Seeking Guidance

Qi Xianqing had been in secluded healing for the past few days.

After thinking it over, she still decided to teach Yan Jue that martial technique, Shuaituo.

After all, most Five Dragons Sect disciples were sword cultivators, and martial arts were not their strong suit.

It had to be said that a frail body and a lack of knowledge about martial arts had always been sore spots for sword cultivators.

Yan Jue was very easy to teach.

She picked up martial arts quickly, and whatever she learned, she could use.

Qi Xianqing had to admit that teaching Yan Jue gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

Besides... back in Nanxing Town, she had helped Yan Jue clear her meridians. In her eyes, Yan Jue already felt somewhat like one of her own.

What Qi Xianqing did not know was that Yan Jue had already guessed she meant to teach her. Qi Xianqing had borrowed a hard-to-understand martial manual from the Library Pavilion and written down her own interpretations on separate paper, unknowingly turning it into several pages of clear, well-organized training notes.

On top of that, with her injuries and the need to recuperate, seven days passed without either of them noticing.

Then she came to the Cold Pool and saw Yan Jue practicing there.

Qi Xianqing had her own thoughts about it; she had originally wanted to see Yan Jue’s look of delight, but instead she saw the girl with tears brimming in her eyes.

“... ”

That seemed... a little too excited.

It was as if learning her martial arts made Yan Jue even happier than seeing her in person.

At that thought, Qi Xianqing suddenly felt something strange stir in her chest.

It was a faint sense of frustration.

She was the chief disciple of the Thunderflame Sect, the face of Five Dragons Mountain, the renowned Lord Meng Heng.

Everyone who saw her was agitated beyond measure; only this person seemed to crave her martial arts, and maybe even a little more than she craved her.

Qi Xianqing asked pointedly, “But I just saw that Junior Sister coughed up blood while practicing. Should we delay it until tomorrow?”

Yan Jue hurriedly: “It was only a couple of mouthfuls of blood. It’s nothing worth mentioning. Senior Sister can teach me now.”

In the cultivation world, coughing up blood was perfectly normal.

More importantly, she was still a fox demon with excellent stamina.

Qi Xianqing looked at her in surprise.

...

If Qi Xianqing taught her, she could go back and work through it slowly on her own.

Yan Jue was worried that if Qi Xianqing left like this, she might not show up again for several more days.

There was no helping it; one of them was in Watercloud Sect and the other in Thunderflame Sect, and she could not stay by Qi Xianqing’s side every day.

Qi Xianqing glanced at Yan Jue a few more times, then first taught her the essentials of Flying Swallow Steps.

If the Five Dragons light-footwork step she had taught last time was the most basic movement technique, then Flying Swallow Steps was a mid-level footwork method.

Yan Jue felt that after learning the Five Dragons light-footwork step, her grasp and understanding of other movement techniques had risen to another level. She silently memorized the mental formula and nodded.

After that came the Shuaituo Qi Xianqing had mentioned.

Shuaituo was the essence of martial arts; once mastered, it could unleash tremendous power.

Qi Xianqing stood with her hands behind her back in front of Yan Jue, her expression cool. “Junior Sister, punch me.”

Punch Qi Xianqing?

Yan Jue steeled herself and threw a fierce punch at Qi Xianqing. In the next instant, her wrist was seized.

Qi Xianqing moved with smooth precision, caught Yan Jue’s wrist, bent slightly at the waist, and with a sudden heave threw Yan Jue out.

Luckily Yan Jue had light-footwork; otherwise that throw would have been extremely embarrassing.

Her body drew a perfect arc through the air, and she flipped once before barely landing by the lakeside.

Too strong.

Just now, she had barely felt Qi Xianqing’s strength at all; it was as if Qi Xianqing had simply used the force of her own punch to throw her.

Qi Xianqing walked over and said lightly, “Did you see clearly?”

Compared with light-footwork, Shuaituo leaned even more toward actual combat. There was no mental formula, no chant; it was just this one movement, relying mainly on one’s own sudden enlightenment.

Yan Jue silently memorized Qi Xianqing’s movement and footwork from just now, then nodded hesitantly.

Qi Xianqing inclined her head. “Then practice it yourself.”

She turned as if to leave, but Yan Jue hurriedly called out to her, “Senior Sister.”

Qi Xianqing stopped and looked back at her, an inexplicable expectation in her eyes.

Yan Jue: “If I master it, can you teach me the next technique?”

Qi Xianqing: “...”

Yan Jue really did want to learn martial arts.

