Four stars of the cultivation world graced the humble rooms of the Hengchun Village hut that afternoon. First was a stern man in black and blue robes, who strode in like an afterthought and lost himself in the shadows of the room. Behind him stepped a refined gentleman in white, his thin silver mask lending a veneer of aristocracy to his fine lips and arched brows. Following him was a storm of red cloth and metal plate, a woman blazing with vitality like a tightly coiled spring as her eyes darted skillfully to the corners and took in every detail. Finally came a slip of a girl, her steps so light as to be floating, each strand of hair, strip of ribbon, and length of sleeve seemingly dancing in an invisible breeze.
It was much more crowded once Qi Yuan, Li Hanlan, Wu Yelin and Wu Lianlei all squeezed inside. Before them, a young female disciple laid resting on the simple straw-lined bed, her eyes closed. Li Hanlan knelt down and took her pulse, a serious look in his eyes. Wu Lianlei had a closer look and saw that Junior Sister Wei was an ordinary girl with a slightly chubby face--not older than her teens. If she was like any of the other disciples, then she would've joined the sect as a child and grown up with her martial brothers and sisters in place of her family. Currently, her complexion was an ashen white with purple veins popping out of her temples.
"Our healer can cure normal poisons, but with the addition of demonic qi..." Qi Yuan sighed. "We'll need to move quickly if we don't want it to spread."
Li Hanlan nodded, then made way for Wu Yelin and Wu Lianlei to move in. While the former rested a hand on the girl's forehead, the latter stared at the two puncture marks on her neck. Someone had already sealed the site with healing qi that glowed in an intricate green array, but it was obvious that the effects only slowed the poison, not stop it. Wu Lianlei had tried looking for antivenin back at the sect, but the devious nature of such spider demonesses meant that each one had exclusive venom. Only the original demoness could provide the correct antidote, which was a mixture of antivenin and qi. If they died, then the cure would die with them.
"Bite marks," Wu Yelin remarked as she crouched down next to Wu Lianlei. "They look like a snake's...but you say it's spider venom?"
Qi Yuan nodded. "The healer determined as much."
"When was she attacked?" Wu Yelin asked next.
"Just last night. The beast here was attacking a few times a week, but that's grown to every night since they captured three--no, four--of our own," Li Hanlan said. "No Yin Yang Sect disciples were taken?"
"None, we arrived after the creature left," Qi Yuan explained. "So then, tonight..." he gave Li Hanlan a meaningful look.
"Naturally, we'll take it on together." Li Hanlan agreed.
"I'll stab them twice for every hour that Junior Sister Wei suffers!" Wu Yelin added with a vehement nod.
Wu Lianlei didn't say anything, but she wasn't idle either. There were five more hours until nightfall, enough time for their group to settle down into their rooms. Wu Yelin had dumped her things in the inn and went to train, while Li Hanlan had sent off a jade slip to Peak Lord Situ before discussing tactics with the rest of the disciples and Yin Yang Sect. This left Wu Lianlei free to do as she liked. Thus, she stuffed a pouch in her sleeves and headed for the forests south of the village.
Unlike the woods atop Azure Peak, multiple parts of the grove showed signs of fierce battle. Scars and slashes painted the trees along with piles of broken branches and scorched earth. Wu Lianlei avoided most of the mess by staying in the treetops and hopping lightly from branch to branch. Here was the site of the battle from last night that had injured Junior Sister Wei. Deep in the center of the woods was the dilapidated shrine that trapped the spider demoness, but Wu Lianlei stopped a third of the way in. Here, she took out the pouch and started scattering its contents on the ground, tracing a path back to the entrance. Next, she carefully buried two big bulbs in the dirt.
Once her gardening was done, it was already late afternoon. Wu Lianlei clapped the dirt off her hands and left the forest while it was still light out. It was true, her strength wasn't much as a top-tier fourth rank. Even the spiritual beast they'd face tonight would outrank her. But since she knew what to expect, why not make preparations ahead of time? If the personalities of the female and male leads were already off course, what other surprises awaited her in this novel? Suppose the scripted battles in the chapters ended up with different outcomes or new injuries? Rather than leave their victory to chance, she felt much better having back-up support.
