Chapter 30

When Ruan Mingzhu woke, she realized she had slept through the training exercise and the Moon Lantern Festival. Propping herself up in bed, her head still foggy, she noticed the air carried the bitter, refreshing scent of medicinal herbs from Lingsu Peak.

"Senior Sister?" She looked at Bai Su in confusion. "Why am I lying here—"

"You had just broken through a realm, but your condition was unstable. You recklessly fought that demonic fire with all your might, shaking your foundation—you nearly caused a major disaster! If you had been even a quarter of an hour later, your cultivation would have been completely ruined!" A stern voice rang out, laced with disappointment at her failure.

Ruan Mingzhu shuddered and looked up. Her master stood at the door, face dark as he scolded her. "Back then, you were restless in your cultivation, and you said you wouldn't disappoint me. But now look at you—what do you have to say for yourself?"

Ruan Mingzhu opened her mouth, knowing she was in the wrong. "I..."

"Enough." Elder Zhong was usually an amiable person, but this reckless disciple had irritated him so much he'd pulled out a few beard hairs. "You'd better thank Lin Xunzhen properly. Thank goodness she's more sensible. When she sent you back, she fed you a Stabilizing Origin Pill in time. Otherwise, you think you'd be able to rush back into a fight?"

Ruan Mingzhu's amber eyes widened. She looked at Bai Su, who nodded. "Indeed, that's the case."

After Elder Zhong left, Ruan Mingzhu hung her head, expression unreadable. Bai Su asked gently, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She frowned deeply, looking troubled.

"Senior Sister Lin treats people well and handles matters thoroughly. Both inner and outer disciples speak highly of her." Bai Su seemed to understand her conflict. "Actually, she's been very good to you too. Why did you have to say those things that day?"

"I just find it annoying." Ruan Mingzhu tugged at a strand of hair. "Who could be liked by everyone? That's just fake."

In truth, after throwing her tantrum, she felt she wasn't entirely in the right. But when it came to apologizing, her mouth felt like a clam shell that wouldn't open.

Bai Su sighed. "That wasn't an easy pill to come by... Well, I've said my piece. Think it over carefully."

***

Qing Zhouxue had just finished practicing sword arts at the Sword Pavilion as usual, but on her way back, she ran into Lin Xunzhen.

"Senior Sister." She called out lightly, preparing to leave, but Lin Xunzhen stopped her. "I've got some good news for you."

"What?" She halted and turned around.

"For the first round of selection, our team all passed. The Sect Leader said that although we were a bit inexperienced this time, our coordination turned out quite well, and we received a good evaluation."

"Mm." Qing Zhouxue nodded. "So the results are already out?"

"Not exactly." Lin Xunzhen smiled. "It's just that I happened to be on duty by the Sect Leader's side, so it's natural I get news quicker."

"There's not much to do these days. The next trial won't come for another three years. Do you have any plans, Junior Sister?"

"Cultivation."

Lin Xunzhen was taken aback by those stiff words. Glancing at Qing Junior Sister's utterly calm profile, she thought—how could there be such a boring girl, with only pure cultivation left in her life?

Her curiosity grew. "Qing Junior Sister, why do you cultivate the Dao?"

"Why?" Qing Zhouxue unconsciously slowed her steps, lowering her eyes. "For my master."

Lin Xunzhen was surprised. "Senior Yun? ...What's the reason for that?"

Qing Junior Sister gave a faint "Mm" and added, "She taught me to cultivate. I like her, and I like this too."

I like her.

Lin Xunzhen was startled at first. But looking into Qing Junior Sister's calm, clear eyes, she thought she might have been overthinking it.

She cleared her throat and smiled. "Junior Sister, the teaching duties at the outer sect—it's now your and Junior Sister Ruan's turn. This year probably won't be idle."

"...Outer sect?" Qing Zhouxue was stunned for a moment, then remembered. "Ah, right. There is such a thing."

Back then, she had done quite well in the inner sect written exam, and later, she had studied several cultivation manuals under Yun Shuchen, so teaching wasn't a problem. But when she recalled those noisy scenes from her memory, she did feel a headache coming on.

Lin Xunzhen guessed that she probably didn't enjoy speaking in front of others, so she considerately suggested, "Actually, it's not just teaching. If you feel you have nothing to say or aren't interested, you could also do patrol and enforcement."

"Mm." That hit the spot perfectly.

In the distance, a familiar figure appeared—clad in blazing red like fire, her black hair flowing. When Ruan Mingzhu spotted Qing Zhouxue, she was about to come over and greet her, but then she saw the person beside Qing Zhouxue. Ruan Mingzhu paused, hesitant.

Lin Xunzhen turned to Qing Zhouxue. "Could you also pass the word to Junior Sister Ruan?"

She was just about to leave, not having taken more than a few steps, when Ruan Mingzhu, seeing this, grew anxious. With light steps and a bit of spiritual energy, she caught up to Lin Xunzhen like a swift swallow.

"Stop!"

Lin Xunzhen heard her but did not halt, kept walking forward until the fluttering, flame-like edge of her robe was almost touching her.

She stopped, turned around, and said politely, "May I ask what instructions Junior Sister Ruan has today?"

"Why didn't you turn when I called you?" Ruan Mingzhu furrowed her brow.

"What imperial relative might Junior Sister Ruan be that I must stop and wait for you just because you call?" Lin Xunzhen tilted her head in confusion, as if genuinely finding it absurd.

"You!" Ruan Mingzhu bit her lower lip, took off her storage ring, and shoved it into her hand. "I owe you my life this time, and I owe you a Stabilizing Origin Pill. So now I'm returning it all. There are lots of things inside—take whatever you fancy."

