"Hah... hah... senior sister, this is insane."
"If you can still talk... save your breath..."
After about a week, the disciples of the Goddess Alchemy Palace were reaching their limit. For seven days straight, they had run up and down the mountain ten times, morning and evening, without a single day of rest. Body and mind alike were being eaten alive by exhaustion, until by midday they looked no different from walking corpses. Even Su Lin and Mu Xia, who had managed the full course on the very first day, could no longer endure it by the second. As for the ordinary disciples who had collapsed after only three laps that first day, there was nothing more to say.
"...Weren't we supposed to be learning Lady Heroine's own technique?"
One of the girls gritted her teeth and forced the words out. Running on the mountain was not like running on flat ground. They had to stay alert every second, dodging obstacles that always seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"It's already been seven days..."
Whoosh!
Before she could finish, a small shadow shot past her face like a ghost. It was Hui'er, moving with effortless ease, not a trace of exhaustion or a single drop of sweat on her. The girl kicked off the ground with the tip of her toe, light as air yet impossibly fast, and in no time she had left them all behind in a blur.
"Hah... that girl... she's really not using qi?"
None of them wanted to believe that a child who looked younger than every one of them could do something like this. In seven full days, not one of them had ever seen Hui'er sweat, not even once.
"We underestimated her..."
At first they had thought only Tang Yeye was some kind of monster for her age. But they had forgotten what that very monster called Hui'er.
'Sister.'
And with genuine respect, no less.
No wonder if this child was, in truth, even stronger!
"Hurry... let's go..."
"Our senior sisters should almost be done by now..."
"Today... we have to make it too!"
They shook their heads to chase the scattered thoughts away and quickened their pace. None of them noticed the Dragon Queen's eyes watching from above, small wings fluttering as she kept vigil.
.
.
.
"You're back?"
Tang Yeye was still using the stairs as her favorite perch, cheeks puffed full with a huge chunk of bread. She greeted her older sister brightly the moment Hui'er walked in.
Beside her stood a large basin filled with shimmering blue water. Grandmaster Lu Qing was the one stirring it, continuously, while disciples who were not part of the training served as his hands.
These were girls too young for it, or who did not think themselves suited to combat, so they had volunteered to work behind the scenes like this instead, supporting their sisters.
"I'm back... is my lady still down in that room?"
Hui'er took the cup of water a small disciple handed her and sipped it lightly. Her state, no different at all from before she had left to run, made the girl stare at her with open bewilderment.
"Yes. Something about that room seems off. But my lady still paces around the Palace during the day..."
Tang Yeye answered without much concern. Just then the Palace gate opened again. It was Mu Xia and Su Lin, walking in exhausted. They gladly accepted the blue water the junior disciples rushed to serve them and drained their cups in a single gulp.
"Whew..."
The moment the blue water slid down their throats, a refreshing coolness burst through them along with their strength returning. The girls closed their eyes, bodies trembling faintly, unable to stop it. This was the water Grandmaster Lu Qing had started handing out after the third day. The instant anyone drank it, it felt no different from being born again. Every part of their bodies grew light.
It was one of the reasons more and more of them had been making it through this grueling training as the days went on.
Mu Xia looked at Hui'er with respect in her eyes. All week, even as this child pushed them without mercy, she had joined in on every part of the training herself.
But what truly made her tremble came after.
The part of training only those who finished the full run were allowed to join!
That was the moment they would find themselves gaping in stunned disbelief every single time, even after days of watching it happen.
This small girl would transform into a master of technique so complete that even if all of them and their sisters surrounded her from every direction at once, they still could not so much as graze a single hair on her!
"Looks like everyone's made it today..."
Hui'er quietly counted the disciples who had joined the training in her head. The moment the last one managed to push the gate open on her own, she broke into a wide smile.
"Congratulations, everyone. Evening training ends as of today."
"What do you mean?"
Some of the girls did not understand and had to raise their hands to ask.
"It means from now on, strength training like this will only happen in the mornings," Hui'er said with a smile.
Her lady had already started giving her signals — from afternoon into evening, a different kind of training would take its place instead.
"Thank you all for pushing through. Tomorrow's a rest day, so enjoy it."
The instant the word "rest day" left Hui'er's mouth, the girls who had just survived a full week of misery erupted into a roar of cheers.
"Is that really okay, Sister Hui'er?"
Tang Yeye, walking alongside Hui'er, asked in surprise.
"It's fine. Looks like Empress Auntie's about to come out soon too..."
"And this training... it was only ever the beginning."
Having said that, Hui'er let a knowing smile linger at the corner of her mouth. The two sisters giggled together as they walked back toward Bai Fanxian, with Grandmaster Lu Qing eavesdropping quietly nearby before letting out a sigh.
"...How exactly did you raise these two, I wonder?"
.
.
.
"Senior sister! Look, look — I've never seen a treat like this before."
The next morning, everything felt like a dream. Some disciples still could not quite believe they had been given a day off, their legs carrying them to the training grounds out of pure habit before they even realized it. Others chose to make the most of their free day by heading down into the city, like the two sisters Xinjia and Xinhong.
