Wei Sheng Lan met the smile in her eyes, his hands clenching in his sleeves. Though still resistant, he did not push her away immediately.
Fortunately, her touch did not linger long and soon withdrew.
Then she exhaled and murmured in relief, “Good, good—at least no fever.”
Cold winds howled, whipping her skirts into a flurry.
Before leaving, Xin Yi set a barrier around the thatched hut and warned Wei Sheng Lan not to move around. Then she took the two spirit grass diagrams he had drawn for her and went up the mountain to hunt treasures.
This mountain was vast; Xin Yi walked until her legs ached in the cold wind.
Fortunately, she finally found a place rich in spirit plants and gathered many spirit herbs without much effort. Although the ones she found were all low-priced, they were still better than nothing.
Moreover, at this point, she had no room to be picky.
Xin Yi busied herself for a good while, got her hands covered in dirt, and finally filled a heavy burlap sack.
She tied knots at both ends of the burlap, slung it over her shoulder like a crossbody bag, and prepared to take the spirit herbs back home. Unexpectedly, before she had taken two steps, she accidentally tumbled into the array barrier behind her.
“Ah——”
Xin Yi rolled awkwardly on the ground for several turns before coming to a startled halt. When she endured the pain and climbed up from the ground, her dark hair was stuck with plenty of dry leaves and weeds, and even the back of her hand had been scraped raw over a large patch.
Hiss.
It hurt so much.
Xin Yi was utterly exasperated. Which bastard had set up such a vicious barrier here? It was just like a beast trap.
Sharp wooden stakes of varying lengths were planted all around. If not for her momentum being small and braking desperately in time, she probably would have been turned into a pincushion by now!
As she cursed inwardly in anger, a puzzled voice suddenly came from the cave opening above her head. “Eh?”
The next words were: “How is it a person?”
Xin Yi: “……”
She looked up and saw a handsome youth in white clothes lying at the cave mouth. After he clearly saw her face, he was even more startled and shouted loudly toward those behind him. “Senior Sister Fang Yao, it’s not a demon beast. We caught the wrong person!”
The sky was high and the clouds were pale. A wild rabbit darted through the grass nearby.
On a large rock beside them sat a plain-clothed girl with clear features. She was lowering her head and rubbing her twisted ankle.
Zhang Yingqing felt a bit guilty. He scratched his head and took the initiative to apologize. “Sorry, we heard there was a demon beast appearing here, so we set up a beast-trapping barrier. We didn’t expect to injure you, fellow Daoist.”
Xin Yi shook her head. “No problem. I’ll be fine after resting a bit.”
She had not expected such a coincidence. Not only was she unlucky, but she had actually run into disciples from Azure Cloud Sect who were down the mountain for experiential training.
The youth had a straightforward personality. Hearing this, he relaxed slightly, then grinned. “We didn’t know each other before this little clash, but now we’re half-friends! I’m Zhang Yingqing, a new disciple of Azure Cloud Sect. I still haven’t asked for fellow Daoist’s name.”
Xin Yi smiled and answered him. “I’m A Ling. I’m currently sectless and traveling around Immortal Continent.”
As they spoke, the white-clothed immortal leading them walked over. She should be the Senior Sister Fang Yao that Zhang Yingqing had mentioned.
She was also the senior sister leading this group of new disciples on their experiential training down the mountain this time.
Xin Yi had no impression of her. She probably did not get much mention in the original plot and did not know which elder of Azure Cloud Sect she was a disciple of, but in any case, she was not Qing Heng’s.
Because Qing Heng had only ever taken four disciples in total. Excluding the one who died early, the remaining two did not have much presence either. Among them, Wei Sheng Lan was the one with the strongest talent and the most favored by him.
Fang Yao looked cold and serious, but when she smiled, she revealed a touch of gentleness. She handed the pastries and water pouch in her hand to Xin Yi. “We’re really sorry. We startled the young lady. Please eat something to warm your body first.”
Xin Yi looked at the items in her hand and immediately crossed out “a bit gentle” from her mind, changing it to one hundred percent gentle.
This senior sister was truly so thoughtful and adorable! She had even noticed that Xin Yi had been hungry all along. These pastries might not be much on a normal day, but right now, they were like a charcoal brazier in a snowstorm!
Thus, Xin Yi did not pretend to refuse. She smiled with curved almond eyes and took them. “Thank you. Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”
After getting the pastries, Xin Yi did not disturb the other disciples’ conversation. She sat happily to the side and ate.
She was not interested in the Azure Cloud Sect disciples’ chatter, but she could not stop familiar names from popping into her ears.
On average, every few seconds, words like “Immortal Venerable Qing Heng” or “Senior Brother Wei Sheng” would appear.
One was her scumbag ex-husband.
The other was her current husband, whom she had tricked into marriage.
Xin Yi tried hard to maintain her manners and not eavesdrop on their corner, but she simply could not do it.
Then she discovered that these new disciples who had just joined the sect truly worshipped Wei Sheng Lan. The admiration in their words could not be hidden at all!
Disciple A sighed. “Ever since joining the sect, I still haven’t had a chance to see Senior Brother Wei Sheng. You know, I worked so hard to get into Azure Cloud Sect precisely to chase after his footsteps! I don’t know when he’ll return from slaying that ancient demon beast in the southern border.”
Disciple B sighed along. “Me too. I’ve collected several portraits of Senior Brother Wei Sheng, but I still haven’t seen the real person yet. They say the real Senior Brother is even more handsome than in the portraits. I can’t even imagine how good-looking that must be. If only he’d brought a recording pearl when slaying the demon beast.”
