IVYSCP - Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Ling Qingyue held the pale-blue Spiritual Energy between her fingers, feeling its wild restlessness and constant struggle.
When a person died, their spirit energy dispersed. How could Liu Qingtang's Spiritual Energy be here? Could it be that she hadn't died either?
Were the wood carvings having problems the whole time because of her Spiritual Energy as well?
Ling Qingyue propped her head on one hand, tapping that wisp of Spiritual Energy with her finger.
"Liu Qingtang, are you dead or not?"
Having trapped this wisp of Spiritual Energy, Ling Qingyue once again tried to carve with her own Spiritual Energy. This time it wasn't destroyed, and no problems arose.
"It really was you causing the trouble."
Ling Qingyue formed a hand seal and guided that wisp of Spiritual Energy into the wood carving.
"Seal!"
Setting that wood carving aside, Ling Qingyue picked up her blade again and began the wood carving she planned to give Pei Si today.
Whatever happened to Liu Qingtang had nothing to do with her. What the Piaomiao Sect wanted the wood carving for was none of her concern either. She had finished the wood carving now, so what if Liu Qingtang had tried to interfere? She'd discovered it anyway.
After all these years, she was still better than Liu Qingtang.
Ling Qingyue was in a pleasant mood. She planned to carve a wooden hairpin today, not using the ordinary greenwood she used for normal carvings, but the far more precious blood-red sandalwood. She had bought the blood-red sandalwood from the Xue family shop with a small portion of Ah Xi's savings.
Drawing the design, observing, roughing out the shape, refining, polishing, and finally applying oil.
At the tip of the wooden hairpin, Ling Qingyue carved two peach blossoms.
Shangtianqiong had a peach grove secret realm. She'd loved hiding in there to practice swordsmanship, and over time, the peach blossom had become her favorite flower.
Holding the tail end of the wooden hairpin, Ling Qingyue's brows curved gently. Though a wooden hairpin couldn't compare to gold or silver in some respects, it was elegantly refined and possessed a classical charm.
Nothing could be a better match for Pei Si.
Ling Qingyue drifted slightly. It seemed she'd never seen Pei Si wearing much adornment at all. Her clothes were mostly plain colors, and her long hair was simply tied behind her head with a ribbon, draping softly over her shoulders or down her back.
Although forming a Dao Bonding as Dao Companions in the Immortal Realm didn't require elaborate ceremonies, Ling Qingyue knew that in the Mortal Realm, when two people married, they had to bow to heaven and earth wearing wedding attire, and that attire was a brilliant red.
On the day of a wedding, would Pei Si also be wearing bright red wedding clothes...
Ling Qingyue couldn't quite imagine what Pei Si would look like in red. Someone so cold and pristine, in a full red dress, would be a beauty beyond compare.
Without knowing why, her chest felt slightly achy, slightly full, something that made Ling Qingyue uncomfortable.
She cut off her wandering thoughts and returned to herself. She brought along Liu Qingtang's wood carving, closed the door to the carving shop, and hurried home.
At the entrance to an alley, Ling Qingyue stopped in her tracks. She turned her head and looked at the person inside.
Meng Qi was crouched in a corner, dryly gnawing at a steamed bun in her hand. It was clearly a day-old bun, looking very hard, but Meng Qi seemed completely unbothered, taking bite after bite just to fill her stomach.
Meng Qi was sharp. She looked up and saw Ah Xi, and her eyes instantly turned fierce. She quickly hid the steamed bun in her hand and said viciously, "What are you looking at! Keep looking and I'll beat you to death!"
Ling Qingyue: "…"
Ha, looks like she'd need a few more beatings before this little wolf cub learned some manners.
Casting one light glance, Ling Qingyue left.
This was the first time she'd run into Meng Qi in town. The day after she'd casually helped clear Meng Qi's meridians, she'd stopped by to visit Lin Zhao and had asked about Meng Qi in passing. Meng Qi's name and story had come from Lin Zhao.
Meng Qi had lost both parents when she was very young and had become a beggar in town, raised more or less by the community's charity. Once she was a bit older, lacking skills like wood carving, she could only rely on catching game in the mountains to trade for silver to support herself. It was said she was also in debt to the Xue family.
After hearing this, Ling Qingyue understood why she was so single-minded, practicing cultivation techniques even when they were wrong. She had no other options. It was her only way out.
