After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 61
by Little PandaStolen Treasure
The demon kings say you stole the Feather Tribe’s treasure.
Wen Qiwu tasted the bitterness of the medicine—a flavor so harsh that even sugar couldn’t suppress it, just like her days at the Cliff of Reflection. Yet only today did she learn that a concealed truth had been hidden behind it all.
In hindsight, there had been signs. Everyone who’d known she was confined to the Cliff of Reflection hadn’t believed Shijie would do such a thing. Even Zuo Lan found it inconceivable when she heard the news—she’d only started cursing after repeatedly confirming that Wen Qiwu had truly been locked up.
Perhaps it was the guilt of having misunderstood Shijie that made Wen Qiwu, in a moment of impulse, personally feed the Spirit Flower Nectar to Shijie. By the time she came to her senses, her face was burning—but she didn’t pull away.
It wasn’t until the bitter taste was completely replaced by sweetness that Wen Qiwu ended the kiss.
Yun Heng held her tight, unwilling to let her go.
“Were those days at the Cliff of Reflection very hard to endure?” Yun Heng’s voice carried a tremor. That place was austere to begin with, and she hadn’t stayed by her shimei’s side because she was avoiding her feelings—only for the Demon Seed to exploit the gap. Her shimei had every right to resent her.
Those days had indeed been hard, but now sweetness had come after bitterness1, and Wen Qiwu didn’t want Shijie to blame herself over this. So she said with feigned lightness, “It wasn’t that bad. I spent most of my time asleep, and someone was there when I woke up. Besides, you arranged my quarters at the Cliff of Reflection, didn’t you, Shijie? If other disciples who got confined there knew I had such nice quarters, they’d probably be green with envy.”
Right—she hadn’t seen any punished disciples nearby during that time either. The Cliff of Reflection had probably been cleared out by Shijie long ago, which only corroborated what Shijie had said. If she had been more suspicious back then, would things have turned out differently? A thread of regret slipped through Wen Qiwu’s heart.
Yun Heng knew her shimei was comforting her. She had visited while her shimei slept in illness—back then, she had retrieved the treasure from the Huanling Secret Realm and rushed to the Cliff of Reflection. Her shimei’s condition had worsened from excessive worry, her body growing ever more frail, as though a touch would make her fade away.
And only now did she know the real reason for her shimei’s excessive worry. Her shimei spoke of it lightly, but her condition back then had said everything.
Damage already done couldn’t be erased. No matter how she made amends, traces would remain. The pain in Yun Heng’s heart wouldn’t settle—the shimei she had so carefully cherished had been hurt because of her. Guilt nearly drowned her. But at least her shimei was still by her side. They had a long future ahead, and she would use everything she had to fill in the wrongs her shimei had suffered.
Thud, thud, thud.
Urgent tapping came from outside the window. Wen Qiwu hurriedly sat up straight from Shijie’s embrace, rather conspicuously2 smoothing down her scattered hair.
The curve of Yun Heng’s mouth drooped a little. She wrapped her arm around her shimei’s waist, wanting to pull closer.
“Shijie, someone’s sending a transmission paper crane.” Wen Qiwu whispered the reminder.
She already knew it was a transmission paper crane outside—Shijie certainly knew too—and the crane was tapping the window so rapidly, which meant the sender was very anxious.
The patterns on the paper crane should belong to one of the elders. The sender must be transmitting important sect business, and Wen Qiwu always subconsciously grew more serious when it came to proper business.
“…” Tch.
She’d finally found a chance to be alone with her shimei, and Yun Heng was very reluctant to deal with trivial matters. But she’d already announced she was recuperating, and the elders wouldn’t disturb her without something important. So Yun Heng opened the window anyway.
The transmission paper crane flew in, then transformed into an elder’s phantom.
This was no ordinary transmission—this paper crane carried a strand of the elder’s divine sense.
“Sect Master, how is your recovery?” The elder’s phantom bowed before asking with concern.
