“The Assembly Hall is just up ahead. Fellow Daoist, you can go on your own from here,” Wen Qiwu said, pointing at the grand hall that had already come into view. At such a short distance, even a child a few years old wouldn’t get lost.
Zuo Lan walked behind her, her fox-like eyes filled with grievance, and a suspicious red mark marred the back of her fair hand, as if someone had struck it.
She had originally thought this was a cute and soft girl, but unexpectedly, a single pat still hurt quite a bit. Zuo Lan rubbed her reddened hand as she pondered.
If her senses hadn’t failed her, the girl before her should only be at the Void Refining Realm, a major realm below her own. Yet when she had patted over just now, Zuo Lan hadn’t managed to dodge it? And her strength was ridiculously strong—a light tap had actually made a Dao Harmony cultivator like her feel pain. Could she be a body cultivator?
Her divine sense was a bit weak, though; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been affected by Zuo Lan’s bell.
“I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave first,” Wen Qiwu said, pretending not to notice the resentment in Zuo Lan’s eyes. That woman had approached so suspiciously all of a sudden; Wen Qiwu had merely swatted her away with her hand instead of poking a hole in it with an arrow—that was already plenty restrained.
“Fellow Daoist, please wait!” Zuo Lan suddenly smiled and blocked Wen Qiwu’s path again. “We’ve walked all this way, yet I still don’t know how to address you.”
“…My surname is Wen.” Wen Qiwu warily stepped back a small pace, like a herbivorous little animal spotting a sly fox creeping closer step by step.
“So it’s Fellow Daoist Wen. What a coincidence—my master just sent a transmission saying the discussions at the Assembly Hall haven’t reached an agreement for now. It’s getting late today, so they’ve decided to continue tomorrow. That means I don’t need to go~”
Even seeing the faint wariness rise in Wen Qiwu’s eyes, Zuo Lan still curved her sly, fox-like gaze and took a step forward.
“This is my first time at the Ask God Sect. If it’s convenient, could Fellow Daoist Wen show me around Cloud Mist Mountain? I’ve long heard that the scenery there is exceptionally beautiful…”
But no matter how beautiful the scenery, it was just lifeless backdrop at best. Zuo Lan thought she knew a fair bit about the Ask God Sect, yet she’d never heard of them hiding such a Void Refining Realm beauty.
This reminded her of a certain rumor, so curiosity drove Zuo Lan to test her out. The reaction from this green-robed girl was truly adorable, so Zuo Lan hadn’t been able to resist slipping into her “old habit.”
[Saintess! Put your hand down right now!]
Zuo Lan suddenly heard a familiar transmission. Sensing danger, she immediately retreated a step while coquettishly transmitting back in retort: [I was just trying to help her remove the leaf stuck to her clothes. Don’t be so fierce.]
[Heh.]
Zuo Lan soon understood what that cold laugh meant. She rubbed her arms; a thin layer of frost seemed to condense on the surrounding grass, and even she, a Dao Harmony cultivator, felt a chill.
At some point, a white-robed woman had appeared before her. The faint Dao radiance patterns emerging on her robes marked her as the Ask God Sect Master. Zuo Lan only dared to sneak a glance upward, and upon seeing the beauty’s eyes—indifferent and devoid of any emotional fluctuation—she immediately lowered her head.
“Greetings, Yun Heng Immortal Venerable,” Zuo Lan said, her demeanor instantly becoming proper. There was no helping it; in the Cangwang Realm, there were a few existences one simply couldn’t afford to provoke, and this one was among them.
“Qiwu, let’s go.” Yun Heng merely glanced faintly at Zuo Lan before shifting her gaze away.
Her senior sister’s mood seemed a bit off?
“Alright.” Wen Qiwu quickly took two steps to catch up to her senior sister’s side.
With the Immortal Venerable gone, Zuo Lan, left in place, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The moment she looked up, she met her own elder’s stern gaze.
“Saintess… next time you see her, just steer clear,” said Xiao Tong, the Jade Xi Sect elder who had arrived with Yun Heng. She had originally wanted a chance to discuss the Eclipse Secret Realm with that Immortal Venerable, only to witness her own Saintess cozying up to another girl again. She had nearly thought the Immortal Venerable was about to draw her sword!
“I’ve long heard that Yun Heng Immortal Venerable seems to have a frail, sickly junior sister who’s been raised within the sect since childhood and rarely shows her face. Little Elder, that Fellow Daoist Wen is Yun Heng Immortal Venerable’s junior sister, right?” Zuo Lan tugged at Xiao Tong’s sleeve, her tone showing no sign of restraint—in fact, she seemed even more intrigued.
“My surname is Xiao, not ‘Little’… Yes, she is indeed Yun Heng Immortal Venerable’s junior sister, so whatever schemes you’re cooking up in that belly of yours, keep them bottled up tight!” Xiao Tong was usually as taciturn as a wooden post, but this time she let out a rare torrent of words.
But when she looked at the Saintess, she found her eyes sparkling.
“Elder, I was thinking…”
“No, you weren’t.” Xiao Tong cut her off directly.
“Hear me out. If I build a good rapport with that Fellow Daoist Wen, maybe Yun Heng Immortal Venerable will agree to cooperate with us on this Solar Eclipse Secret Realm venture~”
Xiao Tong turned and walked away after hearing that.
“Elder? Why are you leaving? Our lodgings are back that way—why are you heading toward the Ask God Sect’s main gate?”
Xiao Tong sighed. “I’m planning to head back to the sect first, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire if the Immortal Venerable decides to act.”
“…It was just making a friend! What are you imagining, Elder? Besides, she already has someone in her heart.”
Xiao Tong eyed Zuo Lan suspiciously. “You can tell she has someone on the first meeting?”
