IVYSCP - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
After entering the back mountain, Ling Qingyue clearly felt it was much colder and gloomier than the last time she had come. The deep fog had also spread to the outer edges.
Treading on fallen leaves and withered blossoms with her toes, Ling Qingyue quickly found Lin Zhao bending over to gather herbs. She indeed had not gone into the depths.
She deliberately snapped a branch to make a sound, drawing Lin Zhao's attention.
Lin Zhao looked up, somewhat surprised. "Ah Xi? Why did you come here?"
Ling Qingyue walked over and glanced at the herb basket placed to the side. "What herbs are you picking? How much do you need?"
Lin Zhao cast a look toward the depths. The thick, lingering fog felt as if it concealed undetectable danger.
She sighed. "Just some ordinary medicinal herbs. They aren't worth much. I need a lot more to trade for medicine."
Her mother had fallen ill from overwork, and her medicine could not be interrupted. The prescription contained many precious ingredients. She could not go into the depths now, so she could only trade using larger quantities of common herbs.
"What medicine do you need? I'll help you." Ling Qingyue picked up a branch from the side and mimicked her movements, scraping through the grass piles on the ground.
Lin Zhao couldn't help but laugh when she saw this. Ling Qingyue tilted her head at her.
She was helping her, so why was she laughing?
Lin Zhao casually tossed a medicinal herb into the basket. "Go play by yourself for a bit. Don't put any of those strange weeds in here, or I'll have to pick them out again."
Ling Qingyue: "…"
What did she mean? Was she accusing her of making trouble?
She gave a soft scoff. Just as she turned her head, Ling Qingyue suddenly recalled a time she had apparently followed Lin Zhao here before. She had wanted to help, so Lin Zhao taught her how to recognize herbs. When they handed the herbs to the pharmacy owner afterward, the basket was half herbs and half weeds. Lin Zhao apologized to the owner nonstop. The owner didn't get angry, just told them to pick the weeds out.
Ling Qingyue: "…"
But things were different now! Back then, she was still Ah Xi. She wasn't clever. But now she was Ling Qingyue. She had a good memory. She was smart!
To prove herself, Ling Qingyue glanced at the herb in Lin Zhao's hand, then rummaged nearby with the branch. Very quickly, she found a stalk.
She pulled it up, roots and all, and brought it in front of Lin Zhao. "Look, I can recognize it now."
Lin Zhao looked at the weed in her hand, then placed the herb from her own hand next to it.
Ling Qingyue looked them over. "Aren't they the same?"
Lin Zhao suppressed a laugh and prompted, "Look at the leaves."
Ling Qingyue studied them carefully, then, acting as though nothing had happened, raised her hand and tossed the weed away.
Lin Zhao finally burst out laughing, completely unrestrained.
"Stop laughing!" Ling Qingyue turned her back to her and covered her face with her hand.
Embarrassed again.
Lin Zhao stopped laughing and resumed searching for herbs.
Ling Qingyue followed behind her, watching her slightly bent left leg. She suddenly said, "Lin Zhao, after you go back today, don't come up the mountain anymore. And go out less often too."
Lin Zhao's movements halted for a moment.
Seeing that she didn't respond, Ling Qingyue assumed she was worried about her mother's medicine. "I can help cover Aunt Lin's medicine for now. After some time passes, when you go to pick herbs, just bring a bit for me. I'll use them to make medicinal cuisine for Pei Si. That way you'll have paid back the medicine cost."
Her words were carefully considerate of Lin Zhao's feelings.
Lin Zhao turned around and asked hesitantly, "Ah Xi, do you know something?"
Ling Qingyue was about to reply when her gaze sharpened. Without any hesitation, she reached out, grabbed Lin Zhao, and pulled her over.
Lin Zhao stumbled. A bizarre grating sound reached her ears, like the sound of bones scraping and rubbing together. It sent chills across her scalp.
A foul stench also rose inexplicably in the air.
Once she had steadied herself with difficulty, Lin Zhao looked up. Her face turned stark white.
In front of them stood a bloody corpse. The flesh of the body was severely decayed. Pus and maggots gushed ceaselessly out of the hollow eye sockets and the mouth.