Meng Qi's talent wasn't among the most outstanding in the Immortal Realm, but the fact that she could fumble her way to the threshold of cultivation using those messy, unreliable books proved that she had spiritual aptitude.
Maybe she really should consider taking a disciple.
But this wasn't something Ling Qingyue needed to think about right now. Gazing at the courtyard gate not far away, she unconsciously curved her lips.
Quickening her pace, she happily pushed open the courtyard gate. "Pei Si!"
Under the pavilion corridor, there was no sign of the figure usually practicing calligraphy or painting there. She walked over to the study, but no one was there either.
Ling Qingyue murmured to herself, "Not at home? Or resting in the bedroom?"
Thinking this, she headed toward the bedroom without hesitation.
She opened the door carefully, afraid of startling whoever was inside. Through the screen, Ling Qingyue saw a blurry figure sitting on the edge of the bed. She froze. "You're awake?"
As her voice fell, the only sound in the room was the slightly heavy breathing of one person.
"Come here." Pei Si's voice was low, cold, hoarse, and carried a commanding edge.
Ling Qingyue's fingertips trembled unconsciously. She stepped around the screen and saw the person by the bed.
Pei Si's clothes were neat, but her hair was a little disheveled. Her hair ribbon hung loose and slack at the ends, draping all the way down onto the bed.
Ling Qingyue licked her lips and stopped two steps away.
Just as she was about to hand over the wooden hairpin, her raised wrist was suddenly seized by a scorching hand that tightened fiercely and yanked her forward.
Pei Si's body temperature was normally on the cool side, but now it was startlingly hot.
Ling Qingyue was pulled into her embrace and could feel even more clearly the heaviness of her breathing. The burning breath against her neck and the back of her ear made her arms and legs go numb uncontrollably.
"Pei, Pei Si? What's wrong with you?"
The woman held her tightly, with tremendous strength, as though she had reclaimed some lost treasure she cherished beyond measure.
A slightly cool nose brushed against her earlobe, and Ling Qingyue immediately drew a sharp breath.
"Pei Si!"
"I've missed you so much."
Pei Si murmured, lifting one hand to touch the smooth, fine cheek. She pulled back slightly, her gaze grazing over the person before her with greedy longing.
In her eyes, she was holding the person who had practiced swordsmanship beneath the drifting peach blossoms that filled the sky, the one she'd once lost, and the one she most ought to forget.
Her thumb stroked the soft lips. Pei Si couldn't help but lean closer, slowly closing her eyes.
The cool, clear breath drew nearer and nearer. Ling Qingyue's throat tightened. At the very last moment, she turned her head, and the kiss landed on her cheek.
"Pei Si, I'm Ah Xi."
This sentence was Ling Qingyue reminding herself.
In an instant, Pei Si's movements froze. She opened her eyes, and the hazy confusion within them cleared in a flash.
When she clearly saw the person in her arms, a flicker of regret passed through Pei Si's eyes. She raised her hand and rubbed her brow. "Ah Xi."
Ling Qingyue pulled back from her embrace, feeling that she herself was burning up intensely as well.
Nevertheless, she looked at Pei Si with concern. "Are you ill? Your body is very hot."
Pei Si nodded. "I suppose so."
Then she asked, "Why did you suddenly come back?"
Ling Qingyue held out the wooden hairpin in her hand. "This. It's for you."
Pei Si took it. Looking at the peach blossoms on it, she drifted into a momentary trance. Her finger ran over them involuntarily. "Is this today's wood carving?"
"No!" Ling Qingyue answered very quickly, her gaze shifting to the side. "It's, it's a gift from me, the wood carving we agreed on. I'll give it to you tonight."
"I like it very much."
Hearing her say this, the corners of Ling Qingyue's lips lifted.
Pei Si still seemed somewhat unwell, so Ling Qingyue didn't talk to her much longer. She told her to rest well and said she would go fetch a doctor first.
The door opened and closed. The room returned to silence.
Pei Si circulated a stream of Spiritual Energy through her meridians and found that out of the Seven Gates and Three Acupoints, only one gate and one acupoint were open now.
This was the backlash of Emotion Transference.
She lowered her gaze to the wooden hairpin in her hand, and Pei Si let out a self-mocking laugh.
When she'd lost control just now and mistaken one person for another, she had seen the back of Ah Xi's ear.
A red mole had appeared there.
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