“Fine.” It would be even better if nothing else came to disturb her.
“We know you’re recuperating, and we absolutely wouldn’t disturb you without something important. But there’s a matter we truly don’t know how to handle. Several of us discussed it for a long time but couldn’t reach a decision, so we came to bother you.” Yun Heng’s proper recovery was the most important thing, and the elders were reluctant to trouble the Immortal Venerable’s healing with other worries.
But now the Feather Tribe kings were seated in the Discussion Hall—and those who’d come were all Golden Immortal Realm kings. Since the Demon Emperor’s fall, the Feather Tribe had never been this united. In terms of Golden Immortal Realm numbers, the Feather Tribe far exceeded Wenshen Sect. Wenshen Sect’s advantage lay in having a True Immortal Realm sect master. If the Sect Master didn’t come to hold the line, the elders felt they couldn’t keep those unreasonable demon kings in check.
“Strange as it sounds, Sect Master, have you noticed the great number of Feather Tribe birds that have come to our sect lately? Their numbers now exceed our own disciples…” For a moment they couldn’t tell whether this was Wenshen Sect’s territory or the Feather Tribe’s.
But the elder soon realized he’d asked a pointless question. How could the Sect Master not know? Yunwu Mountain was practically occupied by those Feather Tribe birds—their numbers there even exceeded other parts of Wenshen Sect. His paper crane had nearly been pecked to shreds by those birds when flying over. He’d been so urgent earlier because if the Sect Master didn’t open the window soon, those birds would have torn his transmission paper crane apart3!
How strange. Their sect had been a place welcomed by the Feather Tribe a hundred years ago. Until after that disaster, hardly a single Feather Tribe bird was willing to stay at Wenshen Sect. Even the immortal cranes that had lived in the sect for many years nearly all ran away from home—it was only because the Beast Garden elders and disciples hugged them and cried for a long time that they managed to keep some.
After being inexplicably shunned by the Feather Tribe for a hundred years, Wenshen Sect had suddenly become a hot commodity4, and this time it was outrageous. Every tree on Yunwu Mountain had several birds perched on it—even Feather Tribe birds that were natural enemies could be found standing on the same tree. It was truly baffling.
The elder looked toward the Sect Master while pondering, and only then noticed an unfamiliar young woman sitting close beside the Sect Master.
And the Sect Master was leaning against the bedside looking frail—the sight made one’s heart tighten.
“Sect Master, your body…” The elder had never seen the Sect Master like this. Even when she’d been gravely wounded, she’d never shown weakness to outsiders.
Could the rumors be true, that the Sect Master’s body was already… failing?
The elder’s astonishment was practically written on his face.
Wen Qiwu instinctively sensed he wasn’t thinking anything good. She frowned slightly, looking displeased.
Yun Heng quietly took her hand. Wen Qiwu glanced at Shijie, and finally, soothed by Shijie, let it go without taking the elder to task.
The two exchanged flirtatious glances5 right in front of the elder. A more perceptive person might have noticed something unusual between them, but this elder was consumed with worry and didn’t catch such details.
“There’s nothing seriously wrong with me. Just tell me what’s happened.” Yun Heng said, “I know about the situation outside. Don’t worry about those Feather Tribe birds—they mean no harm. Let them stay in the sect.”
Though Yun Heng very much didn’t want those birds disturbing them every day, her shimei was a phoenix, sovereign of the Feather Tribe. The surrounding Feather Tribe birds would have a pilgrimaging instinct—she couldn’t chase them away. One or two or a whole flock made no difference. Besides, her shimei quite liked those little ones outside.
As long as Ah Que liked it, she could tolerate those birds. Yun Heng sighed inwardly.
“Alright, then I’ll have the Beast Garden expand the quarters for the Feather Tribe, though I suspect it still won’t be enough.” There were too many birds—a single Beast Garden was nowhere near enough. They could empty out the disciples’ quarters for the Feather Tribe!
