Chapter 22 Part 2

The truth was, the entire sect had been tied up lately cleaning up the mess from the Kunlun Ancestor’s little blunder, leaving no spare hands.

“Me?” Lu Shiyuan echoed in surprise once Yun Feng explained, shooting him a look as if he’d just told her an amusing joke. She let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Senior Brother Yun Feng, does Kunlun Sect really have no one else? Why come to me?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid I’d just hold you back. Better if I sit this one out.”

Lu Shiyuan still remembered the old days, before her mishap, when Yun Feng had partnered with her on several demon-hunting assignments. Back then, this promising young talent from Kunlun Sect had been just a touch weaker than her; both of them stood out among their generation.

But those days were long gone. Now Yun Feng had left her far behind.

In the time since her relations with Shang Si had begun to thaw, Lu Shiyuan had sunk into a swirling mire of helplessness.

Her shortfall in strength was her deepest wound. And now here was Yun Feng, asking her to help hunt demons? What demons could she possibly hunt?

Without Shang Si at her side, her half-baked abilities wouldn’t even be enough to keep herself safe outside, let alone take on any threats.

This was a world that bowed to power.

Yet Yun Feng seemed to have anticipated her refusal. Far from taking his leave, he sauntered over to the stone table and sat down, his dark eyes clear and bright as they met hers, brimming with a gentle warmth he couldn’t quite hide. “What are you talking about, Junior Sister Lu? I remembered that Sword Spirit Sect has a special secret art for tracking demons’ trails. That’s why I thought to ask you—just help us pinpoint where it’s hiding, nothing more.”

It was a perfectly sound reason. Sword Spirit Sect did indeed possess such a tracking technique.

Lu Shiyuan had no cause to doubt him.

If there was something she could contribute, then why not? She agreed on the spot. “Alright then. Let me just tell Shang Si…”

With that, she braced one hand on the courtyard’s stone table and started to rise—but a heartbeat later, she sank back down. “Never mind. She’s probably still healing. I’ll head out with you.”

Shang Si wouldn’t care what she was up to anyway.

Shang Si was probably still upset with her, wasn’t she?

The thoughts circled briefly in Lu Shiyuan’s mind, solidifying her resolve.

Since she’d already said yes, and the village was right at the mountain’s base—not far at all—she was soon following Yun Feng out of her temporary quarters.

The room door in the courtyard stood firmly shut. Inside, the occupant sat on the low couch, focused on her healing, without bothering to extend her divine sense outward.

By the time Shang Si pushed open the door and emerged, the sun was dipping below the western horizon. Crimson clouds streaked the sky, and the occasional yellow autumn leaf drifted down, casting a melancholic air over the courtyard.

On any other day at this hour, she would have spotted Lu Shiyuan seated at the stone table. Today, though, the place stood empty.

Shang Si figured Lu Shiyuan must have stepped out for something, and since she herself had business to attend to alone, she lingered only a moment before departing the courtyard.

It was the same grand palace, steeped in otherworldly grandeur.

Lin Xiao had a flair for the dramatic in everything he did; he always drew eyes wherever he went. A quick inquiry was all Shang Si needed to track him down.

She sought him out because they still had an unfinished deal between them.

“Ancestor! Ancestor! There’s really nothing up there worth seeing. Please give it back…”

“I want to see it. You stand right there—don’t move. Come any closer, and I’ll swat you.”

Shang Si hadn’t even reached the hall doors when the voices drifted out.

Evidently, Kunlun Sect’s rejuvenated Ancestor had been putting his juniors through the wringer these past few days, but that was hardly her concern.

Shang Si pressed on. The instant her figure appeared in the doorway, Yun Qing whipped around, spotting her at once.

“Ye Lord.” Suppressing the momentary lapse he’d shown just now in front of Lin Xiao, Yun Qing reverted to his usual demeanor of an immortal sect leader with an air of ethereal elegance when facing outsiders.

