Wen Shuangbai met his gaze defiantly.
The meaning in her eyes was equally clear:
He wasn’t worth it.
The faint scent of medicinal herbs lingered in the clinic, but the tension between the two was palpable, neither willing to back down.
Wen Xin, tilting her small face, glanced between Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin before wisely inserting herself between the two adversaries. She pulled out a storage pouch from her sleeve.
"It’s fine, I’ll pay!" The little girl poured all the spirit stones from her pouch onto the table—thirty-two in total—before retrieving twelve of them.
Even a child was more sensible than her.
Xie Ziyin shot Wen Shuangbai a mocking look before turning away and reaching for the stones.
But a hand moved faster than his, slapping over the twenty stones and pushing them back to Wen Xin, accompanied by a sneer: "Oh? So the great Physician Xie even takes money from children?"
Xie Ziyin countered coolly, "You let a child dig you out of the ruins and carry you all the way here, and now you’re making her pay for you? A senior sister like you is truly a rare sight."
Wen Shuangbai opened her mouth to retort, but Wen Xin beat her to it.
"Brother Xie, Senior Sister has been very good to me!" Seizing the chance to interrupt their bickering, Wen Xin tugged at her senior sister’s sleeve and whispered, "Second Sister, the consultation fee really is the clinic’s rule..."
Wen Shuangbai closed her eyes, suppressing her fury, then pushed the little girl behind her and tossed twenty spirit stones at Xie Ziyin from her own pouch. "There. Happy now?"
Xie Ziyin accepted the stones without a word, jotting down the transaction in the clinic’s ledger.
Wen Shuangbai didn’t leave.
Because Xie Ziyin had just reminded her of something.
She feigned a mocking tone, "What, twenty enough? No charge for the ground I’m standing on? Or the bed I just lay on?"
Xie Ziyin didn’t look up. "Didn’t say."
Meaning—no such rule.
Meaning—free of charge.
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Wen Shuangbai cracked her first smile of the night. She turned to Wen Xin. "Let’s go, Junior Sister—Ow!" Suddenly swaying, she clutched her temples dramatically, her voice weak. "Junior Sister, I suddenly feel dizzy... Let’s rest here till dawn."
Xie Ziyin’s brush paused mid-stroke: "?"
Had he just heard something absurd?
Dizzy? Her?
Her spiritual energy was brimming—she was disgustingly healthy, capable of sprinting for ten days straight in a storm if she wanted.
Wen Xin, unsuspecting, hurriedly helped her senior sister back onto the bed, fretting, "Second Sister, are you really alright? Should we buy a True Essence Pill?"
"No, no, no need!" Wen Shuangbai pointed to the adjacent bed. "I’ll be fine after some sleep. You rest too, Junior Sister."
Their home had collapsed—thanks to her—and even if they returned now, there’d be nowhere to sleep. Repairs would have to wait till daylight.
Might as well stay the night at the clinic. Twenty stones for two people? Not a bad deal.
Wen Shuangbai deftly pulled the blanket over herself.
Honestly, the clinic beds were far comfier than her wooden one.
Wen Xin hesitated but eventually climbed onto the neighboring bed and lay down.
Exhausted from the night’s chaos, both fell into deep slumber within moments.
Xie Ziyin, who had been watching them coldly: "..."
---
The window had been left open by someone, and birds chattered noisily from the branches.
The morning breeze carried the faint aroma of food inside.
So noisy... So hungry...
Wen Shuangbai blinked awake, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.
Her nose twitched instinctively, following the scent.
Just outside her window, a small wooden table had been set up.
On it sat two steaming bowls of rice porridge—perfectly cooked, thick yet with distinct grains—the very fragrance she’d been dreaming of.
Beside the porridge were four side dishes: pickled radish, spicy stir-fried mustard greens, sautéed edamame, and cold lotus root slices. They looked and smelled delicious, ideal accompaniments to the porridge.
Seated at the table were two people Wen Shuangbai unfortunately knew all too well.
With his back to her, closest to the window, was that damned Xie Ziyin.
Facing her was... Shen Hefeng.
What the hell? Since when did these two share a meal?
Wen Shuangbai froze, utterly baffled.
Shen Hefeng was the novel’s antagonist, the sworn enemy of Yu Xiaoxiao’s protagonist group.
