Chapter Ninety-Eight

Hansu turned and saw that it was her, smiling as she said, “It has not really been that long. How are things on your side?”

“It is not completely successful yet, but at least I can control her now instead of her controlling me.” The puppet gave a self-mocking smile.

“Then I shall look forward to your good news.”

Xueling stared dumbly at the talking puppet before her, frozen in place. It lifted one forepaw and pointed at her, stammering, “She... she...”

Hansu could not help smiling. Just as she was about to speak, the puppet suddenly turned around, crouched down, and plucked the little octopus from Xueling’s other paw, where it had been obediently curled up. Holding it in her hand, she seized one tentacle and gave it a shake.

“So this is the miserable little octopus you have been playing with all this time. Even with divine beast bloodline, it seems your intelligence is not all that impressive...”

Xueling flew into a rage, arching its body to breathe fire at her, but Hansu hurriedly stopped it. “Do not tease it. If it really spits flames, the layer of skin on you will not be able to withstand it. Do not waste my fine materials.”

The puppet’s face carefully formed a look of contempt. “What fine materials cannot even withstand fire?”

Still, she returned the octopus. Then she stood up, her movements smooth and flowing, utterly devoid of the stiff mechanical sense one would expect from a puppet.

Xueling glared at her angrily, yet at the same time grew curious. It no longer clamored about going out for some air, and instead devoted itself to following the puppet around, seizing every chance to provoke her.

Hansu could only shake her head and go out alone.

She formed several hand seals, dismissed the formations set at the entrance, and gently pushed open the door to the cave dwelling.

Night had fallen. Pale moonlight filtered through the mottled gaps between the trees and drifted down in threads, as though a layer of glittering silver dust had been spread across the ground. Every green leaf seemed to be luxuriating in that enchanting moonlight, swaying its body as it absorbed the lunar essence. Every flower seemed draped in a veil of gleaming silver, its slender stems rocking like crimson clouds as they exuded a heady fragrance.

A cool breeze stirred. Fragrance drifted in waves. Hansu could not help drawing in a deep breath of spiritual energy.

No matter what kind of cave dwelling cultivators built, or what sort of gathering formations they placed within, in her eyes none of it could compare to the comfort of this natural spiritual energy.

Immersed in such beautiful scenery, she could not help standing quietly in the breeze. The spiritual energy within her body slowly extended outward, blending with, exchanging with, and gradually merging into the surrounding environment until she herself became one with it.

After a long while, the released spiritual energy finally returned reluctantly to her body, though some of the greedy little strays even lured back many new companions. After a single cycle of her cultivation method, Hansu could not help smiling with delight. Merely from lingering over the scenery and communing with nature, her spiritual energy had grown even more condensed, and there was even a little more of it.

“Who is there?”

Just as her spiritual energy settled, she sensed someone standing not far away.

The newcomer did not answer, but stepped out from the shadows of the trees. Tall and elegant, with a handsome face.

“Dao Lord Yuheng? What brings you here?”

Hansu walked a few steps forward until she stood beside him.

“Why are you still calling me Dao Lord? You should call me senior brother now, Huai Zhen.”

“Oh, I forgot for a moment. Senior Brother Yuheng.” Hansu felt slightly embarrassed. Her cultivation had increased rapidly, but her self-perception was still as a junior to others. Truly... habitually pretending to be younger than she was.

“Why has Senior Brother Yuheng come here?”

“I... I came to find Senior Brother Lanhe to discuss a pill formula.”

“Oh.” Hansu looked up at the enormous moon overhead. Although cultivators were already far beyond ordinary people, they still retained certain primitive habits in life, rising with the sun and resting at sunset. While they would not necessarily sleep soundly the moment night fell, most would still remain in their cave dwellings meditating, with few wandering outside.

However, Dao Lord Yuheng was famously obsessed with alchemy, so although it seemed a little strange, Hansu still found it entirely understandable.

“My father’s cave dwelling is a little farther ahead. I have not seen him in ten years either, so I might as well lead you there. Ah, Dao Lord—no, senior brother, I mean senior brother. I will take you there.” She had misspoken again. Hansu stuck out her tongue and looked at him.

“Ah, no. Then I must trouble Junior Sister Huai Zhen to lead the way.”

Dao Lord Yuheng had originally been wandering about at random, and just as on many days before, had somehow ended up in front of her cave dwelling. Unexpectedly, she happened to come out of seclusion, and he had casually used the excuse of discussing a pill formula, never imagining that she would actually offer to guide him. He had been about to refuse, yet found himself unwilling to do so, and could only follow behind her.

After Hansu formed her core, her appearance had settled. It would hardly change further now. At present she was slender and graceful, her black hair smooth and lustrous, her little face the pink of peach blossoms in the second month, with a faint hint of baby fat that made her seem quite young. Each cheek had a small dimple, and when she smiled her large round eyes curved into crescents. Her long, dark lashes fluttered, and together with her soft, lovely cheeks, lips like red petals, and those deep little dimples, she could make a person nearly sink into that smile.

Dao Lord Yuheng pressed a hand to his forehead. How strange. She was clearly walking with her back to him, so why was her face filling his mind?

Hansu was not especially skilled at socializing, but neither was she cold and aloof. Thus, when two people walked together and the other remained silent, she would always feel compelled to say something to avoid an awkward atmosphere.

