As Qiu Yingling spoke, it looked as though he was merely holding Mei Man by the wrist to keep her from moving her hand recklessly, but the pad of his finger had been resting against her pulse the entire time.
If she panicked even for a moment, there was a chance he would notice something amiss.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.
She steadied her breathing and did her best to remain calm.
He had no conclusive evidence, and he couldn’t possibly sink so low as to search her soul outright. As long as Xie Xu did not betray her and she refused to admit anything, he could do nothing to her.
“Yes. I’ve been in the library the whole time. There are still many books left to read.” Mei Man glanced at Shen Shushi. “After all, I’ve only just begun cultivating under my immortal master, so I can’t afford to slack off. The sun will always be there whenever I want to go outside and bask in it, but time is precious.”
Shen Shushi was deeply gratified.
Aside from Mei Man, he had three other disciples. All of them were gifted and exceptionally clever, but when it came to diligence, none could compare with her.
At the thought, he couldn’t help regretting that she possessed no spiritual power.
But that thought was like a wisp of smoke, vanishing in an instant.
He said, “Learning does not lie in mere diligence, but in precision. You must study with all your heart and never work blindly.”
Mei Man nodded. “Thank you for your instruction, Immortal Master.”
Qiu Yingling withdrew his hand.
He had apparently detected nothing unusual, for his expression remained unchanged. Turning to Shen Shushi, he said, “It’s a good thing for you to teach her alchemy and medicine-making. However, Manman is a mortal, and there are many pills she cannot take lightly. Otherwise, she may suffer pill poisoning.”
Was he trying to find out whether Shen Shushi had given her any pills?
Mei Man lowered her head, unable to stop her expression from darkening.
Shen Shushi said, “There’s no harm. It isn’t convenient to set up a stove and make a fire in my abode, so I usually have her eat fasting pills. They won’t do her any harm.”
Qiu Yingling said, “That’s good, then. She can devote all her thoughts to cultivation.”
Mei Man secretly stole a glance at him. She saw that he was smiling, but the corners of his eyes had drooped slightly. She knew at once that he had failed to detect anything suspicious.
Of course.
Someone as arrogant as him would usually place his own deductions above all facts.
Once he had concluded that she possessed no spiritual power, that Shen Shushi had not given her any powerful pills, and that she therefore lacked both the ability and the nerve to impersonate Xie Xu—let alone injure him—he would naturally be certain that she could not be the culprit.
Qiu Yingling asked a few more questions about her circumstances there and, in passing, consulted Shen Shushi about several matters concerning alchemy. However, anyone familiar with him could tell that his mind was clearly elsewhere.
Mei Man guessed he was probably puzzling over who had disguised themselves as Xie Xu, but in the end, he would no longer suspect her.
Shen Shushi did not know his temperament and continued speaking with great enthusiasm.
Mei Man listened from the side, hoping to hear something useful. But most of what he discussed involved auxiliary pills such as lightning-warding pills, which helped cultivators survive their tribulations. They were of no use to her, and before long, her mind began to wander.
After roughly half an hour, Qiu Yingling said he needed to return and tend to his injuries. He rose and took his leave.
After leaving the abode, a white crane suddenly spiraled down from the sky. Upon landing, it transformed into the immortal servant he often sent on errands.
The servant said, “Eldest Young Master, I’ve questioned everyone in the residence over the past few days, but no one has seen that Xie Xu. I also investigated the martial escort agency where he worked. Everyone says he usually keeps to himself, like a mute. He hardly speaks, and they’ve never seen him interact with anyone or associate with anyone in private.”
Qiu Yingling asked, “What about the spirit traces?”
The servant said, “We’ve also checked the traces outside the residence, but there were no unfamiliar spirit traces. However… however, Xie Xu’s spiritual meridians were destroyed long ago. Even if we investigate, we won’t be able to detect his traces. I—”
“That’s enough.”
Qiu Yingling suddenly cut him off. Unlike his usual manner, his voice had grown heavier, as though he was too impatient to hear another word.
The immortal servant immediately fell silent and cast a nervous glance at him.
Qiu Yingling still wore the same expression, but then he exhaled deeply from his lungs.
“Ah, forgive me. The weather is cold, and I seem to have misjudged the force of my voice.” He smiled. “It’s just that I never expected such a simple task to take you nearly two months without yielding the slightest result. That alone would be one thing, but you still have to make me listen to your endless complaints. It truly is difficult to bear—what do you think?”
The servant’s face turned ashen. He lowered his head and dared not look up, hurriedly saying, “Please forgive me, Eldest Young Master. This servant has failed in his duty.”
