IVYSCP - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ling Qingyue slept until the next morning and suddenly opened her eyes, filled with disbelief. She had actually fallen asleep like that, lying in the same bed as Pei Si.

Ling Qingyue raised a hand and slapped it over her own face, wishing she could give herself a thorough beating.

Ling Qingyue, you are absurd!

Pei Si was not there. Ling Qingyue dressed and sat before the mirror, looking at that face, then bowed her head in apology.

"I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for what?"

Ling Qingyue turned at the voice and saw Pei Si walk in, dressed plainly and elegantly, coming straight up to her, bending down, and softly calling, "Ah Xi."

Ling Qingyue felt a tingling run from her tailbone all the way up; her whole body went weak.

Pei Si's usual manner was always somewhat indifferent, and even when she spoke to her there was little emotional fluctuation. But just now, that one call—that cool, clear voice had softened and gentled, unable to hide a closeness and delight.

What… what was going on?

Could something have happened last night that she did not know about? Otherwise, how had Pei Si suddenly changed into a completely different person?

Ling Qingyue's mind went blank, and her hands were trembling. She almost lifted a hand to slap herself again.

She blinked, her thoughts slowly gathering, and then thought it was impossible. She had not drunk any alcohol last night, so even if something had happened, there was no way she would not remember any of it.

"Ah Xi." Pei Si raised a hand and touched her face, her brows and eyes relaxed. "Let's have breakfast. Weren't we going to pick up the lumber today?"

A cold fragrance lingered. Ling Qingyue held her breath, her face flushing. Hearing this, she nodded repeatedly, then sidestepped Pei Si and hurried straight out the door.

Ling Qingyue normally did not even dare to look at Pei Si too much, let alone when they were so close just now. She dared even less to let her gaze wander, so much so that she had completely failed to notice the tiny red mole that had appeared on the side of Pei Si's neck.

During breakfast, Ling Qingyue realized that Pei Si kept looking at her. An almost scorching gaze traced across her brows, her eyes, and finally lingered long upon her lips.

Ling Qingyue ate in alarm, enduring Pei Si's gaze while inwardly promising Ah Xi over and over that she absolutely would not offend Pei Si and absolutely would not cross any boundaries.

After breakfast, the two went together to the Xue family shop to collect the lumber.

Linshui Town was most famous for its wood carvings, and the town abounded with wood carving shops. There was a special greenwood here, excellent in quality and lightly fragrant, ideal for wood carving. The Xue family's wealth and status came precisely because a greenwood carving had accidentally caught the eye of the Piaomiao Sect, establishing a connection with an immortal sect—a supreme honor and blessing in the Mortal Realm.

According to rumor, the Xue family's young miss had also been noticed by a Piaomiao Sect elder and was to be accepted into the Piaomiao Sect. She would soon ascend to the Immortal Realm.

The Piaomiao Sect ranked outside the Seventy-Two Sects and was considered a minor sect.

Ling Qingyue only had any impression of the Piaomiao Sect because in the year the Heavenly Ranking was finalized, she had taken first place, and the second-place cultivator, a saber cultivator she had never heard of before, came from the Piaomiao Sect. Only, after the Ranking Tournament, she had heard nothing further of that saber cultivator's whereabouts.

Thinking of that saber cultivator, Ling Qingyue could not help but draw a sharp breath. That person's saber art was treacherous, sharpness fully revealed, and she had nearly suffered a setback against it.

"What's wrong?" The person beside her leaned in and took her hand.

Ling Qingyue's brow twitched, and she resisted the urge to pull her hand away. "It's nothing."

A crowd had gathered outside the Xue family shop.

Seeing that Lin Zhao was also there, Ling Qingyue went over to ask her what was happening.

Lin Zhao loved excitement and would definitely know.

Lin Zhao jutted her chin in the direction of the Xue family shop. "People from the Piaomiao Sect have come. Everyone's here to see the immortals."

Ling Qingyue was puzzled. "The Piaomiao Sect? What are they here for?"

