Chapter 66

It seemed that in many respects, she was special.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.

Qing Zhouxue rubbed her fingertip with her thumb. It was as smooth as ever—no sign it had been wounded just moments ago.

She picked up that thought, along with the dry clothes hanging nearby, and draped them loosely over herself. Pushing open the door, she ran into Yun Shuchen, who had just returned from the Main Peak and was stepping into the bedroom.

"Tired?" Her master sat down nearby and casually poured a cup of tea.

Qing Zhouxue shook her head. "This time there weren't too many twists and turns. We were quite lucky."

"It wasn't without hardships."

Yun Shuchen had spent several consecutive days at the Main Peak without proper rest, and she was somewhat fatigued. She took a sip of tea, propped her head on one hand against the table, and closed her eyes. "The coordination among you wasn't exactly stunning, but it was much smoother than before. Each of you is already outstanding in your own right, so with that, it's only natural that everything went smoothly."

She opened her eyes again and, seemingly offhandedly, remarked, "In the illusion of the Dreamweaver Spider, you were the first to break out. That kind of beast is skilled at reading people's hearts, and some cultivators have used it to attain enlightenment. Did you gain anything from this experience?"

"No," Qing Zhouxue replied, her heart tightening instantly. If her master pressed further, she...

Should she tell her about such things?

In the end, she spoke up. "I only dreamed of a person."

Yun Shuchen fell silent for a moment, and two guesses surfaced in her mind. Her disciple had an inherently indifferent nature; she wouldn't dwell on the past. So she was more likely to have dreamed of something in the present—the people she spent the most time with on ordinary days were none other than her master and her fellow senior and junior sisters. Among those sisters, only one was particularly close to her.

The words reached her lips, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to ask. Yun Shuchen sighed inwardly, then raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you always like this?"

"I..."

Qing Zhouxue thought she was referring to the illusion. But she never imagined that the elder outside the mirror could only see them wrapped tightly in silk cocoons.

"Perhaps it's because I've been feeling unsettled in my cultivation lately. Your disciple will go copy the Heart-Cleansing Sutra."

She paused, then said solemnly.

Yun Shuchen looked at her, bemused. After a moment, she understood, sighed softly, and smiled. "I meant, why are you always like this—whenever your master talks to you, you stand straight as a post in front of me, as if you're being punished. You had this habit since you were little."

Qing Zhouxue coughed lightly and pulled out a chair to sit down.

She still kept her eyes on Yun Shuchen, watching her set down the teacup, then her fingers stroked the jade bangle on her wrist, slowly turning it once around—yet she said nothing.

Her master seemed to have something to say.

So she waited quietly.

"I was just making conversation," Yun Shuchen said gently. "It's only been a few days. You see me, and you're already distant again?"

"No," she answered truthfully. "What would you like to talk about, Master?"

The rest was just ordinary chatter—about the secret realm this time, about the Immortal Ascension Assembly. Qing Zhouxue might not have noticed, but Yun Shuchen, in discussing the secret realm, had quite subtly slipped in a question: "In the illusion, who did you see?"

Qing Zhouxue was quiet for a moment, then admitted, "...You."

Yun Shuchen's fingers, which had been turning the bangle, suddenly loosened. She lowered her gaze, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, then pressed it flat after taking a sip of tea.

This tea was light and slightly bitter, excellent for cooling the heart. Yet Yun Shuchen tasted a hint of sweetness—faint and indistinct, but lingering long after.

But, though.

"Seeing me made you be the first to break out of the formation?"

Qing Zhouxue had never expected her master to care about such a thing. She said, dazed, "Huh?"

Yun Shuchen set down the teacup and said leisurely, "Never mind. You may go copy the sutra now."

"..."

Qing Zhouxue had just turned her head when she heard her master say, "Wait."

A white porcelain bottle was placed in her palm.

"The pill required for the Nascent Soul breakthrough is refined. If you notice anything amiss, swallow this and get far away from Heyi Peak. I think the Sect Leader's hall is a suitable spot."

Yun Shuchen leaned back comfortably, then added, "If you burn down my belongings again, you can figure out the consequences yourself."

Qing Zhouxue acknowledged this cautiously, and precisely to avoid that, she had already scouted a place—the spot where she'd practiced her sword against the Thunder Tribulation last time. It was quite open, and even if disaster struck, it wouldn't harm others.

She opened the porcelain bottle and looked at it. The aroma was somewhat similar to roasted chestnuts—a round, glossy black pill inside.

"Master, when is your next breakthrough?" Qing Zhouxue closed the lid and, remembering the matter, couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

In truth, she had seldom seen Yun Shuchen cultivate. The occasional meditation was mostly just to rest and recharge.

"That would mean enduring the Thunder Tribulation again. I'm afraid of pain, and I don't want to. It's a long way off."

Yun Shuchen stood up. The autumn afternoon sun made one drowsy, and she looked tired as she walked toward the bed. After changing out of her outer robe, she intended to take a nap. Qing Zhouxue went over and helped her lie down, saying softly, "If you don't want to break through, Master, then there's no need."

Yun Shuchen closed her eyes.

Actually, it wasn't just an excuse. Given her current physical condition and some other factors... if she went up another level, she probably wouldn't be able to withstand the ninefold Thunder Tribulation during the crossing—it would be a desperate fight for survival, with little chance of success.