Lin Zhao hadn't yet recovered from the fright when the disgusting sight made her stomach churn violently.
She wanted to vomit.
But in the end, unknown terror won out. Lin Zhao grabbed for Ling Qingyue with trembling hands. "Ah Xi, let's run!"
The moment she moved her leg, Lin Zhao realized her left leg was injured. She could not run at all. Gritting her teeth against the fear in her heart, she pulled the person behind her. "Ah Xi! You run!"
The rotting corpse gave them no chance to react or flee. It came charging at them with a roar, the overwhelming stench of decay washing over them. Lin Zhao shut her eyes instinctively, already bracing to be bitten.
A gust of wind blew past her ear, carrying the scent of decay farther away.
Lin Zhao gasped heavily twice before she slowly opened her eyes.
Ah Xi stood in front of her. She had no idea when she had gotten there. Lin Zhao's heart seized with terror, thinking something had happened to Ah Xi.
"Ah Xi!"
She stepped forward to Ah Xi's side, her eyes shifting from alarm to surprise.
Ah Xi held a wooden sword in her hand, coming from who knew where. The look in her eyes was a fierce sharpness Lin Zhao had never seen before. The wooden sword had pierced precisely through the rotting corpse's neck.
As though she had suddenly become a different person.
"Ah Xi…" Lin Zhao's expression was complicated.
Ling Qingyue saw the tattered clothing on the rotting corpse clearly enough and recognized it as a Piaomiao Sect robe.
The fog grew thicker and thicker. Rustling noises came from within, as though something was about to emerge from the thick mist. A great mass of them.
Ling Qingyue raised her hand to strike a palm blast from a distance, sending the rotting corpse flying back. The corpse swayed unsteadily, then got back up.
"Go!"
Ling Qingyue had no time to explain. She swept Lin Zhao along and practically flew down the mountain.
After speeding a certain distance away, Ling Qingyue looked back. Many distorted human shapes were faintly visible within the thick fog. All of them were rotting corpses, moving with clear purpose toward Linshui Town at the bottom of the mountain.
Reaching the base of the mountain, Ling Qingyue saw from a distance that many Piaomiao Sect cultivators were standing guard there. Yu Ting stood at the very front, her expression grave. She seemed to have known all along that those things were on the mountain.
Ling Qingyue gauged the distance, withdrew her spiritual energy, then directly carried Lin Zhao on her back and ran forward in large strides.
While running, she shouted loudly, "Lu Yao! Lu Yao!"
"Ah Xi?!" Lu Yao was shocked, then directly rode her sword and flew out, bringing them to a safe place.
Lu Yao looked at the stunned and dazed Lin Zhao and the panting, gasping Ah Xi. She asked worriedly, "Are you two alright?"
Ling Qingyue waved her hand dismissively and glanced at Lin Zhao. "No, it's nothing. Good thing I ran fast."
Then she put on a panicked and frightened appearance again as she looked at the rotting corpses drawing ever closer in the distance. "Those things… are they all dead people? How can they still get up and bite people?"
Lu Yao was also at a loss to explain. She had thought the evil spirits had been cleared out, but now it seemed they had not been. The matter was somewhat serious.
"Junior Sister Lu Yao." Yu Ting spoke. "Take them back first."
"Yes." Lu Yao performed a salute.
Lu Yao escorted them to the mouth of the alley, then hurried back again.
"Lin Zhao, you…"
"Ah Xi…"
The two spoke at the same time. Lin Zhao's voice was somewhat strained.
Ling Qingyue waited for her to speak first.
"You seem a little different." Lin Zhao did not ask her why she had spiritual energy, nor why she could use a sword. There was even a trace of fear in her eyes. She asked, cautiously, "Are you… still Ah Xi?"
She had read some strange tales of the immortal realm too. She knew there was a sinister, evil immortal art that allowed a person to live inside another person's body.
"Of course I am." Ling Qingyue used the manner of speaking Lin Zhao was familiar with. "You think I'm a monster or something?"
Lin Zhao said nothing. She just watched her and silently took half a step back.
