Chapter 23
Chapter 23: Didn’t Want to Keep Seeing Him
Jiang Li Sheng felt a headache coming on. Zhao Ke Xin’s mouth really could ruin lives.
“No,” she said loudly, forcing the word out. “I don’t.”
Ying Zong Yu didn’t look convinced in the slightest. They’d arrived together, after all, and An Ru Xu had lingered, warning her again and again. If that wasn’t clingy, what was?
Jiang Li Sheng took a breath and explained anyway, because apparently her life depended on it. “Those two senior sisters from Spirit Beast Peak both like Senior Brother An. I just arrived at Kun Lun Sect, and he’s helped me a lot. Senior Sister Zhao tried to buy me off with a good sword so I’d stay away from him, and I didn’t take it. I couldn’t sell him out for a sword.” She rubbed her forehead, helpless. “I didn’t expect refusing would drag me into his peach blossom storm. Now I’ve offended her completely.”
She muttered, half to herself, half to the room, “And it’s not even my fault. If she likes him, then like him. Why spend all her effort pushing other people out? Senior Brother An doesn’t like them. He used me as an excuse to keep them away, felt guilty about it, and even compensated me.”
Ying Zong Yu’s expression twisted with disgust. “What a mess. This generation of Kun Lun Sect disciples should be cultivating, not wasting time on garbage thoughts. The Discipline Hall should clean house. Zhou Zhen Yan’s punishments are too light.”
Jiang Li Sheng shut her mouth. She was currently on Discipline Hall “instruction” herself—she really didn’t want anyone inspired to make punishments harsher.
Wei Qing Lan, who had been silent with a scroll in his hands, set it down and lifted his gaze. “Martial Uncle Ying,” he said evenly, “don’t waste time.”
Ying Zong Yu snapped back into focus. He turned to Jiang Li Sheng. “When you healed Zhao Ke Xin’s face, you used a medical cultivator’s method. Do you cultivate the medical path?”
Jiang Li Sheng nodded. “Just a little.”
Ying Zong Yu’s eyes narrowed, assessing. “I still can’t tell why your spiritual power is so unusual. But if you understand the medical path, then take a look at his spirit mansion injury. See if you have any insights.”
Jiang Li Sheng glanced at Wei Qing Lan and immediately felt her courage shrink. He was… too valuable. Too important. She was terrified one wrong move would make everything worse.
“I-I can do it?” she asked, voice small.
“Do it,” Ying Zong Yu said bluntly. “He’s not made of paper. Even with half his spirit mansion destroyed, ten of you standing in front of him wouldn’t be enough to harm him.”
Then, with a sharp glance, he added like a complaint, “And you’re far too easy to read. That’s a problem. No wonder Sect Master Yu of Qing Xu Sect refuses to let you train outside. The world is dangerous—demons and devils are full of tricks. You’d get eaten and still thank them afterward.”
Jiang Li Sheng winced but didn’t argue. She turned to Wei Qing Lan. “Senior Brother Wei… my medical skills aren’t very good.”
Wei Qing Lan didn’t seem bothered. “Try. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, then leave it.”
Jiang Li Sheng stood and stepped closer—carefully, keeping a respectful distance. She gathered her spiritual power and eased it into Wei Qing Lan’s spirit mansion.
He offered no resistance. The connection formed smoothly.
And then she saw it.
His spirit mansion was a broken world—vast chasms yawning open like wounds that never stopped widening. Cliffs crumbled. Entire sections collapsed into darkness. The damage was so severe it made her scalp prickle.
Yet Wei Qing Lan sat there calmly, his foundation steady. Anyone else would have been bedridden, unable to endure even breathing. He looked unchanged from the outside.
Kun Lun Sect’s prodigy. The title wasn’t exaggerated.
Jiang Li Sheng forced herself to stay focused. She didn’t touch the collapsed sections at once. She hovered, observed, waited for her mind to settle.
Then she tested it—just a thread of spiritual power, as careful as a fingertip hovering over cracked glass. The method was the same one she’d used on Zhao Ke Xin’s face, delicate and slow.
It worked.
A flicker of excitement shot through her. She increased the amount, still cautious, feeding more spiritual power into the damaged structure.
Wei Qing Lan noticed immediately. His gaze snapped to Jiang Li Sheng’s face.
Her color drained in front of his eyes. The two bottles of spirit-replenishing pills she’d swallowed earlier might as well have been water.
Wei Qing Lan’s expression tightened. He started to cut off her power.
“Don’t move,” Jiang Li Sheng blurted, voice urgent.
Wei Qing Lan stopped at once.
