Chapter 16

Xie Qingrang wrapped an arm around Yin Xianyu and forced her hand down.

A thin sheen of sweat had broken out at the tip of Yin Xianyu’s nose. “Senior Sister, I don’t have time to play games with you. Stop blocking me.”

Xie Qingrang curved her lips, and at last, a smile spread across her face. “If I let you do everything, then what use is Senior Sister?”

Her spiritual power surged violently, her cultivation climbing higher and higher. Yin Xianyu watched helplessly as she broke through the restraints of the formations in Xuanxu Realm and forced her way to the Nascent Soul stage.

The pressure around them was so overwhelming that she almost wanted to kneel on the spot, but Xie Qingrang had her in her arms, so she could only cling to her.

The artifact spirit let out a shrill howl, its roar full of disbelief. “You’re insane! This will damage your body too!”

Yin Xianyu didn’t hear the rest. Those sounds scattered under the sword light.

Her ears rang a little; only after a long while could she make out sounds from the outside world.

The turtle shell in front of Yin Xianyu had already vanished. Around them stretched an endless expanse of darkness, with faint glimmers of treasure light flashing within it.

The entire treasury built by the artifact spirit had actually been destroyed; that wildly arrogant voice from a moment ago could no longer be heard either.

Xie Qingrang stood in that darkness. The bells around her body cast a faint halo of light; her gaze was still as water, like a hidden cold pool, looking at her with such chill that it made one’s heart tremble.

Blood had smeared the corner of Xie Qingrang’s mouth. Chiling was tightly gripped in her hand, and the aura around her was icy to the extreme, making Yin Xianyu look at her with great alarm.

Xie Qingrang’s figure swayed slightly. Seeing this, Yin Xianyu immediately moved forward to support her.

But Xie Qingrang swept her sleeve and quietly kept her at a distance. Yin Xianyu couldn’t help blurting out, “Senior Sister, are you all right? Can I help steady you?”

Xie Qingrang only said indifferently, “No need.”

She had returned to the same coldness she’d shown when they first met. Yin Xianyu didn’t know what was wrong with her; she had clearly been fine just now.

She even suspected she had heard wrong. That clearly protective, caring sentence didn’t sound like something Xie Qingrang would ever say.

She stepped forward again, only to be subtly avoided once more by Xie Qingrang, who swept her robe and collected all the scattered magical treasures into her sleeves.

In just a few breaths, her posture was straight as a green bamboo; there was no trace left of the dejected look from before. Only then did Yin Xianyu finally let out a sigh of relief.

She had been worried that Xie Qingrang’s spiritual power had been drained too heavily; there was absolutely no way to get out of the treasury without exhausting every last bit of it.

Now that she saw Xie Qingrang was fine, she no longer insisted on protecting her.

Xie Qingrang stood with her back to her and heard the silence behind her. For a moment, her mood actually turned a little stifled. While swallowing pills so Yin Xianyu wouldn’t see, she kept paying attention to the movement behind her.

Why wasn’t she asking again like before? At the same time, Xie Qingrang felt she might be overthinking it.

At last, Yin Xianyu spoke. The corners of Xie Qingrang’s mouth lifted unconsciously, only to hear her say, “Senior Sister, should we go find the others now?”

The smile on Xie Qingrang’s lips faded. Without turning around, she answered with a low hum. Yin Xianyu only felt her speed pick up; even though her body was uncomfortable, she still followed quickly behind.

The two of them came once more to the earthen layer. With the turtle shell’s protection gone, they passed through it with ease.

They burst out of the earth and reached the upper level, where they immediately ran into that huge worm that had just chased them down.

It had been sleeping soundly. The two of them woke it in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, its bloody maw was already snapping down toward Xie Qingrang. The attack came so fast that she seemed unable to dodge.

Yin Xianyu drew her sword and erupted upward in one burst, cutting the worm cleanly in half.

But the worm did not die. Split into two pieces, it kept writhing, burrowing into the ground and disappearing.