A little greedy, perhaps... but Qi Xianqing was, after all, the only teacher willing to seriously teach her martial arts right now.

And they were about to run off the mountain; naturally, the more she could learn, the better.

After a long silence, Qi Xianqing said coolly, “If you can master this method within seven days, I’ll teach you something else.”

Yan Jue wanted to learn a new technique, and even if she had to throw caution to the wind, she would have to finish learning Shuaituo and Flying Swallow Steps within seven days.

Then she suddenly remembered what had happened just now when she had been practicing the ice-type divine art and almost gone berserk, and quickly said, “Senior Sister, I have something I’d like to ask you.”

Qi Xianqing pressed her lips together. “Go on. What is it?”

Yan Jue asked, “Just now, when I was cultivating the ice-type divine art, it felt as easy as swimming with the current. But then my chest suddenly grew hot, and I coughed up blood. Does Senior Sister know why?”

Qi Xianqing listened with a serious expression, then suddenly stepped forward. Yan Jue’s scalp prickled; she instinctively stepped back, but Qi Xianqing raised a hand and gently rested it against her body. “Don’t move.”

A faint fragrance drifted into Yan Jue’s nose. She had no choice but to stand still, feeling a trace of spiritual power flow from Qi Xianqing’s palm into her body. The hot restlessness inside her gradually eased.

Qi Xianqing: “It’s best to choose a cultivation method from the Library Pavilion and practice that.”

That was true; cultivation was not something one could just improvise. A wrong turn in spiritual energy at any time could lead to qi deviation and madness.

Many of the manuals written by Daoist masters under the Five Dragons Sect were highly logical and well organized; borrowing books directly was clearly the more efficient path.

Yan Jue thought the same and asked, “May I ask what technique Senior Sister recommends?”

She was a dual water-and-earth spiritual root, with her water root far purer than her earth root. She had already reached the Enlightenment Realm, which in the demon race was the Intelligence-Opening Realm.

From either the human or demon perspective, she could already begin cultivating her innate-root divine arts.

But Yan Jue had previously practiced ice-type divine arts and felt that ice arts were more powerful.

Her Summoning Ice Art had also already reached a small degree of mastery.

Yan Jue was a little unsure what she should choose: should she start over with water-root cultivation, or continue down the path of ice-type divine arts?

She told Qi Xianqing what she was thinking.

Qi Xianqing pondered briefly. “An ice spiritual root is a mutation of the dual water-and-earth roots. If your water-and-earth roots can complete that mutation, it’s not impossible to cultivate ice-type divine arts.”

Yan Jue froze. “A spiritual root... can also change after birth? But how can one obtain an ice spiritual root?”

“That is only because you were born with water and earth roots that you have the qualifications to try,” Qi Xianqing said. “Frost Crystal Flower can induce spiritual roots to mutate toward the ice attribute. It grows on Heavenly Frost Cliff and only blooms during the year’s coldest period. Right now, it is already the flowering season.

“Any Water Dragons Sect disciple with a water root or earth root who wishes to spur their spiritual roots to mutate will go try after reaching the Enlightenment Realm.”

After hearing this, Yan Jue could not help but feel a chill.

Her cultivation had already reached the Enlightenment Realm, and Qi Xianqing had long since noticed.

Qi Xianqing continued, “As for your current technique, you should choose one with the most carefully arranged steps and foundations.

“Some techniques are easy to cultivate, but their ceiling is low; you reach the peak very quickly, and then you have to choose a new technique all over again. It’s very troublesome.”

“If it’s an ice-type technique, given your current situation, I recommend Watercloud Sect’s Daoist Sanqing’s ‘Minor Yin Ice Soul Formula.’ Not only is its Five-Element attribute ice, it also carries the Yin of yin-yang. If your spiritual roots truly cannot mutate later on, you can give up on the progress of the Five Elements and instead cultivate the ‘Yin’ aspect.”

After hearing Qi Xianqing’s advice, Yan Jue could not help but curl her lips.

Why did she feel that in front of Qi Xianqing, she was becoming less and less secretive?

But being able to hear an expert’s recommendation still made Yan Jue very happy. She cupped her hands to Qi Xianqing. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

-

Just thinking about mastering Flying Swallow Steps and Shuaituo within seven days gave Yan Jue a headache.

After parting from Qi Xianqing, Yan Jue first went to the Library Pavilion. After some searching, she finally found the Minor Yin Ice Soul Formula that Qi Xianqing had mentioned.

The book was placed at the very back of the shelf, and even the pages had yellowed.

