The expression on Shen Yuwei’s face told Xu Ning that no one was forcing their way in.
After all, within the Taiwei Immortal Sect, who would dare to force their way into the residence of a Golden Core Perfected?
Shen Yuwei raised her hand and gestured. A faint crescent pattern rippled across the restrictions before the door.
Within that crescent pattern, the figure of the person beyond the cliff appeared.
Judging by the style of the robe, it was a disciple from Cold Sword Peak.
“What is it?”
Seeing Shen Yuwei speak through the closed door, a flicker of surprise passed through Xu Ning’s eyes.
Before he could ask, a young disciple’s voice came from outside.
“Reporting to Perfected Shen, something has happened at Cold Sword Peak.”
The disciple dared not speak too gravely. “Senior Sister Lu just circulated her sword essence on her own, and it seems to have stirred her heart meridian. The Managing Elder requests that you return to the peak immediately.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
The remnants of fatigue in Shen Yuwei’s eyes vanished completely.
“She activated her sword essence?”
The disciple outside hesitated for a moment.
“I don’t know the specifics, that’s just what the elder on the peak instructed.”
Shen Yuwei’s brows furrowed slightly.
She didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she glanced at Xu Ning.
Just now, she had clearly sensed that Xu Ning had already connected with the world’s spiritual energy. With a little more guidance from her, he might be able to guide qi into his body and step onto the path of cultivation within a few days.
But over at Han Yi’s place…
Xu Ning fell silent at the mention of Lu Hanyi’s name.
Shen Yuwei turned her head to look at him, softening her tone.
“Then stay at Zhaoyue Cliff. I’ll go take a look.”
Xu Ning nodded.
Shen Yuwei added, “Your meridians have just suffered the shock of fire poison. Rest for the next few days.”
“You can look at the Qi Guidance Art, but don’t force yourself to cultivate. I can see that you’ve already sensed the world’s spiritual energy. Once I return, I’ll guide you further. There’s no need to rush.”
Xu Ning wanted to say that he was fine, but remembering the sensation of his meridians swelling from earlier, he simply replied, “I understand.”
Shen Yuwei walked to the door, then paused.
“If something happens, send me a message.”
Only after saying this did she dispel the restrictions and depart on her flying sword.
Xu Ning silently watched Shen Yuwei’s retreating figure.
She told him to send a message… How was he supposed to do that?
—
Ever since Xu Ning had left, the wind and snow on Cold Sword Peak had never ceased.
Shen Yuwei sat by the cold jade bed, her fingertip hovering just above Lu Hanyi’s heart. Gentle spiritual energy was slowly being channeled into her shattered meridians.
The medicinal power of the Meridian Restoration Pill had already dissolved.
That golden medicinal qi was also slowly traveling along Lu Hanyi’s heart meridian. Every half inch it advanced, it was slightly halted by the cold sha still lingering at the broken points.
Lu Hanyi’s eyes were closed, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
She didn’t make a sound.
Shen Yuwei glanced at her, softening her voice. “If it hurts, say so.”
Lu Hanyi’s long lashes trembled. After a moment, she said, “It doesn’t hurt.”
Shen Yuwei didn’t call her out on it.
After years of being master and disciple, she knew Lu Hanyi’s temperament all too well.
The more it hurt, the less she would admit it.
This was the tenacity of a sword cultivator, rare to find. But if she refused to lower her head even when she needed help, she would eventually trap herself in her own scabbard.
“Why didn’t you wait for me to return before taking the pill?”
Shen Yuwei scolded, “Such rashness isn’t like you.”
Lu Hanyi pressed her thin lips together and turned her head away.
“I’ve made you worry.”
Seeing that her disciple offered no explanation and wouldn’t even meet her eyes, Shen Yuwei sighed inwardly.
The only reason she could think of was that Lu Hanyi could no longer bear living as a cripple.
Back when Lu Hanyi first entered the Taiwei Immortal Sect, she had been proud and arrogant.
Yet she never slacked in her cultivation.
While her peers were still practicing basic sword forms, she already dared to challenge senior fellow disciples.
Even when her wrist was broken, she simply wrapped it in cloth and showed up at the training grounds the next day.
Back then, Shen Yuwei had asked her if it hurt.
She had turned her head away just like this and said it didn’t hurt.
Now, years later, Lu Hanyi had become the true disciple of Cold Sword Peak, but her nature seemed unchanged.
Shen Yuwei softened her tone. “Han Yi, the Meridian Restoration Pill is not an ordinary pill.”
“Your heart meridian is too severely damaged. If the medicinal power isn’t guided, it will rush and collide against the broken points on its own.”
Lu Hanyi said quietly, “I know.”
“You know, yet you still dared to do this?”
Lu Hanyi’s fingertips tightened slightly.
After a long while, she only said, “I just wanted to recover faster.”
Shen Yuwei gently stroked her cheek.
“Remember, within this month, you must not force your sword essence again.”
Lu Hanyi nodded silently and said no more.
After a moment, her gaze drifted past Shen Yuwei’s shoulder to the door of the outer room.
“Master, where is Xu Ning?”
The spiritual energy Shen Yuwei was channeling into her meridians faltered for an instant.
That slight hesitation did not escape Lu Hanyi’s perception.
She raised her eyes, baffled, and looked at her master.
Shen Yuwei’s expression remained unchanged. She simply said, “He’s at Zhaoyue Cliff.”
“…Why didn’t he come?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Lu Hanyi herself realized how inappropriate they were.
She had already signed the divorce agreement.
Whether Xu Ning came or not was never supposed to be a question for her.