Zuo Lan let out a soft hum of laughter, though the amusement in her eyes faded slightly. “I couldn’t explain it to blockheads like you anyway.”
“It’s just a pity…” The Saintess saw echoes of her own past self in her—so green and unguarded in her affections, all given to that sort of person. Fellow Daoist Wen was in for quite a bit of hardship ahead.
Meanwhile, Yun Heng had already brought Wen Qiwu to Myriad Medicine Mountain. The mountain brimmed with spiritual energy, eternally spring-like in all four seasons—a perfect place for a patient to recuperate.
Yun Heng hadn’t spoken the entire way. She wasn’t talkative to begin with, but this time, Wen Qiwu sensed a hint of displeasure in her senior sister’s silence.
“Senior Sister…”
Yun Heng suddenly felt her right pinky brushed by a light, feathery touch. She turned her head and saw her junior sister’s expression—worried yet somewhat tense.
Yun Heng’s gaze softened. Her earlier temper had been aimed at those from the Jade Xi Sect; her junior sister was obedient and pure. That Saintess needed to stay far away from Qiwu.
The Jade Xi Sect had come seeking something this time. She hoped her junior sister’s encounter with that Saintess was mere coincidence, not deliberate.
“Did that Saintess from the Jade Xi Sect trouble you?” Yun Heng asked, somewhat worried her junior sister might suffer at the hands of that fox.
“No, no. She got lost earlier and asked me to guide her to the Assembly Hall,” Wen Qiwu shook her head.
“Got lost?” A Dao Harmony cultivator getting lost on a single mountain? Was her divine sense for show?
“If she approaches you again in the future, you don’t have to pay her any mind.” Yun Heng grew even more convinced the woman’s intentions weren’t pure.
Wen Qiwu nodded haphazardly, her thoughts drifting far away unbeknownst to her. Though today was her first time meeting Zuo Lan in person, it wasn’t their first exchange—the Saintess likely had no idea Wen Qiwu was the pen friend she’d corresponded with a few times via letters.
It was thanks to her that Wen Qiwu had realized her feelings for her senior sister so quickly. The Saintess deserved credit for that.
“What are you thinking about?”
“About Zuo Lan…” Wen Qiwu’s heart jolted. She had zoned out, and at her senior sister’s question, she’d blurted out her true thoughts. She hurriedly corrected herself: “About some rumors regarding her.”
Rumors…
Yun Heng furrowed her brows slightly.
“She’s… rumored to like women, and to have pursued Dry Moon Sword Sect’s Lin Shu Immortal Lord, along with a bunch of other messy gossip. But that’s probably just hearsay…” Wen Qiwu naturally knew how much of those rumors were true or false. But seeing displeasure flicker in her senior sister’s eyes, her heart trembled. She suddenly didn’t dare guess if it was the first half of the rumors that had upset her.
“The rumors are true.” Yun Heng’s voice carried a stern edge. She rarely forbade Wen Qiwu from doing anything, but regarding the Jade Xi Sect Saintess, she instinctively showed no room for compromise. “Stay away from her, understood?”
One of the junior sisters at Myriad Medicine Mountain had said that woman was the epitome of being amorous yet heartless.
As the words fell, Yun Heng felt the warm hand she held tremble slightly. She almost thought it was her imagination.
“Is my hand too cold?” Yun Heng softened her tone, intending to let go, but Wen Qiwu gripped tighter, not allowing her senior sister to withdraw.
“It’s not cold.” Wen Qiwu deftly raised a smile, masking the bitterness in her heart.
“Cheep!” A white dumpling tinged with green suddenly plummeted from the sky, nearly colliding with Yun Heng. But a mere Heart Observation Realm bird like Qing Tuan stood no chance of ambushing a True Immortal Realm cultivator like Yun Heng—it ended up caught in her hand before it could even touch her.
The fluffball, fur standing on end, cheeped furiously in her grasp. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Wen Qiwu, so it couldn’t melt Yun Heng’s heart.
This bird was named Qing Tuan. Long ago, she had suddenly flown in from outside the sect and stayed on Cloud Mist Mountain. In Wen Qiwu’s childhood, she hadn’t been pecked by it any less, and it often vanished for days without a trace.
“So here you were.” Wen Qiwu had been searching for her for days. As she looked at her, she silently reined in her emotions.
Yun Heng hadn’t noticed her junior sister’s oddity. At that moment, she was pulling a newly refined bird cage from her storage pouch. She stuffed Qing Tuan inside, latched it shut, and handed it to Wen Qiwu.
“The bird cage I promised to refine for you. It can hold anything below Golden Immortal Realm.”
“Golden Immortal?” Wen Qiwu was somewhat shocked. “Qing Tuan is only at Heart Observation Realm. Isn’t using this as a bird cage a bit wasteful?”
“Not wasteful. Just treat it as an extra defensive artifact.” Yun Heng spoke as if it were merely an extra toy—and indeed, Wen Qiwu had plenty of such “toys.” If others saw, they’d probably cry from envy.
“I’ll teach you how to use it when we get back. Also, after I left, did Elder Lu steal any of your chestnut cakes?”
Wen Qiwu nodded vigorously, complaining in a coquettish tone: “Elder Lu told me to save her a couple extra pieces.”
The corner of Yun Heng’s mouth seemed to curve upward faintly, though it wasn’t very distinct. “I’m heading to the Eclipse Secret Realm soon and won’t be back for a month. I’ve prepared extra cakes in advance—hide them well so she doesn’t find out.”
Her senior sister’s voice was close, the seemingly indifferent tone laced with care meant only for her. The fragile psychological barrier Wen Qiwu had barely built shattered once more, her heartbeat slipping out of control again.
