Chapter 8

She had offered her heart so earnestly that, back then, Xie Qingrang had truly been tormented by her to the point of having nowhere to turn.

Xie Qingrang was cold by nature and distant by temperament; she did not easily warm to other people. Her parents were practically strangers to her, her friends were only nodding acquaintances, and her ties with her fellow disciples were thin.

Only this junior sister from the same sect had clung to her from the moment she entered the sect. At first, Xie Qingrang had simply remained polite and turned her down a few times, but Yin Xianyu still followed after her.

Seeing that she was fairly capable, Xie Qingrang had reluctantly allowed her to take up some of her spare time for sword practice and sparring.

But Yin Xianyu seemed tireless. She was good to Xie Qingrang, and perhaps to their fellow disciples as well, as if she had endless warmth to give.

She became one of the few people Xie Qingrang could actually talk to; that was all.

But a heart that had been given could not stay warm forever. After the sect fell apart, the lively, innocent Yin Xianyu from before vanished as well.

She no longer relied on Xie Qingrang, became quiet and unreadable, and turned into someone as unfamiliar to Xie Qingrang as Xie Qingrang had always been to others.

It was as if she had sealed herself away. Aside from cultivation, there was only cultivation; she pushed herself far too hard and no longer had anything to do with Xie Qingrang.

It seemed that in a single night, she was no longer the old Yin Xianyu. She had nowhere else to turn, so she confronted Xie Qingrang and accused her of this being her sect too, of being someone the sect had raised with painstaking effort. And yet when disaster struck, how could she stand by so coldly? In the end, all that remained in her eyes was hatred for Xie Qingrang.

Xie Qingrang remained as she always had; perhaps it made no difference to her whether there was one more person at her side or one fewer.

Her path of cultivation became even smoother. The Heartless Dao severed feeling and desire; all her emotions were withdrawn and hidden from then on, and her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, with no obstacles at all.

She paid less and less attention to Yin Xianyu and concentrated on herself, but somewhere deep inside her, there was always some indescribable feeling tugging at her thoughts. Whenever that happened, Yin Xianyu’s complicated eyes and lonely back would surface in her mind.

Now that feeling surged up again, and for a moment she could not tell whether it was an inner demon or something else.

Xie Qingrang was at a loss for words. Looking at Yin Xianyu, who was exactly the same as before, she felt that old helplessness again.

After a long pause, she only managed to force out two words: “Impudent!”

Yin Xianyu looked at her in utter confusion, seemingly unable to understand why she had suddenly become angry.

“Senior Sister?”

“You are not allowed to call me that.”

Yin Xianyu only grew more bewildered. After hesitating for a moment, she said awkwardly, “Qing, Qingrang?”

Xie Qingrang: ...

Yin Xianyu looked at her with such sincerity that she seemed to think Xie Qingrang had silently agreed. She moved closer and reached out as if to take her hand, only for Xie Qingrang to dodge her. Xie Qingrang was rarely ever angry, so Yin Xianyu truly had no idea what was going on.

She could only carefully cradle her divine sense and look at Xie Qingrang expectantly.

Xie Qingrang seemed to have been angered by her. She closed her eyes briefly, turned her face away, and no longer looked at her directly. “You and I are not dual cultivators. Why are you doing this?”

Doing something so intimate with her.

Yin Xianyu immediately understood what Xie Qingrang meant. Her lips parted slightly, but she did not know where to start explaining. The flush on her face spread all the way to the roots of her neck. “Senior Sister, you’ve misunderstood me. I just want us to advance and retreat together. If your primordial spirit leaves your body, at the very least I can protect you a little. That isn’t what I meant.”

She had not expected Xie Qingrang to say something like that. In her memory, Xie Qingrang was not the sort of person who cared about such things. What had she forgotten? Why was Xie Qingrang different from before?

She held her divine sense, not knowing what to do, when Xie Qingrang suddenly spoke again. Her voice was cold and clear, but the words struck her heart like icy blades: “Yin Xianyu, do you know what you’re doing? Who taught you to do this?”

Her breath caught. She looked up in bewilderment and shock. “What? Am I an idiot? I know exactly what’s wrong with you. If you look down on me, you don’t have to talk to me like that.”

Did this need anyone to teach it? She had thought it through carefully before doing this, simply because their fellow disciples shared deep bonds; naturally, no outsider could compare.

Xie Qingrang pressed her lips together, her gaze toward Yin Xianyu extremely complicated.

