My Shijie Seems Intent on Destroying the World – Chapter 5
by Little PandaWhen the Spirit Flowers Bloom
Today Was a Truly Happy Day!
Qi Zhi hadn’t had time to visit Suihan Hall today.
There were always plenty of chores around the mountain, and the hall supervisors had a habit of dumping them on her. Unlike her fellow senior disciples who could cultivate properly, she had no grounds to refuse.
And so, after excitedly sharing her happy news and cadging a few bites of pastry from Mu Qingshi, she hurried off.
Mu Qingshi saw her to the entrance of Suihan Hall and watched her retreating figure until it vanished from sight.
Then she lowered her gaze to the silver leaf bracelet in her hand.
The silver leaves were dainty and exquisite, each one a different shape. Worn on the wrist, they chimed with every movement—but beyond that, the bracelet seemed unremarkable.
If only that were true.
Mu Qingshi channeled a thread of spiritual power into it, and the seemingly ordinary bracelet immediately revealed a rhythmic flow of spiritual energy.
A miniature spell array designed to guide spiritual energy toward a specific destination.
She scoffed softly and crushed the array between her fingertips.
…
The autumn wind was cool. Sweeping disciples were clearing fallen leaves from the courtyard.
Qingyao sat before her mirror, leisurely doing her makeup.
She had just finished a petal bath and felt thoroughly refreshed.
Eleventh Junior Sister’s place was far too filthy and cluttered—especially that room full of broken jars. The stench when they were piled together had nearly choked her to death.
If Fourth Senior Brother hadn’t asked her to do this favor, she would never have set foot in such a wretched place, exchanging all that polite small talk with a dim-witted little waste of space.
So annoying. She’d had to scrub herself for ages.
At least it was done. Fourth Senior Brother would surely praise her.
So Qingyao thought, a smile deepening in her eyes.
Suddenly, someone pushed the door open gently. Qingyao snapped out of her thoughts and snapped, “Who gave you permission to come in?”
Some disciple with no sense of propriety—what a mood killer!
“What, am I not welcome in Ninth Junior Sister’s quarters?”
The voice was cool, yet faintly familiar. Qingyao startled and scrambled up from the vanity, turning to face the speaker.
A brief flurry of panic, then she pasted on a delighted expression.
“Second Senior Sister!” Her voice dripped sweetness. Before the words had even landed, she was gliding toward Mu Qingshi with a smile.
As Qingyao approached, Mu Qingshi stepped back half a pace without changing expression. She raised her hand, the silver leaf bracelet dangling from her fingertips.
Qingyao’s expression froze. Her lips parted slightly, but no words came.
“Ninth Junior Sister’s gift was lovely. Don’t send another.”
“I… I don’t understand what shijie1 means.”
“Don’t understand? Then let me make myself clearer.” Mu Qingshi’s gaze was ice, her eyes blades. “Whatever scheme you’re hatching, Qi Zhi is not someone you can harm.”
“Shijie must be mistaken…” Qingyao lowered her lashes, defending herself with an air of grievance. “Qi Zhi is my shimei2 too. How could I possibly hurt her?”
“Indeed, she is your shimei.” Mu Qingshi’s lips curved—not quite a smile, yet laden with meaning.
The bracelet slipped from her fingertips and clattered to the floor.
Qingyao couldn’t keep her fingers from clenching. “If Second Senior Sister doesn’t want me getting too close to Eleventh Junior Sister, I simply won’t visit her anymore.”
Mu Qingshi offered no reply, only a cold laugh as she turned to leave.
Qingyao, incensed, chased her to the doorway and shouted after her, “Qi Zhi isn’t the only shimei on this mountain! I think of you often too, shijie. Suihan Hall is so quiet—if you’re ever bored, you could visit more!”
“Enough.” Mu Qingshi paused for a single step, never looking back, her tone indifferent. “The next time we meet, it won’t be under pleasant circumstances.”
Qingyao watched her go, then bent to pick up the bracelet and probed it with spiritual power.
The array inside was indeed shattered.
She clenched her teeth and hurled the bracelet out the window.
The autumn wind grew colder by the day. Winter was closing in, and that roomful of osmanthus jam was finally ready.
Qi Zhi portioned the jam into jars of various sizes, packed them into her Qiankun Bag, and set off alone to deliver them across the Seven Great Halls, just as she did every year.
It was no illusion—every hall was eerily empty today. Aside from a few supervisors, not a single disciple could be seen.
Come to think of it, the atmosphere on the mountain had been strangely tense lately. She’d heard that all seven Elders had been summoned by Master a few days ago to deliberate on something.
