Chapter 43: Longing for the Eldest Senior Brother's Return

The wind blew briskly today. Ling Wu sat beneath a tree, chin propped in her hands, gazing off into the distance.

She had set a wind-blocking barrier around herself, and peach blossoms drifted down past her shoulders.

Since going to bed the night before, her right eyelid had been twitching without stop.

Mortals liked to say that a twitching left eye meant fortune and a twitching right eye meant disaster.

With her status, she really couldn't afford to be superstitious—and so she fretted terribly.

This feeling of a storm about to break was the most wearing kind. Yet no matter how hard Ling Wu wracked her brain, she couldn't think of a single thing she'd done wrong.

More than a month had passed since they returned from the Dragon Palace, and she had cultivated diligently every day since, slacking not one bit. By all rights, there shouldn't be anything for anyone to seize on.

A few days ago, when heavenly thunder had rolled across the mountain, she had even taken it for her own tribulation arriving, and had been delighted for half a day.

Of course, Master told her afterward that it was only a drought somewhere in the mortal realm—mortals praying for rain had stirred up the Lord of Thunder and the Lady of Lightning.

In her disappointment, she'd asked Master to calculate when her own tribulation would come, but Qingchen only shook his head and told her not to be impatient.

Impatient, impatient, impatient! She was dying of impatience! She wanted to join the ranks of the immortals too, and shed her title as the worst disciple on Kunlun!

Who knew Master would then bring up becoming bonded companions with her after ascension, and Ling Wu had gone scrambling out of his quarters all over again.

Now only she and Qingchen were left on the mountain; there wasn't even anyone to share a good meal with, and all she could do was sigh in front of her own door.

"Aiya..." Another long sigh—and this time, astonishingly, someone answered it.

"Why is my Little Junior Sister so woebegone? Missing your senior brother so much you can't bear it?"

That smug, needling voice could belong to none other than Ji Xunzhi.

Right now, his appearance was, to Ling Wu, like driftwood to a drowning man.

Delighted, she looked up and immediately charged toward him, forgetting all about the barrier—and smacked right into it.

"Aiya, my poor head..." The momentum knocked Ling Wu back onto the ground. She rubbed her skull, dizzy.

Startled, Ji Xunzhi hurriedly pinched a sigil and broke the barrier open for her.

The wind left Ling Wu even more disheveled.

She'd always said that when bad luck came, even drinking cold water got stuck in your teeth. That twitching right eyelid had its reasons after all.

Even back inside, Ling Wu was still grumbling. "Eldest Senior Brother, you're a walking jinx! If my head is addled from that knock, you're the responsible party. If I fail to ascend, you're liable for it in full!"

Cursed at out of nowhere, Ji Xunzhi could only be speechless.

It was plainly Ling Wu herself who had poor eyesight and an even poorer memory.

But a magnanimous man lets things go—he had no intention of arguing with her. Actually, he couldn't win an argument against Ling Wu anyway.

"Here, have some tea first. Don't work yourself ill." He handed her a cup.

Ling Wu gave a little hmph and accepted it with an air of wounded dignity.

At least he knew what was good for him!

"How is it you have time to come back today, Eldest Senior Brother? Gone so long without sending so much as a word—clearly you've forgotten Kunlun still has someone like me on it?" Ling Wu's tone was forlorn.

Ji Xunzhi cried injustice. "What kind of talk is that, Little Junior Sister! My sincerity toward you is plain to heaven and earth! Of course on all of Kunlun, Master treats you best—and I'm second! Or must I become your immortal companion, with eyes for no one but you, before you'll believe it?"

Having never been one for solemnity, he didn't think anything of the joke.

Ling Wu, though, heard alarms going off.

Good heavens, immortal companions again!

Was there something wrong with Kunlun's feng shui lately? Why did everyone keep saying things like this to her! Hmph!

Her eyes went wide and her brain reacted as if startled, stepping backward until she had put a safe distance between them. Only then did she stop.

"Don't say such things! You and I can only ever be senior brother and junior sister! Becoming immortal companions is simply impossible! Don't get ideas about me, Eldest Senior Brother!" As she spoke, Ling Wu covered her lovely face and lamented, "Though I know my own beauty is exceptional, I'll say it again: you deserve better, senior brother—not someone who's already the best!"

Ji Xunzhi had no idea how a casual tease had earned him such mockery.

Something about her reaction was off by ten thousand degrees.

