Uncanny Immortal 15

Chapter 15

After returning to Weiming Peak, Xie Qingzheng finished her evening scripture chanting and settled the spirit fox in her small bamboo hut.

The two of them, one person and one fox, shared the room. Thinking that the fox was very intelligent, she asked it, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

The spirit fox yipped twice.

It couldn’t speak human language, so Xie Qingzheng rephrased the question: “If you’re a girl fox, blink three times.”

The spirit fox twitched its ears and gently blinked at her three times.

She pinched its furry ears. “Very good. You can stay in the same room with me.”

The spirit fox twitched its ears again, yipped and whimpered a few times, and then began to roam around the room, sniffing here and rubbing there, as if marking its territory.

The next day, during scripture chanting, Xie Qingzheng tucked the little fox into her sleeve, hoping it would also listen to the scriptures and cultivate its character alongside her.

This fox, like the Mu sisters, had a fiery temper.

At mealtimes, Xie Qingzheng would share half of her food with it. While she studied texts and practiced swordsmanship, it would wander around, arguing and fighting with the sect’s cranes. A few tufts of its fluffy fur were even plucked out by the cranes. At night, it slept by her pillow, its snores thundering.

It really didn’t treat itself like an outsider… an out-fox…

Senior Sister Min He found some free time to comfort her, telling her not to take yesterday’s events to heart. She also said, “This fox is a rare breed that Elder Mu brought back from the Myriad Beast Manor in Lingnan. Its spiritual essence is damaged. It will take forty-nine days for it to recover and resume cultivation. At that time, you can form a contract and cultivate together.”

“Form a contract with it?” Xie Qingzheng shook her head in alarm. “Elder Mu will kill me!”

Min He: “Don’t worry. Elder Mu told the Sect Master that the Mu family doesn’t want anything you’ve touched!”

Xie Qingzheng: “…”

So if I go and touch her flute and her sword, and go and grab all the valuable things on Green Pine Peak, she won’t want them either?

While cultivating on Weiming Peak, Xie Qingzheng would occasionally hear the senior sisters mention Mu Zifu:

Some senior sisters said of her: “She’s too domineering! She acts recklessly just because she’s Elder Mu’s sister! She’s been in the sect for less than half a year and is technically an outer sect disciple, but she’s never attended a single class on Weiming Peak. Everyone in the Xuanji Sect has trained on Weiming Peak, but she’s the special one!”

Some senior sisters were more soft-hearted: “Junior Sister Zifu has a pitiful background. Her parents died early, and she wandered the streets since she was young, begging for a living. As a girl, how could she have survived in such chaotic times if she weren’t a bit fierce? She and her sister were separated for many years. It’s only right that Elder Mu dotes on her a little more.”

Xie Qingzheng listened silently, saying nothing about Mu Zifu.

She was actually a little envious of Mu Zifu.

She envied that Mu Zifu now had a close relative by her side, to care for her, discipline her, and protect her.

She envied that she had someone to guide her on her cultivation path, that Elder Mu would teach her the heart-incantations and techniques, guiding her step by step.

But everyone has their own fate. These things could not be envied.

Xie Qingzheng was not one to hold a grudge. Rather than judging Mu Zifu, she preferred to remember those who were good to her.

There was still a year until the inner sect assessment next March.

With Elder Mu guiding her personally, Mu Zifu’s cultivation would certainly not be weak.

The assessment hadn’t even officially begun, and she already had such a troublesome and powerful opponent. Xie Qingzheng didn’t dare to slack off, practicing diligently day and night.

She couldn’t go to Green Pine Peak. Even if Elder Mu were to “let bygones be bygones,” she wouldn’t dare to go, unless she had a death wish.

The place she wanted to go to the most was still Ethereal Peak.

Mo Jiangxue’s words, “accepting a disciple depends on fate,” although not a clear promise, were not a clear refusal either. This meant there was still hope of becoming her disciple!

She was a rather stubborn person. Once she set a goal, she would find a way to achieve it.

