Chapter 65: One in Red, One in White
The gray-robed elder glanced at the jade slips and ancient texts on the table. His expression was calm like a still lake, unmoving and unreadable.
"These are all free items. Come forward."
He looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan stepped forward and stood respectfully. The elder picked up a jade slip faintly glowing green. With his other hand, he formed a sword-finger and swiftly traced across the slip's surface. A streak of green light flew out and shot straight toward Li Yan's forehead.
Li Yan saw the green light expand rapidly before his eyes. Before he could react, it had already pierced into his forehead.
A cool sensation spread through his brow, and then all returned to normal. He understood, the old master was placing a seal on him.
He quickly turned his divine sense inward and saw a flashing green dot now floating in a corner of his Sea of Consciousness. Before he could even withdraw his sense, another cool breeze swept through, and a second green dot appeared.
Moments later, Li Yan withdrew his divine sense and saw the elder had finished his work and was looking at him.
"All done. The jade slips and books you selected have been sealed within your consciousness. If you want to check the general content, just touch the green mark with your divine sense. If you want to see the full content, pierce it with your sense to unlock it. Alright, you two can go now. This old man needs some rest."
With a few terse sentences, the elder waved them off. With a casual flick of his sleeve, the jade slips and ancient books on the table vanished without a trace.
Then, he yawned deeply, laid his head down on the table, and fell asleep, no longer sparing them a glance.
Li Wuyi and Li Yan exchanged a glance, offered a bow to the dozing elder, and quietly exited the bamboo hut.
As soon as they stepped out, the door shut itself with a soft thunk. Li Wuyi wasted no time, summoning the flying magical tool. The two leapt on and soared into the sky.
A short while later, they landed once again in front of Li Yan's bamboo courtyard. But what caught Li Yan by surprise was the presence of two unfamiliar women standing by the gate.
They were both tall and elegant, striking figures in their own right. One wore bright red, appearing to be in her early twenties. A crimson gourd hung at her waist, and her voluptuous figure was hard to ignore, with her full chest accentuated by her tight-fitting attire.
Her outfit was daring: pale skin peeked out beneath her neckline, revealing a generous expanse of snow-white cleavage. Her red skirt stopped at the calves, revealing a glimpse of smooth white skin above her boots.
She exuded charm from every glance and smile, her phoenix eyes gleaming with playful allure as she beamed at the two who had just landed.
The other woman, dressed in white, looked around eighteen or nineteen. Her skin was like porcelain, glossy and flawless. What made her unforgettable was her refined, sculpted face.
Her features had the sharp, classical beauty of a sculpture, yet retained a soft, rounded elegance. Her red lips were lightly closed beneath a delicate nose, above which sat a pair of thick, graceful brows. Her calm eyes held a depth like the ocean, quiet, endless.
A ponytail of jet-black hair flowed down her back. Her slender figure stood tall, the white robes cinched at the waist swaying gently in the breeze, occasionally revealing the taut, shapely legs beneath.
Her beauty was of a different kind than the woman in red. If the red-clad woman was like a ripe peach, luscious and sweet then the one in white was elegant with a touch of aloofness, her beauty leaning toward a cold, neutral edge.
She carried an air of nobility and quiet pride. Standing beside the red-robed woman, she even seemed a touch taller, but her cold gaze was what left the deepest impression as she regarded Li Wuyi and Li Yan without a word.
Li Yan blinked, momentarily stunned. He had no idea why these two fairy-like maidens were standing at the gate of his courtyard. Instinctively, he turned to Li Wuyi.
Li Wuyi looked just as awkward, clearly uncomfortable. He had already sensed the two women with his divine sense while flying overhead and knew they had sensed him as well. There was no escaping it.
Now, seeing Li Yan's questioning look, he could only cough lightly.
"Heh... Junior Brother, allow me to introduce these two, this is Martial Sister Li Changting of Boundless Peak, and this is Martial Sister Zhao Min."
He gestured first to the woman in red, then to the one in white.
Li Yan quickly stepped forward and cupped his hands in greeting.
"New disciple Li Yan greets Senior Sister Li and Senior Sister Zhao!"
The red-robed woman lifted a delicate hand to her lips and laughed with a silvery chime.
"So, you're the one who's cultivated the Fractured Poison Body. You look quite well-behaved! But with that bit of cultivation, you'd best work hard, mm? Hehehe…"
The white-clad girl, meanwhile, remained expressionless, quiet, and detached.
