IVYSCP - Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Ling Qingyue and Pei Si only used the main room in the west courtyard, so there were still many empty rooms.
Lu Yao and a few fellow disciples settled Lin Zhao and Xue Zizai, then heaved a heavy sigh.
Now she had to brew medicine for four people, but the Sect Leader had promised her compensation, and in a while she would be granted a high-grade dharma sword!
A high-grade dharma sword! Second only to a divine artifact. From now on she would sleep hugging her sword!
Ling Qingyue leaned against the doorframe and, seeing Lu Yao grinning foolishly to herself, nudged her with the tip of her foot.
Lu Yao snapped out of it and reined in her smile.
Ling Qingyue lifted her chin toward the room. "How are they?"
Lu Yao answered truthfully, "Lin Zhao is fine. She just suffered a major shock and needs rest for a while. Xue Zizai's situation is more serious. She was subjected to Soul Searching, and her soul was severely damaged. Afterward, someone forcibly opened her meridians, causing violent spiritual energy backlash. It's already a great fortune that she survived."
Ling Qingyue frowned when she heard this. "Forcibly opened her meridians?"
Lu Yao nodded, also somewhat puzzled.
Logically, Xue Zizai's mortal body could not have withstood Soul Searching and should have died on the spot. Yet someone had forcibly opened her meridians, using a thread of spiritual energy to mend the damage to her soul, keeping her clinging to life. It was as if they knew someone would come to Linshui Town afterward who could save her.
Ling Qingyue more or less understood why Lin Zhao was unharmed, but why had Xue Zizai been spared?
Ling Qingyue turned to find Pei Si and talk it over, but discovered she was nowhere in sight.
"Where is she?"
On the other side of the Water Cloud Dwelling, a jade token hovered before Pei Si, wreathed in faint golden light.
"Master." Pei Si raised her hand in salute, her tone cold.
A light scoff came from within the jade token, and a woman's lazy voice said, "Well, look who it is. The Immortal Venerable herself. What makes you remember me today?"
Pei Si let out an extremely soft sigh. "About the Emotion Transference technique…"
Chu Qianshan cut her off from the other side. "Since Emotion Transference has been used, there is no turning back. What, do you regret it?"
Pei Si fell silent for a long moment, then gave a low "Mm."
Chu Qianshan seemed infuriated, pacing back and forth several times, her footsteps unusually heavy, as if lamenting her disciple's failure to live up to expectations. "What am I supposed to say to you! When I received your message, I thought you had finally come to your senses, that you were no longer clinging to your delusions. Is that girl really so worthy that you keep making the same mistakes again and again? If she liked you back, that would be one thing, but she doesn't even like you. Why torment yourself like this? Use this Emotion Transference to let go completely. I truly regret sending you to Shangtianqiong in the first place!"
"I can't let go." Pei Si answered without the slightest hesitation.
She couldn't let go before, and now she could let go even less.
Chu Qianshan choked on her breath. Only after a good while did she rage, "Then don't come to me looking for a solution! I'm telling you, Emotion Transference has no cure."
Pei Si's expression was indifferent. "Oh. Then Master should begin preparations."
Chu Qianshan caught her breath. "Preparations for what?"
"To collect your disciple's corpse."
"Pei Yin! You...!"
Before Chu Qianshan could start cursing, Pei Si severed the connection and put the jade token away. Inside her Qiankun Pouch, the jade token flickered with golden light without pause as messages kept coming through. She didn't need to look to know they were all scolding her.
When she returned to the west courtyard, Pei Si saw Ling Qingyue and Lu Yao huddled together brewing medicine. Lu Yao was watching Ling Qingyue's medicine pot, while Ling Qingyue was watching her own.
Seeing Pei Si return, Ling Qingyue instantly beamed and raised a hand to wave at her.
Pei Si walked over and asked gently, "Do you know how?"
Ling Qingyue looked proud. "I'll learn. I'm a very fast learner."
Pei Si smiled faintly, thinking that if her master could see Ling Qingyue like this, she wouldn't say she was clinging to delusions anymore.
