Chapter 33 Dream It turns out she didn't actually crave the red thread itself…

Back in the courtyard, the two, who had been busy lately and had just returned from Quebec, tacitly boiled water and cooked noodles. They chopped some scallions and sprinkled them into the pot, where the green and white scallions simmered and floated. They scooped some out to make soup, added a ladle of cold water, and waited for the water to boil again before scooping them out. With some seasonings, they had a bowl of plain noodles.

After dinner, Shen Lixia went to her small room to meditate. She decided not to think too much, but Qiao Yanshen could tell that the young woman had something on her mind. Otherwise, he would have poured her another cup of tea and chatted for another fifteen minutes, so why would he have remained silent?

Since Shen Lixia was unwilling to talk about it for the time being, she would ask her again in the evening.

Silence fell over the room as both cultivated on their own. Qiao Yanshen recalled Yan Xueya's guidance, scattering a single thought into countless snowflakes, then focusing his mind on scattering them, guiding them along fixed paths for her use.

Shen Lixia's spiritual energy, which had previously entered her body, had not disappeared but rather been stored up. Her spiritual meridians, now repaired, immediately erupted, pushing her cultivation to the late stage of Qi Refining. At the moment of Qi Refining's Great Perfection, the collision of her golden and fire spiritual energies intensified. When she calmed down and probed her dantian, she discovered that two streams of energy, condensed into vortexes, were separated from each other. One side shimmered with gold, while the other flowed with crimson. They were extremely incompatible, yet they belonged to the same person, much like sisters forced to squeeze under the same roof.

This situation directly affected her cultivation. If one side became too strong, the other side would weaken. This cycle continued, and her cultivation level could not be improved. No matter how much spiritual energy she had, it would just accumulate and at most push her cultivation level up after she broke through to the next realm.

But it's good to keep it at the Qi Refining stage. That way, there's no need to compete with the senior sister. You can win the championship fairly and squarely and solidify your status as an inner disciple.

Unfortunately, she didn't stay focused for long. Soon, Shen Lixia felt her spiritual energy was saturated, so she went to her desk, took out some talisman paper, and started drawing talismans. She had learned a variety of things, and after drawing a stack of talismans, she felt bored. So she switched hands and drew with one hand instead. Unexpectedly, it went smoothly, and after a few, they looked quite good.

If Qiao Yanshen saw this scene, he would definitely say that she was very clever, so clever that she could never stay idle in another sense.

Silence reigned until nightfall. The moon was dim tonight, the sky a smoky purple, and the faint yet dense stars seemed as if someone had spilled a sugar jar, scattering large patches across the night. Shen Lixia peered out the window for a while, then glanced at Qiao Yanshen, who was still engrossed in his cultivation. She then thought that the stars weren't particularly bright and it wasn't worth calling him, so she went back to continue fiddling with her little gadget.

She drew a bunch of talismans, memorizing the simple symbols by heart; it was time to learn some new ones. Although her identity would change tomorrow, she felt she still had to do what needed to be done—that acre of spiritual field, those laughing little girls, that kind and gentle old man—she wondered if anything had changed in the past week; Shen Lixia wanted to go and check.

The young man put down his pen, just as a long sigh sounded behind him. Qiao Yanshen opened his eyes, stood up, and felt his spiritual energy flowing vigorously within him, like an inexhaustible stream of pure water.

"Go to sleep."

Shen Lixia turned her head and met Qiao Yanshen's gaze. She read a trace of weariness in his calm eyes. She suddenly had a strange feeling, as if the person in front of her had changed her identity and become her older sister, while Yan Xueya on Frostblade Peak was playing the role of her mother. Now they were tired of playing and it was time to rest.

This feeling lasted less than a breath before Shen Lixia laughed, got up to change her clothes, and after performing a hand seal to cleanse herself, slipped into bed. The name Luo Chuan truly had a magical power, causing someone who had always believed she could walk alone to crave warmth and a tender, loving home.

But if it really is the same river, she should thank it for its mercy, at least it sent her to a place not far from Qiao Yanshen.

