IVYSCP - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Lying side by side in bed once more, Ling Qingyue no longer pressed herself against the wall. She shifted her hand, slowly feeling her way over until her fingers brushed against something cool.
Having found Pei Si's hand, Ling Qingyue gave a light cough. "Sleep. I'm here."
In the darkness, Pei Si answered with a soft mm, and Ling Qingyue felt her own hand being held a little tighter.
That night, Ling Qingyue dreamed.
She could not tell whether the dream was set in the Immortal Realm or the little courtyard in Linshui Town. Through hazy white mist, a woman stood with her back to her, brush in hand, bent over as she wrote upon paper.
Looking at that silhouette, Ling Qingyue felt a sense of familiarity. The plain, elegant long robe draped over her was especially beautiful and graceful.
"Pei Si?"
Ling Qingyue heard herself call out.
How could she dream of Pei Si!?
The instant her awareness sharpened, Ling Qingyue saw the woman give a low answering sound, her voice detached yet carrying a trace of gentleness, very much like Pei Si the night before.
She really had dreamed of Pei Si.
Ling Qingyue's eyes flew open, her heartbeat growing heavier with each thud.
Raising a hand to smooth back her hair, she frowned as she got out of bed and walked to the mirror.
Looking at the person reflected there, she asked inwardly: Ah Xi, was that your dream?
After staring blankly for a while, Ling Qingyue tidied up and left the house. Once she had finished breakfast, she told Pei Si she needed to go to the wood-carving shop.
She first went to see Lin Zhao. Lin Zhao's leg was broken, but the medicinal herbs she had gathered that day were all very rare and precious. The medicine shop owner had tended to her leg and also given her the medicine for her mother.
Then Ling Qingyue went to the wood-carving shop to pick up two wooden swords, and headed straight for the Back Mountain.
After crossing the front mountain, she applied a disguise and took the familiar path toward the pool.
As she had expected, the person from yesterday was still there. After the beating she had delivered to unblock her meridians, the Spiritual Energy inside her was not as obstructed, but the cultivation method she practiced was wrong, bringing nothing but harm with no benefit. At this rate, before she could cultivate anything, she would cripple herself first.
Such a one-track mind. Did she not know it hurt when she cultivated? Was she just forcing her way through?
Ling Qingyue touched a toe down and landed upon the pool's surface.
The moment Meng Qi opened her eyes and saw who it was, she glared fiercely. "You again!"
Ling Qingyue lifted a hand and pulled the person from the pool through the air, then followed with her fists without a word.
Dodging as best she could, Meng Qi swore furiously. "Are you sick? It was just a stone! I'll give it back!"
Thick, dark, clotted blood poured from her nose and mouth. Meng Qi felt as though this person was going to beat her to death.
Ling Qingyue gave a cold laugh. "Still as dense as ever."
With a wave of her hand, she tossed the person back into the pool. "The cultivation methods you've studied are a chaotic mess. If you want to live, come here every day from now on."
Meng Qi surfaced from the water, grimacing in pain. Hearing this, she felt half doubtful, half hopeful. She had been beaten yesterday, but when she circulated her energy that evening, it really did not hurt as much.
"You…" Meng Qi looked up, but the figure was already gone.
Ling Qingyue headed deeper inward. Her real purpose today had never been that one-track fool anyway.
Sensing movement behind her, she curved her lips.
Here she came.
"Senior!" Lu Yao's urgent voice sounded from behind.
Ling Qingyue pretended not to hear and kept walking forward, until Lu Yao used Sword Flight to block her path.
Lu Yao offered a proper salute, her eyes shining. "Senior!"
Ling Qingyue asked directly. "Why have you chased after me again?"
Lu Yao was brimming with joy. "I wish to seek Senior's guidance in swordsmanship!"
Here it came.
Ling Qingyue did not beat around the bush. "Young one, you should know how many people would beg for a chance to cross swords with me and still be refused. If you wish to seek my guidance in swordsmanship, shouldn't you offer something in return?"
Lu Yao inexplicably felt these words sounded familiar. She patted herself down, then produced a Qiankun Pouch. "Senior, I brought little with me on this trip. I only have these Spirit Stones. Would they be acceptable?"
They would be more than acceptable!
Ling Qingyue was overjoyed but had to maintain her dignified bearing. She gave a disdainful snort.
Lu Yao grew anxious and could only add, "Should Senior visit Piaomiao Sect in the future, this junior will surely present finer treasures."
