Qiu Heyang had become her senior fellow disciple.
The moment Mei Man realized this, she stood there in silence, cold sweat gradually breaking out across her back. She simply could not accept it.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Qiu Heyang’s master would be Shen Shushi.
It seemed she had underestimated the duplicity of Qiu Heyang’s nature—and overestimated Shen Shushi’s ability to judge people.
Shen Shushi had no idea how Qiu Heyang regarded him in private. At that moment, his expression was solemn as he asked, “Heyang, how much of the talisman manual I gave you have you studied?”
Qiu Heyang put on the face of a model disciple and smiled. “Master, are you still worried about me? I finished it ages ago. I’ve been practicing the Five Ghost Transport Talisman these past few days. It’s actually pretty fun.”
A trace of helpless disapproval appeared on Shen Shushi’s stern face. “That talisman is dangerous. The ghostly energy can easily corrode your spiritual power. Don’t treat it like a game.”
Qiu Heyang didn’t take it seriously. “You can put your mind at ease, Master. I know what I’m doing. If I stumbled over something this trivial, wouldn’t that be terribly embarrassing?”
He spoke with easy confidence, and Shen Shushi’s expression softened somewhat. “You’ve always been diligent and eager to learn, so naturally I’m not worried. How have you been getting along with your fellow disciples?”
“Very well. I often practice archery with them at the range.”
“Good. Your junior brother only recently reached Foundation Establishment. You should offer him more guidance in the future.”
“Of course. With Senior Brother away, I ought to help shoulder some of the burden.”
As the two of them chatted back and forth, Mei Man stood beside them with her head lowered, listening. Her heart had soured until it felt as though it had been twisted into a crumpled knot.
The Five Ghost Transport Talisman.
She had never even heard of it.
The outer sect academy also taught its disciples how to draw talismans, but from what her fellow disciples said, they mostly studied low-level talismans.
Mei Man had no spiritual power. The senior brother teaching the class was simple-minded and blunt. On the very first day, he had found her and said, “Junior Sister Mei, if you find the lesson boring, you can read something else. There’s no need to force yourself.”
There’s no need to force yourself.
To her, that was simply another way of saying: Even if you draw them, they won’t work.
Mei Man had flipped through the basic talisman manual, and everything in it seemed simple enough.
She didn’t want to appear as though she cared too much about the matter, so she never used paper and brush to draw. She only committed the patterns to memory.
At night, when she went to the back mountain to practice her swordsmanship, she would occasionally use a branch to draw talismans in the mud whenever she grew tired.
As she drew, she often indulged in fantasies.
For example, perhaps an exorcising talisman would burst into golden light; perhaps a transforming-arrow talisman would turn into row after row of sharp, slender arrows; perhaps a fire talisman would ignite into clusters of dancing flames…
When you’re waiting for something you long for, the time before you get the result is the happiest part.
Those fantasies would become multicolored bubbles, floating and drifting, light and beautiful.
Then, when she drew the final stroke, they would burst soundlessly.
The talisman patterns she drew were nothing more than marks pressed into the mud.
They were useless. The next rain would wash them away without a trace.
Mei Man knew that Qiu Heyang possessed an exceptional talent for talisman arts. While the cultivators in the outer sect academy were still laboriously copying the symbols from their books, he had already been able to cast aside paper and brush and draw talismans directly with spiritual power.
She knew.
She had known since childhood.
But now, listening to him casually discussing a talisman she had never even heard of, watching him effortlessly earn Shen Shushi’s approval while she had to exhaust herself just to receive a single “Not bad,” she still couldn’t stop the flames of jealousy from rising within her.
That jealousy burned fiercely, scorching her organs until they seemed to crumple inward. Sour white smoke rose from the flames, choking her until even breathing became difficult.
Her insides turned into a furnace blazing with jealousy. Each heavy beat of her heart was like the strike of a smith’s hammer, forging countless tiny yet vicious thoughts.
