After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 25
by Little PandaReunion
Shijie will make a fresh batch. Try it, alright?
Dong Shiyue rubbed her temples. She must have been searching for Jade Bone Grass so obsessively lately that she was seeing things—seeing Elder Wen in every stranger, and seeing Elder Wen in every bird.
Never mind. She should focus on the Jade Bone Grass matter first.
A century ago, the Sect Master had been ambushed by those despicable, shameless lot from the Demon Realm, and her wounds had never properly healed in all these years. The prescription the Medical Immortal had written called for Jade Bone Grass—an herb that had nearly gone extinct—and the Sect Master herself had not seemed to care. It was the others in the sect who had been anxiously asking around. Only recently had word come that someone had sighted Jade Bone Grass in the Endless Tree Sea.
Dong Shiyue had happened to be leading young disciples on a training expedition in the area. Upon receiving her master’s message, she had come immediately—but alas, had not been able to find the Jade Bone Grass.
Tap tap, tap tap… Dong Shiyue suddenly heard a commotion from the birdcage beside her. She looked down to see the little creature inside flapping its wings, looking as though it might blurt out words at any second from sheer agitation.
“How lively. But you’ll need to behave once we reach the Sect Master. Still, don’t be too quiet either. Our Sect Master… hasn’t been in good spirits. If you can make her happy, you can take your pick of the high-grade spirit treasures in our sect.” Dong Shiyue poked the white puffball’s fuzzy head. She had no idea whether the little creature could understand her, but her promise was genuine. If this little thing really could cheer the Sect Master up—never mind the rest—everything in her Storage Bag would be fair game for it to choose from.
Dong Shiyue recalled the lifeless scene she had witnessed on Yunwu Mountain last time, and sorrow welled up in her heart. She hoped this spirited little creature could brighten the Sect Master’s mood, if only to bring a breath of life back to Yunwu Mountain.
Wen Qiwu did not take offense at this child poking her head so casually. She was far more concerned about what had happened to her shijie. Dong Shiyue’s vague, fragmented words hadn’t explained the full course of events, but they had made one thing clear to Wen Qiwu: her shijie was not doing well at all.
In truth, Dong Shiyue and the others all knew that what had truly worn the Sect Master down was not those old wounds, but the pain etched forever in her heart a century ago. The late Elder Wen was different from the others. She had suffered from a terminal illness. That day, after perishing together with the Demon Lord’s dharma body, Elder Wen’s body could not withstand the immense power and disintegrated. Her soul, too, had dissipated completely into the heavens and earth due to the onset of her illness—not a trace of it to be found between the azure heavens and the yellow springs1.
After the Sect Master returned, she had employed a forbidden technique and nearly sacrificed half her life, yet had not been able to save even a single memento. If not for the hatred of vengeance still burning in her at the time, even the Medical Immortal might not have been able to save her.
Wen Qiwu gripped Dong Shiyue’s sleeve with her beak and gave a tug, trying to communicate with her, to probe for news about her shijie’s condition. But this child merely looked at her, sighed, and then promptly put her into a Mustard Seed Space2!
She paced frantically in circles inside the cage, but to no avail.
Still… had that child Ah Yue just said she was going to deliver her to her shijie’s side?
The white puffball, pacing back and forth in the birdcage, suddenly stopped. She could not help recalling the absurd word her shijie had spoken, and her small form deflated into the corner of the cage.
Never mind. She should go back first. At the very least, she needed to see how her shijie’s injuries were faring. She was a bird now—even her shijie wouldn’t be able to connect this little white puffball with her former identity, and neither could she herself, staring into a mirror. She would figure things out once her shijie was well.
Had Ah Yue just mentioned Jade Bone Grass? Wen Qiwu knew where that spiritual herb grew. She would go back, see what else might be needed, and then return to the Endless Tree Sea to gather it all.
With her heart fixed on her shijie’s injuries, Wen Qiwu for the first time found time so excruciatingly slow.
But Dong Shiyue had made another trip into the Endless Tree Sea. After searching for several days without finding Jade Bone Grass, she had no choice but to return to the sect under her master’s urging.
Upon returning to the sect, Dong Shiyue first went to see her master to report on this journey, then went to Wendao Mountain to submit her mission. After finishing these miscellaneous tasks, she tidied her appearance and brought out the birdcage containing the bird-puffball from her Mustard Seed Space. Whether it was her imagination or not, the little bird’s gaze toward her seemed especially resentful.
It was just… oddly endearing. And the little creature felt wonderful to the touch—soft and fluffy. She vaguely remembered that the Qingtuan Elder Wen used to raise had a notoriously bad temper, but this one was exceptionally well-behaved—enough to melt anyone’s heart. She hoped the Sect Master would like it.
Come to think of it, it was strange. After Elder Wen passed away, birds had all but vanished from the sect. The Fire Feather Birds that had been sheltered in the Beast Garden had flown off to who knows where, and other members of the Feather Tribe had gradually departed as well. Wenshen Sect had become a place shunned by the Feather Tribe—not a single new avian member had joined in the past century. Even the Qingluan Clan had never returned after Elder Wen’s death.
Dong Shiyue sighed, then picked up the birdcage and headed for Yunwu Mountain.
Though a century had passed, the sect’s appearance remained just as Wen Qiwu remembered. Wendao Mountain was close to Yunwu Mountain, and as the scenery flew rapidly past, Wen Qiwu gradually became aware of a thump thump sound.
It was her own uncontrollable heartbeat. After so long apart from her shijie, she was actually feeling a bit constrained and nervous.
Whoosh…
A sudden blast of extreme cold wind swept past, snapping Wen Qiwu instantly back to attention.
She raised her eyes toward Yunwu Mountain, and the sight before her left her stunned.
