Chapter 228 (Part 2): Why Bother Feeling Sorry for Her?

But today’s Hua Jian had been elegant and composed from the moment she walked in. That was quite bizarre.

“What happened? Why are you suddenly playing the good girl?”

“Can’t I be dignified once in a while? The way you talk.” Hua Jian finally rolled her eyes, ruining her own elegant aura.

“Ah, that’s more like it!”

“That’s just your prejudice. I’m the Wanhua Saintess. Isn’t it normal for me to learn how a Saintess should behave?” Hua Jian sniffed lightly, then continued putting on airs.

It was obvious that Hua Jian was imitating Linglong, just not very well.

Like a mischievous little girl forcing herself to imitate the well-behaved girl next door… a bit like trying to imitate without capturing the essence.

“You really don’t suit this style. So why did you suddenly decide to act like a good girl?”

“What do you mean ‘act’! I am a good girl!”

Hua Jian broke character again, then once more put on the pose and began performing. “

I need to present myself as a very great, very selfless, very kind-hearted Saintess, so I can perfectly execute my plan.”

Yes, Hua Jian was doing this to prepare for an upcoming performance.

And the target of the performance was naturally our miserable but not entirely innocent Miss Youye.

After over ten days of preparation, Hua Jian successfully applied the secret art of Wanhuagu she had just learned onto Youye, altering Youye’s recent memories.

Now, in Youye’s memories, there were no more scenes of being set up by Hua Jian.

From beginning to end, Hua Jian had been a kind person helping her, wholeheartedly offering advice.

Although she still collected Spirit Stones as usual, her service attitude had improved by who knows how much.

As for the experiences in the Secret Realm, not much was changed.

Only the part where Youye was beaten down by Hua Jian at the end was removed, replaced by Youye being left behind by the Dragon Venerable, waiting alone in the Secret Realm for death.

But just as she was about to die, a beam of colorful light descended from the sky.

Her good sister Hua Jian had come to save her while riding a cloud of seven-colored auspicious light!

“Are you… not afraid she’ll have a mental breakdown?”

After listening to Hua Jian’s story, Qian Feixue felt that Hua Jian was being a bit too full of herself.

Your memory insertion is quite abrupt, you know.

“When did you become such a great good person? That doesn’t match her previous memories.”

“With memory conflicts, even if Youye’s Soul Stabilization holds, she’ll start doubting whether this memory is real, and eventually realize her memory might have been tampered with.”

“Minor issue. I used the power of the Illusory Dream Flower to stabilize her Soulforce, and she’ll subconsciously ignore these inconsistencies.”

Hua Jian pointed at her head, indicating she had prepared countermeasures.

She would never let a tiger return to the mountain. Youye’s life and death were now completely under her control.

If she wanted, Youye would drop dead on the spot.

“The current her—you could say she’s less a person and more a puppet that doesn’t realize it’s a puppet. In truth, I’ve already got her completely in my pocket.” Hua Jian revealed a very innocent and harmless smile.

She had already found a way to leave a backdoor in Youye’s head.

That was easy for her, as the owner of the Illusory Dream Flower.

After all, the Illusory Dream Flower itself had the talent to control Cultivators.

Hua Jian was just applying this Demonic Sect method with a two-pronged approach, crushing Youye’s resistance to rock bottom.

From the moment she was defeated and captured by Hua Jian, Youye’s fate was sealed.

The original her was already dead.

The current Youye was merely a puppet inheriting the former’s shell, her thoughts and personality all altered by Hua Jian’s will.

Her Soulforce and senses were opened up by Hua Jian.

She would feel fear when scolded by Hua Jian, would spare no effort to complete tasks assigned by Hua Jian, and would view Hua Jian as her one and only master.

Of course, Hua Jian didn’t plan to activate this state for now.

She wanted this Youye puppet to truly play the role of Youye, infiltrating the Tianmomen to feed her more intelligence.

And that required Youye to still believe she was Youye.

Hence, Hua Jian was playing the role of herself from the implanted memories, to avoid Youye noticing anything too strange.

“You really have a playful side.” Qian Feixue gave her assessment.

“All that scheming just to throw Youye back as a spy? But Youye has already done something that big. There’s no way the Tianmomen will trust her again, right?”

Sending this person back seemed no different from throwing a meat bun at a dog.

“You have to believe in that girl’s loyalty to the Tianmomen. As long as she has no doubts about her own identity, she’ll definitely pass the Tianmomen’s screening and regain their trust.”

“So confident? What if she fails?”

“Then she fails. Whether she lives or dies in the end has nothing to do with me.” Hua Jian spread her hands and answered quite carefreely.

This was a casual move on her part. If it worked, great. If not, no loss. Even if the Tianmomen killed Youye, she didn’t care.

Was she supposed to cry and shed tears for Youye?

Just thinking about it, it was obvious that was impossible.

Youye wasn’t her friend. Their relationship was one where they knew each other’s depths and had bared their hearts to each other.

As long as Youye was properly sent back, whatever the Tianmomen did to Youye afterward was none of Hua Jian’s business.

Anyway, that pain wouldn’t transfer to her. Why should she worry about that bad woman?

