Mei Man stopped.
The child then said, “Mei Man, come over. Come closer so we can talk.”
She shuffled over slowly, gradually getting a clearer look at the person in the wheelchair.
It was a young woman, appearing to be seventeen or eighteen.
She looked very much like Qiu Heyang, with brows like pale ink–washed distant mountains and eyes like clear little stars. The outer corners of her eyes drooped slightly, giving her a mild, approachable look.
But she was two degrees thinner than him. Her features were softer, her hair a lighter shade, and her complexion even paler.
And unlike Qiu Heyang, whose eyes were often curved with a smile, there was no smile on her face, nor any warmth in her eyes. Her brows and eyes seemed steeped in the chill of autumn waters, revealing scarcely a trace of emotion.
This person was Qiu Heyang’s twin sister, Qiu Yanxue.
The two child attendants standing on either side of her looked very much like her as well: fine brows, starry eyes, and cold expressions, though their features were more youthful.
Mei Man stopped in front of Qiu Yanxue and lowered her head, thinking to herself that Qiu Yanxue was clearly an inner-sect cultivator. What was she doing here?
She did not look at Qiu Yanxue, nor at the two child attendants.
But the two of them came over on their own, standing close against her legs on either side. Without saying a word, they tilted their heads up and stared at her.
Thump—
Thump—
Thump—
Mei Man’s heartbeat quickened and grew heavier. Cold sweat seeped across her back. Whenever her gaze shifted even slightly, she could catch sight of the children’s eyes.
Cold, intent, and unblinking.
These two children were Qiu Yanxue’s immortal servants.
They must have been newly replaced. When Mei Man had first entered the sect, they had not been the ones accompanying her.
Ordinary cultivators, after reaching a certain level of cultivation, would use spells and spiritual power to create puppet immortal servants, like the puppet guarding Shen Shushi’s door.
But Qiu Yanxue was different.
Her immortal servants had been made from her own flesh and blood.
She had drained her own blood, then cut away her own flesh to create these two children.
They resembled her, and each had been given a portion of her five senses.
What the children saw and heard, she could see and hear as well.
Whatever they sensed, she could sense too.
What they said and did was also what she herself wished to say and do.
It was as though she had split herself into several separate parts.
Mei Man swallowed, her back growing even colder.
Compared with Qiu Yingling’s inscrutable, unpredictable schemes and Qiu Heyang’s viciousness hidden beneath a pleasant exterior, this person frightened her more.
Like now. With those two children staring at her without blinking, Mei Man always had the unsettling feeling that several Qiu Yanxues were watching her at once.
There was nowhere to hide. No place to escape her notice.
She did not know why Qiu Yanxue did this. Wouldn’t it drive her insane?
Besides, Qiu Yanxue was a woman. Even if she wanted to make false bodies, why did she always make two male children instead of female ones? Didn’t she find that inconvenient?
But none of that was Mei Man’s concern. It had been nearly two months since she had last seen Qiu Yanxue, and she was somehow still a little uncomfortable around her. In a dry voice, she asked, “Why did you call me?”
Qiu Yanxue took her hand. The pad of her finger brushed along the side of Mei Man’s palm before stopping at her wrist, where it began tracing small, gentle circles.
“Why is your wrist red? Who grabbed you?” Her voice always carried a languid, indifferent quality, as though even speaking took too much effort.
Mei Man caught sight of the red mark beneath Qiu Yanxue’s fingers from the corner of her eye.
It had been left by Xie Xu’s grip. In the past, he would have slowly tended to it while she bathed, but she had left in such a hurry today that the mark remained.
“I did it to myself,” she replied perfunctorily.
“Mm.”
Qiu Yanxue withdrew her hand and said nothing more.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Mei Man secretly lifted her eyelids and glanced at her.
Qiu Yanxue was lazily leaning back in her wheelchair, propping up her chin with one hand as she stared absently at a willow tree in the distance, its branches just beginning to sprout. Her eyes were vacant.
“Xiaoman,” Qiu Yanxue suddenly called.
“What?”
“Come here and sit down.”
Mei Man thought to herself that they were in the middle of nowhere. Where was she supposed to sit—on a tree? She wasn’t a monkey.