Li Yan could faintly sense a subtle pressure emanating from both women, even though they were holding back. From their demeanor and the way Li Wuyi addressed them, he guessed they must be Foundation Establishment experts. That left him speechless.
Everyone he'd encountered lately had ridiculously high cultivation. Even that Yu fellow from Spirit Insect Peak and his Seventh Senior Brother were already at high levels within the Qi Condensation realm, while he himself had barely stepped into the second level.
And why were female cultivators all like paintings come to life? All the women he'd seen, whether outer disciples or servants, weren't necessarily stunning beauties, but they all carried an ethereal, graceful aura.
This Senior Sister Li in red, just by speaking, was enough to set hearts racing. Her words made his face flush and his heart pound. As for the one in white, her cold and distant presence reminded him of his Sixth Senior Sister, both were tall, aloof, and unapproachable.
"Senior Brother Wuyi, I'd meant to come by a few days ago for a drink with you, but my little darling was in the middle of a breakthrough.
Today, I ran into Junior Sister Zhao on the mountain and thought we'd visit together. You weren't at your courtyard, but then we bumped into Junior Brother Daqiao, who told us you were probably here. We've been waiting a while."
Li Changting's phoenix eyes sparkled, her voice soft and bewitching. As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her ample bosom swayed with the motion. Li Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly lowered his head, clearly flustered.
Li Wuyi, unaffected by her charms, simply shook his head.
"Junior Sister Li, I'm afraid I don't have time today. I still need to take Junior Brother to handle some formalities."
"Oh? But Daqiao said he already showed your Junior Brother around yesterday. And today, you were just picking out the cultivation method and techniques, weren't you? So where exactly are you off to now?"
Li Changting's phoenix eyes twinkled with playful mischief as she looked at Li Wuyi with a knowing smile.
Li Wuyi froze, immediately cursing his Seventh Junior Brother in his heart. Now exposed, he flushed slightly and quickly tried to recover.
"Ahem. Junior Sister Li, it's not that I don't want to join you. Whether it's poetry, drinking, or any other pastime, I can't compare to you.
And besides… that wine of yours, it's not easily brewed. To drink it so casually would be such a waste!"
He cleared his throat and feigned a look of reluctant admiration, gesturing toward the red gourd at Li Changting's waist as he spoke.
"Oh, Senior Brother Wuyi, I still haven't thought of a good matching line to your last verse, 'By the little bridge, parting brings a sorrowful rain', how am I not a worthy opponent then?"
"And besides, drinking with a kindred spirit is the true pleasure! This wine, though brewed with my dearest, most beloved Listening Wind Gu, Blood-Melt Gu, Ant-Bee Gu, and a pair of Intestine-Twisting Gu Kings…"
"Senior Sister Li, Senior Brother Wuyi, you two take your time chatting. I'll head back first. Just call me when you're ready to return, Senior Sister Li!"
Before either of them could respond, a cool and distant voice rang out, it was the white-robed girl who had been silent the entire time. Clearly, she didn't want to listen to their conversation any longer, dropping that abrupt comment before turning to leave.
Li Yan was utterly baffled by her words, but the other two clearly understood her meaning. They both nodded slightly in her direction.
As soon as they did, the white-robed girl tapped the ground lightly with her toes and shot off like an arrow, stirring up a gust of wind in her wake. Not once did she look back at Li Yan.
A wave of wind swept past him, rustling the bamboo leaves all around. She had looked so otherworldly and serene before, yet now she left with such an imposing aura, it was hard to say whether she truly had urgent matters or simply wanted to avoid them.
Li Yan was inwardly startled. Who would've thought a woman could produce such explosive strength from her legs?
His gaze couldn't help but drift to the red gourd at Li Changting's waist, recalling what she had been saying before the girl interrupted, something about the wine being brewed from a mess of Gu insects.
As if sensing his gaze, Li Changting turned from the direction the girl had disappeared in and gave him a radiant smile.
"Li... Junior Brother Li Yan, was it? Still quite young, but could it be you're a fellow lover of fine liquor?"
Though she had mentioned that the wine was brewed from a concoction of various Gu insects, back in his village, many hunters also made medicinal liquors, soaking all sorts of beast organs in alcohol.
It wasn't as if he found it terrifying. Once they were soaked in wine, what was there to fear?
Great Qing Mountain folks were open-minded, and though he was young, he had sipped a bit himself from time to time. Still, he didn't quite know how to respond, until a voice suddenly echoed in his ear. It was Li Wuyi.
He looked up quickly, only to see Li Wuyi still gazing off in the direction the white-robed girl had gone. He wasn't even looking this way. But from Li Yan's angle, he could see that the skin near Li Wuyi's ear had turned slightly green.
