IVYSCP - Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Approaching Xue Zizai's door, Ling Qingyue and Pei Si fell silent.
Inside the room, Lu Yao and Lin Zhao stood quietly off to one side. Nie Wenxiao stood by the bedside, two fingers extended toward Xue Zizai's forehead.
Xue Zizai had grown much thinner than before. Though her meridians had been opened, she could not stomach the medicinal pills of the Immortal Realm. Lu Yao had tried feeding her congee and water, but most of it had come back up. The young lady raised amid gold and jade now wore only plain inner garments, her complexion frighteningly wan, her eyes red and swollen, her hair loose and disheveled. She looked every bit a wraith.
Nie Wenxiao withdrew her hand. Before she could speak, Xue Zizai, who had been utterly motionless, lifted her head. She saw Lu Yao, and she saw the person standing before her whose robes matched Lu Yao's. This person must also be from Piaomiao Sect, Xue Zizai thought; the robes were more elaborate and refined than Lu Yao's, so perhaps a Piaomiao Sect elder.
Xue Zizai clenched her jaw to hold back the tears and demanded furiously, "Why did you attack the people of Linshui Town! We never wronged you. It was just a wood carving, wasn't it! If we couldn't make it, that wasn't our fault! Why? Why did you slaughter everyone so brutally?"
She thought that because Linshui Town had failed to produce the wood carving in the portrait, Piaomiao Sect had moved against them. She could think of no other reason.
Nie Wenxiao was stunned by the outburst. Everyone else in the room was equally startled.
Lin Zhao stepped forward and hurriedly explained, "Xue Zizai, you've misunderstood. It was the immortals of Piaomiao Sect who saved us."
"Misunderstood?" Xue Zizai clutched the covers tightly. As she lowered her head, scalding tears fell onto the back of her hand. She choked out, "I saw it all. It was Piaomiao Sect's Yu Ting. She came to the town with her people. My mother is dead. Everyone in the Xue family is dead. What misunderstanding is there?"
Yu Ting!
Lu Yao's eyes went wide. The Sect Leader had issued an arrest warrant the moment they returned to the sect, but days of searching had yielded nothing. Who could have known that Yu Ting had instead taken people back to Linshui Town?
Ling Qingyue had not expected this either. The one who performed soul searching on Linshui Town was actually Yu Ting. Then had it been Yu Ting who opened Xue Zizai's meridians and left her in that small courtyard? Why would she do such a thing?
Nie Wenxiao's face darkened as she suppressed her anger. Yu Ting had followed her for a hundred years. She had always thought this disciple was steady-natured and meticulous. As the Eldest Senior Sister of Piaomiao Sect, Yu Ting had always shown extra care and concern for her junior sect sisters.
Regarding the Linshui Town matter, she had still hoped to hear an explanation from Yu Ting. But she had never imagined, never imagined that Yu Ting would commit yet another atrocity so heinous.
"Yu Ting is already an expelled disciple of Piaomiao Sect. Her actions have nothing to do with Piaomiao Sect. However, the matter of Linshui Town will be thoroughly investigated, and the two of you will be given an accounting."
Xue Zizai raised her head and stared at her, grinding out each word with venom: "Then bring Yu Ting before me. Let me kill her."
Nie Wenxiao met her gaze. "If it truly was her doing, I will personally place the blade in your hand."
Deep in her heart, she still could not bring herself to believe it. Perhaps Yu Ting, like Qingtang, was under someone else's control.
Ling Qingyue watched from the back. She had never seen such a murderous look in Xue Zizai's eyes. The Eldest Miss certainly had a spoiled streak, but it had only been a bad temper, entirely unlike Cui Heng's arrogance and sinister cruelty.
Xue Zizai did not want to weep before outsiders, but grief welled up from within and she could not hold it back. She could only turn away, lifting her hand again and again to wipe away her tears.
Seeing this, Nie Wenxiao raised a hand to signal that they should step outside.
Lu Yao was the last to exit. Just as she was about to close the door behind her, Ling Qingyue glanced at her and shook a finger.
Don't close it?
Lu Yao mouthed the silent question.
Ling Qingyue nodded.
Lu Yao understood and obediently went off to warm the medicine. Seeing this, Lin Zhao followed after her.
Ling Qingyue, Pei Si, and Nie Wenxiao sat down at the stone table.
Ling Qingyue cleared her throat and asked loudly, "How is she?"
As if afraid someone might not hear.
The corner of Pei Si's lips curved upward, a flash of amusement in her eyes.
Nie Wenxiao was puzzled. Why the sudden need to raise her voice? Just as earlier she had not understood why she was discussing the Dao Bonding matter in a low voice.
