Chapter 6

A hand pressed firmly on her shoulder, forcing Qing Zhouxue to tilt her head back. The bitter medicine filled her mouth, the acrid taste searing her scalp, and she could feel the scorching bitterness all the way down her esophagus.

Instinctively, she shoved forward with both hands, but her weak struggles were futile and seemed to provoke the other's displeasure—the hand on her shoulder pressed even harder.

After a moment, Qing Zhouxue knelt down, dry-heaving, her innards wrenched as if they had been trampled.

Yun Shuchen picked up a candied fruit and fed it to her. The cloying sweetness diluted the bitterness, but it still couldn't suppress a wave of nausea.

These days, Qing Zhouxue had been well cared for. With a richer diet, her cheeks had filled out, and her hair had become darker and softer. Everything she wore and used came from the finest goods of Heyi Peak—soft silk and satin, quite exquisite. People said clothes made the person; at a glance, she might have been mistaken for the young daughter of a wealthy official.

Yun Shuchen didn't mind being close to her now.

Qing Zhouxue held the candied fruit in her mouth, forcing down the nausea in her throat. Her eyes were misty.

Vaguely, she recalled how Elder Yun hadn't even wanted to touch her hand on that first day.

It turned out it was just about her mood, not that she found her repulsive.

Or rather, she simply disliked others approaching her uninvited.

For some reason, upon reaching this conclusion, Qing Zhouxue secretly sighed in relief, feeling the bitterness in her mouth a little more bearable.

By the way, when the medicine clogged her throat, she knew it was not the same kind as what Yun Shuchen had spilled last night.

"Though not the same, the bitterness is each unique in its own way," Yun Shuchen said with a curl of her lips. "Good medicine is bitter to the mouth but beneficial to the ailment. Care to say that again for me?"

Qing Zhouxue repeated it flatly, then protested weakly, "I'm not sick."

"Who said you can't take medicine if you're not sick?"

"I—"

"After you go back today, you might have a stomachache, you might feel dizzy," she raised an eyebrow, her expression serious, not at all like she was joking. "And you might even die."

"If anything should happen, come find me quickly."

"After all, dying in the house would be inauspicious," she added lightly.

"Ah?"

Seeing the child's face turn pale, Yun Shuchen's mood subtly improved. So she comforted softly, "A person who couldn't be killed by heavenly thunder—could a bowl of medicine do you in? I have great confidence in you."

Qing Zhouxue, entrusted with such confidence by Elder Yun, hadn't taken more than a few steps before she felt she was about to be poisoned.

She hadn't even left the small pavilion before she collapsed weakly to the ground, trembling all over.

Every limb and bone ached, a penetrating pain. Her internal organs especially felt as if they would burst out at any moment; she kept feeling she was about to explode, yet the next second she was still alive. Her consciousness drifted away in that instant, and something crimson flowed from her nose...

When she woke again, it was already noon the next day.

Her body was limp, light as willow catkins in March. Was this already the Naihe Bridge or the Hall of Yama?

"This confirms my conjecture. Her constitution is far more special than an ordinary person's. As a medical cultivator, have you noticed anything unique, Senior Sister?"

"From the last examination, nothing."

From outside the window came the voices of two women conversing, faint and distant. Moments later, footsteps approached, and the door was quietly pushed open.

Qing Zhouxue opened her eyes and turned her head to see Yun Shuchen and Elder Liu.

Liu Xunqin took her pulse and couldn't help but glance at Yun Shuchen. "You're quite bold to take such a risk. If an ordinary child had drunk that bowl of heavenly treasures, they would have had their meridians severed and gone cold long ago."

"Don't scare her," Yun Shuchen said with a smile, patting the child's cheek. "She's still giving off steam, isn't she?"

Elder Liu ignored her and asked, "Do you know how far you rolled down the slope that day?"

"Seven hundred and twenty-three steps," Qing Zhouxue replied, thinking it over. "After falling from the southwest slope, I kept running until I met Elder Yun."

At that height, with a mortal body, even if the fall's impact had cushioned most of the damage and she hadn't died outright, there was no way she could have stood up again.

Let alone run such a distance while being relentlessly pursued by the Thunder Tribulation.

Liu Xunqin narrowed her eyes slightly, then suddenly grabbed her hand and ruthlessly cut a gash on her wrist. Qing Zhouxue winced, but Elder Liu's hand, though it looked delicate and slender, held her wrist with an unyielding grip.

Blood ran down the child's arm, and tears welled in her eyes from the pain. Helpless, she instinctively looked toward the more familiar Yun Shuchen.

Yun Shuchen noticed her gaze and thought for a moment about whether she should pretend not to see.

To be honest, becoming the object of a child's total reliance was not a good thing.

It was even a troublesome matter.

Perhaps because she considered the possibility of long-term association, or perhaps because the child truly looked pitiful enough, Yun Shuchen decided to go along with this dependence that had somehow formed.

"Haven't you noticed you've frightened the child to tears?"

Liu Xunqin was observing the wound, so absorbed she seemed to have entered a trance. Yun Shuchen poked her shoulder with a finger, snapping her out of it.

