Shen Qingci stuffed two more pieces into her hand, popped one into her own mouth, and said mumble-mouthed, “It's a three-day flight, Senior Sister. Don't just coop yourself up in your cabin meditating all the time.”
“Once we cross the border of Qing Province, we'll be able to see the volcanic group of the Crimson Flame Mountain Range. From afar, it looks like the horizon is on fire. It's a spectacular sight.”
Chi Yuan slowly chewed the dried apricot, listening to her junior sister chatter away beside her.
From the rare fire crystal mines abundant in the Crimson Flame Mountains, to the bustling spiritual food streets of Qinghe County, and then to her own easygoing clan uncle who specialized in artifact refining but had a terrible habit of pressuring people to drink...
“How is your alcohol tolerance usually, Senior Sister? My clan uncle loves hosting the younger generation for drinks. If you don't like socializing, I'll drink all of it for you.”
“No need to trouble yourself,” Chi Yuan replied.
“My tolerance is decent. It won't be an issue.”
A sudden smile flashed in Shen Qingci's eyes, as if she had unearthed some rare secret. “So Second Senior Sister can drink! I'll keep that in mind.”
Gazing at the young girl's clear, lively eyes, Chi Yuan couldn't help but curve her lips into a faint smile. Though the smile vanished in an instant, the sharp-eyed Shen Qingci caught it immediately.
Without saying a word, Shen Qingci simply pushed the oilpaper packet closer to Chi Yuan, taking the opportunity to nudge herself half an inch closer to her senior sister.
They sat side by side by the railing, with only a fist's width of space between their shoulders. As the flying vessel passed through the clouds, causing a slight jolt, that fist-wide gap swayed closer once, then twice, yet neither of them moved away.
Meanwhile, on the martial arts arena of the Azure Cloud Sect's Dharma Academy, Yin Ruozhuo was sweating profusely as he swung at a wooden dummy. Zhao Yu, who was counting beside him, finally couldn't take it anymore when he reached six hundred and twenty-seven. “Did you take the wrong medicine today? Usually, you complain of being tired after three hundred strikes, but today you're still hacking away at six hundred and twenty!”
Yin Ruozhuo gritted his teeth and struck again. An Earth Spike Spell slammed into the wooden dummy, splattering bits of dirt all over his face. “Before Senior Sister left, she gave us Peiyuan Pills—one a day, about fifty in total. If I haven't broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining by the time she gets back, how could I ever face her after receiving these fifty pills?”
Zhao Yu fell silent. He reached into his cloth bag, pulled out a Peiyuan Pill, and popped it into his mouth. “Good point. Let's add another two hundred strikes.”
Gu Qingyi, wiping her sweat with a handkerchief nearby, looked back toward the dining hall and sighed softly. “It's only the first day since Senior Sister left, and even dinner doesn't taste good anymore.”
Chen Zian sat on the steps holding a book. He turned a page without looking up. “Whether it tastes good is one thing. But if we haven't made any progress by the time Senior Sister returns, that would be truly embarrassing.”
Everyone: “୧º̣͙•̥͙º̣͙୨”
At those words, even Gu Qingyi stuffed her handkerchief into her robe, picked up her sword, and joined the extra training session.
The flying vessel traveled for two days. As the clouds thinned out, the outline of the Crimson Flame Mountain Range became visible outside the cabin windows. Shen Qingci leaned against the railing, watching the volcanic group for a while. Just as she was about to return to her cabin to meditate, light footsteps suddenly echoed from the end of the corridor.
The newcomer was a female steward at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. She wore a silver wild goose hairpin of the Furong Merchant Alliance in her hair, and her smile was attentive yet perfectly polite.
Stopping in front of Shen Qingci, she bowed respectfully and said with a smile, “Fairy Shen, our vessel is passing by Bibo Marsh today, and we have just received a new batch of Clam Girls. Their quality is exceptionally high.”
“Among them is one who has just established her foundation. Her clam pearl is perfectly round, and her spiritual aura is pure, making her the very best of this batch. If you are interested, this humble servant can arrange for her to come and serve you?”
Shen Qingci had seen records of the Clam Girl race when she was browsing through the Chronicles of Nine Provinces' Anomalies in the Library.
