My Shijie Seems Intent on Destroying the World – Chapter 30
by Little PandaQuestioning the Heart
“I do all this for you.”
She had slept too late into the night, so it wasn’t until Wu Hour the next day that Qi Zhi woke, rubbing her eyes.
Perhaps because it was her first time sharing a bed with someone, Qi Zhi had been terrified of crowding her bedmate. She’d slept extra obediently, barely moving all night.
The moment her eyes opened, she glanced instinctively at the space beside her.
Mu Qingshi hadn’t been there when she fell asleep, and she wasn’t there now.
The bedding on the outer side was more rumpled, though, so Mu Qingshi must have slept there—just not for long.
Qi Zhi wanted to sleep more. She burrowed her rosy little face deeper into the covers, lingering in a drowsy haze for a while longer, until a loud growl from her stomach finally forced her to struggle upright.
Mu Qingshi must have worried she’d wake up cold: the charcoal brazier had been freshly refilled, and the Hand Warmer had been given new incense. It sat on the desk by the window, trailing a thin wisp of smoke.
Qi Zhi sat up clutching the quilt, tilted her head, and stared at that wisp of smoke for a good while, until her stomach growled again. Only then did she dress properly and hop out of bed.
Yawning, she passed the dressing table and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.
She’d been well-behaved all night, so last night’s pretty hair bun had survived mostly intact—only slightly mussed. Qi Zhi leaned forward, tidied it a little in the mirror, then happily scooped up the Hand Warmer and pushed open the door to step out of the guest room.
Maids had been stationed in the courtyard the whole time. Seeing the honored guest emerge, one hurried over, warmly asking if Qi Zhi needed anything.
“I’m a bit hungry…” Qi Zhi mumbled, still half-asleep.
“What would the Little Immortal Master like to eat?”
“What do you have?”
“Anything you’d like!”
Qi Zhi thought about it, then said earnestly, “I want soup noodles and steamed buns. Is that okay?”
“Of course! I’ll have someone make them right away. It’s cold outside—perhaps the Little Immortal Master could wait inside?” The maid turned to relay the order.
“Ah!” Qi Zhi called after her on instinct.
“Does the Little Immortal Master have any other instructions?” The maid turned back carefully.
“No, no instructions!” Qi Zhi shook her head, then asked in a small voice, “Have you seen my shijie?”
“Immortal Master Mu?” The maid answered dutifully. “She went out to investigate. Before leaving, she instructed us to take good care of the Little Immortal Master!”
“What about the others? Ah Yun, and Miss Ling?”
“They left early this morning. Said they were going to keep watch outside the mountain.”
“Oh! Thanks.” Qi Zhi replied softly. Once the maid had gone, she turned and went back inside.
With Mu Qingshi and Ah Yun both away, and not knowing her way around this place, she didn’t feel comfortable wandering off. She simply sat in the room and spaced out.
Before long, two servants brought over piping-hot soup noodles and steamed buns.
Qi Zhi ate her fill. She sat by the table for a while, sat by the window for a while, and finally climbed back into bed. She lay on her side against the edge of the mattress, the quilt covering her lower half, and emptied her mind once more.
She had no idea how long she’d been staring into space. She only knew that eating and drinking her fill made it all too easy to get drowsy.
When sleepiness came, Qi Zhi didn’t hesitate for a second. She slid down, pulled the quilt up, and lay flat on her back.
The charcoal fire crackled. The room was warm. The Hand Warmer sat on her bedside table, its plum blossom fragrance faint and elegant.
Qi Zhi clutched the edge of her quilt and couldn’t help sighing contentedly to herself.
Days like this were wonderful. Nothing to do, plenty to eat and drink, free to play when she wanted and sleep when she wanted.
In the end, she really had lived up to the shape of her spiritual root.
—A limp, floppy little blade of grass.
Ah Yun, Ling Qiansu, even her shijie were all out there busy working, and here she was, fast asleep in bed.
A tiny bit guilty, honestly.
But it wasn’t as if she wanted to be this way! Her spiritual root was just like this—she couldn’t cultivate properly. The only way she could help, perhaps, was to eat well, sleep well, and when trouble came, obediently hole up indoors instead of running out and making things worse.
With that settled, Qi Zhi drifted back to sleep, entirely guilt-free.
This second sleep was hazy and strange, and she had an odd dream.
In the dream, she was still on Mount Qiongju.
