IVYSCP - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
After Ling Qingyue delivered the timber back to the woodcarving shop, she saw it was still early and thought about asking Lu Yao if there was anywhere she wanted to go. After all, the woman had given her spirit stones, and she couldn't just take the payment without doing the job. But the moment Lu Yao stepped into the shop, her eyes glazed over, and she stopped in front of the woodcarving shelves, refusing to move.
"Miss Ah Xi, did you carve all these? You're amazing."
Hearing the praise, Ling Qingyue lifted her brow with pride. "Yes, I did."
Pei Si took in every one of those little expressions and the corner of her lips curved upward.
"Hey, this one looks a bit…" Lu Yao picked up one of the carvings, puzzled. "Where have I seen this before?"
It looked part deer, part ox, ferocious and sinister.
Ling Qingyue's heart lurched. She stepped forward in two quick strides and snatched it away. "This one didn't come out well. Look at something else."
That carving was of a yao beast she'd once killed, whittled out of boredom. She couldn't let it be recognized.
Lu Yao paused briefly, then turned her attention to the other carvings. One by one, each had its own expression, vivid and lifelike, proof that the carver's knife work was exceptional.
Ling Qingyue tucked the carving away and, seeing how intently Lu Yao was looking, asked offhandedly, "Miss Lu Yao, what do you immortals use these woodcarvings for?"
Ling Qingyue thought again of the portrait scroll the Xue family had distributed. The person on it was plainly the blade cultivator who had lost to her at the Ranking Tournament.
Piaomiao Sect's Liu Qingtang.
Lu Yao turned to face her and narrowed her eyes.
Seeing her expression shift, Ling Qingyue wondered if she'd overstepped and was about to change the subject.
Lu Yao said, "You want to know? Give me a woodcarving and I'll tell you."
She knew mortals were always curious about the immortal realm. Her senior sisters always said she was simple and naive, so now she'd use a mortal's curiosity to get a woodcarving.
Ling Qingyue thought, And here I thought she'd seen through my probing.
"Fine. Which one do you like?"
Lu Yao broke into an immediate grin and turned to pick out a carving. While choosing, she explained, "It's our sect leader. She just likes this greenwood carving. She thinks of Senior Liu, who fell, and wants a woodcarving of her. Senior Liu is the person in the portrait you all have."
Ling Qingyue lowered her eyes, a flicker of surprise passing through them.
Liu Qingtang was dead?
A prodigy in her youth, a talent beyond compare. Those were the things Ling Qingyue had always heard about her. Back then Liu Qingtang had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Not much older than herself, she'd also been at the Nascent Soul stage. Her potential couldn't have been lacking.
Someone like that shouldn't have died so young.
But the thought circled once and Ling Qingyue was no longer surprised. Hadn't she, too, died herself?
Lu Yao finally chose a finger-length little wooden sword, plump and round and rather cute.
"Can I have this one?" Lu Yao looked at Ling Qingyue, her eyes full of hope.
Ling Qingyue nodded. "You can."
Lu Yao smiled and hung the little wooden sword beside her own blade.
Just then, the jade token at her waist suddenly flashed once.
Lu Yao probed it with a thread of spiritual energy, then raised her hands in another salute to the two women inside. "I have to go. My senior sister's calling for me. Miss Ah Xi, next time take me to see more of Linshui Town."
Ling Qingyue smiled and saw her out the door.
How wonderful. Three spirit stones for free.
Back inside the shop, Ling Qingyue saw Pei Si sitting quietly at the wooden table, looking at the portrait of Liu Qingtang.
She really does love the immortal realm. All those books about immortal realm wonders in her study, and now seeing an immortal's portrait, she can't even look away.
Pei Si heard the footsteps draw near, looked up, and her brows and eyes curved gently. "Ah Xi, come here."
Ling Qingyue's throat moved slightly and she shuffled two steps closer.
"What is it?"
Pei Si glanced down at the distance still between them and seemed dissatisfied.
