Gu Yanqing escorted Jiang Yinglan to the entrance of the guest courtyard, casually mentioning dinner along the way.
Jiang Yinglan readily agreed, saying she would go fetch her two junior martial brothers, and turned toward the wing room where they were staying.
The courtyard grew quiet once more.
The setting sun cast a slanting glow over the western courtyard wall, dyeing the bluestone pavers a warm yellow.
A few birds returning to their nests darted beneath the eaves, chirping noisily for a moment before falling silent again.
Gu Yanqing turned around and glanced at Lin Zhixue, who was still standing under the veranda.
“You should stay and eat too,” he said. “Head back after dinner.”
Lin Zhixue hesitated.
Whenever she came to the Gu manor, she usually collected her spirit stones and left as soon as her work was done; she had never stayed for a meal before.
However, it was indeed getting late, and they had to head up the mountain together tomorrow.
After a moment of thought, she nodded.
Dinner was served in the side hall, where the five of them took their seats around a modest round table.
The kitchen had prepared the meal according to the standards for welcoming guests—six dishes and one soup, featuring both meat and fish. In the center sat a plate of Canglan City's local spiced beef, sliced paper-thin and drizzled with a glistening layer of fragrant sesame oil.
The two junior martial brothers ate with the greatest gusto, their chopsticks never stopping from the moment they sat down.
One of them, named Zhou Ping, mumbled through mouthfuls of food that the Gu manor's chef was vastly superior to the sect's dining hall, earning himself a kick under the table from his fellow junior martial brother.
Lin Zhixue sat beside Gu Yanqing with a bowl of white rice in front of her, her chopsticks reaching only for the two dishes closest to her.
She didn't speak, not knowing what she ought to say.
The spread on the table was more sumptuous than any meal she had ever eaten at home, yet she merely ate in silence, occasionally glancing up at whoever was speaking before lowering her head again.
Gu Yanqing and Jiang Yinglan did most of the talking.
Their conversation flowed from the climate of Canglan City to the distribution of demon beasts in the mountains, and from there to the cultivation culture of the Yunxiao Sect.
Jiang Yinglan spoke briskly, her chopsticks darting in and out without interrupting her steady stream of chatter.
When speaking with Gu Yanqing, her tone was easy and natural—lacking the stiff courtesy a sect disciple might typically show an aristocratic young master, resembling instead two ordinary cultivators having a casual chat.
Jiang Yinglan noticed that Lin Zhixue had barely spoken, and that her movements as she picked at the food were remarkably light.
It was as if she were afraid of making a sound by clinking her chopsticks against the rim of her bowl.
Jiang Yinglan had seen similarly shy junior martial sisters back at the sect.
Setting down her teacup, she turned toward Lin Zhixue and smoothly changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, we'll be counting on you to lead the way up the mountain tomorrow, Miss Lin. We're completely blind when it comes to those mountains, so it all rests on you.”
Lin Zhixue looked up, meeting Jiang Yinglan's smiling gaze.
She merely nodded in earnest. “Mm.”
Looking into those amber eyes, Jiang Yinglan saw something distinct within them.
A pure, unadorned earnestness.
She suddenly understood a little why Gu Yanqing kept this seemingly ordinary girl by his side.
By the time the meal ended, night had completely fallen. Spirit lanterns flickered to life one after another along the veranda, casting the courtyard in dappled shadows.
Lin Zhixue bid farewell to everyone at the Gu manor's gates and stepped alone into the nocturnal streets of Canglan City.
Xiaoyu drifted out from the jade pendant, yawning and rubbing its eyes.
“Zhixue, was the feast good?”
“It was fine.”
She gave only a brief answer, walking along the bluestone street toward the city's western district as Jiang Yinglan's words from the dinner table replayed in her mind.
Not the part about leading the way.
What lingered in her thoughts was what Jiang Yinglan and Gu Yanqing had discussed earlier.
The Yunxiao Sect was not located in any city; it was built atop the highest peaks of a mountain range. Within the sect stood twelve main peaks, where disciples of each peak specialized in different Daos.
Some practiced the sword, some refined pills, some studied formations and talismans, and some dedicated themselves to ancient cultivation methods.
Inner disciples were allowed into the Scripture Pavilion to peruse techniques of the Mystic Grade and above.
Every month, senior martial brothers and sisters of the Core Formation stage held lectures. Disciples of the Foundation Establishment realm and newcomers of the Qi Refining realm listened together, judged not by background, but solely by cultivation.
Lin Zhixue had never heard of such things before.
Her world had always been so small—small enough to hold only the Lin family's rundown courtyard, the Gu manor's herb field, and those few bluestone alleys stretching from the west district to the market.
She had never known that the world beyond the mountains was so vast.
Nor had she known that the path of cultivation could lead so far.
