Sword-light fell like fine rain — silent, pervasive, crisscrossing through the air and sending sprays of blood blooming in every direction.
"Lilith, heal me?!"
"No good, we're too passive like this — we need to counter-attack! On my signal — three, two, one, engage!"
"Aaugh! Where are the buff spells?! Where are the buff spells?!"
Qin Zhihua — one woman, one sword — dismantled every desperate counter-attack the three little mages threw at her with effortless ease.
Even when Li Fei quietly drew on her dragon's power and threw a punch wrapped in Furnace Battle-Qi and raw brute force, the result was nothing more than knocking the hairpin from Qin Zhihua's head — who had suppressed her own cultivation for the exercise.
Thud.
Li Fei toppled onto her back, and with that, the domestic violence session concluded in Miss Zhihua's decisive victory.
"D-damn you..."
Li Fei lay spread-eagled on the ground, clothes soaked through with patches of blood that bloomed across the fabric like plum blossoms against snow.
The blood loss itself wasn't serious — but being skewered through skin and muscle by a sword did genuinely hurt, especially when the wounds happened to land precisely on vital pressure points.
By comparison, the other two had collected only shallow cuts, each one carefully steered clear of anything vital.
Evidently, someone had it out for the Young Mistress. The Young Mistress was suffering in silence, but didn't dare say a word.
Meanwhile, Qin Zhihua stood bathed in the same moonlight, her white robes still pristine as snow — a celestial immortal in flesh and bone, otherworldly and untouched.
"That's enough for tonight."
Li Fei hauled herself upright with effort, lips drained of color.
The first night of the training camp was only a warm-up — the goal was simply to get the three-person squad into fighting shape as quickly as possible. In practice, however, they had gained far more than expected.
Under intense pressure, the squad's coordination improved rapidly. They quickly realized they needed to "stop communicating in words" — a concise system of hand signals and codes was essential. Qin Zhihua offered no detailed guidance; she simply identified each person's weaknesses in a few precise words and left them to work out the solutions themselves.
Clearly, Qin Zhihua believed that a path discovered through repeated trial and error was worth more than one handed down by another — even if it cost more time and effort. Having forged her own cultivation technique from scratch, she held a singular conviction on this point: the process of taking wrong turns and correcting course was itself a form of tempering, one that consolidated foundations and unlocked potential.
Of course, part of it was also that she knew perfectly well about the Young Mistress's connections — if real guidance were needed, figures like Nicole, Bai Mengtian, Chloe, and Hathaway were far better suited to point the way than herself.
On this first night of the training camp, Qin Zhihua kept her brilliance deliberately reined in, using only an unrelenting stream of sword-light to push the trio into form — giving Li Fei a fine "opening chapter."
"Domestic violence only happens zero times or infinitely — I want a divorce, a divorce!"
Li Fei curled up on the sofa, arms wrapped around her knees, giggling and muttering under her breath: "What the hell! When other people abuse their partners they just pull hair — this woman stabs you through your pressure points, heals you, and then stabs you again! This marriage is impossible..."
"Aren't you going to rest?"
Qin Zhihua drifted in wearing a white sleep dress, trailing the soft fragrance of a beauty fresh from her bath.
The Young Mistress — every pressure point in her body still faintly throbbing — gave a visible flinch, then immediately arranged her face into the picture of a meek, doting little wife and without a moment's hesitation shamelessly cozied up:
"If Zhihua-jie isn't sleeping, then I'm not sleeping either."
The words had barely left her mouth before Li Fei felt the shift in the household power dynamic all the way to her bones, and a wave of genuine sorrow welled up inside her.
You used to be the one tiptoeing around to please me, before the coming-of-age ceremony...
The Young Mistress puffed out her cheeks, a little indignant.
Hmph. Women — endlessly accommodating before they've got what they want, then showing their true colors the moment they do, is that it?!
Setting aside the fact that I deserve to be dealt with for playing the field — couldn't you at least cut me a little slack?
"Your Battle-Qi is remarkably pure, but the refinement still needs work. I'll prepare some tonics to help your Battle-Qi cultivation for tomorrow."
Qin Zhihua settled beside Li Fei, her slender hands moving with practiced ease to find the Young Mistress's temples and begin a slow, gentle massage.
Hmph. You think a few little favors are enough to buy me off? One slap and then a sweet date — textbook manipulation! To think you were like this all along, Qin Zhihua — I really misjudged you... but a lady of my caliber won't fall for this, absolutely not, never ever!