Jiang Li Sheng clenched her teeth and kept pouring spiritual power into the ruins of his spirit mansion, stubborn in a way that scared even herself. He had saved her in the Forbidden Grounds. There was no such thing as a free debt. If she had to empty herself today to repay him, then so be it.
She didn’t want to keep seeing him.
If she kept owing him, it would only get worse.
Ying Zong Yu saw what was happening and barked at Si Shao, “Spirit-replenishing pills. Hurry—bring a lot!”
Si Shao sprinted and returned with a whole box—dozens of bottles.
Ying Zong Yu tore one open and poured an entire bottle into Jiang Li Sheng’s mouth.
Jiang Li Sheng nearly choked. She freed one hand, crushed the pills, and absorbed the spiritual power directly.
Ying Zong Yu and Si Shao stared in disbelief as she did it again and again, draining bottle after bottle in rapid succession.
Even then, it wasn’t enough.
Her spiritual power burned away as quickly as it entered, consumed in an instant. Soon the box was empty.
Si Shao’s voice shook. “Master—there’s nothing left. Every spirit-replenishing pill in the Medical Hall is here.”
Ying Zong Yu gritted his teeth and pressed his own spiritual power into Jiang Li Sheng’s body.
It didn’t take.
His power entered her meridians and simply… refused to become hers.
Si Shao realized it too, panic sharpening his words. “Master, it won’t work. Your spiritual power can’t be converted into Junior Sister Jiang’s. She can’t use it.”
Ying Zong Yu yanked his hand back, face grim. “Stop,” he ordered. “Enough!”
Jiang Li Sheng shook her head, stubborn as stone. If she had to drain herself dry to repay this debt, she would.
Wei Qing Lan watched her grow paler and paler—so pale she looked almost translucent. He didn’t hesitate. He cut off her spiritual power at the source.
The backlash made Jiang Li Sheng sway hard. She snapped her head up, furious. “What are you doing?”
Wei Qing Lan’s anger flared right back, sharp and controlled. “What are you doing? Do you want to exhaust your spiritual power and ruin your cultivation? Do you want to collapse and never wake up?”
“I won’t ruin my cultivation,” Jiang Li Sheng insisted, even as her knees threatened to give out. “At worst I’ll sleep for half a month.”
It would be a month.
But she didn’t say that.
Wei Qing Lan stepped forward and caught her by the arm, steadying her with a firm grip. When he spoke again, his tone softened, but the authority didn’t leave it. “Go rest. I’m not so desperate that I’ll let you drain yourself to repair my spirit mansion just to repay me. I’m not that impatient.”
He guided her down into a chair as if she had no say in it.
Only then did Jiang Li Sheng realize she’d snapped at him—snapped at him of all people. She pressed her lips together and stayed silent. She didn’t want to apologize. He’d snapped too.
Wei Qing Lan released her, eyes still fixed on her face. Then his voice gentled further. “Don’t be angry. Not everything needs to be rushed. This can’t be done that way.” He paused, then added, “If you exhaust yourself, you’ll miss the Qi Shan Secret Realm.”
“I’m not desperate to go,” Jiang Li Sheng muttered.
Wei Qing Lan fell quiet for a heartbeat, as if he didn’t know how to respond to someone who could say that so casually.
Ying Zong Yu scoffed. “A cultivator who refuses trials—what nonsense. Your master babies you, won’t let you train outside, won’t let you enter secret realms when they open. That’s not how this works. Since you came to Kun Lun Sect, you follow Kun Lun Sect’s rules. This year, you will go to the Qi Shan Secret Realm.”
Jiang Li Sheng looked at him.
Ying Zong Yu snapped, “What are you looking at me for? You have no sense of measure. Hurting yourself to repay someone is foolish. Rushing headlong like that is even stupider. Foolish and stupid—what kind of future do you think you’ll have?”
Jiang Li Sheng stared, stunned by how viciously he could scold.
Ying Zong Yu snorted. “Spirit-replenishing pills don’t work for you anymore. Do you think that’s a good thing?” His eyes sharpened. “Do you know where the Qi Shan Secret Realm lies? Thirty li east of Min Mountain, there’s Da Gui Mountain. In that mountain grows a rare herb—looks like yarrow, covered in fine fuzz, blooms blue flowers, bears white fruit. It’s called the Deathless Herb. One stalk can extend your life and grant a hundred years of cultivation. What do you lack? Spiritual power. Cultivation. Then why aren’t you going?”
Jiang Li Sheng went silent.
A Deathless Herb that famous… people would tear each other apart for it.
Could she win it with her own ability?
It wasn’t that she underestimated herself.
It was that she knew exactly how useless she was.