After that, the senior siblings still on the mountain were called in one by one.
What they discussed was beyond her knowing. Master had never summoned her, nor Second Senior Sister. Even if she were curious, there was no one to ask.
It probably had nothing to do with her anyway. Better to finish the task at hand first!
And so Qi Zhi’s tireless legs carried her to several places.
As the jars of osmanthus jam in her Qiankun Bag dwindled, her steps grew lighter and her spirits lifted.
Then, halfway along the path, she spotted a crowd gathered in the distance. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she drifted closer and asked a few quiet questions.
She wouldn’t have known otherwise—Sixth Senior Sister was leaving the mountain today.
Of the disciples gathered here, some would accompany Sixth Senior Sister down the mountain, while others had come simply to see her off.
“Why is Sixth Senior Sister leaving the mountain?”
Qi Zhi asked offhandedly, and the disciples around her began chattering over one another to explain.
It wasn’t that they were particularly eager to tell her—they simply each had their own opinions about the matter.
Qi Zhi strained to make sense of their overlapping accounts and finally pieced together why the atmosphere on the mountain had been so strange of late.
A while back, a spirit butterfly had flown in from Muxue Valley, dispatched by the Spirit Venerable with a letter for the Tiandao Sect.
The Spirit Venerable’s letter reported that demonic qi had been surfacing around Muxue Valley of late. Many ordinarily well-behaved members of the Demon Race had been affected, losing control and attacking people. Demon incidents were rampant, and fear ran high.
Those driven to violence by the demonic qi were mostly from the Demon Race. Muxue Valley had already dispatched over a dozen skilled fighters to investigate and quell the unrest, but their demonic identity had met obstruction from some human cultivators.
The situation was exceedingly dire. The demonic qi was growing more concentrated by the day—its source remained undiscovered, and it showed signs of continuing to spread. If left unresolved, centuries of peace between the two races might come to an end.
And so the Spirit Venerable had asked the Tiandao Sect, the most prestigious immortal sect among them all, to extend its full strength in aid of Muxue Valley.
A single letter had set the Elders arguing for days on end.
One side urged extreme caution, insisting that the Demon Race was cunning and that the Spirit Venerable of Muxue Valley was a fox who had always looked down on everyone else. Her sudden, polite request to the Tiandao Sect was suspicious—who could guess her true intentions?
The other side maintained that since the matter involved demonic forces, it was better to believe the threat real than dismiss it as a lie. The Tiandao Sect had protected the human realm for years; no matter how many reservations they held, they could not simply ignore something like this.
After days of deliberation, the Daoist Venerable had ultimately decided to dispatch half the sect’s disciples under the leadership of Sixth Disciple Ruoyu, to assist Muxue Valley in quelling the demon unrest and tracking down the source of the demonic qi.
The journey was long and fraught with peril. No one knew how long Sixth Senior Sister would be gone.
A long time ago, Sixth Senior Sister had once spoken up for her at the Law Enforcement Hall. It hadn’t amounted to much, but Qi Zhi had always remembered it.
She thought that even though she and Sixth Senior Sister rarely interacted, she should still step forward and bid her a safe journey.
So she carefully wove through the crowd, squeezing her way to the very front.
Senior brothers and sisters from the various halls were nearly all there. One after another, they offered Sixth Senior Sister their earnest reminders and well-wishes, pressing rare magical artifacts and spiritual medicines into her hands without a second thought.
Qi Zhi suddenly felt she shouldn’t be here.
She had neither magical artifacts nor spiritual medicines—only an endless supply of osmanthus jam, which couldn’t compare to what the others were giving, not even a fraction.
Maybe… she should just forget it. Sixth Senior Sister probably wouldn’t care to see her anyway.
So Qi Zhi thought, shrinking her neck and beginning to retreat back into the crowd.
But Sixth Senior Sister had spotted her.
“Eleventh Junior Sister.”
Called out by name, Qi Zhi instantly straightened up and took two uncertain steps forward.
“Sixth Senior Sister, I only just found out you’re leaving today.” She pressed her lips together and looked up at Sixth Senior Sister, her eyes earnest. “I wish you a safe journey and a swift return…”
Before Qi Zhi could finish, a loathsome voice interrupted.
Fourth Senior Brother flew in over the heads of the crowd. Someone’s shoulder got stepped on in the process. This fellow landed as preening as a peacock, calling out “shimei, shimei” all the while. The disciples he’d shoved aside glared but didn’t dare make a sound.
Qi Zhi drew in a long breath and quietly sidestepped.
