After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 6
by Little PandaEvents of the Past, Part 5
Although the Immortal Venerable is a block of wood, drowning in it is only a matter of time
Yun Heng, who was still in the Discussion Great Hall, did not yet know that the fox who had just been chased out by the Yuxi Sect Master had conveniently taken away her Shimei on the road, under the pleasant-sounding excuse of going to meet another friend of hers whom she had never met before.
“Speaking of which, how did Fellow Daoist Zuo guess that Yunque was me?” Wen Qiwu couldn’t quite figure out how she had exposed herself.
“Cough, cough.” Zuo Lan suddenly coughed lightly twice, looking a bit guilty. “You’re not allowed to be angry when I tell you.”
“I was a little worried about your situation before, so I checked the location where the butterflies landed and confirmed you were in Wenshen Sect. You previously mentioned that your cultivation was at the Void Refining stage. There are only about thirty Void Refining cultivators in Wenshen Sect altogether. Coupled with the fact that you have an exceptionally powerful Shijie, putting all this information together made it very easy to guess your identity.”
“Worried about me?” Wen Qiwu was somewhat puzzled.
“Worried that you would recklessly confess your feelings to your Shijie, and when you got rejected, there would be no one to comfort you.” From those letters, Zuo Lan discovered that Wen Qiwu was too much like her when she first experienced the awakening of love. Back then, she didn’t know how to be tactful and ended up bruised and battered; she didn’t keep anything and only made a fool of herself. She wanted to stop Wen Qiwu from following in her old footsteps.
“But now I’m not worried anymore.” Zuo Lan covered her lips and chuckled softly, blinking at Wen Qiwu. “Although Miss Yunque wrote very boldly in the letters, in reality… you are a bit more timid than I imagined.”
This wasn’t bad either; she was more measured and steady than she herself had been back then. Moreover, that Immortal Venerable looked much better than that dog Lin Shu. If they got together, it would also be a good match.
Oh my, blushing again?
Wen Qiwu’s face felt a little hot, containing both shyness and a hint of annoyance.
There were some thoughts she hid at the bottom of her heart, not daring to tell anyone. Perhaps she had exposed a little bit of them during her written correspondence with Zuo Lan. In truth, Wen Qiwu didn’t even dare tell her that those were merely the tip of the iceberg of her emotions.
She was timid? If this body hadn’t dragged her down and forced her to suppress her cultivation to the Void Refining stage, she should have already been able to step into the Earth Immortal Realm by now. When Shizun was still around, they had said her talent was no lower than Shijie’s. If she didn’t have this illness, she might have also been able to step into the True Immortal Realm within two hundred years. When she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Shijie at the same height…
She would confess her feelings. Even if Shijie disagreed, she would have the capability to keep Shijie by her side and let her know that she was never an obedient, well-behaved child!
But the premise for all this was that she could live a long, long time. With her current physical condition, being with anyone would only be a burden. Wen Qiwu didn’t even know how long she could live, and even the medical immortal from Medical Immortal Valley couldn’t give her a guarantee.
The hidden danger in her divine soul could erupt at any time. This was also the reason why she rarely went out since she was young. Shijie and the other elders were afraid that if she suddenly suffered an attack outside, she wouldn’t receive treatment. So whenever she went out, she was either accompanied by Shijie or by other elders at the Golden Immortal Realm. She didn’t want to trouble Shijie and the other elders into mobilizing large forces just for her sake, so she honestly stayed within the sect.
Every attack would leave her divine soul even weaker. And after her divine soul weakened, the impact of the next attack would be even greater. Now, even the medical immortal from Medical Immortal Valley did not dare guarantee that she could be saved during the next attack.
Perhaps she could live a few more years, or perhaps… she wouldn’t even make it to the opening of the Canghai Domain secret realm one year from now. This feeling of death approaching step by step ground her spirit down to nothing, and those bold thoughts of her youth were buried deep within her memory.
In just a moment’s time, Zuo Lan watched Wen Qiwu’s complexion turn from slightly flushed to pale. It truly was like a child’s face or the weather in June—how could it change so suddenly?
“Actually, the way I see it, you’re not completely without a chance…” Zuo Lan spoke some positive words to comfort her.
Who knew that after listening, Wen Qiwu would silently shake her head.
“Have you given up?” Zuo Lan misunderstood Wen Qiwu’s meaning. Her eyes shifted as she cooked up some other wicked idea, her expression a bit excited. “The sea of bitterness has no bounds, turn back—cough, cough. I mean, do you want to consider someone else? For example, that… Wait! Fellow Daoist Wen, you’re walking in the wrong direction!”
Wen Qiwu’s mind wasn’t here, so the Holy Maiden kept muttering to herself about failing to play matchmaker.
