they were soon separated.

Shen Jixue was pushed back.

Luyi, forced away by the jostling, reached for her but missed.

Watching Shen Jixue get swept further away, Luyi cried out, “Ah Xue!”

Hearing the shout, Lin Mozhi turned.

Beneath his white blindfold, his eyes opened.

Ignoring the sting of lantern light, he squinted—but the figure in watery blue was already swallowed by the crowd.

“Xu Chang, Ah Xue is missing. We’re going back!”

With that, he pushed forward with the crowd.

Xu Chang’s outstretched arm missed him amid the chaos and quickly followed.

As for Shen Jixue—

She seemed to have been swept away by the crowd.

But in truth, she took a few steps back, slipped unnoticed into the throng, and vanished.

Once back on shore, she picked a sparsely populated path and walked along the river, ducking into a maze of dark alleys.

Weaving between houses, she didn’t miss the faint footsteps behind her.

She walked leisurely, pausing now and then, until no other souls were in sight.

Moonlight alone lit her way as she stopped at a secluded riverside path.

Shen Jixue glanced at the water.

Though no one stood beside her, the river’s surface reflected a faint figure.

“Stay hidden. If she attacks, shield me with your aura.”

Ripples distorted the reflection, but its allure remained.

“As you command, My Lord.”

After a moment, Shen Jixue turned toward the pitch-black alley.

“Come out.”

A figure in red stepped forward. Lin Moyu’s face was cold as she tilted her chin up.

“How did you know I was following you?”

Shen Jixue clasped her hands behind her back, idly kicking a pebble.

Instead of answering, she asked, “You saw?”

Lin Moyu found her behavior odd.

She studied Shen Jixue silently, but the girl just stood there, unmoving.

Sensing no one else around, her guard lowered again.

What could a lowly maid do? I’m overthinking.

The humiliation from what she’d witnessed at Yujing Tower burned in her chest, fueling her rage.

“I came to tell you—if I can’t have something, a bitch like you has no right reaching for it. Understand?”

“So you did see.”

Shen Jixue smiled, but her eyes were icy.

“I suppose Young Master Bai refused your marriage proposal.”

Lin Moyu’s face twisted.

With a furious cry, she whipped out the crimson lash coiled at her waist—Chiyu—and lashed at Shen Jixue.

But just before the whip struck, an invisible force caught it mid-air.

In the next breath, an overwhelming pressure crushed down.

Lin Moyu’s knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.

Stunned, she stared at Shen Jixue, whose calm expression suggested she’d expected this.

Memories of Feicui’s gruesome death flashed in her mind, along with the fact that no trace of Shen Jixue had appeared in the divination tools.

“What do you want?!” she snarled, fear creeping into her voice.

Shen Jixue raised a brow.

A paper tiger, all bark and no bite.

Lin Moyu’s arrogance had always relied on the Lin family’s power in Feixue City.

“Why are you so determined to kill me?” Shen Jixue asked suddenly.

Lin Moyu scoffed, forcing bravado.

“What are you to occupy my thoughts? I just despise your pathetic loyalty. Why do people cling to that cripple? What’s so lacking in me?!”

“Cripple?” Shen Jixue’s gaze darkened.

“You bullied me, then tried to kill me—all because you envy Lin Mozhi?”

She hadn’t expected Lin Moyu’s obsession to run so deep.

Already, demonic thoughts festered in her heart.

Lin Moyu’s expression twisted.

“What do you know?! As long as he lives, I’ll never have peace!”

Shen Jixue noticed the eerie glint of a golden hairpin under the moonlight but feigned ignorance.

Instead, she taunted, “The young master is gentle and polite, unlike you, who lashes out at everyone. Even a fool would choose him over you. How could you compare?”

Lin Moyu’s eyes darkened, clarity fading into madness.

A grotesque smile spread across her face.

“Did you know? When I sent Feicui to kill you, I leaked the news to Lin Mozhi?”

Her voice dripped with venom.

“I wanted to lure him out—frame him, or kill him too. But he didn’t even budge. Never showed up, just let you die.”

