"Who?" Wu Yelin leaned in to peer at the jade slip, her hair slipping effortlessly past her shoulders to drape against Li Hanlan's back.
Hoho, it's skinship! Except with hair, so...hairship? Hair-skin-ship? Wu Lianlei was all popcorn-munching oogler as she waited for the duo to act out some classic fluff.
To her disappointment, Li Hanlan simply shrugged his shoulders and handed the slip to Wu Yelin. "Master said only three disciples were taken. They should know that the rest would send for help; why bother sending the sect a jade slip individually?"
"Maybe they assumed everyone else was captured, too?" Wu Yelin suggested as she turned the object around in her fingers.
"Skyedge Sect has disciples scattered all over the continent. Sending a message to the nearest one would do. Why bother delivering it all the way over here? It's a far riskier choice." Li Hanlan remained unimpressed. "Moreover, the sect has high concentrations of refined qi. The fact that demonic qi can still linger on this slip for so long without disappearing..."
Qi, the basis of all cultivation. Only practicing disciples of various cultivation paths, celestial or demonic, could collect, grow, and nurture it in their dantian, an energy core of sorts located within their abdomen.
"Yes?" Wu Yelin piped up when Li Hanlan trailed off. "Don't just leave us hanging, Brother Li!"
Wu Lianlei looked on with interest, too. Indeed, there was something wrong with this jade slip, but nobody had noticed until later in the story. When did Li Hanlan get so smart?
As if sensing her thoughts, Li Hanlan turned towards her with a grin. "Little junior sister, what do you think?"
Hah? As Wu Lianlei blinked, Wu Yelin and Situ Xuanshuang looked at her as well.
"N-now wait just a minute, I'm only a mid-tier fourth rank disciple..." she waved her hands at them helplessly. What's with this sudden spotlight, huh?!
-Even if your cultivation's lacking, I expect more out of your brains.-
Wu Lianlei gave a start as Li Hanlan's voice rang out by her ear. It was a simple voice throwing trick, a convenient way to converse in private with another person nearby. Unfortunately, she'd yet to master it herself.
Suppressing a glare, she put on a pleasant smile. "I'm afraid that junior sister will only make a laughingstock out of myself. Perhaps Peak Lord Situ could enlighten us with her wisdom instead?"
How's that? I'm passing the baton onto your master, punk!
"I have my own theories," Situ Xuanshuang nodded. "But singular perspectives aren't absolute truths. Wu Lianlei, go ahead and give it a try. You can consider this part of your training as well."
Wu Lianlei felt her mouth twitch. So in the end, it's back to me again? She sent a pleading look to Wu Yelin, but her clueless sister just grinned and flashed her a thumbs up.
"Well..." Wu Lianlei paused to clear her throat. "There's multiple possibilities, of course--"
"That many?" Li Hanlan arched a brow. "Then I hope little junior sister can share them all today."
Again, Wu Lianlei shot him a swift glare. Shut up already, can't you see I'm just stalling for time?
"Ahem, junior sister is slow and stupid, so I can only come up with one theory at most--" Wu Lianlei saw that Li Hanlan was nodding enthusiastically to the 'slow and stupid' part of her comment and tore her eyes away from him. Mental case! Metalface!
Of course she knew the mystery of the jade slip, but she couldn't just blab out all its secrets here! Hengchun Village had been attacked by a fierce spiritual beast owned by a much more powerful spider demoness. Unlike the rest of her brethren, she'd been locked away in a seal array before the great battle that defeated the demonic realm. A crack appeared recently in the seal and awoken her consciousness. Although she didn't have enough power to break free, she'd managed to summon her contracted beast from a different plane to prey upon the populace and collect their blood to further weaken the constraints.
The cannon fodder disciples who ran into her first were no match for her beast, so three of them had been snatched up and killed to feed the seal. Cultivators had far richer blood, finer bodies, and power-rich dantian cores. In their pure forms, they were simply raw energy; when stained with blood and slaughter, fine tools to work against demon-constraining seals. The demoness had gotten greedy then and bound a tendril of her qi onto the jade slip to bait in similar prey. She knew righteous sects would investigate any hint of demons in the world, perhaps even send in their stronger disciples to deal with the threat. She was simply asking for gourmet food to grace her freedom buffet!