The Clam race of Bibo Marsh possessed natural Water Spiritual Bodies. The powder ground from their clam pearls was the primary ingredient for refining youth-retaining pills, costing three thousand mid-grade spirit stones per ounce in the markets.
Since she had never seen a living Clam Girl before, she nodded. “Sure, send her over.”
The female steward beamed with joy, repeatedly voicing her assent before turning to make the arrangements.
Shen Qingci tilted her head to look at Chi Yuan, only to see her senior sister's hand holding a teacup frozen in midair, as if she had been petrified.
Those eyes stared straight at her, their gaze a mix of shock, confusion, and a hint of something inexplicable... anger?
“Senior Sister?”
Shen Qingci waved a hand in front of her eyes. “What's wrong?”
Chi Yuan placed the teacup back on the table, the bottom of the cup hitting the wooden surface with a heavy thud.
Her earlobes turned visibly red, and her tone carried a trace of irrepressible vexation. “Junior Sister, your talent is outstanding, and you possess a High-rank Lightning Spiritual Root. Your path of cultivation is bright and smooth. Why... why must you involve yourself in such unorthodox practices?”
Shen Qingci was stunned. “Unorthodox practices?”
“Dual cultivation!”
As Chi Yuan spat out those two words, several thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
Her junior sister was only sixteen and had only been in the Southern Region from the Northern Region for a few months. She was usually so well-behaved, practicing her swordplay and attending classes diligently. Who on earth had put such wicked ideas into her head?
Yin Ruozhuo of the Furong Merchant Alliance?
Unlikely. That fat boy didn't have the guts.
Gu Qingyi? No, that wasn't right either. The collateral branch of the Gu family in the Southern Region was considered quite upright.
Could it be some dishonest inner sect disciple from the Dharma Academy?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. The coldness in her eyes almost materialized. She resolved that if she ever found out who it was, she would slash them three times with her sword first.
Shen Qingci blinked once, then twice.
She finally realized what her senior sister was talking about.
Dual cultivation, Clam Girls, and the six hundred mid-grade spirit stones ticket price for the Furong Merchant Alliance's first-class cabins.
These clues suddenly connected in her mind, and she abruptly recalled the small footnote under the Clam race entry in the Chronicles of Nine Provinces' Anomalies.
“Before reaching the Golden Core stage, Clam women cultivate at five times the speed of those with single spiritual roots. However, due to the balance of the Heavenly Dao, not a single Golden Core cultivator emerges out of a hundred thousand Clam Girls. Thus, the Clam race of Bibo Marsh has entered into pacts with various regional merchant alliances, offering Clam Girls to serve female cultivators in exchange for protection. Many female guests in the first-class cabins of various merchant alliances choose Clam Girls as travel companions...”
When she first read this passage, she had assumed it was some sort of employment relationship. After all, words like "serve" and "travel companion" were far too easy for a modern-educated transmigrator to interpret in a normal, platonic way.
Now that her senior sister had exposed it, she finally read between the lines.
“Dual cultivation?” she blurted out. “I never said I wanted to dual cultivate! Even if I did, it would be with Se—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Chi Yuan moved.
She rose so quickly that Shen Qingci couldn't even catch an afterimage. She only felt a crisp breeze carrying the scent of pine and snow sweep past her face, and then a hand was pressed over her lips.
The palm was slightly cool, and the web of the thumb bore thin calluses from years of holding a sword. The grip was firm enough to muffle her voice but gentle enough not to hurt her.
Shen Qingci's words were stuffed back down. Her lips pressed against her senior sister's palm, the warm breath she exhaled entirely trapped inside.
She looked up, meeting Chi Yuan's eyes, which were mere inches away.
The corners of Chi Yuan's eyes were flushed crimson. Panic was suppressed beneath her embarrassment, and her usual icy demeanor was completely shattered, leaving behind nothing but the vibrant, vivid emotions of the mortal world.
Chi Yuan was not faring any better.
Her junior sister's lips were incredibly soft. When the warm breath brushed against her palm, it felt like a feather tickling her, sending a tingling sensation all the way from the web of her hand down to her spine.
She steadied her breathing, squeezing out each word one by one: “Don't. Say. Another. Word.”
Shen Qingci obediently shut her mouth. Her eyelashes fluttered a couple of times as she pointed at her own mouth, then at her senior sister's hand, signaling, I get it, let go quickly.
Rate on N.U.