Ling Qingyue looked down at the fire, hesitated inwardly for several rounds, and still asked. She coughed twice first, then pretended to be casual. "Where did you go just now?"
She hadn't even said a word to her before vanishing.
Lu Yao stole a glance. Senior Pei Si hadn't been gone very long. Did this really need asking about?
Lu Yao had seen other Dao companions in the Immortal Realm, but many weren't inseparable the way Ah Xi and Pei Si were. Most became Dao companions because their cultivation methods were compatible, mutually agreeing to cultivate together.
Still, compared to those utilitarian Dao companion relationships, Lu Yao preferred what Ah Xi and Pei Si had. Seeing how they interacted warmed her heart. When she found a Dao companion in the future, she wanted one who was sincere too!
Pei Si's expression was natural, but inwardly she was very fond of this questioning from Ling Qingyue. It proved she was on her mind, thinking about her.
"I looked over the terrain nearby to find good spots for setting up an array. Next time if I need to leave, I'll tell you."
Ling Qingyue suppressed the corners of her mouth, which wanted to lift. "Mm."
Lu Yao was also having a hard time suppressing the corners of hers.
That evening, the two went to soak in the medicinal pool for a while again. Ling Qingyue told Pei Si about Xue Zizai's situation.
The Piaomiao Sect disciples who had brought them back said the two had escaped the great fire by being inside the small courtyard. Lin Zhao had been helping them look after the courtyard. As for Xue Zizai, she had only made it to the courtyard after the Soul Searching and meridian opening. Had Lin Zhao taken her there, or had someone thrown Xue Zizai in?
Ling Qingyue leaned toward the latter.
"Why do you think they spared Xue Zizai alone?" Ling Qingyue couldn't figure it out.
Soul Searching everyone in Linshui Town, then setting fire to the entire town to destroy the corpses and eliminate the evidence. Ling Qingyue didn't believe whoever was behind this was the merciful type, so the matter of sparing Xue Zizai alone was even more thought-provoking.
Did Xue Zizai have something on her? Then why not just take her away? Or did they want to use her for something? But what could a mortal young lady with no spiritual energy possibly do?
Pei Si saw her brows were furrowed from thinking so hard, and reached out to smooth her hair. "We'll ask when they wake up."
The soft, gentle touch fell on the back of her head, as if her head had been given a rub. Ling Qingyue recalled that in the past, her senior sister had also liked to rub her head, but she would always dodge away, protesting that she wasn't a child anymore and couldn't have her head rubbed all the time. Now, being rubbed by Pei Si, she had no urge to dodge at all. She even wanted that hand to rub a few more times.
Unfortunately, Pei Si only rubbed once before pulling back her hand.
Ling Qingyue felt a wave of disappointment inside, but she couldn't exactly do something like grab the other's hand and put it back on her own head.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Pei Si's long hair, loose over her shoulders. She moved, twirling a strand around her fingertip to play with it. After a moment, feeling her arm was a little tired from holding it up, she simply rested her arm on Pei Si's shoulder.
Pei Si kept her eyes closed, circulating the spiritual energy within her body. Her Seven Gates and Three Acupoints were completely sealed. Spiritual energy could only enter, not leave, which made it easy to become disordered and harm the body. It needed to be circulated and regulated often.
Sensing that someone was messing with her hair, Pei Si did nothing to stop her.
Seeing she had no reaction, Ling Qingyue leaned closer and carefully examined her brows, eyes, and features. Without those amber eyes visible, this face suddenly began to feel inexplicably unfamiliar.
As if veiled by a layer of hazy mist, unclear, leaving no impression in another's eyes, forgotten in the blink of an eye.
Could this face... not be...
Ling Qingyue pursed her lips. Her fingers released the cool, soft hair and instead landed near the woman's brow.
Abruptly, Pei Si opened her eyes. Ling Qingyue's breath caught. She only felt that the face before her, with the opening and closing of those eyes, had become vivid and familiar once more.
Pei Si caught her hand with a smile, as if catching a thief sneaking around. "What are you doing?"
Ling Qingyue said with righteous confidence, "Can't I touch?"