Yin Xianyu only felt heartbroken; tears almost shamefully welled in her eyes. She bit her lip and held them back, both hands unconsciously clenching. Even the originally white divine sense in her palms faintly tinged pink, as if she were truly furious.

But she still refused to give up, staring stubbornly at Xie Qingrang. It was as if, if Xie Qingrang refused, Yin Xianyu would never put her hands down.

Xie Qingrang flicked her sword fingers, and in an instant the sky brightened. The Purple Leaf Bottle was taken back into her possession. Yin Xianyu had not been prepared at all and instinctively grabbed Xie Qingrang’s sleeve, pressing tightly against her.

Looking up, she saw the tips of Xie Qingrang’s beautiful ears faintly pink. The dao robe spread out in an instant, and the desolate surroundings enclosed the two of them at once.

Xie Qingrang controlled her sword to come to a steady stop. Only then did Yin Xianyu loosen her grip on her hand. Xie Qingrang extended a hand with distinct knuckles, holding it out in front of Yin Xianyu.

Yin Xianyu glanced at her, then cautiously and in disbelief reached out. Before, whenever Xie Qingrang refused something, she would never mention it a second time. Yet for some reason, this time she had unexpectedly agreed.

Before Yin Xianyu could ask, Xie Qingrang said, “Since that’s the case, in the Xuanxu Realm you must obey me at all times. Understood?”

Yin Xianyu nodded repeatedly. She did not care what Xie Qingrang said; the urgent matter was to connect the two of their divine senses. That way, not only could they share spiritual power, they could also communicate with each other without sending their voices across a thousand miles.

Only, this was her first time forming a divine-sense bond with someone, and she did not know how.

The thin strands of spirit silk trembled weakly at her knuckles; this was because her divine sense was unstable. She had never once considered forming such a bond with anyone, so she knew pitifully little about it.

She could only look to Xie Qingrang for help.

That placid, untroubled gaze finally stirred. Xie Qingrang pressed her lips together and asked again, “Have you really thought this through?”

Yin Xianyu nodded. She did not think there was anything wrong with it. She knew this choice had to be made with extreme caution, but before this, she had never thought about forming a bond with anyone else. If the other person was Xie Qingrang, then it was fine.

After all, Senior Sister would not harm her; at worst, they could undo it later.

Only then did Xie Qingrang raise her index finger. Her divine sense was extremely powerful, completely unlike Yin Xianyu’s fragile spirit threads that broke at the slightest touch. Hers glowed with a layer of golden light, firm and easy to control, as it gently coiled around Yin Xianyu’s divine sense.

The spirit threads were warm as water and gradually fused together.

Yin Xianyu felt a vast sea of consciousness spread out before her. In an instant, she saw Xie Qingrang’s powerful primordial spirit. She hurriedly shut off her perception, but the very next moment a surge of spiritual power flooded her sea of consciousness, making her feel as if she were suspended among the clouds. Her fragile primordial spirit floated upward in one breath.

Yin Xianyu’s legs went weak, and she toppled at once into Xie Qingrang’s arms. Her consciousness was already somewhat blurred, and she could only cry out, “Sorry, Senior Sister, I’m a little unsteady. Is, is this normal?”

A flicker of avoidance crossed Xie Qingrang’s eyes. She swept Yin Xianyu up around the waist, and Yin Xianyu, soft and limp, leaned against her shoulder. Her warm lips brushed the side of Xie Qingrang’s neck, sending a rush of heat up from the touch. Xie Qingrang’s hand tightened, and she simply sat down, pulling Yin Xianyu into her arms.

Yin Xianyu’s awareness grew even fuzzier. Without realizing it, she drew in all the spiritual power toward herself, greedily replenishing the spiritual energy she had failed to obtain before. The spiritual trees around them withered at a rapid pace; centered on her, a vast sea of spiritual power formed, surging toward the two of them like a whirlpool.

In her daze, Yin Xianyu wrapped her arms around Xie Qingrang and murmured on and on, “Senior Sister, I, I...”

Her soft, gentle voice itched at the heart. Xie Qingrang only felt the restless thoughts in her own mind grow stronger; Yin Xianyu’s cold expression kept flashing through her head.

That look of disgust and ruthlessness she had once turned on her stood in stark contrast to the person before her now, who relied on her so completely and looked up at her with such trust. For a moment, Xie Qingrang was dazed. Their tightly clasped fingers were intertwined at the knuckles. Unconsciously, Xie Qingrang rubbed them, but Yin Xianyu held on even tighter. A wave of heat rose in Xie Qingrang’s chest, and her primordial spirit trembled within her sea of consciousness; even her Dao heart seemed to quiver.

