An Rui no longer paid any mind to her senior sisters’ teasing and laughter.
She quickly packed away her rouge and eyebrow pencil, made a playful face at them, and hurried down the mountain to find Luo Shuiling.
Pill Peak was quite a distance from Sect Master Peak, but An Rui traveled as fast as she could and still took half an hour. When she reached the base of Sect Master Peak, she straightened her appearance, confirmed everything was in order, then lightly stepped onto the teleportation array. A flash of light appeared, and her figure moved from the base to the summit.
An Rui opened her eyes and looked around.
Senior Sister Luo Shuiling’s residence was still as quiet and elegantly simple as before, yet no one was in sight. She was not anxious, however. In a charming voice she called toward the elegant pavilion where her senior sister lived,
“Senior Sister Luo Shuiling, I’ve come to see you! Come down quickly!”
She was not worried that Luo Shuiling would be absent. A few days earlier she had already notified her senior sister that she would visit today. Senior Sister always took their meetings seriously and would never break their appointment.
“How is it that after four months apart you’ve put on such exquisite makeup? Don’t tell me you’ve met an interesting sweetheart?”
Luo Shuiling’s tone carried a faint trace of helpless gentleness. She descended through the air and gently landed beside An Rui.
“Hehe, even Senior Sister is teasing me now. Where would I find a sweetheart?”
An Rui smiled foolishly. Looking at Luo Shuiling, whom she had not seen for four months, she felt the urge to hug her. Before she could act, however, Luo Shuiling dodged away. Not only did the hug fail, but her own little face suffered instead—Luo Shuiling gently pinched it and refused to let go.
This habit had only started after the two of them had grown close. In the past Luo Shuiling had especially enjoyed kneading An Rui’s slightly plump little face; it felt soft and squishy, wonderfully comfortable to the touch. But as An Rui grew older, that baby fat gradually disappeared, and the feel of her cheeks was nowhere near as good as before.
After a short while Luo Shuiling grew tired of it. She took An Rui’s hand and led her back to sit beneath the osmanthus tree. She brought out clear tea, heated it with spiritual power, and personally steeped a cup for An Rui. Only then did the two begin chatting casually.
Suddenly, An Rui seemed to remember something. She raised her eyes, looked at Luo Shuiling, and asked,
“Senior Sister, has Zhou Yuan come looking for you lately?”
“…Zhou Yuan? He hasn’t come. Why? Did he go to Pill Peak to trouble you?”
Luo Shuiling narrowed her eyes, her tone turning icy. Zhou Yuan was Elder Wang E’s disciple and had always admired her. Ever since they had met, he found all kinds of excuses to visit Sect Master Peak every so often.
Luo Shuiling felt no goodwill toward him and had rejected him both openly and subtly many times, yet Zhou Yuan was like an unkillable cockroach. He kept doing those pointless things, which left her extremely annoyed.
Once, when An Rui had come to find Luo Shuiling and the atmosphere between them was pleasant, Zhou Yuan had appeared again. An Rui could not stand his behavior and argued with him until they nearly came to blows. In the end Luo Shuiling’s face had gone cold as ice and she had driven Zhou Yuan away.
From then on, Zhou Yuan held a grudge against An Rui. Unfortunately for him, she was a genius of Pill Peak, so he had no way to act against her and could only let it go.
“He didn’t come to trouble me. A few days ago he came to the peak asking for several youth-preserving pills meant for women. I guess he wanted to give them to you.”
An Rui thought of it with resentment. She felt not the slightest goodwill toward Zhou Yuan. Setting aside the annoyance his various actions caused Luo Shuiling, the man’s listless appearance alone was enough to make anyone sick.
Logically, cultivators were beings favored by heaven and earth. Even if they were not all incomparably handsome, none should suffer from ailments. Yet Zhou Yuan was somehow balding and did not even realize it. Every time he tried to appear refined and elegant in front of Senior Sister, his true nature showed through and it was utterly nauseating.
