The next morning, Luo Qingci was woken up by sunlight.
The window hadn’t been closed properly, and a beam of golden morning light squeezed through the gap, landing right on her eyelids—warm and a little ticklish.
She buried her face in the pillow for a moment, then rubbed her eyes and sat up.
She had just dried her hair roughly last night before falling asleep, so now it was a mess like a bird’s nest, and there were pillow creases on her face.
Luo Qingci sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then reached over to the side of the pillow and picked up the white handkerchief, unfolding it to take a look.
The handkerchief was stained with the blood of Grey Bone Old Ancestor—already dried, turned into dark brown patches, especially conspicuous.
There was also her own sweat, the dirt from the sewer, and some mud she didn’t know when she had scraped on.
Luo Qingci held the handkerchief, thinking that she should have washed it last night, but she had been too tired.
She had collapsed into bed immediately after washing herself and forgotten about the handkerchief.
She took out a few osmanthus cakes from the storage box where she kept them to fill her stomach, then put on her clothes, picked up a wooden basin, and walked out the door.
Lingyun Peak was very quiet in the early morning.
Gu Changqing was probably busy in the kitchen; the sound of a spatula clanging against a wok drifted over, ringing out ding-ding-dang-dang.
Chen Mo had already finished his sword practice and was sitting by the woodpile wiping his sword.
When he saw her come out with the wooden basin, he looked up at her, his gaze pausing on that handkerchief for a moment before he shifted his eyes away as if nothing had happened.
The well water was very cold.
She soaked the handkerchief in the water, rubbed it a few times, and a faint brown hue floated to the surface.
She rubbed it a few more times, and the brown deepened.
She changed the water and continued rubbing.
By the third rinse, the water was finally clear.
She fished the handkerchief out of the water, wrung it out, and unfolded it to inspect it.
It was clean.
The fabric shimmered with a soft luster in the morning light, the subtle patterns of pine branches and flowing clouds faintly visible, and the character “Han” embroidered in the corner became even clearer after being soaked.
Luo Qingci hung the handkerchief on the clothesline and secured it with a clip.
The morning breeze blew over, and the handkerchief fluttered gently in the wind like a small white flag.
She stood in front of the clothesline and watched for a while.
‘I wonder when I’ll see him again. He’s a Golden Core True Person now, must be very busy. Probably won’t see him for a long time…’
‘But this cultivation speed is way too fast, isn’t it? Could he be some reincarnation of an ancient great power?’
“Oh, doing laundry so early in the morning? Hardworking, aren’t you?”
Luo Qingci turned around.
Xiao Yan was standing next to a tree, carrying a cloth bag, tilting his head as he looked at her.
He was wearing a gray Daoist robe with dust on the cuffs and collar, his hair was a bit messy, with a few stray strands hanging over his forehead, and there were obvious dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in days.
A blade of grass dangled from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were squinted, giving him the look of someone who had just gotten back from a wild trip.
“Master?”
Luo Qingci was taken aback.
“When did you get back?”
“Just now.”
Xiao Yan tossed the storage pouch onto the table; it was probably full of spirit stones.
He walked over to the stone table and sat down, then flopped his entire upper body onto the table, his chin resting on the stone surface like a dried-out salted fish.
“I’m dead tired,” he mumbled.
Luo Qingci walked over and sat down across from him, giving him a once-over.
“Master, how many days have you been awake?”
“Can’t remember.”
Xiao Yan said vaguely, “I rushed back from Central State. Flew all night, almost drained my spiritual power dry.”
“What did you go to Central State for?”
“Work.”
‘What kind of work requires going all the way to Central State?’
Luo Qingci sighed.
‘What kind of job is so exhausting that he can’t even rest for several days? Did those people use Master like a plow ox in the fields?’
“Master,” she changed the subject, “last night in Muyun City while doing tasks, I encountered a Golden Core stage evil cultivator.”
Xiao Yan didn’t change his lying-down posture, but he opened one eye a crack.
“An evil cultivator at the early Golden Core stage who called himself ‘Grey Bone Old Ancestor’ tried to capture me as a dual cultivation vessel,” Luo Qingci said.
“He said I have the Supreme Yin Profound Body.”
Xiao Yan didn’t speak immediately.
He slowly straightened up from the table, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Luo Qingci.
Those eyes, usually tinged with a bit of laziness, now looked rather deep, as if he was scrutinizing something very important.
“And then?” he asked.
“Then… someone saved me.”
Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? Who saved you?”
“A wandering cultivator named Xiao Han,” Luo Qingci said.
A corner of Xiao Yan’s mouth twitched upward involuntarily, but he quickly returned to normal.
“A Golden Core wandering cultivator,” Luo Qingci continued, “very young, looks about the same age as me, but already at Golden Core. He said he was just passing by for a walk and happened to run into me in danger.”
“A walk?”
Xiao Yan repeated those two words, the corner of his mouth lifting a little more, as if he wanted to laugh but held back.
“Taking a midnight stroll into a sewer?”
“I don’t think that part was true either,” Luo Qingci said.
“But he saved me twice, and he even split the spoils with me.”
“Spoils?”
Xiao Yan’s gaze fell on the storage pouch at Luo Qingci’s waist.
“Grey Bone Old Ancestor’s?”
Luo Qingci nodded.
She took out the spirit stones and magical artifacts one by one from the storage pouch and laid out a small pile on the stone table.
Medium-grade spirit stones, high-grade spirit stones, a few decent quality magical artifacts, and cultivation technique jade slips.
Xiao Yan looked at the pile and raised his eyebrow slightly.
“He… gave you half?”
“Mm.”
“Grey Bone Old Ancestor,” he said, “late Golden Core stage, an evil cultivator active around Eastern State for decades. His methods are vicious and hard to deal with, but for me, he’s just a single sword strike.”
He set down the short sword and looked up at Luo Qingci.
“To save you from him and kill him too, that Xiao Han is no weakling.”
“I didn’t say he killed him,” Luo Qingci said.
Xiao Yan blinked.
“You killed Grey Bone Old Ancestor?”
“I slapped him to death.”
A subtle pause flickered across Xiao Yan’s expression.
“You slapped him to death?”
“Xiao Han sealed his spiritual power,” Luo Qingci added.
“Literally slapped him to death—slap after slap until he stopped breathing.”
Xiao Yan was silent for a moment, then reached out and patted Luo Qingci’s shoulder with a moderate force.
“Alright,” he said, “you really are my disciple.”
Luo Qingci put away the spoils she had received one by one, then brought up the matter of the handkerchief again.
“And that Xiao Han gave you a handkerchief?”
Xiao Yan’s tone was a bit subtle, as if he were asking about something very interesting.
“Mm.
The fabric is very precious, with subtle patterns embroidered on it, and a character ‘Han’ in the corner,” Luo Qingci said.
“I’m thinking about whether to return it to him. He said I didn’t need to, that I should keep it. But something that valuable—it doesn’t feel right for me to keep it.”
“If someone gives you something, just keep it.”
Xiao Yan leaned back in his chair again, reverting to his lazy demeanor.
“It’s just a handkerchief, not a token of engagement.”
Luo Qingci’s expression froze for a split second before returning to normal.
She stood up, said she was going to help Gu Changqing cook, and turned to leave.
After taking a few steps, she stopped.
“Master.”
“Hm?”
“Do you know that Xiao Han?”
Xiao Yan’s movements paused.
He looked at Luo Qingci’s back, was silent for a couple of breaths, then said in a flat tone, as if stating something very ordinary.
“I don’t know him.”
“Then why do you keep holding back laughter?”
Luo Qingci said.