Li Fei's lips curved ever so slightly at the corners. She said nothing, and quietly enjoyed the bliss of those soft fingertips pressing at her acupoints while True Qi stimulated the meridians.
"By the way — swallowing a treasure like the Fruit of Wisdom whole is ultimately a waste. I asked my master for a formula — tomorrow I'll refine the Fruit of Wisdom into a tonic for you as well; the effects will be considerably better. Hmm... if that's not enough, I might be able to source some more Fruits of Wisdom."
Qin Zhihua's soft voice continued to murmur beside her ear.
Oh my, Fruits of Wisdom aren't cheap, you know... maybe I should grant her another intimate encounter?
The Young Mistress wavered.
"Healing salves, mana recovery potions, antidotes — if these aren't enough, tell me and I'll stock up more for you. I also have high-potency Lucky Potions; remember to drink one before any important ceremony to prevent mishaps. That said, do be careful not to develop a dependency on mana potions — once your mana liquefies, replenishing it won't be so easy, and you need to adapt in advance."
Qin Zhihua continued, tireless and earnest.
My, what a lot of trouble, keeping a wife...
Li Fei guiltily hunched her shoulders.
"The apothecary is open — you, me, and Ling'er each hold a share. Let's find time to take care of the paperwork at the city hall."
And there it was — the last straw that broke the camel's back.
While we're at it, why not file the marriage paperwork too?
The Young Mistress, now beaming ear to ear, turned and buried her face in Qin Zhihua's arms, her voice coming out muffled and slightly hollow: "Th-that's not right... I haven't even contributed..."
"Your foundations are still developing, and you'll need to acquire a Sequence 8 class customization package on top of that — the expenses will be considerable."
Qin Zhihua — who knew the secret of the Witch — drew the Young Mistress close with an arm around her shoulders, her voice gentle. "We are in the same boat, you and I — what's mine is yours. When your cultivation level is sufficient, go exchange your next class as soon as possible. I still have some private savings..."
The Young Mistress was tempted, but pride ultimately won out, so she insisted stubbornly: "I can't use your personal savings. I'll handle it myself."
She paused, then added weakly: "As it happens, I've set up a timber mill and a mine with a friend — I need to go to city hall tomorrow to file the paperwork... want to come along?"
"Oh — and if the apothecary is registered in my name, we'll be tax-exempt..."
"Alright."
Qin Zhihua agreed without a moment's hesitation.
People's preferences are all their own.
Miss Poker Face liked to explore the inside of her mouth; Mrs. Annie would bite her ear when moved; Ram was a pillow princess who shed tears in devoted performance; Eve found the shoulder blades beautiful; the Mother of Fairies was fine with anywhere, but if pressed, she favored fixating on the neck and feet.
Miss Zhihua's passion was deep, lingering kisses.
"You're still not asleep..."
When the Young Mistress tiptoed into the shared sleeping room, fingertips brushing her faintly numb lips, her sharp senses told her at once that both of them were pretending to be asleep.
So she let her eyes curve up with a smile and cheerfully proposed:
"How about a thrilling, exciting..."
"Pillow fight?"
"Boring."
Lilith grumbled, sullen.
Three floor mattresses had been laid out in a row. Grace and Lilith had taken the left and right sides respectively — exactly as Li Fei had predicted.
She nimbly wedged herself into the middle and sighed, a little disappointed:
"Really not playing? Are you sure?"
"No."
Lilith answered without a second's hesitation, turning the back of her head toward Li Fei.
"Don't lie so far from me. The whole point of a training camp is to build team cohesion — we should be sleeping head to toe."
Li Fei burrowed under the covers, reached out blindly with her left hand until she found Grace's, laced their fingers together, then nudged Lilith: "Come a bit closer."
"Absolutely not."
Lilith curled in on herself, visibly tense.
"Alright then."
Li Fei's voice carried a faint note of regret and resignation, but she respected Lilith's wishes and said nothing more.
Watching Li Fei withdraw her hand, Lilith felt her body slowly uncoil. Yet her clasped hands at her chest tightened involuntarily, and she found herself thinking back to the feeling of holding her stepmother's hand on the way here.
Stepmother's palm was warm. Soft...
Her lips too.
A hollow, aching sense of loss rose unbidden in her chest.
"I have a Moon Pillow — one hour of sleep with it and you wake up completely refreshed."
Li Fei shifted her body, found the most comfortable position, and closed her eyes. "I'll get up to meditate in an hour — anyone who needs it can take turns using it."