In the original story, Xie Ziyin and Shen Hefeng despised each other—every encounter was a fight to the death.
Moreover, they weren’t supposed to meet until the second round of the sect competition.
The first round was still a month away. At this point, they should be strangers.
So... where had the plot gone wrong?
Had her transmigration flapped its butterfly wings, somehow sparking a friendship between Xie Ziyin and Shen Hefeng?
Shen Hefeng’s face was practically buried in his porridge. After slurping it down, he wiped his mouth contentedly and remarked, "Ziyin, your patient’s awake."
Xie Ziyin glanced at Wen Shuangbai from the corner of his eye, snorted inwardly, then impassively pulled out several pill bottles and handed them over. "What you asked for."
"My thanks." Shen Hefeng pocketed the pills, adjusted his Taoist hat, and smirked at Wen Shuangbai. "Junior Sister Wen, was my divination not accurate? I told you there’d be financial loss and bloodshed, but you refused to believe me. Had you listened, I might’ve helped you avoid it."
With a theatrical sigh, he sauntered off, still grinning.
Wen Shuangbai: "..."
What rotten luck.
But she narrowed her eyes at Shen Hefeng’s retreating figure.
If he’d intended to go to the Daoyi Secret Realm, he should’ve left that night.
Since he was still here, did that mean he’d chosen Ningyuan Mountain instead?
Once Shen Hefeng left, Xie Ziyin moved the food to the farthest spot possible and continued eating.
Wen Shuangbai glanced at the pale light of dawn.
Judging by the sky, it was barely five in the morning.
So the culprit behind the open window was obvious.
Damn that Xie Ziyin!
Gritting her teeth, she gave up on sleep and practiced the "Radiant Sun Heart Method" a few times. Once Wen Xin woke, they headed to the dining hall together.
The dining hall wasn’t far from the clinic, yet despite the early hour, it was already bustling.
A group of disciples, robes half-tied, sprinted past them.
"Ahhh! What time is it? I overslept!"
"It’s mao hour (5-7 AM)! Hurry, hurry, or we’ll miss it!"
"Charge! If I don’t get any, I’ll die!"
"..."
Wen Shuangbai frowned. "Junior Sister, what’s going on?"
She’d been too busy cultivating lately, relying on Wen Xin to bring her meals, so she had no clue why the dining hall was in chaos.
Wen Xin smacked her forehead. "Ah, I forgot! Today’s the fifteenth. On the fifteenth of every month, the dining hall offers free meals—three hundred servings, first come first served. Breakfast is two side dishes and porridge; dinner has meat... Ah—Senior Sister, slow down!"
Before she could finish, Wen Shuangbai was already dragging her into a sprint.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too late. Wen Shuangbai, her eyes blazing with determination, fought her way through the crowd with her junior sister and managed to snatch the last few servings.
Satisfied, Wen Shuangbai sipped her plain congee in small, leisurely bites, listening to the lamentations around her.
"Waaah, I didn’t get any! I was so close! I’m done for, I’m really done for..."
"Ah, forget it. I’ll just buy a steamed bun and go back to sleep."
"Let’s just scatter..."
The fact that others had failed to get any only made the congee taste even better. Wen Shuangbai couldn’t have been happier, her smile never leaving her face.
After finishing their congee, she and her junior sister only ate one small side dish, storing the remaining three untouched plates in her storage pouch.
This way, when they ate steamed buns on ordinary days, they’d have something to go with them.
A good start in the morning sets the tone for the day.
Bathed in the morning light, Wen Shuangbai hummed a little tune as she strolled leisurely along the path home.
Wen Xin came running up with a handful of colorful wildflowers, suddenly remembering something and chirping excitedly, "I wonder if Senior Brother will come back today?"
The original owner of this body had been so unreliable that the eldest senior brother only ever communicated with the junior sister.
Since transmigrating into this novel, Wen Shuangbai had never taken the initiative to seek out this senior brother. Hearing Wen Xin’s words, she asked curiously, "Did Senior Brother say he’d return today?"
"Nope." Wen Xin shook her head. "Senior Brother never says when he’ll come back, and he doesn’t return every month. But if he does come back, it’s always on the 15th."