She believed that blood ties were the deepest, and with this red thread running between them, they could never truly separate, so she wouldn't feel anxious or insecure. Shen Lixia lay on the bed, back to back with Qiao Yanshen, her feelings hazy and unclear, but her heartbeat appeared normal.

Qiao Yan closed his eyes tightly, his voice softly lifting the veil between them, "Li Xia?"

“Mm,” Shen Lixia replied.

"You seem to be quite comfortable here. You use the divine fire and your sudden increase in cultivation with ease." Qiao Yanshen carefully considered his words. "Aren't you confused?"

As if afraid of being misunderstood, she explained, "I learned cultivation from a master in my dreams since I was a child, but the spiritual energy there is thin. Even so, I was surprised by how rich the spiritual energy was when I came here."

She kept the most important question on her lips, unable to voice it.

Aren't you afraid?

But what she was afraid of, she couldn't say. Perhaps it was the fear of the unknown. After all, things beyond the realm of cognition—unfamiliar memories, strange powers, like a familiar body suddenly making peace with ghosts and monsters, betraying itself, becoming full of secrets—how terrifying that feeling was.

Shen Lixia, however, showed no fear whatsoever. Even though her eyes changed color and she was burned several times by divine fire, she quickly accepted it.

The boy sighed, his usual liveliness gone, his voice calm: "I'm not afraid. What's done is done. If I can use this, then I will."

"What if everything was arranged by someone?"

"Then we've unfortunately become pawns. Senior Sister, who do you think is playing this game? Is it the will of Heaven, or some immortal?"

"Perhaps it's the will of Heaven," Qiao Yanshen replied in a muffled voice, recalling what he had seen on the Heavenly Ladder.

Shen Lixia couldn't help but yawn, her voice even softer, suppressing a soft weariness.

"Then we need to think carefully about what to do. The Heavenly Dao is more frightening than immortals; it's what keeps this whole world running."

Sleepiness came suddenly, and the words she uttered became indistinct, but when they reached Qiao Yanshen's ears, they felt like a force supporting his heart:

"Just cleave the chessboard in two, what's the point of the Heavenly Dao..."

She fell asleep too quickly and too deeply, so she didn't hear Qiao Yanshen laugh after hearing those words.

I didn't hear her say softly and gently, "That's good. As expected, Li Xia will always just be Li Xia."

A sudden, overwhelming drowsiness wove new dreams for her. Her consciousness, like ink blurred by water, became heavy and soggy, slowly spreading to that small patch of her youthful memories, altering parts of them. It was a heavy winter evening; she had just been pushed out of the crowd, the surroundings already dark, the noise quickly dissipating. The girl stood there, just about to take a step towards familiar places, back to that place she knew so well, when a call suddenly sounded from behind:

"Leave Xia!"

She turned her head in surprise and saw a woman in a white trench coat walking briskly towards her. She wore thin-rimmed glasses, her black hair was tied back in a bun, and her eyes were beautiful, like a vast ocean rippling with gentle waves. The woman held a pale pink cotton candy in her hand, like a wisp of fiery sunset clouds, and placed it in the boy's hand.

"Why didn't you wait for me... You said I'd pick you up today, no rush to go back, have you even forgotten your own birthday?"

Shen Lixia opened her mouth and heard herself asking the other person why they had time to come over.

The person in front of her, with a gentle smile, reached out and touched the tip of her nose, speaking in a soft, almost lingering tone, "I've finished my exams, and Mommy told me to hurry back so I don't miss your first day of being eighteen."

wrong.

When Shen Lixia's hand was taken by the other person, her heart sank suddenly, and her chest was filled with a bitter taste.

This shouldn't be the case.

The dream unfolded like a cracked eggshell, peeling away bit by bit, and Qiao Yanshen's gentle smile gradually faded away. Shen Lixia woke up in the night, her golden eyes opening with an extremely bright light, flashing a cold and sharp glint in the darkness.

The familiar warmth behind her soothed her, and the boy took a deep breath, feeling bewildered and helpless about his own feelings.

