After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 8
by Little PandaEvents of the Past, Part 7
Want Shijie to hold me～
A great deal happened during the time the Eclipse Secret Realm was open. First, a Golden Immortal Realm elder fell within the secret realm. Then, no sooner had Yun Heng emerged from the secret realm—before she’d even had a chance to investigate the elder’s cause of death—than she received transmission paper cranes from Lu Qiaoyi and the Medical Immortal.
The moment she opened both paper cranes, all color drained from her face.
The letters brought dire news: her shimei1 had fallen ill, and her condition was extremely critical.
Lu Qiaoyi’s letter was still somewhat restrained, but the Medical Immortal was more direct. Unable to guarantee that she could save Wen Qiwu, she told Yun Heng bluntly to come back immediately, or she might not see her alive again.
The Medical Immortal had not exaggerated. She and Lu Qiaoyi took turns administering treatment, but in the end, all they could do was watch helplessly as Wen Qiwu’s breath grew weaker and weaker.
For the first time in thousands of years, the Medical Immortal experienced that feeling of powerlessness again. Spirit-Dispersing Syndrome was a bizarre, unusual illness, and with so few recorded cases, even after all her research, she still hadn’t figured out its cause.
Wen Qiwu’s illness had already reached its final stage. The previous patient with Spirit-Dispersing Syndrome had died during the very first attack of this period.
She had thought Wen Qiwu wouldn’t survive this time either. But the Medical Immortal witnessed a miracle.
The patient’s willpower was the complete opposite of her outward appearance—so strong it was astonishing. Watching Wen Qiwu wake up, even the Medical Immortal’s perpetually stoic, coffin-faced2 expression cracked into a faint smile.
“Shijie…” The patient, struggling back to consciousness, used the last of her strength to call out to the one who was on the verge of falling into a demonic trance.
The Immortal Venerable, who had been running through every legendary resurrection technique in her mind, finally snapped back to reality. Her expression was dazed, as if she couldn’t be sure whether what was happening before her eyes was real. The shimei who had fought her way back to wakefulness had tears shimmering in her eyes, her voice soft and carrying a hint of grievance.
She must still be thinking about how I left without saying goodbye that day.
As long as she’s awake, as long as she’s awake…
Yun Heng gathered her shimei into her arms. The feeling of having lost and found her again made her hands tremble. If not for the fact that the Medical Immortal and Lu Qiaoyi still needed to administer treatment, the Immortal Venerable would never have let go.
With the help of the two healers, Wen Qiwu made it through the critical period. Exhausted and weak, she sank back into a deep sleep. The Medical Immortal said she needed plenty of rest—this attack had severely damaged Wen Qiwu’s soul, and every bit of recovery she could manage now was precious.
She slept for over ten days. Occasionally she would wake in a daze, but her shijie, who was always by her side, would soon coax her back to sleep.
Once Wen Qiwu’s condition had stabilized, Yun Heng had to attend to the funeral arrangements for the Golden Immortal Realm elder. The elder’s status was special, and his loss meant more to the sect than just losing a Golden Immortal.
The fallen Golden Immortal Realm elder had entered the Dao through arrays. For thousands of years, he had been responsible for maintaining the operation of Wenshen Sect’s Protective Sect Array. Now, someone needed to take over his duties, and the most suitable person was Lu Qiaoyi. Everyone else had already tacitly accepted that she would be the new Array Protection Elder.
But Lu Qiaoyi already had her responsibilities on Wanyao Mountain, and in recent years she had been constantly traveling for Wen Qiwu’s illness. So Yun Heng hesitated—if she added the Protective Sect Array to her burdens, wouldn’t Elder Lu’s load be too heavy?
Seeing Yun Heng’s hesitation, Lu Qiaoyi proactively took on the matter of the Protective Sect Array.
“Leave the Protective Sect Array to me. You have plenty of other things to keep you busy, so don’t worry about such small matters. Have you found out the cause of Elder Jin’s death?”
