DS 12

Chapter – 12

Jiang Li’s Identity

That night.

At the Hour of Zi (midnight).

White Cloud Temple, Li Yu’s room.

Li Yu sat on one side of the table, while on the other side sat a young woman.

She was seventeen or eighteen, with slender brows, a straight nose, and fair, crystalline skin—delicate and lovely as jade, as if she’d stepped right out of a painting. Across the entire White Cloud Temple, in terms of pure beauty, no one could surpass her. Even Senior Sister Zhou would have to yield the title of temple flower.

The girl was charming and pretty, but her gaze toward Li Yu was a mixture of embarrassment and anger. She pouted and scolded, “Didn’t I tell you—no matter when, you have to knock before entering my room…”

Facing this young woman who looked so much like Jiang Li, Li Yu was at a loss for words.

He still couldn’t accept the fact that his good brother—the one who’d always slung an arm around his shoulder, shared his joys and hardships, and fought side by side with him—was actually a woman…

*Was the original owner of this body an idiot?*

They’d eaten together, lived together, spent two whole years together day and night, and he never realized his good brother was a woman?

Or had he discovered it long ago and just pretended not to know?

Li Yu carefully searched through his memories and confirmed that no—he genuinely hadn’t known.

Even after Li Yu himself had transmigrated, he’d never once doubted Jiang Li’s gender. Jiang Li had always acted a bit shy and hesitant, but Li Yu had simply put it down to introversion, because back then, Jiang Li had looked every bit the elegant young gentleman.

But now, sitting across from him, was an unmistakable young woman.

He stared at the girl opposite him for a long while, then crossed his arms and said, “Alright, spill it. You little—… What exactly is going on here?”

Seeing Li Yu’s expression turn serious, Jiang Li finally felt guilty. She shrank back and said quietly, “I didn’t mean to deceive you. It’s just that my father and mother were worried I’d be bullied out in the world, so they made me disguise myself as a man…”

Li Yu still found it hard to comprehend. He asked again, “H-how did you make it look so convincing?”

Jiang Li put on a jade pendant necklace, and her entire aura shifted in an instant—becoming the Li Yu knew best.

Sharp brows, bright eyes, a dashing and handsome young gentleman.

She took the pendant off, and she was back to being the youthful, beautiful girl she truly was.

A moment later, Li Yu was fiddling with a jade pendant in his hand.

It was truly remarkable. When Jiang Li took off the pendant, she was unmistakably a woman; when she wore it, both her bearing and her voice would change, making her appear more masculine—at worst, just a bit effeminate in appearance.

Li Yu had never expected that the jade pendant she never took off was actually a magical artifact to conceal her identity.

That meant Jiang Li wasn’t the Crown Prince of Jiang State—she was the Princess of Jiang State.

No wonder she didn’t like Senior Sister Zhou. If Li Yu were her, he wouldn’t like her either.

He returned the pendant to her and fell silent. Even though the two of them were as familiar as could be, Li Yu still didn’t know what attitude to take toward her now.

Jiang Li lowered her head and said softly, “Don’t tell anyone else about this for now.”

Li Yu nodded and added, “I really didn’t mean to just now.”

“Forget it. Let’s call it even.” Jiang Li’s cheeks flushed slightly. Changing the subject, she asked, “It’s so late—what did you come to see me about?”

Li Yu went along with the change of topic and stopped dwelling on it. “I wanted to borrow your cultivation art and take a look.”

Without another word, Jiang Li turned and left, returning with a thin booklet. After handing it to Li Yu, she went back to her own room, as if nothing had happened.

Li Yu closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed for a while, slowly coming to terms with the fact that his brother was actually a woman.

He shook his head, brushing aside the tangled thoughts, and opened the booklet in his hands.

The basic Water-attribute cultivation art that Jiang Li practiced was called the *Water Cloud Art*. Its meridian diagram showed that the Water Meridian started at the *Yufu* acupoint and ended at the *Yongquan* acupoint. The acupoint that the spiritual lotus had opened was above his left chest—precisely the *Yufu* acupoint.

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In other words, three of the five meridians in his body had now been opened.

Of course, Li Yu couldn’t cultivate all three meridians at the same time—that would be far too time-consuming. With the same talent and the same effort, while others reached the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, he’d only be at the third. Even if their magical power was comparable, once someone at the ninth layer took one more step and successfully established their Foundation, their strength would undergo a qualitative transformation. More importantly, their lifespan would double. Li Yu understood the stakes involved perfectly well.

