Bai Qingxue couldn't remember exactly which day she had begun her secluded cultivation. She only remembered that the water in the cold pond had frozen and thawed, then frozen again; the leaves of the old plum tree had fallen several times, and new buds had sprouted once.
The days were like elongated threads of silk, slipping through her fingers one by one without a trace, leaving behind only her cultivation.
During this time, she rarely left the courtyard.
Aside from occasionally taking on a mission or two to hunt a few monster beasts on the outskirts of the Luoyun Mountain Range to exchange their monster cores for resources, she had almost never gone out.
Bai Qingxue's days were simple to the point of being tedious, yet she found joy in them.
How long had it actually taken to break through that barrier to the ninth level of Qi Refining?
Bai Qingxue didn't know.
Until this morning.
Bai Qingxue suddenly felt her spiritual power flow without obstruction, as if it had surged into a much broader world.
Immediately following that, a piercing chill condensed within three feet of her body.
Bai Qingxue could feel that cold intent weaving an invisible net outside her skin, enveloping and protecting her, rather than roaming erratically as it had before.
Bai Qingxue had broken through.
She had reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, the perfection of the Qi Refining stage.
Inside the room, the bronze mirror on the table was still face down; Bai Qingxue hadn't turned it over since she broke through to the late stage.
But today, Bai Qingxue reached out, picked up the bronze mirror, and flipped it over.
There was no particular reason; she simply felt a sudden urge to see what this period of time had left on her face.
The surface of the mirror was covered in a thin layer of dust from being left untouched for so long.
Bai Qingxue's fingertips brushed over it, and with a light sweep of spiritual power, the mirror was clean.
Within the bronze mirror, a cold and elegant face was reflected.
Bai Qingxue's features remained the same, but her complexion was even whiter than before—so white that the faint blue of the veins beneath her skin was almost visible, as if something sealed under a layer of ice had finally been revealed.
And her hair, from her forehead to the back of her head, had large patches of silver-white spreading across it, like the first snow covering the ground.
After watching for a moment, Bai Qingxue stood up and pushed the door open.
Outside the courtyard gate, Lu Xueqing was standing there.
She hadn't just arrived today.
She came every day, sitting under the old plum tree and waiting for Bai Qingxue to come out.
Sometimes she waited for an hour, sometimes for two.
Today was the same.
Lu Xueqing saw the courtyard gate push open, saw Bai Qingxue walk out, and saw that long, silver-white hair shimmering with a cold light in the morning sun.
She was stunned.
Bai Qingxue was a bit thinner than she had been a year ago. Standing there, she was like an unsheathed sword—cold, sharp, yet clean and untainted by dust.
Her silver-white hair draped over her shoulders, accentuating her cold face, as the wind caught a corner of her frost-white Daoist robe.
It wasn't that she wasn't beautiful; she was too beautiful.
So beautiful that Lu Xueqing forgot to look away.
“...So beautiful.”
Lu Xueqing heard herself murmur.
Lu Xueqing's voice was very soft, so soft that she thought Bai Qingxue hadn't heard her.
But Bai Qingxue looked up at her, her gaze calm, as if those words were nothing more than a gust of wind that dissipated as soon as it passed.
Lu Xueqing's ears instantly turned red.
She wanted to say something to cover it up, but when she opened her mouth, she found she couldn't say a word.
“Junior Sister, you've finished your secluded cultivation?” she heard herself ask. Her voice was a bit raspy, lower than usual.
Bai Qingxue nodded.
Lu Xueqing didn't ask anything else.
She walked into the courtyard and sat under the old plum tree for a while. Bai Qingxue also sat across from her, and neither of them spoke. The leaves of the old plum tree rustled in the wind, and sunlight filtered through the branches, falling onto the table between them.
Lu Xueqing watched Bai Qingxue as she lowered her head to drink tea. Strands of silver-white hair fell from her ears, shimmering with a soft light in the morning sun.
She suddenly felt a strong urge to reach out and tuck that lock of hair behind her ear.
But she didn't.
She only clenched her fingers, resting them on her knees, motionless.
“Junior Sister,” she spoke.
Bai Qingxue looked up.
“Have you... looked in the mirror?”
“I have.”
