Chapter 18: In the Lamplight

“That childhood sweetheart you mentioned—which one does she like?”

Xu Ning’s movements paused slightly.

The lamp in front of the stall wasn’t very bright.

The oil lamp was covered by a thin layer of smoky haze, softening the figures along the street.

Looking at the grinning Shen Yi, he felt a brief moment of daze.

Xu Ning said, “She likes this one.”

“You remember clearly.”

Shen Yi’s tone didn’t carry much displeasure, more like she’d finally found something she could tease him about.

But the stall owner’s wife laughed.

“Is this young miss feeling jealous?”

Shen Yi was taken aback.

Xu Ning also looked at the stall owner in surprise.

The woman seemed used to young men and women bickering in front of her stall.

She quickly took out oil paper and said with a smile, “Young sir, buy one for this young miss too.”

“A girl may not say it out loud, but she’ll remember it in her heart.”

Shen Yi’s face stiffened.

She immediately stepped away from him and shook her head repeatedly.

“Who’s jealous?”

The stall owner just smiled and didn’t respond.

Xu Ning lowered his head and held back his laughter.

Shen Yi turned to him, the corner of her eye lifting slightly.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.”

Xu Ning took out a few copper coins and handed them to the stall owner.

“Please wrap one of each.”

“Don’t buy it.”

Shen Yi spoke almost immediately.

Xu Ning paused.

“Why?”

Shen Yi glanced at the stall owner, then at the wrapped sour plum cake, and lowered her voice, though she still sounded confident.

“I don’t even like sour things.”

Wouldn’t buying it just confirm it?

She had only asked casually.

How did it become competing with some childhood sweetheart?

Seeing her serious expression, Xu Ning said, “Then we won’t buy the sour plum cake?”

Shen Yi pursed her lips.

Not wanting it didn’t seem right either.

She had just asked about it after all.

The stall owner’s wife lowered her head to wrap the cake, the smile at the corners of her mouth impossible to hide.

Shen Yi grew even more uncomfortable under her gaze, so she simply reached out and picked up the sour plum cake from the stall.

“Forget it, I’ll buy it myself.”

Xu Ning said with a faint smile, “It’s just a few copper coins, Junior Sister, no need to be so precise with me.”

Seeing the sour plum cake he handed over, she took it with reluctance written all over her face.

“Hmph, fine. It’s not like I’m eating your food for free.”

With that, she took a small bite.

The action reminded Xu Ning of the rabbit he used to keep.

It also nibbled its food in small bites, just like her.

The next moment, her brow furrowed.

Xu Ning saw it but didn’t call it out.

Shen Yi forced herself to swallow, still keeping her expression calm.

“It’s not bad.”

Xu Ning said, “Junior Sister, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to force yourself.”

“Who said I don’t like it?”

She tucked the oil paper bundle into her chest, as if even this sourness had become something she couldn’t back down on.

Xu Ning could only nod.

“Junior Sister is right.”

Shen Yi caught the laughter in his voice, let out a soft huff, and turned to walk down the street.

The night in the small town deepened.

Shopfronts along the street lit their lamps one by one.

A few travelers gathered around a stall selling hot soup.

Oil sizzled in the wok, steam rose with the cooking smoke, then scattered in the evening breeze.

Shen Yi didn’t walk quickly.

She carried the pastry in one hand and occasionally tugged at Xu Ning’s sleeve, as if afraid he might get lost, or maybe just because she found it convenient.

Xu Ning let her lead him, occasionally stepping aside to avoid oncoming pedestrians with shoulder poles.

Lamps glowed dimly in the distance, voices drifting in the air.

The lamplight stretched their shadows long, then scattered them through the crowd.

The two walked side by side through the market, looking like a young couple out for an evening stroll.

Lu Hanyi stood at the other end of the street.

Through the crowd, she saw Shen Yi look up to speak to Xu Ning, and saw Xu Ning lower his head to reply.

Their voices were drowned out by the market’s noise, only a phrase or two occasionally caught by her spiritual sense.

Sour plum cake.

Childhood sweetheart.

Junior Sister.

All casual, teasing words.

Yet when they fell into her ears, they left her feelings unsettled.

She wasn’t sad.

Nor did she regret anything.

It was just that this scene stirred an indescribable discomfort within her.

Xu Ning standing in a mortal marketplace seemed far more natural than he did on Cold Sword Peak.

Shen Yi standing beside him also fit harmoniously.

They walked among the crowd and the lights.

And she stood at the street corner.

Like she had inadvertently glimpsed a slice of mortal life that had nothing to do with her.

Lu Hanyi lowered her eyes and turned to leave.

Her snow-white hem quickly vanished into the flow of people.

The lamps burned bright, and her graceful figure gradually faded away.

At the other end of the market, Shen Yi finally stopped at a stall selling hot soup.

Xu Ning glanced at the sour plum cake still in her hand.

