“Xiao Yu, don’t be afraid.”
“Let us see the limits of the ‘world.’ And also… our own… limits.”
In the bamboo forest, the dewdrops had long since fallen, but the warmth at the fingertips of Gu Qinghan and Nalan Yunyan had not drifted away for even a moment.
After “verification” time and time again, the world remained stable, and the rosy light remained gentle.
Only the one tiny Saint on the cloud-fluff bed, whose limits had been repeatedly “investigated,” felt as though she were about to fall apart.
“You… insubordinate, despicable, shameless, collaborating, rotten people…”
She curled up under the soft cloud blankets, revealing only a pair of moist, tear-filled eyes.
Her voice was soft and sweet, carrying the slight hoarseness and deep grievance that follows such an ordeal.
She tried her best to put on the majesty of a Shizun, but that trembling tone and her bright red ear tips only made the accusation sound like she was acting spoiled.
Having no other choice, Qian Yu simply retracted her head into the quilt.
A muffled, frantic voice came from within, tinged with a tearful sob.
“Are you satisfied now? The world didn’t break! Everything is real! Apologize to me right now! Or else I’ll kill…”
“Fine, fine, I’m scared. Be good…”
Nalan Yunyan’s slightly damp, warm hand gently reached under the covers, stroking Qian Yu’s sweat-slicked white hair and interrupting her voice.
Gu Qinghan’s voice sounded close to the surface of the blanket.
Her tone, which was usually as cold as an icy spring, was now rare and raspy.
“Qian Yu cannot be angry. The world… still needs verification.”
“That’s right.”
On the other side, Nalan Yunyan nodded in agreement, her fingers lingering as they brushed against Qian Yu’s cheek.
“A dream might be able to mimic appearances, but it cannot mimic… continuous, progressive, authentic feedback. We must verify… if the depth and resilience of this ‘reality’ is truly… endless.”
What?!
Qian Yu’s entire body stiffened.
Even the fox tail hidden under the blanket puffed up instantly, turning into a fluffy ball.
‘Again?! I’m going to break!’
Fury rose from her heart, and malice grew from her courage.
Qian Yu was about to struggle with all her might when, in the next moment, her breathing hitched abruptly.
Perhaps this strange and surging pleasure was too novel, providing her with unprecedented inspiration from a certain twisted angle.
Or perhaps, if this world truly was a Great Dream, such an experience that exceeded common sense had left her, as the potential “Dream Master,” subconsciously unable to perfectly maintain logic…
A question that she had never seriously considered in all her long years struck her mind like a sudden bolt of lightning in the dark sky.
The thought appeared abruptly and disappeared just as quickly.
Almost at the moment it was generated, it was drowned out and dispersed by a new wave of tremors brought by Gu Qinghan’s kiss on the side of her neck and Nalan Yunyan’s wandering fingertips.
However, Qian Yu’s ancient auspicious beast and Heavenly Fox bloodline—which she had never used again after surpassing her former self, Yingning, and reaching a level equal to the Heavenly Dao—came to her rescue at this moment.
Relying on that powerful spiritual sense that was almost instinctual, she firmly grasped that flicker of abnormality in the heat of the moment — what was her Shizun’s name?
This was not a mindless, foolish question.
Unless they were powerhouses from established families like Nalan Mingjing, the real names of the majority of former Semi-Saints who had lived as long as her Shizun were often hidden behind long years and countless titles.
Just like the former Cloud-Weave Star Venerable, the world only knew her title. As for her original name, unless she took the initiative to mention it herself, very few would know.
Qian Yu’s Shizun was the same; almost no one knew what her real name was.
Qian Yu clearly remembered that in her extremely distant childhood, her Shizun had mentioned it to her once.
But she had been too young then, her intelligence not yet fully developed, and she had forgotten it in the blink of an eye.
But… she was a Saint now.
In the realm of a Saint, one reflects upon the true heart and perceives the past.
Everything one has experienced, even the blurred memories of infancy, can be traced back with intent as clearly as looking at the lines on one’s palm.
This was one of the abilities brought by the leap in life’s level: absolute control over one’s own information.
But when Qian Yu carefully tried to recall that memory, she could not.
To be precise, it wasn’t that she couldn’t remember, but that the memory regarding her Shizun’s name was itself a blank space.
It was an extremely natural, seamless blankness.
It was as if there should have been nothing there to begin with, as if Shizun had never had a name at all.
This was impossible!
How could she possibly not remember her Shizun’s name!
Strength returned to her weak body, and her numb Spiritual Energy began to circulate.
Thinking of this, Qian Yu actually broke free from the constraints of that small pink elixir and sat straight up in bed.
Nalan Yunyan, who was almost knocked back, didn’t understand what was happening and was about to speak, but Gu Qinghan, who had reacted faster, patted her shoulder.
Following Gu Qinghan’s gaze, she saw Qian Yu’s suddenly serious little face.
Although she didn’t understand what was going on, their long time together allowed Nalan Yunyan to close her mouth and choose to accompany her quietly.
