The mountain gate of Xueji Peak was situated at a pass halfway up the mountain, flanked by towering ice cliffs with a winding stone staircase rising between them.
Two disciples stood guard before the gate, both possessing the cultivation of the late stage of Qi Refining, their expressions cold and aloof.
Ye Qingyao stood outside the gate for nearly an hour. Finally, as if having made a firm decision, she stepped forward.
“Senior Sister, I am here to see Bai Qingxue.” She handed over a visiting card. The mountain wind was strong—so strong she had to raise a hand to tuck away the strands of hair being whipped about.
The guarding disciple took the card and glanced at it, her tone remaining relatively polite. “A junior sister from Qingyun Peak? What business do you have with Junior Sister Bai?”
“It is merely the bond of being from the same hometown. We haven't seen each other in a long while, so I wished to visit her,” Ye Qingyao replied.
Hearing this, the Xueji Peak disciple nodded and turned to go inside to report. She returned fifteen minutes later. “Junior Sister Bai has agreed to see you. Follow the stone steps upward; her courtyard is the third one. Do not wander off.”
Ye Qingyao thanked the disciple and hurried up the stone steps.
...
Bai Qingxue’s courtyard was located on the eastern side of the mountainside. The walls were low, and an old plum tree extended its branches over them, its silver-white petals trembling gently in the wind.
Ye Qingyao stood outside the gate, took a deep breath, and knocked.
“Come in.”
A cold voice drifted from inside, sounding exactly as it did in her memories.
Ye Qingyao pushed the door open and entered.
Bai Qingxue was sitting on a stone stool beneath the old plum tree, the Frost Condensation Sword resting across her knees, seemingly in the middle of regulating her breath.
Hearing footsteps, she opened her eyes. Her gaze fell upon Ye Qingyao, her expression unchanging.
“Is something the matter?”
Ye Qingyao stood in the courtyard, carrying a food box, suddenly feeling a bit awkward.
She had prepared many things to say before coming, but now that she was actually standing before this person, she found herself at a loss for words.
“I... I brought some pastries.” She handed over the food box. “I made them myself. They should be better than the ones I made on the flying boat last time.”
Bai Qingxue glanced at the food box, remained silent for a moment, then reached out to take it and set it by her side.
“Sit.”
Ye Qingyao sat on the stone stool opposite her, her gaze unconsciously scanning Bai Qingxue.
Having not seen her for several months, she had grown a bit thinner, but her complexion looked much better than it had on the flying boat.
Though there were a few strands of white hair at her temples, they added an indescribable quality to her cold, elegant face.
The two of them sat in silence for a while.
Ye Qingyao kept her head down, her fingers twisting her sleeve. There were things she wanted to say, but she didn't know how to ask. All the resolve she had built up while waiting at the mountain gate had turned into an unspeakable hesitation.
“Sister Bai,” Ye Qingyao finally spoke, her voice soft, “since you've been here... have you made any new friends?”
Bai Qingxue glanced at her, seemingly finding the question strange, and asked in return, “Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”
“Just... just asking.” Ye Qingyao lowered her eyes.
Bai Qingxue didn't think much of it and replied, “They are just fellow disciples; I wouldn't call them friends.”
Ye Qingyao bit her lip. She wanted to ask more, but she felt that continuing would make it too obvious.
What she actually wanted to ask wasn't about “making friends,” but rather about the scene she had witnessed at the market the other day.
A woman had been standing beside Bai Qingxue, smiling as she said something, and Bai Qingxue hadn't pulled away.
That image had been stuck in Ye Qingyao’s heart for days, refusing to dissipate.
But... she found it difficult to ask.
“Then... is there anyone you’ve grown close to? For instance, the other day at the market...” Ye Qingyao’s voice grew smaller and smaller until she trailed off on her own.
Hearing this, Bai Qingxue looked at her. “You mean Senior Sister Lu? I've only met her a few times.”
Ye Qingyao froze for a moment, and then the tension that had been wound tight in her heart for days suddenly relaxed. She let out an “oh,” lowered her eyes, and the corners of her mouth curved up slightly before she quickly pressed them flat again, pretending to look at the plum petals on the ground.
“What is it?” Seeing her sudden downward gaze, Bai Qingxue took the rare initiative to ask.
