Chapter 54

But if that were the reason, one thing didn't quite add up—her disciple's heart was clearly racing whenever they drew close.

Why?

A faint frown creased Yun Shuchen's brow. For a moment, she couldn't quite read her, and she wavered, uncertain.

Qing Zhouxue wasn't looking at her, but her peripheral vision kept leaking a few glances, drifting toward Yun Shuchen. She had always been a person of extremes; if she didn't look, she wouldn't look at all—there was no such thing as a "seeming to look" state for her.

Qing Zhouxue didn't know why she was acting this way. She summoned the grueling perseverance of eleven years of cultivation and, with a mental knife, forcibly carved out the restless part of her heart.

She silently recited the Scripture of Clarity and Tranquility, then shut her eyes.

With her sight blocked, she thought she could shut out all distractions.

But she hadn't expected that the contours of her imagination would become even clearer against the darkness behind her closed lids.

If what her eyes could see could still be controlled, then the stirrings in her heart weren't something she could simply wave away. Instead, they only made the wrinkles crumple deeper.

Sometimes she didn't want to think about it, but a stubborn string seemed to pluck itself over and over in her mind, its resonance lingering.

She frowned slightly, her eyes shut, grappling with this painful resistance. She didn't notice that she'd drifted from the edge of the pool toward the center, until suddenly she lost her balance. Instinctively, she reached out to grab whatever was nearby—anything—

But her hand touched soft skin. Qing Zhouxue knew what it was, and she snatched her hand back as if burned.

Her wrist was seized instead, lifted somewhat out of the water.

"Can you even drown in this shallow pool?"

A soft laugh sounded by her ear. "If this is the case, letting you bathe alone on a normal day must have been a truly dangerous affair."

Qing Zhouxue had indeed swallowed some water. She rubbed the droplets from her lashes, blinking through a blurry haze, until her gaze was drawn to the shoulders of her master, exposed above the water's surface.

Her gaze flickered uneasily. Everywhere she looked was snow-white, and none of it could be held for long. With no other recourse, she lifted her eyes again to meet her master's.

Those eyes, moistened by the mist and carrying a trace of tenderness, struck her directly. The moment they met, Qing Zhouxue's heart pounded, and she felt as if her hands and feet were paralyzed, frozen in place.

They were pressed close in this small space. Yun Shuchen had been uncomfortable at first, but when she finally caught the blush spreading across Qing'er's face, a ripple of satisfaction bloomed in her chest, washing away her discomfort like smoke dispersing.

So she wasn't completely hollow after all. This little wooden beauty was still worth saving.

"Why wouldn't you look at me earlier?"

Qing Zhouxue slowly came back to herself. "I didn't want to offend you, Master. Earlier, when I stared too long on the road, you seemed displeased."

"…" Yun Shuchen felt a headache coming on. She had nearly forgotten that remark herself—how could this girl remember it so clearly?

She felt it was necessary to explain, lest she harbor unexplained disappointment later, overthink it, and ultimately find it both absurd and laughable.

"That's not how it was."

She glanced at her. "Sometimes, when you do certain things, I might not show it on my face, or say it aloud, or I might even speak a few contrary words—but deep down, I'm actually very pleased. Understood?"

So profound?

Qing Zhouxue frowned in astonishment, as if unable to fathom why she was being so roundabout. But since her master's words were always reasonable, she pressed her lower lip and nodded.

Knowing that her master didn't mind such actions, Qing Zhouxue felt a release in her chest. Following her own wishes, she leveled her gaze and looked at her openly, as she usually did.

"Master is very beautiful," she couldn't help but sigh sincerely. For some reason, the more she looked, the more unruly her heartbeat became, much like when she had jumped off that cliff.

Earlier, when her little disciple had been afraid to look at her, Yun Shuchen hadn't thought much of it. But now, swept by that serene gaze, which didn't shift or move, it was she who was truly embarrassed.

This standoff persisted for a while. Yun Shuchen's body grew faintly warm, so warm that she began to regret her actions again. Finally, unable to hold out, she said, "Soaking too long isn't good. You go up first."

Qing Zhouxue hummed in acknowledgment and rose directly from the water, emerging like a white lotus breaking the surface. Yun Shuchen experienced a similar sense of "from then on, I dare not gaze upon Guanyin." Her gaze secretly lowered, fixed on the red rope tied around the girl's ankle, worn and frayed at one spot.

"It's old," Yun Shuchen said. "Shall I get you a new one when we return?"

Qing Zhouxue shook her head. "I'd like to keep this one. I like it a lot."

She had been an ill-fated soul since childhood—perhaps even the heavens didn't care much for her. The first precious blessing she'd received upon entering this world was tied to that red string around her wrist.

*

The next day, they finally left the dense forest.

Qing Zhouxue had been puzzled along the way. They had wandered for quite a while yet hadn't encountered a single living demonic beast. According to the books, secret realms like this were full of opportunities, and some creatures should have multiplied and claimed territories.

But Yun Shuchen told her that today they were heading to snatch a treasure from beneath a flood dragon's belly—it would likely be a fierce battle.

Qing Zhouxue glanced at Yun Shuchen's relaxed expression and was quite certain that the "fierce battle" was relative to herself, not measured by her master's standards.

