Chapter 38: Like drinking seawater or poison to quench thirst, a conscious descent into deep despair...
After that fight, it seemed as if the barriers between them had been broken down, and their relationship became much more harmonious. After completing their apprenticeship and obtaining inner sect status, their lives didn't change much, and the news wasn't publicized.
Shen Lixia continued her studies as usual, learning to farm, care for spirit beasts, and help with alchemy. The people in the affairs hall gradually became familiar with her and would often send her small trinkets. Qiao Yanshen stayed in the house to consolidate his cultivation. The day always passed extremely quickly; morning and evening seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.
Although Yan Xueya did not force them to move to Frostblade Peak, the next day she asked several cultivators in charge of the sect's construction affairs to help them expand and renovate the courtyard, adding a few rooms and planting many plants.
Therefore, since Shen Lixia now has her own room, the original storage room was used to store various non-personally needed items.
"Everything suddenly became smooth, as if a storm was brewing."
Shen Lixia rubbed the chess piece in her hand with her fingers, and after she finished speaking, the crisp sound of the piece being placed echoed in the quiet room.
The black-clad youth sitting cross-legged opposite her sighed, "Life is unpredictable; just cherish the present."
"That's true. So..."
Amidst the occasional clatter of chess pieces being placed, Shen Lixia took a wooden carving from her storage bag and placed it beside the chessboard. As she did this, her hands continued their relentless attacks, putting Lin Yuxian's forces in grave danger, as if the game was about to end.
"When should I give this to her? Are there any events happening at Zongzhong recently?"
Lin Yuxian pondered for a moment, her mind turning the pages of a calendar.
"There was one time. Taihui regarded the Four Symbols as deities, which correspond to the four seasons and are therefore of great significance, and are considered to be the source of cultivators' power; the changes in the stars are also closely related to the four seasons, and each solar term has its corresponding star, and when they change, some of the scenes are quite magnificent. In July, when the height of summer is about to end, a celebration called the Flowing Fire Festival will be held, at which time we can celebrate the changing of the seasons, from summer to autumn, in an open area of the sect."
After she finished speaking, she suddenly stood up, her eyes sharp as a dagger drawn from its sheath. She gripped the chess piece tightly, calmly reached out, and placed it on the chessboard.
"it's over."
Shen Lixia shrugged. "Alright, that's it. You win."
She absentmindedly fiddled with the round wooden sparrow carving next to her, poking its head with her hand. Lin Yuqian put away the chess pieces, sat back down cross-legged, complained that she wasn't focused enough, and then also reached out to fiddle with the little wooden bird.
The bird was small, with clearly defined wing patterns and several ink-stained areas, adding to its lifelike quality. Lin Yuxian rarely observed birds, but no matter how she looked at its expression, she couldn't help but feel that it bore a resemblance to Shen Lixia.
She raised an eyebrow. "What, you extracted your own soul and put it here so that Senior Sister Qiao can watch over her for you?"
Shen Lixia waved her hand, showing no sign of unease, but rather appearing preoccupied: "Nonsense. Alright, you promised to teach me formations, now it's time to begin."
She put away the wooden carving and turned to face the chessboard. Seeing that she suddenly looked serious, Lin Yuxian stopped playing around and laid out the chess pieces one by one again.
She infused her spiritual power, drawing lines in a dark yellow hue to depict a broader and more mysterious chessboard. Then, she picked up the pieces and carefully arranged them. Shen Lixia watched intently, and when she finished setting up a section, she realized—her opponent was actually using the chessboard to simulate an array.
"Cool." She rested her chin on her hand and examined it closely. The chess pieces shone brightly before her eyes, intertwining to form a miniature world.
Lin Yuxian paused in her movements. "What?"
“…It means very impressive,” Shen Lixia blinked, “How did you come up with the idea of simulating it with a chess game?”
"There is a lack of venues and sparring partners," Lin Yuxian said helplessly. "As you can see, there are few array cultivators, and I am not an inner disciple, so my time in the array hall is limited."
The two tried it out for a while. At first, their conversation was peaceful, but soon their words and actions became increasingly hostile.
