The day the Trial Assembly officially began, Ling Wu was over the moon.
She was up before dawn, dressing and primping. Out here she and her senior brothers carried the face of Mount Kunlun—beauty had to be on duty!
Bubbling with excitement, she finished the final touch and hurried to the hilltop to meet Master and the others.
Only to find they had beaten her there.
Ling Wu felt a twinge of embarrassment at being the late one.
Before she even drew near, Sixth Senior Brother's voice drifted over, syrup over vinegar: “Little Junior Sister makes quite the entrance—keeping Master and the rest of us waiting.”
She meant to strike back, but with Master present, cursing felt unwise.
Ling Wu gave a honeyed smile, apology executed to perfection: “It shames me deeply to have kept Master and my senior brothers waiting—but your junior sister was thinking of Kunlun's dignity. It took a good while to make herself presentable. That is the whole of the delay.”
Songhe spared her not a sliver of face: “From where I stand, Little Junior Sister's face looks no different from any other day. Forget lending Kunlun glory—so long as she doesn't shame us, it's plenty.”
Ling Wu ground her teeth. That witch!
She had no habit of swallowing insults—an eye for an eye, on the spot!
So she steeled herself, glared toward Sixth Senior Brother, and readied a few choice barbs.
But Songhe never gave her the opening.
The senior brothers stood together, tall and straight, robes drifting, their spiritual artifacts at their waists, that ascended-only immortal aura wreathing them—and faces so handsome that a passing dog would stop to stare.
Used to trading blows with them daily, it was her first time seeing the brothers in serious mode.
Impossible. She really was being outshone.
Seeing them so devastatingly elegant hurt worse than killing her!
“Does Master also think this disciple will shame Kunlun, looking like this?” Ling Wu pivoted to Qingchen.
Songhe's blood boiled. Crying to Master again! When it came to gender, he simply lost too much ground!
Qingchen looked her over and smiled. “Kunlun's face has never rested on looks.”
Ling Wu didn't believe it.
The man was dressed more dazzlingly than all his disciples put together—and Kunlun's reputation, as everyone knew, was that it took no ugly ones. If looks truly didn't matter, Master could take an ugly disciple and prove it!
“Let's go.” At Master's word, Ling Wu ascended with the group to the Celestial Realm.
The moment she arrived at the Trial Assembly grounds, her mind went blank.
It was her first time here—so why did it feel so familiar?
That blankness made her lag, and once again she was last.
Qingchen noticed her daze and his footsteps paused. “Won't you keep up?”
Her face went hot. She had just promised Master she wouldn't embarrass him, and now here she was gawking like a country cousin the instant they arrived. He must be furious.
“Forgive me, Master. This place seemed... familiar, and your disciple drifted off for a moment. Not to make a spectacle before the immortal lords.”
Qingchen's gaze rested on her, and in the depths of his eyes a hope flickered, faint as breath.
“No matter. Ah-Wu—just don't stray too far from me.”
The senior brothers had been to the Celestial Realm many times and had friends among the immortals; one by one they took their leave of Master and went off to trade pleasantries.
Ling Wu's eyes roved from one senior brother to the next, scanning their conversation partners for a male immortal who caught her fancy.
Lovely dream, harsh reality.
Her brothers were gorgeous; the immortal friends they kept looked like a botanical accident.
One had been a vine, another a fruit tree—human in shape, certainly, but with telltale remnants of their true forms.
Seriously—could you accept a future companion with a man's body and a head full of vines? Or fruit?
Well. A starving ghost could manage. The fruit tree's one great virtue was all-you-can-eat, after all. Just pick a snack off his head whenever hunger struck.
Probably because her gaze was so earnest, the fruit-tree immortal actually turned and gave her a friendly nod.
Ew. That face was even worse than the vines!
Ling Wu's eyelid twitched and she looked away fast.
Heavens above—she did not have a taste for ugly!
Immortal friends had gathered around Master too, trading words with him here and there.
Ling Wu could feel one of them glancing her way from time to time; out of politeness she gave the man a look.
Mm—handsome enough. Refined features, an immortal's bearing, no strange remnants of a true form anywhere, aura brimming—a serious cultivator, clearly.
