My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion

Zhao Bai is dead. After bidding farewell to the two monks, the group also departed from the pagoda. Night had fallen dark and heavy as they distanced themselves from the Joyful Sect. Those Jianghu guests were still clueless, naively combing through the sect grounds, searching every Array.

Tiny pinpricks of starlight hung on the horizon. Chen Yi appeared deep in thought, holding Yin Tingxue’s hand as they led the way. The shadows of the trees intertwined, hazy and elongated. Dong Gong Ruoshu and the female crown followed at a distance—not too close, not too far.

Dong Gong Ruoshu walked beside her,

while the female crown pondered if this might be the only opportunity of her life.

The last chance—to obtain the Replenishment Technique from Dong Gong Ruoshu and then consign it to flames.

Yin Weiyin slowed her steps, moving even more leisurely, unconsciously widening the distance from Chen Yi at the front. Dong Gong Ruoshu also seemed influenced, her steps slackening without her realizing it.

The female crown discreetly observed Chen Yi. Noticing his preoccupied manner, she began to deliberate. Perhaps she should take this moment to burn the Replenishment Technique for good.

At that time, Dong Gong Ruoshu had never handed over the Replenishment Technique to Chen Yi. Yin Weiyin remembered it vividly. At that moment, she had nestled against that man’s chest, resignedly saying she’d follow him from then on. Yet, unexpectedly, he had shown a rare hint of tenderness, saying she could later go to his residence to sign a document, officially recognizing her as a concubine.

She, a princess of Jing, part of the imperial family, born of the purest royal lineage, was nothing like Yin Tingxue, the daughter of a criminal. For ordinary women, being taken as a concubine was already an enormous disgrace, let alone for someone of her stature. But their relationship had always been fraught with complexity. Since their entanglement in the underground palace, Chen Yi had become her karmic burden, while she seemed as though she existed solely as Chen Yi’s... cultivation vessel. Now that he said he’d make her a concubine, Yin Weiyin, accustomed to humiliation, strangely felt little of it this time.

Knowing she would be made a concubine gave Yin Weiyin an inexplicable sense of tranquility, though her emotions were still a tangled mess. To become a concubine—was this not akin to the plight of the fallen Princess of Xiang, serving this man obediently and submissively in every way?

The desolate evening breeze swept by, causing Yin Weiyin to shudder. She had never been good at disentangling her thoughts. Back when she was merely a mistress, she had already harbored silent grievances over her lack of status. Now, being reduced to a mere concubine, she instead worried about becoming more deeply entangled with him. For over a decade, she had cultivated tirelessly with a singular purpose—ascending to immortality one day. Yet he refused to let her achieve it, treating her as an object of possession, a lifelong cultivation vessel.

After hesitating for a long while, the female crown finally tugged gently on Miss Donggong’s sleeve.