Ling Qingyue: "…"
Left with no choice, Ling Qingyue could only bring up something that only Ah Xi and Lin Zhao would know about.
"When I was seven, I said I wanted to eat fish. You jumped into the stream to catch one for me, slipped and fell in the water, and a fish bit your ear." As she spoke, Ling Qingyue pointed at Lin Zhao's right ear. "This one, right?"
Lin Zhao raised her hand subconsciously and touched a rough, uneven scar on her ear.
At that time, she had been soaked through and her ear had been covered in blood. It had frightened Ah Xi so badly that she cried for most of the day. Fearing they would be caught and scolded, the two of them had stayed on the mountain until evening. They only went back down once their clothes dried and the ear had stopped bleeding. But because she hadn't been able to apply medicine in time, her ear took more than a month to heal, and it left this scar behind.
The doubt and alarm in the depths of Lin Zhao's eyes gradually faded. She gave the person in front of her a smile. "Ah Xi."
Ling Qingyue nodded and smiled back. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her own courtyard door opening. She raised her hand and placed her index finger vertically across her lips. "Shh."
Lin Zhao looked puzzled, then glanced at Pei Si standing by the courtyard door. She understood immediately.
"Mm. I'll keep it secret for you."
After giving Lin Zhao another couple of reminders to stay safely at home, Ling Qingyue headed toward her own courtyard.
"Pei Si!"
Ling Qingyue ran over, her eyes filled with undisguised joy.
Once she was close, Pei Si raised a hand and smoothed the stray strands of hair from her forehead. "What happened?"
Ling Qingyue pulled her into the courtyard while recounting what she had encountered on the mountain just now. She told the story as a very harrowing adventure. She only described how she and Lin Zhao had escaped and did not mention those rotting corpses, afraid it would disgust Pei Si.
Just as she was talking, a burst of clear, crisp shattering sounds suddenly rang out at her ear. Ling Qingyue looked up in shock. Pei Si also raised her eyes quietly.
Above them, the barrier that had been perfectly intact was rapidly fracturing into countless cracks, as though it had suddenly suffered a heavy blow.
What was going on?
Ling Qingyue furrowed her brow. Those rotting corpses were disgusting to look at but not very aggressive. The Piaomiao Sect cultivators could fully handle them.
Or had something even more formidable arrived after she had left?
Seeing that the barrier was about to completely collapse, Ling Qingyue quickly pulled Pei Si into the bedroom. "Pei Si, just stay here. Do not come out. Wait for me to come back."
Leaving no time for further explanation, Ling Qingyue shut the door firmly. She glanced at the evil-warding talisman pasted on the door and raised a finger to infuse the talisman with a strand of sword qi.
Once this was done, Ling Qingyue lightly tapped the ground with a toe and leaped onto the roof. After a few jumps, she arrived at the base of the mountain. She saw the Piaomiao Sect cultivators locked in battle with the rotting corpses. Half of them were handling the corpses while the other half were struggling to repair the barrier.
Ling Qingyue spotted Lu Yao first. Filthy blood stained her clothes. The hand holding her sword was trembling, but her eyes were exceptionally resolute.
These rotting corpses were not what caused the barrier to shatter. Ling Qingyue shifted her gaze and her eyes widened slightly.
That was…
Between the Piaomiao Sect cultivators and the rotting corpses, she saw the person fighting Yu Ting. The person wielded a long saber. Every move was ferocious and fierce, with terrifying power. Yu Ting could not parry it at all. Several wounds, long and deep, had already been carved into her body by the razor-sharp blade.
Saber and sword collided. The sword in Yu Ting's hand shattered into several segments. The long saber cut through the air, aiming directly at Yu Ting's neck.
That single slash would surely sever her head from her body.
Yu Ting's internal spiritual energy was too depleted. She had no time to react at all, and she shut her eyes instinctively.
At the critical moment, another long sword arrived in time to block the descending saber. The blade's edge was diverted. Someone wrapped their arms around Yu Ting and rolled on the ground with her, dodging that fatal strike.
"Senior Sister, Senior Sister, are you okay?!" Lu Yao's voice trembled.