She wanted to become Mo Jiangxue’s disciple. Even if there was only the slightest possibility, she would strive for it with all her might.

In the mountains, there is no calendar; the year ends without one knowing.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

It was early spring in the second month again. Weiming Peak was less boisterous; everyone was busy practicing, preparing for next month’s inner sect assessment.

Mu Zifu had not come to trouble her again. They had spent the year in peace.

During this year, Mo Jiangxue was always in seclusion, healing—sometimes for half a month, sometimes for as long as half a year.

Xie Qingzheng knew her place. She knew that Elder Mo preferred quiet and would not disturb her too much on ordinary days, only going to the Jade Water Cold Pool once a month on schedule to treat her poison.

After the spirit fox incident, the two had not met again.

For some reason, when she couldn’t see Elder Mo, Xie Qingzheng would always chew over and savor every detail of their time together in her mind.

If those memories were a piece of paper, it would probably be crumpled by now from her constant handling.

Perhaps it’s just my obsession with becoming her disciple…

On the second day of the second month, the Flower Festival, Weiming Peak was decorated with lanterns and flowers of all kinds.

The Flower Festival was a festival to celebrate the birthday of the hundred flowers, also known as the “Girls’ Festival.”

The Xuanji Sect was a place outside the secular world and had no tradition of celebrating the Flower Festival. It was only after Min He took charge of Weiming Peak that the Flower Festival banquet began to be held.

On this day, the female cultivators of Weiming Peak did not have to chant scriptures, meditate, or practice swordsmanship.

They could roam in the spring, chase butterflies, cut paper decorations, admire the red flowers, and release flower lanterns… They could play to their hearts’ content all day long.

The inner sect senior sisters who loved a lively atmosphere would also come over to play the qin and xiao, the se and sheng, and gather with the outer sect junior sisters to eat flower cakes and play drinking games.

The Flower Festival banquet didn’t end until the hour of the Rat. Xie Qingzheng counted on her fingers; it was time to go to the Jade Water Cold Pool to treat her poison.

She stepped onto her sword and, seven-tenths drunk, flew from Weiming Peak to Ethereal Peak.

After her cultivation reached the stage of introspection, she could see that her organs were enveloped in a black qi. The spiritual energy she absorbed at the Jade Water Cold Pool would circulate through her meridians and acupoints for several major cycles, and some of that black qi would be eliminated.

The one-year period was up. After tonight, the poison in her body would be completely eliminated.

After the inner sect assessment, if Mo Jiangxue was still unwilling to take her as a disciple, then tonight would probably be her last time at the Jade Water Cold Pool. After all, once her body was healed, she would have no reason to come here again…

At this thought, a bitterness welled up in her heart. In her distraction, she forgot to concentrate her qi, and her body suddenly fell from the sword!

The wind whistled past her ears. Every inch of her skin felt as if it were being cut by the wind. She was about to be smashed into a pulp. In her panic, she formed a wind-control seal to slow her descent. When she landed, she stumbled and managed to fall to the ground.

So close, so close. I didn’t break my legs.

As luck would have it, she had landed kneeling beside a pair of boots. Her gaze traveled up from the snow-white boots and met a pair of clear, cold eyes.

Mo Jiangxue lowered her eyelashes and met Xie Qingzheng’s gaze for three seconds, then nodded. “You may rise.”

Kneeling was a grand ceremony.

She hadn’t taken her as a disciple yet. Why was she performing such a grand ceremony?

Xie Qingzheng immediately tried to stand up, but the feeling of falling from a great height lingered, and her legs were still unhelpfully weak.

Unable to stand, she could only slowly turn her knees, not kneeling to Mo Jiangxue, but to a bamboo stalk beside her. She hugged the bamboo and felt silently aggrieved.

Why is it that every time we meet, I’m such a mess…

Author’s Note:

Little Xie: When I can’t see Elder Mo, I always think of her. Perhaps it’s my obsession with becoming her disciple…

Author: No, in a yuri novel, that’s usually called longing