But he knew Master, which made him no spring chicken. Politely declined.
And so the morning slid into noon. Every sect settled into its seat, and Ling Wu still hadn't set eyes on a single keeper.
Where was her immortal companion?
She was melancholy. She wanted to sigh.
Qingchen caught her mood and asked quietly, “This master noticed Ah-Wu watching every male immortal present. What is the meaning of it?”
Ling Wu felt exactly like a schoolgirl caught in her first crush—except she hadn't even managed the crush.
She leaned close to Qingchen and whispered, “To be honest, Master—your disciple heard that immortals of every stripe come to this Trial Assembly seeking a companion. She is, after all, at the age when mortal girls marry. She hoped to find herself a good match. And they say dual cultivation aids one's cultivation—Master knows how desperately she wants to ascend!”
Qingchen's eyes went dark. He narrowed them, and something in his expression turned dangerous: “So Ah-Wu begged this master to bring her to the Trial Assembly—to find a companion?”
“Of course... not!” Facing that say-yes-and-see-what-happens look, Ling Wu corrected course instantly. “A companion is incidental! Your disciple mainly wished to observe the strength of the various immortals and see whether she might glean a thing or two!”
Believing her studious was easier than believing her well-fed.
“Then Ah-Wu had best watch closely. The Jiuyou Sect attending today cultivates nothing but talisman arts. Didn't Ah-Wu say she had been devoted to her studies? Care to trade a few moves with them? Let this master see just how serious she has been.”
Damn it all—Master was sending her to her death!
What manner of people were the Jiuyou Sect? Talisman cultivators lost so deep in their art that every opening hand was a killing stroke. Of every sect present, they alone had come to actually fight.
Not ascended, not trained—one exchange and she'd be scattered to ash!
Choking down her terror, Ling Wu turned on the charm: “No need, Master. Another day, perhaps.”
Now she saw it clearly: Qingchen had never wanted to bring her here at all. Next time, she was not joining this kind of fun.
But Master wouldn't drop it: “Doesn't Ah-Wu want a companion from the Jiuyou Sect? You are both talisman cultivators—so much to talk about. Whereas this master knows only immortal arts. He cannot teach Ah-Wu to draw talismans.”
“Doesn't Ah-Wu want... a different master?”
Why this again!
Had she not been sitting down, she would have knelt on the spot. No help for it—she was spineless to the core.
“Master, please don't say such things! There is only Master in this disciple's heart—taking another master is simply impossible! If Master thinks her talismans poor, he can teach her something else. Only, please, don't cast her out of the sect! She knows her nature is wilful and gives Master trouble—but if she didn't like Master, why would she go about winning his attention like this!”
The speech was so heartfelt she nearly moved herself to tears.
Qingchen froze. Four words filled his mind: likes her master.
“Likes... me?” His voice caught.
“In heaven above and earth below, this disciple likes only Master!” Ling Wu pressed the advantage. “Master, don't send her away! None of these male immortals is half as handsome as Master—she doesn't like a single one! And with Master here, her cultivation is sure to rise. The dual cultivation thing—she was only joking!”
She tugged at Qingchen's sleeve, wheedling.
When a disciple knows how to act cute, a master's soul goes floating.
Sure enough, Qingchen let the matter drop—no more sparring challenges, no more talk of other masters.
When fairies brought out delicacies, he passed them straight to Ling Wu. Eat more; don't go hungry.
Ah, coaxing Master! She had this down cold.
Master had come to the Trial Assembly only to grace the Heavenly Sovereign with a measure of face—to sit there and lend the occasion weight.
The senior brothers were seasoned immortals long since; they had no need to take the stage.
Her own strength was too low; she didn't dare.
As for companion-hunting—they had no interest, and she'd seen nothing she liked.
And so Mount Kunlun sat from the first bell to the last, not one person rising.
The fairy spectators all wilted with disappointment. Truly, every one of them had hoped to make a match with someone from Kunlun.
Over the course of it Ling Wu did catch a few admiring looks from male immortals—but after the earlier scare, she didn't dare respond to any of them.
One wrong move and she'd be expelled from the sect. Who could bear that!
Master versus a companion she hadn't even found yet—she knew perfectly well which one weighed more.