Late into the night, Lin Zhixue returned to her quarters, shut the door, and drew the Guilan Sword from its scabbard.
The water-patterned spiritual glow flowed quietly in the dim room, casting rippling reflections across the four walls like the floor of a lake.
She stared at the luminous patterns on the blade for a long time, suddenly sensing a strange, subtle fluctuation.
It was extremely faint, like something concealed deep within the blade, pulsing gently along with the flow of spiritual light.
“Xiaoyu.”
Xiaoyu drifted out from the jade pendant, leaning close to examine the blade. A moment later, its emerald eyes went wide. “It's sword intent! Concealed within the blade! The ice fiends were raising such a ruckus earlier that I didn't notice it.”
“Zhixue, you've struck gold.”
“How do I use it?”
“Channel your spiritual energy into the blade and follow the flow of that sword intent. It will guide you.”
Lin Zhixue sat down cross-legged, resting the Guilan Sword across her knees, her hands hovering lightly over the blade.
Spiritual energy flowed slowly from her palms. Stirred by her spiritual energy, the sword intent hidden deep within the blade surged forth like a subterranean river suddenly breached, rushing out in a torrent.
Her consciousness was pulled into a deep blue underwater world.
There was no sound and no boundary—only fierce, dazzling arcs of sword light slashing through the water, each strike bearing both the supple fluidity of water and the crushing force of deep undercurrents.
This was the origin of the sword intent that the blade had naturally nurtured over its long slumber.
Eyes closed, the water-patterned spiritual glow on the sword grew brighter and purer.
Guided by the sword intent, the spiritual energy within her body surged upward step by step, climbing from the seventh level of Qi Refining all the way to Great Perfection.
She was now merely a single step away from Foundation Establishment.
As dawn broke, she opened her eyes.
The light of the Guilan Sword had receded, resting quietly against her knees. Looking down at her palms, she slowly curled her fingers into fists.
Great Perfection of Qi Refining.
Xiaoyu floated over and circled around her. “Great Perfection of Qi Refining. You've only grasped the initial rudiments of the sword intent; you're still a long way from truly mastering it.”
“Still, this is already remarkable.”
Lin Zhixue did not reply. She simply sheathed the Guilan Sword, stood up, and pushed open the door.
The mountain morning still carried a crisp, biting chill. Traversing two stone-paved alleys, she reached out and pushed open the gate to Gu Yanqing's courtyard.
He was already awake, sitting propped up against the headboard, his bandage-wrapped arms resting atop the quilt.
His complexion looked better than yesterday. Though his lips were still a bit chapped, vitality had returned to his eyes.
Hearing the door open, he turned to look at her. Before he could speak, Lin Zhixue had already walked over and stopped beside the bed.
“Feeling better?” she asked.
“Just flesh wounds. Nothing serious.”
Lin Zhixue fell silent for a moment.
“Yesterday... why did you go in?”
Gu Yanqing was slightly taken aback, the corners of his lips curving upward into a faint smile.
There was no deliberate pretense or deceit; he simply found the question somewhat amusing.
“You hadn't come out, had you?”
“But how did you know I was in danger?”
This time, he didn't answer right away.
Morning light slanted through the window lattice, casting slender streaks of brightness across his face. He remained silent for two breaths before uttering two words.
“I guessed.”
Lin Zhixue didn't respond, merely watching him in silence.
Yesterday, she had seen with her own eyes how he charged into the waterfall without the slightest hesitation. If it had truly been a guess, he could never have been so decisive.
Her amber eyes fixed on him without wavering. Only after staring for quite a while did she softly speak.
“Really?”
Gu Yanqing smiled.
“Yeah.”
“Liar!”
Xiaoyu shot out from the jade pendant, its spiritual glow blazing with unusual brilliance as it drifted right up in front of Gu Yanqing, speaking at breakneck speed.
“You clearly heard me calling for you! You can totally see me!”