Yu Ting looked at her in astonishment.
In the distance, Ling Qingyue saw this scene and curved her lips with some gratification. Those days of sparring had not been in vain. Lu Yao's reactions had gotten much faster.
It was just…
Ling Qingyue's eyes settled again on that saber-wielding person.
Liu Qingtang was also from Piaomiao Sect. Why was she trying to kill Yu Ting, who was also from Piaomiao Sect?
Not only that, Ling Qingyue narrowed her eyes and noticed that many of these rotting corpses were wearing Piaomiao Sect robes.
Why were there so many Piaomiao Sect cultivators on the back mountain of Linshui Town?
Yu Ting and Lu Yao got to their feet. Lu Yao quickly fed Yu Ting some pills to restore energy and heal the spirit. Yu Ting's pallid complexion slowly improved. She reached out and grabbed a sword from a Piaomiao Sect cultivator who was repairing the barrier nearby. Her eyes sank heavily toward Liu Qingtang.
"Elder Liu?!" Lu Yao was still stunned. "You're not dead? What are you doing here? Why did you suddenly attack us? We are…"
Yu Ting raised a hand to press her down, stopping her from continuing. "Together with me, subdue her!"
Lu Yao froze.
Subdue? Subdue who? Elder Liu? How could they possibly defeat Elder Liu?
While Lu Yao stood there in a daze, Yu Ting lunged forward with her sword again. But this time, her entire presence changed abruptly. Her cultivation level also surged upward, and in an instant she was at the late Core Formation stage.
Those who were shocked included not only Lu Yao but also Ling Qingyue, who was still in the distance debating whether to intervene.
Yu Ting had been hiding her cultivation level? Why would she hide her cultivation level in front of her own sect members?
Ling Qingyue suppressed her impulse to act and continued watching.
Slowly, she began to sense something off.
The sword art Yu Ting was using did not seem to be one transmitted by the Piaomiao Sect. It had a slight resemblance to… the Shangtianqiong style.
But that was only a few moves. Afterward, Ling Qingyue realized that Yu Ting's sword moves were practically a fusion of over a dozen sword arts, incorporating elements from various immortal sects. This was not a set of sword moves an ordinary sect cultivator could execute. It seemed more like a rogue cultivator with no master sect, learning a bit of everything.
This Piaomiao Sect eldest senior sister was truly a little intriguing.
Lu Yao could not worry about her astonishment. She could only coordinate with Yu Ting first. Their sword moves combined, and for a time they actually managed to hold Liu Qingtang in check.
But the other Piaomiao Sect cultivators and the barrier itself were faltering. Those rotting corpses charged mindlessly inward, as though something inside the town was drawing them, making them press forward recklessly.
Even Liu Qingtang was the same. While exchanging blows with the two of them, she remained desperate to break through the barrier.
At the very instant the barrier was about to shatter, time seemed to freeze. The fragments of the barrier hung suspended in midair, then were manipulated back into their original form. Another formation, pale gold in color, added itself over the original barrier. It merged subtly into the larger structure and was not conspicuous. No one seemed to notice that instantaneous change. Everyone simply thought the barrier was still holding.
But Ling Qingyue still saw it. That fleeting flash of gold gave her a sense of familiarity.
Liu Qingtang seized an opening against Yu Ting. One saber stroke slashed from Yu Ting's right shoulder down to her left lower back.
"Senior Sister!" Lu Yao cried out in panic.
The long saber came crashing down. Lu Yao reversed her grip to block. Her mind and spirit reeled under the impact and she coughed up blood. The saber's edge kept pressing down. She could only kneel on one knee, gritting her teeth as she held up her sword. The sword in her hand had already developed cracks. It would not last much longer.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yu Ting stand up. Lu Yao called to her. "Senior Sister…"
She wanted her senior sister to help her.
But Yu Ting wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, expressionlessly swept her gaze around, and in a flicker, went directly beyond the barrier.
In midair, Yu Ting formed hand seals, and a complex, hard-to-read restriction landed upon the barrier. The barrier turned blood red and expanded its range several times over, covering not only Linshui Town entirely but also the unknown dangers of the sprawling back mountain.