Knowing when to stop, Ling Qingyue nodded with apparent reluctance. "That will do, I suppose. However, you hold onto this Qiankun Pouch for now. Each time we cross swords, you will give me… five Spirit Stones."
Lu Yao immediately nodded, then after a moment's thought, reflected that someone of Senior's cultivation would certainly have no use for Spirit Stones. They must be for that little disciple of hers. Senior was truly kindhearted.
Ling Qingyue handed her one of the wooden swords. "You and I will exchange moves. If you wish to grasp the profound subtleties of sword art, you must constantly practice against different opponents and moves. Today, we will use Piaomiao Sect's Flowing Cloud sword art for our exchange."
"Very well!"
Before they began, Ling Qingyue had Lu Yao set up a barrier.
The exchange did not last long, merely the time it took to burn a single stick of incense.
Lu Yao had always considered her own swordsmanship decent among her peers, though not the best, yet passable. But during this exchange, every move and stance she made seemed riddled with flaws in the other's eyes.
Her disguise was nearly at its limit. Ling Qingyue sheathed her sword. "That is all for today. Meditate carefully on those sword moves. Also, tell no one you have met me, including your fellow disciples."
"This junior understands."
This time, Lu Yao did not pursue her. She raised her hands in salutation and respectfully watched the Senior depart.
Ling Qingyue descended the mountain, returned to the wood-carving shop, shut the door, and began meditating to cultivate. She did not stop until nightfall. She was absorbing Spirit Stones faster and faster. Before, she could absorb one Spirit Stone in half a night; now, she had absorbed three in a single afternoon. Yet her cultivation level was advancing slower and slower.
Qi Condensation, sixth layer.
Ling Qingyue let out a breath and began carving the wood carving she intended to give Pei Si that day.
When she picked up the carving and happily returned home, she found Lu Yao standing at the door with groceries in hand.
"…"
Days passed like this for five or six days in a row. In the mornings, she would go beat up Meng Qi, then cross swords with Lu Yao. Afterward, she returned to the wood-carving shop to cultivate and regulate her breathing, then carved a wood carving before heading home. Sometimes she ran into Lu Yao bringing her own ingredients to scrounge a meal.
Spirit Stones were no longer in short supply, and Ling Qingyue had still not touched the Spirit Jade Marrow Pei Si had given her.
Except for one evening when she made the excuse of going to the wood room to carve Liu Qingtang's wood carving and did not sleep in the bedroom, every other night without exception she shared the bed with Pei Si.
She and Pei Si grew more and more at ease with each other, but Ling Qingyue also grew more and more unsettled.
She had not forgotten that the true owner of this flesh-and-blood body was Ah Xi. Yet every time she saw Pei Si's eyes, she could not help but gaze a little longer.
Ling Qingyue was lost in thought again. Staring at the rippling surface of the pool before her, her mind once more wandered to Pei Si.
"Hey, are we fighting or not?" Meng Qi suddenly spoke up.
Ling Qingyue came back to her senses and tugged at the corner of her mouth.
She was actually getting addicted to getting beaten up.
"Not today."
If they were not fighting, did that mean she would no longer teach her?
Meng Qi pursed her lips and turned her head away, a sense of disappointment settling in her heart. She had always relied on herself, groping forward step by step in her cultivation, with no one to teach her. Now she had finally found someone willing to help her correct her mistakes.
Ling Qingyue noticed her awkward expression and laughed. "Not beating you up, and you're still unhappy about it? Over the past few days, your meridians have opened. Forget the cultivation method you practiced before. I will pass on a new set to you."
Meng Qi bit down on her teeth, and with a bend of both knees she knelt, calling out, "Master!"
This person might be somewhat baffling, but she had truly helped her. She could help her set foot properly on the path of cultivation.
Ling Qingyue paused, caught off guard.
She had helped Meng Qi partly because she did not want such a promising seedling to die from disordered cultivation methods. The thought of taking a disciple had genuinely never crossed her mind. After all, her own situation was still rather awkward.
"I do not take disciples."
Meng Qi bit her lip and lowered her eyes in disappointment.
She thought to herself: was it because she was too stupid, her aptitude too poor, that the other saw her as unworthy?
"However…"
Meng Qi lifted her head, her eyes glistening with light.