The instant the thought crossed her mind, Qiu Yanxue took her hand, while the two children pushed against her back.
After being tugged and jostled from every direction, Mei Man found herself sitting on Qiu Yanxue’s lap.
The two children leaned in as well, and the three of them nearly surrounded her completely.
A faint medicinal fragrance drifted into her nose. Mei Man was genuinely afraid she might crush Qiu Yanxue, so she stiffened her body and maintained a rigid posture as she said, “Miss… Yan Xue, Qiu Yanxue, I really should stand.”
“Mm.” Qiu Yanxue’s tone remained indifferent. “Wait a moment.”
She took Mei Man’s hand and pressed her fingers against the red marks on her wrist. A faint glow of spiritual energy appeared beneath her fingertip.
Before long, the marks vanished.
Qiu Yanxue then traced upward along her wrist bone and pushed up her sleeve, revealing the marks on her arm.
They were also faint red lines. She erased them one by one, then suddenly said, “Xiaoman, there’s someone else’s scent on you. Very unfamiliar.”
The Bell Child, wearing a bell-shaped earring on the left, said, “A rather abrupt fragrance.”
The Talisman Child, wearing a talisman-shaped earring on the right, said, “And the smell of bedding that’s just been dried in the sun.”
The Bell Child immediately added, “There’s also the scent of wood shavings.”
The Talisman Child followed at once. “A very old smell, like an earthen wall.”
The Bell Child said, “And—”
“They’re my friend!” Mei Man interrupted him and said to Qiu Yanxue, “I was playing with a friend just now.”
“Oh. Xiaoman has made a friend.” Qiu Yanxue’s tone remained flat, though she spoke more than usual. “That’s a rare good thing. But everyone who comes here does so to cultivate. Most of them pretend to be proper and respectable to win other people’s trust, while behaving entirely differently in private. Xiaoman, you’re too earnest. If you meet a false friend, you’ll be the one who gets hurt.”
“I know.”
Mei Man said it, though she was unconvinced in her heart. Then she thought about it. She did not actually have this so-called “friend.” The irritation in her chest dispersed at once.
She had only been making things up anyway. Why should she care?
Qiu Yanxue continued, “The spiritual energy in this immortal residence is too abundant. I’ve been unconscious and barely lucid for the past two months, so I never came to see you. Just now, I went to the outer-sect compound. They told me you had already gone to the main peak and taken an Immortal Lord as your master.”
Mei Man said, “Shen Shushi, Immortal Lord Shen.”
“Mm. I’ve never heard of him.”
Qiu Yanxue wiped away the last trace, then rested her elbow on the armrest of the wheelchair once more, propping up her chin as she gazed indifferently at the willow tree she had been looking at earlier.
Sometimes, Mei Man truly felt that Qiu Yanxue was like a ghost.
That comparison was not entirely baseless. She had once heard Qiu Heyang say that when Qiu Yanxue was born, she had accidentally inhaled a strand of yin energy.
Feeling slightly awkward beneath the gazes of the two children, Mei Man said, “Could you move aside? You’re blocking the way.”
Both children stepped back several paces.
Mei Man braced herself against the other armrest and stood up.
Qiu Yanxue said nothing, as though she did not care in the slightest about what Mei Man was doing.
Mei Man thought Qiu Yanxue had become lost in her own world again, so she planned to slip away while the other woman was not paying attention. But the moment she turned around, she saw Qiu Heyang appear on the path not far away.
How had he managed to find her?
Mei Man immediately turned back and called out, “Yan Xue! Qiu Yanxue!”
Qiu Yanxue’s eyelids trembled faintly. Her eyes shifted, and she looked at Mei Man.
Mei Man had known her for far too long. She understood that when speaking to Qiu Yanxue—whether in ordinary circumstances or when asking her for help—she could not beat around the bush as she did with other people.
She had to be completely direct.
Otherwise, he couldn’t be bothered to listen, or would simply pretend not to understand.
So she got straight to the point. “Do me a favor.”
Qiu Yanxue didn’t ask what favor she wanted. Instead, he gazed at her lazily and asked, “Xiaoman, who’s that friend of yours? I’d like to meet them.”