Without the barrier as a shield, the Piaomiao Sect cultivators could not stop that many rotting corpses at all. Many of them were already scrambling madly into Linshui Town.
Ling Qingyue shot to her feet. She looked up, but there was no sign of Yu Ting anywhere.
She had never imagined Yu Ting would so directly abandon so many of her fellow sect members and the people of Linshui Town, and even lock them all in together with the rotting corpses.
"Senior Sister!!!"
Lu Yao's shout was on the verge of collapse. The strength in her hand was spent. Her long sword shattered with a sound. The saber's blade loomed before her eyes.
A figure darted ghostlike through the rotting corpses and the cultivators. Passing by one of the cultivators, Ling Qingyue drew a sword from her waist. "Borrowing this."
That cultivator used double swords. Even if one was taken, she still had one to defend herself.
Condensing spiritual energy onto the body of the sword, Ling Qingyue grabbed the back of Lu Yao's collar from a distance with one hand and met Liu Qingtang's saber directly with the sword in her other hand.
A shockwave of spiritual energy instantly burst outward, forcing back several steps both the Piaomiao Sect cultivators who wanted to come help and the rotting corpses.
A surge of joy rose in Lu Yao's heart. "Senior!"
With that level of strength to directly receive a blow from Elder Liu in this place, it could only be that Shangtianqiong senior. But when she raised her head and saw clearly who had come, the delight on her face turned to astonishment.
"Ah Xi?!"
How could it be Ah Xi?!
Ling Qingyue did not look at her. She reached out and pulled her to her feet. "I'll hold her off. You and your sect members go deal with those rotting corpses. Don't let them run into the town."
They still had the strength to fight. But the people in town, facing those things, would truly be helpless.
At this critical juncture, Lu Yao had no time for questions. She quickly nodded. "Alright!"
Ling Qingyue's hand was going numb, and a tightness was spreading through her chest. She had taken that blow head-on.
"Liu Qingtang, have you gone insane?!" Ling Qingyue's voice was cold with accusation. Her eyes stopped short when they met the woman's dark red irises.
"You've been demonically corrupted?!"
What was floating within those eyes was clearly demonic qi!
Ling Qingyue's gaze turned icy. She then noticed the scar on Liu Qingtang's neck and furrowed her brow.
That wound mark looked somewhat familiar.
Liu Qingtang rolled her eyes. Suddenly, the corner of her mouth split open. A mad greed surged in the depths of her eyes. The way she looked at Ling Qingyue was like she was looking at prey.
In the next instant, the spiritual energy around Liu Qingtang erupted. She raised her saber and hacked viciously at Ling Qingyue.
Ling Qingyue barely dodged. Her brows knitted tightly.
Something was wrong with this Liu Qingtang. Liu Qingtang's cultivation level shouldn't be this low. Yet the moves she used were indeed the same as Liu Qingtang's.
Liu Qingtang's saber suddenly became deadlier and fiercer. Pushed to her limit, Ling Qingyue started cursing furiously. "Liu Qingtang, are you sick?! I have no grudge against you! What reason do you have to try and kill me? So what if you've fallen to demonic corruption? Does that give you the right to bully people?!"
Ling Qingyue stopped caring. Her arm got slashed, so she gave Liu Qingtang a sword wound across the chest in return.
The scent of blood spread. The horde of rotting corpses tangled with the Piaomiao Sect cultivators suddenly became agitated. They turned their heads in unison toward Liu Qingtang and Ling Qingyue, then lunged to attack.
A glance from the corner of her eye made Ling Qingyue's scalp prickle.
She inexplicably felt that those rotting corpses were looking at her. It was sinister and revolting.
"Ah Xi!"
Lu Yao brought a few people forward to help.
As Ling Qingyue fended off Liu Qingtang, a sour ache spread through her lower abdomen.
Her spiritual energy was about to give out.
She twisted to dodge a saber strike and kicked away a lunging corpse. A flicker of temper flared in her heart.
Winning unfairly! Winning unfairly! Liu Qingtang, you're winning unfairly!
