My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion
Chapter 144 - 124: Do I Need a Lifetime to Repay?

Chapter 144: Chapter 124: Do I Need a Lifetime to Repay?

Perhaps it was because she was always bullied, or perhaps because she was always cautious, compromising, and obsequious, or maybe... because she feared getting pregnant with that vile man’s child.

Yin Tingxue had a very strange, very peculiar dream.

It seemed to be the continuation of a dream she once had. In her dream, she was dressed in black, wielding a three-foot sword, moving fluidly amidst flickering blades and swords.

In the dream, she seemed to be hunting someone down. Yin Tingxue felt as if she were personally experiencing everything in the dream, yet simultaneously witnessing it as an observer.

And then, she saw a familiar face.

Chen Yi, the man who had forced her into becoming a concubine. The way he looked at her was filled with near-absolute terror.

And soon, she had beaten that wretched man to his knees.

Seeing his terrified expression, Yin Tingxue felt an instinctive surge of satisfaction, inwardly cheering on the version of herself in the dream.

Serves you right for bullying me, for bullying me!

Ah, to think he was being beaten so thoroughly by her. Just the thought of it brought her immense joy. All those times he had strutted about in front of her, bullying her without a second thought, even wanting her to bear his child—now he was finally receiving his comeuppance.

But in the next moment, Yin Tingxue froze. She saw the gleam of the sword flash, watched as Chen Yi’s meridians were severed one by one, his body covered in blood, and the version of her within the dream... seemed to be savoring the cruelty of the act.

How could she... be so ruthless?

A wave of terror swept over Yin Tingxue. How could she be so ruthless...

The words her mother had once spoken echoed in her mind. Had she forgotten them all?

The person inside the dream didn’t seem like her. She wasn’t that kind of person...

When Chen Yi was down to his last breath, the woman in the dream kicked him over and spoke with a tone of relief,

"Once, you shattered my Longevity Bridge.

Today, I sever your meridians and eradicate your entire bloodline."

The dream came to an abrupt halt then.

A sliver of morning light broke through the paper window, faint like the drifting snow atop a mountain. With winter approaching, the chill persisted, but there was no rain today, and the light brought a hint of warmth.

The bedroom was silent. Yin Tingxue rubbed her eyes and wriggled slightly under the thick bedding, only to accidentally bump into a broad, firm back.

It was Chen Yi. Even without looking, Yin Tingxue knew it was him. However, he was usually gone by the time she woke up.

Today, he was still here. It seemed his rest day had come.

Half-awake, she turned over, still drowsy and muddled.

Then, as she turned again, Chen Yi pulled her into his arms.

"Slept well?"

Chen Yi glanced at her and asked.

"It was... okay..."

Seventy percent awake and thirty percent asleep, Yin Tingxue was utterly unguarded and began talking about her dream.

"I had a dream."

Chen Yi stared at her intently, then asked, seemingly deep in thought:

"Did the dream include me?"

"It did..."

Yin Tingxue recalled the dream, her voice heavy with fatigue.

"The dream was all about you..."

Chen Yi’s gaze grew a few degrees colder, but his hand still tenderly caressed her smooth back.

"Did you dream... that you killed me?"

Yin Tingxue shuddered violently and stared at him directly without blinking.

"How... did you know?" she asked weakly.

The dream had felt so real. She often had vivid dreams, but this one was different—so peculiar. What should have been a sweet dream of reclaiming her agency had turned so cruel in the end...

As her thoughts wandered, Yin Tingxue’s mind became a tangled mess. She murmured,

"It’s just a dream. I’m very obedient."

"Mm, I know you’re obedient. But... perhaps everything in the dream was real."

As her voice fell, Chen Yi’s tone softened, his gaze growing mild.

He didn’t seem to be lying. It looked as though she genuinely didn’t know—she had merely dreamed it.

No matter what, this daughter of the Prince of Xiang was no longer the Demon Sect Saintess who had killed him in a previous life. Now, she was his little fox. At that thought, he softly said,

"It was just from a past life."

"Really? How could that be..."

Still groggy from having just woken up, she was confused and somewhat credulous.

"Of course it’s true. Otherwise, why would I seek revenge and take you as my concubine?"

Chen Yi chuckled darkly, his fingers lazily toying with her lush, beautiful hair.

It was said that the women of Goryeo were famed for their exquisite hair, and many had been sent as tributes to the Central Plains since the Tang Dynasty. Yet this little fox’s hair, soft and layered, far outshone any foreign girl’s hair, even those destined for the imperial palace.

As Yin Tingxue listened to his words, memories rushed back, and she began to tremble. That time had been the hardest in her life—a time she would rather forget forever. Still holding onto the arrogance of the imperial clans, she had experienced such cruelty for the first time. Her future felt so bleak, and then she’d been injured. It was a period of unending darkness.

"I made you my concubine so you could repay your debt," Chen Yi said with a low laugh.

"...With my whole life?"