"Junior Brother, this is a sound-transmission technique. That wine of Sister Li's, it's brewed from Gu insects. Though it can enhance your cultivation, the brewing process is far from ordinary medicinal liquors.
"Just from appearance alone, I doubt you'd be able to stomach even a sip. The color? Rainbow-like but worse, there's a dense layer of Gu insects floating on the surface.
"Some are completely dead. Some... half-alive. Pour it into a cup, and you might see them writhing, sinking and floating.
"Some of them may still have the half-bitten corpses of other Gu in their mouths. And some of the translucent ones, you can even see other Gu crawling inside their bellies…"
At that point, Li Yan felt an uncontrollable itch rise in his throat, as if thousands of tiny bugs were crawling across it. His stomach churned and twisted violently. He couldn't hear another word.
His face turned pale as he glanced at Li Changting, who was watching him with a half-smile.
"S-Senior Sister Li, I've only just entered the sect and still have a mountain of basics to catch up on. I won't keep the two of you any longer."
With that, he didn't wait for their reply. He whipped out his sect token, waved it at the gate, and in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished. The white mist at the entrance surged violently once more, swallowing the entire courtyard from view.
A silvery, bell-like laughter rang out in the mist as Li Changting turned toward Li Wuyi, eyes twinkling.
"Senior Brother Wuyi, you must've said something. That little junior of ours is quite amusing. Still, I did come here today for you. This wine of mine isn't for just anyone.
"So, what say you? Shall we stroll through the bamboo forest behind the mountain and toast to the ancients? Or perhaps retreat to your courtyard for some wine and poetry? I've learned quite a few new verses from Auntie recently, you won't find it so easy to best me now."
Li Wuyi's face tightened. But he knew there was no getting out of this. Once you run into Li Changting, shaking her off was harder than ascending the heavens.
He silently resolved to hand over his sect duties to Fourth Junior Sister starting tomorrow. He needed to enter closed-door cultivation urgently.
With a resigned sigh, he forced a smile.
"Junior Sister Li, let's head to my courtyard. I've still got two jars of fine wine gifted by Master the last time, they are quite exquisite. One of them is even pear blossom flavored."
"Oh? That could be worth a taste. Though those wines are really just for indulgence, useless for cultivation. Here, how about this? One sip of pear blossom, one sip of mine…"
Lines of black crept across Li Wuyi's radiant face. The two flew off as they spoke, though his escape light looked dim and drained, flickering like a dying ember.
Back in the courtyard, Li Yan dashed straight inside, frantically waving his token to activate the defensive formation, as though a horde of red bugs was chasing behind him.
Once inside, he rested for a while before finally banishing the lingering disgust in his mind.
He patted his storage pouch, and with a flash of white light, a small porcelain bottle appeared in his hand, the fasting pill given to him by Eldest Senior Brother today. He wanted to see just how long one could go without eating after taking it.
Uncorking the bottle, a faint herbal aroma wafted out. Tilting it, he tapped the base lightly, and out rolled a light purple pill the size of a soybean into his palm.
After putting the bottle away, he pinched the pill gently between two fingers and held it up to the light.
The pill was semi-transparent when backlit, smooth and round, almost like a tiny purple sweet potato bead.
After a moment of observation, he found nothing special about it aside from its sheen.
"A pill this small can keep one from feeling hunger for days?"
Muttering to himself, Li Yan placed the fasting pill in his mouth. Instantly, he felt a slight numbness on his tongue, followed by a warm current surging into his abdomen.
A feeling of fullness instantly bloomed in his belly, making him burp aloud, he no longer felt even a shred of hunger.
"As expected of an immortal's concoction… this little thing is truly miraculous. Looks like I'll need to tell the kitchen staff to cut back on deliveries."
He murmured to himself, savoring the sensation in his stomach. Even now, he hadn't fully grasped the true power of a fasting pill.
Only in the days that followed did he come to understand its effects completely.
During that time, he dove headfirst into his cultivation studies, seated cross-legged, calming his mind, reading through ancient texts stored in his sea of consciousness. He would read until he tired, sleep, then wake and read again…
After eight or nine days, he had unsealed and read through several ancient books, and yet still hadn't felt the slightest hunger.
Eventually, he stopped thinking about it. If he ever got hungry, he'd just pop another pill. Only later did he realize why the sect issued exactly three pills per month, it was all carefully calculated.
After that, Li Yan's focus truly began to shift toward cultivation in earnest.
(Chapter End)