Wen Qiwu was led by Zuo Lan to a pavilion in the back mountain of Wendao Mountain. Looking from afar, two female cultivators were sitting there chatting. One of them wore a tender yellow dress and looked somewhat innocent and bright, while the other wore a crimson tight-fitting outfit, sitting there like an unsheathed treasured sword, faintly exuding a sharp edge.
“Zuo-jiejie, you’re finally here!” The girl in the tender yellow dress waved her hand, and then she noticed Wen Qiwu by Zuo Lan’s side. “Who is this?”
“This is the Fellow Daoist Yunque you’ve been constantly thinking about~” Zuo Lan introduced them. “Qiwu, this is Ah Heng, who frequently corresponded with you via letters about the Dao of arrays. She is the Young City Master of Starfall City. Her real name is Wei Xiheng.”
“Ah Que!” Wei Xiheng stood up with a swish, her eyes containing a sparkling light, looking just like a golden-furred blazing hound wagging its tail in a beast park.
The two of them meeting was also due to serendipity. Back then, Wen Qiwu had solved a difficult array problem that Wei Xiheng had left with Zuo Lan. From then on, this Fellow Daoist who was obsessed with arrays frequently wrote letters to Wen Qiwu to discuss her newly researched formations.
“Fellow Daoist Wei.” Wen Qiwu’s expression softened a bit. Long ago in the letters, she had felt that this Fellow Daoist who went by the alias Ah Heng should be a cute girl, and now it seemed she was indeed exactly as she had imagined.
She had also heard from Zuo Lan that Ah Heng had arrived, which was why she agreed to come along.
Wei Xiheng ran straight over and pulled Wen Qiwu to the side, then pulled out a string of jade slips from her storage ring and stuffed it into her hands. “I’ve adjusted all the areas you previously said could be improved in the Seven Kills Array. Take a look and see how my changes turned out!”
“Truly an array idiot.” Zuo Lan sighed. The array formations those two were discussing were too profound. She couldn’t get a word in at all and could only sit beside the other woman in the crimson tight-fitting outfit and drink tea.
The sword cultivator in red glanced at her, her expression complex and hesitant. She likely wanted to say something, but after opening her mouth several times, she still couldn’t speak. Zuo Lan ignored her, so the two of them maintained an eerie yet harmonious silence.
Discussion Great Hall.
The major sects had argued for several days, and now they had finally grudgingly agreed upon a method of profit distribution that all parties accepted. Now that this was settled, the next step would be to set off for the Eclipse Secret Realm.
Yun Heng sat in the main seat without uttering a single word. The Eclipse Secret Realm was rather special. It required at least one cultivator at the Golden Immortal Realm to maintain the gateway’s open state, and those entering needed to hold an Eclipse Order, so there were limits on both time and head count. A Golden Immortal could keep this gateway open for half a month, while a True Immortal could keep the secret realm open for an entire month. She was the only True Immortal among the major sects, so she absolutely had to go.
But thinking of the solemn expressions Lu Qiaoyi and the medical immortal from Medical Immortal Valley had worn after Shimei’s last attack, Yun Heng’s thoughts fell upon Wen Qiwu’s condition again. The others couldn’t see her worry; they only felt that the aura surrounding this Immortal Venerable was becoming increasingly terrifying. Those who were arguing were all reflecting on whether they had been too noisy and provoked the Immortal Venerable’s displeasure, so they unanimously lowered their voices. The negotiations also proceeded much more smoothly without them even realizing it.
The Discussion Great Hall gradually quieted down. It wasn’t until people from other sects got up and left that Yun Heng noticed they had finished their discussions.
Yun Heng planned to go and talk with the medical immortal from Medical Immortal Valley, so she also stood up and prepared to leave. However, as she was leaving, she noticed the petty movements of the Yuxi Sect Master, and saw that person quietly send out a voice transmission.
“The Holy Maiden is looking more and more like a thief,” Xiao Tong silently evaluated.
The Yuxi Sect Master and the elder didn’t know that the Immortal Venerable would still notice their conversation after leaving, nor did they know that the voice transmission they sent out had directly helped Yun Heng lock onto the Holy Maiden’s position.
Zuo Lan was just planning to sneak away when she felt herself locked on by an extremely terrifying divine sense!
Shizun ah, did you not even realize your voice transmission was being tracked?! Right, the gap between the True Immortal Realm and the Golden Immortal Realm is like the difference between heaven and earth; her Shizun truly wouldn’t be able to detect it.
“The Seven Kills Array has immense power, but the downside is that it is highly unstable internally. It is extremely prone to wounding the enemy by a thousand while suffering eight hundred in self-damage…” Shimei’s gentle voice sounded from not far away, smoothing out the trace of hostility that had risen in Yun Heng’s heart.
