Back on Mount Kunlun, Ling Wu slept for three days and three nights straight.
Perhaps she had truly worn herself out; she did not dream at all.
When she woke, she felt refreshed and clear-headed.
As it happened, several of her senior brothers had returned, and Ling Wu resumed her rounds of paying visits.
Her last round of showing off had been, she felt, insufficient. This time she turned up the intensity.
Second Senior Brother's place she absolutely would not visit—the man was dark-skinned enough already; annoy him further and he would be off joining another race at the dinner table.
So she went to find Songhe, her least favorite, Sixth Senior Brother.
He was sitting upright at his desk, holding a knotted button in his hand, his expression wistful, a thread of sadness wound about him.
From afar, he almost looked melancholy.
If he had done this outside, who knew how many feminine hearts would quietly surrender.
To which Ling Wu said only: those who show off get struck by lightning.
There were no outsiders on Mount Kunlun, and the only female up here was her.
Who exactly was Sixth Senior Brother performing for?
Ling Wu coughed twice, announcing her presence.
Songhe looked up and casually put away the button.
Seeing her spoiling for something, he sensed no good would come of it.
Sure enough, his gaze dropped—and landed on the Great Void Talisman Brush hanging at her waist.
“Well, what wind blows Little Junior Sister here?” Songhe's smile did not reach his eyes, his face full of disdain. “This little temple of mine cannot hold a great Buddha like you. If you've come to show off, hurry along! Mind you—this sword of mine has no eyes.”
The swiftness of the change left Ling Wu clicking her tongue.
She gave two dry laughs, then paid him a compliment in turn: “Fine sword, fine sword! Yours really is a fine one, Sixth Senior Brother!”
“...”
Songhe felt as if he had just been cursed out.
Ling Wu's mood was thoroughly beautiful. Sure enough, provoking Sixth Senior Brother was what made her heart sing.
“Would Little Junior Sister care to try?” When civility failed, Songhe prepared for force.
Ling Wu flicked her sleeve with great restraint: “Easily done. Once my talisman arts bear fruit, I will have a bout with Sixth Senior Brother!”
And then beat him until he begged for mercy on his knees!
“I'll be waiting.” Songhe answered with a cold laugh.
Wherever you hit the wall, that is where you leave from—Ling Wu knew the rule well. After another round of fake pleasantries with Songhe about the trip below to catch the evil creature, she turned to go.
Before she left, he asked, as if in passing, “The formation in the Ghost Domain was damaged last time. Was Little Junior Sister affected at all?”
Ling Wu shook her head.
What did the Ghost Domain's formation have to do with her? They were eight poles apart.
If anyone was affected, it was whoever made the formation. The maker and the formation were one; break the formation, and that person's body had likely taken no small backlash.
“Truly not even a little?”
“Strange question, Senior Brother. I didn't set that formation—what would I have to feel!”
Songhe's face grew uglier. “Do you know what the escaped evil creatures were? The devil clan that ran rampant a thousand years ago. This trip below we only caught the ones who hadn't fled in time; where the rest have gathered, no one knows. Those creatures have one purpose—to revive the Devil Sovereign sealed ten thousand years ago. They drain the resentment of mortals everywhere, and their devilish aura spills out something fierce. How could you feel nothing at all?”
Ling Wu understood: Sixth Senior Brother was asking whether she had run into any devil creatures below.
She thought, then answered honestly: “Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother, but I really didn't meet any devils. Only a fox spirit.”
And one Demon Lord.
That she had walked away from a Demon Lord unscathed was too fantastical—she was a wet noodle in a fight, and Six would never believe it. So she swallowed those words.
Songhe's mouth twitched. Talking to her felt like playing the qin to a cow. He snorted and went off to practice his sword on the rear mountain.
Ling Wu, bewildered, could only think him in and out of his senses.
Afterward she showed the Great Void Talisman Brush to her other senior brothers too. From Eldest down to Fifth, everyone spoke so sweetly she nearly floated away.
Apparently her earlier generalization had been too sweeping. Aside from Second and Sixth, the rest were thoroughly good men.
Eldest Senior Brother especially—he studied the brush for a long while before sighing: “This brush truly was meant for Little Junior Sister. In anyone else's hands it would never show what it can do! Our master is the very soul of virtue!”
“Eldest Senior Brother speaks wisely.”
Only much later did it dawn on Ling Wu that Ji Xunzhi was mocking her.
In any other brother's hands, the brush would be a weapon of mass destruction. Only a wooden head like hers would obediently use it to draw talismans.
A criminal waste!