As an especially sensitive Wood element cultivator, she had the power to coax flowers to bloom or seeds to sprout. Qi rich places like the Azure Peak forest were especially supple to her suggestions. But at Hengchun Village, the forest had long been contaminated with traces of demonic qi, so Wu Lianlei had bought her own starter kit of seeds for the soil. What was the saying again? Better to have 10 of your own soldiers than 100 paid mercenaries?
In any case, she only stopped long enough to pluck a few wild lingzhi mushrooms before returning to the inn. Wu Yelin was just changing into a fresh set of clothes when she entered the room.
"Lei Lei! Where have you been?" her sister's tone was bright with the exhilaration of a good workout.
"Exploring," Wu Lianlei said as she placed the mushrooms on the table. "Do you think Junior Sister Wei could use these?" Despite relying on the Wood element, neither the past nor present Wu Lianlei knew much about plants beyond whether they were safe to eat. Instead, it was Wu Yelin who'd picked up on some medical knowledge after constantly fighting off bullies in their childhood.
"Qi infused lingzhi mushrooms--you found these in the wild?" Wu Yelin asked with interest. When Wu Lianlei nodded, she smiled and patted her head. "Lei Lei's so capable! They'll be good for restoring Junior Sister Wei's vitality, so hold onto them until she recovers."
"Mhm," Wu Lianlei nodded while ducking away from Wu Yelin's hands and smoothing out her hair. "Aiya, I'm not a child, senior sis."
Wu Yelin looked at her with big puppy eyes. "Lei Lei's been in such a rush to grow up ever since I left closed door cultivation! Where's the cute little sister who loves to dress up, hm?" Her eyes drifted to Wu Lianlei's sleeve before she picked it up with a click of her tongue. "You've even gotten your sleeves dirty!"
"We're cultivators, not a clothing store..."
"You don't even ask or cry for attention anymore," Wu Yelin murmured with a little frown as she dusted Wu Lianlei off. "Although I'm glad you're not fragile enough to faint all the time now, you don't have to act strong if you don't want to, Lei Lei."
Act strong? Wu Lianlei chuckled inwardly. More like feigning weakness on purpose! If a cultivator fainted every single week, do you think she'd still have the constitution to keep training as a disciple of the sect?
"Senior sister...big sis..." Wu Lianlei patted the hands cleaning her sleeve with a helpless air. First master, now you. It's just some clothes. "This isn't a bad thing, so don't worry. I think it's more refreshing this way, don't you?"
Wu Lianlei couldn't act the part of some helpless white lotus or be Wu Yelin's real little sister, but she could at least treat her as a friend without betraying her trust. Her hands squeezed Wu Yelin's fingers with a determined air.
Don't worry, female lead. I'll watch you win in life without getting in the way. May your harem be endless and your power-ups plenty!
Privately, she rejoiced in the fact that Wu Yelin had spent so many years cultivating. Although they came to Skyedge Sect together, her maniac sister was disciple of a different master and had more quality time with the inside of her latest cultivation cave than her little sister. Thus, what Wu Yelin remembered of Wu Lianlei's personality was reduced to their childhood memories and occasional run-ins over the years. Her own master was so aloof and inarticulate that she doubted he noticed or even cared if she changed. As a peak lord's disciple, her interactions with the rest of the disciples were rare, and Li Hanlan had only a fleeting impression of her original self's personality before she'd accidentally slipped up in front of him.
Whatever path the white lotus was supposed to take laid in her hands now.
"If Lei Lei's not such a crybaby anymore..." Wu Yelin trailed off, before her eyes lit up. "Then after this, come train with big sis! Nobody controls plants as well as you!"
"Your fire affinity would burn them all to ashes," Wu Lianlei said drolly. "No thanks, ask Senior Brother Li instead."
"I don't like his ice attacks, they're cold! Besides," Wu Yelin leaned in happily. "We should spend some quality time together to make up for all those missed years!"
Wu Lianlei was unimpressed. "You just want a training partner to beat up."
"Isn't that how you improve?" Wu Yelin didn't shy away from the accusation. "Fight me and you'll get stronger too!"
"You'll kill me." Wu Lianlei gave her a flat stare. In fact, that was how it'd ended up in the original novel: when the white lotus's true colors were revealed to her sister, Wu Yelin had kicked Wu Lianlei straight off a cliff in a fit of rage. That wouldn't have killed a cultivator, but the ghostly pit of hellfire waiting at the bottom had burned through her body and torn her soul into shreds.
Before Wu Yelin could urge her further, Wu Lianlei tossed back. "Why do you want to get so strong, anyways?"