Yun Heng noticed that Shimei was sitting together with a girl wearing a tender yellow dress. She held an array compass in her hands, simulating the Seven Kills Array they were discussing. Frantic power gathered on the array compass, looking highly unstable.
Shimei raised her hand and made some modifications within the array compass. Once she was finished, the power on the array compass immediately stabilized. The power hidden within the Seven Kills Array remained astonishing, but now, operating it would no longer harm the caster.
The unfamiliar girl beside her widened her eyes in surprise. “So it can actually be modified like this! Ah Que, you’re amazing!”
The problem with the Seven Kills Array had troubled Wei Xiheng for a long time. Now that it was suddenly clear, she jumped up happily and gave Wen Qiwu a hug.
Shimei was indeed exceptionally gifted in the Dao of arrays. Hearing others praise her, Yun Heng would also feel a shared sense of pride. However, the unfamiliar girl’s subsequent actions caused the corners of her mouth to turn down slightly.
She actually dared to directly call Shimei by her nickname? Shimei’s smile also contained a liveliness that was rare to see on ordinary days. Yun Heng didn’t know when Wen Qiwu had made such a close friend.
“With Ah Que’s talent… why don’t you directly join our Starfall City!” Wei Xiheng cradled the array compass in her hands like a treasure for a while before her expression suddenly lit up. Just now, she had been so eager to discuss arrays with Wen Qiwu that she hadn’t waited for Zuo Lan to introduce her, so she didn’t yet know Wen Qiwu’s identity.
“Our Starfall City’s City Master lineage entirely enters the Dao through array formations. We even had an ancestor who stepped into the God Realm. As long as Fellow Daoist comes with me to Starfall City, how about I take you into the hidden library left behind by that God Realm ancestor? Inside, there are many of that ancestor’s insights! Others couldn’t see them even if they wanted to!” Wei Xiheng hugged Wen Qiwu’s arm. Zuo Lan couldn’t even remind the girl in time.
“Qiwu has already joined Wenshen Sect. I am afraid things cannot be as Miss wishes.”
A slight breeze wrapped in the chill of ice and snow blew over everyone. When Wei Xiheng followed the voice and saw the person who had suddenly appeared, her hair stood on end from fright, and she subconsciously hid behind Wen Qiwu.
The woman in the tight-fitting outfit beside them, who hadn’t said a single word, did not expect to see Immortal Venerable Yun Heng here. She stepped forward to offer a bow. “Lin Shuangyun of Qianyue Sword Sect greets the Immortal Venerable.”
Yun Heng gave a slight nod, but when her gaze swept over Zuo Lan, her expression faintly carried a touch of gloom, which in turn caused her to have no good impression of the other two either.
The Holy Maiden felt as if an invisible sword edge had scraped over her.
Truly a petty person! Zuo Lan cast an apologetic glance at Wen Qiwu. However, she didn’t expect that the person who ought to feel the most guilty right now actually appeared completely composed, and was even smiling broadly as she introduced Ah Heng to the Immortal Venerable.
Guilty? Wen Qiwu knew perfectly well that she couldn’t afford to act guilty at this time, otherwise it would be like pouring oil on a fire.
“Shijie, this is my friend Wei Xiheng. The Black Silk Array that Shijie and I spent an entire night researching before was originally created by her.” Wen Qiwu walked in front of her Shijie. After she blocked the Immortal Venerable’s line of sight, the other three immediately felt their pressure lessen significantly.
“Previously, we had always corresponded through letters and never told each other our identities. Ah Heng didn’t know I was a disciple of Wenshen Sect, which is why she invited me to join Starfall City.”
Yun Heng remembered now. That night, Shimei had brought an unfinished array diagram up Yunwu Mountain to find her. Although she had dabbled in the Dao of arrays, she was not as proficient as two other elders in the sect. However, Shimei had said that the other two elders were resting and she felt bad disturbing them, so she asked her to help take a look.
They sat together by the edge of the bed just like when Shimei was little. Shimei hugged her fire crystal stone and leaned against her, studying the array formation together with her. It wasn’t until the sun rose that Shimei fell into a deep sleep in her arms.
Zuo Lan noticed that in an inconspicuous spot, Wen Qiwu had hooked her finger around the Immortal Venerable’s fingertip and was shaking it slightly. This was likely a little movement entirely unique to the two of them as martial sisters. The Immortal Venerable, who had seemingly arrived carrying a piercing sword intent, actually gradually withdrew her chill, and her attitude softened.
The Holy Maiden felt around in her sleeve and cupped out a small handful of melon seeds. She felt she might have misjudged things; Wen Qiwu didn’t seem as “well-behaved” as she appeared on the surface. Although the Immortal Venerable was a block of wood, it felt like her drowning in it was only a matter of time.
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