Shen Lixia, encountering ordinary array formations for the first time, naturally made numerous mistakes. Coupled with his quick thinking, he came up with many novel ideas that Lin Yuxian found utterly absurd. Lin Yuxian, on the other hand, grew increasingly impatient, wishing she could pour all her knowledge of array formations into Shen Lixia's mind. During her instruction, she was repeatedly interrupted by his words, which he had already grasped before her, leaving her speechless. For a moment, only the clear sound of pieces being placed echoed around them. About an incense stick later, Shen Lixia stood up, and the light on the table instantly went out. Lin Yuxian raised her hand to gently rub her temples, only then realizing that her expression wasn't much better than his.
"What's wrong with you lately? Whether it was during our last sparring session or now..."
"I don't know either. It's time to go. See you next time, Junior Sister Yuqian."
After saying goodbye, Shen Lixia hesitated for a moment after descending Jingzhe Peak. In the end, instead of taking the usual path back, she turned into the town.
It was already late, and the town was brightly lit, with stalls and shops open and the tavern bustling with activity. Shen Lixia headed straight for the area where shops selling materials were gathered, browsing among the various vendors.
She needs a bowstring.
She raised her hand and ran it over the tendons and bones extracted from various wild monsters, but none of them had the right degree of suppleness or texture. Shen Lixia sighed softly and was about to return when she suddenly saw a person carrying a roll of coarse cloth. He sat down in an empty spot in the market, spread it out, and laid out monster materials and ores that still carried the scent of blood.
The woman appeared strong, especially her muscular arms. Although she wore armor around her waist and abdomen, the lines were still incredibly taut, suggesting a terrifying burst of power. Her eyebrows were thick, and her eyes were sharp, gleaming even in the darkness.
More importantly, she was carrying a bow. Unlike Shen Lixia's bow, that bow looked extremely heavy, and the bowstring was not smooth, but rather rough.
Shen Lixia immediately changed direction and walked to the stall of the bow cultivator.
She crouched down, picked up a bone tendon, and stroked the raised lines on it. Seeing someone enter, the shopkeeper quickly glanced at her, then shook his head.
"This one isn't right, pick another one."
Shen Lixia put down the materials in her hand. "How should I address you, fellow Daoist?"
"Zulan." The female cultivator reached directly into the pile of things and rummaged through them. After finding the material she needed, she tensed her forearm and pulled it out forcefully.
It was a beast tendon shimmering with blue light, its appearance somewhat eerie under the lamplight. Shen Lixia ran her fingers over its surface, the coolness seeping into her skin and penetrating to her very bones. With a thought, she sent a surge of scorching fire elemental energy over it, hearing a hissing sound as it burned, and the chill subsided somewhat.
Zu Lan was somewhat surprised upon seeing this. "This is the sinews and bones of a viper, renowned for its extreme yin energy in the secret realm. The potent poison tempered on it requires considerable effort to cleanse, and the chill is even more difficult to dispel. Fellow Daoist, have you perhaps cultivated some special technique?"
Shen Lixia waved her hand, forcing an innocent and foolish smile: "Coincidence, coincidence, perhaps it's because my spiritual power is a little purer that I burned it, haha."
It can't be said that the aura of the divine fire was gradually seeping into her spiritual power.
In terms of flexibility and length, this animal sinew was quite suitable, but Shen Lixia always felt that it was lacking something. Although she bought it readily, she still stood in front of the stall and stroked the surface of the animal sinew.
Zu Lan tilted his head slightly, "Fellow Daoist, are you still not satisfied? You have good taste. Archers need to be so picky, otherwise they will suffer in battle."
Seeing that the crowd around her was growing, she quickened her pace and said, "This tendon is not the most important one of the snakes. It was just taken from the remains left after it underwent its tribulation, and the charred parts were removed. Naturally, it is not as good as the real tendons and bones extracted from its body."
The sect's secret realm missions mostly involve material gathering and hunting monsters. The richness of the rewards is linked to many factors, the most important of which are strength and luck. She was lucky to obtain this beast tendon, but its cold aura was too strong. Although it was suitable for making a bowstring, she couldn't control the coldness entering her body, which would harm her.
"But this viper after surviving its tribulation is very strange. Logically speaking, after existing in the secret realm for so long and successfully forming its demon core, it should have become a hegemon, and sect disciples and other demon beasts would no longer be a threat. But this viper... its activity does not seem to be aimed at eliminating the remaining threats, but rather at leaving the secret realm."