But what could she even talk about with Dao Lord Yuheng? Ahead of her, she racked her brains for topics, only to discover that he did not mind at all. Walking one in front of the other like this seemed to make his heart thump with a kind of heavy, bounding joy.

Dao Lord Yuheng pressed a hand over his chest, savoring this unprecedented strange sensation, and could not help hoping that the road would be longer, longer still.

Regrettably, the pace of a Nascent Soul Dao Lord...

By the time Lanhe Dao Lord’s cave dwelling was already in sight, Hansu finally thought of something to say. “Ah, right, Senior Brother Yuheng, has the sect discovered who it was that stole Revered Monk Mingxin?”

“Oh, not yet. However, since you have come out of seclusion, the Shadow Pavilion may send someone to ask you about what grievance there was between Revered Monk Mingxin and yourself.”

“Grievance? None at all. I have never met him.” Hansu thought to herself that he was probably here to ask her for the Heaven-Connecting Mirror, but how could she tell the sect that? She would have to come up with a better excuse later.

By the time they exchanged a few more words, the two of them were already standing at the entrance.

A steward disciple stepped forward and asked, “May I ask what matter has brought the two ancestral masters to seek our Dao Lord? Dao Lord Lanhe and Dao Lord Hengbo are both in seclusion and do not receive visitors.”

A disciple who had just come over glanced at Hansu, hurried forward a few steps, and gave the other disciple’s head a push before bowing to Hansu. “Please wait a moment, Dao Lord. This disciple was only recently chosen from the outer sect and does not recognize you. Though both Dao Lords are in seclusion, they have specifically said that if Dao Lord Huai Zhen should come, they must receive you. I will go and report at once.”

Not long after, Lanhe Dao Lord and Hengbo Dao Lord actually both came out to greet them. “This is...?” Hengbo Dao Lord asked. “Is there something urgent?”

Seeing this display, Hansu knew at once that she had come too late, and moreover with Dao Lord Yuheng in tow, so her parents must have been worried. She said, “Your daughter has just come out of seclusion and happened to encounter Senior Brother Yuheng, so I came with him to pay my respects to Father and Mother.”

Hengbo Dao Lord let out a long breath, pressing a hand to her chest. “So that is all. I thought something had happened. Senior Brother Yuheng, did you come over at this hour for some matter?”

Only then did Dao Lord Yuheng realize he had indeed come too late. But now that things had reached this point, he was in no position to back down. Blushing, he said, “I came to discuss a pill formula with Senior Brother Lanhe. If it is inconvenient, I can return in a few days.” With that, he turned to leave.

Lanhe Dao Lord hurriedly stopped him. “No need, Junior Brother Yuheng, do not mind it. Hengbo is simply straightforward in speech; there is no inconvenience. Let us go to the alchemy room.”

Having said this, he led the way. Dao Lord Yuheng glanced at Hansu and could only steel himself and follow him inside.

Hengbo Dao Lord sharply caught that glance. She looked at Hansu with some suspicion, but seeing her expression normal and without the slightest trace of anything unusual, she turned back despondently. Yet her eyes rolled once, as though plotting some mischievous scheme.

“Mother? Shall we go in?” Hansu looked at Hengbo’s expression and found it odd, so she urged her on.

“Oh, yes, yes. Come in quickly. You child, to go into seclusion without a word for ten years—I’ve nearly missed you to death.”

“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I? Besides, you are always going into seclusion too.” Hansu tugged at her arm in protest.

It had already been eighty years since she arrived here. Though time passed swiftly, and sometimes only a single moment of concentration would carry several years away in an instant, in the end many days had gone by. She had gradually merged into this world, into this family. Toward Lanhe and Hengbo, she now felt as though they were truly her parents.

Though they did not live together daily as a family had in her past life, there was still a particularly warm sense of kinship and mutual affection.

The two of them entered the cave dwelling affectionately. Hengbo Dao Lord took her to the bedroom and asked about her seclusion, whether she had encountered any problems in cultivation, and so on.

After Hansu finished describing her insights, she looked at her mother and asked, “Mother, it seems your cultivation has not advanced much lately. Have you hit a bottleneck?”

At that, Hengbo Dao Lord looked somewhat melancholy, her brows tightly furrowed. “The water spirit crystal you brought back last time, after I used it I discovered something abnormal in my body. But no matter how much I absorb, I cannot bring it to light. I have kept it in my heart and been worried about it, and that is why I set my cultivation aside.”

Hansu felt somewhat alarmed when she heard this. She had meant well; surely she had not caused her mother some problem? She hurriedly insisted on checking her. Hengbo Dao Lord was a physician herself; why would she need Hansu to examine her? But seeing Hansu’s worried expression, she also felt that if she did not let her look, a heart demon might arise.

Thus she relaxed and said to her, “It is all right. Perhaps the time simply is not yet ripe. After a while, it should be fine. You need not worry too much. If you are not at ease, then you may probe it yourself. However, this strange ability is not something with traces like spiritual energy and the like.”

Though she said so, Hansu still wanted to inspect it personally before she could feel reassured.

They sat facing one another. Hansu took Hengbo Dao Lord’s hands and carefully let her divine sense extend bit by bit into her body, searching inch by inch.

Nothing seemed wrong. Hm? What is this?

As if she had just rediscovered a long-lost answer, she stared at that peculiar thing in astonishment.