Chapter 54 Part 1

Two days later, the trial ended. The disciples walked out of the Trial Field one after another, submitted their exam results, and received medicine. Several little immortal children registered at the gate, checked the roster, crossed off the missing people, and prepared to search the mountains.

After resting for two days, she recovered some energy, but the healing of her wounds was not optimistic. It seemed she needed to get some precious medicinal materials. Mu Qian Tan applied medicine for the last time, carefully wrapped it with gauze, then packed her things and left the supervision point.

Shang Shan waited outside, yawned, and when she saw the person come out, asked, “Where are we going?”

Mu Qian Tan glanced at her. “Don’t you live on Cliff Mountain? Why ask me?”

Shang Shan said righteously, “I’ve lived there for two months. It’s time to go back.”

Mu Qian Tan rolled her eyes and glanced at the time of day. It was noon, right at mealtime.

In the afternoon, she still had to go to the Grading Pavilion to grade this cultural relic trial’s results with the other four Hall Masters. Going back and forth to the Narrow Sea would be a waste of time, so she might as well eat first and then wander around casually.

She took Some Dragon down the mountain toward the dining hall. Not long after they started walking, they ran into Jiang Zhouyao, who was also leaving the Trial Field, with two smaller ones following behind her.

Seeing her friend, Shang Shan happily waved, bounced to Qin He’s side, and chattered away, while venting her dissatisfaction to Fu Li. The three immediately started making a racket.

She met Jiang Zhouyao’s gaze. It wouldn’t do not to greet her. Mu Qian Tan nodded to her, not wanting to say more, and was about to leave. Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhouyao called her back. “Yao’e Immortal, come to Cliff Mountain for lunch. We can go to the Grading Pavilion together afterward.”

Mu Qian Tan hesitated for a moment. Rather than go to the trouble of making arrangements, it was better to take the ready-made option. She agreed.

Back at Cliff Mountain, several large clay basins were placed at the end of the grape arbor, filled with bubbling clear water. White cabbage, eggplants, mushrooms, greens, and large radishes floated on the surface. On the water jar beside them sat a wooden cutting board with a vegetable knife stuck in it.

The group passed through the grape arbor, with the two elders in front and the three juniors laughing and frolicking behind. Seeing they were almost there, Qin He took the initiative to step forward, took down the apron hanging on the arbor, tied it on, and prepared to wash and cut vegetables.

Shang Shan followed closely, squatting at Qin He’s feet, pressing two radishes under the water with one hand each, and shouted upward, “If you don’t work, you won’t get to eat later!”

Fu Li had her hands behind her back, observing the grapevines hanging from the arbor while strolling leisurely forward. Hearing this, she exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? This Young Master was born to enjoy wealth and honor. You dare make me do such menial tasks? You…”

Before she finished speaking, a chill ran down her neck. Without turning her head, she knew it was that eerie woman, Mu Qian Tan. She swallowed her words, held back her bellyful of anger, squatted down, and glared at a basin of radishes.

The two women passed by from behind, their fragrance dispersing. Fu Li breathed a sigh of relief, only to see Shang Shan looking schadenfreude, fishing out a radish from the water and smashing it at her. “What are you laughing at?”

Shang Shan said, “Aren’t you always so arrogant, nose in the air? How come you’re afraid of my master?”

“Under someone else’s roof, you have to bow your head. If this were at my house, would I be afraid of her? Even ten Yao’e Immortals would have to bow to me.” Fu Li lowered her voice. “Besides, I won’t argue with a tigress.”

Shang Shan shook her head. “She’s not a tigress. She’s a Flapping Moth.”

A strand of Spiritual Power shot over, and the basin immediately froze, encasing both hands and a pile of vegetables together. Fu Li cried out, “Ah! My hands!”

Shang Shan also shouted, “Don’t move! The radish will shatter!”

Both stood up at the same time, the basin fell, but the ice block remained, and they screeched chaotically. Qin He held the vegetable knife, helpless. “You two really are…”

Over there, Jiang Zhouyao took out a floral handkerchief and carefully wrapped her hair, pressing the edges with her fingertips without missing a single strand, then smiled lightly. “Please take a walk around. When you come back, the meal will be ready.”

Mu Qian Tan nodded slightly. “Thanks for the trouble.”

Watching her head to the kitchen, Mu Qian Tan glanced at the three still struggling with the ice block and walked alone to the flower field.