He reviewed the past few days’ events, then lay down on his bed, still dressed, and fell asleep.

A dreamless night.

The next morning, Li Yu was still deep in slumber when a knock at the door woke him up.

He threw on a simple outer robe, walked over, and opened the door to see two figures standing outside.

One was Chen Ming, and the other was Zhou Zixuan.

Li Yu yawned and asked, “Senior Sister Zhou, so early? Is something the matter?”

Zhou Zixuan smiled gently and said, “Junior Brother Li, I’m planning to head into the mountains to search for spiritual herbs. Would you like to come along?”

Besides helping mortals exorcise ghosts, searching for spiritual herbs was another way to earn spirit coins. Herbs with enough years of maturity could fetch anywhere from a few to over a dozen spirit coins. If you got lucky and found something like a Vermilion Fruit, you could strike it rich overnight—but the probability was pitifully small, like winning the lottery. In his two years at the White Cloud Temple, Li Yu had never heard of anyone finding one.

After Zhou Zixuan spoke, Chen Ming grew anxious and quickly added, “Li Yu, I’ve got a ghost-expelling mission down the mountain—worth forty spirit coins. Are you interested? After it’s done, you take sixty percent, I take forty.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zixuan’s delicate brows knitted slightly. She said to Chen Ming, “Senior Brother Chen, I invited Junior Brother Li first.”

Chen Ming waved dismissively. “There’s no ‘first come, first served’ with this kind of thing. Li Yu can take whichever mission he wants—it’s his choice.”

Zhou Zixuan said, displeased, “A simple ghost-expelling mission—hardly needs two people, does it?”

Chen Ming shot back, “And searching for spiritual herbs—you could do that alone too, Senior Sister Zhou. You don’t need two people either. I know exactly what you’re thinking. Don’t think I don’t—”

Zhou Zixuan stamped her foot in frustration. Of course she could search for herbs alone—she just wanted to create an opportunity to be alone with Li Yu. And now Chen Ming had exposed her intentions right in front of her! As a girl, did she have any face left?

*Chen Ming was so infuriating!*

Chen Ming looked at Li Yu with eager anticipation, waiting for his answer.

After what had happened last time, he’d come to a realization: the path of cultivation was fraught with danger. A powerful man was far more useful than a pretty woman.

Better to suck up to Li Yu than to fawn over Junior Sister Zhou.

Zhou Zixuan turned to Li Yu and asked, “Junior Brother Li, who do you want to go with?”

Li Yu naturally preferred exorcism. Searching for spiritual herbs was all about luck—he could easily end up making a wasted trip and earning nothing. Exorcism, on the other hand, guaranteed at least over twenty spirit coins, and it wasn’t particularly dangerous. Even if something unexpected happened…

Actually, an accident would be good for him. With that mysterious incense burner, Li Yu almost *hoped* for a powerful ghost to show up. One came, he’d absorb it; two came, he’d absorb both. It would be the perfect chance to see what other wonderful uses the incense burner had after being repaired…

Li Yu only hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth: “I—”

Afraid that Li Yu might be swayed by Junior Sister Zhou’s charms, Chen Ming immediately reminded him: “Li Yu, think carefully! If we run into danger, Senior Sister Zhou is completely useless—she’ll just stand there watching. Last time, it was all on the two of us! When you and I join forces, even a Qi Condensation-level ghost is nothing—we can go in and slaughter everything!”

Hearing this, Zhou Zixuan’s face flushed red with anger. She gritted her teeth and said, “Chen Ming, you—!”

Chen Ming shot back defiantly, “What about me? I’m just stating the facts. Last mission, what good were you at all?”

Zhou Zixuan retorted, “And you were so useful? If you hadn’t recklessly used your spells and drained your magical power, letting that female ghost possess you, would we have had all those problems afterward?”

Having been possessed by a female ghost had already become a source of mockery for Chen Ming. It was his sore spot. Now that Zhou Zixuan had brought it up again, he grew flustered and angry. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re scheming! You’re just lusting after Li Yu’s good looks! Li Yu, you’d better be careful around Senior Sister Zhou. The immortal path is long, and women will only slow down our cultivation speed…”