Ling Qingyue was still hesitating over whether she should take another step when her hand was suddenly caught. Before she knew it, her whole body had been pulled over.
She tumbled onto the woman's lap, enveloped entirely by a cold fragrance. Ling Qingyue's face burned crimson, the blush spreading all the way down her neck. She struggled lightly. "Don't… don't do this. It's not proper."
Pei Si held her close, leaned in, and nudged the tip of her nose. In a soft voice she said, "We're already married. What's improper about it?"
Ling Qingyue had never been this close to anyone before. Afraid the other woman might do something even more out of bounds, she quickly turned her head away.
"I wasn't forward enough before. Would you like it if I was a bit bolder?" Pei Si sighed softly and reached up to stroke her face.
Ling Qingyue thought, Wasn't it perfectly fine the way it was before? How did she change overnight?
But what came out of her mouth was, "I like you however you are. You don't need to change yourself."
"You like me?" Pei Si's hand pressed against the small of her back, pulling her firmly closer.
Ling Qingyue braced her hands against the woman's shoulders, trying with all her might to keep some last shred of distance, her face red as she nodded. "Mm."
Help.
Pei Si pressed further. "If you like me, why won't you look at me?"
Ling Qingyue's lips quivered. "I…"
"I'm shy."
A cool, clear, soft laugh drifted past her ear. Ling Qingyue felt the hand on her back loosen a little and scrambled to her feet at once, stammering, "I'll, I'll carve a woodcarving for you. I promised you yesterday."
Pei Si nodded, her gaze following her every move.
Ling Qingyue felt that stare prickle at her like needles. She picked up her brush and a palm-sized block of wood that had already been cut, and began making simple outlines.
The tip of the brush halted.
Ling Qingyue realized that Pei Si's figure, her features, were terribly vague in her mind.
She didn't look at Pei Si very often, but her memory was excellent, and she never forgot a face once she'd seen it.
She blinked. Ling Qingyue had no choice but to lift her eyes and look at Pei Si, and met those beautiful eyes directly. The amusement in that gaze scalded her, and she looked quickly back down.
A sudden image flickered through her mind. Another tall, graceful figure, hazy but recognizable as a woman with a cold, aloof presence, much like Pei Si.
Ling Qingyue pressed her lips together.
Why would I think of that person now? How strange.
She drew a deep breath and set her mind to carving. This time, she looked at Pei Si openly, without the slightest timidity.
She was doing it for the woodcarving, after all, not with any improper intentions.
The morning flew by in an instant. Ling Qingyue used the excuse of mealtime to send Pei Si away. Pei Si furrowed her brow, a bit displeased, but then seemed to think of something, nodded, and left.
Once Pei Si was far away, Ling Qingyue immediately shut the shop door and slipped into the storage room.
The storage room was piled with knives, tools, and woodcarvings, and there was a small wooden bed where she could rest temporarily.
Ling Qingyue sat cross-legged on the small wooden bed and set the three spirit stones in front of her.
She formed a hand seal, breathed in and out, and began to circulate the Great Cycle.
Ling Qingyue sensed a much purer spiritual qi. Her body began to heat, sweat breaking out, and the pitifully small amount of spiritual energy in her body began to swell at a visible rate.
She cultivated for two full hours and only absorbed the spiritual qi of a single spirit stone.
Ling Qingyue felt a ripple of disappointment. In the past, three little spirit stones like these wouldn't have been enough to fill a gap in her teeth.
But she reminded herself that present days were not past days. Even one step forward was a step forward, and at least she still had spirit stones to use.
Having successfully cheered herself up, Ling Qingyue happily stowed away the remaining two spirit stones and began plotting how she could get more spirit stones out of Lu Yao.
She raised her hand and focused a bit of spiritual energy.
Ling Qingyue's eyes widened. Qi Condensation, third layer.
She wasn't surprised without reason. This was far faster than she'd imagined. One spirit stone had carried her straight to the third layer of Qi Condensation. That was unheard of even in the immortal realm.
