Chapter 8: Are You Sick or What?
Yan Qiuyu left without anyone knowing when she had gone.
Hang Yanling sat dazed on the bed, her head buzzing, her face flushed, with her palm pressed against her cheek, her chest rising and falling from heavy breaths.
In just one short morning, she had experienced too much.
The relationship mentioned by the Pure Water Fairy regarding the Fu Family and what Yan Qiuyu had just said to Hang Yanling…
These were all corners of a life never glimpsed in her past three hundred years, experiences belonging to Hang Yanling herself.
“Damn it…”
Hang Yanling rubbed her burning cheeks, though she couldn’t completely blame him, after all, in her past life, the few women she could get close to were almost entirely killed off by that evil woman, leaving her a pitiful old bachelor until her death.
“Ha, hiss… ha…”
Not wanting to think too much, she found the room still carried the fragrance of her childhood sweetheart, making her head spin.
Suppressing the intense pain, Hang Yanling sat on the edge of the bed, raised her hand gently to cover her pierced shoulder, and dark true energy manifested in her palm.
The highly corrosive Yin Spirit Qi spread from her palm into the wound on her shoulder. Once it skillfully infiltrated the damaged meridians in her shoulder, the bandage over the wound became soaked with crimson droplets, causing Hang Yanling to shudder and violently spit out a mouthful of fresh blood from her lungs.
“Poof!”
Blood splattered onto her knees, and her light purple eyes glimmered faintly.
Taking a couple of breaths, the dark true energy began to corrode the bandage on her shoulder. The blood-red bandage weakened with a sizzling sound, breaking apart to expose the jade-white skin beneath the ribbon.
“That’s about it.”
Once free again, Hang Yanling wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, wrapped the blood-stained bandage up, and tossed it aside.
She first stretched out significantly, then exhaled—what came out of the mouth of a girl was a stream of dark turbid Qi.
A faint black mist appeared around her, a sign that she had broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage.
The Nascent Soul Stage symbolizes the gradual consolidation of true energy into true essence within the body, marking the ability to utilize true energy with precise control. Following a common cultivation rhythm, one usually completes body refinement before the age of ten, breaks into the Qi Refining Stage around thirteen or fourteen, undergoes six to seven years of tempering true energy, and breaks through to the early Nascent Soul Stage by the age of twenty.
Thus, it is no wonder that Fu Tianqing, who had reached the late Nascent Soul Stage at just seventeen, was called a genius.
Of course, this guideline applies primarily to regular cultivators.
To stay alive, those who cannot heal themselves through meditation and ventilation often have to rely on continuous breakthroughs to extend their lifespan. Coincidentally, Yin Spirit Qi practitioners do not require any foundational training; they corrode and devour anything they see, with growth rates that are almost uncontrollable.
The speed at which Yin Spirit Qi practitioners advance in realms is extremely fast, because if their pace falls behind the swelling speed of their own Yin Spirit Qi, they themselves will be the first to be corroded to death.
It’s much like trying to take skin from a tiger.
“But it looks like Hang Yanling has been stuck in the Qi Refining Stage for quite a while. How did she manage to survive?”
Feeling the increasingly familiar coldness within her body, Hang Yanling looked down, staring at the bandage on her chest, lost in thought for quite a while. She reached out to grip the bandage, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately decided against it. Properly adjusting her clothes, she stood up and walked out of the room.
————————————-
The midday sunshine was pleasant and comfortable. Since her rebirth, it was her first time enjoying the sun so leisurely.
A cool breeze wafted through, accompanied by the fragrance of flowers and birdsong.
Walking along the path, Hang Yanling felt refreshed, her arms crossed, meandering aimlessly.
Breaking through to a new realm hadn’t brought her joy; instead, the events that had just transpired in her room made her involuntarily reflect.
Watching the numerous young female disciples within the Lotus Flower Sect gather and chat happily.
Hang Yanling couldn’t help but ponder seriously.
In retrospect, her previous notion that “Hang Yanling” had poor relationships within the sect was based solely on the reactions of the young cleaning disciple by the entrance and the mocking remarks of the “Third Senior Sister” in the apothecary.
Thinking it over, had she perhaps been too quick to judge?
Setting aside the image of the Third Senior Sister crying and applying medicine to her earlier that morning.
Based only on her experiences over the past few days, if she had poor relationships, Xiao Qiuyu wouldn’t have bothered to visit her so specially. Moreover, the girl named Xiao Labai seemed quite close to Hang Yanling too…
Hmm…
Could it be that she had simply misjudged the situation?
This evil woman actually…
“Eh? Maybe I’m… quite popular in this sect after all?”
Hang Yanling laughed heartily, scratching her head. Just then, she suddenly heard a gust of wind, and turning her head.
A stone the size of a jujube struck her forehead precisely.
Warm blood flowed down her bewildered face.
Hang Yanling dazedly looked in the direction from which the stone had been thrown—about thirty meters away stood five or six girls, all seemingly around fifteen or sixteen years of age, dressed in the disciples’ attire of the Lotus Flower Palace, casting unfriendly glances at her.