Ling Qingyue tapped a finger against the back of her hand. "If one day you can enter the Immortal Realm and pass Shangtianqiong Sect's entry assessment, I will consider taking you as a disciple."
The gloom between Meng Qi's brows lifted slightly, the corners of her eyes curving. She pressed her forehead to the ground in a deep bow before the person before her.
"Yes! I will definitely pass!"
It was the first time Ling Qingyue had seen her this happy. She was actually smiling.
Before, she always wore a sullen expression, as if someone owed her a life.
"Rise." Ling Qingyue recalled something and added another sentence. "You must no longer commit the precept of theft."
Meng Qi knew she was referring to that one Spirit Stone she had stolen from Ah Xi.
"Yes!"
Lu Yao had come today as well. She hopped down from a tree, surprise in her eyes. "So Senior is from Shangtianqiong Sect. No wonder your swordsmanship is so formidable!"
Over these days of crossing swords, Lu Yao's confidence had been completely shattered. In a real duel, she doubted she could even receive a single strike from this person.
But upon learning she was from Shangtianqiong Sect, Lu Yao felt instant relief.
Shangtianqiong Sect. Well, that explained everything. Of the famous sword cultivators in the Immortal Realm, seven or eight out of ten came from Shangtianqiong.
Ling Qingyue glanced at her. "No sword exchange today. You may return."
Lu Yao was all prepared and grew anxious at these words. "Ah? Why?"
"I have business today."
She did indeed have business. Today the Xue Family was coming to collect Liu Qingtang's wood carving. After those first three failed attempts, Ling Qingyue had tried several more times, always with the same result.
After teaching Meng Qi the cultivation method's heart formula, Ling Qingyue descended the mountain by another path. By the time she returned to the town, Xue Zizai had already arrived with her people to collect the wood carvings. This time, beside the Xue Family's servants, there were also several white-robed Piaomiao Sect female cultivators. The one walking at the front wore a white robe adorned with cloud motifs, very similar to Lu Yao's.
That was likely the Senior Sister Lu Yao often spoke of: Yu Ting.
According to Lu Yao, Yu Ting was Piaomiao Sect Leader's disciple, the Eldest Senior Sister of Piaomiao Sect. Courteous, gentle, warm, and kind, she was well-loved by her fellow junior sisters.
No wonder Lu Yao talked about her Senior Sister all day long.
Eldest Miss Xue was there, throwing a tantrum. "Is there not a single completed carving in this entire town?"
Ling Qingyue's brow twitched. A bad premonition struck her.
As expected, in the next moment, the Eldest Miss spotted her.
"Ah Xi!"
Yu Ting also looked over. Ling Qingyue met the woman's gaze. They were light-colored eyes, but while Pei Si's eyes were indifferent yet warm and lingeringly tender, making Ling Qingyue love to look into them, Yu Ting's eyes gave Ling Qingyue an inexplicable sense of danger.
Lu Yao had said Yu Ting was now at the Core Formation stage. Ling Qingyue was not worried about her seeing through her cultivation level. From the very start of her cultivation recovery, she had used a secret art to conceal herself. Even a Soul Formation cultivator would see her as an ordinary person without a trace of Spiritual Energy.
In the space of that exchanged glance, Xue Zizai had already arrived before her and held out her hand directly. "Where's your wood carving?"
Ling Qingyue told the truth. "I didn't manage to carve one."
Xue Zizai had known this would be the result, but that did not stop her from coming over and adding two mocking remarks.
"Heh."
"Hmph."
Ling Qingyue: "…"
Yu Ting walked over, looking at her with a gentle smile. "So you are Ah Xi? I always hear Junior Sister Lu Yao mention you."
Ling Qingyue returned the smile. The two brushed past each other. Yu Ting's group still had more wood carving business to inquire about.
Once the people were far away, Ling Qingyue returned to the wood-carving shop. She opened Liu Qingtang's portrait, gathered Spiritual Energy in her hand, and abruptly blasted it toward a block of wood beside her. Wood shavings fell in showers.
The figure in the portrait was carved out, without the slightest error.
In the next instant, as though struck, the wood carving toppled onto the table and crumbled into dust in the blink of an eye.
At the critical moment, Ling Qingyue keenly detected a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy. Without hesitation, she formed hand seals, and a barrier enveloped her and the wooden table.
A wisp of pale green Spiritual Energy drifted in the air, nearly dissipated.
Ling Qingyue's expression shifted in astonishment. "Liu Qingtang?"
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