“So what Aunt means is that you'll wait until Senior Sister comes out of the Sword Tomb before heading back?” Shen Qingci asked unhurriedly.
Shen Tinglan was left speechless by these words.
Where was her soft, sweet little niece from before? How did she grow up to be someone who stabbed right where it hurt?
“Shoo, shoo, shoo. Seeing you these past few days is just irritating.” She whipped her sleeves and left, the room door shutting behind her with a loud bang.
Shen Qingci pouted. "..."
She raised a hand to rub the back of her neck, then fell back onto the couch and lay there for another two hours. Her neck was still a bit stiff and sore. She wasn't sleepy; she was simply too lazy to move.
She tapped her finger on her shoulder, calling the black-scaled cloud flood dragon to undo its invisibility and stop pretending to sleep.
The double-headed flood dragon scrambled from the Eldest Young Lady's shoulder up to the roof beam, coiling its body and exposing only its two heads. They spoke in unison, “Rest assured, Eldest Young Lady! We will absolutely keep our lips sealed. We swear on our dragon honor.”
“As long as you know.” Shen Qingci cast a sidelong glance at them. “If word really gets out, Aunt won't come looking for me to settle the score. After all, you two were also at the scene.”
Pausing, she added, “I'm returning to the Azure Cloud Sect in a bit. You two should head back to Qinghe County on your own first. This place is small; there aren't that many Golden Core or Nascent Soul demon beasts for you to feast on.” As she spoke, she retrieved a bag of top-grade spirit stones from her storage ring and tossed it to the black-scaled cloud flood dragon.
“This is your reward for this time. Remember not to give random suggestions in the future, always blurting out 'The Northern Region Shen Family has arrived'...”
The right dragon head opened its mouth to swallow the bag of spirit stones, nodding obediently.
Just then, a knock sounded from the outer room.
“Come in.”
Shadow One's figure blurred as she appeared in the room, kneeling on one knee. “Eldest Young Lady, this subordinate has arrived late.”
“You're not late.” Shen Qingci sat up straight. “Send me to Yunqi Cave. I've been out for several days, so I want to go back and see how the cave dwelling's reconstruction is coming along.”
“Yes.”
Shadow One raised her hand and lightly placed it on Shen Qingci's shoulder.
The surrounding space vibrated and warped slightly. When they stood firm again, the two of them had landed in front of Yunqi Cave on Wanjian Peak.
Shen Qingci looked up and was instantly stunned in place.
The foundation was still the same foundation, but the spiritual ore bricks were stacked neatly, and the framework of the spirit-gathering array was half-constructed, its range expanded by a full tenfold compared to before.
Sitting steadily right in front of the foundation was a person dressed in a jade-green robe, wearing a silver mask on her face that only exposed a pair of eyes.
The person sat on a spiritual sandalwood chair, holding a glazed cup filled with amber-colored spiritual dew.
On the low table beside her sat several plates of spiritual fruit. Jade-marrow melon and red-crystal fruit were cut into small pieces, arranged neatly and beautifully.
Wancui and Qinghe stood in attendance on her left and right. One held a jade basin filled with mind-focusing flower dew, with a few petals of mind-calming flowers floating on the surface.
The other had several soft snow-silk handkerchiefs draped over her arm, the corners of the handkerchiefs embroidered with the peak emblem of Biluo Peak.
Shen Qingci recognized that back view with a single glance, her feet instantly gluing themselves to the floor tiles.
Martial Aunt Liu was sitting right in front of her cave dwelling's foundation, enjoying spiritual dew and spiritual fruit, looking even more grand than a supervising High-rank Artifact Refiner.
She quietly glanced at the spiritual materials piled beside the foundation, her heart skipping a beat.
Nine-Mystic Spirit Sand was spread over a zhang long, and over a dozen azure jade slabs were stacked, each half a person tall with translucent and lustrous jade quality.
Dozens of spatial stones of various sizes were piled in the corner, the large ones like millstones and the small ones like fists.
There were also several bundles of five-colored spiritual threads, an entire chest of lightning-struck spiritual wood, and three clay jars sealed with talismans...
For Nine-Mystic Spirit Sand, using three dou for a typical Mystic-grade High-rank cave dwelling was already considered extravagant. Azure jade slabs were the core spiritual materials for Earth-grade Low-rank protective arrays, and a single slab could buy half a street in the market town.
