IVYSCP - Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Eastern borderlands. The Tianyan Yue Family.
The Yue family attendant froze the moment she saw the figure arriving on the wind, then hurriedly raised her hand in salute, deeply reverent. "Immortal Venerable."
Pei Yin inclined her head faintly and asked, "Where is the Hidden Moon Lord?"
"The Family Head is awaiting you in Pine Wind Courtyard."
The moment the attendant finished speaking, a light breeze swept past, and the chill presence dispersed entirely.
Flashing into Pine Wind Courtyard, Pei Yin followed the thread of tea fragrance in the air straight to Yue Shouming, who was tending a chess game alone under a tree while brewing tea.
Only when Pei Yin drew close did Yue Shouming tilt her head slightly, as though she had just sensed someone's arrival.
A faint smile touched her lips. She did not rise to salute, merely raised her hand to indicate the seat opposite her.
"Immortal Venerable—it has been quite some time."
Pei Yin paid no mind to such formalities. She sat down cross-legged and came straight to the point. "Your letter said there was an important matter to discuss. What is it?"
Yue Shouming let out a soft laugh and poured her a cup of tea. "Old friends meet, yet the Immortal Venerable will not even exchange a few pleasantries before turning to business."
Pei Yin did not answer.
Yue Shouming sighed. "Then let us speak of business. Immortal Venerable, are you aware that your Fated Tribulation is drawing near?"
Pei Yin's expression did not change. "I am not versed in the Heavenly Divination Art. How would I know?"
After she spoke, she raised her eyes to meet Yue Shouming's gray, lusterless eyes and the vertical blood-scar on her forehead. "And how does the Hidden Moon Lord know? Are your eyes healed?"
Yue Shouming's smile carried a hint of bitterness. She shook her head gently.
"No."
"Back then, as a jest, she had me activate the Heavenly Divination Art to calculate it."
"She?"
"Yes. A late friend who has passed. Ling Qingyue of Shangtianqiong. I wonder if the Immortal Venerable still remembers her."
Pei Yin lowered her gaze, her fingers curling inward almost imperceptibly. "I remember."
A light wind rose over the still water's surface, stirring endless circling ripples.
"She..." Pei Yin paused and heard her own voice tremble slightly. "Why did she have you calculate me?"
Yue Shouming looked somewhat surprised. "Immortal Venerable, do you still recall that you and she once shared the bond of fellow students? Your relationship back then was rather good, and Qingyue was always curious about the Heavenly Divination Art, forever asking me to calculate this and that for her."
Rather good? That person had clearly detested her.
Pei Yin pressed her lips together and dug her fingers into her palm.
"So you calculated my Fated Tribulation even back then?" Pei Yin's words sped up, and she could not stop herself from asking more. "If you could calculate a Fated Tribulation, why did she not calculate her own?"
Then she would not have perished in the Cangshan Northern Region.
Yue Shouming caught the urgency in her words and explained, "My grasp of the Heavenly Divination Art is not as deep as my sister's. I cannot calculate a Fated Tribulation with absolute precision."
Pei Yin frowned slightly.
Yue Shouming sighed and withdrew a jade slip from her Qiankun Pouch. It bore only a single character: "Tribulation."
Only those who possess mastery of the Heavenly Divination Art can see the heavenly secret contained within a jade slip.
"At the time, I only calculated that you would face a tribulation. It is a shame that my skill was incomplete. I could not determine when, where, or what kind of tribulation it would be, and I feared that informing you rashly might disturb the Heavenly Dao, so I never told Qingyue. The jade slip has been kept all this time. A few days ago, while sorting old possessions, I found this slip. It had been steeped in the scent of blood. I once saw my sister calculate someone's Fated Tribulation for them, and that person's jade slip looked precisely like this. That is why I invited the Immortal Venerable here to discuss."
Pei Yin accepted the jade slip. She could indeed feel the blood-fiend aura upon it.
Recalling the discomfort she had lately experienced during cultivation, perhaps it truly was due to the Fated Tribulation.
"My thanks."
Yue Shouming said, "The Immortal Venerable need not thank me. I am merely fulfilling another's request."
"I can no longer perform the Heavenly Divination Art, but there are others in the Yue Family who can. They can help the Immortal Venerable interpret the jade slip and determine the Fated Tribulation."
Pei Yin understood the Yue Family's rules. Her voice was cool as she asked, "What do you want?"
Informing her of the Fated Tribulation was indeed fulfilling another's request. But from the moment the jade slip was interpreted onward, the matter was between her and the Yue Family.
The Heavenly Divination Art peers into heavenly secrets and exacts a heavy price. Therefore, anyone who seeks heavenly secrets from the Yue Family must offer an equal price.
Yue Shouming curved her lips. "Is the Immortal Venerable aware of the Chi Fire Pearl?"
The Chi Fire Pearl was a chi dragon's inner core. Utterly pure and supremely yang, it could purge evil spirits.
Yue Shouming wanted this to heal her eyes.
"It can be done." Pei Yin rose. "Three days."
