Dan Peak, small pavilion in the back mountain.
“Wujian powder, wood vine flower. Twenty grams of the former, half a stalk of the latter.”
With her long hair loose, collar slightly open, and sitting cross-legged barefoot, Xia Liu gave instructions in a languid tone.
A rune glowed faintly in her palm, flickering between bright and dim.
Beside her, the blue-robed girl who heard the command stood up.
She retrieved two small bottles from the nearby shelf and placed them next to Xia Liu.
Xia Liu raised her hand slightly, causing the small bottles to float in the air.
She carefully sensed their contents with her spiritual power.
After confirming they were correct, she tossed the ingredients into the pill furnace in front of her.
The blue-robed girl watched for a while.
Seeing she was no longer needed, she returned to her original seat and stared intently at the flames inside the pill furnace, silent as a doll.
Hmm. Not only did she look like a doll—she was actually quite a beautiful one.
Xia Liu yawned.
Even in the middle of the boring and tedious process of controlling the fire for pill refinement, she could not help letting her thoughts wander.
She propped her cheek on one hand resting on her knee and spoke without turning her head.
“Senior Sister, you’ve already been hiding here with me for two days. Are you really planning to stay hidden until the day the tempering trip begins?”
The doll-like girl silently raised her head and nodded.
It had been three days since the duel.
During these three days, the usual peace of Qingyun Sect had been replaced by a wave of commotion.
Almost all the disciples were tirelessly discussing one person’s name over meals and in their free time—Su Zhan.
Cultivators admired the strong, and Su Zhan had long been promoted by the sect as a genius.
However, before that day’s duel, people had simply taken it as the elders exaggerating to encourage the younger generation.
No one had any real impression of this genius senior sister.
Moreover, Su Zhan rarely made public appearances, and her behavior bore no resemblance to those famous prodigies.
Seeing is believing, while hearing is not.
Many had even begun doubting whether the rumors about Su Zhan were true.
But after the duel that day, all doubts vanished.
Not only that, through word of mouth, many strange and bizarre rumors began spreading among the disciples.
For example, being defeated by the cold senior sister would let one enjoy her gentle lap pillow.
Or that getting accidentally injured while sparring with the cold senior sister would earn them her care and a princess carry.
There were even claims that if you could block a single strike from the cold senior sister, you could become her one-day Dao companion!
Because of all these ridiculous rumors, Su Zhan received a flood of love… challenge letters the day after the duel.
The usually quiet Casual Peak was swarmed by wave after wave of disciples wanting to become Lin Wan’er’s disciples.
This forced Lin Wan’er, who had been enjoying a relaxed life, to use closed-door cultivation as an excuse to turn away visitors.
To quell the chaos she had caused, Su Zhan had originally wanted to drag Ning Yao out for another match and deliberately lose to her.
However, after that day’s duel, Ning Yao had been greatly stimulated.
She shouted something like “Su Blockhead, just you wait! I’ll come back for revenge!” and immediately went into seclusion on Little Cang Peak.
Thus, Su Zhan—who would be surrounded wherever she went—had no choice but to hide on Dan Peak, a place ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter, and take refuge in Xia Liu’s small pavilion to finally enjoy some peace and quiet.
“But simply hiding here with me isn’t a long-term solution either.”
Xia Liu moved gently as she extinguished the fire in the pill furnace.
Soon, the small pavilion was filled with the rich fragrance of medicine.
She lifted the fire lid, took out the newly formed pills, pinched one between her fingers to examine it, then casually tossed it toward Su Zhan.
Su Zhan looked up, caught the pill with her palm, placed it into a small empty bottle, and set it aside.
“So, what does Senior Sister plan to do next?” Xia Liu said with a weary expression.
“If someone discovers this, people might start saying I’m hiding a beauty in my golden house.”
“I don’t know…”
Su Zhan stared blankly out the window. She really could not figure out where all those strange rumors had come from.
One-day Dao companion… She was still worrying about who her love tribulation target even was!
“It would be great if I could drag Fourth Junior Sister out and give her a good beating to vent my anger. These past few days I’ve felt like a thief every time I go to the cafeteria to get food,” Xia Liu sighed.
In her opinion, Ning Yao was the root of all this trouble.
If she hadn’t insisted on dueling Su Zhan, they would not be in this mess.
Her sleep had been terrible these past few days. She already stayed up late refining pills often.
Whenever she tried to nap from exhaustion, she would wake up in a daze to see a figure meditating by the bed. It was terrifying.
Moreover, her small pavilion was packed full of spiritual herbs and pill furnaces. There was only one small bed for resting.
Even if Su Zhan did not want to disturb her, there was nowhere else to stay.
As for sleeping together with Su Zhan… she did not even consider that option.
She did not want to fuel any gossip.
“How many days until the tempering trip starts?” Xia Liu asked.
“After today, there should be two more days,” Su Zhan sighed.
“Normally when I refine pills, time flies by—one furnace can take an entire day. But these past few days have felt like years,” Xia Liu sighed as well.
She had been refining pills these days not for cultivation progress, but to kill time.
The success rate had been depressingly low, wasting both spiritual power and the precious herbs she had painstakingly gathered.
Therefore, after finally producing some successful pills, Xia Liu lost all interest in continuing and simply sat staring at Su Zhan.
“Sorry, it’s my fault.”
Hearing Xia Liu’s sigh, Su Zhan felt a little embarrassed.
After all, in the original story, Xia Liu was someone who preferred solitude.
Sharing the same roof must have been very uncomfortable for her.
She had considered seeking refuge with other senior or junior sisters, but Second Senior Sister’s place had too many people, she could not find First Senior Sister, and she did not want to approach Yun Li on her own.
After thinking it over, this was the only place left.
“It’s quite strange. First Senior Sister has sparred with others before, but she never caused this kind of situation.”
Xia Liu scratched her hair, muttering in confusion.
“Could it be that the current disciples all prefer the cold senior sister type now, and First Senior Sister’s gentle persona is no longer popular?”
“But even if I tried to imitate First Senior Sister’s style now, I’m afraid it would be too late,” Su Zhan said helplessly.
“Yeah. First Senior Sister usually focuses on defending and guiding her opponents during spars. Unlike you, Senior Sister Su, who immediately looks for openings and ends the fight in one strike.”
Xia Liu’s tone was listless.
She found it incomprehensible that Su Zhan’s merciless, no-holds-barred fighting style was actually being praised and sought after.
Fights like this would probably only appeal to masochists and stubborn people.
Normal people should prefer one-on-one guidance, since that is how you actually learn real skills.
What good was being defeated in one blow other than hurting your self-esteem and making you lose all motivation to cultivate?
Would it make someone feel humiliated and train harder out of spite?
Hm, come to think of it, Fourth Junior Sister Ning seemed to think exactly like that…
In the end, Xia Liu reached this conclusion: Ning Yao really should be dragged out from Little Cang Peak and given a thorough beating.
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