She asked pitifully.

"What else?"

"What about in the next life?"

Yin Tingxue fell silent for a long moment before timidly asking.

"You’ll repay it in the next life too."

"What about the life after that?"

Her voice trembled with fear as she asked.

"You’ll still repay it. You’ll repay it for ten lifetimes."

Yin Tingxue was on the verge of tears.

Ten lifetimes of repayment... ten lifetimes as his concubine, and perhaps... forced to bear children for ten lifetimes? Just the thought of it made her terrified. She bit her lip, a thousand reluctances in her heart. This life alone was already torment enough—would the next life be the same?

"I won’t repay it in the next life..."

She whispered timidly,

"Repaying for one life is enough."

One lifetime was already frightening and miserable enough. Repaying for ten lifetimes and always being his concubine—wasn’t that akin to being thrown into the eighteen layers of hell?

She was on the verge of crying again, but Chen Yi spoke with sinister coldness,

"That’s impossible. Even in the next life, even if you’re no longer Yin Tingxue, I’ll still find your reincarnation and make you pay off that debt."

After saying this, he lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss. He didn’t care whether she was distressed or not. Flustered and fearful, she stiffened nervously, but looked into his eyes and eventually complied, obediently responding to him.

Chen Yi’s heart stirred.

Truly a pitiful girl, fated to fall into his grasp and become his concubine.

...............

At the Prince Mansion.

Inside a meditation room adorned with soft goose-down cushions, a white-robed female crown sat cross-legged, forming a seal with her hands as she slowly absorbed the Primordial Qi between heaven and earth.

At Taihua Mountain, the path to cultivation rested on meditation, visualization, and long periods of solitary seclusion. Out of the year, Yin Weiyin often spent one or two months in the room, dressed in her flame-patterned green robes, secluded for closed-door training.

By the second crow of the rooster, Yin Weiyin exhaled softly, feeling the Primordial Qi settling into the apertures of her circulatory system.

Subconsciously, she touched three apertures along her body—the Qihu, Yunmen, and Tianshu points—where Chen Yi had shattered her once-vital meridians. Sighing deeply, she exhaled again.

Her complexion flushed with frustration and slowly turned red.

Rest day... had arrived.

Her master, Daoist Yu Zhen, had once vowed with such certainty, filling her heart with ecstasy, that Chen Yi’s three spirits would be severed, and she would finally be free.

But alas, it had all been an illusion. Chen Yi had emerged unscathed, while her master... remained missing to this day.

Her chastity lost—that, she could endure. After all, the path to enlightenment lay ahead. Her Longevity Bridge severed—that, too, she could endure. Her current state of mind was fuller than before. But to attend him at his mansion every rest day, to not only sully her body but also have her painstakingly earned cultivation stolen away...

The mere thought made Yin Weiyin’s heart ache, her expression mournful.

If he mastered certain techniques, all her bitter cultivation efforts would essentially become someone else’s spoils...

She subconsciously recalled his hands roaming freely as he loosened her garments. A tremor ran through her entire body. As for what came after, she dared not remember.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Murmuring to herself, Yin Weiyin gazed at the Eight Trigrams below the meditation mat and suddenly thought of something.

Perhaps she could consult the oracle?

Her eyes brightened with a faint glimmer. She quickly formed a hand seal, closed her eyes, and began tracing the circle of the Eight Trigrams—with her movements alternating between left and right, two rotations in total.

"One yang line: walking on frost, firm ice will come," she murmured quietly.

This divination often symbolized perceiving subtle signs and stopping disaster in its tracks.

Stopping disaster in its tracks...

What was the disaster?

Chen Yi? But that couldn’t be stopped... she lacked the ability.

What else could the disaster be, aside from Chen Yi?

The technique of harvesting through dual cultivation!

The realization dawned on Yin Weiyin suddenly, like a flash of inspiration.

"If he wishes to use a harvesting technique to steal my cultivation, then all I have to do is ensure he never obtains such a technique!"

With her mind opened to this new possibility, a river of thoughts flowed more freely.

As long as Chen Yi couldn’t obtain her cultivation, even if he continued to torment her, she could remain silent and unresponsive, like a corpse lying still, refusing to cooperate. Eventually, he would grow bored with her.

Once his interest waned, their ties could be severed, allowing her to return to her former path of cultivation and repair her Longevity Bridge.

Now, how could she ensure he couldn’t get the technique of harvesting cultivation...

"Harvesting is ultimately only a minor path, and among those methods capable of directly seizing another’s cultivation, very few are authentic."

Yin Weiyin calculated thoughtfully, fingers forming seals.

"If my memory serves me, there’s only one... from the Joyful Sect in the Capital Region..."

Carefully, she repeated her mental math, infused her calculations with her Primordial Qi, and conducted a simple divination.

After a long pause, she raised her eyebrows in confusion.

Why was it that the Joyful Sect now seemed to be on the verge of great calamity?