Someone nearby chimed in after hearing this, saying that besides his overwhelming combat strength, Wei Sheng Lan was also extremely respectful to his master and upheld propriety.
He could be called the most self-disciplined and ritually proper genius sword cultivator in Azure Cloud Sect, the one most revered by his junior brothers and sisters!
Immortal Venerable Qing Heng had taken three hundred years to reach the Mahayana Realm, which already made him one of the top existences in the cultivation world. Yet Wei Sheng Lan had reached it in only two hundred years—terrifying!
The cultivation world had always admired the strong, so everyone in Azure Cloud Sect, from top to bottom, admired him. Even their usually stern and unsmiling Senior Sister Fang Yao was no exception.
Xin Yi, who was quietly eating pastries on the side: “……”
It was fine.
She was just an upright bad woman who wanted to deceive their senior brother’s feelings, that was all.
The discussion behind her continued, but this time it turned to the Immortal Continent Grand Assembly. They even said their sect master might go as well.
A junior disciple nearby immediately retorted that it was not certain.
Ever since his wife perished, the Immortal Venerable had often gone into secluded cultivation, as if he had lost interest in everything. He might not attend this Immortal Continent Grand Assembly either.
Xin Yi inexplicably wanted to laugh upon hearing this.
Because she knew that the above was all just these disciples’ imaginations. In reality, Qing Heng had no deep feelings for the original host.
He had not liked this junior sister of his. Even when they later got together out of obligation, it was mostly duty-bound.
But she had died a dramatic death, falling in the beast tide at Demon Grotto. Thus, in the dead of night, he began recalling her good points over and over, growing more pained the more he recalled, until he turned the former rice stuck to the bottom of the pot into a white moonlight.
But as long as the junior sister came back to life and reappeared before him…
Qing Heng would gradually realize one fact: the rice stuck to the bottom of the pot was still just that, and it could never compare to the white moonlight demoness.
That was why, later on, the original host still lost utterly to Qiong Yan.
The sky gradually darkened, but the snowy expanse stretched endlessly.
By the time Xin Yi had almost finished the pastries in her hand, someone reached out in front of her again, offering a new package.
She looked up and saw the handsome face of the white-clothed youth smiling.
Zhang Yingqing watched her round, bulging cheeks and could not help but chuckle. “Fellow Daoist has quite the appetite. Here, take this package too. After reaching foundation establishment, I’ve been grain abstaining anyway.”
Xin Yi did not refuse after hearing this and reached out to take it.
Although she was a bit full now, she could bring it back for Wei Sheng Lan to eat. He had to drink medicinal soup these past few days, so it would help relieve the bitterness.
At the foot of the mountain, in the rundown thatched hut.
After waking from his coma, Wei Sheng Lan propped himself up with his heavily injured body and sat up. Perhaps due to that Ten Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng, he felt that his cultivation had recovered quite a bit.
The crisscrossing wounds on his body had also healed somewhat. Even without thick clothes to ward off the cold, he did not feel chilly.
The only issue was that the hut was empty, with only him inside.
A Ling had not returned.
Wei Sheng Lan sat in the darkness waiting for her for a long time. He even vaguely suspected that she might abandon him and never come back.
Just then, ripples suddenly appeared in the water barrier.
The wooden door creaked open, and the girl pushed it and walked in. There was a bit of dirt smeared on her cheek, and her dark almond eyes curved happily.
“Mu Lan, I’m back…”
Her cheerful tone suddenly paused. She let out an “Eh,” as if somewhat puzzled, and asked, “It’s so dark. Why didn’t you light a candle?”
As soon as she spoke, a bright fire talisman ignited, and the room quickly lit up.
Xin Yi placed the burlap sack on the table, walked up to him, and saw the youth looking a bit dazed. She stretched out her hand and waved it. “Are you okay?”
Wei Sheng Lan snapped out of it. It was at this moment that he could finally confirm she had no intention of abandoning him.
Thus, in a hoarse voice, he shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Although he had no feelings for this girl named “A Ling,” in his current situation, he did indeed need her care.
At least for now, she was not a bad person. She was even the only one around him whom he could trust.
Once his injuries healed—whether or not his memories recovered—Wei Sheng Lan planned to part ways with her. But before leaving, he would give the girl a generous reward as thanks for her care during this period.
As for anything else, he did not believe he would fall in love with her again while amnesiac.
Xin Yi took out that package of pastries, untied the string, and handed it to the youth. “This is really good. I met some kind people while gathering herbs earlier, and they shared it with me. You try some!”
She then quickly hid her injured right hand behind her back, trying hard to conceal it.
But she did not seem skilled at lying. That posture looked awkward and unnatural no matter how one saw it, and Wei Sheng Lan still noticed.
He stared intently at her and said, “What happened to your hand? Why hide it behind your back?”
They stared at each other for a long time, but the youth showed no sign of compromising.
Xin Yi finally reluctantly extended the back of her hand. The scraped area was a bright red, though most of it had already scabbed over.
“I’m really fine. I just fell accidentally while gathering herbs and scraped some skin. It’ll heal soon.”
As she spoke, Xin Yi blinked and tried to describe the positive side to him. “Once we sell these spirit herbs, we’ll have some spare money. Then we can go to a good clinic in Immortal Continent to treat your injuries. You want to recover quickly too, right?”
Wei Sheng Lan was stunned.
He pressed his thin lips tight. He looked at the girl’s tender hand covered in blood scabs, then at her wide almond eyes and the smile she forced to look nonchalant.
After a moment, an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.
She was the first person to find him after his amnesia and treat him well—and in such a clumsy way. Even after getting injured for his sake, she silently endured it, not wanting him to notice…
It seemed she really, really liked him.