It was raining on the day Bai Qingxue went to see Liu Ningshuang.
Though it was springtime, the rain fell with a biting chill, stinging the face like needles.
Bai Qingxue held an oil-paper umbrella as she walked up the stone steps. Raindrops slid down the ribs of the umbrella, kicking up tiny splashes at her feet.
Sandalwood incense burned in the main hall, its blue smoke pressed low by the dampness of the rain, lingering in the air.
Liu Ningshuang sat at her desk, a jade box resting before her.
The box was a translucent white, its lid engraved with intricate frost patterns, identical to the one that had held the 《Mystic Frost Heavenly Heart Art》 two years ago.
“Sit.”
Bai Qingxue closed her umbrella, left it by the door, and walked over to take a seat.
Without any pleasantries, Liu Ningshuang pushed the jade box toward her. “A Foundation Establishment Pill. The sect prepared it for you.”
Bai Qingxue took it and opened the lid.
A pale green pill lay inside, its surface covered in fine lines resembling cracks in ice. The moment she probed it with her spiritual power, a gentle yet potent medicinal energy radiated from it. Even through the jade box, she could feel its quality—far superior to the Foundation Establishment Pill the Bai family had possessed.
“Foundation Establishment isn't something you can just force with pills,” Liu Ningshuang’s voice was deeper than usual. “A pill only fills the gaps in your spiritual power and helps stabilize your foundation during the breakthrough. If your own preparation is insufficient, no amount of pills will help.”
Bai Qingxue nodded and closed the jade box.
“But your situation is different.” Liu Ningshuang paused, seemingly weighing her words. “Establishing a foundation with the 《Mystic Frost Heavenly Heart Art》 is far more dangerous than with ordinary techniques. The Ice Spirit power will lash out with its full force when your dantian is being reconstructed. That chill won't come from the outside; it will be born from within you. Your dantian, your meridians, every inch of your bone—all will become a battlefield for that cold.”
She looked into Bai Qingxue’s eyes.
“If you endure it, the Ice Spirit power will naturally forge your Dao foundation. But if you fail...”
Liu Ningshuang didn't finish the sentence.
But Bai Qingxue knew what she meant.
If she failed, her meridians would be destroyed, her cultivation lost, and she would either become a cripple or die outright...
“The three-year deadline is almost here,” Bai Qingxue said.
Liu Ningshuang glanced at her and didn't deny it. “Two months left.”
Two months.
Upon hearing this, Bai Qingxue said nothing more.
She stood up, placed the jade box into her storage bag, bowed to Liu Ningshuang, and turned to leave the main hall.
The rain was still falling.
Bai Qingxue opened her umbrella and walked down the stone steps.
The rain drummed heavily against the umbrella, sounding like a constant chatter above her head, but she couldn't process a single word.
She remembered the first time she had walked into this hall two years ago. At that time, she had just joined Xueji Peak, having dispersed her previous cultivation to start anew from the first level of Qi Refining.
True Lord Shuanghua had sat on a meditation cushion and asked her, “Can you reach the perfection of the Qi Refining stage within three years?” She had answered, “I can.” Back then, she thought three years was a long time. Only now did she realize that three years was merely the distance from the main hall to her courtyard.
The rain had let up slightly by the time Bai Qingxue pushed open her courtyard gate.
A figure was sitting beneath the old plum tree.
It was Lu Xueqing.
Lu Xueqing held no umbrella. Her frost-white Daoist robe was mostly soaked, and water dripped from her shoulders and the tips of her hair.
She sat on a stone stool with a small wooden box before her, hands resting on her knees, waiting with a formal posture.
Hearing the gate open, she looked up.
Rainwater streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe it away. She simply looked at Bai Qingxue, her lips curving into a faint smile—so light it seemed as if it might shatter if it were any heavier.
Bai Qingxue looked at Lu Xueqing’s soaked shoulders and the rain dripping from her hair to splash against the stone table.
Then, an umbrella opened over Lu Xueqing’s head.
The rain was shut out.
Lu Xueqing looked up at the underside of the umbrella, then at the hand gripping the handle. It was Bai Qingxue’s hand—fingers long and knuckles well-defined.
Bai Qingxue stood beside her, tilting the umbrella toward her while leaving half of her own shoulder exposed to the rain.
Raindrops fell onto Bai Qingxue’s shoulder, freezing into tiny ice beads the moment they touched the fabric. Round and crystalline, they rolled down the folds of her robe and shattered into fine powder on the ground.
Lu Xueqing watched those unmelting ice beads on Bai Qingxue’s shoulder, and her smile deepened.
This time, the smile was genuine, rising from the depths of her heart.
Lu Xueqing leaned closer to Bai Qingxue, the two of them huddling under the single umbrella until their shoulders almost touched.