Yue Shouming nodded. Pine Wind Courtyard was left with only her once more. A smile lingered at her lips. She reached out to pick up a black piece and slowly set it down upon the chessboard.
Three days later, Pei Yin arrived at Pine Wind Courtyard once more, the Chi Fire Pearl in hand. Yue Shouming's complexion was not good.
"Immortal Venerable, the jade slip has been interpreted. The location of the person upon whom your Fated Tribulation rests is in the Mortal Realm."
A Fated Tribulation for an Immortal Realm cultivator is, in most cases, a death tribulation. If one knows who their Fated Tribulation falls upon, and after finding that person verifies it is a death tribulation, one simply kills them and the matter is resolved.
But if a Fated Tribulation falls upon a mortal, it will not be a death tribulation. It will be something deeper, something far harder to contend with: a tangle of karma.
Pei Yin was stunned for only an instant before her heart grew calm. What must come would always come.
She cultivated the Supreme Detachment Path. This Fated Tribulation was most likely connected to "emotion."
With the jade slip, Pei Yin found her way to Linshui Town. Guided by the slip, she quickly located a young woman named Ah Xi. To confirm the person of the Fated Tribulation, Pei Yin pretended to fall into the water. After Ah Xi rescued her, the jade slip crumbled to dust in an instant.
At that time, Ah Xi was indeed a mortal.
But now, Pei Yin was no longer certain.
She had seen Ah Xi use spiritual energy to pursue an evil spirit, wielding her spiritual energy like a sword with such practiced ease. The posture of her sword strikes was so familiar as well.
Had she been hiding it all along, or...
"Pei Si? What are you doing out here?"
Hearing the voice, Pei Yin lifted her gaze.
She was Pei Si now.
Ling Qingyue had just climbed back in through the woodshed window. When she returned to the bedroom and found Pei Si gone, she had come out to search, eventually discovering her beneath the covered corridor.
A thread of guilt stirred. Ling Qingyue figured Pei Si must have woken up, noticed her absence, and then come out looking for her.
She hurried forward and took the woman's hand. The touch was icy cold.
"It's far too cold. Let's go back."
Pei Si let her lead her along, her gaze darkening.
She could not, in fact, see through Ah Xi's cultivation level.
The Emotion Transference had taken effect, and her sealed Seven Gates and Three Acupoints had affected her cultivation base as well, yet she still should not have been unable to see through someone's cultivation. She could see through the Piaomiao Sect cultivators perfectly well.
"Where did you go just now?"
Perhaps it was the chill brought by the night breeze, but as Ling Qingyue listened, Pei Si's voice felt rather cold as well.
"I..."
Ling Qingyue thought of the woodshed window and immediately put on an act of indignation. "I heard movement over by the woodshed. I don't know which thief came stealing again, but they smashed the woodshed window to pieces when they left!"
Pei Si naturally knew that the woodshed window was broken. The explanation was perfectly sufficient.
Back in the bedroom, they both shed their outer robes and lay side by side on the bed.
Ling Qingyue thought of how cold Pei Si's hands had been earlier and reached under the covers, fumbling toward her hand. The moment her fingers brushed against icy, smooth softness, the hand pulled away.
It dodged far too quickly, far too openly, radiating clear resistance.
Just like when Ling Qingyue had dodged Pei Si in the very beginning.
At a loss, Ling Qingyue turned her head, and right then Pei Si turned onto her side, offering only her back.
A buzzing sound instantly filled Ling Qingyue's ears.
Pei Si was angry? Why had she suddenly become angry? She had asked where she had gone. Had she discovered that she had used spiritual energy? Had she realized that she was not the Ah Xi she loved?
No, no—when she went after that evil spirit, no one was behind her, and she had moved very fast. Pei Si could not have seen.
The more she thought, the more lucid she became. The more she thought, the more panicked she grew.
All night, Ling Qingyue's mind was a tangled mess, frightened and on edge.
It was not until early morning, when Ling Qingyue sensed the person beside her stirring, that she hurriedly got up, hardly daring to lift her head and look at Pei Si.
"Pei Si..."
Pei Si's tone was as even as always. "Awake, are we? Let's fix the woodshed window today."
Ling Qingyue lifted her head. "Huh?"
Pei Si bent down and pinched her cheek. "Didn't you say last night that the woodshed window was broken?"
"Yes, yes, that's right." Ling Qingyue nodded, raising her eyes to look at her.
Pei Si's expression was neither cold nor angry; there was even a smile in the depths of her eyes.
A stone that had been pressing on her heart suddenly dropped to the ground. Ling Qingyue's emotions, strung taut all night, finally relaxed a little. She curved her eyes into a smile at Pei Si.
That was wonderful. She had not been found out.
Pei Si turned around and lowered her eyes to tie her sash.
Regardless of whether Ah Xi was pretending, the Emotion Transference could not be undone. She also used a sword, and her gestures even carried a faint resemblance to that person. That would perfectly accelerate the Emotion Transference's effect.
And if the Fated Tribulation still remained even after the Emotion Transference was complete, she would simply bring the person directly back to Cangshan.
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