So she works this hard... while I still need at least four hours of sleep a night.
Lilith bit her lip.
Today, Lilith had been brought face to face with the full, crushing disparity of the world — particularly in terms of talent and wealth.
Grace and Li Fei were both special-admissions students, and their aptitude was in a different league from ordinary special-admits. Grace possessed master-level talent and the "Chaos Marksman" lineage — she had only seemed to pale beside Li Fei's dazzling presence, but in today's actual sparring, Lilith fully grasped just how formidable this expressionless girl truly was, and that she was simultaneously cultivating dual-alignment Transcendent knowledge. As for Li Fei — the title "Miss Spell Encyclopedia" had spread without anyone noticing, replacing the old "Angel of the Isolated Island," and she was at the height of her brilliance, shining so brightly she eclipsed even twin stars. What stunned Lilith even more was that this woman had been quietly cultivating Battle-Qi all along, without a word! That furnace-like, blazing Transcendent aura was clearly above and beyond an ordinary Sequence 8 warrior — which meant the Battle-Qi manual she was training from was no common commodity.
By comparison, this senior schoolmate of theirs — though considered an excellent student at the Magic Academy in her own right — was simply unremarkable and outshone beside these two freshmen.
And beyond that: this young, beautiful stepmother lived in a luxury villa, surrounded by every comfort and indulgence, with a retinue of maid servants in full bloom attending her every need, and an expensive flying broomstick to carry her whenever she went out. Meanwhile, Lilith and her mother depended on each other, sheltering in a house left behind by another mother; whenever she overheard conversation about business ventures and enterprises, she couldn't contribute a single word — only sit there in silence, the very definition of an outsider looking in.
And then there was Qin Zhihua — that flawless, impeccable woman.
Appearance, bearing, temperament, character, cultivation — exceptional in every regard, and a supremely gifted apothecary on top of it all. And yet this astonishingly brilliant woman was warm and gracious with the maids, leaving everyone who spoke with her feeling as though bathed in a spring breeze — even Lilith, who had never been in a relationship, could tell that more than a few of the adorable beast-eared maids had already quietly given their hearts to Miss Qin, their gazes sticking to her the moment she came into view.
Under different circumstances, in a different time and place, Lilith might have taken her as a target and a model — someone to aspire to become.
— But why? Why has it come to this?
A restless, gnawing agitation refused to leave Lilith's heart. She couldn't understand why she felt so anxious and troubled — though if she were to tell Mrs. Annie the truth, her mother would have informed her that this was the insecurity of someone who feared both gaining and losing, and then rewarded this unfilial daughter who harbored improper thoughts about her stepmom with a firm slap across the face.
But whatever the reason, Lilith had come to a clear realization: if she didn't make a change, it wouldn't be long before Li Fei left the two of them — mother and daughter — far, far behind.
That realization had made up her mind.
Lilith let out a long, slow breath and lay listening to the steady, even breathing behind her, feeling the faint warmth and presence drifting across the distance. Her heartbeat inexplicably quickened.
When several strands of golden hair were plastered to her forehead by sweat, Lilith finally could not hold back any longer. Guilty and exquisitely careful, she turned over — making absolutely no sound — spending a full two minutes to rotate her body toward Li Fei's side.
She's so beautiful...
The serene sleeping face of her stepmother made Lilith's eyelids flutter.
She found herself thinking of the story Li Fei had once told at the dinner table — about Snow White and the Queen.
The second most beautiful woman in the world, after marrying the Queen and becoming consort and stepmother to Snow White — first beauty in the world — had, out of jealousy, made attempt after attempt on Snow White's life.
Yet this mature, cold, and imperious stepmother had, without knowing when, fallen in love with her kind, clever, beautiful stepdaughter... and after much strife and heartbreak between them, queen and princess finally bared their hearts to each other, writing the ending of a mother-and-daughter fairy tale where lovers are united at last.
Lilith still remembered Li Fei's mischievous smile as she said it: "This story, you know, has another title — it's called The Queen Handles Affairs of State."
And Li Fei — she had the Queen's station and Snow White's pure-snow complexion and glossy black hair. Her lips weren't blood-red like Snow White's, but their soft, rosy luster was all the more innocent for it, and no less enchanting.
— If this were that kind of stepmother, and if I were the magic mirror.
Lilith drifted in a daze, thinking:
Then no matter how many times you asked — I would answer: you are the most beautiful woman in the world.
