“……”
The air fell silent for a few seconds.
Ji Nianxue didn’t look at Jiang Tong, but lowered her gaze, staring intently at the tips of her own shoes, her mind blank.
Her heart thumped loudly. Suddenly, she wished the wind by the lakeside would stop.
Her heartbeat was so loud—what if the wind carried it to Jiang Tong’s ears?
“Sorry.” Jiang Tong looked at the lake’s surface, where Ji Nianxue’s reflection was broken and wrinkled by the ripples.
“I don’t answer hypothetical questions. Such questions have no meaning.”
“Is that so.”
Ji Nianxue lowered her head and smiled. This answer was far more ambiguous than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’
“That’s right.”
Jiang Tong looked at the girl who clearly liked him and frowned slightly. “If people only live in ‘what if,’ it means you’re dissatisfied with your present situation. If you’re dissatisfied, then make yourself strong enough and go change it.”
“Even if you find an illusory answer, what difference does it make?”
Ji Nianxue’s eyes flickered slightly.
The wind stilled, and the surface of the water slowly calmed.
She kept her head down and saw her own clear reflection on the lake’s surface.
“I understand.”
After a moment, Ji Nianxue stood up, glanced at her sword, and gripped it even tighter.
Yao Xining had her own visions to pursue—she, too, had things she wanted to chase.
“Let’s spar again—without spiritual power this time.” Ji Nianxue said to Jiang Tong, “If you can, would you… point out my mistakes?”
Afraid he’d refuse, she quickly added, “If you agree, I’ll tell you a secret.”
“What secret?”
“It’s about Aunt Jiang, something you probably don’t know. My master mentioned it to me before.”
That was truly an irresistible condition.
Jiang Tong had never been clear about his master’s past, and he had to admit, Ji Nianxue’s words were very tempting.
He picked up his sword. “Then let’s begin.”
One stick of incense later.
Ji Nianxue let out a slow breath, her hair a mess, her blue dress soaked through with sweat.
“That’s enough, right?”
Jiang Tong stared into her eyes. They’d agreed to spar just once, but Ji Nianxue simply wouldn’t accept defeat, insisting on a few more rounds…
Ji Nianxue nodded lightly. Jiang Tong wiped the sweat from his brow, finally able to sheathe his sword.
“Very good. Your sword strikes are much sharper now.” He commented, “You have some real sword cultivator drive in you now. That’s a good thing.”
“I didn’t have it before?”
“In the beginning…” Jiang Tong tilted his head, thinking for a moment, “It’s hard to describe. You were like a stiff puppet—rigid and inflexible.”
Ji Nianxue grinned, carefully putting her sword away.
That’s because I finally have a clear path to become stronger, Jiang Tong.
“All right, you promised me.” Jiang Tong asked, “What’s the secret about my master?”
He felt a strange, inexplicable sense of anticipation.
When you care about someone, it’s hard not to long to know their past.
“My master was in a good mood once and chatted with me about it.”
Ji Nianxue looked him right in the eyes. “Her exact words were: Jiang Yueliu wasn’t always called that. She suddenly changed her name one day.”
“After changing her name, she became a person who only knew how to cultivate, cold and detached—that’s how she is now.”
“Master… changed her name?” Jiang Tong muttered to himself.
“What was her original name?”
“That, I don’t know.” Ji Nianxue shook her head.
“My master said she once joked about it with Aunt Jiang, and Aunt Jiang immediately drew her sword. They nearly fought over it.”
“……” Jiang Tong tried to imagine his master in a fit of rage.
Best not to ask her directly about this.
Maybe Yao Xining would know… Would that madwoman have an answer?
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a good relationship with Yao Xining—he’d always regarded her as the crazy aunt.
Besides, Jiang Tong sometimes had the illusion that the way that woman looked at him was odd.
Not in a man-and-woman kind of way, but as if he was hiding something on himself.
After a moment’s thought, he looked up and thanked Ji Nianxue. “Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome.”
Ji Nianxue winked at him. “I won’t go easy on you tomorrow on the stage.”
Jiang Tong was taken aback, then smiled. “Then I’ll have to try my best to make it to the finals.”
