After returning to Xueji Peak, Bai Qingxue spent three days in her courtyard recovering from her injuries.
The skin on her waist, which had been torn by the wolf's claws, had already scabbed over, but the several strands of white hair at her temples showed no sign of turning back to black.
Bai Qingxue looked into the bronze mirror for a moment and then stopped paying it any mind.
On the morning of the fourth day, Liu Ningshuang sent someone with a command medallion.
“The market is located ten li west of the Xuantian Sect mountain gate and is open at the beginning of every month. You can take the monster core and Ice Spirit Grass you hunted there to exchange for cultivation resources,” the disciple who delivered the medallion relayed Liu Ningshuang's words. “The Elder said you may go by yourself.”
Bai Qingxue took the medallion, packed a few things, and headed toward the mountain gate.
...
The market Liu Ningshuang mentioned consisted of only one long street, with both sides lined with various stalls.
There were people selling pills, artifacts, and spirit herbs; a wide variety of items with shouting voices rising and falling in succession.
The cultivators coming and going mostly wore the robes of various peaks, though there were also many who looked like rogue cultivators.
Bai Qingxue stood at the street entrance for a moment, her gaze sweeping across the stalls on both sides before she walked toward a stall with a cloth banner that read “Spiritual Items Purchased.”
The stall owner was a middle-aged cultivator in his forties with a mid-stage of Qi Refining cultivation. He had a round face and looked quite kind.
He glanced at the Xueji Peak medallion at Bai Qingxue's waist and spoke with a beaming smile, “Is the young lady a new disciple of Xueji Peak? Do you have some good items to sell?”
Bai Qingxue placed the frost-white monster core on the stall.
The stall owner picked up the monster core, turned it over several times to examine it, and probed it with his spiritual sense. A glint of light flashed in his eyes, which he immediately suppressed.
He looked up, his smile unchanged. “A monster core from a fourth-level Qi Refining snow-maned wolf. The quality is average. Thirty spirit stones, how about it?”
Bai Qingxue looked into his eyes and did not speak.
Before coming, she had checked the market rates in a jade slip. A fourth-level monster core was worth about thirty to forty spirit stones, while a fifth-level one started at fifty.
This monster core was clearly from the fifth level. The stall owner was deliberately calling it fourth-level, simply trying to take advantage of her being a new face.
“This is a fifth-level monster core,” Bai Qingxue said calmly. “Sixty spirit stones.”
The stall owner's smile stiffened for a second before he shook his head. “Young lady, although your monster core is of a good level, it is still from a snow-maned wolf after all. Sixty is too high; I won't be able to sell it easily after buying it. How about this: forty, and we'll call ourselves friends.”
“Fifty-eight.”
“Forty-five, I can't go any higher.”
“Fifty-five.”
The corner of the stall owner's mouth twitched. This young girl looked cold and aloof, yet she wouldn't budge an inch when haggling, not looking like a new disciple at all.
Just as he was about to say something more, a clear female voice suddenly came from nearby.
“Shopkeeper Wang, this is my junior sister. Give her a fair price and don't bully her just because she’s a new face.”
Bai Qingxue turned her head. The speaker was a woman in her early twenties with a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivation, dressed in frost-white Daoist robes with a Xueji Peak medallion hanging at her waist. Her face was delicate, with a touch of spirited energy in her brow, and she was looking at the stall owner with a faint smile.
“Senior Sister Lu, you must be joking. How could I dare bully anyone?” Shopkeeper Wang gave a sheepish smile, his attitude visibly softening. “Since she is a junior sister from Xueji Peak, then... fifty spirit stones. That's fair, isn't it?”
Bai Qingxue looked at the woman, who gave a slight nod.
“Deal,” Bai Qingxue said.
The stall owner briskly counted out fifty spirit stones and handed them over. After verifying the count, Bai Qingxue put them into her storage bag.
As the woman turned to leave, Bai Qingxue called out to her, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”
The woman waved her hand. “It's only right between fellow disciples. You must have just joined the peak recently? I don't believe I've ever seen you.”
“Bai Qingxue, I joined the peak this year.”
“Oh, so you're Bai Qingxue?” The woman looked her up and down, her eyes filled with a bit more curiosity. “I've heard fellow disciples mention you, saying a junior sister with an Ice Heavenly Spiritual Root joined this year. My name is Lu Xueqing. I've been at the peak for three years and should be living in the courtyard next to yours.”
Bai Qingxue nodded slightly, making a note of it.
Lu Xueqing glanced at the Ice Spirit Grass Bai Qingxue had also taken out, her eyebrows arching slightly. “Ice Spirit Grass?”
“Yes.”
“Your luck is quite good, Junior Sister.” Lu Xueqing didn't ask further, only pointing toward a shop at the end of the street. “That place offers fair prices for spirit herbs; you can go there and ask. I'll be going now; I still have a mission to turn in.”
“Alright.”
Lu Xueqing waved her hand and turned to blend into the crowd.
After walking a few steps, Lu Xueqing slowed her pace.