Only he carried such burdens. Upon seeing Shang Si appear, Lin Xiao stayed in his roguish slouch, straddling the incense table at the center of the grand hall. He squinted down with his narrow peach-blossom eyes.

“Sect Leader Yun, I have something to discuss privately with your martial ancestor.” Her voice fell clear and melodious, like pearls dropping onto jade.

Shang Si wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she vaguely sensed Yun Qing breathe a sigh of relief after hearing her speak. “Ye Lord, you’ve arrived just in time. I have matters to attend to… Ancestor, this disciple will take his leave.”

Yun Qing offered a respectful junior’s salute and hurried out of the inner hall. His retreating figure still looked somewhat flustered.

“So, here to trade for spiritual medicine?” Lin Xiao hopped on the table, shifting into a half-crouch.

He had a strikingly handsome and alluring face, but when he smiled, he looked like a sly fox up to no good.

Shang Si didn’t waste words with him. She drew a crystalline little porcelain vial from her sleeve and flicked it with her fair hand, sending it floating before him. “This is what you wanted. Where’s that Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu?”

After snatching the vial and confirming its contents, Lin Xiao cheerfully tossed a wooden brocade box from his Spirit Ring. He clicked his tongue twice with a sigh. “I must say, everyone in the Shang Family is such a hopeless romantic.”

Shang Si, who had been about to leave with her prize, paused at his words and turned to him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Sigh…” Lin Xiao put on a show of sighing, toying with the vial in his hand with a mocking half-smile. “Wasn’t your sister Shang Hongxiao the same? If she hadn’t loved so deeply and trusted the wrong person, she never would have wiped out an entire clan in a fit of rage and suffered heaven’s harsh punishment.”

The mighty Lord of Yedu had destroyed her own cultivation over a mere romantic entanglement. Forced to endure a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation to atone for her karma, she remained trapped in endless cycles even now—able to meet Shang Si only once every century.

Back then, it hadn’t been any secret. Shang Hongxiao’s clan massacre had shocked the Three Realms.

Lin Xiao had lived a long time. By seniority, he deserved Shang Si addressing him as an elder, but by actual age? That was debatable.

Hearing Lin Xiao reference the past with such pointed intent, a cool smile surfaced on Shang Si’s face. “My sister is my sister. I’m nothing like her. No one within the Three Realms can shake my Dao heart, and I won’t follow in her footsteps. There’s no need for your wild speculations. As for Lu Shiyuan, I’m simply honoring a promise.”

Yes, simply honoring a promise.

Shang Si curled her fingers, silently storing the brocade box in her Spirit Ring. From beginning to end, she hadn’t taken Lin Xiao’s words to heart.

But Lin Xiao let out a scoff, shattering her thoughts. “Is that right? A mere promise worth a drop of the Purest Essence Blood—is the Ye Lord this generous with everyone?”

“Or only with that Lu girl?”

“Have you said enough?” Shang Si raised her voice. Impatience flickered across her stunning features.

“Why get so worked up? You know I’m just a bigmouth—it’s not like this is news to you. Sure, I’m shrewd, Lin Xiao knows he got the better end of the deal trading a barely sentient Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu for this drop of your essence blood. That’s why I’m saying a few words to knock some sense into you before you miss the boat.” With that, Lin Xiao rolled his eyes and vaulted off the table.

“You claim you have no other feelings for that little girl. But if it were someone else from Yedu—even those Ghost Generals who’ve stood by your side for thousands of years—would you trade your essence blood so readily?”

His words struck like a needle, piercing straight to the core.

The instant he finished speaking, a blast of spiritual energy coalesced and hurtled toward his face. Prepared for it, he dodged with a nimble sidestep. The incense table behind him, however, wasn’t so fortunate.

As the table splintered with a crash, Shang Si’s irritated voice rang out, laced with warning. “Old Man Lin, I’m not interested in your drivel. Keep babbling nonsense, and don’t blame me for getting rude!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll shut up. Take care on your way out.” Seeing her genuinely riled, Lin Xiao raised both hands and backed away step by step.