She looked up and met the child's moist eyes. Elder Liu coughed lightly, released her hand, and completely healed the wound with spiritual power.

Qing Zhouxue quickly withdrew her hand, looking as if she wanted to shrink her whole body into the wall, warily eyeing Liu Xunqin.

Elder Liu stood with her hands behind her back. Though she looked no more than a young girl, her perpetually stern expression made her seem unapproachable.

"Your wound heals several times faster than an ordinary person's," she concluded.

"Wasn't that cut just a cut?"

"Those who study medicine see differently than you. I saw the flesh regenerating," Liu Xunqin said, her gaze involuntarily returning to Qing Zhouxue, seemingly reluctant to give up. She asked, "Yun Shuchen—this constitution is rare, and medical texts record it very sparsely. Could you lend her to me?"

Liu Xunqin was a renowned medical immortal in the Nine Provinces, obsessed with her craft for many years.

The medical immortal was proud by nature, possessing skilled hands but lacking compassion; she treated people only when she felt like it. If someone pleasing came to her, she wouldn't refuse, but if someone she disliked sought help, even bringing mountains of treasure and shouting for her as grandmother wouldn't work.

She had an immense, almost obsessive curiosity about difficult and rare cases.

As for someone like Qing Zhouxue, even if Yun Shuchen hadn't sought her out, Liu would have come to study her thoroughly on her own. Yun Shuchen had conveniently taken the opportunity to invite her, also wanting to see what was special about this child of extraordinary destiny.

Qing Zhouxue trembled at these words, instinctively pressing closer to Yun Shuchen.

She felt Elder Liu's gaze wasn't looking at her like a person, but like a slab of fish on a cutting board, ready to be disassembled and sliced.

However, a warm palm came to rest on her head, its pressure gentle, carrying some measure of comfort. Qing Zhouxue heard the hand's owner say softly:

"She's so afraid of others right now; best not."

Elder Liu, seeing this, let it go. She nodded lightly, checked Qing Zhouxue's condition again, prescribed a few conditioning remedies, and left alone without another word.

"Why do I still need to drink medicine?"

Qing Zhouxue stared at the script, at least recognizing a few common herb names. Having nearly died from it that day, she had developed a considerable fear of such things.

"Because you've just achieved Foundation Establishment and your realm is unstable. You won't need to drink it for long."

Hearing the term "Foundation Establishment," she instinctively glanced at the ancient book by her bedside, which she had read extensively over these past days.

*Wen Chu Yao Dao* was a basic guide for cultivators just embarking on the path of immortality, written in accessible language. Yun Shuchen had given her this book, not as a random choice.

"Foundation Establishment" was a major chapter after "Guiding Qi into the Body" and marked the true entry into the realm of cultivation. She hadn't yet understood the methods of guiding qi into the body, yet she had directly skipped that step, which felt rather peculiar.

Just now, Elder Liu mentioned "heavenly treasures." The medicine-like viscous substance Yun Shuchen had given her, which let her step directly into Foundation Establishment, was clearly very expensive.

Even for a fellow cultivator like Elder Liu, it was something precious.

Yun Shuchen's expenditure on her seemed to far exceed what Qing Zhouxue could comprehend.

"Will you take me on as your disciple?"

Perhaps picking her up, giving her a place to stay, and feeding her could be explained as mercy and kindness.

But now, besides becoming her disciple, Qing Zhouxue couldn't think of any other reason Yun Shuchen would spend so much effort nurturing her.

Upon hearing this, Yun Shuchen raised a slender eyebrow.

"That's not a one-sided matter."

"Taichu Sect is divided into inner and outer sects. From the outer sect, one passes a written examination to enter the inner sect. Within the inner sect, there are arena battles and related assessments. Every term is like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge, but those who ultimately stand in the Sect Leader's hall and become personal disciples are few indeed."

"So," she sighed languidly, "setting everything else aside, whether I can keep you with me legitimately will depend on seeing you there in that hall."

In other words, she was willing, but Qing Zhouxue would need to earn it herself.

Qing Zhouxue listened carefully. After a moment, she lowered her gaze and said, "Mm."

"It's rare to find someone I fancy," she said with feigned melancholy. "Don't disappoint me."

"Mm!"

At that time, Qing Zhouxue didn't know what coaxing a child meant. She didn't realize that in these few light words, her future for many years to come had been neatly tied up by that woman.

After nightfall, Qing Zhouxue lit the lamp again and read through *Wen Chu Yao Dao* once more. Many places that had puzzled her before now began to make some sense on a second reading.

After Foundation Establishment, she felt a subtle, indescribable change in her body. Yun Shuchen had only told her to take the next few days to adapt.

As she read, Qing Zhouxue raised her hand again.

Form follows intent.

She worked hard, imagining the touch of "water" and the shape of "water" in her mind—how rivers, lakes, and seas surged and flowed, how they converged into a great river.

Until a cool dampness touched her fingertip. When she opened her eyes again, a single round droplet of water had gathered on her fingertip.

So small and faintly glimmering, reflecting the warm firelight.