“Beast!”
Lin Zhiwei heard another series of intermittent cries, sounding exactly like the noises she had occasionally heard between men and women. She began to tremble with rage.
‘He must have tricked Zhiyi. My junior sister is so innocent; she must have been tricked by this beast!’
‘It’s all my fault for running around outside and failing to protect her. I’ll make that beast pay!’
In an instant, she reached a conclusion based on her own understanding. Gritting her teeth, she unsheathed her sword and marched toward the door.
“Su Xuan, you animal! Let her go!”
Lin Zhiwei no longer suppressed the violent killing intent in her heart. With a loud shout, she kicked the bedroom door.
The old wooden door instantly shattered into pieces, revealing the scene inside.
To her surprise, although the atmosphere was somewhat ambiguous, the movements of her master and junior sister were completely different from what she had imagined.
It looked as though he was teaching her junior sister how to cultivate.
“You two…”
The killing intent that had filled her moments ago died down instantly. she stared at the people inside, at a loss for words.
Su Xuan had already been exhausted today. He had been forcing his Spiritual Power to circulate to help his young disciple cultivate. To protect her, he had to control his power with extreme care, making his own body incredibly vulnerable.
Startled by Lin Zhiwei’s sudden intrusion, his heart jolted. The circulation of his power was instantly disrupted, and violent Azure Spiritual Power began to surge uncontrollably through his body.
“Pfft…”
A sweet taste filled his throat, and unable to endure it any longer, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His aura instantly withered.
“Master!”
Since he had been the one leading the process, Lu Zhiyi remained unharmed. She snapped her eyes open and looked at him, her face filled with anxiety.
“Master, are you alright?”
Disregarding the fact that she was nearly naked, she climbed out of the water tub and supported Su Xuan.
“What are you doing?”
“Master is almost killed because of you! What exactly do you want?”
Seeing the fresh blood still trickling from the corner of his mouth, Lu Zhiyi’s eyes turned red with worry. She shouted her questions at Lin Zhiwei, who stood at the door.
She had already been feeling resentful toward Lin Zhiwei over the past 2 days. In her state of panic and anger, she cast aside their friendship and spoke with a hint of hysteria.
“I… I thought…”
Lin Zhiwei stood at the entrance like a child who had done something wrong. Being scolded so harshly by her junior sister left her overwhelmed and confused.
“What did you think? Can you stop being so self-righteous!”
Lu Zhiyi hurriedly wiped Su Xuan’s face, carefully helping him up and laying him on the bed. Hearing her senior sister’s words, her tone became even sharper.
She could not understand why her senior sister remained blind to how well Master treated them, constantly judging him based on her own narrow assumptions.
“What did you say?”
Lin Zhiwei, who had been full of guilt, felt as if a heavy hammer had struck her chest. Her heart felt suffocated.
She never expected that Lu Zhiyi—the person she had protected for so many years and treated like a blood sister—would think of her this way!
Her lips trembled for a long time. It felt as if something was lodged in her throat. Unable to stay any longer, she turned and ran out.
Su Xuan and Lu Zhiyi were once again the only two left in the room.
“I… *cough, cough*… It’s nothing major.”
Su Xuan had been momentarily dazed by the shock of his internal energy. After finally managing to suppress the rampaging Spiritual Qi, he coughed a few times before speaking.
‘This damn eldest disciple really knows how to find trouble for me.’
Fortunately, the process had been almost finished; otherwise, she would have literally killed him.
He sensed the fluctuations of the Spiritual Qi within his body and estimated he would need to rest for 2 days before he could continue cultivating. He couldn’t help but complain inwardly.
“It’s good that you’re okay. Does it hurt, Master? Should we go to the Medical Clinic…”
Hearing him speak, Lu Zhiyi breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly used her own clothes to wipe the blood from his body. Worried that he might catch a chill, she pulled the blanket over him.
“I’m fine. I just need a moment to recover.”
“Zhiyi, your senior sister didn’t do it on purpose. She had good intentions…”
Lying on the pillow, Su Xuan thought for a moment before speaking.
He wasn’t being a saint; he was just worried that if the conflict between the two grew too large and they had a complete falling out, Lin Zhiwei might actually run away.
If that happened, wouldn’t he be the one to suffer in the end?
“Forget about her! She almost killed you! Let’s focus on getting you better first!”