“Junior Sister can still eat?”

“Can’t I even take a look?”

Shen Yi replied with full confidence.

Xu Ning smiled and didn’t persuade her further.

Shen Yi looked down at the bubbling soup in the pot and suddenly asked, “What’s your childhood sweetheart’s name?”

Xu Ning thought for a moment, then said, “Ruo Ying.”

“Ruo Ying?”

Shen Yi repeated it.

“That’s a pretty name.”

She had never heard of someone with the surname Ruo before.

Xu Ning looked at her.

Shen Yi noticed his gaze and blinked.

“What? Not allowed to ask?”

“Just a little surprised.”

“Surprised about what?”

“I didn’t think Junior Sister would be interested in mortal matters from the past.”

Shen Yi’s hand holding the pastry paused for a moment.

Then she smiled again quickly.

“Xu Ning, that’s not right.”

“Aren’t cultivators also born from mortals?”

Xu Ning was briefly stunned.

That sentence didn’t sound like her usual joking tone.

As if realizing she’d spoken too seriously, Shen Yi immediately curved her eyes again.

“Besides, I’m your protector now.”

“It’s only reasonable for me to ask about your past, right?”

Xu Ning followed up, “And what about Junior Sister?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

Xu Ning said, “Junior Sister asked about my past, so I’d like to ask about yours too.”

The smile on Shen Yi’s face faded slightly.

The wind passed through the street lamps, gently swaying her hair ribbon.

After a moment, she said casually, “There’s nothing much to tell.”

Xu Ning didn’t press.

“When I was very young, my family encountered a demon cultivator.”

Xu Ning’s expression turned serious.

Shen Yi looked at the passing figures on the street, her tone lower than before.

“My parents both died. I wandered alone for a while, then I met my master.”

She lifted her eyes and smiled.

“My master saw how pitiful I was and took me in.”

Xu Ning looked at her.

“Junior Sister, do you hate demon cultivators?”

“I do.”

Shen Yi answered quickly.

She folded the oil paper bundle in her hand, her tone returning to its usual brightness.

“So if we ever run into demon cultivators in the future, remember to stay far away.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m afraid that if I can’t hold myself back, I might chop you up too.”

Xu Ning was silent for a moment.

The words sounded like a joke.

But when Shen Yi had said “hate,” there was no smile in her eyes.

He didn’t ask further.

Shen Yi didn’t say more either.

She simply pulled him back the way they came.

By the time the night grew deeper, the two returned to the inn.

Xu Ning was carrying an extra bundle of sour plum cake.

Shen Yi had said all along that it wasn’t anything special, yet she still refused to let it go.

She stopped in front of the inn and suddenly turned to look at him.

“Xu Ning.”

“Hm?”

“If you go back to Green Pond Town someday, will you go see her?”

Xu Ning knew who she was asking about.

He thought for a moment, then said, “If she’s still there, then of course I will.”

Shen Yi looked at him.

The orange lamplight fell into her eyes, flickered once, then was blinked away.

“So devoted to old ties.”

She hummed playfully, then turned and entered the inn.

The next morning, the group continued their journey.

Shen Yi still joked and chatted with Xu Ning as usual, only occasionally, when Green Pond Town came up, she would glance at him nonchalantly.

Luo Zhao took the lead in planning the route and arranged everything thoroughly.

But the further southeast they traveled, the more desolate the relay stations and villages along the way became.

By the fourth day, large stretches of medicinal fields began to appear on both sides of the main road.

The fields were flat and neat, rows upon rows stretching into the distance.

Occasionally, someone in the fields would straighten up while weeding, hearing the sound of carts and horses, but they would quickly lower their heads again.

Liu Manqing sat inside the carriage, looking at the medicinal fields outside, and said softly, “We’re almost at Qingwu Medicine Garden.”

No one responded.

Sun Buping rode his horse beside the carriage, his gaze fixed on the mountain hollow in the distance, the reins in his hand gripped tightly.

Luo Zhao’s carriage stopped ahead.

He lifted the curtain and said with a smile, “About a dozen more li, and we’ll reach Qingwu Village.”

“The medicine garden is behind the village. We should arrive before dark today.”

Just before dusk, the group finally saw the boundary marker outside Qingwu Village.

The marker stood beside the main road, with the two characters “Qingwu” carved into its bluish-gray stone face.

The engravings weren’t deep, clearly worn away by wind and rain over many years.

Behind the marker stretched a medicinal field.

Shen Yi reined in the carriage.

“We’re here.”

Xu Ning lifted the curtain and got out with the others.

The moment his foot touched the edge of the field, his brow furrowed.

The wind blew over from the medicinal field.

There was no fresh, clean scent of ordinary vegetation.

The spiritual power inside his body suddenly trembled.

He instinctively looked up at the neatly arranged field.

The Qingwu grass in the field bent low with the wind, like waves.