If she had that much compassion, she might as well care about the old, young, women, and children in the North whose families were destroyed by the Magic Path.

Why care about a bloodthirsty demon?

“I see. So what do you want with me? My connection to your plan is pretty minimal, right?”

“Ahem, I was hoping Sister Feixue, as a young lady of a great clan, could teach me how to be a real Saintess. You must have a lot of experience!”

So she was waiting for Qian Feixue here all along. Qian Feixue glanced at Hua Jian—didn’t Hua Jian also know another Saintess?

And that Saintess’s relationship with Hua Jian was even better than hers. Why didn’t Hua Jian go ask her?

Was it because she thought Linglong wasn’t Saintess enough, or was she worried Linglong would refuse?

“When it comes to being a Saintess, there’s someone up in the sky more qualified than me.” Qian Feixue raised her hand and pointed at the sky.

Hearing Qian Feixue mention Linglong, Hua Jian immediately shook her head. Of course she knew she could ask Linglong for help, but Linglong’s style wasn’t hers.

Linglong’s Saintess image was the more rigid kind, fitting people’s stereotypical image of a Right Path Saintess. But Hua Jian was a Demon Path Saintess.

Her Saintess image should be the more wicked kind of Saintess.

“She needs both elegance and that overflowing bad-guy flavor. I don’t think Linglong would be able to teach me that!”

“Then I can? Wait, Sister Hua Jian, do you have some misunderstanding about me?” Several black lines drooped from Qian Feixue’s forehead.

If she hadn’t misunderstood, Hua Jian was basically insulting her just now, right?

That “overflowing bad-guy flavor”—how did she, Qian Feixue, dignified young lady of the Qian clan, have a bad-guy flavor!

“Really? I don’t think so!”

“Do I seem that bad to you?”

Hua Jian tilted her head slightly, actually pondering whether Qian Feixue was bad or not.

That reaction alone was enough to make Qian Feixue flip a table.

But soon, she saw Hua Jian actually nod after a moment of thought.

“A little bad. Like the feeling that you’d fall into her trap if you weren’t careful.” Hua Jian answered very seriously. “That’s what I want to learn.”

Qian Feixue was stunned. This Saintess chosen by Wanhuagu was truly a masterstroke.

With that mouth, if she were in a Saint Sect, she’d offend everyone. But in Wanhuagu, it was a different story.

Because Wanhuagu needed this kind of talented genius.

“I don’t know how. Just receive her the way you were acting just now, and she won’t suspect a thing.”

Qian Feixue casually rejected Hua Jian’s request, then told her that her previous performance was good enough.

As long as Hua Jian held it together, her image would be perfect.

“So you can’t give her some normal memories?”

“Ah, I just went with the flow. I figured this way was more fun.”

“Look at that. For the sake of ‘more fun,’ she deliberately increased the difficulty of the mission. The demonic nature in Hua Jian’s personality is really showing through.”

For someone like her to end up in Wanhuagu’s hands—whether that’s a blessing or a curse, who knows.

Hopefully, the Saintess can rein in this dangerous little demon.

“Sigh… just don’t drag the Qian family into your schemes.”

“How could that happen? The only way you’d get dragged in is if she self-destructed in your city. Otherwise, no one could involve you.” Hua Jian immediately shook her head.

The Qian family’s role in recent events had been so low-key that probably not many people even noticed what they’d done.

“In fact, the Qian family basically didn’t do anything. They just provided some space and then split a bit of the money. Compared to the main mastermind Wanhuagu, the Hostility on them is very minimal.”

Even many Magic Path factions would subconsciously ignore the role the Qian family played here.

Even the Tianmomen wouldn’t go so far as to retaliate against the Qian family over this. That would just add to the joke with no other meaning.

If the Qian family was truly pushed into joining the camp besieging the Tianmomen, then the pressure on them would be even greater.

After all, there were different factions within the Tianmomen.

The Dragon Venerable was just one of them.

The other Elders and Venerables might not be willing to become enemies of the world for the Dragon Venerable’s sake.

“Then just don’t let her self-destruct on our turf.”

“Relax. She can’t self-destruct right now. The moment she tries, her Soulforce will be sealed by the backdoor I left behind, preventing her from sending out the command to self-destruct.”

Hua Jian indicated that she had already prepared countermeasures. Youye no longer had the right to end her own life.

“Good.” Qian Feixue rubbed her chin, thought for a few seconds, then waved at Hua Jian. “Come here. I’ll teach you a couple of tricks after all.”

The fewer flaws Hua Jian exposed, the safer the Frozen Winter City would be, and the more comfortable she, as the Qian family’s young lady, could live.

So she might as well waste some breath and give Hua Jian a few reasonable suggestions.

“You do this, then this, and finally this…”

Listening to Qian Feixue’s sharing, Hua Jian wore an expression like she’d found a treasure, quickly committing these words firmly to memory, engraving them onto her Soulforce.

These experiences weren’t just useful for dealing with Youye.

They’d come in handy in the future when she went out swindling people too.

She had really found the right person this time!

Qian Feixue was truly a generous soul, even teaching her such ultimate techniques.