“Good, I’ll be waiting for you.” Ji Nianxue paused for two breaths, then hesitated and softly murmured:
“Can you wait for me too, Jiang Tong?”
“The finals? No problem.” Jiang Tong joked, “With your skills, you won’t need me to wait for you, will you?”
“Yeah.”
Ji Nianxue nodded with a smile.
How she wished she could fast-forward to the day her strength would be so great that he’d never need to wait for her again.
By then, whether he wanted to wait or not would no longer matter.
The breeze picked up again, sending ripples across the lake.
The blue-skirted girl gazed at his departing back, bent down, and picked up a drifting yellow paulownia leaf.
Her eyes were clear and deep.
……
Jiang Tong felt like he was becoming a professional counselor.
Just last night, he’d helped guide his little disciple from two hundred years ago; today, he’d guided another lost girl.
The scripts both girls held were much the same—overpowered by elders, unable to find a reason to live.
But in the end, Gu Xianyu was the lucky one.
She had broken free from others’ control and begun her own life. But Ji Nianxue… with a master who only wanted to make her stronger pressing down from above, she wouldn’t be free for some time yet.
As Jiang Tong grumbled inwardly, he leafed through various alchemy books in the Sutra Pavilion.
He searched for nearly two hours and still couldn’t find a single record of the Hanpo Jade Body.
It was a physical trait that would grow stronger along with one’s cultivation.
Short of suicide, there was no way to remove it completely. All Jiang Tong could do was look for effective suppressive elixirs.
He copied down several warming pills, but none satisfied him—their effects were too short-lived.
Just as he sighed and was about to close the ancient tome, a single recipe slipped from between the pages.
“Hmm?”
Jiang Tong picked up the paper, frowned, and read for a while. Suddenly, everything became clear.
Amazing, truly amazing—this nameless pill could be concocted this way?
These ingredients, when combined, created warmth that was neither too strong nor too weak, enough to suppress the cold and last a good while.
This was exactly the perfect recipe he’d imagined.
However—
Jiang Tong looked at the list of ingredients and felt a headache coming on.
Golden Crow Fruit and Vermilion Phoenix Blood—both extremely rare.
From what he knew, Vermilion Phoenix Blood could be found a few days from now, in the Xuantian Secret Realm soon to open in Qingyang Prefecture.
The Golden Crow Fruit was simpler; the sect’s treasury had it, but as for how to get it…
The top three of the inner sect competition could choose any treasure from the treasury as their reward.
Jiang Tong folded up the recipe and couldn’t help but chuckle.
It seemed he would have to walk the same path as his disciple once did.
……
Meanwhile.
At the borders of Qingyang Prefecture, at the Six Gates Sect destroyed by demonic cultivators.
Jiang Yueliu, searching for traces of the demonic cultivators, furrowed her brow as a chill crept up from her dantian.
In an instant, her black hair was covered with a layer of white frost.
Her skin, white as jade, was also glazed with a thin layer of cold.
“Your constitution’s flaw acting up again?” Beside her, Yao Xining glanced up at the thick black clouds, her tone light.
“If you don’t take your medicine, it’ll snow heavily soon, and any traces will be covered up. Chasing the demonic cultivators will get even harder.”
“No need for your comments.” Jiang Yueliu responded calmly, taking out a pill and swallowing it.
Within moments, the black clouds began to scatter, and all the white frost in her hair melted away.
Yao Xining curled her lips. “Honestly, I’m quite curious… You don’t know alchemy, so where did you get so many pills to treat the Hanpo Jade Body?”
Jiang Yueliu cast a glance at Yao Xining. This woman always smiled, but the deep calculation in her eyes gave her away.
“The prettier a woman, the more dangerous.” Jiang Yueliu closed her eyes. “I don’t talk about such things with dangerous women.”
“Heh, well, right now I’m talking to a dangerous woman myself.”
“…… I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jiang Yueliu drew her sword and strode forward, leaving Yao Xining behind.
She sensed the last few pills remaining, and let out a soft sigh in her heart.
It was time to take out that recipe from the Sutra Pavilion’s cover page.
She wondered if, aside from him, anyone in this world could ever refine this pill…