Chapter 13: Past Events (12)

After delivering the gifts, the Azure Luan King accepted invitations from several elders and stayed for a few days with her daughter. Princess Huai Qing made a special trip to the Beast Garden, and upon returning, she begged her mother to find a way to take away the “poor” bald Fire Feather Birds there.

Seeing her daughter’s pouting lips that could almost hang an oil bottle, the Azure Luan King couldn’t withstand a few rounds of her coquetry. Thus, she reluctantly thickened her skin and approached Yun Heng tactfully to mention the matter, asking if she could exchange other treasures for the Fire Feather Birds.

Although Fire Feather Birds were spiritual beasts, their power was mediocre and unsuited for combat. To humans, aside from their beautiful feathers and that faint, negligible trace of phoenix bloodline, these birds were practically useless. If exchanged, the Azure Luan King would be the one taking a loss.

Yet the deal still couldn’t be made. Yun Heng thought of her junior sister’s teasing that day and decided to clarify certain misunderstandings first.

“The Fire Feather Birds willingly gave us their feathers. I didn’t coerce them, and they’re only staying here temporarily—they don’t belong to the Ask God Sect. So if the Azure Luan King wishes to take them away, you need only discuss it with them.”

The Fire Feather Bird clan had eccentric and particularly stubborn temperaments, making them extremely difficult to raise. If their keeper was even slightly unsatisfactory, they’d rather die than settle for it, which was why few people could keep such birds.

The Fire Feather Birds in the Ask God Sect’s Beast Garden had come knocking of their own accord. Yun Heng remembered that her junior sister had been just over ten years old back then, and shortly after returning from a secret realm, flocks of these birds had flown over in groups.

The Azure Luan King understood every word Yun Heng said, but put together, it left her baffled. Did this Immortal Venerable mean that the Fire Feather Birds had voluntarily given her their feathers? That they had even taken the initiative to stay at the Ask God Sect?

Something was off—very off. This didn’t seem like something the Fire Feather Birds would do.

The last time the Fire Feather Birds had acted out of character was when they offered feathers before His Majesty, successfully outshining the other feather races. The Azure Luan King still felt resentful thinking about it. What were these birds up to now?

If she weren’t certain that His Majesty had already fallen with no possibility of nirvana rebirth, the Azure Luan King might have suspected these fellows had encountered His Majesty…

“I’ll go talk to them later. I won’t disturb the Immortal Venerable any further.” The Azure Luan King planned to head to the Beast Garden herself and question those Fire Feather Birds.

Unfortunately, the Fire Feather Birds in the Beast Garden were all low-strength fledglings who had just awakened their intelligence. They couldn’t answer the Azure Luan King’s questions and only tilted their heads, staring at her.

The Azure Luan King could only vaguely sense emotions like “like” and “want to get close,” meaning these little ones really liked Yun Heng Immortal Venerable, so they gave her their feathers? Judging by the quantity of feathers, it wasn’t just one or two birds fond of that ice-block-like human. Did the entire Fire Feather Bird clan like humans like that?

The Azure Luan King, mistakenly believing the Fire Feather Birds had given their feathers to Yun Heng, pondered for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.

Wen Qiwu felt equally puzzled. These past two days, whenever she visited the Beast Garden, she always sensed a gaze watching her from the shadows. But whenever she checked, she found nothing.

One or two times could be dismissed as illusion, but with it happening so often, even a fool like Wen Qiwu could guess someone was secretly spying on her.

The stalker’s strength was above hers, at least a major realm higher, and they were skilled at concealment.

Sensing Wen Qiwu’s wariness, the feather race members in the Beast Garden subtly adopted attacking, guarded postures. The bird on her shoulder even directly fluffed up its feathers.

It probably wasn’t someone from the sect following her. Wen Qiwu frowned. With an inner traitor having just surfaced recently, she didn’t dare be careless. She pretended not to notice at first, then quietly told her senior sister about the situation.

Just as Wen Qiwu prepared to set a trap, a biting chill instantly swept through the entire Beast Garden. Everywhere except the ground where Wen Qiwu stood was covered in a layer of thin ice.

Princess Huai Qing, who had been stealthily watching Wen Qiwu for several days, instinctively wanted to flee. But she found her feet stuck to the ground, and the power in her body seemed frozen, completely unable to circulate.

Even more terrifying, a sword intent laced with killing aura descended from the sky. Though it didn’t touch her, the space it sliced through severed several strands of her hair.

“The Azure Luan Princess?” Yun Heng’s tone rarely revealed a hint of surprise.

“Princess Huai Qing?” When Wen Qiwu hurried over, she saw the Azure Luan Clan’s princess trembling under her senior sister’s sword intent. So it was her who’d been secretly watching these past few days?

Wen Qiwu remembered that this Princess Huai Qing had been quite hostile toward her at their first meeting. If so, why had she… followed her for several days?

Huai Qing’s face flushed and paled by turns. She wanted to know why too! Her mother had already explained the misunderstanding; she knew she’d wrongly accused the other party.

Huai Qing felt embarrassed recalling the cold shoulder she’d given at their first meeting. She’d originally planned to avoid Wen Qiwu, but two days ago in the Beast Garden, she’d spotted this junior sister of Yun Heng Immortal Venerable. Huai Qing should have slipped away quietly, but a strange instinct to get close made her pause. By the time she came to her senses, she was already hidden in nearby bushes, with several birds mimicking her exact posture beside her!