"Seems like they're looking at wood carvings," Lin Zhao said, reaching out to nudge her. "Hey, Ah Xi, you want to go try your luck too? What if your carving catches their eye? That'd be a straight shot to glory. You might even get to go up to the Immortal Realm."

Ling Qingyue smiled and shook her head. "That won't do. If I went, what would Pei Si do?"

She did want to return to the Immortal Realm, but before recovering her cultivation and leaving this body, it was best to have as little contact with people from the Immortal Realm as possible. If her identity were exposed and she were accused of possession, she would have no way to explain it clearly.

Lin Zhao felt a twinge of sourness at that. She glanced at Pei Si beside her and muttered under her breath, "True enough. With such a beautiful wife at home, if it were me, I wouldn't go either."

Ling Qingyue felt a stab of guilt and did not respond. Inwardly, she started wondering again: what did the Piaomiao Sect want with wood carvings?

Very soon, the crowd parted, opening a path. From within emerged a woman of dignified, wealthy bearing, covered head to toe in gold and jade ornaments, with upward-slanting brows and a sharp gaze. She signaled to the maid beside her, who immediately took up a stack of painted scrolls and began distributing them to the woodcarvers in town.

The maid also recognized Ah Xi and came over to give one to Ling Qingyue.

Ling Qingyue unrolled the scroll, and her gaze halted when she saw the person depicted on it.

Isn't this…

"Everyone has received the painting, I trust." The woman's voice was not loud, but it carried clearly to all present. "Beginning today, every shop that obtains lumber from my Xue family must use the person in this painting as the model and submit at least one wood carving every seven days, for the span of one month. During this period, all lumber used will be charged to the Xue family name."

Someone boldly asked, "All lumber?"

"Naturally."

This meant that for an entire month, the Xue family would cover all the lumber free of charge, only requiring one wood carving handed in every seven days.

This was a tremendous piece of good fortune. Ling Qingyue saw that many people were already calculating what they could buy with the money they would save on lumber.

"Let me put it plainly," the woman continued. "These wood carvings are requested by the immortals of the Piaomiao Sect. This time, if an immortal takes a liking to any household's carving, there is a chance to accompany the immortal back to the Piaomiao Sect."

The stir grew even livelier. Ling Qingyue caught a few phrases: "become an immortal," "eternal youth," "strike it rich."

Mortals always yearned for the Immortal Realm.

"Alright, everyone disperse now. Off you go, back to work."

Standing to the side, Lin Zhao sighed regretfully. "If I'd known, I would've learned wood carving too."

Ling Qingyue looked at her and asked curiously, "You also want to cultivate and go to the Immortal Realm?"

Lin Zhao laughed heartily. "I don't have that kind of skill. I was thinking, if I'd learned wood carving and somehow an immortal took a liking to it, I could ask the immortal to bestow a few medicinal pills. Isn't it said that medicinal pills from the Immortal Realm can cure all diseases and prolong life? I'd take them back for my mother."

The excitement over, Lin Zhao patted Ling Qingyue's shoulder. "I'm off. Still need to go up the mountain to gather herbs."

Lin Zhao's mother was bedridden with illness; every so often she had to go up the mountain to gather herbs and trade them at the apothecary for medicine.

Ling Qingyue nodded and urged, "Go on. Be careful."

Only after the crowd had mostly dispersed did Ling Qingyue and Pei Si enter the shop to collect the lumber.

The Xue family shop was packed not only with lumber but also with numerous wood carvings. These were all sent over by the town's wood carving shops. They brought their best carvings to the Xue family, who then sold them on. The Xue family had access to a wider circle of high officials and noble families, and the carvings fetched higher prices.

Ling Qingyue went inside and saw a person standing before the wood carving shelves, dressed in white surpassing snow, with silver trim lining the cuffs and hems, a jade token and a long sword hanging at her waist.

A person from the Immortal Realm. From the Piaomiao Sect. That ritual robe, layer upon layer like a blooming flower, yet not at all cumbersome—light and airy like gauze and mist—perfectly matched the depictions of immortal cultivators in Mortal Realm books.

