Gazing at the mountain shadows receding beyond the carriage curtain, Xu Ning’s gaze settled on the low, flat ridges of the fields in the distance.
The farther they traveled from the Taiwei Immortal Sect, the thinner the spiritual energy of heaven and earth became.
Had this been in the past, he certainly wouldn’t have noticed such a difference.
Ever since his Qi Introduction, descending the mountain allowed him to sense that clear, gentle, buoyant aura gradually receding, replaced instead by the mundane scent of dust and horse-drawn traffic.
It wasn’t particularly elegant.
Yet it left Xu Ning feeling somewhat wistful.
A long time ago, he used to sit in carriages like this one.
Sometimes he’d follow the old master to nearby villages to collect herbs; other times he’d deliver bundles of sun-dried medicinal plants for the apothecary.
Whenever the wheels hit a bump, the herbs in the bamboo basket would rustle with a faint, crisp sound.
Back then, he rarely even ventured far along the mountain roads outside Green Pond Town, and now he sat hundreds of miles away in a carriage alongside several cultivators.
He lowered his gaze and finally spoke after a long moment.
“I did, long ago.”
Liu Manqing’s eyes flickered subtly.
She smiled warmly and gave a gentle nod.
Lu Hanyi sat with her eyes closed, seemingly still regulating her breath.
Only she herself knew that she hadn’t entered meditation at all—hadn’t even been tending to her injuries.
She suddenly recalled the year Xu Ning first came to Cold Sword Peak.
Back then, the youth wore coarse cloth robes washed pale, clutching a tattered cloth bundle to his chest.
A few medical texts, several packs of dried herbs.
That was all the luggage he had.
Before that, he was merely a mortal physician in Green Pond Town.
If not for that water-demon disturbance, she would never have saved him by the riverbank.
And if not for her later being framed and gravely wounded, Cold Sword Peak would never have kept Xu Ning on the mountain out of gratitude for saving her life.
He would have stayed in that small town nestled against the mountains and waters, tending his apothecary, treating people’s minor ailments.
Perhaps, years later, he would marry a mortal girl, and the two would live in mutual respect and harmony.
Life wouldn’t be grand or spectacular, but it would be peaceful and harmonious.
In that life, he would never know Lu Hanyi.
As that thought surfaced, Lu Hanyi’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Outside the carriage curtain, Shen Yi suddenly pulled on the reins.
The carriage swerved to avoid a shallow pothole on the road, the body merely swaying lightly.
Xu Ning snapped back to attention, gazing at the petite figure beyond the curtain, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“You drive well, Little Senior Sister.”
Shen Yi’s smug voice came from the front of the carriage.
“Of course.”
Her tone was light.
“I only needed one look to get the hang of it.”
Liu Manqing curved her lips as well.
“What fortune, to have a Perfect Qi Refinement senior drive our carriage.”
“Hehe, just sit tight back there, you all.”
The tension that had gripped the carriage finally eased somewhat.
Liu Manqing turned to Xu Ning.
“Xu-gongzi, did you study pharmacology back in town?”
“Mm.”
Xu Ning said, “I followed my master on rounds ever since I could remember. After he passed away, I tended the medicine hut alone.”
“I see.”
Liu Manqing remarked, “The way you checked the horse’s hooves and the carriage axle earlier—more carefully than those of us who travel on business year-round.”
Xu Ning shook his head.
“I’ve just seen a few overturned carriages before.”
Liu Manqing blinked, then covered her smile with her hand.
“Who would’ve thought, Xu-gongzi, that you’d be so witty.”
Witty?
Xu Ning felt somewhat exasperated.
He was merely stating a fact.
“After it rains on mountain roads, the wheel ruts get covered by mud.”
“If the axle is old and the horse unsteady, when one wheel sinks, the entire load of herbs flips into the ditch.”
“And if you’re unlucky, you get pinned underneath.”
In situations like that, even if you survived, you’d have half your life gone.
The smile on Liu Manqing’s face faded slightly.
