Volume One, Chapter 20: The Empress Intoxicated, Peach Blossoms Stirred in Confusion

"These towering snow-capped peaks..."

Ye Wuchen felt a sudden urge to recite a poem:
"So grand!"
"So white!"
"I can't take it!"

Boom!

Ye Wuchen transformed into a streak of sword light, striking the mountainside like a brilliant meteor. A massive hole instantly appeared in the sheer cliff, and rubble came crashing down with a deafening roar.

"What's happening?"

The women in the spring pool were startled by the commotion and looked up toward the cliff in unison. There, a divine sword was embedded deep within the rock, twitching, bending, and straightening in rhythmic, erratic pulses.

"This sword... how peculiar!"

Several women covered their crimson lips, their eyes wide with disbelief.

"Has the senior... suffered a cultivation deviation?"

Yao Xi was equally bewildered. She tucked back a lock of her jet-black hair, revealing ears as delicate and translucent as an elf's, a fleeting moment of captivating charm.

The golden sun set. Night descended silently. Stars began to dot the sky, and the entire Luoxia Peak gradually sank into the tranquility of darkness.

Yao Xi finally finished her bath. Her hair hung loose, and she wore only a thin, sheer nightgown. After tidying up, she lay on the jade bed, but sleep refused to come. After all, too much had happened recently.

She rose from the bed, walked outside, and eventually arrived at a rustic pavilion attached to an old building. She took a dozen empty wine jars from her storage ring and began to drink to her heart's content.

Yao Xi sat alone on the stone bench in the pavilion, intoxicated. Her simple nightgown could not hide her elegant posture. Her pale face possessed exquisite, moving features and eyebrows like a painting; her large, black eyes, though now glazed, still held a hint of spirit. Underneath the robe, her figure was lush and curvaceous, far beyond what an ordinary maiden could achieve.

Yao Xi seemed drunk. Her pretty face and neck were flushed with pink. She looked up at the moon and the sparse stars, as if gazing through the moonlight itself. Memories of her past and present lives surged into her heart, uncontrollable even by the intoxication.

Yao Xi’s expression turned solemn; despite her hazy, drunken gaze, there was a trace of majesty. She thought of how she was once a high and mighty Empress, yet now she was relegated to this lower-realm sect, suffering the cold glares of others.

Three hours later, the dozen jars were empty, littering the table.

"Sword Spirit Senior, are you asleep?"

Ye Wuchen: "..."

"If I were asleep, you've certainly woken me up now."

"I'm sorry..." Yao Xi slurred, feeling genuinely apologetic.

"What's wrong?" Ye Wuchen could sense the heavy scent of alcohol and couldn't help but ask, "Are you in a bad mood?"

"Senior, you must be very lonely, right?" Yao Xi asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Ye Wuchen was surprised.

"You're drunk."

"Drunk?"

Yao Xi rested her chin on her hand, leaning on the stone table, and kept shaking the wine jar in front of her. She countered, "Isn't it said that once you're drunk, you can forget all your troubles?"

He was mesmerized.

Ye Wuchen stared blankly at the drunken Yao Xi, feeling an inexplicable sense of infatuation. A beauty flushed with wine, her soft whispers and shy tenderness—that was exactly the impression Yao Xi gave him. Such a sight was something no man could resist.

"Seeing you so restless during the day, unable to leave the sword or move freely—mustn't you feel very lonely and bored?" Before Ye Wuchen could answer, Yao Xi continued, "If only you could come out and have a drink with me."

Damn it! You finally understand how I feel!

Ye Wuchen was almost moved to tears. That damn system had trapped him inside this sword; he couldn't move or take human form until he reached a certain cultivation level. If Yun Yun didn't carry him around, he couldn't even speak to a soul. If he had been a true sword spirit from the start, he might have accepted it, but he had been a human in his past life! For a normal person to be trapped in one place, unable to do anything or talk to anyone, was practically torture!

He sighed, realizing Yao Xi was truly drunk to ask a sword spirit to come out and drink with her. However, he suddenly remembered the "Sword Exterior Incarnation" technique, which allowed him to take human form briefly. With a thought, a bare-chested young man appeared on the surface of the lake.

"Damn it, how did I forget about this!"

Ye Wuchen had intended to accompany Yao Xi as a stranger to relieve her worries, but he had forgotten that his reborn form arrived naked. In an instant, the "Peach Blossom Seven-Kill Sword" domain expanded, and peach blossoms fell like rain.

The sky was filled with falling peach blossoms. Petals appeared out of thin air, wrapping around Ye Wuchen’s body before dissipating into a pink mist. The Peach Blossom Seven-Kill Sword domain was a mental control technique, and the already intoxicated Yao Xi, caught off guard, naturally sank into it, unable to extricate herself.

As he was about to leave, Yao Xi’s hazy, drunken eyes caught sight of him.

"Changqing, is that you..."

Yao Xi scrambled to her feet, her steps unsteady, as if she might fall at any moment. Yet, her expression was dreamy and enchanting. She continued to drink from her jar. By now, her consciousness was blurred; she thought she was dreaming. She looked at him standing quietly on the lake, exuding an otherworldly aura.

The moonlight spilled over him, reflecting his beautiful face and deep eyes, making her heart surrender. She gazed at Ye Wuchen’s back, her mind adrift as she drank. The fragrance of the wine coursed through her blood and pores, and her body, trembling slightly, surrendered to the intoxicating scent.

Damn it! I need to get out of here!

If Ye Wuchen didn't revert his form soon, things would get complicated. Just as he was about to leave, a slender figure darted out from the pavilion and flew across the surface of the lake.

Ye Wuchen suddenly felt a tightening around his waist as a pair of jade-like hands wrapped around him from behind. A warm, flushed cheek pressed against his back, the heat radiating through the flower petals that covered him.

Ye Wuchen was startled. His entire body stiffened. Even with the petals shielding him, he could feel the scorching heat of the face behind him and the burning sensation against his ribs. Who could withstand this?

Yao Xi murmured affectionately, "Changqing, don't go..."

Changqing?

Ye Wuchen frowned. He barely maintained a shred of clarity, wondering if Yao Xi was hallucinating because of his Peach Blossom domain. Could it be... she has a story? Did she mistake him for someone else?

But his clarity was fleeting; the falling peach blossoms were designed to confuse the heart. He turned around quietly. Even in his own drunken stupor, Ye Wuchen’s heart skipped a beat. The charming Yao Xi before him had a face flushed with an alluring crimson, and her once-lively eyes had become hazy. His gaze drifted downward, noticing that even her slender, jade-like neck was flushed pink.

"What should I do..." Ye Wuchen’s own body began to heat up, and this fire showed signs of spreading.

It was becoming uncontrollable!