Unknowingly, they crossed several small hills, until Qing Zhouxue suddenly remembered, "Master, why don't we fly over on our swords?"

Yun Shuchen turned around and smiled. "Flying on a sword would make us miss much of the scenery. Wouldn't that be a pity?"

Indeed, the scenery in this secret realm was exceptional. At the mountain peak, stars glittered brilliantly; walking down the range, one entered a vast forest. At night, some flowers and grasses in the forest emitted a faint blue glow, small and endearing.

After leaving the forest and arriving here, they were met with a meadow connecting sky and earth, where a spread of light purple blooms had burst into full blossom.

Yun Shuchen's lips curved slightly. Facing the wind that blew across the pale purple blossoms, she walked leisurely with her disciple.

The heavy purple softly bowed into a lighter hue, matching her attire for the day remarkably well. No one had been here for ages, so there was no path—they could only slowly thread through the clustered flowers.

Qing Zhouxue squinted against the fragrance wafting toward her and turned to watch Yun Shuchen.

She wore a smoke-purple robe, gliding lightly among the blooms like an immortal of the flowers.

Just as she was thinking this, her hair near her temple suddenly tickled as someone tucked a flower into it, only to pluck it away again, accompanied by a laugh: "So tacky."

Yun Shuchen picked another small flower, lighter in color—like a wisp of cloud in the twilight sky.

This one she gently fastened in place.

Qing Zhouxue tilted her head, and heard her master say with perfect composure, "This one is pretty. Don't pick it off."

Previously, she had thought her master was composed and measured, the image of a mature elder—entirely different from lively girls like Ruan Mingzhu.

But as Qing Zhouxue grew day by day, she occasionally caught a hint of childishness beneath her serene demeanor.

She should have noticed long ago.

Unconsciously, they reached the end of the road. After passing through the flower sea, they met mountains again. A deep pool lay hidden among the towering peaks.

"Is it here?"

"Mm." Yun Shuchen surveyed the surroundings. "At the bottom of this lake once grew a spiritual herb call Tuogu, a plant that cultivators seek diligently to cleanse their marrow. Unfortunately, such a spiritual herb tends to grow in deep pools where spiritual energy is dense, and flood dragons usually coil there, hunting fresh flesh."

"When I came here years ago, it took great effort to pick the herb… I nearly got swallowed into the belly of that dragon."

"Did you come here alone, Master?"

Yun Shuchen sighed softly. "No. But your Grandmaster was extremely lazy—he dragged a chair over and sat on the side, just watching."

At this point, she actually took a rattan chair out of her jade bracelet, set it in a shady nook, and settled into it with great comfort.

Leaning against the armrest, she said, "Back then, I swore that if I ever took a disciple, I would let her experience this very same earthly tribulation."

"Qing'er." She wound a strand of her hair around her finger, her gaze idly fixed on it. "So be careful."

"…"

So it was a tradition of the sect. Qing Zhouxue had no choice but to steel herself, parting the lush vegetation, and look at the deep pool—like a huge blue eye that threatened to swallow her.

She removed her shoes and socks and outer robe, holding the Qingshuang Sword, and inhaled deeply before slowly sinking into the water.

She had tangled with the water dragon, Xuanming, for a long time within her master's Five Elements formation earlier; this kind of task was somewhat familiar to her.

But this pool was too deep, its water more bone-chilling than ordinary. After sinking several zhang, it became so dark that nothing could be seen.

Everything was silent—even the sound of water had vanished, as if all were frozen.

She probed downward by feel, searching the pool bottom for a long time, until she finally spotted a patch of glowing water. A treasure of heaven and earth, of course, would grow differently from common grass; it stood quietly in the silt at the bottom, faint but discernible spiritual energy coiling around it.

However, perhaps because it was naturally meant to live in water, rarely seeing humans, it looked somewhat ferocious without realizing it. Under the dim spiritual glow, its crimson-red branches were covered with jagged thorns, reaching out as if clawing.

Qing Zhouxue first tapped the red branch with the tip of her sword. When nothing reacted, she carefully gripped the thornless section just above the ground and slowly pulled the entire plant from the soil.

The moment the herb was in hand, she surged upward as fast as she could, trying to remain utterly silent. When she finally glimpsed the faint light at the water's surface, she used the Qingshuang Sword to give herself an extra lift and broke through the surface.

The impact sent droplets scattering across the pool.

Slowly, the water began to churn into a massive whirlpool. Qing Zhouxue didn't even pause to catch her breath; she hastily tucked the herb into her dimensional ring and scrambled away from the pool.

A torrential downpour struck, cutting off her escape route. She could barely keep her eyes open. The Qingshuang Sword formed an ice barrier in front of her, but it was soon shattered by the surging currents.

A creature, serpentine in form and covered in fine scales, with narrow eyes and two horns on its head, burst out of the water. It fixed its cold gaze on her and let out a hiss, then, riding the rainstorm it had just summoned, shot toward her at tremendous speed, as if intent on dragging her into the water.

When the demonic flood dragon opened its mouth, it expelled a gust of damp, rank breath—nothing like the grandeur of a true dragon Qing Zhouxue had once witnessed. The pressure it exerted was far less than that of its legendary kin.

Just as Qing Zhouxue was about to draw her sword for battle, she heard Yun Shuchen's languid voice from the side: "Enter the formation."