After breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, Bai Qingxue spent several days in her quiet room to stabilize her progress.
Though she called it stabilization, there wasn't much special to be done.
The spiritual power from her breakthrough had already settled. The orb of light in her dantian was nearly twice as large as it had been at the sixth level, its every pulsation steady and powerful.
Nevertheless, Bai Qingxue followed her usual routine: she spent an hour at the cold pond every day, followed by meditation in her quiet room, and sword practice in the evening.
Her days were the same as before—calm and constant.
But some things had changed.
Like her hair.
Bai Qingxue discovered it on the morning of the second day after her breakthrough.
She sat before the bronze mirror, using a wooden comb to gather her damp hair to one side. As the teeth of the comb slid from the roots to the tips, they brought with them several strands of silver-white hair.
Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she pinched a cluster and brought it close. Only then did she realize that the white hair was spreading from her temples to the corners of her forehead, as if someone had splashed silver powder across black silk.
She parted the hair at the top of her head and saw large patches of silver-white growing from the roots. Mixed in with the black hair, the contrast was stark and startling.
Bai Qingxue watched for a moment before lowering her hand. She then took a white jade hairpin from a drawer and pinned her hair up.
The pin slid through the hair bun, hiding the silver-white strands beneath the black. Unless one looked closely, it wasn't very noticeable.
She tilted her head toward the mirror to ensure no white hair was visible, then stood up and laid the bronze mirror face down on the table.
She didn't want to see the white hair...
The doors to the main hall of Xueji Peak were left ajar, as if waiting for someone.
When Bai Qingxue pushed the doors open and entered, Liu Ningshuang was sitting at her desk.
Hearing the sound of the door, she looked up, her gaze lingering on Bai Qingxue for a moment.
No, rather than looking at Bai Qingxue herself, it was more like she was looking at her hair. Specifically, at those silver-white strands amidst the black.
“The white in your hair has increased,” Liu Ningshuang said flatly.
Bai Qingxue instinctively reached up to touch her hair bun, her fingertips brushing the silver strands hidden beneath the black.
After a brief pause, Bai Qingxue looked up at Liu Ningshuang and asked, “May I ask, Perfected One, if this will cause any hindrance?”
Liu Ningshuang did not answer immediately. She set down her bamboo slips and leaned back in her chair, her gaze still fixed on Bai Qingxue’s hair, as if pinned there by something.
Bai Qingxue stood there, waiting for her to speak, but Liu Ningshuang remained silent.
She simply watched, her eyes reflecting an emotion Bai Qingxue couldn't quite read. It wasn't worry, nor was it sympathy; it was more like a sort of trance.
That look made Bai Qingxue feel uneasy.
It was as if Liu Ningshuang was looking through her to see someone else.
“Perfected One?” Bai Qingxue broke the long silence.
Liu Ningshuang snapped out of it, her gaze refocusing.
“It won't affect your cultivation,” she said, her tone returning to its usual indifference.
Bai Qingxue waited for a heartbeat, and seeing that Liu Ningshuang had no intention of saying more, she performed a salutation and withdrew from the main hall.
As she reached the door, Bai Qingxue suddenly stopped and glanced back. Liu Ningshuang was still sitting at the desk, her gaze fixed out the window, looking at who knows what.
Bai Qingxue withdrew her gaze and pushed the door open to leave.
Walking down the stone steps, Bai Qingxue looked down at the strands of hair draped over her shoulder.
The silver-white hair glinted coldly in the sunlight.
She suddenly thought of someone: True Lord Shuanghua.
That Nascent Soul peak master also had a head of white hair. It was a pure, almost transparent silver-white, like snow, like ice, like the frost condensed upon a cold pond.
Although Bai Qingxue had only seen True Lord Shuanghua a few times, she remembered that face and that white hair quite clearly.
Because in all of Xueji Peak, it seemed only True Lord Shuanghua had hair of that color. No, perhaps she would have to be added to that list now.
Bai Qingxue pinched a strand of white hair, looked at it, and then let it go.
Why think about such things?
Bai Qingxue shook her head, casting the thought aside.
Returning to her courtyard, Bai Qingxue stood beneath the old plum tree and reached up to touch her hair bun.
The hairpin was still there; the white hair was still hidden beneath.
After a moment's hesitation, she pulled out the pin. Her hair cascaded down, the silver-white strands emerging from the black, glinting coldly in the sunlight.
She pinched a strand and watched it for a while.
As long as it doesn't affect my cultivation, it should be fine...
Bai Qingxue then pinned her hair back up. Once the white hair was hidden again, she entered her quiet room, sat cross-legged on the stone bed, and closed her eyes to circulate her power.
Outside the window, the buds on the withered branches of the old plum tree had grown a bit larger. Many of them had already cracked open, revealing tender green tips within.
Spring was about to arrive.
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