When Wu Lianlei was sure she'd die a tragic death by smashing her head onto the rocks below, a hand shot out to grab her by the wrist while another circled around her waist. Her own fingers grappled wildly until they caught hold of a handful of fabric. She looked up and saw her master leaning out of the window, her body firmly in his grasp.

There they were, a moment suspended in time. It almost looked like he'd dipped her waist in a waltz if not for the odd expressions on both her faces. Wu Lianlei was scrunching her brows in pain, the stabbing sensation still plaguing her neck. Peak Lord Qin Fengyun (秦風昀) was staring at her so intensely that he'd almost gone cross-eyed. 

Just as tears started prickling at her eyes, a jolt of what felt like electricity coursed through her body from the hand caught in his grip. The next moment, the uncomfortable feeling was gone from her neck and Qin Fengyun had pulled her into the room. She rubbed at her throat, too surprised to even process the growing frown on her master's face. He was a tall man with finely chiseled, perfectly proportioned features and cold, expressionless eyes that rarely smiled. To the rest of the sect, he was otherworldly and aloof, a peak lord who preferred to speak with actions rather than words. Now he set Wu Lianlei on her bed before promptly reaching for her left foot again.

"Master?!" As Wu Lianlei squawked, Peak Lord Qin expertly slipped off her boot and used his sleeve to wipe off the mud stuck to its edge. Once he cleaned off the silk as best as he could, he returned it to her arms.

"Done." Qin Fengyun proclaimed.

"Oh, um..." Wu Lianlei's mind was spinning as her eyes darted between her shoe and his sleeve. Is that what he meant by my foot? To clean off the mud? He's gotten his sleeve dirty, too. "Thank you, master. I'll help you clean that up when I get back!"

"No." Qin Fengyun shot her down instantly. 

Wu Lianlei winced. Of course, who knows when she'd return? If their mission took days, it'd be foolish for her master to wait that long before washing his clothes.

When Qin Fengyun noticed Wu Lianlei's conflicted expression, he corrected himself and added, "No need."

"All...alright..." she bent down to put on her boot, conveniently hiding her face. This is awkward...

"Tell me why the window," said the voice from above.

Wu Lianlei wished she could bury herself in a hole. "Ah, I was in a rush..."

"Running away."

"No!" Wu Lianlei blurted out a little too quickly. "Well, I mean,." She rubbed her hands across her neck. "Master, how'd you make the slicing sensation go away?" 

"You forgot."

"That's--well, I--" The novel didn't say anything about Wu Lianlei suffering from her master's overwhelming pressure. Was it too unimportant to bother mentioning in the story?

"Gather qi, circulate in the meridians, clockwise-counterclockwise-clockwise," Qin Fengyun rattled off in a rush. The words triggered a faint memory in Wu Lianlei's head as she processed them. 

Ah. As it turned out, her master had taught the white lotus this trick on the day he took her in as his disciple. Metal naturally overpowered Wood and Wu Lianlei's body was especially attuned with her element; it took a conscious order to circlate her qi in order to defend against the lightning-infused qi emanating from her master's body.

"You knew before."

"I've been busy training recently, so it slipped my mind, haha. There's always so much to study and I've learned plenty of..." Wu Lianlei trailed off when she saw that Qin Fengyun was staring at her arm. "Uh, master?"

The man's eyes flickered briefly to her own, his brows knitted tightly. "Palm."

"Huh?"

"Palm."

Wu Lianlei automatically offered him her hand, but right before he grabbed it, she withdrew it again. He wasn't going to smack her for lying, right? That's how he used to punish the younger white lotus. With his lightning cultivation base, it'd really hurt!

The creases on her master's forehead grew before he snapped, "Palm!"

"I'm sorry master I didn't mean to lie please don't hit me too hard ow ow ouch!" Wu Lianlei babbled as she thrust her hand at him.

Qin Fengyun grabbed it none too gently, raised his other hand, and...rubbed off a dirty, dusty patch on her palm with his robes. Then he neatly arranged the fabric of Wu Lianlei's sleeve before letting her go.

"....." It's mysophobia, right? All the ice prince types have it. 

No wait, he's cleaning it up personally, so maybe it's not so severe? Or is that just because I'm his disciple? Is he already in love with me? Is he fond of the female lead too? What about--

"Tell me about your lie."

...I blabbed too much! Wu Lianlei leapt to her feet with a short laugh. "Sorry master but senior brother and sister are waiting I have to go there's an important mission see you later haha!"