She said softly, “When traveling through mortal lands, often what people fear isn’t the distance—it’s the unknowable dangers along the way.”
Xu Ning looked at her with surprise.
Liu Manqing tucked a strand of wind-blown hair behind her ear, and noticing his expression, gave a light laugh.
“What is it?”
“I was mortal too, after all.”
A hint of playfulness slipped through her words.
Xu Ning didn’t respond, only nodding.
“Then Xu-gongzi must have known quite a few people in town, right?”
Liu Manqing’s tone carried a slightly teasing edge.
“Like a childhood sweetheart, perhaps? Or a girl you fancied?”
At those words, the carriage fell silent for a moment.
Lu Hanyi still kept her eyes closed, though her earlobe seemed to twitch ever so faintly.
Xu Ning was taken aback.
He’d expected Liu Manqing to probe into his identity, but hadn’t anticipated she’d suddenly steer the conversation here.
Unbidden, a slender figure surfaced in his mind.
“Ning-gege, do immortals really exist in this world?”
He’d been sorting huangjing and atractylodes at the time, not even looking up.
“Perhaps they do.”
“How wonderful—they get to live forever and stay young.”
Recalling the envy in the girl’s eyes, Xu Ning remembered teasing her.
“You’re how old? Already coveting eternal youth?”
The girl on the wall kicked her legs at him, her skirt swaying gently in the sunlight.
She’d insisted, unconvinced, that she simply wanted to live a longer life.
At the memory, Xu Ning’s gaze softened.
It had been a long time since he left Green Pond Town.
Seeing him remain silent for so long, Liu Manqing’s smile deepened.
“It seems there is?”
Xu Ning paused for a moment, a very faint smile surfacing at the corner of his lips.
“There is.”
As the words fell, a crisp sound suddenly came from the corner of the carriage.
Xu Ning and Liu Manqing both turned to look in unison.
Lu Hanyi still had her eyes closed, her expression cold and aloof, as if that slight noise had nothing to do with her at all.
The smile on Liu Manqing’s lips stiffened for a brief instant.
She cleared her throat softly, about to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“Um…”
Before she could finish, Luo Zhao’s voice came from outside the curtain.
“There’s a tea stall up ahead. We’ve been traveling for half a day—let’s take a rest.”
“Sure!”
Shen Yi answered quickly, her tone carrying a fresh sense of novelty.
“I’m getting bored of sitting anyway.”
The carriage gradually slowed.
Moments later, Shen Yi pushed open the curtain and poked her bright, pretty face halfway inside.
“Do you all want to come down… Huh?”
Her gaze swept around the carriage.
“What’s going on?”
Before Xu Ning could speak, Liu Manqing had already smiled and answered, “Nothing, we were just chatting.”
Shen Yi looked at her suspiciously, then at Xu Ning.
Xu Ning’s expression was perfectly calm as he merely said, “Daoist Luo mentioned a tea stall up ahead?”
“Mm.”
Shen Yi stared at him for a long moment, and seeing that he had no intention of explaining, she gave a light huff and let the curtain fall.
The carriage only paused briefly at the tea stall; none of them lingered long.
By evening, the group stopped to rest at a mortal town.
The town wasn’t large, built along the main road, its streets bustling enough.
By the time they entered, the shops on either side had already lit their lanterns, rice sacks piled at the grain store’s entrance, and several bolts of plain, muted cloth hanging beneath the fabric shop’s eaves.
Further off, vendors sold hot soup and flatbread.
The aroma of oil mixed with cooking smoke drifted over from the street corner.
Shen Yi’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly tugged at Xu Ning, insisting they go out for a stroll.
As for why Shen Yi had followed him all the way into his room, Xu Ning had long since stopped asking.
Even if he asked, it probably wouldn’t matter.
Seeing her this excited, Xu Ning couldn’t help but say, “Little Senior Sister, didn’t you claim to be well-traveled and worldly-wise?”
Throughout the journey, Shen Yi had boasted to him plenty.
“Being worldly-wise and wanting to eat aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Shen Yi shot back without a hint of shame, then reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
“Come on, keep me company.”