“I’ll give you ten more days—no, one month.” Qiu Yingling felt that his patience was nearly worn through, so he simply spelled it out for him. “If you can’t pry the information out of people’s mouths, then find a way to look through things that cannot speak. Since you know which martial escort agency he worked for, trace the wages and rewards he received. Find out where that silver went and whose hands it ended up in.”
The servant had never thought of that. At Qiu Yingling’s reminder, enlightenment dawned on him, and he hurriedly replied, “Yes!”
“Don’t continue being useless like you have been these past two months, all right?” Qiu Yingling raised a hand and patted him twice on the shoulder. “My patience has its limits as well.”
After Qiu Yingling left, Mei Man took the opportunity to ask about dragon bones.
She remembered that when he had given her that dragon bone before, he had handed it over as casually as if he were passing her a steamed bun.
Why, then, had he gone all the way to the Demon Caverns to search for dragon bones and returned covered in injuries?
So she asked, “Immortal Master, although dragon bones are rare, they aren’t found only in the Demon Caverns. Why would he risk his life to enter the Demon Caverns in search of one?”
Shen Shushi said, “If a dragon clan can lie dormant in the Demon Caverns, its cultivation must far surpass that of its kin. Moreover, because it can balance pure and turbid qi, it must contain a powerful and keen innate energy. Dragon bones of this kind are exceedingly precious. They can advance one’s cultivation and temper one’s spiritual meridians.”
When Mei Man heard this, her heart suddenly began pounding hard, though her tone remained casual. “Then… could a spiritual meridian actually be forged using dragon bone?”
“Of course.”
In an instant, Mei Man’s mind began to buzz, and the blood throughout her body seemed to surge toward her head.
It took considerable effort for her to control her expression and keep herself from looking too excited.
“Really—” Her voice nearly broke. “Really?”
“But it would be useless.” As though he had guessed what she was thinking, his expression turned solemn. “An ordinary mortal cannot withstand the demonic power of a dragon bone. The moment it is introduced into the body, the flesh may be annihilated into ash. Besides, without a spiritual root to receive and store spiritual power, even if spiritual meridians could be forged, once spiritual power was drawn into the body, it would eventually flow away, leaving not the slightest trace behind.”
Those words were like a basin of cold water poured over Mei Man’s head.
She immediately calmed down and realized that he was warning her not to indulge in impossible fantasies. Yet to a barren wasteland, even a tiny spark could set off a prairie fire.
Now that she had glimpsed a possible lead, how could she possibly—or willingly—let it go?
To prevent him from becoming suspicious because of how closely she was following the matter, she pretended not to care and said, “That makes sense. If this method were truly viable, countless people would have forged their own spiritual meridians long ago. Immortal Master, when I was looking through the illustrated compendium earlier, there was something I could never quite understand. It concerned two medicinal ingredients.”
She brought up another subject. Though Shen Shushi looked stern, he was straightforward by nature, and he did not think any further of it. He helped her resolve her doubts.
After returning to the library, Mei Man paid no attention to the unbearable soreness in her legs and began pacing around the room.
At first, she was thinking about the matter of the dragon bone.
Shen Shushi had said that ordinary mortals couldn’t withstand the demonic power of a dragon bone. In other words, she first had to find a way to strengthen her body’s ability to bear it, until she could endure that power.
If she could use the dragon bone to temper her meridians and get spiritual energy circulating through her body, then besides that, she would also need to find something that could replace a “spiritual root”—something capable of receiving and storing spiritual energy.
By the time she had thought it all through, even Mei Man herself felt it sounded absurd.
If this actually worked, she would practically be going against the Heavenly Dao. Who knew how many years of heavenly tribulations it might bring down?
But her hesitation lasted only a moment before excitement surged through her.
What if it worked?
As long as there was even the slightest chance, she would rather be struck by heavenly lightning for three or five years than let it slip away.
Then she began wondering about Xie Xu’s attitude.
Was he going to accept the benefits Qiu Yingling had offered, or not?
What Qiu Yingling had brought out wasn’t some trivial favor or a handful of ordinary gifts. It was an immortal pill capable of repairing spiritual meridians, along with the opportunity to become the Sword Venerable’s disciple.
How rare was that?
If she were him, she would have accepted immediately. She would even have dragged Qiu Yingling off to find the Sword Venerable and called him Master at once, just in case he changed his mind.
But Xie Xu was a stubborn man.
Before this, Qiu Yingling had given him a Spirit-Nourishing Great Replenishment Pill as thanks, and he hadn’t accepted it. It was unlikely that the value of a gift would change his mind.
But what if?
What if he accepted it?