Of course, she was already out the door and past the courtyard before she finished half of that sentence. She would have jumped off White Jade Peak too, if not for her master suddenly appearing in front of her face.

"Lian'er."

"Master?!" she was forced to skid to a stop. He's fast!

Qin Fengyun stood looking at her for awhile before he leaned in close. She didn't see his fingertips crackle with sparks as he briefly touched her sword, but she did hear the murmured words by her ear.

"Don't die."

She blinked and he was gone. Her surprised merged into relief and lasted all of three seconds before his formless voice spoke up by her ear again. 

-Punishment. When you return.-

Master, it was just a little white lie!

She only forgot the qi circulation technique because she wasn't actually Wu Lianlei...

--

Both Wu Yelin and Li Hanlan were already waiting by the teleportation array by the time Wu Lianlei caught up.

"Lei Lei, you look the same as when you left!" Wu Yelin exclaimed in surprise. "Weren't you going to dress up?"

"It'll...ah, it'll be dusty on the road, so I probably shouldn't," Wu LIanlei thought fast.

"That's never stopped you before! You even have a talisman you use to keep your clothes spotless and--"

Was the white lotus a walking fashion show? "That was before, it's different now. I don't need those things."

"Lei Lei, you--" Wu Yelin's expression suddenly warmed. "You've grown up! Or have you found a way to work around talismans now?"

"Uh, neither, big sis."

"Whatever it is, it hasn't made you any faster," Li Hanlan scoffed. "Hurry, we need to make good time today."

At this, all three of them stepped on the teleportation array and channeled their qi to activate its effects.

Seconds later, the array had deposited them in a matching one a few hundred miles away. Still, that didn't take them much inland by Shenzhou's eastern shore. Compared to many other factions, Skyedge Sect was located far away from the mainland. If its disciples didn't have frequent errands on the continent, their sect would fully qualify as a hermitage. According to the Founder, the power of the four cardinal peaks and their floating cornerstones were simply safer away from human lands, so they'd retreated out over the sea. Their distance from the continent proper also affected their growth--bigger sects meant more power and influence in the secular world, so most with the aptitude for cultivation preferred mainland sects. Larger sects could afford to set up and guard multiple teleportation arrays around the lands too, while Skyedge Sect only had a handful that they shared with smaller factions. Despite this, they had a firm foothold in the cultivation world thanks to their genuine strength.

"We'll be traveling southwest from here," Li Hanlan announced. As the most senior disciple present with the highest cultivation rank (mid-tier seventh), he was their unofficial leader. After him was Wu Yelin, freshly lower-tier sixth and Wu Lianlei, who had finally broken through to top-tier fourth in the past three months.

Two days, one rabbit, and four fully paid meals later, the trio arrived at the outskirts of Hengchun Village just after noon. There was already another disciple at the entrance who ran forward to meet them halfway.

"Senior Brother Li! Martial sisters! Thank the Founder you've come!" 

"What's happened?" Li Hanlan asked. It didn't take a genius to realize something had gone wrong.

"There was another attack by the beast plaguing the village! We fended it off, but Junior Sister Wei was injured."

"How badly? Have you found her treatment yet?" As Li Hanlan spoke, he strode into the village with the other disciple at his heels. The two females followed after him, Wu Lianlei taking the chance to take in the scenery. Summer heat was high in the middle of the day, so the streets were deserted as people sought refuge from the sun. Despite this, there was a especially hollow ring to their footsteps against the dirt.

"We found the local doctor, but he couldn't do much. Luckily, members of the Yin Yang Sect passed by and--"

Li Hanlan halted his steps. "You asked them for help?"

"They offered first!" the disciple said quickly. "On the condition that we give them a chance to investigate the attacks too. Junior Sister Wei was fading fast, and we've already lost four others, so I took the risk. If there's any consequences, senior brother, please have Peak Lord Situ punish me when we get back!"

"You don't have the right to ask for judgment. We'll deal with this after we return," Li Hanlan started walking again, his mini entourage following along.

"Yin Yang Sect...?" Wu Yelin tested the name on her tongue. "Hm, sounds familiar."

This is what happens when you spend all your time in a cave! Wu Lianlei blinked at her. "They're one of the top five sects in Shenzhou."

"Ah." Wu Yelin drew closer to her sister as Li Hanlan and the disciple continued to speak. "What's so special about them, Lei Lei?"

Wu Lianlei turned over the novel information in her mind before giving an answer. "Absolute neutrality."

"Hm?"