Qian Yu didn’t notice the small kindness of Gu Qinghan and Nalan Yunyan; her mind was entirely filled with thoughts of her Shizun.
She still couldn’t remember her Shizun’s name.
Even when she focused her mind and tried to outline the specific features of her Shizun’s face, her clearer voice, or even more details of their time together as master and disciple… what she felt was a kind of blurriness, like a faded painting.
Qian Yu suddenly realized that she hadn’t thought about her Shizun in a very long time.
In the past, she would think of her every time she encountered a difficulty, when she felt lonely, or even when she couldn’t sleep.
But now… the other woman had not appeared in her memory for a long time.
She had thought it was because her life was happy and she had grown up, so she naturally wouldn’t think of her elders like a child anymore, but… was that really the case?
“Xiao Yu…”
Gu Qinghan and Nalan Yunyan were seeing this side of Qian Yu for the first time.
She sat there in a daze, her slender fingers unconsciously clutching the edge of the cloud blanket until her knuckles turned white.
That little face, which always carried a gentle smile or became flustered when they teased her yet remained soft, was now shrouded in a layer of nearly solemn daze and focus.
Deep within those clear eyes, there was no longer the usual playfulness or indifference.
Instead, they churned with shock, confusion, and a trace of… indescribable panic.
After an unknown amount of time, Nalan Yunyan, who was direct by nature, could no longer contain herself and asked softly, “What happened? Can you tell me?”
She had retracted all her joking expressions and draped a thin blanket over Qian Yu’s slight shoulders.
Gu Qinghan didn’t speak, but she silently pressed her warm palm against the back of Qian Yu’s cool hand, wordlessly conveying her strength.
The warmth from the fingertips made Qian Yu tremble slightly, drawing her out of her nearly obsessed thoughts.
She turned her head to look at the worried faces of the two beside her.
She opened her mouth, but found her throat tight, and for a moment, she didn’t know where to start.
“I…”
She sniffled, her voice still a bit hoarse, though the intoxication of passion had faded, leaving only lostness and confusion.
“I think… I’ve forgotten Shizun.”
Gu Qinghan’s brow furrowed slightly. “Shizun?”
Nalan Yunyan was also stunned for a moment before saying, “Qian Yu, when did you ever have a Shizun?”
“Huh?”
Qian Yu was stunned.
It took her several seconds to realize what the other had said.
“How could I possibly not have a Shizun!”
A bone-chilling cold, more terrifying than any beating she had received as a child, instantly froze her blood and thoughts.
She argued loudly, but the Nalan Yunyan before her looked equally lost.
“Xiao Yu, are you sick? You just don’t have a Shizun.”
Nalan Yunyan wasn’t lying to Qian Yu.
The girl had grown up alone since childhood, which was why she had been bullied everywhere within the Sect.
If she had a Shizun, how could she have been targeted like that?
“Nonsense! If I don’t have a Shizun, then who is Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s Senior Sister? And who does the Phoenix Crying Zither currently in the Luoxia Immortal Sect belong to? That is a Venerable Tool forged by Shizun during her lifetime!”
Qian Yu’s voice grew even louder.
The gaze she directed at Nalan Yunyan and Gu Qinghan even carried a hint of hostility, having decided that they were liars.
Her hostility did not make the two girls, who deeply cared for her, back down.
“Xiao Yu,” Nalan Yunyan worriedly cupped her face, her golden eyes full of seriousness without a trace of joking or concealment.
“Are you… still a bit dazed from what we were doing just now?”
“You grew up alone on the outskirts of the Sect. Because of your Half-Yao bloodline and having no one to rely on, you were bullied by people like Tang Qiurou. Later, your talent manifested, you encountered an Opportunity, and you walked step by step to where you are today… Where would a Shizun have come from?”
Gu Qinghan also gazed at her, her eyes like a secluded spring under the moon, filled with the same confusion and worry.
“The former Cloud-Weave Star Venerable of the Luoxia Immortal Sect had no Senior Sister; she was raised by various Venerables of the Sect. As for the so-called Phoenix Crying Zither, it is merely an ordinary Venerable Tool obtained from a Secret Realm.”
“Xiao Yu, you have never mentioned having a Shizun. Is it possible… that you were unwilling to remember the loneliness of your early years and your subconscious constructed a ‘protector’ for you, so…”
“Impossible!”
Gu Qinghan’s analysis was calm, but every word was like an ice pick striking at Qian Yu’s crumbling perception.
“My cultivation was all left to me by Shizun. This Yi Pan that carried that cultivation is the proof! It still has her aura on it!”
Qian Yu angrily broke away from Gu Qinghan and Nalan Yunyan’s concern.
She, who had long been used to being calm and indifferent, was now like a child who had suffered some kind of betrayal.
She reached into her long-unused Storage Ring, intending to take out the evidence and harshly slap the faces of these liars and villains.
In the next moment, Qian Yu froze.
There was no aura of her Shizun on the Yi Pan.
What appeared was a natural trace left by the Heavenly Dao, without any owner.
It was as if its source was a fragment of cultivation naturally formed when the Great Dao created the world, and Qian Yu had simply been lucky enough to pick it up.