IVYSCP - Chapter 28
Chapter 28
"So... what do you want with me?"
Xue Zizai sat there, deeply uncomfortable, the little bell on her braid jingling with every movement of her head.
She'd been intensely curious when she heard about the trouble at the foot of the mountain, but her mother wouldn't let her set foot outside, even posted extra guards in her courtyard. It was the first time she'd ever seen fear that naked in her mother's eyes; her mother's hands had been trembling.
Later, the situation at the mountain's foot seemed to have been dealt with, but none of the guards in her courtyard were withdrawn. She couldn't even focus on practicing her sword.
Not until Senior Sister Lu Yao came and talked at length with her mother did the older woman finally let her leave. Xue Zizai had assumed Senior Sister Lu was taking her down the mountain to broaden her horizons. The town had been unsettled lately, talk of evil spirits everywhere, and she'd never actually seen an evil spirit before.
She followed her eagerly, only to be brought to Ah Xi's courtyard.
Xue Zizai didn't want to face Ah Xi and Pei Si. Every time she saw the two of them, she remembered how she'd so eagerly tried to get close to Pei Si, only to be utterly ignored. Pei Si reserved her gentle smiles solely for Ah Xi. It had been a loss of face, and she wasn't over it yet.
These past few days, Xue Zizai had sorted through her thoughts somewhat. It wasn't that she was particularly attached to Pei Si. She was simply drawn to the ethereal Immortal Realm and, by extension, to people who carried that immortal air. Pei Si possessed exactly that quality, distant and cool. The first time she'd met Pei Si, Xue Zizai felt like an immortal had stepped right out of the storybooks, and of course she'd been smitten. When Pei Si first arrived in town, the young miss had cordially invited her to stay at the Xue Estate, but Pei Si had refused without a moment's hesitation and went home with Ah Xi instead. For a young lady who had always gotten everything she wanted ever since she was a child, that rejection had stuck like a thorn, burrowing deeper and hurting more with every passing day.
And now Ah Xi was smiling at her, which made Young Miss Xue even more restless.
She stood to leave, but Ling Qingyue hastily grabbed her. "Hey, don't go."
Ling Qingyue failed to rein in her strength for a moment. Xue Zizai stumbled right back into her seat, her head sending up a jingling sound.
Xue Zizai stared in disbelief at the hand on her arm, then raised her eyes to the person who had pulled her back.
She'd been training with her sword for days, hadn't slacked off at all, and felt like she'd firmed up quite a bit. Yet here she was, yanked back effortlessly by Ah Xi with just one hand.
Ling Qingyue saw her eyes widen as if about to cry and, assuming she simply disliked being touched, quickly let go.
Xue Zizai kept her face rigid, betraying not a hint of the awkward stumble from moments before. Only a careful glance could catch the deep red pooling at the tips of her ears.
The young miss's tone was far from friendly. "What do you want with me? Out with it!"
In Ling Qingyue's eyes, Xue Zizai was just a somewhat spoiled child with a temper, and she wasn't about to hold a grudge against a child.
"I heard the Xue family has been in this area for generations?"
Xue Zizai let out a soft "hmph" through her nose, one eyebrow lifting, as if to say: Yeah, so what?
Lu Yao, seated to the side, had to resist the urge several times to remind Xue Zizai to show a bit more respect. The Ah Xi and Pei Si sitting before them were, after all, lofty seniors.
"Then do you know if anything major ever happened in this area? Decades ago, or maybe centuries ago?"
Making so many cultivators kneel in penance, leaving Liu Qingtang to stand guard, something must have happened here once.
Xue Zizai gave her a baffled look. "Why are you asking this?"
This time Lu Yao spoke first. "It's like this. You probably know about the incident at the foot of the mountain by now. We're investigating it, but the timeline may stretch back quite far. Since the Xue family has been here for generations, we thought we'd ask you."
"We...?" The word rolled around Xue Zizai's mouth, and her eyes made a circuit too.
She was thinking: Lu Yao investigating was one thing, but why were Ah Xi and Pei Si involved? What help could they possibly be?
But it could just be a turn of phrase. The young miss didn't dwell on it. Carelessly, she said, "A major event? That would be when the immortals of Piaomiao Sect took a liking to greenwood carvings, and Linshui Village became Linshui Town."