Lu Zhiyi had never lost her temper like this before. She was still fuming, her eyes red and brimming with tears as she spoke defiantly.
She sat by the bed, wiping her tears every now and then, lost in thought.
“Sigh…”
Su Xuan let out a sigh. Seeing her like this, he decided to wait until her emotions settled before saying anything else.
—
Lin Zhiwei stumbled into the kitchen and locked the door tightly.
Ignoring the darkness of the room, she buried her head in her bedding. Only then did her tears begin to fall in large, unstoppable droplets.
She sobbed continuously, gasping for breath, yet she forced herself to remain silent. She curled up into a ball, weeping like a helpless child for the first time.
‘Can you stop being so self-righteous!’
Her junior sister’s words echoed in her ears like a knife, stabbing directly into her heart.
She didn’t understand. She was clearly worried about her junior sister; she was clearly afraid that she was being deceived. She had protected her for so many years—is this truly what Zhiyi thought of her?
Could several years of relying on each other not compare to a few days spent with him?
‘Was I really wrong?’
Lin Zhiwei’s heart was full of grievances, but she had no one to talk to. she could only keep it all inside, enduring the silent sobs. Her tears fell without a sound, yet she felt hysterical.
After an unknown amount of time, her violent sobbing turned into occasional twitches. She finally calmed down slightly.
She wiped her tears aggressively and splashed her face with cold water. Once she was sure there were no visible tear stains, she sat down at the table in the room.
She carefully pulled a small bag from her robe.
Inside were several pieces of Osmanthus Cakes, Lu Zhiyi’s favorite snack.
After their small argument yesterday, she had gone out to buy them today, thinking she would have a good talk with her junior sister so they could stop being angry at each other.
But before she could even give them to her, how did things turn out like this?
Lin Zhiwei stared blankly at the pastries on the table. She realized that because she had been curled up earlier, many of them were now crushed and no longer looked appealing.
‘It’s fine, it’s fine. When Zhiyi comes back, we’ll just have a good talk.’
Sniffing, she began to rearrange them piece by piece, trying to restore their original shape. She remembered that her junior sister didn’t like eating crumbs.
15 minutes.
30 minutes.
1 hour.
…
Time continued to flow. The horizon began to turn pale, and the sound of roosters crowing could be heard from outside. It was a new day.
Lin Zhiwei sat stiffly by the table, staring blankly at the kitchen door.
“So, you don’t even want to see me anymore?”
After waiting for a long time and still seeing no sign of her junior sister, she finally let out a silent laugh, though tears fell from her eyes once more.
Feeling defeated, she turned around and grabbed the pastries from the table, stuffing them into her mouth one after another until she couldn’t fit any more.
“So this is the taste after all these years.”
“It’s so bitter. How can this be delicious?”
Lin Zhiwei chewed on the cakes she had never been willing to eat herself, forcing herself to swallow them while murmuring.
As if she had made up her mind, she picked up her sword, gave the courtyard a lingering, reluctant look, and turned to walk out.
She left quietly, without making a single sound.
—
“Zhiyi, go and have a proper talk with your senior sister.”
Su Xuan was incredibly exhausted. After sleeping deeply for a while, he woke up and saw his disciple sitting by the bed, still occasionally sobbing. He spoke in a low voice.
Lu Zhiyi hadn’t slept all night either. She had sat there with red eyes, glancing at the door from time to time.
Hearing his words, she quickly stood up, preparing to find her senior sister.
In truth, she had regretted her words shortly after saying them. However, since her senior sister usually yielded to her, she had habitually waited for Lin Zhiwei to come to her.
After waiting for so long, she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to apologize and have a good talk.
“I… I’ll go see her.”
With that, she hurried out.
“As long as they talk it out…”
Su Xuan watched her take the initiative and sighed before sitting up.
Aside from the initial severity, he wasn’t in much danger. After a night of rest, he had mostly recovered.
‘Now that she sees I’m fine, they’ll probably have a better chance of reconciling, right?’
He thought to himself as he dressed and headed toward the kitchen.
Just as he reached the door, he froze.
He saw Lu Zhiyi slumped on the ground, holding a bag that contained only a few remaining crumbs of cake.
“Master, does… does Senior Sister not want me anymore?”
When she saw him enter, she raised her tear-stained face, her expression filled with regret as she sobbed.