They all became female demons after being reborn.

Chapter 9 The Broken Red Thread

Wu Cheng was a little restless.

The girl in white sat next to him, and after exchanging a few polite words with Master Shen, she kept staring at his face.

Wu Cheng held the cup in his hand, unsure whether to put it down or lift it. After a long while, he finally turned around helplessly, "This...sister? Do we know each other from before?"

"No, this is our first meeting. I just feel a sense of familiarity with you, young hero, as if we've known each other for ages, like we've known each other in a past life." Bai Suying smiled and asked in return, "My name is Bai Suying, and I'm roughly the young sect leader of the Wentian Sect. May I ask how I should address you, young hero?"

"My name is Mei Gensheng," Wu Cheng said calmly, bowing slightly. "Greetings, Fairy Bai."

"Megan Sheng..."

Bai Suying sized him up for a while, then chuckled. "Forget about 'fairy,' my master is quite the fairy, I'm just a swordsman. How old are you this year?"

Why is she so outgoing?

Wu Cheng smirked, "Almost sixteen."

"I'll be eighteen at the end of the year, so I'll be your senior sister." Bai Suyi smiled freely, her eyes seemingly containing countless stars.

Wu Cheng remained silent.

Strange, why is she so outgoing?

But judging from how she dealt with other people just now, it doesn't seem like she is.

Could it be that she knew he was Wu Cheng? Did the imperial court even draw his portrait and send it to the Wentian Sect in advance?

What is she doing here?

"Junior brother, what are you looking at?"

Wu Cheng was taken aback, but immediately smiled and explained, "No, it's just that I think Senior Sister Bai is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in the martial arts world. Your eyes seem to have stars in them."

He then quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Senior Sister Bai, your lips look a little pale. Are you in a hurry? May I ask what brings you here?"

Bai Suying glanced subtly at Qingque standing behind Wu Cheng. Seeing her expressionless face, she looked away. "Junior brother, you certainly have a sweet tongue~~ I just happened to be passing by and saw that it was quite lively, so I came to join in the fun. As for your pale lips... staring at a woman's lips isn't a good thing, junior brother~~"

"That's right, that's right." Wu Cheng smiled, raised his glass, and looked away.

However, Bai Suying rested her chin on her hand and turned her head to the side, but her gaze never left his face.

Wu Cheng's question just now suddenly reminded her of something.

Those events are separated by life and death, by decades of spring and autumn, and by a heavy rain that still blurs her vision.

Those things should have been like faded ink marks on door couplets, but she remembered them clearly.

For example, the tiny water droplets clinging to Wu Cheng's eyelashes when he smiled at her in the rain.

That year, the spring chill at the Wentian Sect lingered later than in previous years.

At that time, she was already a recognized sword genius in the sect, and no one among her peers could last ten moves against her sword.

Her master said she was good in every way, except that she was too proud and arrogant, and that she saw nothing but swords.

She doesn't care.

Helpless, the master sent her to the back mountain to deliver some warm clothes to the new junior brother, saying that the other senior brothers and sisters were not willing to associate with him, for fear of being tainted by bad luck.

She was puzzled.

The master pointed to his temple and said that his temple was different from ordinary people's, and that his identity was also very sensitive.

Without thinking, she picked up her package and went to the back mountain.

Her life revolved solely around the sword; she cared about nothing else.

That junior brother's name is Wu Cheng.

When she arrived, he was squatting under the tree counting ants.

All she remembered was that he was wearing an ill-fitting old cotton robe, his hair was tied up haphazardly with a hemp rope, and his exposed earlobes were red from the cold.

Are you cold?

This was the first thing he said to her.

Why do you say that?

Your lips have turned white from the cold.

He took off his cotton robe and stuffed it into her arms, while he himself hugged his arms, shivering from the cold, yet still grinning foolishly.

She put the cotton robe on him, saying only that she wasn't cold.

He really is a silly junior brother.

She intended to turn around and leave, but for some reason, she patiently turned back.

Sure enough, he was still standing there grinning foolishly.

Aren't you going to ask me who I am?

"Master said that a beautiful senior sister will come to deliver something today. Your eyes are sparkling, you are very beautiful."

She remembered that one sentence for two lifetimes.

Later, she would go to the back mountain every few days, for all sorts of reasons.