Spatial stones inherently possessed the effect of spatial expansion, and they had always been highly sought after but extremely rare.
With all these things piled together, let alone rebuilding a Foundation Establishment cave dwelling, it was more than enough to construct a small courtyard for a Void Refining cultivator.
Shen Qingci stepped forward and bowed. “Qingci greets Martial Aunt Liu.”
Liu Ruyin immediately rose from her chair and flashed in front of her. She grasped Shen Qingci's hands with both of hers, her voice filled with unmistakable joy. “A-Ci, you're back.”
“Was the journey tiring? Do you want to rest first?”
“Traveling outside is the most exhausting. You have a stable temperament but are too sensible, always carrying everything on your own. It truly pains my heart to see.”
“The path of cultivation is long. There's no need to force yourself to be ahead in everything. Just take your cultivation step by step, and never rush for quick results...”
After half a quarter of an hour, when Martial Aunt Liu finally finished nagging, Shen Qingci was completely stiff.
She and Martial Aunt Liu had only met once in total.
At the apprenticeship ceremony, this martial uncle had sat high on the platform, her divine sense entirely focused on Master the whole time, acting extremely cold.
Right now, the other party was holding her hands, acting so warm and welcoming that she seemed like an entirely different person.
“Thank you for your concern, Martial Uncle. Qingci is not tired.” She composed herself, her gaze sweeping across the pile of spiritual materials. “But Master only mentioned rebuilding the cave dwelling. These materials...”
Nine-Mystic Spirit Sand, azure jade slabs, and spatial stones... No matter how she looked at it, they shouldn't appear on the construction site of a Mystic-grade cave dwelling.
With this posture of Martial Uncle's, she had almost moved the entire fortune of Biluo Peak over.
Liu Ruyin released her hands, smiling brightly. “It's fine. It just so happens that this can serve as the wedding chamber for you and A-Yuan in the future. I'm merely preparing some things in advance.”
Shen Qingci: "..."
A wedding chamber?
A wedding chamber for her and Senior Sister???
Warmth suddenly rushed to the tips of her ears, and she couldn't find her words for a long time.
Her gaze drifted around, not knowing where to look. Finally, it landed on the silver mask on Liu Ruyin's face, and she barely managed to find her tongue. “Martial Uncle, why are you wearing a mask?”
Liu Ruyin raised her hand to touch the edge of the mask, falling silent for a moment.
Wancui and Qinghe tactfully retreated to a distance, leaving plenty of space for the two of them to speak.
“A few days ago, your master and I had a little spat, and I declared that we wouldn't meet again for a hundred years.” Her fingertips slowly traced back and forth along the edge of the mask. She was clearly looking for a way out of her own declaration, yet she still put on a serious front.
“A-Yuan has entered the Sword Tomb, and you've just reached Foundation Establishment. There's a pile of matters in the sect waiting to be handled. You also know your master's temperament; practicing the sword is her top priority, and she refuses to touch even a bit of administrative affairs.”
“If I didn't come to keep an eye on things, I really couldn't put my mind at ease.”
“But now that I've come, I'm afraid she might run into me and call me untrustworthy.”
She raised her hand and tapped the mask twice. “So I got this to cover my face.”
“If we really bump into each other in the future, I'll deny it and say I'm not Liu Ruyin—that Liu Ruyin has gone into seclusion and won't receive guests for a hundred years.”
“The one standing here now is Liu Shisi.”
Shen Qingci's heart suddenly leaped.
Liu Shisi?
Could Master also be addressed by her ranking?
She blurted out, “Martial Uncle, what is Master's ranking?”
“Thirteen!”
Shen Qingci's breath hitched for half a beat as a sudden realization hit her. “Was Master... called Qin Shisan in the past?”
A flash of surprise crossed Liu Ruyin's eyes behind the mask. “How did you guess, A-Ci?”
“That wasn't really a pseudonym. Your grandmaster's wife was surnamed Qin. Before our generation took over the positions of Peak Masters, our fellow disciples all called her Qin Shisan based on her ranking.”
“That's all old news from hundreds of years ago. After Senior Sister became the Peak Master of Wanjian Peak, no one called her that anymore.”
“A-Ci,” she paused, a hint of confusion appearing in her eyes. “Why did you suddenly ask about this? Is there something wrong with Senior Sister's name?”
Rate on N.U.