The leader was a girl wearing a purple dress similar to what Yan Qiuyu had on today. From her posture and the somewhat smug expression, it was evident that she was the one who had thrown the stone.
Oh no?
“Tch, she looked over.”
“Really unlucky.”
“Let’s go, let’s go…”
“She’s embarrassed the sect. It’s a wonder she still dares to go out…”
“Stop talking, don’t let her hear it.”
The girls chattered as they walked away, but honestly, they hadn’t made much effort to keep their voices down, as if they wanted Hang Yanling to hear them on purpose.
Hang Yanling twitched her mouth, freezing in place, and after a long while, she coughed, flushing red, and muttered to herself:
“I, I said it! How could a scoundrel like Hang Yanling have a good reputation in the sect? Cough, cough… hiss…”
Covering her forehead, Hang Yanling, feeling helpless, could only follow the direction her memories recalled, skillfully navigating back to the apothecary of the Lotus Flower Sect—truthfully, this path to the apothecary was probably the one she was most familiar with in the sect.
——————————————————
With a creak, she opened the apothecary door and was lucky that the Third Senior Sister had been called away by the Zi Shui Xianzi that morning, as there weren’t many people in the apothecary at the moment.
Hang Yanling carefully closed the door behind her, rummaged through the cabinet to find some bandages, and wrapped them around her forehead haphazardly, tying them off. Then she searched the herb cabinet and began grinding herbs in the apothecary’s mortar, sighing as she worked.
“Why didn’t you throw it earlier? Just broke through and got hurt, and the Lotus Flower Sect has no healing ointments…”
As Hang Yanling complained, the door creaked open, and a series of sobs came from the entrance.
Someone had entered the apothecary.
While grinding the herbs, Hang Yanling lifted her head to avoid having her head split open unexpectedly.
The girl who entered was looking down, sobbing with no consideration for Hang Yanling in the room. She walked straight to a stool at a table in the apothecary and lay down, crying softly.
Wasn’t this the Third Senior Sister who had left this morning?
What is happening…
Hang Yanling hesitated for a moment upon seeing this, but still clapped her hands and stood up, coughing to ask, “Third Senior Sister, what’s wrong?”
Hearing someone else, the Third Senior Sister shivered, and her crying stopped abruptly.
She stood up and used her sleeve to cover her face, ambiguously saying, “It’s nothing… don’t mind me.”
“What happened? Why are you crying so sadly? Tell me?”
Hang Yanling casually pulled out a section of bandage from her sleeve and offered it to the Third Senior Sister. To her surprise, the Third Senior Sister didn’t take it, awkwardly turning her back while still covering her face and angrily shouted, “I already said it has nothing to do with you! Even if she died, you would only applaud, right?!”
“Applaud? Who?”
“Are you annoying! She already—”
The Third Senior Sister turned back, glaring at Hang Yanling with tear-stained eyes.
Hang Yanling felt a jolt in her heart again.
Unlike the fluttering heart when she was cozying up to the Second Senior Sister Yan Qiuyu, the sudden exchange of gazes with the Third Senior Sister made her heartbeat surge, as if something had suddenly startled her, making her heart want to leap out of her throat.
The Third Senior Sister stared at Hang Yanling, her teary eyes scanning her up and down for a moment.
Her expression shifted from aggrieved to dazed, from dazed to panicked, to ultimately becoming exasperated.
“What are you doing here!!!!!!”
“Eh!”
The Third Senior Sister’s question made Hang Yanling retract her neck and step back, hurriedly pointing at her forehead to explain, “I-I’m just here to get some hemostatic medicine, I’ll leave soon!”
“You—you’re not—how can you move your arm!”
The Third Senior Sister appeared both surprised and angry, looking up and seeing the hastily wrapped bandage on Hang Yanling’s head. She sniffled and asked, “What happened to your forehead?”
“I got hit by a stone.”
Upon hearing this, the Third Senior Sister slammed her hand down on the table, making a loud sound.
“You deserve it!!! Running around with such a serious injury—who threw it at you?”
“Are you on my side or against me…”
“…Stop talking nonsense and come here!”
The Third Senior Sister stood up, clearly instructing Hang Yanling to come over, but she herself rushed to Hang Yanling first, placing a stool down and forcibly pressing her head down to make her sit—though she was labeled as “Third Senior Sister,” this little girl seemed to be even shorter than Hang Yanling.
Hang Yanling obediently sat down as instructed, and the Third Senior Sister undid the bandage on Hang Yanling’s head and examined the wound.
For some reason, looking at Hang Yanling’s injury made the Third Senior Sister twitch her mouth, and she couldn’t hold back her tears, which fell with a soft “oo” right onto Hang Yanling’s wound.
The wound stung from the tears, making Hang Yanling grimace, “Eh, eh! You’re putting salt on the wound!!”
“I-I didn’t!”
The Third Senior Sister hurriedly wiped her eyes, raised her small hand, and the shadowy green spirit energy enveloped Hang Yanling’s forehead; healing such an injury wasn’t difficult for a wood-type cultivator like the Third Senior Sister.
With her head held down, Hang Yanling couldn’t see the Third Senior Sister’s expression and could only ask helplessly, “So, who exactly were you crying for?”
