Chapter 3

The other disciples started in on me with their sneers.

"Lauren Flores, the eldest Blake heir and second senior sister have gone off on their sweet little Star Festival date. Better bury that pathetic crush on him right now. You're not fit to stand near him!"

"A useless wreck like you, dreaming of the eldest Blake heir? He built his foundation in ten days. He's a genius!"

"Someone as worthless as you probably won't reach Foundation Establishment in this whole lifetime."

"Leaving the Heavenly Sword Sect is the best thing you could do now. Stop ruining their sweet Star Festival date!"

"Ha! If the Flores family weren't so wealthy, you'd never have gotten into the Heavenly Sword Sect at all!"

"If I had a family like yours, I'd have gone home to eat and lie around for the rest of my life. I sure wouldn't be chasing someone I could never have!"

Then one disciple with no sense at all made me an offer.

"Little Lauren, why not come with me instead? I'm only a step below the eldest Blake heir. I could just about let you be my concubine."

"It's the Star Festival today. Say yes to me, and I'll reward you with a top-grade clarity pill as a love-token. What do you say?"

A frivolous piece of work.

Up in the Celestial Court, no one had ever dared speak to me like this.

This Cliff Fletcher went from flower to flower, sweet-talking every naive junior sister he could find.

That top-grade clarity pill he was dangling had probably been swindled off someone else.

Cut from the same rotten cloth as Aidan Blake.

Not fit to hold a beautiful bond of love in his hands.

I gave my spiritual power the faintest little nudge.

Even after falling from the heavens, the red-thread art hadn't left me.

I tied one end of the thread around Cliff Fletcher's index finger and hooked the other end onto a sparrow in mid-flight.

Cliff Fletcher lifted his head to that sparrow and went chasing after it, shouting like a man gone mad.

"Little sparrow, you've stirred a feeling in me I've never known."

"Would you be my cultivation partner? Stay by my side forever?"

"Wait! My darling wife, fly slower~"

The sparrow, terrified, only flew faster.

The disciples around him watched, utterly baffled.

I looked around me.

One by one, I tied a red thread from each of those smug faces to whatever animal I happened to spot.

Not one of the people who had once bullied the original Lauren escaped it.

Hmph. I'm not fit for him?

The way I see it, they're a fine match for these animals!

Once I was done, I patched up my injuries as best I could and took to my sword after Aidan Blake and the others.

They needn't think they'd get away that easily.

But this original body, so busy chasing after her beloved, had barely any cultivation to show for it.

The whole way there, my sword-flight was one stumble after another.

By the time I reached the Star Festival river outing, my stomach was churning like a rolling tide.

I braced myself against a nearby tree and threw up violently.

A moment later, a snide voice reached my ears.

"Well, well~ Little Lauren really doesn't know when to quit~"

"With that kind of persistence, she'd probably succeed at anything. Pity. The one thing that won't work is chasing my Aidan."

This one just wouldn't leave anyone alone either.

In the memories,

no matter what, she always managed to find the original Lauren, and even to provoke her.

So full of scheming. A perfect match for someone like Aidan Blake.