So that's how it is.

It turns out that she didn't crave the red thread itself, but rather wanted it to bind Qiao Yanshen.

Everything in this world is cold and indifferent, but this line of blood flowing together is the strongest.

In this way, they can never be separated.

The divine fire, suppressed for so long, stirred with this thought, and a slight stinging pain quickly ran through her nerves. Shen Lixia was extremely sleepy, mumbled "Stop it," and fell into a deep sleep again, without dreaming anymore.

The next day, the morning mist was heavy, and as dawn broke, a sudden and violent fluctuation struck outside the barrier, startling Qiao Yanshen so much that he immediately got up and opened the barrier after sensing that it was a familiar aura.

A woman dressed in green rushed in, almost spitting out two sentences at once: "Come with me to Guyu Peak first, we'll set off immediately!"

So Shen Lixia was pulled from her bed and placed on the longsword, the morning breeze dispelling the summer heat and shaking off any lingering sleepiness. The three floated among the clouds, the boy's bright golden eyes only daring to look at the two around him, unable to resist asking curiously, "What happened?"

Tang Huairou sighed heavily: "A disciple of the sect has gone missing and is suspected of being murdered. Unfortunately, this disciple happens to be Lin Fenghua, the one who had a grudge against you before. Now the elders of the Lin family suspect you and want to seek justice. My master was summoned to the main peak early this morning... She instructed me to come and pick you up to prevent that elder from reporting to her privately and acting first and reporting later."

"Oh..." Shen Lixia's voice was drawn out, which made Qiao Yanshen have a bad feeling.

The next second, this premonition came true.

"I killed him."

"ah?"

The sword beneath Tang Huairou's feet trembled violently, almost sending her flying.

Shen Lixia smiled and repeated each word slowly and deliberately: "I killed him."

The weight of those three words was so heavy that Tang Huairou didn't come to her senses until she reached the summit of Guyu Peak.

Upon entering the Cangling Palace, just as they had seen at Yan Xueya's place, the two noticed decorations inside adorned with coiled azure dragon patterns. The palace was decorated with a large expanse of seasonal plants, blooming flowers, and long, white pillars that exuded an exotic feel, with symmetrical water channels on either side.

Scattered petals floated in the flowing water, their fragrance filling the air, as if one had stumbled into the realm of spring. Shen Lixia secretly rejoiced that she wasn't allergic to pollen, otherwise she probably would have been sneezing non-stop.

The three sat at a table in the center of the hall. Tang Huairou, fulfilling his duty as a disciple, brewed tea for them, and then asked seriously, "Junior Sister Li Xia, is it really you?"

Shen Lixia nodded, "It's absolutely true, he was burned to ashes right in front of me."

"This is too much..."

Tang Huairou rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.

Junior Sister, once she made a move, she surprised everyone by accomplishing something remarkable. Although she felt she had done a good job, she was, after all, Cangling Zhenjun's disciple and a healer, so she couldn't show her joy on her face.

Qiao Yanshen picked up her teacup and took a sip. The tea leaves were fresh and tender, with a delicate fragrance; it was excellent tea. As she drank, she glanced at Tang Huairou, who seemed hesitant to speak, and a slight smile played on her lips.

"Senior Sister Tang, there's no need to worry. This matter will be resolved smoothly."

after all……

Just as Tang Huairou was about to retort, a piece of yellow paper folded into the shape of a paper crane suddenly appeared in her bosom. She quickly unfolded it and saw that it read: "Tell my two young friends not to worry."

Her gaze shifted downwards, and she read the words aloud, for some reason recalling her master's meaningful smile.

"Yan Xueya made her move, and that elder is now covered in blood in the main hall. She said this is the first gift she can give to her disciple."

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Author's note: There is no incest, no incest. It's just to emphasize that Xia's subconscious obsession with her senior sister is very deep, to the point of being somewhat pathological, wanting an unbreakable connection.

This week's updates should be finished, but I might add an extra update the day after tomorrow. Next, I need to write up a backlog of chapters... so I don't have to go too long without updating during finals week...