She resented how carefree he always seemed. She wished he would stumble and fall. She longed to see a look of loss and pain on his face…
Just imagining it made her feel so relieved that her entire heart seemed to grow lighter.
She suspected her expression must have been horribly twisted, but Qiu Heyang remained completely unaware.
He even looked delighted. Throwing an arm around her shoulders with shameless ease, he smiled as brightly as the sun outside.
Mei Man had no idea what there was to be happy about, and her expression grew even darker. Fortunately, her head was lowered and her bangs concealed her face, keeping her feelings from showing.
“Master,” Qiu Heyang said, “now that I’m Little Mei’s senior brother, why don’t I take care of her? It would help her get used to life on the main peak more quickly.”
Mei Man felt her scalp prickle.
What was he talking about? Wasn’t she Shen Shushi’s disciple now? Why did he have to be the one to look after her?
She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if she had to see him in all his glory every day, every hour, every moment, every breath.
What kind of sour, poisonous liquid would seep out of her heart?
It would drown her.
Mei Man was about to refuse, but fortunately, Shen Shushi had no such intention and spoke first. “There’s no need. She’ll stay here. As for you, Heyang, there is another matter I need you to handle down the mountain.”
Qiu Heyang immediately became displeased.
He was still smiling, but the arm around Mei Man’s shoulders tightened considerably. Even through their sleeves, she could feel the tension in his muscles.
He was angry. Yet the words that came out of his mouth were, “All right. It’s fine for her to stay here. I still have plenty to cultivate anyway. What do you need me to do down the mountain, Master?”
Shen Shushi said, “You’re going to the mortal realm. Yesterday, I received a letter from the Feather Clan’s Sovereign. Not long ago, one of their people underwent a tribulation in the mortal realm and lost several pieces of thunderstruck immortal feather. They are precious medicinal materials, exceedingly rare beneath the heavens.”
“The mortal realm? Then I’ll probably be gone for quite some time.” Qiu Heyang suddenly looked at Mei Man. “Little Mei, would you like to come with me? It’s a rare opportunity. We could look around and have some fun.”
The region where the cultivation world was located was also known as the Central Spirit Realm, inhabited mostly by cultivators, demons, and other supernatural beings.
Ordinary mortals and some less prominent cultivator clans lived in the mortal realm.
The Mei family, for instance, lived in the land of Zhongzhou, where the mortal realm and the Central Spirit Realm met, because the cultivators in their clan were generally of low cultivation.
For someone like Mei Man, who was an ordinary mortal, the Central Spirit Realm was an immortal paradise utterly beyond her reach.
Thus, she instinctively resisted the suggestion—even felt afraid of it.
What if she went to the mortal realm and could never return?
Without giving it any thought, she said, “No.”
Qiu Heyang’s expression barely changed. “All right. I’ll find another chance for us to go out together.”
Mei Man noticed that he wasn’t angry, and the heart she had been holding in suspense settled back down.
Shen Shushi added, “Precisely. I have another task for her. You should go.”
Qiu Heyang nearly failed to keep smiling.
Mei Man even heard a tiny, quiet tsk. She couldn’t understand why he was angry. He had been perfectly fine when she turned him down just now, but she was genuinely afraid he might blurt out something like, “You old fossil.”
In the end, however, he didn’t lose his temper. He only smiled. “Very well. Little Mei, wait for me to return.”
“Oh.” Mei Man answered woodenly, her thoughts drifting in every direction.
One moment, she wondered whether, if she had spiritual power, she too could descend to the mortal realm and search for treasures like those thunderstruck immortal feathers. The next, she was imagining what the Scripture Repository might look like. Then she found herself fretting over what she should do next.
There was no way she could really waste ten years in this cold, lonely cave abode, only to return to the mortal realm alone, was there?
How could she possibly be satisfied with that?
She thought about it over and over. Even after Qiu Heyang had left, she remained distracted.
It wasn’t until Shen Shushi said he would take her to see the library that she finally came back to her senses.
