Oh No, Senior Sister Cultivates The Heartless Dao - Chapter 5

Two days later.

After her evening lessons, Qin Zhiyue held the pale purple jade pendant in her hand, feeling strangely uneasy. She raised it and narrowed her eyes at the side of its openwork carving. Sure enough, she found a tiny character for Mian.

With this pendant, she could enter far more than Ningxue Peak. Almost the entire sect was open to her.

What could she say? That was Xiao Weimian: so confident that she would hand over the foremost disciple’s token without a second thought.

Qin Zhiyue considered the pendant for a moment, then hung it conspicuously at her waist. She picked up the rusty sword from her square table and felt a headache coming on. If she had not lost the memories of her previous life, she would have given Xiao Weimian a very wide berth the moment she saw her. None of this love gu business would have happened.

Sure enough, she should never have picked up a protagonist she found lying by the roadside. Qin Zhiyue sighed bitterly.

Then again, asking an ordinary person like her to reach Foundation Establishment in a short time seemed less likely than Xiao Weimian stabbing her to death. Xiao Weimian would probably be happy to oblige with the latter.

Never mind. She was only joking.

What mattered now was finding a way to get away from Xiao Weimian. Who knew how much patience she had left? Qin Zhiyue had no desire to become entangled in the female lead’s quest to prove her Dao.

At that thought, Qin Zhiyue drew on the spiritual energy in her dantian. It was still nearly depleted. The damage to her spiritual meridians had yet to heal completely. Such an injury was not especially grave for an outer disciple, but it would take a long time to recover. And no one cared enough to help an outer disciple.

Reach Foundation Establishment and enter the inner sect, or fail and die. Trouble or death—what a choice…

Unless she found the Holy Maiden of the Hehuan Sect. Qin Zhiyue racked her brain, but could recall only the brief description she had written: the Holy Maiden of the Hehuan Sect, alluring and captivating, especially skilled in making gu.

To be honest, Qin Zhiyue remembered very little of the book anymore. What she could recall all revolved around Xiao Weimian. The closer something was to her, the clearer Qin Zhiyue’s memory of it.

After all, Xiao Weimian was the only character she had spent so much time creating.

Once her punishment at the Scripture Repository was over, Qin Zhiyue tentatively set off with the pendant to see whether she could enter the First Sword Sect’s inner grounds.

She was promptly stopped by that familiar senior sister. Never before had Qin Zhiyue so resented how different the outer and inner disciples’ uniforms were. Even with her forgettable face, she could not blend in.

“What brings you to the inner sect, Junior Sister?” The senior sister who often accompanied Zifei called out to her. Qin Zhiyue’s movements had looked far too furtive to ignore.

When Qin Zhiyue turned around, Senior Sister Lu exclaimed, “Qin Zhiyue!”

“What a coincidence, Senior Sister Lu!” Qin Zhiyue greeted her warmly. “Are you out for a walk too? Or here to look at the stars?”

Lu Li suppressed a twitch of her mouth. “What are you doing here?” she asked coldly.

“I’m looking for someone, Senior Sister Lu. Could you let me through?” Qin Zhiyue asked with a brazen smile.

Lu Li pulled away before Qin Zhiyue’s hand could touch her. “I’m on night patrol. Unless you want to be taken in for questioning tomorrow, leave now.”

Seeing that she could not slip in on her own, Qin Zhiyue reluctantly pulled open her outer robe and looked at Lu Li with confidence.

“Qin Zhiyue!” Lu Li scolded the ill-mannered junior sister.

“Senior Sister Lu.” Qin Zhiyue smiled helplessly. “How can you inspect my entry token with your eyes shut?”

Entry token? Lu Li opened her eyes at once and looked down. Qin Zhiyue’s bold gesture had startled her so badly that she had not even seen what she was showing her.

The purple jade pendant looked exceedingly familiar. Lu Li thought for a long time but could not remember whose token it was. She went through every inner disciple she knew and still came up empty.

Finally, a possibility occurred to her. “Did Elder Ming give it to you?”

“Who?” Qin Zhiyue did not understand at first. A moment later, she realized Lu Li meant Ming Xueshi. “No, it wasn’t Elder Ming.”

Qin Zhiyue was baffled. Was Xiao Weimian’s token really so useless? She had expected to show it and leave everyone speechless, but Lu Li did not even recognize it!

Xiao Weimian’s reputation must be worse than she thought, Qin Zhiyue mused.

“Don’t tell me yet.” Lu Li’s expression turned serious. “I know I’ve seen it before. I’m certain I remember it.”

But where had she seen it? She regularly encountered only a handful of people. Once she ruled out impossible candidates like the Sect Leader, Venerable Liu, and Senior Sister, who was left?

“Since you’re here, why haven’t you come in?” A cold voice interrupted their standoff.

“Senior Sister?” Lu Li called instinctively.

Xiao Weimian gave a slight nod, then looked at Qin Zhiyue with a question in her eyes.

Qin Zhiyue immediately smiled. “Senior Sister, I ran into Senior Sister Lu, so we stopped to chat. I’m coming now.”

The unattainable woman said nothing. A hint of impatience appeared at the finely shaped corners of her eyes.

Under Lu Li’s stunned gaze, Qin Zhiyue waved to her and strolled over to Xiao Weimian.

“Junior Sister, you should focus on your cultivation,” Xiao Weimian said without looking aside.

“You’re quite right, Senior Sister. I’ll keep that in mind.” A trace of indifference colored Qin Zhiyue’s reply.

Lu Li stared after them as they walked away side by side. She still felt as though she were dreaming. She had the distinct impression that Xiao Weimian’s remark had been directed at her, and that it carried a faint warning.