Pei Si raised her brow and, holding her hand, guided it to her own face, watching her unblinkingly. "Where do you want to touch?"
Ling Qingyue's fingertips moved slightly. The skin she touched was fine, smooth, and soft. Her gaze drifted downward, and Pei Si pulled her hand downward as well.
From the brow, over the bridge of the nose, then landing on the tip of the nose...
Ling Qingyue turned her head away, not daring to look anymore, but her hand was still moving downward, pressing onto soft lips, feeling Pei Si's warm breath.
Pei Si saw how red her ear had become and the corner of her mouth lifted.
The hand moved further down, brushing past the chin to reach the neck...
Ling Qingyue abruptly pulled her hand back and stood up, fleeing as she climbed out of the pool and put on her clothes, stammering, "I, I'm done soaking."
Pei Si laughed aloud and also stood and headed for the bank.
On the way back to the west courtyard, Ling Qingyue's ears were still burning. She stole a glance at Pei Si and found her expression completely unruffled, as if she hadn't been the one just now pulling her hand around to touch here and there.
"Pei Si." Ling Qingyue narrowed her eyes, deeply suspicious. "Were you doing that on purpose just now?"
"Doing what on purpose?" Pei Si's cool voice held a trace of bewilderment, as if she truly didn't understand what she was talking about.
"On purpose..." seducing me.
Ling Qingyue ultimately couldn't say the second half, so she switched to a different phrasing. "On purpose using my hand to..."
Pei Si tilted her head to look at her, her pale pupils reflecting the faint luminescence of the night. "Wasn't it you who wanted to touch?"
After saying this, she asked one more question. "Didn't you like it?"
Ling Qingyue could see it now. Pei Si was bad to the core. Sure enough, what she'd said in the past wasn't wrong: those who practiced formations were all black-hearted.
Ling Qingyue gritted her teeth, lifted their joined hands, and bit down.
She didn't let go until she heard Pei Si give a soft hiss.
Ling Qingyue huffed, "Bad."
Pei Si pressed her lips together in a smile and asked that last question again. "Didn't you like it?"
Ling Qingyue's fingertip brushed over the tooth marks she had just left. She looked at the sky, the ground, the other side, anywhere but at Pei Si. Only after a long while did she mumble out, "No."
Not that she didn't like it. That meant she did.
Pei Si had heard clearly and didn't tease her further.
When they returned to the west courtyard, someone was sitting quietly at the stone table by the pond in the yard. She was gazing up at the stars and moon overhead, with tear tracks still not dry on her cheeks.
Ling Qingyue released Pei Si's hand and slowly approached.
"Lin Zhao."
Lin Zhao turned her head. The moment she saw her, she didn't break down sobbing. She smiled, tears falling together with the smile.
"Ah Xi, it was you who saved me."
Ling Qingyue's heart ached. Lin Zhao said this, but there was no joy at having survived in her eyes, only despair and pain.
Ling Qingyue sat down beside her and softly promised, "I will find out who did this and avenge them."
Lin Zhao lowered her head and sobbed, then lifted her arms and hugged her tightly.
The force was a bit heavy. Pei Si saw Ling Qingyue frown slightly, likely because it pulled at the injury on her back. She pressed her lips together but didn't speak.
Lin Zhao's words came in fragments. "It's a good thing you... you all had left. The fire was huge. It burned the entire town."
Ling Qingyue gently patted Lin Zhao's back.
Having experienced such great tragedy, Lin Zhao's emotions were unsettled. After crying for a while, she passed out again in Ling Qingyue's arms.
After carrying her to her room, Ling Qingyue lit a spirit-calming incense stick so she could sleep more peacefully.
Closing the door, Ling Qingyue sighed. "If we had left a little later, would..."
Her hair was gently rubbed. Ling Qingyue lifted her gaze to look at Pei Si.
Pei Si lowered her head slightly, her forehead touching hers. "Don't think like that. How do you know the person behind this wasn't waiting specifically until we left to act? Even if we had left a day later, two days later, it still couldn't have been avoided. Don't blame yourself for others' sins. This has nothing to do with you."
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