“Thank you, Senior Lin.”
After agreeing to visit the Xishan Sect the following day, Ji Qianlin bid her farewell and departed on her flying sword.
Afterward, the young girl returned to her cabin.
She sat by the window, gazing out into the distance.
At dusk.
Lin Xihe cleared the consultation table on the deck and collected the medical fees.
After stowing everything away in her Storage Bag, she knocked on the young girl’s door.
“Master, the medical rounds for the Myriad Flowers Sect have concluded.”
There was no response from behind the door.
Lin Xihe knocked again.
Still, there was no reply.
“Master, please excuse my intrusion!”
With that, Lin Xihe opened the door.
She saw the young girl sitting there, her hair unbound, staring blankly at a Wooden Hairpin in her palm.
“Master?”
Lin Xihe called out.
Lin Xihe’s gaze drifted toward the hairpin.
Her master always kept that Wooden Hairpin with her; it never left her side.
It was an unremarkable thing, a cheap item made from a peeled and polished peach branch.
Such things could be found in countless quantities at any common street market.
However, Lin Xihe did not dare to touch the hairpin, nor did she dare to ask about its origin.
Her master was known as Fairy Jade Frost.
Her real name was Lin Yue’er, the preeminent physician of the Cultivation World and a powerhouse at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage.
Although she was less than 1.5 meters tall and her body looked as though it had only recently begun to develop, her age was far from young.
She was nearly 300 years older than the Ji Qianlin who had visited today.
Composure was a sign of maturity, and since Lin Yue’er was an expert physician who had cultivated her temperament for many years, she was typically indifferent and rarely grew angry.
Likewise, very few things could provoke the wrath of a Tribulation Transcendence Stage expert who had weathered centuries of storms.
Yet the hairpin in her hand was one of the few things that could make her explode with rage.
Lin Xihe did not know the history of the hairpin—and if Lin Yue’er did not speak of it, how could a disciple like Lin Xihe dare to pry?
“Xihe.”
Lin Yue’er finally spoke.
“Master!” Xihe straightened her posture and asked, “Please give your orders!”
“Don’t bother making dinner tonight. Go and notify the medical clinics in Qingquan City of the Tianfeng Dynasty in the Western Barrens. Have them deliver all information and recent reports regarding Ding Nan, the Third Young Master of the Ding Clan, to me.”
“Yes!” Xihe replied.
With a determined look, Xihe turned and departed.
Unlike a casual request, involving the medical clinics meant this was an official order.
—
Once Lin Xihe left, Lin Yue’er was the only one remaining on the ship.
She stared at the hairpin for a long while before letting out a long sigh.
‘You fool, is it really you?’
She stood up and walked toward the kitchen herself.
Later that night, after eating and bathing, she draped a clean, simple robe over herself.
Underneath the robe, she wore nothing at all.
Her porcelain-white skin glowed faintly in the dim candlelight.
She returned to her room.
Space on the ship was limited, so the cabins were quite cramped.
The wardrobe, vanity, and single bed were all squeezed together.
In such a small room, one could reach the door handle just by standing up from the bed.
Inside her tiny room, she pulled down the full-length mirror from the wardrobe.
She scrutinized her own body.
Petite, flat, and aside from the soft texture of her skin, she felt she possessed very little feminine charm.
She was dissatisfied with her body.
But she could do nothing about it; her development had been stunted by malnutrition in her early years, resulting in her diminutive stature today.
If she remembered correctly, that dummy liked mature women with well-proportioned figures.
At that thought, she grumpily folded the mirror back into the wardrobe and latched it shut.
If her figure was lacking, could she only rely on her face?
She sat at the vanity which was pressed against her bed.
She pulled open a drawer, but there were very few pieces of jewelry inside.
She did not have the habit of wearing makeup.
A peach blossom hairpin, a pearl hairpin… both were gifts Lin Xihe had given her when they were younger.
As for her hairstyle, she usually kept it simple, using a hairpin to secure a bun and tying off the ends.
In the bronze mirror on the vanity, her long hair made her look gloomy when paired with her usual deadpan expression.
She recalled the past, remembering the hairstyle that person had once personally styled for her.
Her slender fingers ran through her hair.
She picked up a comb and slowly began to arrange it.
She parted her hair down the middle, braided the sides, and coiled them into buns.
She left some side-locks in the shape of water drops and let some of her hair hang down the back to signify she was an unmarried maiden.
She was very familiar with this hairstyle and finished it quickly.
“Does this look good?” she murmured to herself.
Everything about her was pure white—from the hair on her head to the fine hairs on her body; even her eyelashes were a frosty white.
She lowered her eyelids slightly, looking at her reflection.
She was cute.
As long as she wore colors that complemented white, she would be very attractive even without hairpins.
However, she didn’t look mature. In fact, the hair coils made her look somewhat childish.
She undid her hair and rearranged it once more.
This time, she left no hair hanging down her back.
When she finished, her reflection appeared much more mature.
Aside from the hair coils on the sides, it was entirely the hairstyle of a married woman.
Yet she had never seen a young wife wear such a style—it looked almost like a servant girl’s.
Because her hair was white, the shadows and layers were very distinct, making it eye-catching without being intrusive.
It was a beautiful hairstyle.
However, without the hair hanging down the back, it looked quite awkward—like a young girl pretending to be a woman, appearing neither here nor there.
Still, she liked it. If her dummy liked it, that was enough.
She raised her hand and retrieved a rubbing from her Spatial Ring.
It was identical to the one Ji Qianlin had brought earlier.
She had made a temporary copy at the time, and once Ji Qianlin left, she had used a spell to create a fresh rubbing.
“Are you real?”
The Ding Nan in the portrait was merely a drawing.
Naturally, no one answered Lin Yue’er’s question.
“If you are real, why haven’t you come to see me?”
Lin Yue’er’s expression turned resentful as she stared fixedly at the Jade Tablet hanging from Ding Nan’s chest.
‘Ji Lanruo said you are Ji Qianlin’s father.’
Lin Yue’er clenched her small fists.
‘Is Ji Qianlin really your child? Was it that you couldn’t resist Ji Lanruo’s temptation, or did that traitorous disciple seduce her master?’
She had always firmly believed that Ji Qianlin had nothing to do with her dummy.
She was restless and agitated.
Whether he had succumbed to temptation or been seduced by a traitorous disciple, if Ji Qianlin really was that fool’s daughter… based on her understanding of him, he would never be able to bring himself to abandon his own child.
If that happened, Ji Lanruo would use the child to secure her position.
“Where would that leave her?”
‘No, I must make contact with him as soon as possible. He is already 18 this year. According to the pattern, he should be able to cultivate normally now. With his latent talent, reaching Foundation Establishment won’t even take two years!’
From the data she had gathered through the medical clinics over the centuries, her dummy found it difficult to cultivate before the age of 18.
Only after turning 18 could he cultivate normally, though the specific reason remained unknown.
However, starting from the Foundation Building Stage, “Ding Nan” would regain his former peak strength at a speed far exceeding ordinary people.
He would then use his extraordinary comprehension to master any technique he encountered.
Because of this, each of his lifetimes was stronger than the last.
His disciples had already reached the Tribulation Transcendence Stage; why wouldn’t he be able to do the same?
Lin Yue’er could not defeat him when they were in the same realm, let alone if he reached a level beyond the Tribulation Transcendence Stage.