Yin Xianyu hurriedly checked whether Xie Qingrang had been injured. She only saw that her face was even paler than usual, with almost no color left at all.

Yin Xianyu circled her anxiously and asked urgently, “Senior Sister, are you all right?”

When Xie Qingrang didn’t answer, Yin Xianyu grew so anxious she almost reached out on instinct, then remembered Xie Qingrang’s earlier resistance and froze.

Her hand under her wide sleeve clenched tightly. In the end, impulse won over reason; she quickly took Xie Qingrang’s hand. “Senior Sister, let’s do it like before. I’ll lead you, all right?”

Xie Qingrang seemed to have been burned. She abruptly snatched her hand back. Under Yin Xianyu’s blank, shocked gaze, she tightly pinched the scar at the joint of her finger.

There, the pain was burning hot, as if it wanted to scorch straight through her entire body.

When there was affection, this wound hurt as though bones and heart were being gnawed apart. She didn’t know why, only that she wanted to leave this scene before her so she could ease the pain for a moment.

“Yin Xianyu.”

“I’m here, Senior Sister. What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

“Do not call this honored one Senior Sister.”

Yin Xianyu fidgeted helplessly with the fingers hidden behind her back. She raised her head again; tears seemed to glimmer in her eyes, but she bit her lip and lifted her chin, refusing to let them fall.

She didn’t understand why Xie Qingrang was saying this. Did she want her to call her Immortal Lord Qingrang like those other people did?

“Why?”

“Did I do something wrong? I was only worried about you. If even that counts as my mistake…”

She thought of Xie Qingrang’s cold temperament in the past, how she had never been close to the sect master or the other Senior Sisters and Senior Brothers, and how only she had been able to exchange a few words with her. In the past, she had not been this unfeeling; now it truly made Yin Xianyu sad and chilled her heart.

The pain in Yin Xianyu’s chest was unbearable. At last, tears still fell.

That tear seemed like a heavy hammer striking Xie Qingrang’s heart. A scene from many years ago overlapped with what was before her eyes. The pain at the wound grew sharper and clearer, and Xie Qingrang only felt the suppression within the realm and the spiritual power in her body, not yet fully cooled, clash with each other, leaving her whole body burning with pain.

She endured it with all her might; even the corners of her forehead were damp with sweat, and a faint flush had risen beneath her eyes. She forced herself to bear it, not wanting to collapse just like that.

Yin Xianyu felt that the person in front of her was terribly wrong. Enduring her grievance, she stepped forward again, though this time she no longer dared approach Xie Qingrang; she only stood at some distance away. “Are you hurt? Imm—Immortal Lord, I feel like you’re very uncomfortable.”

She wasn’t used to such a form of address and stumbled over the words. Xie Qingrang’s eyes flickered with a trace of pain, and Yin Xianyu immediately rushed up to support her.

Her usually soft, cool skin was now frighteningly hot. Yin Xianyu was startled by the heat and at a loss, but she still refused to let go; she held Xie Qingrang in a death grip and carried her onto the surface.

Heavy breathing came from Xie Qingrang’s ear. The two of them had spent too much spiritual power, and only when they needed replenishment did Yin Xianyu stop and place her in a fairly open stretch of forest.

Yin Xianyu had never seen Xie Qingrang this weak before. She was swaying unsteadily, barely supported by Chiling, leaning crookedly against her.

In Yin Xianyu’s impression, Xie Qingrang had always been the backbone of everyone in the sect; as long as the sect master was fine, she would never be in trouble. But the fragile person before her was also her.

Xie Qingrang had her own stubbornness and refused to put all her weight on Yin Xianyu. Helpless, Yin Xianyu could only set her down first.

She took out the mustard-seed bag Bo Wenyu had given her earlier, then removed a pill of condensed spiritual power and brought it to Xie Qingrang’s lips.

Xie Qingrang turned her face away, actually refusing her kindness.