No, wait! Liu Qingtang hadn't even won yet!
She refused to submit, but Ling Qingyue was also well aware that she could not take many more moves.
Just as that spark of temper flared, a streak of pale golden spiritual energy cut through the corpses and cultivators and landed directly on Ling Qingyue. It rapidly formed a spirit-gathering array beneath her feet. Ling Qingyue felt her near-exhausted fields slowly fill back up.
A flash of joy crossed Ling Qingyue's eyes.
She couldn't tell what the array's eye was, but it was brimming with spiritual qi. Drawing on this spirit-gathering array, Ling Qingyue's cultivation level kept climbing.
When she clashed with Liu Qingtang again, Ling Qingyue repaid the ruthlessness from earlier in kind. Her sword moves were too fast for the naked eye to follow. Soon, numerous sword wounds appeared on Liu Qingtang's body, but no blood showed.
After fighting for so long, Ling Qingyue realized Liu Qingtang did not even seem short of breath. This was on top of having fought Lu Yao and Yu Ting earlier.
A thought flickered unbidden through her mind. Could the Liu Qingtang in front of her… be like those rotting corpses?
Liu Qingtang fought more and more fiercely, without the slightest fatigue. Even with the boost from the spirit-gathering array, Ling Qingyue still found it troublesome.
She was just mulling over how to subdue the woman when a flash of white streaked through the edge of her vision. Ling Qingyue's heart seized in alarm. "Pei…"
The name was barely past her lips when she saw her wife, the one who stayed at home writing and drawing, too delicate to shoulder a load or lift a hand, the one who could get angry enough to cough blood and faint… raise a palm and blast a rotting corpse blocking her way clear with a single strike. The faint golden spiritual energy at her fingertips matched the aura of the spirit-gathering array at Ling Qingyue's feet.
Ling Qingyue: "???"
She had spiritual energy?! She knew array formation techniques too?!
Lu Yao, who had witnessed the whole thing: "???"
Everyone had been hiding something?!
Pei Si drifted over like the wind to Ling Qingyue's side. Her expression was tense. When she raised her eyes toward Liu Qingtang again, her gaze chilled.
Ling Qingyue's heart gave a jump.
Pei Si formed a seal with one hand. The pale golden spiritual energy turned into ropes, and in an instant, they bound Liu Qingtang tightly and securely.
Ling Qingyue: "…"
So impressive.
"Hit her." Pei Si touched Ling Qingyue's hand.
Ling Qingyue hadn't yet processed it. "Hm?"
Pei Si added unhurriedly, "She bullied you. Hit her back."
On hearing this, Ling Qingyue couldn't help but curve the corners of her lips upward. Pei Si understood her so well. If someone bullied her, she would definitely return the favor.
She struck a full-force palm toward Liu Qingtang's heart, but Ling Qingyue pulled her punch short of lethal. She still wanted to ask Liu Qingtang what all this was about.
After the strike landed, Liu Qingtang's body suddenly collapsed. A strand of divine sense darted out from her forehead and then scattered with the wind.
The toppled body shrank before Ling Qingyue's eyes into a palm-sized wood carving. The carving's appearance was identical to Liu Qingtang's. There was a blade scar on its neck and some smears of blood on its face.
This was… that wood carving she had carved?
Without Liu Qingtang, the remaining rotting corpses toppled down one after another. They were like puppets whose strings had been cut.
Ling Qingyue returned the borrowed sword. The cultivator hugged her sword, somewhat overwhelmed by the honor. Before Ling Qingyue could even thank her, she had already gushed out three exclamations in a row.
Ling Qingyue was a little bemused. "…"
The Piaomiao Sect cultivators started dealing with the corpses. Many of them noticed that the robes on the corpses were the same as the ones they themselves wore. For a moment, their hearts were troubled and confused. There were some whispers about Yu Ting, wondering if she had gone to get reinforcements, which was why she had left so quickly.
Lu Yao shuffled over to Ling Qingyue and probed, "Senior?"
Ling Qingyue glanced at her, which was as good as admitting it.