Nie Wenxiao still chose to play along, her own voice a little louder. "Her soul still needs to recover. Her entire meridian system has been opened. If she can draw qi into her body and begin cultivation, the soul injury will heal faster."
"You mean she can cultivate now?" Ling Qingyue's tone was one of exaggerated surprise.
Nie Wenxiao glanced at Pei Si beside her. Understanding nothing but still cooperating, she replied, "Correct."
Ling Qingyue shot a glance at Xue Zizai's room, then dropped her voice back to normal and turned to another person. "Sect Leader Nie, what are your thoughts on Yu Ting?"
Nie Wenxiao's expression grew complicated. "The Yu Ting I knew was not a person of such cruel methods. She would never abandon her sect sisters, and she would never... use soul searching on mortals."
"I say this not to excuse her." Nie Wenxiao sighed. "I wonder if she, like Qingtang, might be under someone's control and thus driven to commit such atrocities."
"That's not impossible." Ling Qingyue tapped the tabletop with a fingertip. "But I was present when Yu Ting fled Linshui Town. At that moment her eyes were clear. She did not appear to be under anyone's control."
Nie Wenxiao lowered her gaze. Her hands, resting on the table, clenched tightly together, the knuckles pressed white.
"Sect Leader Nie, Yu Ting is your disciple. But why does she use the sword and have no knowledge of blade techniques?" Ling Qingyue grew curious.
According to what Lu Yao had said, Yu Ting had taken Nie Wenxiao as her master a hundred years ago. Nie Wenxiao was not one to hoard her teachings; having taken a disciple, she would not have refused to pass on her skills.
Nie Wenxiao said quietly, "When she entered Piaomiao Sect, she had already learned swordsmanship. The ways of the blade and sword are different, and I did not force her to switch to the blade path. The two of us had the name of master and disciple but not the substance."
Ling Qingyue's eyes filled with confusion.
Taking a master but not learning her arts, then what was the point of taking a master?
Nie Wenxiao saw her question and explained, "Back then, she collapsed in front of Piaomiao Sect covered in wounds. I saved her. When she woke, she said she had nowhere to turn and begged Piaomiao Sect to take her in. At that time, Piaomiao Sect had only three or four peaks, and not many people. That anyone would take an interest in Piaomiao Sect made both me and Qingtang very happy..."
"Wait." Ling Qingyue suddenly cut her off. "When Yu Ting came to Piaomiao Sect, Liu Qingtang was still there?"
Nie Wenxiao thought for a moment. "Yu Ting's arrival was just before Qingtang's incident."
Ling Qingyue did not want to think too viciously of people, but right now a thought rose up beyond her control.
She reached into her Qiankun Pouch and rummaged inside, then drew out a wood carving, the very first one she had carved, the one stained with blood.
"Sect Leader Nie, you must have heard from Lu Yao and the others. When the rotting corpse horde converged on Linshui Town, there was a Liu Qingtang conjured from a wood carving. At the time I did not intervene and watched from the side. The other junior cultivators under your sect who saw Liu Qingtang all had expressions of shock and disbelief. Yu Ting was shocked too, but what shocked her was not seeing Liu Qingtang, but seeing Liu Qingtang at that time and in that place. She may have known long ago that Liu Qingtang was in the back mountain of Linshui Town."
What came after was easy to connect. Yu Ting had thought that one was Liu Qingtang herself, so she placed a restriction on the barrier to prevent Liu Qingtang and anyone who had seen Liu Qingtang from leaving. Then she went away and came back, found that Liu Qingtang had been taken away, and proceeded to perform soul searching on the people of Linshui Town.
Nie Wenxiao's lips trembled slightly. "You mean that Qingtang's incident back then may also have been connected to Yu Ting."
"There should be someone else behind Yu Ting as well." Pei Si spoke evenly.
At her reminder, Ling Qingyue and Nie Wenxiao immediately recalled the person who had been training Liu Qingtang.
Nie Wenxiao's heart was aflame with a fury that could not be quenched. The thought that someone had long been scheming against Qingtang, and that she herself had welcomed a wolf into her home, made her ache to slap herself.
"Then Cui Heng, could she..." Nie Wenxiao could not help letting her thoughts run further.
The Immortal Alliance had reached Linshui Town before her. And just yesterday, Cui Heng had even brought Sun-Chasing Crossbow intending to strike against Piaomiao Sect. Had it not been for the Immortal Venerable and her Dao Companion, Piaomiao Sect would likely have already vanished from the Immortal Realm.
Ling Qingyue's expression darkened.