Ling Qingyue nodded. "Tell us something we don't know."
Was she ordering her around?
Xue Zizai shot her a sideways glare.
"For something like this, instead of asking me you'd be better off asking the town's elders."
Ling Qingyue's fingers tapped on the stone table. "The town's elders? Do they also enjoy stories about the Immortal Realm?"
Xue Zizai froze for a second, then turned her head away. "No."
The Immortal Realm was too distant. The town's elders cared far more about their own children and their money.
Her eyes shifted. Xue Zizai realized the kind of information they were actually after, major events connected to the Immortal Realm. Connected to the Immortal Realm, and happening in this area, decades or centuries ago...
Xue Zizai suddenly sat bolt upright.
Ling Qingyue stirred at the same moment. "You've thought of something?!"
"I just remembered something from a very long time ago. Maybe three or four hundred years ago? The books hardly record it. I only learned of it by chance from an ancient text." Xue Zizai spoke slowly.
Three or four hundred years ago...
Ling Qingyue thought about the state of the Immortal Realm three or four hundred years ago and winced. That era had been anything but peaceful; the Demon Race's unrest had been particularly fierce.
"Go on."
Xue Zizai said, "According to that ancient text, three or four hundred years ago, in the Central-Southern Land, there was a country called Yuelou. The Yuelou royal family were descendants of the Yuelou tribe. The Yuelou people carried a unique fragrance, their limbs were long and slender beyond ordinary human proportions, their dances were exceptionally beautiful, and they excelled at beguiling the heart and mind. Then one day, a heaven-sent calamity descended, and Yuelou was destroyed."
"The ancient text didn't give the specific location of Yuelou Country, only that it was in the Central-Southern Land. Our area also belongs to the Central-Southern Land, so it should fit your description. But I've only ever seen this in that one ancient text. I don't know if it's true or not."
Lu Yao turned her gaze toward Ling Qingyue, wanting her to make the decision. "Senior..."
Xue Zizai whipped her head around, her words stumbling out. "Senior Sister Lu, who... who are you calling?"
It had to be Pei Si, right? It couldn't be Ah Xi.
But Senior Sister Lu was looking right at Ah Xi as she spoke.
Seeing the utter disbelief on her face, Ling Qingyue couldn't resist teasing her.
She smiled and waved a hand in front of her. "She's talking to me."
Xue Zizai's expression went through a complicated shift as she looked her up and down, her skepticism entirely undisguised. "You? Senior?"
Ling Qingyue laughed lightly and crooked a finger. The teapot on the table floated up of its own accord, tilting to refill the empty cup in front of Xue Zizai until it was full.
Xue Zizai's eyes went wide.
Ling Qingyue set the teapot back in place and gave Xue Zizai a smug lift of her brow.
Pei Si glanced at her imperceptibly, the corner of her lips curving upward.
So old, and still bullying a child.
After the smile, the humor in Pei Si's eyes slowly faded. A thought suddenly struck her. Ling Qingyue had abruptly awakened inside Ah Xi's body. Did that mean her soul had lain dormant for a century? And for her, had death come only just before becoming another person entirely?
If that were true, then Ling Qingyue wasn't much older than Xue Zizai either. She was still a child herself.
A trace of tender concern entered Pei Si's gaze as she looked at Ling Qingyue.
When Ling Qingyue looked over, her heart skipped a beat.
What was this? Why was she suddenly looking at her like that? There were other people present!
The glances passing back and forth between the two looked, to Xue Zizai, exactly like flirtation.
She let out a cold huff and pointedly ignored the cup of tea in front of her.
Ling Qingyue composed her features and began to mull over what Xue Zizai had just told them.
Setting aside the question of whether Yuelou Country had ever truly existed, if it had, was it really destroyed by a natural disaster, as the ancient text Xue Zizai had read described?
Ling Qingyue nudged Pei Si's knee. Pei Si looked over, a question in her eyes.
Feeling her lips a little dry, Ling Qingyue swept her tongue over them before asking, "What do you think?"
Pei Si's eyes lowered briefly, then shifted to the leg that had bumped against her own.
Not entirely proper, but it proved that Ling Qingyue was willing to be close to her now.