At last, as though possessed, the golden-haired stepdaughter slowly extended her fingertips and touched the face that should have belonged to her mother alone.
Snow White could. Qin Zhihua could. Then am I also...
A mist of tears clouded Lilith's eyes. She traced and gently outlined the contours of her stepmother's brows and lashes again and again, until her fingertip came to rest upon those lips and pressed down — softly.
The humiliating scene of her first kiss was still vivid before her eyes, yet she wanted to do it again.
But then — a pair of water-blue eyes and a pair of pale grey eyes met, entirely by accident.
Lilith's whole body jolted. The color flooded her snow-pale skin at visible speed, spreading from her neck all the way to her earlobes.
Her mouth fell open on instinct — she wanted to make a very loud noise to bury everything beneath it — but before the exclamation could escape, she smothered it with her own palm. Even after Grace calmly closed her eyes again a few seconds later, Lilith's mind remained completely blank.
My life is over.
The light went out of her eyes, one flicker at a time. With a gaze gone gray and dim, Lilith bade farewell to her life.
Then, expression perfectly flat, she reached her hand back behind her, groping for her wand. Her intention: self-termination.
Didn't know any destructive spells. That was fine.
After all, someone as utterly hopeless as herself — one cast of Holy Light ought to be enough to erase her from this world entirely.
"Stop messing around."
Li Fei didn't open her eyes. She didn't even stir. She simply raised her arm in the dark and caught Lilith's hand before she could react, then threaded their fingers together and held on: "Tonight's training was just the appetizer — the real high-intensity sessions are still ahead. Go to sleep."
Her tone was gentle and measured — like a mother who had caught her daughter acting up in the middle of the night and was coaxing her back to bed.
She seemed to have noticed nothing unusual or untoward in what Lilith had just done.
Ha. Right — between female friends, or between mother and daughter, something like that... is perfectly normal, isn't it?
Grace is holding her hand too, after all.
The warmth transmitting through their joined palms quickly steadied Lilith's heart. She played the friendship card on herself, stuffing her rattled emotions down with some willful self-delusion.
In this moment, Lilith was profoundly grateful that her mother had not given birth to her as the wrong gender.
Profoundly grateful, too, that there were three of them here tonight — otherwise... it would have seemed rather ambiguous, and rather hard to explain, wouldn't it?
Unbeknownst to her, the corner of her stepmother's mouth was slowly curling upward.
Tsunderes — sure enough, if you just leave them alone, they end up charming themselves.
Diana, my dear sister-in-spirit — your wife and daughter, I'll raise them well. Don't worry.
——
Morning.
A crisp, sharp crack shattered the peaceful quiet.
"Who did this!"
Stepping over the shattered remains of his beloved teacup, Kenneth's face had gone iron-grey, his eyes open with barely-concealed murderous intent:
"Who is working against my Mettis family!"
His hair was somewhat disheveled, his eyes red. Every trace of his usual composure had abandoned him.
The relentless stream of bad news had left the Mettis family's eldest young master in a thoroughly wretched state.
The rise of "Miss Spell Encyclopedia's" reputation had pressed down on him with a weight of unease; just yesterday, word passed along through a steward of the Belikeli family confirmed that the shameless bitch had also stolen Grace's assets right out from under her nose.
And now, his subordinates had placed a report about an "ecological incident" in Viranean on the table before him.
The table behind Kenneth was blanketed with magical portrait sketches — each one documenting the varied and gruesome deaths of low-Sequence sea-race Transcendents.
Because the sea-race Transcendents had died at night, and Viranean was under a curfew, the Mettis family's people had been unable to lie in wait after dark to capture the culprit, and had no choice but to commission the city hall to investigate.
The answer that came back: "Assessed as accidental — tripped in the dark, fell into the water, drowned."
This made Kenneth think back to the five loyal subordinates who had been killed by the Moonlight Wolves — burned, poisoned, and cut down by crossbow bolts.
They're back. It's all come back.
The same technique. The same formula.
He had no evidence — but Kenneth was certain, beyond any doubt, that this was that bitch's doing.
"Li Fei..."
Kenneth ground the shattered fragments of the teacup beneath his heel until they were dust, his expression glacial.
Only once the cup was utterly and completely destroyed did the corner of his mouth slowly lift.
"Now — Grace has witnessed your true face in full: greedy and shameless. You didn't just murder her family — you seized her family's inheritance as well. Ha. I can see the flames of vengeance, burning fierce and bright."
"You will be consumed by those flames of retribution, and you will pay a devastating price for what you have done."
____
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