"Since it's demonic qi, then there's probably a demon at work," Wu Lianlei stated the obvious. "And since it has the gall to send the slip here, it's, uh, probably betting that we'll track it back to him or her."
"Just one demon?" Li Hanlan asked with a grin.
"Well, I wouldn't expect a crowd when most of them are sealed up by now," Wu Lianlei added quickly.
He nodded thoughtfully. "Go on."
Wu Lianlei gave him a look. What are you, my test proctor? "It could be one demon, could be a couple. The point is that the demonic qi is a message to, uh, bait us over there."
"The few demons left in the world are hiding themselves or weak," Wu Yelin piped up. "Why would they challenge us now? That's just seeking death."
"Demons want to survive too," Wu Lianlei replied. "Their access to the demon world's demonic qi is limited now, and stealing qi from existing cultivators is a quick way to power themselves up." This was common knowledge in the history scrolls, so she didn't mind throwing that out there. "Righteous sects are always jumping at the slightest reports of demons, so it'll know we'd try to find the source of this demonic qi."
"Even so, it's a rash choice," Wu Yelin frowned. "What if it attracted a crowd of cultivators that kills it instantly?"
Of course it was rash, but the spider demoness had been desperate. The broken seal gave her consciousness but didn't shield her from the celestial qi that made up the rest of the array. Staying confined yet exposed to its energy would only weaken her own demonic qi over time until she simply disappeared. Rather than wait for a slow death, it was better to trap as many cultivators as she could and make a break for freedom with their cores--or die quickly in the battle that would ensue.
Wu Lianlei coughed. "I don't know how demons think. We'll just have to find out for ourselves." She gave a sour look towards Li Hanlan. Happy now?
"Little junior sister speaks rationally," Li Hanlan bobbed his head. "Those things are bloodthirsty and resentful by nature. Perhaps their lust for power overwhelmed their common sense--after all, we'd make for a fine meal."
"There's no need to battle any demons," Situ Xuanshuang chose this time to cut in. "Investigation is all the sect requires. Disciples like you are young and energetic, perfect for legwork tasks that build experience.. If something beyond your abilities appears, the elders and the rest of us will take care of it."
"Peak Lord Situ, can we help out when the time comes?" Wu Yelin asked. "I've never fought a demon before."
Situ Xuanshuang remained unmoved. "If the battle requires it, the sect will certainly let you showcase your abilities."
"Thank you, Peak Lord Situ!"
"Travel to Hengchun Village will take two days," Situ Xuanshuang finished. "Set out as soon as you're ready. Send me a message with jade slips when you arrive."
With that, the meeting was over and the trio dismissed. While Peak Lord Situ headed to the top floor of her meditation pagoda, the three disciples stepped outside to talk.
"Fifteen minutes should be enough to prepare, right?" Wu Yelin was the first to speak. "We can meet at the teleportation array at the central plaza."
"Wait, wait, wait, we don't know how long we'll stay out there," Wu Lianlei interrupted. "At least give us an hour to pack."
"Huh? What else do you need besides some change of clothes and your weapons?" Wu Yelin blinked. "We can figure out the rest along the way."
"Well, we still need to eat, so money to buy food for one thing..." Cultivators might be removed from the secular world, but they still needed to follow its rules!
"We did alright begging for scraps before," Wu Yelin remarked. "If you get hungry, Lei Lei, I can hunt down some rabbits or steal a chicken."
Wu Yelin, you're already a disciple of an upright sect. Hunting's one thing, but do you really need to resort to begging and stealing too?
"No, there's other things too..." Namely, some extra talismans to deal with that demon, and maybe some charms and spells. Besides, it'll take that long to sneak in and out of White Jade Peak without master noticing me...
Wu Yelin stared at Wu Lianlei's hesitant expression before she brightened. "Ah, I understand! Lei Lei wants to bring along your accessories, right? So you can look pretty on the road!"
