"Thank you, Peak Master Yao. I will consider it carefully," Yuan Shu smiled faintly, speaking with polite grace.
Yao Qianci didn't expect her to answer right away. He gave a slight nod and, before leaving, handed her a cyan jade token.
"This is my guest token. If you ever encounter any trouble in the future, you can come to Yaoyun Peak to find me."
As a guest of one of the five great peak masters, simply presenting this token would earn respect anywhere.
Yao Qianci doing this showed immense sincerity.
Yuan Shu pondered for a moment, then called out to stop Yao Qianci just as he turned to leave, handing him a small bottle of medicinal liquid.
"I noticed that your right wrist sometimes trembles uncontrollably. Has your hand been injured before?"
"This is a medicinal liquid that soothes the meridians. You can apply some when you need precise control during alchemy."
Yuan Shu handed the liquid over, causing Yao Qianci to pause in surprise.
As the master of Yaoyun Peak, he was always the one giving pills and spiritual medicines to others. This was the first time someone had offered medicine to him.
An ordinary person would probably think Yuan Shu was overestimating herself, showing off her meager skills before a grandmaster of alchemy.
The young disciple following behind Yao Qianci certainly thought so.
The peak master had already lowered his status enough by speaking to her, yet this person didn't know what was good for her and actually dared to offer him medicine?
Was the peak master someone who lacked that little bit of medicinal liquid?
What good medicine in this world had the peak master not possessed?
The young disciple opened his mouth to say something, but Yao Qianci raised a hand to cut him off.
He waved his hand, signaling the disciple to step back, then stepped forward to take the medicine from Yuan Shu's hand, smiling faintly at her. "Thank you."
Seeing him accept it, Yuan Shu didn't linger. She nodded slightly, turned, and left.
"Peak Master, are you really going to use this medicine?"
"This medicine is of unknown origin, and your hands are so precious. What if it's harmful? What if it not only fails to cure your hand tremors but makes them worse?"
"You absolutely cannot use this medicine!"
Yao Qianci rolled the small medicine bottle between his fingertips, looking thoughtful, as if he were genuinely considering what Yuan Shu had just said.
This startled the young disciple behind him, who hurriedly spoke up to stop him.
Yao Qianci pursed his lips, his gaze falling on the path where Yuan Shu had left, remaining silent for a long time.
For an alchemist, their hands were their most precious asset, second only to their mind.
They controlled the proportions of all the medicinal ingredients and the precision of the flame.
Even the slightest mishap could result in a failed refinement!
Yao Qianci's hand had been injured in an alchemy accident years ago. After years of careful maintenance, it had mostly recovered.
Ordinary people couldn't tell the difference at all.
And no one had ever asked him about his hand.
He hadn't expected a young female disciple to notice the problem today.
"Let's go."
Yao Qianci hesitated slightly. Instead of putting the medicine bottle into his spatial bag, he casually tucked it into his robes.
The young disciple beside him wanted to say more, but upon meeting Yao Qianci's cold, silencing gaze, he quickly shut his mouth.
...
"Shushu!"
Just as Yuan Shu returned to the entrance of her courtyard, she heard a familiar soft call from behind.
Turning her head, she saw Shu Linyuan walking briskly toward her, holding a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers.
His handsome, elegant face wore a warm smile.
It seemed that ever since he discovered Yuan Shu liked seeing him smile, he instinctively smiled whenever he faced her.
"Sixth Senior Brother?" Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow and greeted him with a smile.
Ever since Shu Linyuan stumbled upon her affair with Shen Qi, Yuan Shu hadn't seen him for many days.
She heard he had gone down the mountain with Shen Qi on a mission.
"You mentioned last time that you like fresh flowers. On my way back from the mountain this time, I passed by a flower shop and specifically had them wrap this up for you. See if you like it?"
Shu Linyuan handed the flowers to Yuan Shu and couldn't wait to wrap his arms around her waist.
His tall, slender figure was a head taller than Yuan Shu, easily enveloping her in his embrace.
His peach-blossom eyes stared at her unblinkingly, as if trying to make up for all the regret of not seeing her for so many days.
Yuan Shu reached out and fiddled with the bouquet in her hands.
The overall color scheme was based on light pink and pale blue, paired with white and small floral accents.
"It's quite pretty. I can take it back to my room and put it on display."
Yuan Shu gave an approving evaluation, looking up at him with a smile.
On her stunningly beautiful face, her smile was bright and radiant, like a blooming peony, full of allure.
Shu Linyuan's eyes darkened slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing uncontrollably. "Shushu..."
Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow at him.
The next second, Shu Linyuan had already lost control and leaned down to kiss her.
The faint scent of pine, bamboo, and ink drifted into her nose, quickly prying open her lips and teeth.
Yuan Shu froze slightly and struggled a little, but Shu Linyuan hugged her even tighter, crushing the bouquet of flowers against her chest out of shape.
"Shushu, I missed you so much..."
He held her tightly, kissing her for a moment before releasing her lips. Pressing his forehead against hers, he poured out his longing.
Seeing him lower his head, wanting to kiss her again, Yuan Shu quickly stopped him.
"Sixth Senior Brother, let's go inside first."
Although the personal disciples' courtyard was a separate compound with some distance between each yard, there was no guarantee no one would come by.
For now, Yuan Shu didn't want to make her affairs public.
Shu Linyuan missed her terribly, but he also respected her. He released the hands around her waist. "Alright, let's go inside."
...
In the quiet room, Yuan Shu and Shu Linyuan sat facing each other. Beside the small table was Yun Sheng, who had brought in the tea and was now brewing it.
Upon entering the room, Shu Linyuan originally wanted to pull Yuan Shu into his arms and kiss her to relieve his lovesickness.
But because Yun Sheng was present, he could only temporarily suppress these thoughts.
"Oh, right, Shushu. On my way there, I found a rather interesting spiritual beast. It looked quite cute, so I caught it to give to you. See if you like it?"
As Shu Linyuan spoke, he waved his hand and brought out a spiritual beast cage.
The miniature spiritual beast cage rapidly grew after being injected with spiritual energy, stopping when it was about the size of a human head.
And Yuan Shu got a clear look at the spiritual beast inside the cage.
It was a small beast, snow-white all over. Perhaps because its body was so small and its fur so long, it looked like just a head without a body.
Its two pitch-black eyes darted around, looking quite intelligent and spirited.
Yuan Shu only took one look, and her brow twitched.
This spiritual beast... seemed to be Su Lingxi's. It was a Spirit Fluff Beast, and its name seemed to be Xiaobai.
The book had introduced this Spirit Fluff Beast as the only spiritual beast in the world with both light and dark elements.
Few people knew that Su Lingxi possessed dual spiritual roots.
Her primary spiritual root was a top-grade light spiritual root, and her secondary spiritual root was a mid-grade dark spiritual root, inferior to the primary one.
Therefore, when she registered at the Luoxian Sect, she only recorded the top-grade light spiritual root.
Worthy of being the female lead of the book, she actually possessed a top-grade spiritual root among her dual roots!
In the book, Su Lingxi relied on this divine Spirit Fluff Beast to successfully transform her secondary mid-grade dark spiritual root into a top-grade dark spiritual root.
Later, having achieved mastery in her cultivation, she slaughtered her enemies in all directions!
This spiritual beast, which appeared adorably dumb on the surface but actually possessed both light and dark elements, became one of her greatest aids!
Yuan Shu couldn't figure it out. How did Su Lingxi's spiritual beast end up being caught by Shu Linyuan?
