Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Mu Zi Xu’s Bias
Time slid by. Ye Chu Xue sailed through one trial after another, while Song Wan Ning remained stuck at the first gate, unmoving.

Unsteady energy rippled around her body. Her face looked split down the middle—one half yin, one half yang—ridiculous and terrifying all at once.

Mu Zi Xu still couldn’t help snorting.

“Even if someone with a twisted heart enters my Inheritance Hall, what of it?” he said coldly. “They’ll still be stuck at the first gate forever.”

No matter how he looked at Song Wan Ning, she rubbed him the wrong way.

It was as if their very auras clashed by nature. Some people simply weren’t meant to align—let alone form a bond.

Wang Yang sighed beside him. “To last this long, the girl must have a steady heart. It’s a pity she’s using it in the wrong place.”

If she trained diligently, she might still accomplish something extraordinary.

What a shame.

He shook his head, regret thick in the motion.

The instant his words fell, something changed inside Song Wan Ning.

The demonic qi and spiritual qi that had been barely coexisting suddenly flared, snapping like beasts at each other.

They tore at one another in a frenzy, howling as if they meant to shred Song Wan Ning’s sanity to ribbons.

Scenes from the moment she died in her past life replayed over and over. Endless hatred surged up again, swallowing her whole, trying to pry open the darkest part of her heart—

To wake the madness inside her.

Song Wan Ning spat out another mouthful of blood. Her dan tian was already riddled with wounds.

And yet, if you looked closely, her expression was shockingly calm—the complete opposite of the violent aura surging around her.

Deep in her sea of consciousness, there had always been one tiny corner she kept hidden away.

It held the warm days of her master’s patient guidance. The happy years of her parents’ love and support. Her youth, spent training with relentless effort.

It was one of the few things that had kept her moving through those dark years.

Even now, it struggled to hold her upright—to keep her from falling apart.

“Wan Ning, your comprehension is extraordinary,” her master’s voice seemed to echo. “Your achievements in the sword path will surely surpass Qing Yuan. But something too sharp breaks easily. I worry that if you walk the Killing Dao, you’ll create far too much slaughter…”

Back then, her master would stroke her head with a gentle smile and tell her that above the Cultivation World was the Spirit Realm, and above the Spirit Realm was the Immortal Realm.

As long as she cultivated diligently, she would one day step into that vast, star-filled sky and see a world beyond imagining.

Her master feared that if she walked the Killing Dao, she would eventually lose control of herself. That was why her master made her study alchemy instead.

On the path of alchemy, her talent wasn’t outstanding.

But Song Wan Ning had never been someone who admitted defeat. If she learned alchemy, then she would become the best at it.

When others ate, drank, and played, she refined pills.

When others traveled freely, she refined pills.

Aside from alchemy and sword practice, the only thing left in her life was Gu Qing Yuan.

Back then, he took care of her with painstaking attentiveness. If he found something she liked, he would bring it back no matter how far he had to go.

When she felt miserable and wanted to give up, it was Gu Qing Yuan who sat with her in the Snow Domain for three days and three nights.

But when she finally refined the Heaven-Origin Heart-Nourishing Pill and, trembling with excitement, told him about it—Gu Qing Yuan only looked at her and coldly ordered her to hand it over.

Song Wan Ning had never doubted sincerity.

But hearts could change in an instant. You couldn’t grasp them. You couldn’t hold them tight.

Better to throw it away.

Yet in her past life, she couldn’t see through any of it. She clung stubbornly to an illusion, trying to win back Gu Qing Yuan’s heart.

She turned herself into a joke.

A self-mocking laugh scraped up her throat. Maybe it was her refusal to lose that made her cling to something so empty and unreal.

And in chasing it, she lost herself.

She also let down her parents’ and her master’s earnest hopes.

Song Wan Ning suddenly opened her eyes.

She lifted her hand, as if gripping a sword hilt, and slashed viciously straight ahead.

With that swing, she severed her attachment to the past.

With that swing, she cut away her foolish hope for love.

With that swing, she carved out her rebirth.

With that swing, she carved out her future.

Deep in her sea of consciousness, a Little Golden Sword shot into the sky and burst into dazzling light, swallowing the entire space.

The arrogant demonic qi instantly looked like a mouse spotting a cat—trembling, scrambling madly for somewhere to hide.

The golden light flickered for only a few seconds before it settled, as if nothing had happened at all.

Song Wan Ning slowly opened her eyes.

The turbulence in her aura calmed. She pressed the demonic qi down, forcing it into submission.

Then she tilted her head, tugged at the corner of her mouth, and glanced up.

Wild. Defiant.

That look seemed to say:

[Look. I’m still alive and well.]

Mu Zi Xu slammed his stone table in irritation. “That girl is so arrogant! She only managed to suppress her demonic qi, and she already thinks she can sleep easy?”

“What an ignorant brat!”

That glance had been a clear provocation.

“As long as I refuse, she can forget about receiving any inheritance from my Medicine King Sect!”

As an alchemy grandmaster, when had Mu Zi Xu ever been challenged like this?

And she had the nerve to act arrogant right in front of him.

Wang Yang watched him fuming and frowned. “This junior isn’t having an easy time either. You don’t need to hate her so much.”

To suppress the demonic qi in her body and break the deadlock with swordsmanship—none of it was simple.

“I’m sure the heart demon wasn’t her intention,” Wang Yang said quietly. “I actually feel sorry for her.”

A trace of regret flickered in his eyes. If only that little girl had been able to erase the heart demon completely just now…

Who knew what she had been through, to grow something so terrifying within her?

“Hmph. You’re really good at favoring outsiders!” Mu Zi Xu snapped, displeasure flashing across his face.

But he didn’t argue further.

As long as he refused, she could forget about getting the inheritance.

He refused to believe he couldn’t control a mere little girl.

Immortal Lord Mo Yang listened without expression. His gaze remained on Song Wan Ning. The sword at his side trembled from time to time, as if barely containing its excitement.

He reached out and pressed it down, signaling it to behave.

The sword only shook harder.

Immortal Lord Mo Yang’s brow barely moved. He pinned it down more firmly, and only then did it quiet.

In the great hall below, Song Wan Ning had already pushed open the second door.

As an alchemy grandmaster of the Lower Realm, these trials in front of her were not difficult at all.

Even if the Medicine King Sect’s alchemy system differed from the present world, she grasped its core quickly. In 15 minutes, she cleared the level and stepped into the next one.

“Oh?” Wang Yang’s eyes lit up. “This little one actually has this kind of understanding in alchemy. Zi Xu, look!”

“She’s a sword cultivator, yet she can refine pills!”

A sword cultivator who could refine pills was far too rare.

Mu Zi Xu’s face darkened. He had clearly seen her performance, too.

“Hmph. She already knows alchemy,” he said sourly. “She’s just taking shortcuts.”

“If we’re talking talent, that white-robed child is still the better one.”

Wang Yang: “…”

Mu Zi Xu was biased against her, plain and simple.

Wang Yang couldn’t be bothered to argue. Instead, a faint anticipation began to bloom—quiet, insistent—toward Song Wan Ning.

Only then did he realize everyone’s attention had shifted.

The white-robed child had become little more than a backdrop.