Moreover, in all her years of cultivation, An Rui had never seen another cultivator go bald.
“Hah!”
Hearing An Rui’s words, Luo Shuiling let out a cold laugh. Her beautiful face turned as frosty as ice; her loathing for Zhou Yuan had reached its limit.
“If he comes again, I’ll simply cut him down with one sword.”
With that, Luo Shuiling no longer wished to speak of Zhou Yuan; it truly ruined her mood. A faint smile returned to her face as she turned the conversation to An Rui instead.
“Enough about him. Look at you—an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old young lady. Why haven’t you found yourself a handsome Dao Companion yet?”
Luo Shuiling’s question instantly deflated An Rui. Her shoulders slumped and she rested her head lightly on the stone table.
“I wasn’t born as pretty as you, Senior Sister. I don’t want to look.”
Luo Shuiling could not help smiling wryly at An Rui’s words. She knew that An Rui’s ordinary appearance had always been a sore spot for her. Yet aside from looks, An Rui was the fourth disciple of Elder Mu Nan. That status alone was enough to draw the hearts of countless talented young men.
“Why fixate on appearance? Your pill-refining skills are unmatched on Pill Peak. Are you really worried you won’t find a suitable Dao Companion?”
“Ah, I’m not listening, not listening, not listening!”
An Rui pressed both hands over her ears, refusing to hear Luo Shuiling’s words. Although she possessed talent, status, and resources, none of that could change the fact that her looks were plain. Every time she looked at the beautiful senior sisters in her peak, a trace of sourness rose in her heart. Why were all the senior sisters prettier than her? It had practically become an obsession.
Although bone-shifting could alter one’s appearance, it was ultimately an external force. Once spiritual power dissipated, the bones would return to their original positions, so the change was never permanent. Besides, she wanted something more natural.
“All right, all right, we won’t talk about it.”
Seeing An Rui throw such a tantrum, Luo Shuiling felt helpless and dropped the subject. Only then did An Rui cheer up again, and the two continued chatting for a while.
Until a strange scent slowly drifted over.
An Rui twitched her nose and sniffed lightly. For a moment she could not identify it, yet she was certain it was the aroma of some kind of medicinal herb.
Her expression turned somewhat odd. That shouldn’t be possible. As a pill refiner, she spent far more time handling herbs than cultivating; how could she fail to recognize this scent?
An Rui looked strangely at Luo Shuiling, puzzled.
“Senior Sister, are you hiding some treasure in your pavilion? I can smell it.”
“Treasure?”
Luo Shuiling was taken aback. What treasure did she have? She shook her head, denying An Rui’s question.
But to An Rui the gesture looked as if her senior sister was being stingy and unwilling to show her the treasure. She felt a little不满 and spoke with a trace of mock resentment.
“Hmph. After four months apart, Senior Sister doesn’t even trust her little sister anymore. If you have a treasure, just keep it hidden and don’t show me.”
Watching An Rui suddenly turn sarcastic, Luo Shuiling felt helpless. She truly had no treasure. If she had to name one, it would only be the Northern Cold Nether Ice inside her sea of qi.
But An Rui could not possibly smell the Nether Ice in her sea of qi; it was completely sealed off.
“I really don’t have anything. If you don’t believe me, go search my pavilion. If you actually find a treasure, I’ll give it to you.”
“You said it yourself, Senior Sister! Don’t feel bad or regret it when I dig it up!”
Before Luo Shuiling could reply, An Rui hurriedly ran into the pavilion. Luo Shuiling could only smile wryly. She really had no treasure; An Rui was simply guessing wildly.
She continued sipping her tea. An Rui’s arrival had temporarily pushed Yun Hao’s matter out of her mind, and her mood improved noticeably for once.
A moment later, a loud cry of surprise came from inside the pavilion.
“Clear Mist Flower! Senior Sister, you said you weren’t hiding any treasure, yet look what I found!”