Bai Qingxue didn't ask any questions. She tried to hand the umbrella handle to Lu Xueqing, but Lu Xueqing didn't take it.
She only turned her head to look at Bai Qingxue.
In that gaze, there was rain and mist, the shimmer of water, the fleeting reflections of droplets rolling off the umbrella, and a sentence left unsaid.
The rain continued to fall. Droplets landing on Bai Qingxue’s shoulder continued to freeze, roll off, and freeze again.
A faint scent of frost and snow permeated the air, blending with the coldness of the rain until they were almost indistinguishable.
Lu Xueqing lowered her head and pushed the small wooden box across the table.
Bai Qingxue opened it. Inside lay a pale purple pill, slightly smaller than a Foundation Establishment Pill. Its surface held a fine luster, like moonlight shimmering on a lake.
“A Meridian Protection Pill,” Lu Xueqing said, her tone as casual as if she were commenting on the weather. “It’s for protecting your meridians during Foundation Establishment. It will help you endure when the Ice Spirit power lashes out.”
Bai Qingxue looked up at her.
Lu Xueqing didn't meet her gaze. Her eyes wandered from the stone table to the wooden box between them, then to Bai Qingxue’s hand resting nearby. She looked everywhere except at Bai Qingxue’s eyes.
“Where did you get this?” Bai Qingxue asked.
“Not telling you.”
Bai Qingxue remained silent.
She knew the market price for a Meridian Protection Pill.
A pill of this quality couldn't be obtained with contribution points alone. It was either a special reward from the sect or something obtained by trading something even more valuable.
“Senior Sister.”
Lu Xueqing’s shoulders tensed slightly. Bai Qingxue rarely called her "Senior Sister" of her own accord, especially not in that tone.
“Yes?”
Bai Qingxue looked at the pale purple pill and was silent for a moment.
“Why go to such lengths...?”
Bai Qingxue’s words were faint, like wisps of rain landing on the stone table—soundless, yet leaving a damp mark behind.
Lu Xueqing froze.
The smile was still on her face, but it had turned rigid.
It was as if someone had pressed pause; the curve of her lips remained, but the light in her eyes faded bit by bit.
She looked at Bai Qingxue, her lips moving as if to speak before she swallowed the words back down.
Why go to such lengths?
She chewed on those words in her mind over and over. Was she worried about her working too hard? Did she not want to owe her too much? Or... did Bai Qingxue feel she wasn't worth the effort?
She didn't know.
And Bai Qingxue didn't explain.
Lu Xueqing withdrew her gaze and looked down at the puddle on the stone table.
The water reflected her own face—grey, hazy, and indistinct.
Bai Qingxue put the wooden box into her storage bag, placing it next to the Foundation Establishment Pill.
She didn't say thank you, nor did she decline.
Instead, after a moment of silence, she took a monster core from her storage bag and pushed it across the table to Lu Xueqing.
The core was a brilliant silver-white and of excellent quality, taken from a ninth-level Qi Refining monster she had hunted during her last mission.
Bai Qingxue had kept it, reluctant to trade it for contribution points.
“It’s an extra from the last mission,” Bai Qingxue said.
Lu Xueqing looked down at the monster core.
She was silent for a long time.
The rain drummed heavily against the umbrella.
Then she reached out, picked up the core, and tucked it into her sleeve.
“Alright,” she said.
Then Lu Xueqing looked up at Bai Qingxue. This time, she didn't look away.
“Junior Sister, I’ll take it,” she said. “But I’m not taking it because of its value. I’m taking it because I’m afraid that if you don't give me something, you’ll feel like you owe me, and then you won't dare use that Meridian Protection Pill.”
Bai Qingxue watched her.
“Junior Sister, don't be like that.” Lu Xueqing’s voice was lower than usual. “I give you things because I want to, not because I want something in return.”
Bai Qingxue didn't respond.
The two of them fell silent again.
The rain gradually tapered off from a heavy downpour to a few stray drops, tapping lightly against the leaves of the old plum tree.
Lu Xueqing stood up.
“I’m going back.”
Bai Qingxue nodded.
Lu Xueqing walked to the courtyard gate, picked up the umbrella she had left leaning there, opened it, and stepped out into the rain. After a few steps, she stopped, though she didn't turn around.
“Junior Sister.”
Bai Qingxue looked at her back.
“I took the monster core. But it wasn't the core I wanted.”
Bai Qingxue didn't respond.
Lu Xueqing stood in the rain, her silhouette blurred by the mist.
“I know you didn't,” Bai Qingxue said.
Lu Xueqing’s shoulders moved slightly, as if she were letting out a breath or perhaps a sigh.
She said nothing more, holding her umbrella as she walked down the stone steps and quickly vanished into the curtain of rain.
Bai Qingxue sat beneath the old plum tree, looking down at her hands.
The cool touch of the umbrella handle still lingered on her fingertips.
Rate on N.U.