Huai Qing couldn’t understand what this human had that attracted her and these birds, so she’d decided to observe a bit longer. But before she could figure out the answer, she’d been caught.

Huai Qing felt there was no longer a place for her in the Ask God Sect—no, more precisely, she never wanted to set foot in the East Zhao Domain again. If possible, please let her leave the Cangwang Realm.

“Does Princess Huai Qing have business with me?” Wen Qiwu considerately avoided the word “stalking.”

“I-I had some misunderstandings about you and the Immortal Venerable a few days ago, so I came to apologize. Sorry… If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going first!” Huai Qing didn’t even dare look up at them. She made up an excuse and turned to flee.

“Misunderstanding?” Wen Qiwu hadn’t even had time to ask what it was about before the Azure Luan, reverted to her original form, vanished in the blink of an eye with incredible speed.

If not for waiting for that new friend to arrive, Huai Qing probably would have charged straight out the Ask God Sect’s gates right then.

“What a strange princess,” Wen Qiwu said in confusion. “She seems to really dislike me?”

Dislike?

Yun Heng glanced at the departing Azure Luan. After flying a certain distance, the princess had sneakily looked back once. Yun Heng was certain she’d been looking at her junior sister—that cautious gaze tinged with reluctance was anything but dislike.

Yun Heng’s expression darkened unconsciously. In the past, she wouldn’t have thought much of it, but ever since learning of her junior sister’s closeness with the Jade Xi Sect Saintess, she always leaned toward such interpretations…

She was probably overthinking it. Such feelings weren’t common.

“Qiwu, do you know her from before?”

“Not really. Today was only our second meeting. The first time, we didn’t even exchange words.” That Azure Luan princess had just inexplicably snorted coldly at her. Was the “misunderstanding” she mentioned referring to that?

Just their second meeting, and that Azure Luan princess had secretly followed her junior sister?

Yun Heng said nothing more. With her eyes cast down, she appeared coldly aloof, as if unconcerned. But those familiar with her could faintly detect a hint of awkwardness in the Immortal Venerable’s mood.

The emotion had arisen inexplicably; even Yun Heng couldn’t explain its cause, let alone expect Wen Qiwu to guess it.

“Senior Sister, have you been busy these past two days? I didn’t see you when I went to Cloud Mist Mountain or Hearing Dao Mountain.” Unable to directly guess her senior sister’s thoughts, Wen Qiwu resorted to indirect probing about recent events.

“I was preparing a gift for you, so I went elsewhere.” Yun Heng suddenly remembered the gift the Azure Luan King had sent her junior sister. She took out the jar of wine from her storage pouch.

Wen Qiwu’s eyes lit up. “Is this my birthday gift?”

“Mm, it’s from the Azure Luan King,” Yun Heng said.

The moment Wen Qiwu heard it was from the Azure Luan King, the spark of interest in her eyes vanished.

So it was from the Azure Luan King. She’d thought it was prepared by her senior sister. Wen Qiwu’s disappointed expression was plainly written on her face, unmasked.

“My gift needs a bit more time. It’ll definitely be ready by your birthday,” Yun Heng said, unable to hold back from reaching out and ruffling her hair at the sight.

“Is Senior Sister personally forging a divine artifact?” Otherwise, Wen Qiwu couldn’t imagine what gift would take her senior sister so long.

“Not a divine artifact.”

A trace of gentleness softened Yun Heng’s brows and eyes. Though not a divine artifact, that gift was something even more taboo. She hoped it could resolve the hidden danger in her junior sister’s body.

Not a divine artifact? What could it be? Wen Qiwu counted the days until her birthday on her fingers. Soon she’d find out~

“Is this wine from the Azure Luan King?” Wen Qiwu suppressed her curiosity and shifted her attention to the jar in her hands.

She unsealed the jar, and a rich fruit wine aroma wafted out.

“It’s a fine brew from the Azure Luan Clan—doesn’t intoxicate. You can try some.” Precisely because the Azure Luan King had said it wasn’t intoxicating, Yun Heng dared to give the entire jar to the lightweight Wen Qiwu.

“It does smell good.” She could save it to share with her senior sister on her birthday. Wen Qiwu stored the jar in her storage pouch.

However, gradually, Wen Qiwu felt the wine’s fragrance lingering around her, tempting her to take out the jar for a sip.

At that moment, Yun Heng didn’t notice the faint flush gradually spreading across her junior sister’s face, half a step behind her.

It wasn’t until they returned to Myriad Medicine Mountain that Yun Heng turned around and saw her junior sister in a strange state.

Wen Qiwu stood obediently to the side, her face unusually rosy. A hint of allure flickered in those beautiful eyes as she stared fixedly at Yun Heng.

“Qiwu?” Yun Heng approached, only to have her waist embraced by her junior sister.

“Senior Sister~” Her voice was exceptionally sweet, her exhaled breath falling on Yun Heng’s neck.

That breath shouldn’t have been hot, yet it made Yun Heng’s fair skin flush red.

Her junior sister had hugged her like this as a child, but it felt different now.

Ever since that medicinal bath night, she seemed a bit off.

Yun Heng didn’t know what she was thinking, but a flicker of fluster passed through her clear, cold eyes. She didn’t know where to put her hands.

Wen Qiwu narrowed her eyes slightly. As the wine aroma gradually faded, a touch of bewilderment appeared in her expression.