A Golden Immortal Realm elder had fallen without a sound, without even having time to call out to Yun Heng for help before he died. His Life Tablet had also failed to record anything about his death. The whole thing reeked of strangeness.
“I didn’t find any useful clues. The Yuxi Sect’s Sect Master said he went toward the tomb and might have encountered the remnant soul of the True Immortal tomb owner.” Yun Heng’s brow furrowed slightly. She didn’t seem to put much stock in that answer.
But even if she didn’t accept it, there was nothing she could do for now. She had tried every method available, yet she still couldn’t trace back the circumstances of his death. If she wanted to continue investigating, she would probably have to wait another hundred years and go back into the Eclipse Secret Realm to see if there were any clues.
Lu Qiaoyi’s mouth twitched, as if she were smiling, or perhaps grieving. She was standing behind Yun Heng, so Yun Heng didn’t see this strange expression on Elder Lu’s face.
“In the Eclipse Secret Realm, the only one who could have killed a Golden Immortal so silently is that tomb owner.” She sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ve studied the Protective Sect Array. There won’t be any problems.”
“…I’ll leave it to you, Elder Lu.”
“It’s no trouble. Unless someone comes to attack our sect, there’s no need to spend much effort on it on a daily basis.” Lu Qiaoyi waved her hand, looking very optimistic. “Xiao Que’er’s talent in arrays is higher than mine. Once she’s well, the responsibility of protecting the array will eventually be passed to her.”
At the mention of her shimei’s health, Yun Heng felt a dull ache in her chest. She, too, hoped the future would be as Elder Lu described, but the hope in reality was very slim.
The Medical Immortal had told her that her shimei’s future attacks would only get worse. She had survived this time by luck, but the next time…
The Medical Immortal was also waiting for her to retrieve the treasure from the Huanling Secret Realm, to see if it could work wonders.
The Medical Immortal had said before that her shimei’s condition was stable and she shouldn’t have an attack for a few years. So why had it been so sudden?
The Medical Immortal couldn’t give her an answer either. The healer’s helplessness made Yun Heng realize that if she wanted to save her shimei, she couldn’t limit herself to conventional methods.
Lu Qiaoyi stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder. “Xiao Que’er should wake up properly in the next day or two. Spend more time with her. Don’t leave without saying a word next time—you scared her.”
“It was my fault.” Yun Heng had already regretted it. While in the secret realm, she had been thinking that she shouldn’t have gotten into a fight with her shimei.
Seeing that the tension between the two martial sisters seemed to have eased, Lu Qiaoyi’s smile became more genuine. “Then I won’t nag you this time. Before Xiao Que’er fell ill, she grabbed me and told me not to scold you.”
Yun Heng was stunned for a moment, then a soft, bittersweet smile crept into the corners of her eyes.
“Oh, right, there’s one more thing. I have some good news!” Lu Qiaoyi lightly tapped her own head, as if she had just remembered. “The immortal artifact you brought back can serve as the core. The setup at the Cliff of Reflection is almost ready too…”
…
Wanyao Mountain, Wen Qiwu’s residence.
When Yun Heng pushed open the door and entered, she felt that the temperature in the room seemed a bit high. Earlier, when Wen Qiwu was unconscious, her hands and feet had been terribly cold, and Yun Heng’s own hands were even colder, so she hadn’t been able to warm her shimei’s hands. That was why she had placed a Fire Crystal Stone3 of moderate temperature beside her.
Yun Heng walked over to Wen Qiwu’s bedside and, sure enough, saw two more Fire Crystal Stones added nearby. Elder Lu had probably put them there, worried that her shimei would be cold, but her shimei didn’t like overly warm environments.
Yun Heng removed the two Fire Crystal Stones, then her gaze fell on the bed. Just one look, and she froze.
Because the room was too hot, the sleeping person had kicked off the covers. Her fair calf was exposed, with only a corner of the thin blanket still covering her. Her shimei’s clothes had been rumpled loose from all the tossing, and the neckline revealed a hint of a tempting glimpse.