After the Shen Qingyu affair, Ling Wu could no longer stomach her romances-of-beauties-and-scholars storybooks. Her taste swung entirely: she had taken up rebirth novels.
Every time the protagonist slaughtered the wicked on all sides, she would get so worked up she would punch the air twice from her bed!
No reason—except that it felt fantastic!
Clearly a great woman like her should be reading great heroines!
While she was buried in her storybooks, Mount Kunlun received a piece of tremendous news—the once-in-a-century Trial Assembly of the Celestial Realm was approaching, and the rules had been relaxed: every disciple under an Immortal Lord, ascended or not, could take part.
For a moment, Ling Wu was over the moon.
The so-called Trial Assembly was, in truth, an immortal matchmaking gala. And the “match” was no ordinary friendship.
Quite a few immortal companions across the Eight Wastes had gotten together at exactly this event.
The sparring was a front. Everyone came looking for a companion.
Those who found someone to their liking pulled out every stop—showing off their graceful lines, their elegant bearing, for all the world like peacocks fanning their tails in the mortal world.
Of course, all this she heard from Eldest Senior Brother—the first in Kunlun's history to ascend, he had attended his share of Trial Assemblies.
By his account, when immortals got thirsty, they were no better than mortals.
Two men fighting over one woman, two women over one man—scenes galore, splendid beyond words.
Just listening, Ling Wu itched all over, blood boiling.
She wanted in! A broadcast was nothing like seeing it live!
Pure storybook material. She thought the Lord of Fate must have written so many mortal love-and-hate sagas precisely off scenes like these.
Ling Wu was at exactly the age when a girl dreams of romance, and she anticipated her future immortal companion with all her heart.
If she found a suitable one before ascending, she could even join the Hehuan Sect.
Eldest Senior Brother had told her dual cultivation was one way to advance your power. Cultivating while courting—what could be finer!
What if she was a Hehuan Sect prodigy and ascended within two years? Master's face would be made!
The more she dreamed, the sweeter it got—until the immortal companion in her dream grew into the shape of her master. Beautiful, yes, but horrifying. Especially when he leaned close, ready to discuss the arts of dual cultivation, Ling Wu jackknifed upright in bed, terrified, heart pounding harder than the day the fox spirit chased her.
Sin, sin! Master had raised her—how could she covet him!
In the small hours she lay awake till dawn, afraid even to sleep. Any more dreams like that and she would lose her mind.
When Ji Xunzhi came, he found his Little Junior Sister perched on the hilltop with giant dark circles, listless, sighing at the sky.
He sat down beside her and sighed along.
“What troubles Eldest Senior Brother?” Ling Wu made small talk.
Gazing at the far mountains, Ji Xunzhi said worriedly, “The Trial Assembly is nearly here, and at the thought of facing all those adoring eyes from the fairy sisters, this brother of yours gets flustered. You know me—peerless above heaven and beneath it, matchless in all the world, the object of so many women's hopeless love. Whenever I see their desolate silhouettes after I refuse them, my conscience aches.”
Ling Wu's eyes rolled to the heavens, cursing inwardly without pause.
This peacock could not go a day without preening!
Her assessment was dead-on: that was simply Ji Xunzhi's nature. Flashy and swishing, gifted with a pair of come-hither eyes that seemed to spark at everyone. In the mortal world he would be a textbook wastrel, despised by all!
“Don't worry, Eldest Senior Brother. Master is here—the fairy sisters' eyes will never land on your face.”
Never mind Mount Kunlun—in all the Six Realms there was no male immortal handsomer than Master.
And the man could fight as well as he could charm. If he had not announced in his early years that he would take no immortal companion, the fairy immortals would have trampled the threshold of Kunlun flat.
At the mention of Master, Ji Xunzhi's gaze settled on Ling Wu, words within words: “Oh? So in Little Junior Sister's eyes, there is only Master?”
Ling Wu nodded without a heartbeat's pause: “Naturally. Your junior sister respects her teacher above all. As the saying goes, 'a teacher for a day is a father for life.' He raised me from a child—no room in my eyes for anyone else.”
Ji Xunzhi had not expected that answer; his expression turned a wonderful sight.
“In that case, Little Junior Sister, never say this in front of Master.”
“Why?” She respected and adored him so—why could she not even say it?
“Just don't, that's all.”
Ji Xunzhi tried to drop the subject, but Ling Wu was born to ask.
“Why?”
“Master, he... he doesn't like being told he's old!” Ji Xunzhi finally found a serviceable excuse.
Little Junior Sister was easier to fool as a child; she never used to press like this.