After the fierce battle, Lu Yao's body and mind went slack. Only then did she laugh, though the laugh looked somewhat weary, it was also genuine.
"Do lofty masters like you all enjoy such a simple life?" Lu Yao's words carried a pointed meaning.
She meant that the Shangtianqiong senior who had taught her swordsmanship for all those days was in fact Ah Xi, and that her wife, Pei Si, was also an expert in array formations.
Ling Qingyue looked toward Pei Si, who stood not far away. She pressed her lips together before saying, "Not really."
She walked toward where Pei Si was. Their eyes met.
One step apart, their gazes held, but they remained silent, as if each was waiting for the other to speak first.
Ling Qingyue was considering how to explain. Pei Si was also from the immortal realm. Could she have already discovered it? After all, she hadn't been particularly guarded around Pei Si. How should she explain that she was truly Ah Xi, not someone possessing a body?
Pei Si lowered her eyes, looking at her. She had used her spiritual energy and array formations in order to protect Ling Qingyue, but secretly in her heart, she also wanted Ling Qingyue to understand who she was, hoping she would recognize her.
In the end, Ling Qingyue was the one to speak first. She praised, "You were… so impressive just now."
Pei Si's eyelashes trembled slightly. "Is that… all?"
So she hadn't recognized her. Also, that made sense. Back then, Ling Qingyue had found her so detestable. Why would she remember her spiritual energy, her array formations?
Ling Qingyue lowered her head and missed the despondency that crossed her eyes. She then asked, obliquely, "Is there nothing you want to ask me?"
"Ask what?" Pei Si's tone had become a touch indifferent.
"Do you believe me?" Ling Qingyue raised her head and asked her, very seriously.
Pei Si looked into her eyes. They were clear and bright.
She nodded.
Some of Ling Qingyue's tension eased. She glanced at the Piaomiao Sect cultivators busy handling the corpses over there. She took Pei Si's hand, intending to walk farther away, but the movement pulled at the wound on her arm. The pain made her suck in a soft hiss.
Pei Si's brow furrowed. She raised Ling Qingyue's arm and took out a medicine bottle. She pinched a pill between her fingers and brought it to Ling Qingyue's lips.
Ling Qingyue lowered her head to take it with her mouth. As her lips closed over the pill, they briefly brushed the woman's fingertip.
The soft, warm sensation made Pei Si's finger tremble.
The pill dissolved instantly upon entering her mouth. Very soon, Ling Qingyue no longer felt any pain. The wound was also visibly healing, just like when her shoulder had been injured last time.
Her eyes shifting, Ling Qingyue asked, "Last time, when my shoulder was clawed, did you swap out the medicine?"
At the time, she had thought it strange that the Piaomiao Sect had such effective medicinal pills.
Thinking about it now, it was probably Pei Si secretly exchanging them.
Pei Si nodded in admission. "What did you want to tell me just now?"
Ling Qingyue pursed her lips and pulled the person a little farther away.
"You're afraid they'll hear?"
"There are some things I only want to say to you." Ling Qingyue drew a deep breath, somewhat anxious.
"Mm. Go on."
Pei Si's gentle tone effectively eased the unease in Ling Qingyue's heart. Her hand moved toward her waist, then quietly withdrew to simply pinch her fingertips.
"I, I really am Ah Xi." Ling Qingyue wasn't sure whether Pei Si had noticed that her current self was a little different from the Ah Xi of before.
Pei Si understood. She had already guessed this much.
Ling Qingyue would not perform Possession.
"Mm."
Just an "Mm"? What did that mean? Had she noticed, or not?
Ling Qingyue couldn't figure it out, but that didn't stop her from going on. "I, I am a cultivator from Shangtianqiong. I ended up here by accident. And you? Why did you come here?"
Truthfully, she had many other curiosities. She wanted to know which immortal sect Pei Si was from. She wanted to know who Pei Si's master was. But right now, she couldn't exactly lay out her own circumstances first, so how could she ask someone else to do the same?
Wait. Since Pei Si was also a person of the immortal realm, and she had previously acted so disgusted with her, to the point of coughing up blood… Had they perhaps met before? Could there even be a grudge?