After all, the Spirit-Nourishing Great Replenishment Pill had merely been beneficial; it had been of no use to him. But what Qiu Yingling had brought out this time was a genuine treasure.
Whenever Mei Man imagined Xie Xu suddenly standing proudly in a position of power, waving his hand and effortlessly casting countless exquisite spiritual arts, she felt so miserable it was as though insects were crawling all over her body.
She hadn’t actually lost anything, yet she was still in unbearable pain.
After pacing around the room for half an hour, she finally couldn’t hold back any longer and sneaked out of the library.
It was evening. The vast immortal’s abode lay wrapped in the gentle colors of dusk. Radiant clouds burned across the horizon, while the hazy phantoms of azure birds and phoenixes circled faintly in the sky.
Mei Man had no mind to admire the sight. With her head lowered, she hurried forward. Just as she was about to leave, she spotted two figures in the distance.
One was a puppet immortal servant sweeping the ground. His hands continued moving, but his head was tilted up as he looked toward the entrance.
The other was a handsome male cultivator with an elegant, refined air. He was idly tossing a strange-looking object in his hand. It resembled a meteor hammer, its surface covered in spikes, though it was much smaller—about the size of a fist—and brightly colored.
He stood at the entrance, blocking the doorway completely, and was chatting with the immortal servant.
Mei Man had never seen this male cultivator before, and she had no intention of greeting him. She continued walking with her head lowered.
But even when she was almost at the entrance, the man showed no intention of moving. He didn’t even look at her, merely continuing to speak to the servant with a smiling expression.
“Hey, why did they change the person sweeping? What happened to the previous one?”
The servant answered blankly, “It broke.”
“Hahaha. The Immortal Lord is incredibly skilled, but the puppets he makes are so poorly made they need replacing every few months. If you ask me, he’d be better off having my father send over a batch. They’re all made from excellent thousand-year lightning-struck wood. They last forever.”
Since he refused to move, Mei Man had no choice but to speak.
“Excuse me. Please move aside.”
The man acted as though he hadn’t heard her. He ignored her completely and continued talking to the puppet servant.
“Is the Immortal Lord here? It took me so long to make this trip. I’d hate to come all this way for nothing.”
“The Immortal Lord is in the Pure Heart Pavilion.”
“That works too, that works too. Once Guiya arrives, I’ll go in with him.”
His reaction made Mei Man wonder whether she had accidentally taken an invisibility pill. Thinking he truly hadn’t heard her, she stepped forward and said in a dark voice, “Please move aside.”
The servant stopped sweeping and looked up at her.
Apparently, she wasn’t invisible after all.
But this blind and deaf bastard still didn’t look at her. Instead, he asked the servant, “I heard Qiu Heyang went down the mountain. When will he be back?”
“He—”
“Move!” Mei Man suddenly raised her voice and shouted angrily.
The bastard finally reacted. His eyelid twitched, and he glanced at her.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you just now. Were you the one speaking?” he asked.
Mei Man’s face darkened, but she said nothing. Her anger had already risen to her cheeks, making her entire face burn.
The immortal servant was just as oblivious. He failed to notice the man’s attitude and helpfully introduced them.
“Immortal Elder Mei is the Immortal Lord’s newest disciple. She lives here now as well.”
“Oh, an Immortal Elder?” The cultivator gave a laugh. “I didn’t see you just now. My apologies, Immortal Elder Mei.”
His voice was light and breezy, like the chirping of a little sparrow. He hadn’t said anything particularly offensive—in fact, he was quite polite—but Mei Man still sensed a hint of contempt.
It was the kind of disdain that came from looking down from a lofty position, from not considering someone worthy of even the effort required to mock them. To him, she wasn’t worth taking seriously at all.
If she lashed out at him over a few words, she would instead look like the one picking a fight.
The immortal servant, for instance, hadn’t detected anything wrong with the man’s tone. He solemnly continued his introduction.
“Immortal Elder, this is Fan Zilang, a disciple of the Inner Sect.”
The servant called her “Immortal Elder” while addressing the man directly by name because Fan Zilang was merely a disciple of the Inner Sect, not a personal disciple of any Immortal Lord. According to the rules, that was the proper way to address them.
Even so, a trace of displeasure crossed Fan Zilang’s expression.
Mei Man said, “Please move aside.”
Fan Zilang instead turned to the servant.
“Stop sweeping. Go prepare some tea. Guiya will be here soon. Later, I’ll go to the tea room with him.”
The servant agreed, set down his broom, and left.
The instant he was gone, Fan Zilang suddenly swung the object in his hand.