The realm of demon beasts is different from that of humans, and the same is true for the demon race at a higher level. Demon cores may sound like they correspond to the golden cores of humans, but in reality they can rival Nascent Soul cultivators.
“Perhaps you’ll encounter it again sometime,” Zulan said, shrugging. “If the situation becomes extremely critical, you can try to seal your breath and play dead. Vipers have no eyes, but their other senses are extremely sharp.”
"Where is that secret realm?" Shen Lixia noted it down in her mind.
"The first domain is called the Shenyuan Secret Realm."
"Thank you." After putting the beast tendon into her storage bag, Shen Lixia bid farewell to the other party. Looking up at the bright moonlight, which dispelled the heavy clouds, she knew it was getting late and returned along the way.
As she was about to leave the town, a warm, sweet aroma wafted towards her. Turning her head, she saw someone making maltose. Besides the maltose in glass jars, the shop also had many traditional pastries, and she could even name a few of them—dragon's beard candy, sliced cake, and maltose coated with white flour.
The girl hesitated for a moment, then strode over, bought a jar of maltose, and several other kinds of pastries. Taking the maltose, she opened the jar, pinched off a piece, popped it into her mouth, and then contentedly put it into her storage bag.
When she returned to the courtyard after circling around, Shen Lixia saw the dim light inside the house and knew that Qiao Yanshen was waiting for her.
A gentle breeze rustled through the trees, the summer night's heat subsiding slightly, a cool breeze drifting through the forest. Moonlight fell between outstretched fingers, casting a pale glow on the palms.
Shen Lixia remained silent, almost merging with the vast expanse of light that seemed to wash away the impurities from her, transforming into a tree whose branches had not yet unfurled, gazing at the flickering lights.
She sighed softly and walked into the forest. Walking against the wind, the smell of smoke and the earthy stench of the forest hit her face. As she assembled her longbow and was about to string it, a cluster of bright spiritual fire shot out from her fingertips, burning the entire string and startling the hazy consciousness that had spread out from the green bamboo, causing it to squeal and scream.
The chill was completely dispelled, but the fire was not extinguished. After being absorbed into the body, it used the meridians as fuel to burn with scalding heat. The familiar stinging pain spread, as if it would devour Shen Lixia in an instant.
However, the boy's face only turned paler than the moonlight, and he did not wail in pain as before. The pain was clearly excruciating, but now it was like a needle piercing cotton, silent and ineffective.
In the past few days, Qiao Yanshen has been gradually approaching her breakthrough. She is extremely talented and hardworking, so her cultivation speed is fast and very stable. At the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, one needs to begin abstaining from grains and cutting off all desires.
This seemed to give Shen Lixia more free time, but she felt disappointed instead. Qiao Yanshen was busy with cultivation, and she didn't want to take up his time, so she asked her to accompany her to adjust her divine fire and the two conflicting spiritual energies.
But patience has its limits, and this is the moment when the unstable flames began to backfire on her.
The divine fire burned within his body, and Shen Lixia's consciousness was about to be dissolved. So he gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and drew his bow.
A strong wind, carrying the sound of something cutting through the air, rushed towards a certain place, and an arrow pierced through a tree.
The world suddenly became vast and desolate, as if there was nowhere to find a place to call home; and the suffocating atmosphere made her almost go crazy from the pain, unable to breathe.
The candy melts in your mouth, becomes sticky and hot, and even the sweetest taste turns bitter.
Only one thought clamored in her mind, constantly, in her dreams of seeing the white-clad woman, in the surging divine fire, constantly sighing and murmuring, sometimes so sharp that she couldn't help but raise her hand to touch her ear, afraid that her fingertips would be stained with the wet, bright red.
I want to see her.
I want to stay by her side and feel the connection between us.
It's not that I want a close friendship, but rather—
Her breathing grew heavier and heavier, her whole body burning hot as if she were about to collapse and shatter silently like dust. She bit her lip and teeth tightly, but finally managed to call out.
"Senior Sister..."
The more pain one experiences, the more one wants to rely on others; and the more one relies on others, the more one craves them.
Like drinking poison to quench thirst, one is consciously sinking deeper into despair.
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Author's Note: A new storyline is coming! Finally, the romance between the two main characters is about to unfold—I was so excited!
I drew a Christmas greeting card! You can check it out on my Weibo account with the same name.
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