Ice Spirit Crisis

In the following days, Bai Qingxue's life returned to its former tranquility.

As was her custom, she visited the cold pond in the morning, the quiet room in the afternoon, and practiced her sword in the evening. She never missed a single day of her routine.

Now, she was constantly accumulating spiritual power, preparing for her eventual push toward the ninth level of Qi Refining.

However, as her cultivation deepened, Bai Qingxue gradually made a discovery.

Ever since she broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining, the cold intent within her body no longer required her conscious effort to activate; it clung to her spiritual power as naturally as breathing.

When she first broke through, Bai Qingxue thought this was a good thing. After all, with the cold intent fused into her spiritual power, her attacks were instantaneous and required almost no charging, making her combat strength far exceed others of the same rank.

But now, she realized with a start that things were not as simple as she had thought.

By the time she noticed, this cold intent had already begun to backlash against her body.

Sometimes, while meditating in the quiet room, she would suddenly feel her fingertips go numb. Looking down, she would see a thin layer of white frost covering her knuckles—the cold intent was leaking out again.

At this moment, Bai Qingxue truly understood why True Lord Shuanghua required her to reach Foundation Establishment within three years.

It wasn't a requirement born from a fear that she would become lazy.

Rather, if she could not reach Foundation Establishment within three years, her body would likely collapse under the weight of the ever-growing Ice Spirit power.

Realizing this fact, Bai Qingxue worked even harder in her cultivation.

During this time, Liu Ningshuang would occasionally summon her to the main hall to check on or guide her cultivation, but that was the extent of it.

After all, even Liu Ningshuang could not help her much. Cultivation was, in the end, something one had to walk through step by step on their own.

Liu Ningshuang summoned her merely to monitor her progress, ensuring she wouldn't fall before reaching that final step.

...

Speaking of which, the biggest change during this period was likely Lu Xueqing.

Lu Xueqing went from dropping by occasionally to visiting almost every day.

Sometimes she brought a pot of tea, other times a few spirit fruits.

If Bai Qingxue was practicing her sword when she arrived, she would sit under the old plum tree and wait. If Bai Qingxue was regulating her breathing, she would place the tea on the stone table and sit quietly for a while before leaving, without knocking or disturbing her.

She usually chose the hour when Bai Qingxue finished her sword practice, and the tea was always brewed to the perfect temperature for drinking.

Bai Qingxue didn't know if she calculated the timing deliberately or if she had simply come so often that it had become natural.

As for what happened at the courtyard gate that day, neither of them mentioned it again.

Lu Xueqing didn't bring it up, and Bai Qingxue didn't ask.

When the two sat together to drink tea, they would exchange a few words here and there as before, but more often than not, they sat in mutual silence, savoring the tea.

During these times, Bai Qingxue would occasionally look up, only to find her gaze meeting Lu Xueqing's.

She didn't know if Lu Xueqing had been watching her for a long time or if her own timing was just that coincidental.

One afternoon, when Bai Qingxue returned from the cold pond, she saw a small wooden box on the stone table.

The box wasn't large, deep brown in color with no patterns on its surface, resting on a white handkerchief of unknown material.

The box had been delivered by the peak-guarding senior sister, who said it was sent by someone from Chixia Peak.

Bai Qingxue opened the box to find several spirit fruits inside.

They were no ordinary spirit fruits; they were entirely crimson with extremely fine gold patterns on the skin, faintly radiating heat.

They were fire dates, and of a high grade at that.

This type of spirit fruit was rare on the market. After all, a fire date tree often took decades from planting to fruiting, and the fruits produced were of great benefit to Qi Refining cultivators, making them rare spiritual items.

Bai Qingxue picked one up and turned it between her fingers. It felt slightly warm to the touch, gently counteracting the cold intent in her body—neither scalding nor burning her hand.

There was also a jade slip in the box.

Bai Qingxue sent her spiritual power into it, and only one line was carved on the slip: “A return gift for the plain water last time.”

The box was unsigned.

But the name Su Zhaoyan practically leapt out from between the lines.

Bai Qingxue recalled that cup of cool water. She had thought the matter was over, but it seemed Su Zhaoyan had no intention of letting it end there.

Bai Qingxue put the jade slip back in the box and closed the lid.

She accepted the fire dates but had no intention of using them; she only kept them because refusing would be more troublesome than accepting.

With someone like Su Zhaoyan, if you rejected her once, she would smile and leave.

If you rejected her twice, she would find it more interesting.

If you rejected her three times, she would likely come every day.