Just as she lay down, she remembered that she hadn't eaten a grain of rice in these seven days. Not thinking about it was fine, but now that it came to mind, habit took over, and her stomach felt empty—utterly uncomfortable.

"Can you cook?"

Her master suddenly asked this, and Qing Zhouxue's hand paused. "...No, I can't."

Then she heard no more.

Qing Zhouxue withdrew her hand, and the beaded curtain she'd lifted fell back down. The woman's form was indistinct, and she seemed to turn over, burying herself in the bedding.

She stepped out of the room and looked at the golden autumn mountain, brilliant to the point of decadence, as if a single gust of wind would send the leaves tumbling down.

A few more months, and it would be winter.

What should she give her master this year? Qing Zhouxue pondered for a moment. She'd already decided to give something practical this time. Last time's small lotus pendant hadn't been seen in use by her master—perhaps she had too many ornaments and couldn't wear them all at once.

Looking at it now, a fine table of dishes might not be a bad idea.

*

Her cat was always elusive, even finishing its tasks in secret. For instance, it would quietly make a table of food and then vanish without a trace, or arrange household items neatly, only to suddenly appear one day in a corner of the courtyard.

Qing Zhouxue staked out the several walls that A Jin liked best and finally caught it at a good moment.

After that, she acknowledged a cat master to teach her cooking.

Though this cat could take human form, it wasn't very fond of it. It clearly preferred the agility and freedom of its cat body. If not for the need to become human at certain times, A Jin would contentedly remain a cat.

Clearly, it categorized the task of guiding Qing Zhouxue in cooking as a chore that could be done in its cat form.

Ruan Mingzhu, at loose ends, climbed up to Heyi Peak again. Crouching on the wall and sweeping her gaze through the courtyard, she saw that Yun Shuchen wasn't there, and neither was Qing Zhouxue. She'd been about to leave, but just before going, she glanced once more and froze on the spot.

Through the sparse shade of trees, she could faintly see a kitchen window open in the back, where a white figure was moving about.

Senior Sister Qing was usually carrying her sword... no, wait—that was a spatula.

A spatula?

She saw a fluffy, multicolored cat crouched by the stove, using its tail to point at piles of scallions, garlic, oil, salt, sugar, and black vinegar.

Finally, it nudged the dish of minced garlic away with its tail, producing a clatter of porcelain as it moved. "Master doesn't like this flavor. This one must not be used."

The cat's tail lifted, and its jade-green eyes fixed on Qing Zhouxue. "Mark my words, mark my words."

Qing Zhouxue held a cookbook and looked at it for a while, then pointed to the two characters "a pinch."

"What does this mean? How much is a pinch?"

The cat answered gravely, "That is a matter of feel. Don't put too much."

It was her first time cooking—how could she have any sense of feel?

Once the oil was hot, she tipped a bowl of lush green greens into the pan, and it hissed. She pinched a few grains of salt between her fingertips and flicked it in.

A few grains fell.

"Too little."

A fluffy tail jabbed her on the back of her hand.

Qing Zhouxue reached for the small dish of salt again, but accidentally knocked over the chili oil sitting nearby.

That didn't seem like something to use for stir-frying greens.

Watching the defenseless greens get drowned in the red oil, the cat's eyes widened, momentarily unable to react. Qing Zhouxue was silent for a moment, then reasoned that if she just followed the right proportions and diluted it with water, it would be fine. So she casually poured in some more salt.

When she added water, those few pitiful greens floated and sank amid the vivid red, wilted slightly from the excess salt.

She quietly waited for this bizarre bowl of greens soup to boil down. The cat's pupils kept shifting, seeming at a loss for words. In any case, when that oddly shaped green was offered up, it instinctively turned its head away.

Cooking had its accidents.

In fact, chaos arising in many forms was only natural.

A Jin had just told Qing Zhouxue this, so she didn't need to strictly follow the rules; she must understand the harmony of the five flavors.

Qing Zhouxue was a good student, so she made the dish with considerable imagination.

A Jin looked at this lump and suddenly worried whether her master could stomach her disciple's sincere goodwill.

Qing Zhouxue picked up her chopsticks and took only one bite. She paused for a long moment, then silently dumped the bizarre concoction down the drain, without a hint of waste.

That single bite made her feel like a spirit—her eyes immediately brimmed with tears, and she couldn't speak.

Everything in the world, even the smallest matter, has its own way. It's not something one can master at a glance.

Sword practice was like this, and so was cooking. There was a whole world of knowledge hidden within.

She frowned and read through the cookbook as carefully as she would a sword manual. Then she set about learning by doing, ravaging the next batch of defenseless greens.

A hiss of white smoke rose again. The cat withdrew its paws, its fur standing on end all over. From a distance, it looked like a hedgehog.

Ruan Mingzhu crouched on the wall, watching the searing oil splatter with alarm. That delicate hand, which seemed untouched by the mortal world, gripped the spatula, and a few turns of the wrist had a clean, decisive quality reminiscent of sword practice—highly pleasing to watch, as long as one overlooked what was happening to the vegetables beneath it.

She finally couldn't stand it anymore. Stepping along the wall, she flew down into the courtyard.

"If you're craving food... why not come down the mountain with me and eat at a restaurant?"

Qing Zhouxue lowered her eyes, hesitating for a long moment while carefully pouring a small dish of oil. At the words, she looked up, and heard a female voice beside her urgently say, "Don't lose focus! Oh no, it's about to burn!"