The dew in the medicine field lingered long into the morning, clusters of spirit herbs lying low in the furrows, their leaf tips glistening with moisture.
Liu Manqing walked out of the guest courtyard and happened to see Luo Zhao speaking with Zhou Huai.
Moments earlier, Luo Zhao had been addressing Zhou Huai with the faint air of superiority befitting a disciple of the External Affairs Division.
But the moment he saw Liu Manqing emerge, that hint of pride dissolved into a perfectly measured smile.
“Fellow Daoist Liu, did you rest well last night?”
He clasped his hands in greeting, his tone warm.
“This place is quite remote, hardly comparable to the tranquility of a cave dwelling. If there is anything lacking in our hospitality, please do not hesitate to let me know.”
Zhou Huai stood respectfully at the side with a flattering smile, his back and waist slightly bent.
Luo Zhao’s words sounded like politeness, but between the lines, he had already lumped the steward into the category of people who could be ordered about freely.
Zhou Huai dared not show the slightest displeasure at this.
He only answered in a low voice:
“Rest assured, Immortal Master Luo. The manor will do its utmost to serve the immortals well.”
Liu Manqing returned the greeting and said gently, “I happened to overhear Fellow Daoist Luo mention that you frequent this place?”
Luo Zhao had been waiting for precisely this opening.
He raised his eyes toward the distant medicine fields, a note of self-satisfaction creeping into his voice.
“Though Qingwu Medicine Garden is out of the way, it is one of the older medicine manors under the sect’s name…”
“For this place to have supplied the sect with herbs for so many years, it must have its unique merits. You see, the terrain here shelters the wind on three sides, the water vapor does not disperse, and the medicine fields happen to lie in the low ground, forming a natural formation that gathers spiritual energy without letting it leak.”
He spoke with such ease and flair, as if the manor’s feng shui had been personally selected by his own hand.
Zhou Huai’s smile stiffened for a moment.
He lowered his head even further, careful not to let anyone see the expression on his face.
“If this were any ordinary location, the same acre of land might not yield crops of this quality.”
Liu Manqing did not dampen Luo Zhao’s spirits.
She simply smiled.
“Fellow Daoist Luo is truly knowledgeable.”
Hearing this, Luo Zhao’s features brightened with even more color.
His cultivation was a step above Liu Manqing’s, and as a registered disciple of the External Affairs Division of the Taiwei Immortal Sect, he had met a fair number of people in his day.
Now, being praised by such a gentle female cultivator, he naturally felt quite pleased.
“Hardly worth calling me knowledgeable. It’s just that the External Affairs Division handles many places, and after a while, you simply develop an eye for these things.”
Liu Manqing nodded with a smile.
She understood Luo Zhao’s mind well.
Having drifted without a home for so many years, she had seen too many young cultivators like him.
Relying on a bit of skill, young and impetuous, always trying to stand a head above everyone else.
Even if they had passed one or two cycles of sixty years, most of that time was spent in meditation and cultivation, with their temperament not maturing in the slightest.
In truth, if one measured by mortal years, she might well be old enough to be Luo Zhao’s great-grandmother.
These were words she naturally had no reason to speak aloud.
Her natural aptitude was dull, and she had wasted half her life only to reach the middle stage of Qi Refinement.
Yet despite the gap in their ages, they addressed each other as peers.
If Luo Zhao was willing to talk with her, she was willing to listen.
Before long, several sets of footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard.
A few manor hands came around from the direction of the herb shed.
They were dressed far more thickly than the ordinary manor workers, wrapped from head to toe, their hands bound in coarse cloth, only half of their grayish-white faces exposed.
When they reached the walkway, the group stopped at once, and only after a delayed beat did they seem to remember their manners, lowering their heads in greeting.
Zhou Huai looked over, his expression tightening almost imperceptibly.
He quickly suppressed that flicker of unease, bowed to Luo Zhao and Liu Manqing, and said, “Immortal Master Luo, Lady Liu, the laborers have arrived. If it is convenient for you all, why not go to the back courtyard first to take a look?”
That single sentence snapped the two of them back from their wandering thoughts.
Liu Manqing glanced in the direction of the guest courtyard.
“What about the other fellow daoists?”
Luo Zhao furrowed his brow, a hint of disdain in his tone.
“Still not up yet.”
Liu Manqing was briefly taken aback.
“Young Master Xu is not up yet either?”
After several days of traveling together, she had come to understand something of his character.
By nature, he was not the sort to delay important matters.
At the mention of that name, Luo Zhao’s expression soured further.
“Young Master Xu?”
He let out a derisive snort.
“Fellow Daoist Liu is quite courteous.”
It was one thing for a mortal like Zhou Huai to behave that way, but Liu Manqing was at least a Qi Refining cultivator, and even she showed such consideration for a mortal.
And it was not just the two of them.
There was also Lady Lu, and that Shen Yi, Lady Shen, who had left even him stunned.
Why did everyone value Xu Ning, that useless mortal, so highly?
Luo Zhao was deeply displeased.
“The title of guest elder of Zhaoyue Cliff sounds impressive, but in the end, he has only just achieved Qi Introduction. He hardly counts as one of us cultivators.”
“Yet along the way, Miss Shen watches over him with such care, and Master Lu seems to regard him with special favor. It makes us proper cultivators seem less precious than him by comparison.”
Those words came out rather sour.
Liu Manqing naturally caught the tone.
But for a mortal to obtain the position of guest elder, someone must have been backing him.
She had no one to rely on, and she had no desire to offend either party, so she said warmly, “Why trouble yourself over Young Master Xu, Fellow Daoist Luo? He has only recently begun his cultivation and is unfamiliar with worldly affairs. It is only natural.”