The sun blazed fiercely, the flower field exposed under it, colors bright and vivid, intensely dripping.

There was no one around at this time; the villagers were probably all eating.

Mu Qian Tan smelled the fragrance coming at her and wandered casually in the flower field. Compared to last time, it seemed more names had been added to those wooden plaques. Clearly, someone was constantly tending them; otherwise, the flowers wouldn’t grow so well.

Her steps paused slightly, and she turned in another direction, finding a field of chrysanthemums.

In the cluster of chrysanthemums, the one blooming most vigorously was still the one Mu Qian Tan had once poured a large amount of Spiritual Power into. Its petals were enlarged, and even the stem was a circle thicker than the others. The chrysanthemums planted nearby had shriveled considerably, mostly robbed of nutrients.

Mu Qian Tan raised her brows slightly, lifted her skirt and squatted down, hovering her right hand over the chrysanthemum. Spiritual Power overflowed again, dripping from her fingers into the flower core. She murmured, “So spirited. Keep growing, eat up all the other flowers.”

There probably wouldn’t be a second person in this world who would extravagantly use Spiritual Power to water an ordinary chrysanthemum like this. Yet she looked calm, pressed the Spiritual Power-stained finger on the petal, stood up, and continued strolling.

She had no interest in flower appreciation. Her sister had once said she truly had a taste abyss, so she always just glanced at flowers casually to pass the time. Apart from that chrysanthemum, this time, she stopped in front of a row of terracotta flower pots.

This spot had a large area of tree shade, cool and breezy. Under the tree, dozens of round, brownish jars stood shoulder to shoulder, filled with turned wet black soil, not yet growing plants, but small wooden plaques were already inserted.

Mu Qian Tan stepped back to see what was written on the plaque.

Yao’e Immortal: Thirteen Epiphyllum Flowers.

She had said it casually at the time, but Jiang Zhouyao had actually planted them for her.

Not bad. If they grew well, they should look pretty good. She could have Shang Shan take care of them then.

She stood silently for a while, calculated the time was about right, and walked back. Spot on. As she passed through the grape arbor, the last dish was just being served. Qin He was distributing chopsticks, Shang Shan arranging chairs, and Jiang Zhouyao said, “Please sit.”

They sat down one after another and began eating. Several pairs of chopsticks reached out and retracted, some fast, some slow, the dishes in the plates steadily decreasing. They occasionally chatted about fragments: Cliff Mountain matters, trial matters, sect matters. Most of the time, it was quiet.

Two parrots flew over, begging for food. Shang Shan opened a small jar and clipped raw meat for them. Across the table, Fu Li saw and praised, “To raise such low-grade demons to this quality must have taken a lot of effort.”

Shang Shan stroked the parrot’s back. “Pah! Low-grade or not, they’re all the same!”

Fu Li said, “That’s because you haven’t seen good ones.”

Shang Shan said, “Mine are the best!”

Fu Li sneered. “You’ll know when you come to my house.”

Shang Shan exclaimed in surprise. “Who wants to go to your house?”

Fu Li repeated what she had said to Qin He that night. Shang Shan let out a few sounds of surprise and asked, “Are you going?”

Qin He swallowed the food in her mouth and glanced at her own master.

Jiang Zhouyao said, “Speak.”

Qin He put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth clean, took a deep breath, and then said to Mu Qian Tan, “Thank you, Yao’e Immortal, for saving my life.”

The parrot under her hand jumped onto its owner’s shoulder and mimicked Qin He in thanking, “Thank you, thank you!”

Qin He continued, “That time at Prosperous Joy Workshop, without you stepping in, I would surely have died. I knew this, yet I kept avoiding it in my heart, didn’t know how to repay, and even spoke harshly. I’m really sorry. I was wrong.”

The parrot bobbed its body back and forth like it was twitching. “Sorry, sorry!”

At first hearing the front part, she thought this little one had spilled the matter of entering the Trial Field, but luckily the back quickly followed, and Mu Qian Tan’s heart, which had just risen, settled back down.

Hearing the latter part, the thanks and gratitude she had never expected to receive were mixed together, spoken by a girl still carrying childishness, leaving her momentarily unsure how to react.

Luckily, she didn’t need to react. Qin He continued, “I have received my master’s permission. Today, I will go down the mountain to uncover the truth from back then, those truths you wouldn’t tell me. If there are still debts of gratitude and enmity then, I will come back to settle them with you.”

The last sentence seemed to be said through gritted teeth, clearly more forceful than the previous part.