Yunwu Mountain had once been covered in a thin layer of snow year-round, but it had still been a place fit for habitation. Now, the mountain before her was nearly entirely engulfed in a blizzard, only its outline barely visible. The snowstorm was laced with wild, frenzied ice spiritual energy—enough to make even an Earth Immortal Realm cultivator like her feel cold.
How had Yunwu Mountain become like this? Wen Qiwu could hardly believe her eyes.
Dong Shiyue cast a layer of protection over herself and the birdcage before entering Yunwu Mountain.
No trace of living creatures remained on this mountain. Apart from the howl of wind and snow, deathly stillness ruled everywhere. The spirit fields that had once grown all manner of rare flowers and herbs were now buried under thick snow, untended. Even the hardiest stone sparrows had abandoned the mountain. The rabbit named Xuetuan, who had stubbornly stayed behind out of concern for the Sect Master, had recently gone into closed-door cultivation, leaving the mountain even more desolate.
Now that the Ten Thousand Souls Demon Lord had been sliced to pieces by the Sect Master, Dong Shiyue was truly terrified that without any remaining tether, the Sect Master might one day give up and follow Elder Wen.
She stood outside the main hall and sent a message in, but received no response after a long wait.
Was the Sect Master not here?
Dong Shiyue walked a full circle around Yun Heng’s residence but found no one outside.
So she waited outside with the birdcage for a while. Yet by the time the sky grew dark, the master of this place still had not appeared.
Dong Shiyue had no choice but to place the birdcage inside the room first, then leave a message with a Transmission Paper Crane.
Wen Qiwu was left alone in this familiar room. It was her shijie’s quarters—but it was far too cold, nothing like a place where a person should live. She remembered that her shijie’s room hadn’t been like this before.
The darkness posed no obstacle to an Earth Immortal’s vision. Wen Qiwu surveyed her surroundings and found that where flowers had once been displayed, only empty pots remained. The shelves that had held books were covered in dust… Compared to a century ago, this place had lost its warmth of human habitation.
Wen Qiwu suddenly sniffed at the air. She seemed to catch a faint, sweet aroma of pastries.
Following the scent, Wen Qiwu soon discovered that beside her birdcage sat a plate of still-steaming pastries. It was Chestnut Cake—her favorite—and beneath the plate was a Fire Crystal Stone, which explained how it could still be steaming in such a cold environment.
That plate of Chestnut Cake appeared untouched—she had no idea for whom it had been prepared.
She hadn’t tasted her shijie’s Chestnut Cake in a very long time. Wen Qiwu wanted to sneak a piece. Back then, after she was confined to the Cliff of Reflection, the one who had prepared these for her had become Elder Lu… no, she was not Elder Lu.
That person’s face surfaced in Wen Qiwu’s mind, and a bitter taste flooded her mouth. She lost all desire for the pastries.
Dong Shiyue had stayed to keep Wen Qiwu company for a while, but as time went on, she received several Transmission Paper Cranes. The child who couldn’t even hold a sword steady back then now had her own disciples, and something seemed to have come up with one of them. Dong Shiyue grabbed her sword and left.
After that, Wen Qiwu was the only bird left in the room.
Staying in this room, she could hear nothing but the howling wind outside, could feel the cold seeping into her very bones. The atmosphere of solitude was slowly squeezing her heart like a vice. Had her shijie spent day after day, year after year, in this place for a whole century?
Wen Qiwu paced restlessly. How could a place like this be suitable for someone recovering from injuries? Her shijie could always talk so sensibly when lecturing her—why did she forget all of it when it came to herself?
No matter what had happened in the past, the one thing Wen Qiwu wished for was for her shijie to be well. But it seemed even this small wish had gone unfulfilled.
Creak. The door was suddenly pushed open, and a blast of wind and snow poured in.
Wen Qiwu hadn’t heard footsteps outside, so she was caught completely off guard—a face full of snowflakes.
She shook herself, flicking the water droplets off her feathers.
The sky had already been dark, and Yunwu Mountain shrouded in blizzard was darker still—even the moonlight was blocked by the black clouds. So the figure at the door nearly melted into the darkness.
But Wen Qiwu didn’t need to look closely. From that silhouette alone, she knew who it was.
Her eyes stung inexplicably. Her shijie’s frame seemed to have grown much thinner.
Wen Qiwu, all her attention fixed on her shijie, didn’t notice that the Chestnut Cake on the table had gone cold the instant it was struck by the snowstorm laden with ice spiritual energy. Even the Fire Crystal Stone beneath the plate couldn’t hold onto its warmth.
The person at the door froze for a moment, then quickly shut it, blocking the wind and snow outside.
But by the time she hurried over and picked up the plate, the surface of the Chestnut Cake was already coated with frost.
Wen Qiwu couldn’t see her shijie’s expression—only felt that she carried a profound sorrow.
“Ah Que…”
At her shijie’s murmur, Wen Qiwu’s fuzzy body trembled. For a moment, she almost thought her shijie had recognized her. But when she raised her little head to look at Yun Heng, she found that her shijie wasn’t looking at her at all—she was gazing at the empty chair beside her, the one already covered in a thin layer of dust.
“The Chestnut Cake is no good once it goes cold. Shijie will make a fresh batch. Try it, alright?”
Footnotes
- 'The azure heavens and the yellow springs' (碧落黄泉) is a Chinese literary phrase meaning 'everywhere in existence,' spanning from the highest heavens (碧落) to the deepest underworld (黄泉). It originates from Bai Juyi's 'Song of Everlasting Regret.'
- 'Mustard Seed Space' (芥子空间) draws from the Buddhist concept that a mustard seed can contain Mount Sumeru and an entire universe—a metaphor for spatial dimensions stored within small objects.
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