“You heard every single word I said down at the bottom of the valley yesterday! The second you heard the words 'ice fiends,' you charged right in, yet you're still pretending you can't see me!”
Gu Yanqing looked straight past Xiaoyu, letting his gaze fall on Lin Zhixue, his expression bearing a touch of well-measured confusion.
“Is something wrong?”
Lin Zhixue looked at him, then glanced at the fuming Xiaoyu hovering in midair.
Xiaoyu's voice jumped an octave higher. “Act! Keep acting! You dropped the act yesterday, and now you're putting it right back on, aren't you?!”
Gu Yanqing continued to look at Lin Zhixue, appearing completely oblivious to whatever she was looking at.
Xiaoyu blew its top entirely.
It lunged before Gu Yanqing and made an outrageously exaggerated grimace, pulling the corners of its mouth all the way down to its chin, rolling its eyes back until only the whites showed.
Gu Yanqing's expression didn't flinch.
It floated above his head and dropped down to sit, its faint green spiritual form passing right through his hair.
Gu Yanqing remained motionless.
It flew three loops around him, pulling faces from multiple angles, before finally stopping less than an inch from the tip of his nose, pulling down its lower eyelids with both little hands and sticking out its tongue.
“Aaaargh! You bastard!”
Gu Yanqing yawned.
Watching this unfold, Lin Zhixue suddenly felt a flicker of doubt.
The facts she had witnessed yesterday were simple.
Xiaoyu had flown out to call him, and then he had charged in.
It was too coincidental—so coincidental that it didn't seem like a coincidence at all.
Yet here he sat on the bed without the slightest flaw in his composure, showing zero reaction even when Xiaoyu sat right on his head.
The confusion in his eyes was so natural that she was beginning to waver.
She decided to set the matter aside for now.
She would observe him a bit more and see whether he actually reacted or not.
“From now on... don't do that again,” she suddenly said in a low voice.
Gu Yanqing paused. “What?”
Lin Zhixue looked at his injuries.
Bandages ran all the way from his wrists to his shoulders, with more faintly visible beneath his collar, and several scabbing red scratches marked his face.
Her voice was very soft, bordering on a whisper to herself.
“Wrecking yourself like this for someone else.”
Gu Yanqing smiled faintly.
“I could ignore anyone else.”
He paused.
“But you're different.”
Lin Zhixue didn't speak for several breaths.
Gu Yanqing's expression froze for an instant. Clearly realizing his words sounded far too ambiguous, he hastily added:
“Uh... I mean...”
“I was the one who brought you into the sect. If anything really happened to you, it would weigh heavily on my conscience.”
Lin Zhixue nodded.
“Mm.”
He was speaking stranger and stranger.
As for that follow-up explanation, she didn't know whether she believed it or not.
Lowering her head, her eyelashes veiled the emotions in her eyes, and she asked no further.
“By the way... did your cultivation rise again?” Gu Yanqing suddenly asked.
“Great Perfection of Qi Refining.” Lin Zhixue drew the Guilan Sword slightly and flashed it before his eyes.
“The sword intent inside helped.” Then she stood up.
“I'm going to turn in the Cold Dew Grass mission first. You stay in bed and rest.”
As she reached the doorway, Gu Yanqing's voice came from behind.
“After turning in the mission, stop by the Medicine Hall to pick up some body-tempering medicinal herbs while you're at it. In a couple of days, I should be ready to soak.”
Lin Zhixue didn't look back, merely giving a slight wave of her hand to acknowledge him.
After the door closed, Gu Yanqing leaned against the headboard and looked down at his arms.
The bandages were wrapped neatly and firmly, the knots clean and flat, each coil layered with even tension.
He tested his shoulder with a gentle shrug. A dull ache remained, but it felt far better than yesterday.
Following severe blood loss, the body was at its weakest and most receptive to recovery; soaking in a round of body-tempering medicinal bath at this moment would yield results several times greater than gritting his teeth through ordinary cultivation.
Rate on N.U.