"Is that so?" Wen Shuangbai asked. "Why?"
"Because—" The little girl, clutching her flowers, happily skipped ahead. Just as she turned to explain, her eyes caught sight of a figure below. She froze for a moment before dashing down, shouting, "Senior Brother! Senior Brother, you’re back!"
Wen Shuangbai paused mid-step, a flicker of unease in her heart.
In the novel, the eldest senior brother had never done anything harmful to the original owner—even when she repeatedly used him and nearly got him killed.
He had always been good to both junior sisters.
But Wen Shuangbai was afraid he might suspect her identity.
The junior sister was just a child, easy to fool. But the eldest senior brother was an adult who had raised the original owner since childhood. He must know her inside out.
Still, Wen Shuangbai wasn’t one to cower in fear. Even if Senior Brother suspected something, what could he really do?
With that thought, she lifted her foot and walked down.
The courtyard had collapsed the night before, leaving the ground littered with debris.
And right beside the ruins, a silver-haired man had placed a flat stone, sitting crookedly on its edge as he sipped his congee.
Wen Shuangbai’s lips twitched. "..."
Well, now she knew why Senior Brother only returned on the 15th.
Wen Xin was standing in front of Senior Brother, chattering away. Only when Wen Shuangbai got closer did she hear the conversation.
Senior Brother’s voice was listless: "Don’t wanna comb it."
Wen Xin: "Senior Brother, our house collapsed. What do we do now?"
Senior Brother’s voice was utterly dejected: "Mmm, that is indeed a problem..."
For some reason, Wen Shuangbai felt a pang of guilt. She rubbed her nose and said, "I’ll figure something out."
Hearing her voice, the two turned to look at her.
Wen Shuangbai’s gaze settled on Senior Brother, discreetly observing him.
Senior Brother Yin Xuan possessed a first-grade fire spiritual bone.
When he was three, his family, the Yins, had been slaughtered by demonic cultivators. Wen Feng happened to pass by and saved him.
At the time, Wen Shuangbai hadn’t even been born yet, and Wen Feng was still the most promising young elder of the Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion. Yin Xuan had become his disciple.
But times had changed. Wen Feng had fallen from grace, and the exceptionally talented Yin Xuan had vanished from public view.
In the novel, Yin Xuan hadn’t been given much attention—he was merely the eldest senior brother of a minor antagonist, serving to highlight her cruelty and to fulfill the trope of "defeat the small fry, and the bigger fish comes seeking revenge" for the protagonists.
But now, in person, he was a strikingly handsome man with an air of melancholy. His features were sharp and refined, though slightly unkempt, his silver hair a tangled mess like a bird’s nest.
His eyes held a world-weary exhaustion, devoid of earthly desires. He glanced at Wen Shuangbai and asked softly, "Have you reached the sixth layer of the Spirit Initiation Realm?"
Wen Shuangbai: "?"
She pointed at herself. "Me?"
Yin Xuan finished his congee and put away the bowl. "Yes. You didn’t know?"
Baffled, Wen Shuangbai shook her head.
On the Xuantian Continent, only major breakthroughs between realms were noticeably perceptible. Progress within a realm was far subtler, and Wen Shuangbai had only just begun cultivating. She truly hadn’t realized.
"It’s fine if you didn’t know." Yin Xuan stood up, his gaze sweeping over the ruins before he swiftly—albeit unsteadily—dashed into the debris and pulled out a wooden plank.
Wen Shuangbai watched her senior brother’s actions with confusion, but Wen Xin was overjoyed for her. "Second Senior Sister, you’re amazing! You went from the third to the sixth layer so quickly!"
"Thanks, Junior Sister." Wen Shuangbai asked, "What’s Senior Brother doing?"
Wen Xin seemed entirely accustomed to this scene. "Senior Brother gets sleepy after eating. He’s looking for a place to nap."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Yin Xuan hugged the large plank, found a relatively flat spot nearby, laid it down, and flopped onto it. Eyes closed, he was out like a light.
Wen Shuangbai: "?"
Wen Shuangbai was utterly impressed.
What a magnificent state of mind.
Xie Ziyin: The way you’re looking at your senior brother now is exactly how I looked at you last night. Heh, all three of you siblings are champions at falling asleep instantly.