Lately they’d even been joking about whether they should swap Wenshen Sect’s plaque for the Demon Emperor’s Risun Palace.
“Shijie, leave this to me. I’ll arrange proper quarters for the birds.” Wen Qiwu only now remembered she’d forgotten to settle those birds. She’d been consumed with worry over Shijie day and night these past few days, with no mind for anything else.
Shijie?
The elder wanted to clap his ears to check if he’d misheard. Because Yun Heng was the Sect Master—normally even peers wouldn’t call her Shijie, but Sect Master or Immortal Venerable. In his memory, only one person had ever addressed her that way, and that was Wen Qiwu, who had passed away a hundred years ago.
No one else had been so intimate with the Sect Master. Even if the Sect Master had other close shimei, he’d never seen them. Was there such a person in the sect?
The elder fell into confusion.
“Elder Wu?” Yun Heng called twice before he snapped back.
“Is there anything else?”
“Yes! It’s… those Golden Immortal Realm demon kings of the Feather Tribe have all come! They’re camped out in the Discussion Hall and refuse to leave, insisting that we stole the Feather Tribe’s supreme treasure!” They’d talked themselves hoarse trying to explain, but those demon kings simply wouldn’t listen!
When had they ever stolen Feather Tribe treasure? Let alone heard of any Feather Tribe treasure. But those demon kings declared in unison that their Sect Master had stolen their treasure a few days ago—which was even more absurd. Their Sect Master had been recuperating all this time and hadn’t gone out. Where could she have stolen their treasure?!
But the Golden Immortal Realm demon kings outnumbered them. Left with no choice, the elders could only secretly come to fetch Yun Heng. As long as the Sect Master was present, those demon kings surely wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
“Cough, cough…” Yun Heng coughed softly a few times.
She… seemed to have actually stolen it.
No—how could that be called stealing? The Phoenix Lord had clearly entrusted Ah Que to her. She had taken Ah Que away openly and honorably. And more precisely, it was Ah Que who had taken her away—she’d fallen unconscious then and didn’t even know how she’d returned.
Wen Qiwu hurriedly patted Shijie’s back to help her breathe. This gesture made the elder’s eyes widen again—when had the Sect Master ever been willing to be so close to anyone?
“I understand. I’ll speak with the demon kings myself shortly. Please have them wait.”
“Yes.” The elder breathed a sigh of relief, then straightened his back to go placate the demon kings.
“They… are just too worried about me. Shijie, you rest. I’ll go talk to them.” Wen Qiwu couldn’t bear to make her shijie go on this errand, seeing her pale face.
“No, I’ll speak with them myself.” Yun Heng didn’t dare let her shimei go alone to meet those demon kings. What if some bird carried Ah Que off? She’d regret it too late. She believed, given a phoenix’s attraction to the Feather Tribe, some bird could absolutely do such a thing!
Footnotes
- 苦尽甘来 | ku jin gan lai | A classical chengyu literally meaning 'when bitterness ends, sweetness arrives,' describing the transition from suffering to joy; drawn from the natural metaphor of bitter medicine preceding sweet relief.
- 欲盖弥彰 | yu gai mi zhang | A classical chengyu literally meaning 'the more one tries to cover, the more it is revealed,' originating from the Spring and Autumn chronicle Zuo Zhuan; describes an attempt to conceal something that inadvertently draws more attention to it.
- 生吞活剥 | sheng tun huo bo | A vivid idiom literally meaning 'swallow raw and skin alive,' originally describing clumsy literary imitation in the Tang dynasty but now used for any savage, thorough destruction or consumption.
- 香馍馍 | xiang mo mo | A colloquial metaphor literally meaning 'fragrant steamed bun,' a beloved staple food in northern Chinese cuisine; used to describe something or somewhere that has suddenly become intensely desirable and popular.
- 眉来眼去 | mei lai yan qu | A classical idiom literally meaning 'eyebrows come, eyes go,' describing the exchange of flirtatious or knowing glances between two people with an intimate or complicit relationship.
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