But the question had still slipped out.
Shen Yuwei, however, did not laugh at her as she had expected. Instead, she lowered her eyes and continued to soothe her broken meridians.
“His meridians have been worn down for years, and he expended a lot of mental energy the other day. He needs to rest.”
Lu Hanyi looked at her, her brows furrowing. “You care a great deal about him.”
Shen Yuwei shot her a look. “Is he not worth caring about?”
Her intention was to remind her disciple not to forget Xu Ning’s sacrifices over the past few years.
But Lu Hanyi’s hand beneath her clenched the edge of her robes.
Those words, when they reached her ears, stung even more than a reprimand.
When her master spoke of Xu Ning, her tone was full of protectiveness.
And there was something else she couldn’t quite identify—a closeness she instinctively didn’t want to dwell on.
The medicinal power in her broken meridians grew chaotic, the pain turning her face even paler.
Shen Yuwei pressed her wrist, her voice slightly stern. “Han Yi, focus.”
Lu Hanyi closed her eyes, forcefully suppressing the tangled emotions.
‘He’s worthy of others’ care.’
‘Then before? In the two and a half years he spent on Cold Sword Peak, wasn’t he worthy then?’
As soon as this thought surfaced, Lu Hanyi pushed it down.
She didn’t want to think about it anymore.
Shen Yuwei watched her tense brows and sighed softly.
“Some things… once your injuries stabilize, you can think about them slowly.”
Lu Hanyi didn’t answer.
Outside the window, the wind and snow of Cold Sword Peak beat against the glass, the snowdrifts deepening.
—
This trip kept Shen Yuwei away for thirteen days.
During the day, the mountain breeze at Zhaoyue Cliff was mild, and the temperature was pleasant.
With Shen Yuwei absent from the bamboo lodge, it was actually convenient for Xu Ning.
Every time night fell, he couldn’t help recalling what had happened in the meditation room that night.
He felt that when he next saw Shen Yuwei, he probably wouldn’t be able to greet her with the same composure as before.
It was probably better that she wasn’t back yet.
At first, Xu Ning felt a little unsettled, but after two days, he adapted.
No one brought him meals, but the lodge’s kitchen had plenty of rice and grain.
It was a pity the clear pond didn’t have any fish; otherwise, he could have gone fishing.
Back on Cold Sword Peak, he had slept every night with the cold wind in his ears. Now, no one called for him, and no one rushed him.
There weren’t even any injured or sick patients to bother him. Life was even more carefree than in Qingtang Town.
Every two or three days, Shen Yuwei would send a flying sword message.
She rarely mentioned Lu Hanyi’s condition; mostly, she told him to rest and heal, reminding him not to overdo the Nourishing Origin Pill—one pill a day was enough.
Occasionally, she included some cultivation explanations. Xu Ning had no way to reply, so he simply memorized everything.
On the morning of the thirteenth day, Xu Ning sat inside the bamboo lodge.
A breeze came through the window, and the shadow of a magnolia blossom fell across the pages.
“There’s no need to rush the matter of guiding qi.”
Xu Ning stared at those words for a long time.
This letter seemed to have arrived a little too late.
He lifted his hand, his fingertip brushing a fallen petal on the desk.
The magnolia petal, already detached from its branch, unfurled slightly under his finger, gaining a faint touch of vibrant life.
Just for a moment.
Then the petal drooped back onto the desk, and the delicate pink vanished.
Over the past few days, he had managed to draw in a very small amount of world’s spiritual energy.
But without a proper cultivation method, most of the qi that entered his body couldn’t stay; only about one part in ten could be refined.
Xu Ning looked down at his palm.
Deep in his dantian, at the edge of that green mass, a faint trace of red had appeared sometime during these days.
Whenever the green mass circulated, that trace of red would transform into a thread of warmth, merging into the newly absorbed spiritual energy.
It somewhat resembled the fire poison in Shen Yuwei’s golden core?
Xu Ning guessed based on vague impressions, but couldn’t figure out the reason.
Just as he was about to reopen the Qi Guidance Art, the formation on Zhaoyue Cliff rippled again.
Then a young man’s voice sounded outside the courtyard.
“I’m Chen Heng of the Alchemy Hall, sent by Elder Zhao to deliver medicine for Perfected Shen.”
Alchemy Hall.
Xu Ning paused in the middle of turning a page.
That name wasn’t unfamiliar to him.
Not only because the Alchemy Hall had previously delivered medicine to Cold Sword Peak, but also because the system had once given him a warning.
If Lu Hanyi died, he would be refined into a Warm Jade Pill by the Alchemy Hall of the Taiwei Immortal Sect.
Xu Ning glanced at the guest elder token hanging at his waist, then slowly rose.
Shen Yuwei wasn’t at Zhaoyue Cliff.
But since he now bore the title of Zhaoyue Cliff’s guest elder, he couldn’t just let the visitor stand outside the courtyard forever.
Xu Ning closed the Qi Guidance Art and pushed open the door.
Outside the courtyard stood a young disciple in a blue robe, an Alchemy Hall jade token at his waist, carrying a medicine case in his hand.
His expression clearly froze for a moment when he saw Xu Ning.
Xu Ning greeted him with a bow.
“Perfected Shen is currently not at Zhaoyue Cliff.”
“If the medicine is for her, you can leave it with me.”
Chen Heng looked at him with surprise, then his expression shifted to one of amusement.
“So you’re Xu Ning?”
Xu Ning raised his eyes.
Chen Heng let out a laugh.
“I only heard that you left Cold Sword Peak. I didn’t expect you’d already started cultivating.”