Sometimes it was to deliver meals, sometimes medicine or blankets, or to relay messages for his master, and sometimes it was to teach him swordsmanship.

She clearly lacked patience when teaching her fellow students swordsmanship, because those mediocre students were not worthy of her guidance.

But for some reason, she was always very patient with him.

Once, when heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, she saw him wrapped in his cotton coat on a tree, while she herself was shivering in a corner wearing only a thin shirt.

That was the first time she got angry, so angry that she wanted to draw her sword and kill him.

He said the tree gets cold, so cold that all the leaves fall off, but once you put on clothes, you won't feel cold anymore.

Helpless, she had no choice but to take off her cloak and drape it over him.

He smiled and said it was warm, wrapped in his cloak, but then lifted the cloak to say that she would be cold if she took off her coat, so they wouldn't be cold if they were wrapped together.

For some reason, she crawled inside and hugged him.

It is indeed very warm.

She didn't know when she had become so close to him.

Perhaps it's because he's different from everyone else.

Others' eyes always fell on her sword, on her face, and on her title as the sect leader's true disciple.

Only Wu Cheng was different.

This feeling is both unfamiliar and dangerous.

She drew a red thread in her heart, telling herself that her only companion in this life was her sword, and that everything had come to an end.

Sure enough, that's the end of it all.

Then came the sect competition, during which he regained his senses and even displayed astonishing martial arts skills that he had learned from who-knows-where.

That day, the entire Wentian Sect was shocked.

Her master made an exception and accepted him as a true disciple. No one dared to look down on him anymore, and his fellow disciples, who used to avoid him like the plague, became enthusiastic towards him.

She should have been happy for him.

He uttered those words in the courtyard on the back hill, where it was just the two of them.

"Senior sister, I'm going back to Lin'an."

"Junior brother, have you been pretending to be stupid all along?"

"right."

At that time, she was tying a sword tassel for him, and one of the threads on the tassel broke off.

She remained silent for a while, then hid the thread in her palm, and asked him when he was leaving.

He said tomorrow, because there are always things to face.

She simply nodded and told him to be careful on the road.

That red line that they never dared to cross was finally broken.

She didn't see him off on the day he left; instead, she went to practice her swordplay alone in the back mountain.

She then squatted under the tree for a long time.

She was counting ants.

An ant crawled onto the back of her hand. She didn't brush it off; she just looked at it.

When she came to her senses, her face was wet.

She wiped her face and looked up, but it wasn't raining.

We met again ten years later.

When Lin'an fell, the world descended into chaos.

At that time, she was chasing an elder of the Demonic Sect in Guanzhong. By the time she arrived in Lin'an after traveling day and night, the city had already fallen for seven days.

She searched for a long time in those ruins, and finally found him in a corridor in a side hall of the imperial city that had not yet collapsed.

He sat there with his eyes closed, his robes stained with blood so dark that their original color was no longer visible, and he held a broken sword in his hand.

"Senior sister, what brings you here... You can't practice swordsmanship here."

He was still smiling, just like he used to look when he waited for her to bring him food on the back hill.

She wanted to laugh, but couldn't; she wanted to cry, but couldn't make a sound.

"But I insist on practicing here."

She stood up, drew her sword, turned around, and faced those people.

Then, he swung his sword.

One sword, two swords, and then a third sword.

When I was practicing swordsmanship at the Wentian Sect, he was on my mind.

When I practiced swordsmanship by the Wei River in Guanzhong, he was on my mind.

During the days and nights I spent traveling to Lin'an, he was always on my mind.

It turns out that he had unknowingly replaced the sword in her heart.

She used ten swords to kill all the people who came.

When I looked back, he was already asleep.

She sat in the ruins for three days and three nights, and when she left, she had already entered the Innate Realm.

Many years have passed since then.

Not many people remember him anymore.

She became the sect leader of the Wentian Sect and a sword immortal feared by everyone in the world.

She has met many people, including learned scholars, chivalrous knights-errant, and royalty.

They are all good, but none of them are as good as him.

"Senior Sister Bai? Have a cup of hot water to warm yourself up."

Coming to her senses, Bai Suying smiled and took the cup from his hand.

He stroked the white porcelain teacup in his hand, as if it still carried the warmth of his fingertips.

She tilted her head back and drank some of the hot tea.

The broken red thread seemed to have been reconnected.