The Eight Empresses Betrayed Me, Only to Deeply Regret It After Being Reborn

"You’re full of shit!"

"I misheard? You think I misheard that?"

"You definitely said 'husband'. I heard it loud and clear, not a single bit off. Now hurry up and tell me, what the hell is going on?"

"The two of us have over sixty years of friendship! We’ve been inseparable, cultivating together, practically did everything except sleep in the same bed."

Bai Qiulan...

Yue Hongling gave her a look full of helpless resignation.

She’d told her before—had advised her to just call Lu Ye by his name. But her master, that spineless woman, folded in just a few moves under senior brother’s obscene pressure. It didn’t take long before she was tearfully calling him 'husband.'

It was Yue Hongling who stayed unyielding. Even after suffering all sorts of torment, she still refused to call him 'hubby' or whatever.

Later, once master got used to calling him 'husband', she never stopped. And now, well—she slipped.

"I—I really didn’t say that. What I said was..."

"Keep going. Let’s see how far you can bullshit this." Sun Ruowei sneered.

Bai Qiulan racked her brain—then a flash of inspiration.

"What I said was, 'A true gentleman cultivates himself with serenity, nourishes virtue with frugality. Without indifference, there is no clarity of aspiration'... It’s just that the end of the sentence was too soft, you didn’t catch it, that’s all..."

Sun Ruowei stared, dumbfounded.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Seriously?

"Bai Qiulan!"

"I treated you like a sister, and you treat me like I’m an idiot?"

Sun Ruowei was not having it.

"Anyway, that’s the truth. Me and Lu Ye—we’re completely clean. Just master and disciple. Nothing else." Bai Qiulan finally just adopted the attitude of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water.

"Fine, fine, fine. Hongling, do you like your senior brother Lu Ye?" Sun Ruowei turned her aim on Yue Hongling.

This girl looked all innocent and dopey—probably easier to pry something out of.

Yue Hongling...

"Yes, I do like senior brother," Yue Hongling replied with certainty.

"And are you okay with your senior brother having more than just you?" Sun Ruowei pressed on.

See? This Yue Hongling is way too simple. If it were Bai Qiulan, she wouldn’t even engage with that kind of question.

"I am!"

Yue Hongling answered firmly.

More than just okay—she was already comrades-in-arms [N O V E L I G H T] with the other women.

"Then are you okay with master and disciple sharing a husband?"

Yue Hongling: ???

Bai Qiulan looked at the two of them, a bit dazed. She felt like she was freezing up a little.

What were they even talking about now? She wasn’t even sure she was hearing things correctly anymore.

Why was it getting quieter?

Quieter and quieter?

Bang!

Bai Qiulan suddenly collapsed flat onto the ground.

Neither Yue Hongling nor Sun Ruowei had expected that. Bai Qiulan was in the Unity Dao realm—she hadn’t been injured or anything. So why the hell did she suddenly fall over like that?

"Master!"

Yue Hongling was horrified. She quickly crouched down to lift Bai Qiulan up.

Cold!

Bone-piercing cold!

The instant Yue Hongling touched Bai Qiulan, she felt an indescribable chill flood through her body—it almost made her drop her.

"Qiulan!"

Sun Ruowei was also panicking.

She reached out—"Why is she so cold? Didn’t she say she’d recover quickly?"

"Hurry, warm her up!" Yue Hongling shouted, fully aware of Bai Qiulan’s condition.

"How?!"

Sun Ruowei was just as frantic.

Her hands turned red, blazing with intense heat, which she pressed onto Bai Qiulan’s body.

But it didn’t work.

Her warmth didn’t dispel anything. No—that’s not even the right word. It wasn’t that she couldn’t dispel the cold, she couldn’t even reach it. She couldn’t touch the chill clinging to Bai Qiulan’s body at all.

"Incompatible!"

Yue Hongling knew about her master’s condition, but not in detail.

Because her master was always too embarrassed to talk about it.

But she had seen with her own eyes how senior brother had relieved that icy coldness from her master.

So she reached out and started untying Bai Qiulan’s robe.

Sun Ruowei didn’t understand, but she didn’t say anything either. It was just the three of them here, and she’d already set up a barrier around the area—it was safe.

Soon, Bai Qiulan was completely undressed.

Yue Hongling then began unfastening her own clothes.

Sun Ruowei: ???

Something... didn’t feel right anymore.

In just a few swift motions, Yue Hongling had stripped off everything. She pulled Bai Qiulan into her arms.

In that instant, the bone-chilling cold made Yue Hongling writhe in pain.

It was a kind of agony the body was never meant to endure.

Her body trembled uncontrollably, instinct screaming at her a thousand, ten thousand times to let go and escape.

But Yue Hongling refused to move.

Bai Qiulan’s body gradually began to warm up. Still cold enough to terrify, but not as deathly frozen as before.

In the end, Yue Hongling couldn’t hold out anymore.

She felt that if she went on like this, her body would simply freeze to death—and even her soul might suffer damage from the cold.

She let go of Bai Qiulan and wrapped her tightly in a thick quilt.

"What exactly is going on?" Sun Ruowei asked anxiously.

She also began to remove her clothes, imitating Yue Hongling, and reached out to embrace Bai Qiulan.

In an instant, Sun Ruowei let out a scream of sheer agony.

She couldn’t endure the overwhelming cold—just a brief moment of contact had her pulling away.

Too cold.

Far, far too cold. A coldness the body, the soul, simply could not withstand.

Bai Qiulan’s breathing was calm, her eyes tightly shut.

There was nothing unusual in the breath she exhaled, but her body—her body was frozen beyond measure.

"Only senior brother can help. I’ll go find him—he knows what to do!" Yue Hongling quickly got up and dressed.

"Aunt Sun, stay here and watch over master. I’ll bring senior brother right away."

"Alright, go and come back quickly!"

Yue Hongling flew off toward Lu Ye’s location.

She was about to barge straight into Lu Ye’s room—but stopped cold barely ten centimeters from the door.

See? Some things can’t be taught by words—once is enough to learn by experience.

"Senior brother! Master’s condition flared up again—she’s unconscious now. Come with me quickly and save her!" Yue Hongling’s voice was filled with urgency.

Inside the room, there was no response.

"Senior brother!" Yue Hongling knocked on the door.

"I’m serious—this is an emergency! You have to come with me! No matter what, she’s still our master—our only master!"

No matter how hard Yue Hongling knocked—loud enough to shake the sky—Lu Ye still didn’t say a word.

Gritting her teeth, she was just about to force the door open when finally, Lu Ye’s voice came from inside.

"Her illness again?"

Yue Hongling brightened.

"Yes! She passed out. Her body’s freezing cold. Senior brother, please—please help her!"

Lu Ye’s voice held something strange in it.

"How do you expect me to help?"

"However you can—any way you want. Anything is fine." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Lu Ye’s lips curved into a self-mocking smile.

"Anything is fine?"

"Then once I help her, I’ll become that disrespectful disciple again—the one she holds a grudge against?"

Yue Hongling...

"Master doesn’t know the pain you’ve suffered... you can’t blame her for that..."

"You really think... she doesn’t know?"