The news stayed on Qingli Peak for a whole day, and on the next day, it silently drifted along the stone steps and corridors to the main peak.
Liu Fengyao was the first to run over. When she pushed open the courtyard gate, she was holding a plate of osmanthus cakes in her arms, saying she bought them along the way.
But the plate was still hot to the touch; she had clearly brought it over in a hurry right after they came out of the oven.
She placed the plate on the stone table and sat down opposite Lin Zhiyue, her eyes shining. “Zhiyue, how do you learn everything so fast? You're amazing!”
Cen Xi'er arrived a little later.
When she entered, the hem of her robe was still stained with floating dust from the martial arts field, looking as if she had just come off the sword practice field and hadn't even had time to change her clothes.
She walked to the stone table and sat down. After listening to Liu Fengyao finish, she added calmly, “Of course. Little Junior Sister is a genius among geniuses.” Although her tone was calm, her eyes shone with a proud certainty.
Senior Sister Qiao followed behind Cen Xi'er, nodded to Lin Zhiyue, and took a seat on the stone stool next to Cen Xi'er.
She pulled an oil-paper packet from her sleeve and spread it open on the table, revealing a packet of fragrant roasted spiritual sunflower seeds.
Several people sat around the stone table, tea and pastries scattered in front of them, their voices rising and falling, hard to tell who started which topic.
The sunlight moved slowly across the edge of the table, the dark shadows slowly folding between the teacups and plates.
Chu Zhixun also arrived later.
He walked through the courtyard gate and stood by the table for a moment. Seemingly finding it hard to chime in, he turned to sit on a stone block beneath the courtyard wall, casually picking up a piece of osmanthus cake and taking a bite.
Xiao Yuan and Jiang Yuezhan arrived even later.
Xiao Yuan leaned against the wall outside the courtyard gate without coming in, while Jiang Yuezhan sat down on the stone steps. Across a distance of a few paces, his gaze calmly drifted toward the inside of the courtyard wall.
The sunlight moved slowly between the stone steps and the courtyard wall, stretching and folding the fragmented shadows, casting them onto the rough ground.
Across the table, Liu Fengyao casually shelled the spiritual sunflower seeds, tossing them into her mouth to chew before slowly speaking. “Anyway, you learn everything a step faster than everyone else. By now, the title of 'First Genius of the Younger Generation' has probably spread throughout the entire Sanglan Realm.”
Lin Zhiyue smiled, gently raising her cup, and lowered her voice with mock reserve. “Keep it low-key, low-key—” As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Fengyao burst into laughter at her pretentious display, and the others nearby laughed along in a chorus.
...
“But did you know?” Cen Xi'er suddenly started a topic, her fingertip lightly tapping the table.
“Is it that matter?!” Liu Fengyao understood instantly, her eyes lighting up in a flash.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Cen Xi'er nodded.
It took Xiao Yuan only two seconds to guess what Cen Xi'er was thinking, the corners of his mouth curving slightly into a smile.
“What is it? Just spit it out,” Chu Zhixun asked, voicing Lin Zhiyue's inner thoughts as well, forgetting to swallow the osmanthus cake in his hand.
“It's about Luohong Valley. It's spread everywhere, don't you know?”
“What happened?” Lin Zhiyue asked.
“The Valley Master of Luohong Valley found his illegitimate daughter who had been lost outside last month. I heard it caused a massive uproar.”
Cen Xi'er set down her teacup, as if sharing some fresh gossip she had just heard. “The Valley Master's wife shut the main gates and refused to let anyone in. Both sides were at a standstill for several days, and it only settled down after several elders of the valley stepped in to mediate.”
“Yes, and I heard that illegitimate daughter has exceptional talent, especially in alchemy. She's practically a genius once in a thousand years.”
Liu Fengyao chimed in, her tone tinged with emotion. “The Valley Master took her by his side to personally instruct her. In less than a month, she became an Alchemy Apprentice. Now, the Valley Master brags to everyone he meets, wishing the whole world knew his daughter is an alchemy prodigy.”
“Actually, I think...” Cen Xi'er glanced at Lin Zhiyue and laughed. “If Zhiyue's achievements in the Dao of alchemy were to spread across the Sanglan Realm, that Valley Master of Luohong Valley probably wouldn't have the face to boast about any 'first genius' anymore.”
“Exactly. The main thing is that this whole affair was handled so indecently.”
Liu Fengyao sighed and slowly shook her head. “Although the Valley Master's wife hasn't borne any children all these years, everyone knows she suffered damaged meridians and a frail constitution back then just to save the Valley Master of Luohong Valley.
“For cultivators, conceiving offspring is already far more difficult than for ordinary people. Some things simply cannot be forced.
“Yet her husband, instead of showing her consideration, went and left his bloodline outside. Now, he's even brought the girl home and broadcasted it to everyone. It's clearly a deliberate attempt to humiliate her.”
“Sigh, to put it bluntly, the Valley Master of Luohong Valley is just a scumbag,” Cen Xi'er sneered. “Seeing that his Dao companion couldn't carry on his lineage, he turned around to start a new family outside and even made such a high-profile fuss about it.”
“Exactly.” The two went back and forth, chiming in harmony with a tacit understanding as if they had rehearsed their lines beforehand.
A small pile of shelled spiritual sunflower seed hulls had accumulated on the table, yet neither of them showed any sign of stopping, as though this bit of gossip was the most serious business of the day.
The others listened with great interest; even Jiang Yuezhan, who had remained silent, couldn't help but perk up his ears.
Lin Zhiyue's fingertips gently caressed the warm teacup as she suddenly murmured, “It might not necessarily be a problem with the Valley Master's wife's body. It could be the Valley Master's.”
“But didn't he have an illegitimate daughter...” Liu Fengyao paused, then widened her eyes in disbelief. “Do you mean...”
Lin Zhiyue arched an eyebrow, her expression nonchalant. “I'm just guessing casually.”
In her past life, such scenes were common on television; these kinds of plots always followed the same few clichés.
She looked up at Liu Fengyao, her voice not loud but carrying a quiet certainty. “In fact, I think it's highly likely to be the Valley Master's own issue.”
She raised a single finger. “The wife's chronic condition is a known fact, and the entire Luohong Valley knows of it. If he truly wanted offspring, he would have done everything possible to nurse her back to health over the years. No matter how stubborn the ailment, as long as spiritual herbs were fed to her like flowing water, there would eventually be some effect over time.”
She paused. “The one with the issue might not be the wife at all. It's him, yet he doesn't know it and has never even considered that the problem lies with himself.”
“But the Valley Master is an Alchemy Venerable, after all. It's impossible for him to fail to recognize his own biological daughter, right?”
Lin Zhiyue shook her head and fell silent, her gaze landing on the gradually cooling plate of osmanthus cakes, a faint, imperceptible depth flashing in her eyes.
If it really were the wife's problem... Luohong Valley was a gathering place for alchemists. Could a mere case of damaged meridians really stump an entire valley of alchemy cultivators?
With spiritual medicine nourishing her and medicinal formulas conditioning her body, even the most stubborn ailment should have been mostly resolved by now.
The root of the problem might not lie with the Valley Master's wife—
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