Xu Ning was caught off guard.
“Now?”
“I’ve been sitting all day—my legs are numb.”
“Weren’t you driving?”
“Driving is even more boring.”
Shen Yi said this with not a trace of guilt, pulling him toward the street.
Xu Ning couldn’t resist and could only let her drag him out of the inn.
Just as they stepped out, the others happened to be there too.
Lu Hanyi stood at the inn’s entrance, her snow-white outer robe looking all the more cold and pristine under the dim lantern light.
She looked at Shen Yi’s hand gripping Xu Ning’s sleeve but said nothing.
Luo Zhao had been speaking with Liu Manqing when his expression brightened at the sight of Shen Yi.
“Miss Shen! We were just about to head to the town’s tavern for a meal—I was going to ask if you’d like to join.”
“Oh, you all go ahead. Xu Ning and I have things to do.”
With that, Shen Yi pulled Xu Ning away and walked off.
Seeing this, the smile on Luo Zhao’s face dimmed somewhat, and he turned to arrange the others instead.
Liu Manqing stood beside Lu Hanyi, withdrawing her gaze from the two figures on the street, and said with a light laugh, “Miss Shen and Xu-gongzi certainly seem close.”
“She’s his guardian.”
Lu Hanyi’s voice was cold.
“But her temperament is far too carefree.”
“Indeed.”
Liu Manqing nodded, her tone still mild.
“She’s certainly different from the guardians I’ve seen before.”
Lu Hanyi watched the receding backs of the two, saying nothing in response.
Just then, Luo Zhao emerged from the inn, a smile restored to his face.
“Fairy Lu, I’ve arranged everything on my end. There’s a decent tavern up ahead—why not join us for a meal?”
Lu Hanyi withdrew her gaze and gave him only a brief, indifferent glance before turning and walking toward the other side of the street.
“Do as you please.”
Luo Zhao blinked, caught off guard.
Lu Hanyi didn’t stop walking.
“I have other matters to attend to.”
Her figure quickly vanished into the flow of the crowd, only the hem of her snow-white robe flickering briefly in the lantern light.
The smile on Luo Zhao’s face froze for a moment.
He turned to Liu Manqing, his tone full of confusion.
“What were you two talking about just now? Why did Fairy Lu suddenly change her mind?”
When he’d invited her upstairs moments ago, Lu Hanyi hadn’t refused—the group had even come down the stairs together.
So how, in just a few short moments, had she changed her mind?
Liu Manqing had her suspicions, but only showed a hint of helplessness on her face.
“If you’re asking me, Luo-gongzi, I’m afraid I don’t know either.”
Luo Zhao still stared in the direction Lu Hanyi had gone, his expression sour.
Liu Manqing smiled lightly and added another line.
“Perhaps Fairy Lu truly did recall some pressing matter.”
“Perhaps so. Well, forget it—we’ll go on our own! Today, I’m treating! Brother Sun, you’re drinking with me until we’re both soused!”
Luo Zhao waved his hand grandly, and the three of them headed toward the tavern in the middle of town.
The bustling street was alive with noise, thick with the warmth of everyday life.
Shen Yi pulled Xu Ning to a stop in front of a pastry stall.
The stallholder was a woman, with several steaming snacks laid out—sugar cakes, osmanthus cakes, and sour plum cakes, each separated by oil paper.
Shen Yi looked over the selection.
“Is this one good?”
Xu Ning glanced at the sugar cake she pointed at.
“Too sweet.”
“What about this one?”
“The osmanthus cake is more fragrant, though it goes hard once it cools.”
Shen Yi pointed at the pale square cakes beside them.
“This one?”
“Sour plum cake.”
Xu Ning said, “Not too sweet, but a bit tart on the palate.”
Shen Yi tilted her head to look at him, her eyes curving into crescents.
“You know your stuff.”
“After all, I was mortal once.”
Xu Ning said this calmly.
Shen Yi studied him for a long moment, then suddenly asked, “So that childhood sweetheart you mentioned earlier—which one does she like?”