Like Li Hanlan's vicious tongue or her master's lack of emotions, Wu Yelin's thirst for power differed from her description in the novel. While the original Wu Yelin loved a good fight, she'd never have the patience to sit in quiet meditation in a cave for years at a time. If it wasn't for everyone else acting so odd, Wu Lianlei might even suspect her sister of going astray in cultivation and screwing up her brains.
"It's good to be strong, isn't it?" Wu Yelin blinked back. "I like being powerful."
"And then? Are you going to reach the top and take over as Skyedge Sect leader?" Wu Lianlei teased, but Wu Yelin wrinkled her nose.
"Too much work! I just want to be the strongest, that's all. Only then can I..." she trailed off, thinking hard. "...can I do whatever I want!"
Don't you do that anyways? Wu Lianlei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did Wu Yelin have a hidden childish side? "I see, I see. Then you might as well be the next Demon King and rampage across the realms."
"I won't rampage, and I don't want any fancy titles," Wu Yelin declared confidently. "I just want to be strong."
There were powerful cultivators who didn't belong to any sect, who wandered the world and challenged people as they pleased. Wu Lianlei thought of them and realized that Wu Yelin could fit that kind of life too.
"Sounds like a plan," Wu Lianlei nodded. "Tell me how it works out." By then I'll be safe in my cannon fodder retirement plan.
Wu Yelin looked like she wanted to say something else, but a knock interrupted the duo. The next moment, Li Hanlan opened the door and strode inside.
"Who told you to come in?" Wu Lianlei fumed unhappily.
"I knocked first," Li Hanlan pointed out.
"But we never let you in!"
"The door wasn't locked," Li Hanlan said breezily. Annoyed, Wu Lianlei looked towards Wu Yelin for help, but she was more interested in new updates.
"Did you work out a plan with the Yin Yang Sect?" Wu Yelin asked.
Seeing that her sister was oblivious to Li Hanlan's rude behavior, Wu Lianlei dropped the subject with a sigh to focus on matters at hand.
"Yes. It'll likely attack again tonight, so we'll meet it head on," Li Hanlan nodded. "The beast is only fifth rank, so the three of us will be enough to subdue it. Little junior sister--"
"I know, I know, I'll stay out of the way," Wu Lianlei waved a hand impatiently. "The reports said it comes from the forest, right? I went to plant some seeds today, my plants can help if needed."
Both Li Hanlan and Wu Yelin's faces grew dark.
"You went today?" "By yourself?"
Feeling a premonition coming on, Wu Lianlei instinctively took a few steps towards the window. "Only briefly, it didn't take long." And she'd gone while it was light, when the beast was sure to be sleeping. She'd read the novel so she knew that was safe, but--
"Idiot!"
"Lei Lei, why didn't you bring me along?!"
--her senior brother and sister thought otherwise. Li Hanlan's voice had gone cold, while Wu Yelin sounded hurt. Both of them were looking at her like a criminal, leaving Wu Lianlei at a loss.
"The other disciples have been to the forest multiple times, it's fine in daylight--"
"We don't know anything about this beast or who its master might be," Li Hanlan cut in. "What gives you the confidence to saunter in on your own?"
"Lei Lei, you're only a fourth rank!" Wu Yelin added. "You shouldn't be taking such risks!"
"The Yin Yang Sect was setting up their own seal array at the forest this afternoon," Li Hanlan added. "You're lucky you weren't caught in that yourself!"
It's not luck, it's foreknowledge. Wu Lianlei pouted internally. Of course she'd made sure to avoid the array by going in early. But when faced with two wrathful seniors, she was stuck with coaxing them instead.
"Alright, I was wrong, I'm sorry..." She had to admit, she was surprised they cared so much.
"This is why you shouldn't be such a weakling," Wu Yelin sighed. "Let's start training after this mission's over. Big sis will let you advance for sure, even if it took you a decade to reach a measly fourth rank!"
"That's no use if she doesn't have the brains to match her powers," Li Hanlan scoffed. "Tie a rope to her ankle and loop the other end around the beast; she can act as a human anchor to keep him in place tonight."
"Brother Li, that won't do! Lei Lei's far from being heavy enough!"
"Junior sister, you only say that because you've never seen her eat."
...I forgot. No matter how much they care, they still manage to insult me every single time!
-ooo-