This was the last thing she wanted to consider. She did not want Shangtianqiong to be connected to Liu Qingtang's affairs.
Pei Si sensed her mood, reached over, and took her hand. She said softly, "Cui Heng has always acted with ostentatious recklessness."
Nie Wenxiao was skilled at reading faces and wisely nodded. "Well said."
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Nie Wenxiao received a jade-token message and rose to take her leave toward the East Courtyard.
Over on the other side, Lu Yao, seeing they had finished talking, brought the medicine over.
Ling Qingyue looked at it with distaste and could not help remarking, "You really are diligent."
Lu Yao smiled. She knew that with her injury, she would not be sparring with her these next few days. Having done what she needed to do, she ran off to practice swordsmanship.
Lin Zhao also went to deliver medicine to Xue Zizai. For a time, only Ling Qingyue and Pei Si remained in the courtyard.
Ling Qingyue looked up and squinted. Before she could make anything out clearly, a hand reached over to shield her from the piercing light.
"Looking like this, doesn't it hurt your eyes?"
Ling Qingyue tilted her head back and smiled, but it did not seem a particularly happy smile. "Pei Si, I've been thinking about something."
"What is it?"
"Do you think maybe I was also deliberately placed in Linshui Town? Just like Liu Qingtang."
Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? Liu Qingtang had been hidden away in the back mountain of Linshui Town, and she just happened to have "revived" in Linshui Town as well.
Except she had fared a little better than Liu Qingtang. She was not being controlled, but she was still being used.
Pei Si pressed her lips together. If Ling Qingyue had been "revived" by someone's design, was she herself also a piece in the other party's game, brought to Ling Qingyue's side?
She had come because of the Fated Tribulation, and the Fated Tribulation had first begun with a transmission from Yue Shouming.
Yue Shouming...
Or perhaps Yue Shouming, too, was one of the other party's chess pieces.
Pei Si reined in her thoughts and then heard Ling Qingyue say, "Then I truly should thank her for letting me live again."
Pei Si caught the frustration in her words. She lifted a hand and ruffled her hair. "If you're unhappy, we'll go back to Cangshan. No one will find us there."
The gloom in Ling Qingyue's heart scattered like smoke at that single sentence. She smiled over at her, golden fragments of light dancing in her eyes. "So eager to take me home?"
Pei Si looked at her, anticipation in her gaze.
Ling Qingyue rose, walked over in front of Pei Si, and embraced her. Then she bent down and kissed her eyes. "I will go back with you. But we'll have to wait a bit. I want to know the truth of these matters, and then drag all those skulking figures out from behind the scenes and give them a proper thrashing."
Pei Si wrapped her arms around her waist, her eyes narrowing under the kisses. "Alright. I'll accompany you."
"Only..." Ling Qingyue lowered her voice. "There's no need to wait for the Dao Bonding."
Pei Si laughed softly. "So impatient?"
Other people contemplating Dao Bonding would deliberate at length and then prepare for three to five months. How was it that with Ling Qingyue, they had only decided last night and she already wanted the ceremony today?
As if afraid that waiting even a day might mean the other person fled.
"You don't want to wait until we return to Shangtianqiong?"
Pei Si considered that, based on what she knew of Ling Qingyue's thinking, she would want to present her to her master and senior sister before the bonding.
But Ling Qingyue lowered her eyes. Her hand rested on Pei Si's shoulder, tracing the dark patterns on her ritual robe. "Not going back just yet."
A hundred years had passed. Shangtianqiong might no longer be the Shangtianqiong she knew. If she was to return, it would have to wait until her cultivation recovered. She had to be certain that Pei Si would not suffer any bullying when they went back. Though Pei Si was already quite formidable and no one could likely bully her anyway, it was still different.
Pei Si had no way of knowing the twists and turns in her heart. She simply nodded along. "Alright."
They held each other a while longer and talked. Then Ling Qingyue found a good spot and sat down in meditation to cultivate. Unable to practice swordsmanship with large movements, she could only calm her mind, breathe, and circulate her spiritual energy. Pei Si also needed to regulate her own spiritual energy. Seeing that Ling Qingyue had settled into her state, she returned to her room.
She had just sat cross-legged when her jade token flickered faintly.
Pei Si saw that it was a transmission from her master and rose to offer a bow.
"Master, have you found a method?"
Chu Qianshan gave a cold snort. "You sound quite cheerful. Not the least bit worried, are you?"
Pei Si pressed her lips together and smiled lightly. "There has been a happy matter lately."
Another cold snort came from the jade token. "You, with a happy matter? All you ever do is make trouble for me!"
"Master, your disciple is about to undergo Dao Bonding."
Comments
Post a Comment