Yan Jue was a little puzzled. How did Qi Xianqing know about such an obscure book?!

Then she took the book back to her room and first reviewed the Flying Swallow Steps Qi Xianqing had taught her.

Because she already had a foundation in light-footwork, she did not find Flying Swallow Steps difficult at all.

But when her eyes moved to the other technique, Shuaituo, her brows immediately drew together.

Yan Jue had also learned Sanda back in modern times, but this martial art, Shuaituo, really was on a completely different level.

So hard... so hard...

.

Before she knew it, night had deepened.

Yan Jue lay on the table and dozed for a while; before long, her body began to shrink.

Thump—

The brush in her hand fell to the floor, startling her awake. She looked down and saw her fluffy paws.

Although the chance of her reverting to her original form now was already much lower than before, it was still possible for her to turn back while sleeping.

It seemed she would have to be even more careful from now on.

Yan Jue leaped onto the table and looked up at the moonlight strewn across the floor. Knowing she no longer felt sleepy, she jumped down again and decided to spend some time at the Cold Pool.

The water at Qingmu Pavilion was warm, but after all, that was a human place.

A little fox had the places meant for a little fox.

Qi Xianqing had not come to the Cold Pool recently; perhaps she really was busy.

After all, she was already more than ten years old, while Yan Jue was still just a little fox baby.

With an expressionless face, Yan Jue wandered along the Cold Pool, and before long she arrived at Frozen Peach Haven.

Then she suddenly heard a faint rustling sound.

She paused slightly.

Someone was in Frozen Peach Haven.

“... ”

Qi Xianqing was actually here tonight.

Yan Jue’s heart shot up into her throat; her two big tails lifted of their own accord, and she tiptoed inside.

Inside Frozen Peach Haven, the peach trees stood in neat rows.

Pale pink petals drifted down, twirling in the air, nearly transparent under the moonlight.

Qi Xianqing held a small ladle in her hand and was watering the peach trees.

Perhaps because it was night, she was dressed very casually in a pale green cloud-patterned gauze robe. A palace sash was loosely tied at her waist, with a light purple pendant hanging from it. Her jet-black hair was pinned up with a hairpin, and she was the very picture of skin like congealed cream, cool and breathtakingly beautiful.

Looking at her back, Yan Jue suddenly felt a bit annoyed.

She felt as if she were some neglected consort in an inner palace; her only daily task was waiting for Qi Xianqing to come to Frozen Peach Haven and find her.

Taking advantage of Qi Xianqing’s lack of attention, Yan Jue suddenly darted forward and slipped straight under the girl’s crotch, intending to give her a fright.

Qi Xianqing stared at the sudden flash of red that appeared before her and could not help but freeze.

The little fox rolled its eyes and turned its back on her.

Qi Xianqing crouched down, spread her arms, and gathered the soft little fox into her embrace, smiling as she said, “Long time no see, Little Fox Baby.”

Hmph.

As if.

Qi Xianqing let her go, finished watering the last peach tree, then crouched again and wrapped an arm around her waist, carrying her toward the room. “I was healing these past few days. When you saw me, you probably weren’t feeling very well either, right? So I didn’t come.”

In the quiet night, the girl’s voice was soft and gentle. She was coaxing her.

Yan Jue instantly understood what Qi Xianqing meant.

Qi Xianqing was an Immortal Spirit Physique; if she had any exposed wounds, the smell of blood would leak out, and that was an invisible temptation to any bird or beast.

And as a dual-tailed fox, she naturally would not feel good either.

Qi Xianqing carried the little fox into the small wooden house, set her on the table, then sat down on the stool in front of it. “Don’t be angry. I brought you some milk cakes.”

She then took a few steaming milk cakes out of her Qiankun bag and fed them to the little fox.

Yan Jue chewed the milk cakes happily, her clear amber eyes quietly fixed on her.

Every time she saw Immortal Lady Qi, there was food.

Qi Xianqing took off her outer robe, revealing a snow-white inner garment beneath it. Her exposed nape was pale and slender.

“Eat slowly; no one’s going to snatch them from you.”

She relaxed in the bamboo chair and took out something from her Qiankun bag.

Yan Jue took one look and saw that it was actually a few little books.

Leaning back in the chair, Qi Xianqing flipped through the pages at random. For a time, the only sound in the quiet room was the rustle of paper.

Yan Jue silently stared at the large characters on the book cover:

*One Pregnancy, Three Treasures: My Cold Master Is Too Good at Spoiling.*

Yan Jue: “...”