Wu Lianlei blinked. While it was true the white lotus had a reputation for looking flawlessly beautiful wherever she went, being called out like this was a little embarrassing. Besides, she was a Wood element cultivator! She could just stick some tree branches in her hair and make them sprout flowers! There was no need for accessories unless they were cultivation treasures, which she didn't have because she was only a little fourth rank disciple! "Uh, that's not it either, I--"
"Spare your guesses, Junior Sister Wu," Li Hanlan interrupted as he crossed his arms. "Our littlest junior sister's already admitted that she's slow and stupid. She simply needs more time than the rest of us to get ready."
"Lei Lei's plenty smart!" Wu Yelin shot back. "Look at how well she explained the demonic qi on the jade slip!" She turned to smile warmly at her sister while patting her shoulders. "Take all the time you need to pretty yourself up, we'll wait for you!"
Senior sis, it's not like that... Wu Lianlei opened and closed her mouth a few times before giving up. "...alright, I'll meet you two later." When she saw Li Hanlan preparing to open his mouth again, she whipped out her sword and whizzed away to White Jade Peak before he could make another sarcastic comment.
--
Like North Frost, the peak lord's residence was located at the very summit of the mountain in a free-floating island above the actual peak. It too, had a meditation pagoda and personal residence, as well as private training grounds and a personal teleportation array. A large floating boulder kept the mini island airborne, forming one of the four cornerstones of Skyedge Sect.
Rather than landing by the buildings, Wu Lianlei flew under and around the island to land on a ledge on the mountain's rear. There was a path here that could lead her around to the other side and right over the window of her room. As long as master wasn't in the meditation pagoda, he wouldn't notice her return. In terms of sensing her presence...
Well, it was easy enough to suppress her qi signature in such a qi rich environment, especially as an average fourth rank. Then she'd slip in through her window, prepare her things, and skedaddle out of here. Peak Lord Qin was a fine master, but like the male and female leads, something about him....wasn't quite right!
He'd accepted Wu Lianlei in the original novel for two things: her perfect mastery over the Wood element and a unique constitution that made her suitable to practice the ancient Windflower Snow Moon Swordplay (風花雪月劍). Pretty as it sounded, the sword style came from a common Chinese idiom highlighting the four most popular topics for poetry that was also an euphemism for a whirlwind romance. Her original self would eventually master Windflower Snow Moon Swordplay and its brilliant, super-fancy flower petal attacks.
Peak Lord Qin was also supposed to love and dote on the white lotus before pining for the female lead, but Wu Lianlei's current master was an icy-faced nightmare! He barely spoke except to tell her what to do, and even that was restricted to brief words or phrases. She never knew what he was going to ask for next, so conversations between the two were beyond awkward. It didn't help that he barely moved when he spoke either, so she couldn't even cheat with help from body language. Just that alone might have be bearable, but the sheer pressure from his cultivation level was always hovering over her like a very sharp, always present blade.
She was in no mood to hang around. After stuffing all the necessary items into her bag of holding, Wu Lianlei stepped on the windowsill and reached for the roof when the door to her rooms opened.
"Lian'er?"
What was supposed to be an affectionate nickname came out as a flat monotone from the figure she knew to be framing the doorway.
If I never saw him, I can pretend he's not there, right? Wu Lianlei sucked in her breath and prepared to pull herself up, but a hand abruptly closed around her ankle.
She froze.
"...foot." said the voice. It was mellow and smooth, the kind that could soothe you to sleep. But Wu Lianlei was already busy fighting the ever growing sense of a sword at her throat as she fought for breath. Because her master had been in closed-door cultivation before her transmigration, she'd barely met the man more than twice. Their third meeting now cemented the fact that seeing him hurt!
And what does he mean by 'foot?' Does he want me to get down? Is he threatening to cut it off if I don't listen? Are my toes smelly?!
"Lian'er." the voice said again.
Wu Lianlei didn't move, but she did squeak out a reply. "Hello, master."
"Foot," her master repeated. The sensation of a blade at her throat grew stronger until Wu Lianlei could imagine it pressing into her skin. It was almost too much to bear!
"R-right, my foot--"
"Left."
"Huh?"
"Left foot."
Wu Lianlei glanced down. Indeed, her master's hand was holding onto her left foot, but what did that have to do with anything? She tried wiggling free, but that only worsened the sensation of the invisible blade at her throat until she choked and clutched instinctively at her neck. Because of that, Wu Lianlei lost her balance and started falling backwards!
"Ah--!"
-ooo-