They had not come alone. They had dragged Mu Xia and Su Lin along with them too.
"Aren't you getting a little too excited?"
Mu Xia shook her head, watching her overly cheerful junior sisters. Today was not just a pleasure trip. They had business to handle at the city's trading hall as well.
Which was to exchange a portion of the treasures they had received for hard cash!
Some of those treasures were valuable enough that plenty of other sects would have guarded them carefully. But the Goddess Alchemy Palace's accounts were deep in the red these days, and feeding the mouths of the Palace's own disciples had to come first. So none of them hesitated to sell the treasures off without a second thought for what they were worth.
"Meow~ Kuro wants that one."
They were not the only four who had come along. This time, the little cat had tagged along too. Kuro perched on Su Lin's shoulder, pointing a front paw toward a stall along the roadside.
"Hold on... none of us have any money on us right now."
Su Lin stroked its head gently to console it. So their first stop had to be the city's trading hall, naturally.
"Meow..."
Just from the look on the little black cat's face, it was obvious it had been spoiled rotten lately. An amused smile broke across Mu Xia's face, and she could not resist asking it.
"I bet you've been living the good life with Lady Heroine, huh?"
"Meow! The food there is delicious, meow!"
Kuro licked its lips, unable to help itself. The more it imagined the meals that elderly butler cooked for it, the more its mouth watered.
"What's Lady Heroine like, Kuro?"
Xinjia, who had turned her attention to this conversation more than the treats along the way, asked curiously.
"She's super strong, meow!"
"We already know that much..."
"She's super rich too, meow!"
In Kuro's eyes, it was not strange at all that Bai Fanxian — owner of a massive private island, with so many people paying her respect — would seem wealthy. Besides that, during its time there, it had seen people bring in stacks of cash to pay for treatment at her clinic before.
"And on top of that, meow..."
Kuro was just getting started on the finer points of Bai Fanxian's alchemy skills for the girls when a group of people interrupted before it could finish.
"Mu Xia... it's been a while."
The group was made up of six or seven young men, all sharing the same striking good looks and immaculate white robes. Just by walking together, they became the center of every villager's attention.
"Aren't those disciples of the Virtue Sword Sect?"
People around them began to whisper. The Virtue Sword Sect seemed to have quite the reputation as one of the city's leading factions. Maybe a step behind Wild Bloom in this era, but their thousand-year history alone was enough to earn them respect.
"Chen Jingyi..."
Mu Xia fixed her eyes on the young man standing at the center of the group, her gaze complicated. But before she could say anything, Xinhong, standing in front, lunged forward first.
"Chen Jingyi, you still have the nerve to greet senior sister Mu Xia!?"
The girl was practically shaking with fury. She jabbed a finger at the young man, and instead of holding her back, Xinjia stepped up right beside her sister and shouted right along with her.
"...Enough."
It was Su Lin who had to rush in and rein in both her junior sisters. But even as she held them back from doing anything reckless, the look in her eyes as she stared at Chen Jingyi was pure ice.
This man had once abandoned her junior sister!
Back then, the Goddess Alchemy Palace had not yet fallen as low as it had now. Though only a second-tier power, it had not been an easy target either.
At the time, Chen Jingyi had been nothing more than an ordinary young man who had arrived at the Goddess Alchemy Palace with severe injuries. Mu Xia had been the girl who nursed and tended to him day and night until he recovered.
That was where their bond had begun. Mu Xia had never once looked down on the young man for being an ordinary person. She had supported him until he finally started down his own path of cultivation. The sight of the two of them together had become such an ordinary thing that the whole Palace had grown used to it.
But then one day, Chen Jingyi's handsome face caught the eye of the Virtue Sword Sect's young princess.
And that was the moment Mu Xia's heart shattered.
The young man she had nursed without a moment's rest for herself. The young man who had stayed by her side through joy and sorrow alike. The young man who had promised to stand beside her forever. He left her for the wealthy sect's young princess without so much as a glance back.
"..."
She had heard he had married into the Virtue Sword Sect as its son-in-law. He had also received an abundance of resources that sent his cultivation soaring past hers within just a few years. Afterward, though they had crossed paths a handful of times, he treated her with cold indifference, like a stranger he had never known.
"I heard your Palace has been having a hard time lately. If there's anything I can help with..." Chen Jingyi offered, trying on what he clearly believed was his most charming smile.
Mu Xia, who had stayed silent all this while, finally understood their true purpose in coming.
Treasure. And a connection to Lady Heroine.
Before this — didn't I swallow my pride and beg you for help, when the Palace was at its worst, nearly gone?
...And what did you say to me, back then?
"Heh..."
The look in her eyes turned to ice. She stepped forward to face the young man who had once been her first love, her expression perfectly composed. The turmoil that had once filled her heart had, strangely, gone completely still.
Infatuated with fame and power.
"...Young master of the Virtue Sword Sect."
People like him were all the same.
"...I'm afraid I don't know you."