Ling Qingyue wracked her brain but could not think of any person she had such a grudge with that they'd cough blood just hearing about her.
"Cangshan." Pei Si observed her reaction.
"Cangshan?" Ling Qingyue thought for a moment. Cangshan was vast and sparsely populated with immortal sects. Those there favored peace and quiet and did not interact much with the immortal sects of the Central Lands. There were also many rogue cultivators.
Abruptly, Ling Qingyue thought of a person. She also seemed to have come from Cangshan.
She shook her head, shaking that person out of her mind. She must be muddled, to connect two such utterly different people together.
"Thought of something?"
Ling Qingyue's eyelid gave a soft lift. She was somewhat curious. "I've never been to the Cangshan area before."
There was an obvious, openly displayed anticipation in her eyes. She wanted Pei Si to take her to see it.
Pei Si's hanging fingers curled slightly. The corners of her lips lifted in a faint, barely discernible smile.
She recalled a few days before the Immortal-Demon War. She had overheard Ling Qingyue talking with Yu Liuli. They were considering where to go wandering after the war ended. Over the seas, the great deserts, anywhere as long as it wasn't the Central Lands. In youth, one's heart was always restless and adrift, loving to see faraway places.
Ling Qingyue had probably sensed that she had been staring at them. Distantly and impersonally, she had asked, "Pei Yin, is there something you want to say?"
At that time, she had really wanted to say, "Come with me to Cangshan. Cangshan is not in the Central Lands. It's beautiful and fun. You would like it." But Ling Qingyue still had Yu Liuli beside her. She did not want to bring anyone besides Ling Qingyue back.
She had swallowed the words. She had left without a word.
She had intended to find a chance afterward to tell Ling Qingyue alone, just the two of them. She had never expected that there would be no chance afterward.
Ling Qingyue saw her smiling, yet inexplicably felt that she was not all that happy.
When she looked up again, Pei Si's eyes were once more veiled with soft affection. "When there's a chance, I'll take you to see it."
As though that faint, vague unhappiness from just now had been nothing but Ling Qingyue's imagination.
"As for why I came here…" Pei Si answered her later question softly. "I wanted some peace and quiet. This place suited me."
With a certain person always on her mind, how could her heart ever be still?
Ling Qingyue nodded thoughtfully, considering Pei Si's temperament. What she said seemed right.
Usually, she was at home writing, drawing, and reading. It was truly very quiet.
Pei Si glanced at her, aware that she would not understand.
"Then you…" Ling Qingyue still had one more question. She asked it a little awkwardly, lifting a hand to rub her ear. "How did you fall into the water, and then… marry me?"
Pei Si raised an eyebrow. She suddenly wanted to tease her. She took a step toward Ling Qingyue, closing the distance between them. She leaned in slightly closer to Ling Qingyue's ear. "If I said it was love at first sight, would you believe me?"
Her eyes went round. Embarrassed, Ling Qingyue turned her head aside. During the motion, the tip of her ear brushed against a soft, slightly cool pair of lips. Ling Qingyue went rigid at once.
A light laugh reached her, turning that white-jade ear thoroughly red.
"Um…" Lu Yao spoke up from a polite distance. "Two Seniors."
Ling Qingyue and Pei Si put a little more distance between themselves.
Ling Qingyue looked at the suddenly respectful Lu Yao and laughed. She teased, "Coming over for dinner tonight?"
Lu Yao shook her head very rapidly.
Lu Yao raised her hands and performed another salute. "Two Seniors, these rotting corpses are all Piaomiao Sect cultivators. A few fellow disciples and I plan to enter the back mountain to investigate the cause. We would like to invite you both to come along."
Ling Qingyue did have that intention. The rotting corpses and the wood carving of Liu Qingtang had all come from the back mountain. The wood carving carried Liu Qingtang's divine sense. Perhaps what was hidden in the back mountain was the demonically corrupted Liu Qingtang herself.
She looked at Pei Si. "How about I go with them while you go back…"
Before she could finish, Pei Si took hold of her hand. "Together."
They still didn't know what was in the back mountain. She could not let Ling Qingyue go alone.
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