Xia Liu pushed open the door to Su Zhan’s room with a melancholic expression on her face.
Before she could close it, Su Zhan vaguely spotted several figures peeking around from behind the door.
“Huh?” Xia Liu let out a soft exclamation as she stepped inside.
“Have you eaten breakfast yet, Junior Sister?”
Su Zhan asked gently.
“I bought some food on the way back. I already shared most of it, but there’s still some left.”
She sat at the small table, lowering her head to rummage through several oil-paper bags laid out on it.
She pulled out a steamed bun and took a bite. The room filled with the rich, oily aroma of meat buns.
Xia Liu stared fixedly at Su Zhan, pursed her lips, and sat down to the side.
Although she accepted the bun Su Zhan handed her, her mind was clearly elsewhere.
“If it doesn’t suit your taste, I also ordered wontons from the shop. They should be delivered soon.”
Su Zhan assumed Xia Liu simply didn’t like the food and didn’t press the matter.
Her own thoughts weren’t here either; she was still pondering what Li Xingyue had said earlier.
Although she knew Li Xingyue was hiding many things, it still shouldn’t have reached the point where people wanted to hunt her down and kill her.
“Senior Sister, you actually wore clothes today.”
While Su Zhan was lost in thought, Xia Liu suddenly spoke up and interrupted her.
Su Zhan looked puzzled. Coming back to her senses, she couldn’t help but frown.
“When have I ever not worn clothes?”
“Ah… no, that was just a slip of the tongue. I misspoke.”
Xia Liu quickly shook her head and tapped her own mouth with her fingertips.
It must have been because she had spent too much time around that troublemaker Ji Xing.
How had she started speaking without thinking as well?
“Ahem, what I meant was, Senior Sister actually wore new clothes for once,” Xia Liu corrected herself.
After all, for the past few years in the sect, Su Zhan had always worn the same set of clothes.
Although it made her look like a cold immortal fairy descended from a heavenly lotus pond, suddenly seeing her in new clothes was quite stunning.
“It’s a long story…” Su Zhan shook her head.
She still felt an uncomfortable tightness in her chest, as if the fabric was squeezing her breasts flat.
There were also some small, unhealed wounds on her lower abdomen and the tops of her thighs.
The friction from the clothing caused a prickling, needle-like pain.
But she didn’t want to tell Xia Liu about the spar or her injuries, afraid the awkwardness from yesterday would repeat itself.
“On the way up the mountain, I wasn’t paying attention and my clothes got torn in some rather unsightly places. So I asked Senior Sister Li to help me find something to wear,” she explained.
“I see.” Xia Liu nodded, showing no suspicion.
“So, Senior Sister, did you gain anything useful from going out this morning?”
She asked while biting into the steamed bun.
“That Heart-Devouring Pill is indeed effective, and the demon seal is very stable. Those monsters probably won’t go on a rampage.”
Su Zhan pondered. With Li Xingyue’s strength, even if the demons showed signs of rampaging, she could suppress them completely with that gravity array of hers.
Moreover, Li Xingyue had been guarding the seal alone for several years now.
She naturally knew far more about the seal than that Senior Su.
As for Senior Su’s worries about the seal, it was probably because of her deep concern.
After all, it was her foster daughter who had to confront those demons, so she was naturally afraid something would go wrong.
“Something like a rampage can’t be determined just by guessing,” Xia Liu puffed out her cheeks, chewing while pouting. She looked a bit like a hamster.
“But since Senior Sister says so, then it should be fine.”
She sighed and gave up on thinking too hard.
After all, Su Zhan was still in the mood to eat steamed buns.
No matter how wooden or slow this Senior Sister was, she wouldn’t joke with their lives.
If there was real danger, she would definitely take them away immediately.
“Mm. For the next few days, tell the junior sisters not to go out for now. I still need to follow up on this matter.”
Su Zhan said softly.
Although she had promised not to press further about the cause, she could still return the clothes as an excuse to observe Li Xingyue suppressing the demons.
If everything truly went smoothly, then continuing the Red Dust Tempering wouldn’t be too late.
Besides… there was still that Senior Su in the city…
Although that Senior Su had a good attitude toward her, she was ultimately a poison cultivator.
These innocent girls who hadn’t seen much of the world were impulsive.
If anything went wrong, it wouldn’t end well. It was better to be careful.
“Of course I know that. From the moment you left, I already prepared for the worst-case scenario.”
Xia Liu snorted.
“I originally thought that Senior Sister Li would fly into a rage after her scheme was exposed, fight you, and you would barely escape, then come back dragging your battered body to tell us to run.”
“…It won’t come to that.” Su Zhan shook her head. “If I encounter danger, I will avoid fighting if possible.”
But… if she didn’t look like this, things might really have turned out the way Xia Liu described.
After all, the people who had previously taken on the commission must have found similar clues and gone to question her, yet none of them had returned safely.
So as for whether Li Xingyue was good or bad, Su Zhan honestly couldn’t tell.
***
Small attic at the mouth of the gourd.
A white cat with snow-white fur gently pushed open the half-closed door with its head and stepped inside unhurriedly.
Inside the room, the old woman sat quietly in a chair with her eyes closed.
Only when the white cat leaped lightly onto her lap did she slowly open her eyes and reach out to stroke the top of its head.
“How did it go?”
She murmured as if asking herself.
Last night, she had placed a wisp of spiritual power on Su Zhan through that wooden box.
Because it was extremely faint, only sensitive creatures like spirit cats could detect it.
Using that wisp of spiritual power, the spirit cat could follow it to locate Fangcun Sect.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Su Zhan. Rather than words, she wanted to know more.
But this greater desire was simply to see that girl’s smiling face once more.
Just one look would be enough.
After all, that girl now walked the righteous path and was not the same as an evil cultivator like her.
The white cat in her arms meowed twice, shook its head, and its narrow eyes flashed with a blue glow.
It spat out a puff of smoke from its mouth.
The smoke rose on its own without any wind in the room, spreading out across the floor and gradually forming an image as if viewed from afar.
In the image was a deserted Taoist temple and, on the empty flat ground, rows of wooden grave markers standing silently.
“12… 13… I see…”
The old woman counted the tombstones silently. Her expression darkened, and she fell silent.
Fangcun Sect currently had only fourteen people in this generation, including elders and disciples.
If thirteen of them had died, then the only one left alive could only be Li Xingyue.
That meant the girl she had waited years for would never come back.
“I thought… you rotten girl had grown tired of this old woman…”
The old woman closed her eyes and remained silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.
Her figure seemed to hunch over even more.
“Dead girl… I would rather you hated me…”
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