"They believe in balance," Wu Lianlei explained. "A life for a life, a debt for a debt. It's hard to predict their actions because they cooperate with both righteous and heretical sects." That was the basic summary. The only reason they could pull it off was because members of the sect practiced a special art of scrying that allowed them to see into the past and future of any soul based on ties of cause and effect. 

"So a double-crossing extortionist  who plays for their own interests," Wu Yelin whispered back furiously.

"Ah? No, it's not like that," Wu Lianlei shook her head. You're not exactly wrong, but now's not the time to turn suddenly smart! Members of the Yin Yang Sect were dark horses in the story, aiding both sides while hoarding information for themselves. But they could be powerful allies if treated right and had helped the female lead plenty of times. 

"At any rate, their scrying visions are faulty," Li Hanlan said as he joined them. By now, they had reached the village hut where the rest were staying, and the disciple by the gates had gone in to fetch someone. "Accuracy depends on the skill and cultivation levels of the cultivator. I've heard that no one except the Yin Yang Sect leader can make a fully accurate vision, while all the rest are just approximations. Thus, they're best handled with a measure of doubt."

"Indeed, I would rather our sect be known for our own actions than what we predict from the histories of others."

This was a new voice. The Skyedge trio looked up to see a man dressed in dark robes approach them from the hut. He looked somewhat older than Li Hanlan, with a quiet, reserved air and his hair tied up in a high horsetail. His eyes were narrow but sharp, indicators of a quick-witted mind.

"Yin Yang Sect disciple Qi Yuan (齊淵) greets Martial Brother Li," the man clasped his hands in a polite bow.

"Please, the honor is all ours. Li Hanlan, disciple of Skyedge Sect. My thanks to you on behalf of Junior Sister Wei for preserving her life."

"I'm afraid I'll have to hold on accepting your sentiments," Qi Yuan sighed. "Our healer's yet to clear the spider venom in her veins. We'll need to track the beast to its source to see if we can get some antivenin."

"Your efforts are already worthwhile."

"Nevertheless, we of the Yin Yang Sect do not abide by incomplete trades," Qi Yuan's tone was firm. "Thus, we shall finish this investigation to the end to ensure the young junior sister's cure."

Li Hanlan smiled and cupped his hands. "We will remember the Yin Yang Sect as ones of their word."

In the end, all of that back and forth yielded to Qi Yuan legitimizing his excuses to tag along. For a sect who strived for balance, and whose history included members that supported the demon side of the ancient war, rumors of demonic qi were worth a closer look, so the arrangement left both sides satisfied.

From what Wu Lianlei remembered, this Qi Yuan was a core disciple with a mid-tier seventh rank base, same as Li Hanlan. 

But the spider demoness is lower-tier eighth rank...she's still too strong for him and senior brother to defeat in battle.

Had Junior Sister Wei survived? Wu Lianlei tried to remember, but the novel had only glossed over the details since she was just a cannon fodder character. The author hadn't even given her a full name. She was suddenly curious to know.

"Senior brother, can we go see Junior Sister Wei?" she asked, tugging on Li Hanlan's sleeve.

Qi Yuan paused in his conversation to look at her. "This little junior sister is....?"

"Wu Lianlei of White Jade Peak," Li Hanlan introduced with a bright smile. "And Wu Yelin of Vermillion Peak."

Qi Yuan's eyes swept over the trio. "The Scholar of Winter, the Soldier of Summer, and the Sylph of Spring. Skyedge Sect has certainly made a showing."

"We too, would rather be known for our actions than mere monikers coined by idle chatter," Li Hanlan smiled easily. "Let's discuss more details later. For now, could Brother Qi direct us to your healer?"

Qi Yuan made a gesture of invitation with his hand. "Please."

"Lei Lei, what's with those funny names?" Wu Yelin leaned in to ask as the two men went on ahead of them.

Wu Lianlei prodded her forehead. "You'd know if you stopped closed door cultivating all the time! That's what the other cultivator sects call us!"

"Hah?"

"We're all core disciples of peak lords from the same generation," Wu Lianlei explained. "And sects like to compare their top-tier talents. Having nicknames is trendy and more impressive."

"Top-tier...? But you're only a fourth-rank, Lei Lei. Isn't that too weak to qualify?"

Wu Lianlei felt a metaphoric arrow stab her through the heart. "I'll have you know, I'm still a top-tier beauty!"

 

Chapter Visuals:

• A teleportation array
• White Jade Peak Lord - Qin Fengyun (秦風昀) 
• Yin Yang Sect (Core Disciple) - Qi Yuan (齊淵)