"We are fellow disciples, a helping hand in passing." Lin Xunzhen tossed the ring back. "I work by the Sect Leader's side and have plenty of Stabilizing Origin Pills. No need to repay me. Besides, you were also injured saving me, so it's only fair."

She turned and left clean and decisive, leaving Ruan Mingzhu with an unreadable expression.

The next day, Qing Zhouxue took up the sect's orders to enforce rules in the outer sect. Her duties were simple—mostly dealing with disciples who fought, disrupted teaching order, or supervising her fellow disciples to teach properly.

The outer disciples knew who she was; even if they didn't remember her face, they'd heard her name. Rumor had it that the senior sister who won first place that day had a single Ice Spiritual Root, extraordinary talent, and was already Elder Yun's only personal disciple. They said she was naturally cold and taciturn. Now that they saw her, it was indeed like a fairy from Mount Guyi—her brows and eyes cold and clear, making her seem hard to approach.

Wherever Qing Zhouxue passed, no one dared to make a sound. Only after she'd walked far away did the outer disciples start chattering again. She made two rounds every day around the outer sect, and all was calm.

Ruan Mingzhu didn't want to stay cooped up in the classroom either, reciting headache-inducing scriptures to a full room of people, so she chose to go with Qing Zhouxue. She wasn't exactly disciplined; calling it patrol and inspection was really just her slacking off. After circling once and seeing nothing wrong, she slipped off to the outer sect market.

When Qing Zhouxue saw her again, Ruan Mingzhu had something in her hands, reading as she walked, grinning oddly and nearly running into a wall.

"What's that?"

Ruan Mingzhu's smile widened. She raised an eyebrow and handed the little booklet to Qing Zhouxue. "This one's good—great read."

Qing Zhouxue took it and flipped it open. The handwritten ink characters on the cover came into view: "The Amorous Widow and Her Sister-in-Law's Little Affairs." Flipping again: "Xia Zhuhua bent forward, revealing a plump, snowy white line. The young woman opposite suddenly tightened her gaze, two blushes rising on her cheeks..."

Qing Zhouxue's father had once said that since she was a girl, he didn't expect her to take the imperial examinations, so she'd never read the Four Books and Five Classics and knew nothing of ritual propriety. Since she was a bringer of ill fortune, marriage was likely hopeless, so she hadn't studied feminine virtues either. She only studied poetry, prose, and travelogs to cultivate her temperament. But what she'd read before was still orthodox; she'd never encountered such frivolous, daring descriptions.

Her eyes seemed scalded, and she immediately looked away. A moment later, she forced herself to look back and scan a few more lines. That scan was a disaster—who knew the plot would be so twisty? After several bold passages, the widow and her sister-in-law's affair was exposed, and the whole village dragged them to be drowned in a pig cage. But the two heard of it in advance and fled in the middle of the night with silver, only to be stopped by a band of evil robbers.

Just at a tense moment, Qing Zhouxue flipped again—it was already the last page. She frowned abruptly. "How is it cut off?"

Ruan Mingzhu said, "That's the first part. The second part hasn't come out yet."

"Why would they try to stop the two of them from being together? It's not like they were bothering anyone else." After reading it, Qing Zhouxue found many things puzzling.

Ruan Mingzhu blinked in surprise and leaned close. "You... you really don't know, or are you just pretending?"

"Why would I pretend not to know?"

"Ah, Senior Sister, they're both women. It'd be strange if they had it easy." Ruan Mingzhu clicked her tongue. "Marriage between a man and a woman is what fits this world's common sense."

"...Common sense?" Qing Zhouxue was bewildered. "Why is there such common sense?"

Ruan Mingzhu was stumped. Why was there such common sense? She pondered for a long while, finally confusing herself. With an "Aiyo," she snatched the book back. "It's just the antagonists—if no one plays the obstacle, then the story wouldn't be interesting."

Though it felt a bit forced, Qing Zhouxue still nodded. Ruan Mingzhu then fished three more books of different series from her sleeve and laid them before her. "I've bought plenty before. These are all good reads. If you're interested, I'll lend them all!"

"...Alright."

On the night of the Moon Lantern Festival, Yun Shuchen had been so drunk she couldn't remember a thing, and when she woke the next day, she had no memory of it at all. Since the festival ended, she found she saw less and less of her disciple. In the morning, Qing Zhouxue studied at the Sword Pavilion; during the day, she worked in the outer sect; and when evening came, after dinner, she quickly slipped back into her room, silent, as if she didn't know what she was doing.

From afar, in the dark night, that small window of hers remained lit, sleepless, as if it would stay lit until dawn.

Studying that hard?

Remembering that she hadn't really paid attention to her for a long time, Yun Shuchen gently knocked on her door. There was a rustling sound of tidying up, the sound of a chair being pulled, footsteps on the floor. Then the door creaked open. Qing Zhouxue stood there, hair loose, wearing plain white inner robes, in the place where lamplight and moonlight merged, her hand still on the door.

Seeing the surprise in her disciple's eyes, Yun Shuchen said, "You've been working hard these days. Sleep early."

The disciple's expression was slightly unnatural, and she nodded stiffly. Yun Shuchen sensed something off and tilted her head, asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She quickly recovered. "Probably just tired from reading. Good night, Master."

Yun Shuchen remembered that when Qing Zhouxue was younger, although she was quiet too, every time she saw her, she would unconsciously walk over and find a suitable spot within three meters of Yun Shuchen to sit obediently. If Yun Shuchen moved somewhere else, the little girl would linger for a bit, then, with pleading eyes, follow her and repeat the same behavior.

Now that she's grown up, all she leaves is a cold "Good night, Master."

The door opened slowly but closed quite swiftly.

Thinking about this contrast carefully, Yun Shuchen frowned in slight dissatisfaction.