Lu Xueqing was silent for a moment. “It looks very good.”
Hearing this, Bai Qingxue glanced at her but didn't respond, taking another sip from her teacup.
Seeing this, Lu Xueqing swallowed the next sentence, “I like it very much.”
Forget it, it was better not to say it.
Just then, the peak-guarding senior sister came to deliver a message, saying that Elder Liu requested Bai Qingxue's presence at the main hall.
Bai Qingxue stood up, and Lu Xueqing rose as well.
“I'll head over now,” Bai Qingxue said.
“Mhm.”
Bai Qingxue left.
Lu Xueqing stood in the courtyard, watching that frost-white figure walk up the stone steps, her silver-white hair shimmering with a cold light in the sun.
Lu Xueqing watched for a long time, only looking away after the figure disappeared around the corner of the stone steps.
Junior Sister Bai had surpassed her.
The ninth level of Qi Refining, the perfection of the Qi Refining stage.
Meanwhile, she was still at the eighth level, and she didn't know when she would break through.
Maybe soon, maybe a long time from now.
Lu Xueqing lowered her head, burying her face in her palms.
Don't think about it.
Don't think about it.
Lu Xueqing lowered her hands, took a deep breath, and stood up.
...
In the main hall, the sandalwood incense had burned halfway, and thin trails of blue smoke rose from the burner.
Liu Ningshuang sat at her desk, watching Bai Qingxue walk in. Her gaze lingered on Bai Qingxue's hair for a moment, but she said nothing, merely pointing to the chair opposite her.
“Sit.”
Bai Qingxue sat down. Liu Ningshuang reached out and placed her hand on her wrist, sending a thread of spiritual sense into her meridians, which then traveled through her dantian and all her limbs and bones.
A few breaths later, she withdrew her spiritual sense and nodded slightly.
“The ninth level of Qi Refining, with a solid foundation and high purity of spiritual power. You are already standing at the threshold of Foundation Establishment.”
“To achieve this in less than two years...” Liu Ningshuang looked at Bai Qingxue, her tone carrying a hint of satisfaction, “your speed is faster than I anticipated.”
Bai Qingxue didn't respond, waiting for her to continue.
“The peak will prepare a Foundation Establishment Pill for you. However,” Liu Ningshuang's tone shifted, becoming a degree more serious, “having a Foundation Establishment Pill doesn't mean you'll definitely succeed. Foundation Establishment isn't achieved by forcefully pushing through with pills; it depends on you. The pill only supplements the gap in your spiritual power and helps stabilize your foundation during the breakthrough. If your own preparation is insufficient, no amount of pills will help.”
Liu Ningshuang paused, seemingly weighing her words.
“My advice is not to rush your breakthrough. You have reached the perfection of the Qi Refining stage. What you need to do next is not to keep pushing upward, but to settle. Consolidate your foundation further, tame your spiritual power more, and completely retract your Ice Spirit power until you can control it fully. Only when you feel you are truly ready should you consider Foundation Establishment. Do not be in a hurry.”
Bai Qingxue was silent for a moment. “This disciple understands.”
Liu Ningshuang glanced at her, said nothing more, and waved her hand.
Bai Qingxue stood up, gave a bow, and exited the main hall.
The hall doors closed behind her. She stood on the corridor, looking at the distant mountain ridge.
Sunlight leaked from behind the clouds, illuminating the entire mountain range.
Bai Qingxue looked down at her hands, her fingers spreading open and then clenching shut.
After Foundation Establishment, she would no longer face the crisis of death, would she?
Bai Qingxue had waited over a year for this day.
From leaving Yunzhou to joining Xueji Peak, practicing day after day, not daring to slacken day or night—it was all for this day.
But why wasn't there the excitement she had anticipated in her heart, nor the relief she had expected?
On the contrary, Bai Qingxue suddenly felt a slight sense of emptiness.
That emptiness came from an unknown source.
Perhaps she had walked this path for too long, so long that she had forgotten her feelings when she first started.
Perhaps because the goal was right before her eyes, Bai Qingxue suddenly didn't know what expression to face it with.
I should probably just focus on Foundation Establishment first, Bai Qingxue thought silently, setting aside the emotions that had suddenly surfaced.
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