An Rui jumped straight out of the pavilion, holding a potted azure-purple flower. The moment Luo Shuiling saw it, her pupils contracted sharply and her heart sank. She thought of Yun Hao, who still had not returned.
Today was already the fourth day… and he still had not come back…
An Rui placed the Clear Mist Flower in front of Luo Shuiling. Her eyes remained fixed on the bloom, filled with envy and earnest longing.
“Senior Sister, where did you find such a Clear Mist Flower?!”
“……….”
Seeing that Luo Shuiling did not respond, An Rui reluctantly tore her gaze from the flower and looked at her senior sister. She found her lost in thought. An Rui no longer cared about anything else. The Clear Mist Flower was a fatal temptation for her—or rather, for any woman. Noticing that Luo Shuiling was still somewhat distracted, she began scheming.
Senior Sister is already so beautiful; she definitely has no use for this Clear Mist Flower. If I beg her nicely, maybe she’ll give it to me.
“Senior Sister, my dear Senior Sister.”
An Rui’s voice suddenly turned sweet as honey, sticky and thick. Forgetting all dignity, she sat cross-legged on the ground and tugged hard at Luo Shuiling’s right arm, looking exactly like a little rascal.
“Senior Sister, could you give this Clear Mist Flower to me? Please? I’ll trade you anything you want!”
Luo Shuiling did not answer An Rui’s plea. She simply stared blankly at the Clear Mist Flower. The scene from a few days ago seemed to appear before her eyes—Yun Hao’s shy, flushed face as he presented her with the flower. It felt as if she could reach out and touch that scorching warmth.
Yet An Rui’s constant voice in her ear reminded her that it was all an illusion. Yun Hao had already been gone for four days. He had clearly promised to return within two hours, yet today was already the fourth day and he still had not appeared.
Yun Hao’s words from that night echoed in her mind.
“I think it suits Senior Sister perfectly… just as… beautiful… and noble.”
Luo Shuiling suddenly felt a trace of irony. He had only just given her the Clear Mist Flower, saying how beautiful and noble it was, then immediately thrown himself into little junior sister Lin Shengyu’s arms and forgotten all about time.
And for one brief moment she had truly felt joy and even considered how to reward him.
She stared dazedly at the Clear Mist Flower and felt that the bloom looked somewhat withered.
An inexplicable sourness and bitterness swelled in her heart. Then the flames of anger slowly rekindled. Hah! So what if it was a Clear Mist Flower? She, Luo Shuiling, had seen every kind of treasure. It was only a flower—she did not care for it at all!
Her heart was hard.
“It’s fine. If you like it, take it!”
An Rui was momentarily stunned. She had barely begun begging and Senior Sister was really giving it to her? Her voice trembled with excitement and disbelief as she stammered,
“S-Senior Sister, you’re really giving it to me?”
“I’m giving it to you.”
Luo Shuiling nodded indifferently.
Hearing this, An Rui no longer had any interest in chatting. She hurriedly and carefully protected the Clear Mist Flower, then, afraid Luo Shuiling might change her mind, hugged it to her chest and left with an excuse. She bounded away, her delight so obvious that even people far away could sense it.
Halfway down the path An Rui seemed to remember something. She turned back, placed every spiritual pill and herb from her token onto the stone table, bid Luo Shuiling farewell, and happily returned to Pill Peak.
…………
Sect Master Peak became empty once more, as if the earlier liveliness had been nothing but an illusion… Luo Shuiling looked at the spiritual pills and herbs on the stone table and felt her heart hollow, as though something had been pulled out of her. An inexplicable pain throbbed inside.
A moment later she calmed down somewhat and felt annoyed that she had given the Clear Mist Flower away so thoughtlessly. But her pride would not allow her to ask An Rui to return it.
Perhaps I was a little impulsive.
But that Clear Mist Flower will serve a better purpose with Junior Sister than it would with me. It doesn’t matter.
She kept finding reasons to comfort herself, hoping to ease the emotions in her heart. Yet no one understood her better than herself—she knew the truth.
It seemed… there was a trace of regret…