"If this Yuelou Country actually existed, and if it connects to the events at the back mountain, then it might be tied to a heaven-sent calamity, or a nation's destruction."
Her voice was soft and cool, though it warmed slightly when directed at Ling Qingyue.
"Back mountain? What happened at the back mountain?" Xue Zizai couldn't contain her curiosity. She truly wanted to know.
Lu Yao hastily said, "It's nothing. Let me escort you back first."
Xue Zizai could easily tell she was being brushed off, but she couldn't bring herself to press further. Unhappily, she tossed her head and stood up to leave.
Once Lu Yao had taken the girl away, Ling Qingyue and Pei Si went to the wooden cabin. They had temporarily placed Liu Qingtang there.
With only her head capable of movement, Liu Qingtang wasn't likely to cause any trouble in the cabin.
The moment the door opened, Ling Qingyue was met with a pair of murderous eyes.
She sighed a little helplessly. "Still so fierce. Don't your eyes hurt from glaring like that?"
Pei Si followed behind her and pulled the door shut.
"Earlier at the back mountain, her consciousness cleared for a while. Doesn't that mean there's a chance we can awaken her?" she asked.
Ling Qingyue turned to face her, thought for a moment, then spoke. "Actually... I know Liu Qingtang. Even though we only met once, I think we could be considered friends."
Friends who got along well.
Pei Si pressed her lips together slightly.
Only met once, and you already count her as a friend?
"Let's check on her first," Pei Si said, then stepped around her and came before Liu Qingtang.
Ling Qingyue blinked.
That was it? No more questions?
Pei Si touched her fingertip to Liu Qingtang's brow. Liu Qingtang's spiritual energy was sealed, and a formation within her body held her in suppression. A thread of pale-gold spiritual energy easily probed along her meridians.
If someone was controlling Liu Qingtang, they would have left something inside her.
Ling Qingyue moved to one side and picked up Liu Qingtang's blade.
Her fingers brushed the hilt. There was a sword mark on it, left by Jiuge during their match on the platform all those years ago.
In the end, Pei Si found a mark within Liu Qingtang's Spiritual Platform. It was an extremely strange mark, resembling a restriction yet also like a formation seal, something Pei Si had never seen before.
Through the Spiritual Platform, she glimpsed the soul within. What should have been a place to nurture the soul had become a prison. Liu Qingtang's soul was bound in chains, unable to even self-destruct.
She did not cross into the Spiritual Platform, afraid of alerting whoever was controlling Liu Qingtang.
Withdrawing her hand, Pei Si told Ling Qingyue what she had seen.
Ling Qingyue's expression filled with shock. She had assumed someone had merely taken over Liu Qingtang's body; she never imagined even her soul was controlled. What kind of sinister, evil art was this? She'd never heard of such a thing.
"The mark is somewhat damaged, likely from Liu Qingtang's soul struggling. It might also be exactly because of that damage that she regained consciousness for a moment at the back mountain," Pei Si added.
Listening, Ling Qingyue set the blade down. Her gaze fell on the few wooden carvings on the table, and she frowned, letting out a soft "hm."
Pei Si walked over. "What's wrong?"
Ling Qingyue picked up the finished carving and probed it with spiritual energy. The trace of spiritual sense she had previously sealed within was gone.
"Earlier, when I was carving, I found a strand of Liu Qingtang's spiritual sense inside the portrait. I trapped that strand inside this wood carving, but now it's disappeared."
"Perhaps the spiritual sense was too weak and simply scattered."
Ling Qingyue thought for a moment and nodded. It was certainly possible. That strand of spiritual sense had been extremely faint to begin with.
Pei Si added, "Earlier at the back mountain, you said a few words to her and she regained consciousness. Try it again now."
"Alright."
Ling Qingyue walked up to Liu Qingtang and repeated exactly what she had said that night.
This time, however, it had no effect. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Ling Qingyue saw the blade on the table.
Her brows curved into a smile.
She picked up the blade and waved it in front of Liu Qingtang. At first, Liu Qingtang only glared at her, looking ready to kill, but soon her eyes began to follow the blade involuntarily.
"Liu Qingtang, I'm going to use your sword to chop cabbage," Ling Qingyue said out of nowhere.
Pei Si: "..."
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