“Ruoyu-shimei.” The moment he landed, he made a beeline for Sixth Senior Sister as if no one else existed, his face plastered with a fawning smile. “This is your first time leaving the mountain, and who knows when you’ll return. I’d like to give you something.”
Sixth Senior Sister frowned and stepped back half a pace. “What thing?”
Fourth Senior Brother either didn’t see the distaste in her eyes or chose to ignore it. He leaned in another step, raised his hand with a flash of spiritual light, and conjured an exquisite little mirror.
Qi Zhi instinctively rose onto her tiptoes for a look. The mirror’s surface was bright and smooth, yet it didn’t seem to reflect anything at all.
Sixth Senior Sister raised her eyes, her tone cool. “What does shixiong3 mean?”
“This is a Facing Mirror. It requires a pair to form an image.” Fourth Senior Brother raised a brow with a meaningful look in his eyes as he gazed at Sixth Senior Sister.
Sixth Senior Sister shot him a glance. “If it takes a pair to form an image, what’s the point of giving me only one?”
Fourth Senior Brother: “Uh, well, that’s…”
Qi Zhi’s eyes darted. She lifted her chin, planted her hands on her hips, and deliberately heckled, “Who gives only half a gift? Does Fourth Senior Brother have a problem with Sixth Senior Sister?”
Fourth Senior Brother shot her a vicious glare, then smiled and conjured the other mirror, pressing both into Sixth Senior Sister’s hands.
“Thank you, shixiong.”
“Ah, Ruoyu-shimei, you’re just too serious, can’t take a joke…” He scrambled to save face, then glanced back and saw Qi Zhi still snickering. He couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. “And you? You just showed up empty-handed?”
Qi Zhi opened her mouth, then slowly pulled a small jar of osmanthus jam from her Qiankun Bag, head lowered.
Fourth Senior Brother burst into exaggerated laughter. Several disciples nearby joined in.
Qi Zhi’s head dipped lower amid the laughter. She was just thinking of hiding the embarrassing little jar away when Sixth Senior Sister reached out and took it from her hands.
“Thank you. I had some every year—I thought I’d miss out this time.” Sixth Senior Sister tucked the osmanthus jam into her Qiankun Bag and patted Qi Zhi’s shoulder, deliberately raising her voice. “Off I go! Say hello to Second Senior Sister for me!”
At the words “Second Senior Sister,” the laughter died instantly. Every last disciple fell silent.
Fourth Senior Brother’s face was rather unpleasant, but he said nothing more.
After Sixth Senior Sister departed, Mount Qiongju seemed suddenly emptier. Even the sunset felt colder than usual.
Qi Zhi finished delivering the remaining osmanthus jam, keeping only the last two jars to bring to Mu Qingshi.
She thought, today was a truly happy day!
Someone had spoken up for her, and she’d even watched Fourth Senior Brother lose face in public.
A timid little blade of grass didn’t need much—she could rejoice over the smallest things for the longest time.
She couldn’t wait to share this happiness with Mu-shijie. So even though dusk had fallen, she ran toward Suihan Hall.
Halfway there, a small bird landed squarely on her shoulder. It rested for a moment, then fluttered its wings and flew alongside her.
“Ah Yun! You’re back!”
It felt like it had been over a month since she’d last seen Ah Yun.
She’d asked about it once before. Mu-shijie said she’d never formed a spiritual contract with Ah Yun—she’d simply raised it by her side, so the little creature was free to come and go as it pleased.
After so long apart, she’d almost believed Ah Yun would never return.
Seeing it again today added another measure of joy to her heart.
“You just got back from out there, didn’t you?”
“Sneaking off to play for so long without a word—I thought you didn’t want the fruit I give you anymore!”
“Now that you’re back, let’s go see shijie together!”
The little bird chirped and flew ahead of her.
The sky darkened. The mountain path grew dim.
The guiding bird scattered a trail of flowing light, pure white as snow, glimmering like stars. It wound its way toward the distant summit, illuminating the path at the girl’s feet.
It was the path she had walked most often, the one she knew best—the path she would tread again and again, no matter the wind or rain.
The author has something to say:
Ah Yun: Birdie me, just got back from a business trip.
Footnotes
- 'Shijie' is a respectful Chinese term for a senior female fellow disciple within a cultivation sect, conveying both affection and hierarchy.
- 'Shimei' is an affectionate Chinese term for a junior female fellow disciple within a cultivation sect, conveying warmth and closeness.
- 'Shixiong' is a respectful Chinese term for a senior male fellow disciple within a cultivation sect, conveying both affection and hierarchy.
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