Mu Qian Tan’s gaze swept over. Behind the girl was the vast sky, broad and distant, like the world she was about to roam.

Her gaze shifted down. The hand that had once lost a little finger now rested on the sword hilt, gripping it tightly. Her eyes shone with sharpness, the light in her pupils more fervent than the morning sun. Her determination was evident; she would not rest until her goal was achieved.

Mu Qian Tan withdrew her gaze and hummed in acknowledgment.

After a moment, she added, “I’ll wait for you.”

She truly didn’t know the real situation of the Mandarin Duck River incident and wasn’t deliberately hiding it. Bullying a child with her own sister’s death truth wouldn’t give her any sense of accomplishment.

But she had asked the immortal in the sword, and Yao’e was unwilling to answer this question. Asking too much would even make that remnant soul unstable, on the verge of complete dissipation.

There would be times in the future when the remnant soul would still be useful, so Mu Qian Tan wouldn’t push her to the brink. Thus, the only information she could get was that it was probably a truth that would make the Original Host suffer to the point of body and soul destruction.

Shang Shan looked back and forth between the two, originally holding chopsticks in her mouth, now putting them down, and asked, “I don’t get it? Qin He, you’re going down the mountain?”

Qin He said, “Yes.”

Shang Shan asked, “When will you come back?”

Finally, some guilt surfaced on her face. Qin He fell silent and shook her head. “Shan Shan… hard to say.”

Shang Shan opened her mouth, wanted to say something, but didn’t. Without asking more, it was as if she knew her friend’s decision wouldn’t change. So she hung her head dispiritedly, scooped rice into her mouth in a huff. Using too much force, she nearly snapped the chopsticks and bowl together.

Seeing this, Qin He didn’t know what to do, exchanged a glance with her master, and sighed.

The rest of the meal was unusually quiet. Mu Qian Tan paid slight attention to the Brain-Damaged Dragon beside her. This rice bucket who could down a whole vat each time surprisingly hadn’t finished even one bowl today.

After eating, Qin He washed the dishes, packed her luggage, and was ready to set off.

She stood in the open space outside the grape arbor, with a immortal crane behind her over two people tall. Its feathers were pure white, glossy and sleek, with a red crest on its head as the finishing touch.

This was the demon pet Jiang Zhouyao had raised in advance for her disciple, to facilitate her traveling the rivers and lakes for missions. Now, it was given to her early as a gift. Its eyes were bright, its build sturdy yet elegant, able to take its little master anywhere in the world.

Qin He tightened her cloth bundle and bowed to Jiang Zhouyao. The parrot stood on the girl’s shoulder, pecked at the woman’s hand, and sniffed close, as if trying to remember her scent.

Jiang Zhouyao handed over a palm-sized small cage containing an Orchid Praying Mantis waving its twin claws. She said, “Remember what I said that night?”

Qin He received it carefully. “I remember.”

That night, she had talked about the various demons encountered after entering the Trial Field. When mentioning the spotted cicadas, Jiang Zhouyao said it was possible that cicada demons were fighting internally at that time, with a spotted cicada seizing power, so it wasn’t strange for the Spotted Cicada King to suddenly die.

Then speaking of the mantises, Jiang Zhouyao pondered for a moment and said the mantises’ attack method was similar to the Dual Swords, so she could take it as a lesson, learn from the demons, and further refine her Dual Swords coordination technique.

Her master was always like this, unconcerned with the fact that her results being invalidated might draw pointing fingers from others, never disappointed in her, instead caring for and comforting her, saying it was fine, not to mind.

Her eyes gradually moistened, reddening. Qin He held back the sudden sourness in her heart.

If her sister were still here, she could play freely around her master with her sister like when they were young, and wouldn’t have to leave here, leave her master far away. But everything…

Everything had already changed, irretrievable.

Qin He suddenly clenched her fists tight and bowed her body. “I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

Jiang Zhouyao smiled lightly. “I won’t say anything else, just emphasize one point: absolutely do not cook for yourself.”

Qin He’s face instantly reddened. Shang Shan also laughed heartily and waved her hand. “Although we’re good friends, I have to say, her cooking is really awful!”

Fu Li said, “Really? Feng Ling Immortal has good culinary skills, but didn’t pass them to her beloved disciple?”

Shang Shan said, “No way around it. She learns everything well except cooking. See, people aren’t perfect in every way, but she only has this one flaw.”