He tugged the corner of his nearly frozen smile. "You truly overthink, Little Junior Sister. Your senior brother was only joking."

"Jokes aren't allowed either!"

Ling Wu was like a shrieking rubber chicken.

Resigned, Ji Xunzhi pressed a hand to his forehead. Watching her act as though she feared being coveted, he straightened his expression and said in earnest, "Rest assured—even if every woman in the world died but you, I would never take you as my immortal companion. There's only one good thing about your senior brother: I don't graze on grass beside my own burrow."

Words meant to reassure her somehow left Ling Wu feeling off.

What did he mean, even if every other woman in the world died he still wouldn't want her? With her peerless looks, once she ascended, wouldn't countless male immortals be begging her for dual cultivation? He wouldn't even be in the running!

And so—

"What's wrong with me that you wouldn't want me?"

Ji Xunzhi: "..."

Question: how does one get out of this?

A perfectly sensible junior sister, and yet she seemed to have a split personality.

"You said it yourself—your senior brother deserves better."

"That doesn't count either!"

While they bickered, Ji Xunzhi came over to Ling Wu's side.

He took out a folding fan and fanned her with it for a good while, trying to cool her temper down.

The tea was still too hot, and the Little Junior Sister's fire only rose. Next time, he'd have to bring some calming pills.

"Fine, fine, fine. Little Junior Sister, you are the most beautiful in all the world, beyond the reach of rough men like us. You are the one true heroine of the age—and in all the Three Realms, only Master could stand beside you." Defeated, Ji Xunzhi poured out flattery by the basketful.

To his dismay, he stepped on Ling Wu's reverse scale.

Like a bristling rabbit, she shrieked, "Don't mention Master! Praise me again!"

Catching the keyword, Ji Xunzhi's gloom vanished, and gossip bloomed across his face.

"What do you mean by that?" He fixed his eyes on Ling Wu, his tone suggestive. "Why mustn't I mention Master?"

They stood too close; Ling Wu could see her own reflection clearly in his pupils.

Tch—utterly flustered, and completely at odds with the composed image she usually maintained.

Ling Wu had never kept secrets from Ji Xunzhi.

And this matter had troubled her too long; if she found no one to confide in, she'd suffocate.

Pulling him back to the table, Ling Wu started from the trip to the Dragon Palace and talked straight through, without pausing even for a sip of water.

Hearing it all, Ji Xunzhi could only feel that Qingchen had suffered through many hard years.

Winking at the blind.

Master had practically blinked himself into smoke, and Ling Wu thought his eyes were ailing and was wildly misdiagnosing him.

"Tell me, Eldest Senior Brother—has Master picked up some unclean thing? Otherwise, why would he say things like that?" Ling Wu said glumly.

Ji Xunzhi was mortified.

She truly did overthink. In this world, no unclean thing capable of possessing Master had likely even been born yet.

Who knew whether she was truly dense or pretending—wasn't Master's meaning obvious? He was courting her! And here she was, wanting to make him drink talisman-water.

Coughing twice, he answered a question with a question: "What are Little Junior Sister's requirements for a future immortal companion?"

Her future immortal companion?

Ling Wu thought about it—and Master's face surfaced in her mind. His sleeping expression at the Dragon Palace that day was burned into her memory, impossible to shake.

Good gracious! What was wrong with her? Was she actually coveting Master's looks!?

Seeing her dazed, unfocused stare, Ji Xunzhi shook his head.

Well. Truly dense, then.

She couldn't even see through her own heart. Master's road of courtship would be a long one indeed!

"Never mind, enough of this. You're still young; some things you'll understand when you're older." He spoke up, cutting off her thoughts.

Before she could say more, Ji Xunzhi denied her the chance, pulling her instead into the latest gossip he'd collected during his days away.

Ling Wu was an obedient one. Where there was gossip to be had, her eyes lit up and her whole heart filled with anticipation—not a trace of gloom left on her face.

And so the two talked from daylight to dark, until the pot of tea on the table had been drained to its dregs.

If her stomach hadn't been so insistently empty, Ling Wu could have kept him chatting a while longer.

She took the night-luminous pearl from her storage bracelet—the one she'd brought back from the Western Sea—meaning to brighten up the room. But the instant Ji Xunzhi's gaze landed on it, he reacted as if he'd seen a ghost, even more violently than she had earlier.

"You—you—you—where did you get that thing!"