Luo Zhao frowned.
“That still cannot be an excuse to delay important business.”
“With Fellow Daoist Luo here to oversee the loading today, nothing can go wrong.”
Liu Manqing smiled, offering him a tall hat.
“Besides, Young Master Xu’s cultivation is low. If he truly tried to exert himself, he would only end up causing more trouble for you to look after.”
The words seemed to speak up for Xu Ning, yet they also catered to Luo Zhao’s pride, placing him in the position of “one who can look after everyone.”
Luo Zhao’s expression indeed softened somewhat.
“Fellow Daoist Liu makes a fair point.”
He raised his chin and looked toward Zhou Huai.
“In that case, let us go to the back courtyard and have a look.”
Zhou Huai quickly bowed his head and replied, “Yes, this way, Immortal Master Luo.”
Luo Zhao walked down the steps of the walkway with his hands clasped behind his back, the manor hands trailing at the rear.
Just before passing through the courtyard gate, Liu Manqing cast one more glance back at the door of Xu Ning’s room.
The door and windows were tightly shut.
Not a sound came from within.
The group soon passed beneath the old locust tree.
The previous evening, a few children had been peeking at them from right there.
Today, the spot beneath the tree stood empty.
The places where one would most expect to see children running about were now quiet to a disturbing degree.
Liu Manqing asked casually, “Steward Zhou, does the manor have a private school?”
Zhou Huai, walking at the very back, was caught off guard by the question.
Luo Zhao also turned his head to look back, puzzled as to why she had suddenly asked this.
Zhou Huai quickly lowered his head and gave a bitter smile.
“Lady Liu is joking. How could this manor possibly afford a clan school?”
“All the good fields are planted with spirit herbs, and the able-bodied men mostly go to town to find work. What remains are the old, the weak, the women, and the children. Getting by day to day is already more than we can ask for.”
Hearing this, Liu Manqing’s expression grew considerably more somber.
She said softly, “And the children? At this hour, how is it that I have not seen a single one?”
Zhou Huai’s fingers clenched inside his sleeve, and he smiled with an awkward expression.
“It was cold last night. Perhaps they are all still indoors.”
Liu Manqing looked at him.
Children in a rural manor did not all stay cooped up inside once dawn had broken.
The poorer the family, the earlier its children learned to be sensible.
She lowered her gaze and smiled.
“I only asked because those children from yesterday seemed quite clever. Please do not take offense, Steward Zhou.”
Zhou Huai bent his waist even lower.
“I would not dare, I would not dare.”
Luo Zhao laughed.
“Fellow Daoist Liu seems fond of children.”
There was no real malice in those words, but spoken by a male cultivator in front of everyone, it carried a hint of inappropriately light jest.
Liu Manqing did not take offense.
She looked out at the spirit herbs bowing low in the distant fields, and her expression softened instead.
“After all, as long as there are children, there is always hope.”
No matter how terrible the situation at home, the adults would always find some way to keep a child alive.
Even if only a mouthful of rice porridge remained, life seemed not to have completely run out.
Unless… there was nothing left to eat.
Liu Manqing’s gaze darkened.
Zhou Huai did not know what Liu Manqing was thinking, only that she seemed to be subtly pointing at him.
Had she noticed something?
Zhou Huai’s fingers tightened within his sleeve, and a thin sheen of cold sweat slowly formed at his temples.
Luo Zhao did not understand what she meant and was about to ask further when the group arrived at the herb-loading area.
And there, someone was already waiting.
It was Sun Buping.
Luo Zhao halted mid-step, surprise on his face.
“Fellow Daoist Sun arrived the earliest of us all.”
Sun Buping did not answer.
He remained in that taciturn manner of his.
Sensing the movement, he raised his head and looked at the approaching group.
His gaze passed over Luo Zhao, over Zhou Huai, and came to rest on one burly manor hand walking behind Zhou Huai.
Sun Buping frowned, then froze.
The next moment, a long-suppressed aura burst violently from him.
Luo Zhao’s expression changed dramatically.
Perfect Qi Refinement.
He had always believed that among those on this journey, apart from Shen Yi and Lu Hanyi, he held the highest cultivation.
Who could have guessed that this dull-looking rogue cultivator was also at the Perfect Qi Refinement stage?
And the aura that had leaked out just now was even heavier than his own.
Luo Zhao opened his mouth, intending to ask why Fellow Daoist Sun had been hiding his strength.
But before the words could leave his lips, they were blocked by Sun Buping’s gaze.
That was not the greed of an ordinary rogue cultivator spotting a resource, nor the fear of discovering danger.
It was hatred.
Like a blade held in its sheath for many years, barely a hair’s breadth from being drawn to draw blood.
Luo Zhao’s chest tightened, and he found himself unable to speak.
Liu Manqing followed Sun Buping’s line of sight.
That manor hand seemed to sense something as well, his movement of shifting a basket slowing slightly, but he did not raise his head.
Zhou Huai’s expression shifted slightly as he hurriedly said, “Immortal Master Sun, what is the matter?”
Sun Buping did not look at him.
His hand pressed against his sleeve, knuckles going white with tension.
Liu Manqing pressed her lips together and lowered her voice.
“Fellow Daoist Sun?”
After a long moment, Sun Buping seemed finally to hear her words.
He slowly withdrew his gaze, and that alarming aura faded along with it.
When he spoke again, his voice had dropped low.
“It is nothing.”
The courtyard fell silent for a moment.
Everyone looked at him with varied expressions.
And that was supposed to be nothing?