Yin Xianyu frowned. “I really didn’t know you were like this. If something feels wrong, you won’t say it; even a spiritual-replenishing pill won’t go down.”

Xie Qingrang even seemed to want to move farther away from her. Being so close made her feel a wave of heat as well; right now she didn’t need more spiritual power, but there was instead an urgent force inside her that needed to be released.

Because she had forcefully broken through her realm and was now suffering backlash under the suppression of Xuanxu Realm, her body was exceedingly weak; she had absolutely no ability to contend with Yin Xianyu.

But clearly Yin Xianyu was no bully. She wouldn’t force her; she only coaxed her patiently.

She herself was feeling a little unwell too, but she still kept looking after Xie Qingrang. She didn’t want Senior Sister to have an accident.

At least if Senior Sister was fine, then she would be fine too; but with her sea of consciousness empty of spiritual energy, she felt she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

“No matter what, don’t joke with your own body.”

Frowning through her endurance, she felt the surrounding spiritual energy seem to want to enter her body and melt her whole person into a part of this forest sea. Only then did Yin Xianyu finally realize how terrifying this forest sea was.

Everyone had overlooked the danger within it. Once greed arose and one tried to replenish their spiritual power, all the spiritual energy in this forest sea would instantly converge within their body and swell them until they burst apart.

Seeing that Xie Qingrang still refused to swallow the condensed spiritual pill, Yin Xianyu could no longer hold out. Her vision began to blur in waves. She wanted to swallow the pill herself, but a bout of dizziness struck, and she actually toppled straight over.

Xie Qingrang caught her almost reflexively. Only then did she see that Yin Xianyu’s face had become even paler, as if she were already half unconscious.

She immediately fed the condensed spiritual pill into Yin Xianyu’s mouth. The pill melted the moment it entered, but the person still did not wake.

Frowning through the pain, Xie Qingrang lightly touched Yin Xianyu’s hand. Their divine senses connected in an instant, and her somewhat weakened nascent spirit entered Yin Xianyu’s sea of consciousness.

It was no longer a place of peace. Wild, unruly spiritual power churned and raged through the sea of consciousness; the spiritual energy that had previously been held in check was now wildly surging about in Yin Xianyu’s sea of consciousness, as if it were about to break through this whole world.

Xie Qingrang was nearly injured by it. Her nascent spirit was now extremely fragile, and she could only withdraw first.

Right now, Yin Xianyu was like a bomb without a trigger mechanism; one mistake could make her explode.

Xie Qingrang felt some regret. She tried to refine the spiritual power within her body, then guide it gently into Yin Xianyu’s sea of consciousness to suppress the chaos there.

However, this was also the first time she had done such a thing; she had no experience and did not know whether this unknown thread of spiritual power could pull Yin Xianyu back from danger.

Still, there was no better way right now. Xie Qingrang took her hand and lowered her head, seeing the scar that seemed to have gained a new wound.

Closing her eyes, she sent that strand of spiritual power through her divine sense.

Yin Xianyu’s eyes flew open at once, her damp gaze fixed on her without blinking.

Xie Qingrang felt the scorching pain lessen considerably, and at last she was able to speak.

Her voice was somewhat hoarse. “Are you all right?”

Yin Xianyu’s memories were in complete chaos. Her head felt as though it were about to split open, but the person before her made her feel incredibly at ease. No matter how much she had pushed her away before, at the critical moment she was still worried about her.

Yin Xianyu shook her head, her voice very soft, and as if by instinct she called out, “Senior Sister.”

The fire that had just cooled down flared up again in an instant, as if it wanted to burn away even her reason.

Yin Xianyu felt the person before her pull her into her arms at once. Every word was spoken with the utmost restraint; heat, together with the fragrance of orchids, brushed against her ear, as though this were a dream.

“You called me what?”

“Senior Sister.”

“Mm…”

Yin Xianyu felt a warm, soft kiss land on the side of her neck. The spiritual energy in her sea of consciousness exploded like fireworks, and she lost consciousness.