She couldn't quite say why, but perhaps it was because that new little junior sister hadn't smiled once from beginning to end, and her expression when thanking her was as flat as a pool of stagnant water, making one unable to resist looking back to see if she was always like that.
Lu Xueqing looked back.
Bai Qingxue was still standing there, looking down at her storage bag, seemingly counting her spirit stones.
The afternoon light hit the side of her face, her features cold and clean, while those few strands of white hair at her temples fell against her frost-white collar; without looking closely, one could hardly distinguish between the hair and the fabric.
She was entirely quiet, as if the surrounding noise had nothing to do with her.
Lu Xueqing watched for a couple of breaths, then withdrew her gaze, the corners of her mouth curving up unconsciously.
Without looking further, Lu Xueqing turned and left.
After checking the spirit stones in her storage bag, Bai Qingxue also headed toward the end of the street.
...
At the same time, at the entrance of the market street.
Ye Qingyao was standing in front of a stall selling pills, clutching a newly purchased Qi Gathering Pill in her hand. Just as she was about to leave, her gaze accidentally swept across the long street and suddenly froze.
She saw Bai Qingxue.
The girl was dressed in frost-white robes, standing before a stall that purchased spiritual items, her profile as cold as ever as she spoke to a middle-aged cultivator.
Ye Qingyao instinctively took two steps forward, wanting to go over and say hello, but her footsteps stopped.
Because she saw someone else.
A female cultivator in white walked up to Bai Qingxue's side and said a few words with a smile.
That person's cultivation wasn't low, and her brow carried a spirited energy. Standing with Bai Qingxue, both wearing the same Xueji Peak Daoist robes, they looked... very well-matched.
Ye Qingyao didn't know who that person was, but seeing them talk like that, she suddenly felt an indescribable sensation in her heart.
They stood very close while talking. That person was even smiling.
Although Bai Qingxue still maintained that same cold and aloof manner, she didn't move away, nor did she show any expression of impatience.
This was already a significant difference.
Ye Qingyao bit her lip and stayed where she was without moving.
She wanted to go forward, but felt she had no reason to do so.
They were fellow disciples, senior and junior sisters; talking and standing together was perfectly normal.
As a disciple of Qingyun Peak, it would instead seem strange if she suddenly pushed her way over.
But she just felt... uncomfortable.
She couldn't say exactly what was uncomfortable, only that her chest felt a bit tight.
After Bai Qingxue spoke a few words with that senior sister, the senior sister left.
Bai Qingxue walked toward the end of the street alone, her back still cold and proud.
Ye Qingyao hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not follow.
She turned to walk out of the market, taking one more look back after a few steps only to find that Bai Qingxue's figure had already been swallowed by the crowd and was no longer visible.
“Forget it,” she whispered to herself, unsure if she was speaking to herself or explaining something.
The Qi Gathering Pill clutched in her hand pressed into her palm with a slight sting.
She looked down at the pill, then looked up toward the direction where Bai Qingxue had disappeared, pursed her lips, and quickly left the market.
...
By the time Bai Qingxue left the stall where she sold the monster core, it was nearly noon.
She was in no hurry to return, instead going to the herb shop at the end of the street to ask about the price for the Ice Spirit Grass.
The shopkeeper was a white-haired old man. He took the jade box, examined it for a moment, and quoted a figure: “One hundred and twenty spirit stones.”
It was higher than she had expected.
Bai Qingxue hesitated for a split second before taking the jade box back. “No, I will keep this for my own use.”
The shopkeeper didn't force the issue, nodding as he let it go.
Leaving the shop, Bai Qingxue stood by the street and thought for a moment before entering a nearby pill shop.
Now, Qi Gathering Pills were of little use to her; it would be better to purchase a few Spirit Gathering Pills for her cultivation.
“Three Spirit Gathering Pills.”
The clerk quoted the price: “One hundred and twenty spirit stones.”
Bai Qingxue was prepared.
The fifty spirit stones from the monster core weren't enough, but the three hundred spirit stones given by the clan when she left Yunzhou City and the pouch her mother had tucked away were still with her.
Bai Qingxue took out one hundred and twenty spirit stones from her storage bag and pushed them onto the counter.
Three pale green pills were placed into a porcelain bottle, which she then tucked into her sleeve.
The flow of people in the market had thinned out considerably.
Bai Qingxue walked back along the long street, not noticing if there were any familiar faces among the crowd.
When she returned to Xueji Peak, the petals of the old plum tree covered the ground.
Bai Qingxue stood under the tree for a moment, putting the newly purchased Spirit Gathering Pills and the remaining spirit stones into her storage bag, then took out the Ice Spirit Grass to look at it.
The leaves were ice-blue with glowing veins, cold to the touch.
She carefully put the Ice Spirit Grass back into the jade box and placed it in the deepest part of her storage bag.
Entering the quiet room, she sat cross-legged on the stone bed, took out a Spirit Gathering Pill to swallow, and closed her eyes to circulate her power.
As the medicinal strength dissolved, spiritual power flowed slowly through her meridians.
Outside the window, the plum blossoms continued to fall.
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