The story went as follows: Once upon a time, the forest near the village where Hong Bao and her mother lived was infested with demons. Even though there was a small deity sect situated not far from them, the cultivators and practitioners turned a blind eye to their plight. Villagers died left and right until finally, Hong Bao’s mother became one of the victims. Hong Bao — who was just fifteen years old back then — didn’t know what to do.

In her desperation, she traveled to the nearest town and asked somebody to write a letter for her that was then sent to the Tian Yu Sect where her sister stayed. Maybe it was true that stupid people never had to fear anything because even though the letter needed several weeks to reach her sister, Hong Bao was still alive and well when Hong Ai finally arrived at the village.

Hong Ai was furious. Not because of her sister but because of the attitude the so-called righteous sects were showing. Even her own sect that was hailed as one of the premier sects that weren’t even ranked had done nothing when she informed her Master of the things going on there. They just adopted an attitude of 'that’s just how the world is, the strong survive and the weak will die' and continued with what they had been doing before.

Now, it was just Hong Ai against all the demons. She didn’t hesitate though. Her sister’s life depended on her and she was also taking revenge for her mother. Furthermore, she knew that someone would have to do something or the villagers left around the forest would all die. They were mere mortals, after all.

So she set out on her own and started to decimate the demons. Unfortunately, there were too many. She killed the first wave and then a second and third but over time, her injuries accumulated. Finally, she could barely hold on.

Hong Ai had no idea that someone had been watching her the whole time. That person was naturally Shen An De. Since he was part demon himself and even the nephew of the current demon king Jin Ling he couldn’t help but pay attention to everything related to the demons. Their movements at that time were really suspicious and he couldn’t help but suspect that his uncle might be behind that. He had never trusted him so he went to check things out.

Who knew he’d see a young woman fighting against the demons all on her own until she only had one breath left? He was quite intrigued and, in the end, he lent a helping hand.

What sounded like the beginning of a beautiful love story didn’t unfold that way though. Hong Ai wasn’t thankful. Just taking one look at his black robes would tell everyone that he was a heretic practitioner. She actually suspected him to have orchestrated everything.

Shen An De who was more and more falling in love felt quite the headache. In the end, he left the blade with her that was able to eliminate a demon. Then, they parted ways and Hong Ai returned to the village.

She spent some time with her sister while in the Nine Heavens above someone noticed her selfless deed. Soon after, a message was sent down telling her the time and place when someone would come and have her ascend as a reward.

Unfortunately — or maybe it was fortunate —, by that time, Shen An De had already succeeded in moving her heart. Considering that most likely only a messenger would be sent Hong Ai persuaded her sister to go in her stead. If Hong Bao ascended, then she wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore and she imagined life in the Nine Heavens to be nice.

Hong Bao who was a hopeless romantic had nothing to say to that. She let her sister flee with her soon-to-be brother-in-law and went to meet up with the messenger from the Nine Heavens.

What came after that was the reason for Hong Ai’s worries: If one believed Hong Bao, then that messenger had never shown up. She was picked up the next day by a handsome man called Liu Cheng and brought to the Chun Feng Sect because her village had mysteriously vanished. In reality, more than a millennium had already gone by since her sister followed Shen An De to the Hei Dian Sect.

When Hong Bao reached that point, Jing Yi was already befuddled. What she was saying … well, it was a bit difficult to gauge what exactly it meant. He could see two ways to interpret this: Looking at it one way, all of this was just a misunderstanding. Hong Ai and Shen An De had really just fallen in love by chance and thus she had followed him. Looking at it another way, maybe there had been some calculation taking place on his part. Who could say for sure? As for the part about Hong Bao ascending but not being able to remember … that was even more mysterious.

For the time being, Jing Yi couldn’t make sense of it. It seemed he would have to tell Qiu Ling and talk it through with him. Maybe they could find out something more together. Deciding on this, Jing Yi focused on Hong Bao again. Unfortunately, it seemed she hadn’t thought very much about this. Right now, she was talking about her senior martial brother Liu Cheng who was the best-looking man she had ever seen. And how — in the five years she had been in the Chun Feng Sect — the two of them had gotten quite close and she was expecting him to take the next step soon enough.

At that point, Hong Bao sighed. "Well, it’s a pity though. I really wanted to see my sister again so when my brother-in-law suddenly showed up, I finally just followed him back to the Hei Dian Sect."

Jing Yi blinked his eyes, a little unable to believe what he was hearing there. "Just like that?"

Hong Bao nodded. "Mn. Since then, we’ve been catching up. And, well, I also really want to get to know my brother-in-law better and see how those two have been living."

"But …" Jing Yi hesitated and finally couldn’t help but make sure first. "How long have you been here?"

Hong Bao looked at the ceiling, seemingly thinking deeply. "About a year?"

Jing Yi gaped. So she actually knew it had been a year … "Then … did you ever contact your Master or that … handsome senior martial brother?"

When he asked that, Hong Bao finally looked a little embarrassed. "Well … I wanted to but … I kind of forgot."

Jing Yi’s lips twitched. This … really wasn’t a story he wanted to report to the Yun Zou Sect. There’d better be a hidden plot behind all of this!