Ling Wu believed him and never raised it again.
Time flashed forward to three days before the Trial Assembly. It should have been a splendid stretch of days—instead Ling Wu received bad news.
Master had sent word through Eldest Senior Brother: the Trial Assembly would draw a complicated crowd. Ling Wu had not ascended yet; who knew what people or things she might meet up there. Better to stay safe on the mountain.
Ling Wu felt the sky had fallen. For this Trial Assembly she had specifically learned several talisman-flourishing poses, adjusting her stance in the mirror again and again so her curves would be at their most perfect.
Not only that—she had dug the new clothes from her last trip to the mortal world out of the wardrobe and perfumed them for days, all so she could go out looking presentable.
She had taken it this seriously, and Master had not planned to take her up at all! And she had been so happy when she first heard the news!
Misplaced. Utterly misplaced.
For a while she sank into the doldrums.
And melancholy makes people act without engaging their brains.
Like—going to find Master.
Before coming, Ling Wu had rehearsed her lines. She was going to demand Master give her a reason. Once there, standing before his door, she hesitated.
Come to think of it, Master had never once said he would take her to the Trial Assembly. All of it was her own assumption. If he said those words, she could hardly refute him.
But she had prepared this long, and now simply not allowed? That was rather too much.
Two little people sprang up in her head, one insisting she march in and demand a reason, the other urging her to turn back the way she came, and they brawled without end.
“How long does Ah-Wu intend to stand at this master's door?” Qingchen's voice came suddenly from inside.
Ling Wu snapped back. Trouble—her pacing must have been too loud and disturbed Master.
Master was usually mild and courteous, but anger him and he could turn very stern!
But the arrow was on the string. Since he had found her out, there was no walking back now.
Psyching herself up, Ling Wu stepped forward and pushed the door open.
The man within was bent over his desk, ink-black hair loose down his back. He held a brush, daubing at a scroll—painting what, she could not tell. The black robes set off his beauty all the more. Truly a scenic landmark.
She decided: if Mount Kunlun ever published a must-savor ranking, Master would have to take first place.
“Master.” Ling Wu bowed respectfully.
Qingchen glanced up at her, teasing: “This master only just had Xunzhi deliver the message, and here you are already. Dissatisfied with your master's order?”
Ling Wu's knees nearly buckled. Displeasure was one thing; having Master call it out was another.
She had just finished lecturing about respecting one's teacher, and now she came defying him. Could that possibly be right?
She decided she had still been too rash.
It was only a Trial Assembly. If she could not go, she could not—once she ascended there would be chances galore. Why the hurry!
While she stood stunned, Qingchen had already set down his brush.
He spoke again: “Does Ah-Wu want to go to the Celestial Realm that badly?”
The tone gave away neither pleasure nor anger.
Ling Wu looked up at him, a note of grievance in her voice: “Your disciple heard the rules for this Trial Assembly were relaxed. Eldest Senior Brother says the assemblies are always splendid, so she wanted to go along and see the world. And she has been preparing for ages!”
Time to drag Eldest Senior Brother under the bus! It was all his fault; without him she would never have set her heart on it.
If Master was angry, let him be angry at Eldest Senior Brother. She was innocent.
“And how goes Ah-Wu's talisman study?” Qingchen propped his chin on one hand, his lovely eyes narrowed, fixed steadily on her.
Ling Wu mumbled, “Quite well.”
Especially the flourishing poses, she added silently.
“How well, exactly?” Qingchen's other hand tapped the desk at odd intervals, weighing how much of it to believe.
Seeing that reaction, Ling Wu felt the heavens might yet open. She hurried on: “Master, rest assured. Your disciple may not shine at the assembly, but she will never let our Kunlun lose face.”
Worst case, she still had the talismans Eldest Senior Brother gave her before—enough to make up the numbers.
“Ah-Wu grows harder and harder for this master to read.”
Qingchen's expression darkened a shade.
Ling Wu's heart lurched. Why would Master say such a thing out of nowhere! Could it be he found her too unruly, too hard to control, and meant to expel her from the sect?
Absolutely not!
In the end, she knelt.
“Your disciple is terrified—your disciple only, your disciple only...” Ling Wu could not get a coherent word out, left only with the panic of expulsion.
After a long while, she heard her master's light sigh.
“Since Ah-Wu wishes to go, then go. Stay behind me when the time comes, and don't wander off.”
Even back in her room, an unreal feeling lingered in Ling Wu's chest.
How had Master just... agreed? She had braced to spend the assembly alone on Kunlun.
She decided Master was, once again, the harder one to read.