She smirked, reveling in the potential rift her words could create.

“You’re so loyal, even risking yourself to lure me here. Yet he couldn’t care less.”

“It was better that he didn’t show up.”

Shen Jixue’s expression was calm.

Seeing Lin Moyu’s stunned face, she smiled faintly.

“Had he intervened, all the suffering I endured would have been for nothing. How else could I have earned his trust?”

Lin Moyu’s eyes widened.

After a brief moment of dazed silence, she suddenly understood—and burst into mad laughter.

“So I was nothing but a blade in your scheme to manipulate him!”

Her laughter twisted into something bitter.

“Now you’ve become someone he cares deeply for. So much that he couldn’t bear to let you watch the lanterns alone—blind as he is, he still came with you.”

Abruptly, her amusement vanished.

The memory of Lin Mozhi frantically searching for Shen Jixue on the bridge flashed in her mind.

Her gaze locked onto Shen Jixue’s icy eyes, and her tone shifted.

“It seems that now that I’ve outlived my usefulness… my death is at hand.”

“I like clever people,” Shen Jixue said, stepping closer until she met Lin Moyu’s hate-filled stare.

“But I despise those who prey on the weak.”

A cold smirk curled her lips.

“Does it gall you?”

“Lin Moyu, even if I don’t kill you today, someone else will.”

She looked down at the kneeling woman, her voice pitiless.

“You brought this upon yourself.”

“Aren’t you human cultivators so fond of karma? ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ But what of the innocent people you slaughtered? What wrong did they commit?”

Lin Moyu writhed, her spiritual energy raging violently.

Her eyes burned with fury.

“How do you know they didn’t slander me behind my back?! Worthless trash—why shouldn’t I kill them?!”

Shen Jixue’s expression darkened instantly.

A killing intent so sharp it could flay skin radiated from her, and her gaze was like a blade pressed to Lin Moyu’s throat.

The heavens have their laws.

Even as a cultivator of the Slaughter Path, she never killed indiscriminately—only settling debts, only repaying grievances.

Yet Lin Moyu murdered on mere suspicion or jealousy.

How was this any different from a demon’s deeds?

Lin Moyu shuddered.

The sheer pressure emanating from Shen Jixue jolted her back to clarity, and fear seized her.

Her body trembled uncontrollably.

Her eyes flicked toward Chiyu, discarded nearby.

Secretly, she formed a hand seal, summoning a dagger hidden at her waist.

To distract Shen Jixue, she hissed, “Do you know why Lin Mozhi stays in the Lin mansion?”

“Why?” Shen Jixue indulged her.

She wasn’t blind to Lin Moyu’s ploy.

Behind her back, she motioned for the concealed Fu Xingren to withdraw his aura.

“Because—”

The moment the pressure lifted, Lin Moyu struck.

The dagger shot toward Shen Jixue’s heart—

Only for a pulse of indigo light to erupt from her chest, forming a shimmering barrier.

A protective artifact.

Lin Moyu’s face twisted with hatred.

Gritting her teeth, she lunged, gripping the dagger with both hands and pouring all her strength into breaking through.

Shen Jixue’s lips curled into a cold smile.

“Xingren. Kill her.”

The dagger wrenched free from Lin Moyu’s grasp—

And plunged into her own chest.

She stared down, stunned, as blood blossomed across her robes like a grotesque flower.

Slowly, disbelievingly, she raised her head—only then registering the searing pain.

Clutching the wound, her crimson-stained fingers trembled.

The terror of death crashed over her.

With a final snarl, she yanked the dagger free—

And staggered forward, aiming for Shen Jixue’s throat.

A wet thunk.

Lin Moyu’s eyes bulged.

Gurgling, she collapsed, the dagger now buried in her own chest.

As she fell, the alley behind her came into view.

Shen Jixue looked up.

A figure in moon-white robes stood there, stark against the darkness.

—Lin Mozhi.

His blindfold was gone.

Golden eyes met hers, reflecting the blood on her face—

Filled with shock.