It seemed like nothing more than a pointless farce. Yet even after Shang Si strode far from the main hall, looped around once more, and returned to her temporary courtyard, Lin Xiao’s words lingered relentlessly in her mind.

“Saying I’ve developed feelings for Lu Shiyuan?”

“Absolute nonsense!” The more she dwelled on it, the more restless she grew. Shang Si furrowed her delicate brows. With a casual wave of her hand, she snapped off most of the thick branches from the century-old tree in the courtyard. But the yard lay deathly still, the pale moonlight drifting silently in the darkening sky.

Only then did Shang Si realize just how unnaturally quiet the courtyard was.

“Where is she?” She bit her vermilion lip lightly, flecks of doubt rising in her eyes.

Lu Shiyuan had never been one to disregard propriety. By the time dusk fell, night had fully settled in, and she should have returned long ago.

Shang Si drew a Sound Transmission Talisman from her robes and lightly activated it with a tap.

Lu Shiyuan connected almost immediately. After a whoosh of rushing wind, her voice came through amid chaotic background noise. “A Si, I’m not on the mountain. Senior Brother Yun Feng and I have gone down to hunt demons.”

Yun Feng?

Shang Si racked her brain for the name before recalling that this was yet another of Lu Shiyuan’s senior brothers—the one who had commented on Lu Shiyuan’s ‘beauty and charms’ right in front of her that day in the Stalactite Cave.

The thought only fueled the irritation bubbling in Shang Si’s chest.

She fumed inwardly that Lin Xiao, that old coot, and all his disciples and grand-disciples were cut from the same dishonorable cloth. He had actually used this flimsy excuse to lure the person at her side down the mountain while she was still recuperating!

“Has the entire Kunlun Sect dropped dead? Why do they need you to go?” Shang Si said coldly. With a flick of her hand, another thick branch snapped from the ancient tree in the courtyard.

The odd background sounds reached Lu Shiyuan’s end, leaving her unable to pinpoint exactly what Shang Si was doing. But that single sentence alone told her Shang Si was in a foul mood—though she had no clue who had set her off this time.

Puzzled yet speaking gently, Lu Shiyuan explained, “It’s not what you think. Our Sword Spirit Sect has a secret technique for tracking demon traces. Senior Brother Yun Feng only invited me along; he doesn’t expect me to fight the demons myself.”

Lu Shiyuan had meant the words to reassure Shang Si, but they landed with an entirely different implication in her ears.

It hadn’t even been that long, and she was already defending that blasted senior brother!

A strange, twisted smile curved Shang Si’s lips as she forcibly tamped down the surge of emotions in her heart. “When will you be back?” she asked.

“Probably not tonight…” Another howl of wind rose, followed by a cacophony of harsh, clamoring voices from the talisman. Lu Shiyuan’s words grew fragmented and faint until the connection cut off abruptly.

Shang Si vaguely caught the tail end of her last sentence—something along the lines of “Don’t wait up for me.”

This time, she spared the battered ancient tree her wrath. Instead, a thin wisp of flame sparked from her fingertip, reducing the Sound Transmission Talisman to ashes in an instant—as if she had no intention of reaching out again.

Shang Si sat alone in the courtyard as a bizarre, unsettling emotion spread from her heart through her limbs.

She simply sat there amid the silence, yet restlessness gnawed at her inexplicably. She couldn’t settle her mind.

One moment, she chided Lu Shiyuan for running off down the mountain with someone without so much as a word—a real lack of consideration. The next, she reminded herself that Yun Feng was an old acquaintance of Lu Shiyuan’s, so their closeness was only natural.

Just then, Lin Xiao’s words resurfaced in her thoughts.

Frosty moonlight bathed the small courtyard, tree shadows swaying in the breeze.

“Have I… fallen for her?” Shang Si murmured to herself, eyes downcast. Confusion clouded her gaze, laced with uncertainty.

This time, she slowly lifted her hand and pressed her palm to her chest.

Through the thin layer of her red dress, she seemed to hear the steady thump of her heartbeat giving an unequivocal answer.