The spikes covering its surface shot out with a whoosh, flying straight toward Mei Man.
She never expected him to attack without warning. Fortunately, she had never slacked off in her physical training. Almost the moment she saw the flash of silver, she twisted sideways and dodged.
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
One after another, the flying needles grazed past her and sank into the wooden doorframe.
She instinctively glanced over and saw that nearly every needle had embedded itself halfway into the wood. If she hadn’t dodged just now, she would have been turned into a sieve.
Fear and fury surged through her at the same time. Mei Man snapped her head back and glared furiously at him.
“Immortal Elder Mei has quite a bit of skill,” Fan Zilang said, casually tossing the object in his hand. “But don’t think that just because you got lucky and entered the Inner Sect, you can rise to the top overnight. And don’t think that wearing the title of a personal disciple will make people accept you. If I had used a spiritual art to change the needles’ direction, they would all have ended up in your body. Or perhaps Immortal Elder Mei knows some spiritual art capable of blocking them?”
Those words wounded more deeply than the needles. Mei Man clenched her fists, nearly sinking into her poisonous resentment.
Yet when her anger reached its peak, she became calm instead.
She thought of Fan Zilang’s displeasure when the servant addressed them differently, and of how he kept mentioning Shen Shushi while lingering at the entrance instead of going inside. Suddenly, she understood why he was hostile toward her.
Mei Man stared at him and said, “Then why don’t you go in? Go through that door and ask my Immortal Master yourself. Ask him why he accepted me as a disciple. Ask him whether it’s more important for me to cultivate under him, or for him to win someone else’s approval.”
Fan Zilang’s hand paused. Perhaps he hadn’t expected Mei Man to snap back at him like that. The corner of his eye twitched faintly, and his expression filled with anger and incredulous disbelief.
“What did you say?” he asked.
Mei Man gave a quiet scoff. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was more than enough for him to hear. “As expected, you really are deaf.”
“You!”
“Could it be because you can’t get in?” Mei Man looked at him with a mocking smile, like a petty villain who had the upper hand. “You don’t have the token for this cave dwelling, so all you can do is wait outside? How pitiful. You look just like a watchdog guarding the gate.”
Fan Zilang stared at her in shock. “How could you—how could you say such things?”
Mei Man’s expression hardly changed, but inside, she was furious.
Why? Why, after coming all the way here, did she still have to run into a few pieces of trash?
“What things?” Her mind clouded by anger, she became even more sarcastic. “That even if you know spiritual arts, they’re useless because you still can’t cross the threshold? Or that you look like a watchdog? Oh, no wonder you didn’t respond when I called you just now. Turns out you don’t understand human speech. Here, here, here—can you understand me now?”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Fan Zilang was practically mad with rage. His face flushed crimson as he glared fiercely at her, looking as though he wanted to tear her limb from limb.
As he spoke, white streams of energy gathered in his palm. Clearly, he was about to use spiritual arts.
Seeing the spiritual energy, Mei Man finally came to her senses and realized just how nasty—and how provocative—the things she had said were.
She began to panic. If he used spiritual arts, she certainly wouldn’t be able to beat him, so she instinctively wanted to slip away. At least judging from the situation, he truly couldn’t force his way inside.
But before she could move, a voice came from not far away. “Zilang.”
Fan Zilang withdrew his spiritual power and turned his head, breathing heavily.
Mei Man followed his gaze and saw a tall young male cultivator approaching.
The cultivator had a striking, almost heavily inked appearance. His nose was high and straight, his eye sockets slightly deep-set, and his eyelashes thick and long. Even with a smile on his face, he didn’t look particularly fresh or easygoing; instead, there was something faintly sinister about him.
He wore a scholar-warrior robe much like Qiu Heyang’s. His slightly curled black hair was loosely tied with a red ribbon, though much of it hung loose, interspersed with several thin braids whose ends were clasped with silver rings.
At first, Mei Man only thought he looked familiar, but she didn’t recognize him. It was only when she saw the longbow slung diagonally across his back that she remembered—
He was the leading cultivator she had encountered at the archery range that day.
The man had been excessively enthusiastic, and Mei Man had formed no favorable impression of him. She immediately lowered her gaze.
“Yu Guiya, so you finally decided to show up! If you’d kept me waiting any longer, you would’ve driven me to death,” Fan Zilang said, suppressing his anger. “Take a look at your new junior sister. She’s got quite the attitude.”
“What junior sister? She’s just—wait, it’s you!” Yu Guiya suddenly stepped forward. “You’re the junior sister our master just took in? Do you remember me? We spoke a few words at the archery range that day. But that brat Qiu Heyang interrupted us. You remember me, don’t you? You remember?”