Yun Heng’s mind went blank for a moment, then she immediately stepped forward and wrapped the person up in the blanket. Because she was in a hurry, she couldn’t control her strength.
“Mmn.” The person now bundled up like a zongzi4 let out a soft, delicate sound. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, as if she were about to wake up.
For some reason, Yun Heng’s heart suddenly started beating faster, and her ears felt a little hot.
“Shijie…” Wen Qiwu didn’t open her eyes. She was probably still in a daze from sleep. Maybe her subconscious sensed that the person holding her was her shijie, so she called out softly.
“Mmn?” Yun Heng, who was about to get up, responded.
“Hold me~” The person mumbled and whined, just like she had when she was a child.
Now Yun Heng was sure her shimei really wasn’t awake. The smile in her eyes was impossible to hide.
The still-sleeping person rubbed against her shijie’s icy-cold hand. Her face was warm, and the cool, refreshing temperature jolted Wen Qiwu into a much clearer state of mind.
After more than ten days of recovery, Wen Qiwu was no longer as weak as before. She slowly opened her eyes and saw her shijie sitting by her bed.
“Sh-Shijie?” Wen Qiwu’s eyes held the dazed confusion of someone who had just woken up. She pinched herself under the blanket. It hurt a little. So it wasn’t a dream.
Right. She had had another attack. Her shijie had rushed back from the secret realm and had been by her side the whole time. She even thought she had seen her shijie looking like she was about to cry.
Her shijie brushed the stray hair from her face. A wordless warmth spread between them, as if they had gone back to the way things were before her shijie got angry.
“Is there anywhere that still feels uncomfortable?” Yun Heng asked, feeling her forehead.
Wen Qiwu shook her head. Aside from the occasional sharp pain in her soul, the rest of her body had more or less recovered to the state it was in before this attack.
Wait. Wen Qiwu suddenly frowned. When she had been half-asleep just now, had she said something? Had it been a dream, or had she really said it out loud?!
Wen Qiwu had some impression of it, but not much.
“…Did I say any strange things in my sleep just now?” Wen Qiwu dropped her gaze from meeting her shijie’s eyes. She felt a little guilty, afraid that she might have said something she shouldn’t have while she wasn’t in her right mind.
After a few seconds of silence, her shijie suddenly leaned down and hugged her. Wen Qiwu, whose face was brushed by a cool, fragrant breeze, opened her eyes wide. With no mental preparation at all, her face and ears felt like they were about to catch fire—a thoroughly pathetic display.
“Shijie?” Wen Qiwu had no idea why her shijie had suddenly hugged her.
“You said… you wanted a hug.” Yun Heng’s voice was soft and gentle, right by her ear.
Her shimei had used to act spoiled like this all the time when she was little, but at some point, she had changed. Maybe… because she had grown up. Yun Heng felt a faint pang of loss.
Wen Qiwu’s breath caught. It took her a long time before she finally spoke, her voice trembling. “I was just talking in my sleep. Shijie, you don’t have to pay any attention to me…”
Wen Qiwu’s voice grew quieter and quieter. At that moment, she was caught in a conflict between wanting her shijie to hold her and telling herself to restrain her feelings.
The two emotions battled in her mind, and in the end, the former won out.
She wanted her shijie to hold her a little longer.
Her shijie let out a soft laugh, as if she had already seen through the truth that her sleep-talking had revealed her true feelings.
Wen Qiwu didn’t need to look in a mirror to know how red her face was. But she happened to catch a glimpse of her shijie’s ear—the tip of that ear, peeking out from among the dark strands of hair, was also pink… Was it because the room was too warm?
Footnotes
- A term for a junior female martial sister, used by a senior sister.
- A Chinese idiom describing a perpetually stern, expressionless face, literally 'coffin face.'
- A warm crystal that emits heat, often used by cultivators to warm their surroundings.
- A triangular or cylindrical glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves, a traditional Chinese food.
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