It suddenly dawned on her that one didn't have to become strong just to avoid being bullied.
Once strong, one could venture farther and see a greater world.
This realization was like a newly sprouted seedling.
She merely cupped it in her hands, gazed at it, and gently tucked it back into the soil.
She told no one—not even Xiaoyu.
...
Early the next morning, Gu Yanqing and Jiang Yinglan arrived at the entrance of the alley outside the Lin residence right on time.
The two junior martial brothers followed behind, each carrying a small pack containing a compass and several formation stones used to detect spiritual energy fluctuations.
Lin Zhixue was already waiting by the doorway.
Today, she had changed back into her loose, dark-gray tunic and trousers. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail, and her longsword hung at her waist.
Xiaoyu drifted beside her shoulder, rubbing its eyes, barely awake.
Perking up upon seeing Jiang Yinglan, it floated over and circled around her, curiously inspecting the sword adorned with spirit crystals at her waist.
After meeting up, the five of them headed toward the North Gate.
On their way out of the city, Jiang Yinglan walked alongside Lin Zhixue. Seeing her glance at the sword at her waist from time to time, Jiang Yinglan casually drew it to show her.
The moment the blade cleared the sheath, a cold gleam flared. Spiritual energy surged along the spine of the sword, casting a faint white shimmer in the morning light.
“The spirit crystals on this sword are meant to amplify sword qi,” Jiang Yinglan explained, pointing at the glowing stones embedded in the scabbard as she handed the weapon over. “The grade isn't particularly high, but it's more than enough for a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator. Do many cultivators here in Canglan City use swords?”
Lin Zhixue took the sword and studied the patterns on the blade closely before handing it back carefully.
“Not many,” she replied. “Most practice spiritual arts.”
Jiang Yinglan sheathed her sword and casually chatted about the Yunxiao Sect's various sword cultivator factions.
From sword cultivators she moved to alchemy cultivators, and from alchemy cultivators to talisman cultivators.
She even mentioned a Supreme Elder in the sect who had supposedly lived for a thousand years and still walked his pet birds every day.
She put on no airs; when speaking of her sect, her tone carried an effortless pride.
Yet she didn't hesitate to poke fun at it from time to time either.
For instance, complaining that the sect's dining hall food was far worse than the Gu manor's.
Lin Zhixue listened without interrupting, but her pace unconsciously slowed until she was walking shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Yinglan.
She felt like a frog sitting at the bottom of a well, listening to someone perched at the rim telling her how vast the sky outside truly was.
And the sky truly was vast—far vaster than anything she had ever imagined.
As Jiang Yinglan chatted, she suddenly remembered something and glanced back at Gu Yanqing, who was trailing behind.
“Speaking of which, Young Master Gu, do you plan to join a sect? A mid Foundation Establishment stage cultivation is considered top-tier even among outer disciples, and more than enough to enter the inner sect.”
“We'll see,” Gu Yanqing replied offhandedly, quickening his pace by a couple of steps. “We're here. Let's head up.”
The mountain trail narrowed, and the five of them fell into single file as they made their ascent.
Lin Zhixue took the lead, relying on her memory to find the shaded side of the mountain.
Reaching a fork in the path, she paused to observe the vegetation on both slopes.
On the left, the soil was thin and the vegetation sparse; the slope on the right was steeper, but the forest was dense and the air noticeably more humid.
“A spirit spring requires a steady water source; it should be located where an underground water vein passes through,” she said, pointing toward the right-hand trail. “The shaded slope has ample moisture, and the underground soil layer is thicker. It's more likely to be this way.”
Jiang Yinglan exchanged a glance with her two junior martial brothers, nodded, and followed behind her toward the right.
Along the way, Jiang Yinglan briefly recounted what they had explored over the past two days.
She explained that they had initially headed up the sunny side, locating an area according to the map, only to find a sheer cliff once they arrived.
After taking a wide detour over to the shaded slope, they had run into a nest of demon beasts.
The demon beasts were merely guarding an ordinary cave, and the spiritual energy fluctuations had only come from a few spirit herbs growing inside.
Two days of searching had mostly been wasted effort.
“So we changed directions,” Jiang Yinglan pointed toward several massive boulders faintly visible along the path ahead. “We'll start searching from that rocky area. Judging by the frequency of the spiritual energy fluctuations, the spirit spring should be quite deep underground, with fissures on the surface allowing the spiritual energy to seep out.”
After listening, Lin Zhixue pondered for a moment. She looked up and surveyed the surrounding terrain, her gaze landing on a low-lying patch of dense woods.
“If there are fissures, low-lying areas are more prone to trapping moisture and forming mist,” she said. “There's no mist this morning, but the leaves over there are wetter than elsewhere. The underground water vein might be in that direction.”
She raised a hand to point toward the dense woods, then took the lead toward them.
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