"Hss—Physician Zhou, hold me tighter!"
Tang Xiangyin had not even had the chance to feel relief before a sharp chill suddenly swept through the courtyard.
The snowfall had already stopped, yet she shivered so badly she stamped her feet against the cold.
Zhou Lili and the other Wuxiang Sect disciples were the same, hastily channeling their spiritual power to resist the biting air.
Han Huijun stroked his chin. Aside from the difficulty of finding that storage bracelet, this deal of ten thousand spirit stones was actually quite worth it. He had even wrongly accused Yao Ranran's group just now, nearly searching the souls of those two girls. Compared to that, this condition was troublesome, but still acceptable.
While his thoughts churned, Han Huijun's gaze shifted—and suddenly fell on the subtle motion of Shen Yuefu's feet as they pressed lightly against the ground.
"Eh? Elder Shen, you're still here?"
Han Huijun stared in surprise.
Shen Yuefu was a man of few words. His heated dispute with Yao Ranran had drawn everyone's attention, making them forget his silent presence.
Even Han Huijun had overlooked him.
In Han Huijun's mind, Shen Yuefu hated meddling in such tangled affairs. Naturally, he would have left already. But now, Han Huijun's raised voice drew every gaze back toward Shen Yuefu.
Shen Yuefu's steps faltered slightly. From the corner of his eye, a cold light swept across Han Huijun. A shiver shot down Han Huijun's spine, as if a blade of ice had just grazed his back.
"Killing intent!" he gasped belatedly, instantly snapping to alertness.
The crowd drew together nervously.
"Sect master, what's wrong? Where's the killing intent coming from?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is that it's aimed at me!" Han Huijun immediately summoned his treasure, adopting a battle stance.
"Fairy Ranran, save me!" Tang Xiangyin and Zhou Lili clung to Yao Ranran on either side in fright.
Shen Yuefu drew his gaze away, cold and dismissive, and fixed it instead on Yao Ranran surrounded by her companions.
Were these two friends ones she had made in the Eastern Wilderness?
Before he realized it, he found himself wondering what kind of life Yao Ranran had led in the Eastern Wilderness.
"Your request, Wuxiang Sect has agreed to it."
Han Huijun and the disciples were in disarray. Under the sweep of his powerful divine sense, he seemed to notice something, and looked again toward Shen Yuefu.
But once more, he was met with that icy, emotionless gaze.
A tremor jolted Han Huijun's heart. Forcing himself to maintain the air of a sect master, he said sternly, "Elder Shen, why do you speak over this sect master?"
Shen Yuefu's tone was cool. "I saw sect master was busy, so I spoke in your place."
Han Huijun clasped his hands behind his back and nodded faintly. "Very well. We'll let it pass today. But Elder Shen must not do this again."
Shen Yuefu's pale blue eyes reflected the white snow against the blue bricks, as cold and cutting as winter steel.
"Sect master, have you found the assassin?"
"—Hhss!"
Han Huijun sucked in a sharp breath. That low, chilly voice was downright frightening.
"The assassin… isn't that you…"
"The assassin has already fled. Should sect master not be leading the pursuit?" Shen Yuefu cut him off with a glacial tone.
Han Huijun raised a finger, ready to retort, but the disciples around him panicked.
"Sect master, we must chase immediately!"
"Yes, hurry! Elder Shen said the assassin went that way!"
"Hey, hey! This sect master hasn't spoken yet—whose orders are you listening to?"
Despite his protest, the Wuxiang Sect disciples hustled him away.
In just a few moments, the courtyard fell quiet again, leaving only Yao Ranran, Tang Xiangyin, Zhou Lili—and Shen Yuefu.
"Um… Elder Shen, don't you need to sleep at night?" Yao Ranran was the first to break the silence.
He said nothing. She could hardly just sit there staring at him forever.
When the three thought he would remain silent, Shen Yuefu finally spoke, voice like ice. "There's no need to cultivate at night."
"Is that because you don't have a Dao companion?" Tang Xiangyin blurted out.
As a chariot spirit, she carried most of Tang Xiangyin's memories, and knew some dual cultivation methods.
For cultivators with a furnace cauldron or Dao companion, cultivation at night doubled the effect. So when Shen Yuefu said he did not cultivate at night, she immediately made that association.
The three women fell silent together.
Yao Ranran never imagined the usually well-behaved Tang Xiangyin would ask something like that.
Zhou Lili couldn't stand it and whispered into Tang Xiangyin's ear, "It's because he's a genius!"
Tang Xiangyin brightened. "Ah, then Fairy Ranran doesn't cultivate at night either. You're both the same kind of genius!"
Yao Ranran: …Thanks for the compliment?
Or maybe she just didn't cultivate at night because she was lazy?
"Genius?" Shen Yuefu repeated the word with disdain, then fixed his gaze on Yao Ranran. "Yao Ranran, where did your cultivation come from?"
"Of course from cultivating—" Zhou Lili answered, only to realize Shen Yuefu wasn't listening to her at all.
Yao Ranran frowned slightly. "Elder Shen, I picked it up."
Shen Yuefu's brow furrowed. "Picked up…"
"Do you believe me?" Yao Ranran added with a faintly mocking tone.
His expression darkened instantly.
Tang Xiangyin and Zhou Lili's jaws dropped. Fairy Ranran was too bold—she dared tease Elder Shen himself!
"I remember crippling your cultivation. You were trapped on Gu Ling Mountain every day. How did you reach the tenth level of Qi Refinement?"
Tenth level of Qi Refinement?
Tang Xiangyin and Zhou Lili quickly examined her and nodded in unison. It was true—Fairy Ranran had reached the tenth level!
"The serious answer is: one day I had an epiphany, and that's how I gained this cultivation."
Yao Ranran was not lying.
That day in the bamboo forest, she truly felt as if something within her had awakened. She jumped from the first to the tenth level of Qi Refinement in a single breath.
She only realized later in Longyin Village, when Jiang Shengxiang and the others pointed it out.
Shen Yuefu regarded her evenly.
After a long silence, he said, "I see. Then I have one last question."
"Will you acknowledge Yu Weifeng as your father?"
Yao Ranran blinked in surprise.
What kind of question was that?
"No."
Thankfully, she already had that answer prepared.
That cheap father Yu Weifeng? She had no reason to acknowledge him. Why would she follow the original plotline?
"Good." Shen Yuefu gave a faint nod, then turned and walked away.
For a long moment, the courtyard was still.
"Did he really leave?" Tang Xiangyin whispered timidly.
Yao Ranran shook her head. She couldn't be sure.
Zhou Lili spoke cautiously. "Let's talk inside."
She had countless questions pressing on her mind for Fairy Ranran.
The three returned to their room, side by side, and lit a warm fire. The flames danced against the paper windows.
Yao Ranran recounted everything that had happened over the past days.
…
At Yiyu Hall.
"Cultivators live long lives. So… does that mean hearts can change?"
Shen Yuefu stared at the brilliant mushroom on the desk, then shifted his gaze toward the brightly lit courtyard halfway down the mountain.
"She doesn't matter. What matters is my opponent.
Little girl from Shu Xi Palace… how can I ever find you?"