How could she not remember?
In Qiu Heyang’s mouth, he was the “good-for-nothing who’d only reached Foundation Establishment,” the “lowlife,” the “useless trash not even worthy of being called an ant.” He had quite a collection of titles.
Mei Man also realized who he was—presumably Shen Shushi’s third disciple—but she had no desire to engage with him. Seeing that the way out was clear, she hurriedly walked away.
“Hey, Yu Guiya, what are you doing? Didn’t you say—” Fan Zilang began.
“Say what?” Yu Guiya cut him off, his tone carrying a hint of disapproval. “Look at that scowl on your face. You’re supposed to go see Master later. This is your first time meeting my junior sister, and you’re already treating her like that. Be careful Master disciplines you.”
His words sounded as though he were defending her, but Mei Man had no patience for such unwarranted enthusiasm, nor did she want to say anything more to him.
Besides, anyone who could be friends with Fan Zilang couldn’t be much of a good person. For all she knew, this was merely an act.
But she was afraid he might complain about her to Shen Shushi, so she put on a gentle, harmless expression and said, “Thank you, Senior Brother Yu. Perhaps I did something wrong and offended Senior Brother Fan.”
Fan Zilang stared at her as if she were a monster, his brows and eyes full of astonishment. “You—”
“Your Senior Brother Fan can be rather blunt at times. You’ll get used to it,” Yu Guiya said. “Junior Sister, where are you planning to go? It’s almost dark.”
“Out.” Mei Man gave him a tactful hint. “I have something urgent to take care of, and I’m in a hurry.”
“If it’s urgent, then go on. But don’t stay out too long. Master’s rules are strict, and he may summon you at any time. He’s waiting for me as well, so I shouldn’t keep chatting. We’ll have plenty of chances to see each other in the future.”
Yu Guiya rattled on at length. Fan Zilang clicked his tongue impatiently. “Hurry up and go. I had the immortal servant brew some tea, and it’ll be cold soon.”
Yu Guiya cheerfully bantered with him. “Who drinks tea at night?”
As the two of them spoke, they entered the cave dwelling, while Mei Man went straight to the servants’ quarters.
Fortunately, there were teleportation arrays throughout the immortal estate, so she didn’t have to make the exhausting journey she had that afternoon.
But the servants’ quarters were shrouded in darkness.
Not a single lamp was lit in the low buildings. The doors were tightly shut, and unfinished firewood was piled outside.
A sudden wave of panic swept over Mei Man.
Could Xie Xu really have gone to find Qiu Yingling?
But she didn’t dare go inside to look. More than anything, she was afraid Xie Xu might still be in there. If she ran into him face-to-face, it would be far too humiliating—a blatant admission that she cared about the matter.
Mei Man quietly hid behind the courtyard gate, poking out only her head as she furtively surveyed the surroundings.
The longer she looked, the more anxious she became.
Suddenly, she heard the dull clack of shoes stepping across the stone ground, right behind her.
Mei Man’s scalp instantly prickled. She spun around and met Xie Xu’s gaze.
He was carrying a dripping wet knife. His expression was blank as he looked at her. He neither spoke nor moved.
“What are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?” Mei Man snapped. “If you scare my soul out of me, are you going to go find it?!”
Xie Xu merely asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I just happened to be passing by.” Naturally, Mei Man had no intention of admitting her real reason for coming. “Did you go wash your knife? What, did you decide you were too reluctant to swallow the pill Qiu Yingling gave you in one piece, so you had to chop it into several portions?”
Xie Xu said nothing.
The sun had sunk quickly, leaving the sky dim and indistinct, but Mei Man vaguely saw what might have been a smile on his face. The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly before being suppressed again.
He stepped inside. “I said I’d consider it for three days.”
Mei Man watched him anxiously but remained at the doorway, refusing to go in. “Consider it? Are you going to agree?”
Xie Xu stopped and glanced sideways at her. “I told you to come and find out for yourself. Don’t expect to force an answer out of me.”
“You—”
“I made some porridge, and there are steamed buns fresh from the oven. Do you want some?”
Mei Man forcibly swallowed the insult she was about to hurl at him. At that exact moment, hunger rose in her stomach. Shen Shushi had given her plenty of fasting pills, but she simply couldn’t get used to the things, much less enjoy eating them. Sometimes, even when she wasn’t hungry, her mouth still craved something tasty.
“Can’t you finish them by yourself?” she asked.
“No. I can’t.”
“Fine, then. I am a little hungry too.” Mei Man glanced around several times, making sure no one was nearby, before following him inside like a wronged ghost.