“It's nothing.” Ye Qingyao shook her head, her voice sounding a bit more cheerful as she replied, “I was just asking.”
Seeing this, Bai Qingxue didn't press further.
Ye Qingyao was silent for a moment before she couldn't help but ask, “Sister Bai, what is your... current cultivation level?”
Bai Qingxue glanced at her. “The fourth level of Qi Refining.”
Ye Qingyao was stunned.
She had always assumed that after Bai Qingxue dispersed her cultivation to start over, she would be at a similar level to herself at most. After all, Ye Qingyao had already reached the mid-stage of the second level of Qi Refining, which was considered fast among their batch of disciples.
She never expected the other woman to have already reached the fourth level—a full two minor realms higher.
She lowered her head, staring at the tips of her shoes, silent for a long time.
“I thought I was being fast,” she whispered.
Bai Qingxue said nothing.
Ye Qingyao bit her lip and looked up at Bai Qingxue. “But it doesn't matter. I will catch up.”
Bai Qingxue looked at her and didn't offer any words of encouragement, merely giving a slight nod.
Ye Qingyao took a jade slip from her sleeve and changed the subject. “Actually, I also came to ask for advice on cultivation. I can never seem to achieve precision in spiritual power control, so I wanted to ask if you had any techniques, Sister Bai.”
Bai Qingxue took the jade slip and scanned it with her spiritual sense. It contained Ye Qingyao’s cultivation insights and several points of confusion, all written very earnestly.
“Your problem is not spiritual power control.” Bai Qingxue returned the jade slip to her. “It is that you are too rushed.”
Ye Qingyao was taken aback.
“Every time you circulate your technique, you are desperate to push your spiritual power to its fastest, thinking that faster means better results. But spiritual power control is exactly the opposite—the slower and steadier it is, the better the effect.”
As she spoke, a speck of blue light ignited at Bai Qingxue’s fingertip. She slowly drew a circle in the air; the spiritual power condensed without scattering, forming a perfect ring that remained for several breaths before dissipating.
“See? Only by slowing down can you feel every change in your spiritual power as it moves through your meridians.”
Ye Qingyao stared at the dissipating ring, lost in thought.
Bai Qingxue said nothing more, withdrew her spiritual power, and closed her eyes to continue regulating her breath.
Ye Qingyao didn't ask anything else either. She just sat quietly to the side, watching the plum petals fall one by one.
After a long while, she stood up.
“Sister Bai, I should head back.”
Bai Qingxue opened her eyes and nodded slightly.
Ye Qingyao walked to the courtyard gate and looked back once more. Bai Qingxue was still sitting under the plum tree, a figure in white.
“I will keep working hard,” Ye Qingyao said, her voice not loud, but more determined than before.
Bai Qingxue looked at her but said nothing.
The courtyard gate closed, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded.
Bai Qingxue withdrew her gaze and looked down at the food box beside her. After a moment of silence, she opened the lid. Inside, several pastries were neatly arranged, shaped like plum blossoms with tiny patterns pinched into the edges of the petals; it was clear that a great deal of thought had gone into them.
Bai Qingxue picked one up and took a bite.
It was sweet but not cloying, soft and light—it was indeed much better than the ones on the flying boat.
As she chewed the pastry, Bai Qingxue recalled Ye Qingyao’s expression just now.
Suddenly, she thought of the small dog that used to live below her company office in her previous life.
Every time she finished working late and went downstairs, that dog would be squatting by the steps, wagging its tail as it watched her. It didn't bark or cause a fuss; it just waited there quietly.
Occasionally, she would buy it a ham sausage, and it would run off with it in its mouth, only to wait in the same spot the next day.
For some reason, Bai Qingxue felt that the look in Ye Qingyao’s eyes was inexplicably similar to that of that little dog...
After finishing the pastry in her hand, Bai Qingxue closed the food box.
After all, cultivation could not be neglected.
...
Outside the mountain gate, the guard watched Ye Qingyao walk away and turned to the person beside her. “That junior sister from Qingyun Peak traveled quite a distance just to see Junior Sister Bai. She certainly is devoted.”
The other disciple smiled but didn't respond.
The mountain wind blew, and another layer of thin snow settled upon the stone steps.
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