“It has nothing to do with a lowlife like you—remember, don’t scratch if it itches here.”
“Oh, I just asked because I saw the Third Senior Sister crying sadly.”
“Crying? Hmph, I don’t need your concern—take off your clothes and let me see your wound.”
“…Uh…”
“You’re a disgrace, stirring up trouble in the Second Senior Sister’s marriage and still dare to walk around on the street, don’t you think it’s embarrassing enough—hey, does it hurt here?”
“It’s not painful, it’s just…”
“What do you mean by just…? The Lotus Flower Palace has already become a laughingstock because of you! And you’re still sneaking around… You better be aware that if your injury doesn’t heal properly, you’ll wait here.”
Hang Yanling sat on the stool, staring blankly at the Third Senior Sister, who was quickly gathering herbs tightly and moving to the apothecary stove, preparing to brew the soup medicine.
Hiss…
“Hey, Senior Sister, can I ask one thing—are you dual-core?”
“Shut up! Don’t talk to me while I’m brewing medicine; you’ll distract me—what do you mean dual-core?”
“Uh, how do I explain this…”
Hang Yanling frowned and stared at her, pondering how she had ever interacted with this seemingly mentally unstable Third Senior Sister in her past life. She could only stand up and say:
“Then… you can keep brewing the medicine, I’ll step out so I don’t get in your way.”
“Consider yourself self-aware… come sit down!!!!!!!”
Seeing the Third Senior Sister standing up with an agitated expression as if she were going to hit someone, Hang Yanling hurriedly sat back down on the small stool obediently.
Then, the room fell silent.
The Third Senior Sister kept her mouth shut as she crouched there brewing medicine.
Hang Yanling didn’t know what to say, awkwardly clutching her dress.
The heat from the medicine stove was making Hang Yanling sweat cold beads from her forehead.
Help me, somebody tell me.
How did Hang Yanling initially handle her interpersonal relationships?
Did she become mentally unstable due to living long-term in an environment like the Lotus Flower Palace, filled with people who were not quite right in the head?
She really couldn’t stay in the Lotus Flower Palace any longer; it was time to seriously consider when to make her escape.
To be honest, while the Third Senior Sister was brewing medicine, her repeatedly twitching corners of her mouth and either sobbing or smiling made her seem too creepy.
It was hard not to doubt what kind of medicine she was actually brewing.
“Eh, forget it! I suddenly remembered I have something urgent to do, I’ll head out!”
Hang Yanling did not wait for the Third Senior Sister to respond, getting up to push the door and escape, but as soon as she opened the door, she bumped right into someone.
The soft elasticity made Hang Yanling bounce back into the room after her forehead collided against it.
“Ouch—”
Hang Yanling stumbled, squinting her eyes as she quickly apologized, “Sorry, I’m in a hurry—”
But what met her eyes was a sea of purple. Looking up at the person she had bumped into, she found the other party gazing kindly at her.
“Where are you going, Xiao Ling’er?”
“Zi Shui—s-s-sssuperior master?”
“Mm~”
Standing at the doorway was none other than the master of the Lotus Flower Palace, the Zi Shui Xianzi.
She clearly took great delight in being called “superior master,” gently reaching out to stroke Hang Yanling’s head, “In such a rush, where are you off to?”
“I… ah, uh…”
The Zi Shui Xianzi tenderly supported Hang Yanling’s shoulder, gently pushing her into the apothecary. The Third Senior Sister, who was busy brewing medicine, immediately stood up respectfully and called, “Superior Master.”
“Mm, Ying’er, good~ oh, Ling’er, what happened to your forehead?”
“Ah, I got hit by a rock, hehe.”
Hang Yanling looked at the Zi Shui Xianzi with an awkward smile and asked, “Um… Superior Master, what do you need me for?”
“Xiao Ling’er… your head really has been a disaster… a slip yesterday on the back mountain, and now today you’ve been hit again… mm… how pitiful.”
The Zi Shui Xianzi gently stroked Hang Yanling’s head, making Hang Yanling feel puzzled inside.
What was the point of all this?
“Ah? …Mm.”
“By the way, do you know about this?”
The Zi Shui Xianzi gently rubbed a ring on her finger: “I searched the back mountain with Xiao Lingdang for ages and finally found it…”
With a flash of white light from the ring, she held up an object the size of a human head, still stained with dried blood.
“Senior… Master? What is this…”
“Xiao Lingdang said that when she found you, you were lying beside this rock.”
With a smile on her face, the Zi Shui Xianzi grabbed Hang Yanling’s shoulder with one hand, lifting the rock high with the other.
Her smile grew even kinder, “Xiao Ling’er, don’t move—”
“Wait?! Master, what are you going to do?!”
Hang Yanling displayed a terrified expression as she was entirely enveloped in the shadow of the Zi Shui Xianzi.
The Zi Shui Xianzi opened her squinted eyes slightly, her voice finally carrying a tone of excitement, “Come, Ling’er… once is a chance, twice is familiarity, quickly let Master properly test if this rock opened your mind.”
“No, don’t!! It’s not—are you sick or what!!!!”
“Eh heh~❤”
Boom!