Snow fell across the sky, whitening the entire mountaintop. She saw her former shixiong and shijie, and many, many unfamiliar faces she couldn’t see clearly.
Those people crowded around Mu Qingshi, their every word and gesture burning with an indescribable fervor.
She stood outside the crowd, clutching a handful of skirt hem, as if she had something she wanted to say to Mu Qingshi. But the people formed a wall, and no matter how she squeezed, she couldn’t get through. She could only stand on tiptoe and peer inside.
Suddenly, a wave of demonic qi surged through the crowd.
Everyone contorted in agony and burst into clouds of blood mist amid near-deafening wails.
When the blood mist cleared, the world was still a field of silver-white.
Mu Qingshi held the demonic sword, her brow faintly creased, and said only one thing: “So noisy.”
Then she walked slowly to Qi Zhi’s side and asked softly, “Shimei, what did you want to say to me?”
Her shimei didn’t dare say a word.
Her shimei went stiff as a board and jolted awake from the dream, trembling.
The charcoal fire in the room still burned. The plum blossom fragrance was faint and elegant, just as it had been when she fell asleep.
Mu Qingshi had returned from outside at some point. She sat silently by the window, sipping freshly brewed tea.
As if hearing the sound, she turned to glance over.
“You’re awake.”
“Mm…” Qi Zhi sat up in bed, quickly gathering herself. Her voice was slightly hoarse. “When did Shijie get back?”
“Not long ago.” Mu Qingshi replied.
“Then… did Shijie find anything on her outing?”
Mu Qingshi shook her head.
Qi Zhi was surprised. “Even with shijie going in person, nothing? Is it really that difficult?”
Mu Qingshi gave a soft laugh and said lightly, “I went out, but I just found somewhere else to rest.”
“Huh?” Qi Zhi said.
“At least put on a show, so people don’t think I’m doing nothing.”
Qi Zhi was speechless. You could get away with that?
Mu Qingshi glanced at the sky outside the window and asked softly, “How did you sleep until this hour?”
“I did wake up once,” Qi Zhi mumbled. “But I’d just eaten, and then I got sleepy again…”
Mu Qingshi said, “I thought perhaps you were bored with no one to keep you company.”
“It was a bit boring,” Qi Zhi admitted. She curled her knees up, closed her eyes, and let out a huge yawn. Then she asked in a small voice, “If Shijie is going out to put on an act again tomorrow, could you take me along?”
Mu Qingshi said, “You don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Qi Zhi thought about it, then said earnestly, “Shijie always has her reasons for whatever she does. I just need to follow shijie. No need to overthink things.”
Hearing this, Mu Qingshi rose and walked to the bedside, smoothing Qi Zhi’s slightly mussed hair.
Then she looked into her eyes, curved brows forming a faint smile. “I saw you sleeping so soundly. I couldn’t bear to wake you.”
Qi Zhi tilted her little face up and said obediently, “Then I’ll go to bed earlier at night, and I can get up during the day and be with Shijie.”
“Good,” Mu Qingshi agreed, a bit more warmth in her eyes.
Ah Yun and Ling Qiansu didn’t return until late into the night.
Hearing the commotion, Qi Zhi ran to the door and asked curiously, “Did you see the rabbit?”
“Nope!” Ah Yun shook her head. “No set date for it either. Who knows how many days we’ll have to keep watch.”
She waved her hand and headed back to her room to rest.
Ling Qiansu sighed, looking somewhat worried. “If it really is an ear-rabbit, it can definitely fly. Just guarding the few mountain paths won’t be enough. Tomorrow I’ll need to spread my spiritual power out further… I just hope it doesn’t slip away through a gap I can’t cover.”
She said the spiritual power not only needed to be spread wide but also hidden, so as not to alert the target.
Her cultivation was limited. Trying to cover both breadth and concealment at once meant she’d inevitably leave gaps—and her greatest fear was that the rabbit would slip out through exactly those missed spots.
It didn’t sound easy…
Qi Zhi offered a few words of comfort, then retreated to her room, feeling inexplicably guilty.
Over the next several days, she followed Mu Qingshi out to put on an act the moment she woke up.
The Liang household, Ling Qiansu—none of them knew what the two of them were actually busy with each day. They only knew that the two were, apparently, quite busy.
And busy they were—busy eating, drinking, and having fun, trying to visit every good spot in Sui City within a matter of days.