But why would Xiao Weimian warn her over Qin Zhiyue? Because she had spoken to her for a little too long?

The two of them should have had nothing to do with each other. Yet, standing together, they looked unsettlingly well matched…

Qin Zhiyue followed Xiao Weimian closely to her cave dwelling and stepped inside with some trepidation.

“Senior Sister?” Qin Zhiyue stared at the bare interior, confused. Wasn’t it a little too shabby?

Xiao Weimian’s lashes, dusted with threads of snow, stirred faintly. A thin veil of mountain mist seemed to cover her deep black eyes. Qin Zhiyue could not read them, but she sensed a mysterious danger there.

“Sit,” Xiao Weimian said.

Qin Zhiyue would have liked to thank her politely, but where was she supposed to sit? The place did not even have a proper cushion.

When Qin Zhiyue remained standing, Xiao Weimian formed a hand seal and forced her down onto a cold stone.

Qin Zhiyue understood at last. So the stone was the seat?

How wonderfully natural and environmentally friendly. Before her backside had even warmed the stone, something cool closed around her wrist. Xiao Weimian had taken her hand.

Their skin was touching, yet that spot felt even colder than the stone beneath Qin Zhiyue.

Qin Zhiyue was forced to look up at Xiao Weimian. Before she could speak, a torrent of spiritual energy suddenly entered the meridians in her wrist. That cool energy slowly repaired her damaged meridians, even healing some old injuries.

By the time Qin Zhiyue finished circulating the energy and opened her eyes again, four hours had passed. Xiao Weimian’s red lips were lightly pressed together, and a faint sheen of sweat seemed to have appeared on her snow-pale face. The red mark between her brows made her cold beauty all the more captivating.

Qin Zhiyue’s gaze moved slowly over her. She looked exactly like the female lead Qin Zhiyue had once imagined. Qin Zhiyue’s eyes took on a complicated look, and when Xiao Weimian’s phoenix eyes abruptly opened, she had not quite managed to hide it.

“Junior Sister Qin.” Xiao Weimian rose, the slight wrinkles in her skirt falling away as she resumed her elegant, noble bearing. “I’ve repaired your damaged spiritual meridians. You may come back at the same time tomorrow.”

“Senior Sister, did you speak to the Sect Leader on my behalf?” Qin Zhiyue asked abruptly. When Xiao Weimian said nothing, she continued, “Thank you.”

Qin Zhiyue could not believe Zifei would have left the matter of their love gu entirely alone without Xiao Weimian intervening.

Xiao Weimian lowered her eyes. Her black hair lay neatly against her chest. The corners of her lips, a little pale from the spiritual energy she had expended, curved into a fleeting smile. “There’s no need. I wouldn’t call it speaking on your behalf. I only asked my master to give me three months.”

Qin Zhiyue understood. Was Xiao Weimian that confident she could resolve the matter herself? Had she asked for three months so she could settle it before the sect competition?

“Senior Sister…” Qin Zhiyue pressed her lips together and called to her hesitantly.

“What is it now?” Xiao Weimian’s expression did not change, but after expending so much spiritual energy, she looked particularly unapproachable.

“My legs have gone numb. Could I trouble you to help me up?”

Xiao Weimian: …

Well, she rarely cultivated for that long. Qin Zhiyue felt rather innocent as a cold hand caught hers and pulled her to her feet.

She knew herself well enough to realize Xiao Weimian must want to meditate and restore her spiritual energy. An overachiever like her was probably anxious already. Qin Zhiyue had better make a quiet exit.

It was completely dark outside when Qin Zhiyue left Xiao Weimian’s cave dwelling. She stopped in the doorway, her expression turning uncertain as something troubled her.

Which way had she come from?

Qin Zhiyue thought it over. There were two choices. If she picked the wrong one, she could always come back.

The peaks occupied by the inner disciples stretched on and on. Qin Zhiyue’s face darkened. She seemed to be lost. Forget choosing between two paths—she could not even find her way back.

Her foot sank into a hole. She seemed to be heading somewhere increasingly remote. Xiao Weimian’s cave dwelling was secluded enough already, but Qin Zhiyue had somehow gone deeper into the peaks, where the surroundings grew even more desolate.

“Aaaaaah!”

Qin Zhiyue covered her ears. “…”

At the same moment, she retreated quickly. A dark shape crashed down in front of her with the scream, sending dust billowing into the air.

Qin Zhiyue looked at the wriggling figure on the ground—one of her fellow disciples—and felt a little awkward. The girl lying there had messy hair, though Qin Zhiyue could make out two buns. After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Are you all right, Junior Sister?”

“Do I look all right?” The voice was exceptionally bright and youthful. Its youth came as much from the girl’s fearless, innocent manner as from her age.

That was why Qin Zhiyue had called her Junior Sister. Disciples who had spent many years in the sect were seldom so careless.

“Hey, you.” The dirty junior sister climbed to her feet, revealing a round, youthful face. “Which peak are you from, Senior Sister? Why haven’t I seen you before?”

The girl’s clear forehead and lovely features came into view. Her bright eyes held a mischievous gleam. She might have looked rather sensuous and striking if her youth had not softened those features. She studied the somewhat dazed outer disciple before her with interest.

“Am I so pretty that you’re staring, Senior Sister?”

“Yin Wu.” A clear, lilting voice captured all of Qin Zhiyue’s attention.

Yin Wu froze. Guilt and fear flashed through her eyes; she was plainly wary of the newcomer. She scrambled up, brushed the dust from her clothes, then turned around with an ingratiating smile.