If she hadn't struggled for two or three days just to feel out the first layer of Qi Condensation, Ling Qingyue might have suspected this body had some heaven-defying cultivation talent. Clearly, it didn't.
And what Lu Yao had given her was nothing more than the most ordinary spirit stones.
Ling Qingyue pondered. Before her death, she'd been at the Nascent Soul stage. That she could be reborn inside Ah Xi's body was probably because her Nascent Soul had not been destroyed. A cultivator's Nascent Soul was inseparable from their original self. That her cultivation realm was recovering so quickly likely stemmed from this as well.
At that thought, Ling Qingyue laughed out loud.
This made things much easier. The faster her cultivation recovered, the sooner she could leave this flesh body behind and return to the immortal realm.
In a good mood, Ling Qingyue went back to the wooden table, ready to continue with her woodcarving. Just then, the shop door was hammered with a loud slap.
"Who is it?"
"Me."
The voice was somewhat unfamiliar. Ling Qingyue got up to open the door.
Outside stood seven or eight people. At their head was a youth in sumptuous robes, wearing so many silver and jade ornaments that she clinked and jangled with every move, like a walking wind chime.
The youth carried herself with great arrogance, refusing to look directly at anyone. She reached out, shoved Ling Qingyue aside, and strode into the shop. "Who closes their door in broad daylight? You don't want to keep this shop?"
Ling Qingyue glanced at the attendants behind her. Their clothes were all stamped with the character "Xue."
She was from the Xue family.
Ling Qingyue remembered Lin Zhao mentioning that the Xue family had only one eldest miss, wilful and arrogant, spoiled by her family beyond all measure.
When this eldest miss was born, the Xue family had already made their fortune in woodcarving. She might as well have been born with a golden spoon in her mouth. Rumor had it that an immortal had even given her her name.
Xue Zizai.
Ling Qingyue's eyes swept over and landed on the sword at Xue Zizai's waist. She raised an eyebrow.
The eldest miss made a circuit of the shop and arrived in front of the woodcarving shelves.
She picked one up casually. "Ah Xi. Senior Sister Lu said your woodcarvings are quite good."
She looked it over and gave a soft scoff. "Not much to see, really."
Senior Sister Lu? Already calling her senior sister. So the rumors are true. Xue Zizai really is going to the Piaomiao Sect.
After another circuit, the eldest miss spotted the carving on the wooden table that was still only a rough form. "Is this Pei Si?"
Inexplicably, Ling Qingyue felt there was something odd in the way she said Pei Si's name, as if there was some… resentment.
And then, just as inexplicably, she saw the eldest miss whip her head around and glare at her.
Ling Qingyue was speechless for a moment.
What's the matter with her?
"I'm going to learn the sword from Senior Sister Lu. Senior Sister Lu told me to start with a wooden sword. She said your workmanship is good, so you'll be responsible for my wooden swords." Xue Zizai sauntered up to her, a sly, unfriendly smile on her face. "Wooden swords break easily. I'll take three for a start. I need them tomorrow, delivered to the Xue Estate by maoshi. Don't be late. I don't want you delaying my sword practice."
Three wooden swords, by tomorrow. Even if she worked without sleep all night, she probably couldn't finish two. This was deliberate harassment.
Ling Qingyue scoffed inwardly. This was the first time anyone had tried to make trouble for her.
She curved her lips into a smile at Xue Zizai. "Certainly."
Xue Zizai froze a moment, not expecting her to actually agree.
"Hmph."
The eldest miss tossed her head and walked straight out of the shop.
Ling Qingyue cut three pieces of timber to the right length and carried them into the storage room.
She gathered spiritual energy in her palm and struck fiercely at the three pieces. In an instant, wood chips flew in all directions, and three wooden swords peeled away from the blocks.
Ling Qingyue arched an eyebrow lightly. "And who needs until tomorrow?"
But it worked out well. Now she had another reason to spend the night in the storage room.
Comments
Post a Comment