Xie Qingrang jolted awake at once and severed the spiritual power surging in from the past.

Yin Xianyu had already been thoroughly overwhelmed by the spiritual power and was limply resting in her arms.

“I really am insane.”

She steadied herself. At some point, the Chiling Sword had broken free of her control and was flying madly through the air, slicing the surrounding space formed by the dao robe into fragments.

Star artifacts could be refined into artifact spirits, and a star artifact with an artifact spirit would become even more powerful. Xie Qingrang cultivated the Heartless Dao and had no interest in refining artifact spirits. She disliked relying on outside force, and disliked artifact spirits even more, so the Chiling Sword was the thing that best represented her will.

Xie Qingrang drew in a deep breath, gathered all the stray thoughts in her sea of consciousness, and cut them apart with one sword strike; only then was silence restored.

Yin Xianyu was still sleeping soundly. She had already been completely intoxicated by the vast, gentle spiritual power from before; in her sea of consciousness, the nascent soul continued to condense and finally took on a faint, blurry shape.

After an unknown amount of time, Yin Xianyu woke with a soft sigh. At that moment, she was lying on the kind of spirit-ship she had seen earlier, and the scenery around them had already changed several times; it was no longer the spiritual grove from before.

She sat up, only to realize she could not see Xie Qingrang anywhere.

Yin Xianyu felt spiritual energy brimming within her, and she could also sense Xie Qingrang’s divine sense through the divine-sense web; only, Xie Qingrang had unilaterally isolated Yin Xianyu’s divine sense, so the two of them were currently unable to communicate.

Yin Xianyu knew nothing about what had happened after she passed out. She only felt that she had been extremely comfortable before, and thus knew that Xie Qingrang had poured the spiritual power from her sea of consciousness into her body.

Yin Xianyu felt a little embarrassed. Before forming the bond, she had clearly said that she could help Xie Qingrang, yet after they truly formed the bond, it was Xie Qingrang who had instead nourished her.

Xie Qingrang had already been under such strain, and she had somehow still become her Senior Sister’s burden. Yin Xianyu felt somewhat guilty.

She stepped down from the spirit-bed and walked out of the elegant chamber. Xie Qingrang was meditating in the outer room.

A thin stream of medicinal herbs from the mustard-seed bag flowed slowly into Xie Qingrang’s body. Her face was somewhat pale, and she did not look to be in very good condition.

As soon as Yin Xianyu approached, Xie Qingrang opened her eyes and put away the mustard-seed bag.

Yin Xianyu was uneasy. Lowering her head, she moved to Xie Qingrang’s side. The dao robe she wore seemed to have been changed; a blue-green jade belt drew her back into a straight, upright line.

Yin Xianyu vaguely remembered the feeling of being held by Xie Qingrang; her arms had supported her with great strength. She even suspected it might have been her imagination, but she kept feeling that Xie Qingrang’s cold fingertips might have brushed her hand.

She wanted to confirm it, but could only look at Xie Qingrang’s hand.

Forget it.

Yin Xianyu still remembered what had been said before the bond was formed, so she asked, “Senior Sister, where are we going now?”

Xie Qingrang said, “The Five Elements Land. This is the first level of the current trial. There are checkpoints laid out here by the Ten Immortal Sects, and the rewards are generous. We’ll take those things first, then go look for treasures elsewhere.”

The flow of time inside and outside was different; one day outside was ten days in the Xuanxu Realm, so there was indeed no need to rush off in search of those treasures.

The Ten Immortal Sects had many trials. The Five Elements Land offered the richest rewards, far more than ordinary opportunities.

Everyone competed fairly; each sect contributed a little and let the disciples under their banners fight for the chance. The disciple who obtained that opportunity could be said to have leapt to the heavens in a single step.

Each sect only contributed a little, but when combined, the treasures were still considerable. It was a good way to use a small stake to gain a big reward; after all, everyone was confident that the disciples of their own sect could come out on top.

Yin Xianyu nodded, feeling that Xie Qingrang’s reasoning was very sound. “Then are we going to meet up with the others now? I got separated when I came in. Where is Lingzhan Mountain’s gathering point?”

Xie Qingrang shook her head. “No. It’s just the two of us.”

Yin Xianyu froze, then asked again in disbelief, “Senior Sister, the Five Elements Land was arranged by the Ten Immortal Sects. Just the two of us?”

Xie Qingrang’s gaze was steady, as though she were still asking what exactly Yin Xianyu was worried about. “That’s right.”

Yin Xianyu: ?