Bai Qingxue didn't want to see her every day, so she simply left the wooden box on the stone table and went to the quiet room to regulate her breathing.

If fate allowed in the future, she would return them.

With that thought, she left it alone.

At dusk, the courtyard gate was pushed open.

Lu Xueqing walked in, carrying a plate of spirit fruits.

Bai Qingxue was sitting under the old plum tree drinking tea at the time. Lu Xueqing glanced at the stone table and saw the wooden box, along with the fire dates inside and the white handkerchief beside it.

Lu Xueqing's gaze lingered for a moment, but she didn't ask who sent them or what kind of fruit they were.

Lu Xueqing placed her plate of spirit fruits on the stone table, then moved the wooden box and the fire dates to the corner of the table, setting her own fruits directly in front of Bai Qingxue.

Her movements were very light, as if she were merely tidying the table to make some space.

Bai Qingxue looked at the box moved to the corner, then at the fresh fruits before her, but said nothing.

Lu Xueqing sat down across from her and took a sip of tea.

“Junior Sister, how was your cultivation today?” Lu Xueqing's tone was inexplicably flat.

“It was alright,” Bai Qingxue said.

“Did Elder Liu summon you again?”

“She did. She told me not to rush my breakthrough.”

“Elder Liu is right.” Lu Xueqing took another sip of tea and set the cup down, her thoughts unknown.

After saying that, Lu Xueqing didn't look at the box again, and Bai Qingxue didn't mention it.

The two sat under the old plum tree and ate the plate of fruits Lu Xueqing had brought.

As the twilight crept over the mountain ridge, dyeing the entire sky a blue-purple, Lu Xueqing stood up. Bai Qingxue also rose to clear the tea set.

“I'll head back now.”

“Mhm.”

Lu Xueqing walked to the courtyard gate without looking back, her pace slightly faster than usual.

Bai Qingxue sat under the old plum tree, watching her figure disappear around the corner of the stone steps.

Bai Qingxue looked down at the wooden box at the corner of the table. The fire dates were still inside, untouched. A leaf from the old plum tree had fallen onto the white handkerchief—thin, with clear veins.

She picked up the leaf and set it on the table, making no move to put the box away.

Since the fire dates were there, they could stay there. Bai Qingxue didn't feel like dealing with them.

A few days later, someone from Chixia Peak delivered something again.

This time it was a small porcelain bottle with a label that read “Concentration Pills.” The jade slip said: “Throw it away if you don't want it.”

Seeing this, Bai Qingxue placed the porcelain bottle next to the wooden box. She didn't throw it away, nor did she use it.

She didn't know what Su Zhaoyan was trying to do, and she didn't care to know.

Accepting them, setting them aside, and not responding was the simplest way to handle it.

When Lu Xueqing came and saw another porcelain bottle on the stone table, she said nothing. She placed her own spirit fruits in front of Bai Qingxue, sat for a while, and then left.

No expression could be seen on Lu Xueqing's face, but she left earlier than usual that day, leaving her tea half-finished.

Bai Qingxue looked at the half-cup of tea, her thoughts unknown.

The days of cultivation passed one by one.

Bai Qingxue's spiritual power grew steadily. Although the Jade Radiance Pendant was not with her and the spirit-gathering effect was gone, her cultivation speed seemed no different than before.

Meanwhile, the pendant was tied to Lu Xueqing's waist and seemed never to have been removed.

The green tassel hung down, swaying gently in the wind.

Bai Qingxue would occasionally see it, her gaze lingering on the tassel for a moment before looking away.

Since Senior Sister Lu wore it constantly, it meant the effect of the Jade Radiance Pendant was likely quite good. In that case, there was nothing more to be said.

Su Zhaoyan never appeared again.

However, spirit fruits and medicinal pills arrived every few days.

Aside from the first delivery of fire dates, the things sent afterward weren't particularly valuable, but each delivery was accompanied by a jade slip, and each slip usually contained only a single sentence.

Bai Qingxue accepted them as usual and placed them at the corner of the table, neither eating nor using them.

The items piled up, spreading from the corner to the center of the stone table, until she eventually moved them into a wooden box.

She didn't know how much longer Su Zhaoyan would keep sending things, nor did she care.

Since they were sent, she would just keep them.

Lu Xueqing saw those things every time she came, but she didn't ask questions or offer any opinions.

She would simply place her own spirit fruits in the position closest to Bai Qingxue every time, then quietly move those new items to the corner.

Bai Qingxue saw this but said nothing.

She didn't know why Lu Xueqing cared about these things.

But since Senior Sister Lu did it, she supposed there must be a reason for it.