Her gaze did not linger on that person. Ling Qingyue picked up the lumber and was about to leave.

"Wait."

Ling Qingyue pretended she had not heard and kept walking.

"Hey, hey, you, wait. I'm talking to you."

Just before she could step out the door, a white figure flashed into view in front of Ling Qingyue.

Only then did Ling Qingyue clearly see her appearance: still quite youthful, looking not very old. Then again, one could not jump to conclusions—cultivators could alter their appearance, looking old or young at will, and plenty of older folk liked to play at being young.

"What do you want?"

Lu Yao had come to the Mortal Realm with her senior sister and had seen plenty of mortals gazing at her with reverent eyes; this was the first time she had met someone who treated her so dismissively. And the person beside her, with her cool expression, did not even spare her a glance.

These two… how interesting.

"My name is Lu Yao, of the Piaomiao Sect." Lu Yao raised a hand and gave them a polite salute.

Ling Qingyue was somewhat surprised. At her side, Pei Si raised her brow almost imperceptibly.

This was a formality exchanged only among cultivators of the Immortal Realm.

Ling Qingyue was now certain: this was a youngster. The old foxes, even when pretending to be young, would not casually give such a salute, let alone to mortals. Immortal Realm folk were invariably arrogant toward mortals.

Ling Qingyue acknowledged her with a slight nod. "My name is Ah Xi, and this is my wife, Pei Si."

Lu Yao's eyes widened at this. She looked at Ling Qingyue, then at Pei Si. Blinking, she recalled that her senior sister had once said that people in the Mortal Realm married very young. The shock in her eyes slowly receded.

Lu Yao smiled and asked, "Seeing that Miss Ah Xi has come for lumber, you must be from Linshui Town. I wonder if Miss Ah Xi could show me around the town for a look?"

Ling Qingyue smiled. "I cannot."

She turned to Pei Si. "Let's go home."

Pei Si nodded. "Alright."

They circled around Lu Yao and walked out the shop door. Behind her, Ling Qingyue heard pursuing footsteps.

Her senior sister had important matters to attend to and no time to take her around. She had finally encountered two people who were not timid and cautious around her. "Wait, Miss Ah Xi."

Blocked again, Ling Qingyue spread her hands at her.

Lu Yao did not understand. "What does that mean?"

Ling Qingyue said, "I can show you around, sure, but I still have wood carvings to make. You'll be taking up my time—shouldn't you give me something as compensation?"

Lu Yao belatedly caught on. "Oh, right, right, that's only fair."

Lu Yao patted herself down for ages but finally only produced one Spirit Stone. Hesitantly, she asked, "This… would this do?"

She remembered her senior sister saying that spirit stones were not used in the Mortal Realm.

Ling Qingyue pressed her lips together, afraid that she would not be able to stop herself from laughing too happily.

This was more than fine. Here she was, fretting over how thin the Spiritual Qi was in the Mortal Realm and how slow her cultivation recovery was, and now someone had come to deliver spirit stones.

Piaomiao Sect's Lu Yao—she would remember this.

"This stone is quite pretty, but…" Ling Qingyue put on a troubled expression and shook her head. "Just this one stone—forget it, forget it. Not worth it."

"What about three pieces?" Lu Yao hastily produced two more.

Ling Qingyue knew when to stop. She took the spirit stones while still feigning reluctance. "That will do, I suppose."

Having received three spirit stones, Ling Qingyue grudgingly gave up two and handed them to Pei Si.

Pei Si took the spirit stones, turned them over in her hand, and then handed them back.

Ling Qingyue looked at her. "You don't like them?"

Pei Si's brows and eyes were soft. Lowering her voice, she said, "Ah Xi likes them. They're all yours."

Ling Qingyue felt scalded by that tender, lingering gaze and hurriedly lowered her eyes.

Lu Yao followed behind them, watching, and remarked, "Your feelings for each other are really good, always thinking of one another."

Ling Qingyue just about wanted to shake her head. No, that's not it. You're talking nonsense.

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