Watching plays at the teahouse, listening to music at the tavern.
There was also a wazi1 in the east of the city, with different performances at every hour. No matter how many times you went, you always wanted to come back.
At first, Qi Zhi had been worried about being discovered. But when someone actually ran into them, she learned that even while gallivanting around this freely, they could brush it off with a single sentence.
“Crowded places are the easiest places to gather information.”
One thing Qi Zhi had to admit: when Mu Qingshi told a lie, she did it with such righteous conviction, such upright authority, that anyone who heard her couldn’t help but believe her.
Maybe it was just presence…
But Qi Zhi still couldn’t figure out what Mu Qingshi was really after.
Several more days passed in a blink. Ling Qiansu finally sent back good news.
The spiritual power she’d laid at the base of the mountain had detected movement. The little messenger creature had been tagged with her spiritual power, and she could track it easily now.
The message came through a Sound Transmission Talisman delivered to Mu Qingshi’s side.
The voice faded, and the talisman paper destroyed itself.
The wazi was bustling beyond measure. Aside from the recipient, no one would notice a disembodied voice.
“It seems this legendary Mingyue Banquet is about to begin. I’ll take you to see it.” Mu Qingshi looked down at Qi Zhi, lips curving in a faint smile. “Are you scared?”
Qi Zhi pressed her lips together and asked curiously, “This Mingyue Banquet that so many people can’t stop thinking about—will there be lots of good food and fun?”
“Probably,” Mu Qingshi said. “But it might also just be sorcery playing tricks on the mind.”
“With Shijie there, I probably don’t need to be afraid, right?” Qi Zhi said quietly.
Mu Qingshi smiled and said nothing more, just patted Qi Zhi’s head.
Qi Zhi bit her lip, thought for a moment, and couldn’t resist asking, “Shijie, you’re so interested in this Mingyue Villa—do you have some kind of plan?”
Mu Qingshi looked down at her, gaze cool and appraising.
Qi Zhi didn’t dare meet her eyes. She lowered her gaze and said softly, “With Ah Yun’s cultivation, hiding her demon qi shouldn’t be difficult. If that weren’t the case, the one Eldest Senior Brother noticed first back in Qingxi Commandery wouldn’t have been me.”
She paused, then lowered her voice further. “Miss Ling—Ah Yun deliberately drew her to us, didn’t she? Intentionally making her acquaintance must serve some purpose too…”
Mu Qingshi said, “Mm.”
Qi Zhi froze, clearly not expecting Mu Qingshi to admit it so readily.
After a brief stunned moment, she looked up at Mu Qingshi. “Then why does Shijie do these things?”
Mu Qingshi said, “Do you really want to know?”
Qi Zhi hesitated, then said timidly, “No, not really. Just a little. Just a tiny bit curious. If Shijie doesn’t want to say, she doesn’t have to. I know I don’t look like someone who can keep secrets. If there’s a plan, it’s probably better to keep it from me anyway…”
Mu Qingshi said, “Shimei.”
Qi Zhi blinked. “Huh?”
Mu Qingshi said, “If I told you that I do all this for you, would you believe me?”
“…For, for me?”
Qi Zhi honestly had no idea how to believe that.
Clearly, shijie was teasing her again.
And so, the next second, Mu Qingshi smiled, her brows curving.
A silent smile, but her eyes held a kind of amusement Qi Zhi found impossible to read.
“Let’s go. Back to wait for news.” Mu Qingshi said, strolling ahead at an unhurried pace.
Qi Zhi hurried to catch up, reaching out to clasp the edge of a clean white sleeve.
In a corner of the south city, the ear-rabbit carried a wisp of spiritual light and glided down on the wind to a courtyard wall.
It stood upright on two legs, craning its neck to look left and right. Its large snowy tail swayed gently as it slowly set down an exquisite jade token within the courtyard walls.
The token was wrapped in a layer of clean spiritual power.
It landed without a sound, and the spiritual light dispersed.
The ear-rabbit twitched its ears, spread its fluffy tail, caught the wind, and bounded away into the distance.
An old tree in the courtyard had just sprouted new buds.
A bird with a white head and grey back perched on the treetop, watching quietly until the ear-rabbit’s figure disappeared from sight.
The author has something to say:
Ear-Rabbit: 🙏 This bunny’s just here on the job.
Ah Yun: 😉👌 You drop yours, I’ll grab mine.
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