Chapter 023

Chapter 23: Oh, a Familiar Face

Once bitten by a snake, you fear ropes for ten years. The master-disciple mess at the Supreme Sect had hurt Ye Wan Wan too deeply, so she had no real hopes for taking a new master. If she had to bow, she would bow. She didn’t resist. But whether she truly accepted it in her heart, she knew the answer.

Snow Mountain. The coldest place in the Heavenly One Mountain Range. The Heavenly One Sect sat closer to the north. In winter the ends of the range were pure white. At the summit of Snow Mountain lay thousand-year ice and ten-thousand-year snow. Just drawing near made the cold rush into your lungs and ache. You had to use spiritual energy to resist.

Ye Wan Wan climbed from the foot of the mountain and soon found her spiritual energy draining fast. She wondered if people could even live here. By the halfway point, her five Golden Cores were spinning hard, and she began burning Golden Core power. She grew even more cautious. This was not a place a Qi Refining Stage cultivator could reach.

Since entering the sect, she had never shown that she had five extra Golden Cores. To anyone watching, she was just Qi Refining Stage. But now her gaze toward the peak grew deeper.

With Golden Core power guarding her, the cold dulled, but the closer she got to the top, the faster her energy burned, beyond what she had expected. When she finally stood on the summit, she saw a stone platform and, upon it, Pei Xuan, already one with the wind and snow.

His shoulders were covered with snow. He seemed to have not moved for a long time, buried in a drift. If not for her sharp eyes, she might have missed him. She felt no breath of life from him. Truth be told, when she had seen him step out of the void last time, he had felt the same, like an ice sculpture.

“Not dead,” a voice said.

The sound appeared on the summit. His lashes trembled, and he opened his eyes, then looked her over calmly and said: “Not bad. Four hours to climb. That ranks you third in the Heavenly One Sect.”

Ye Wan Wan said nothing.

Off to the side, Li Ming De and Xun Yin also said nothing.

She asked, steady: “Who’s first?”

Pei Xuan brushed the snow from his left shoulder and said: “Me.”

She asked: “Second?”

He flicked the snow from his right shoulder and said: “Also me.”

Ye Wan Wan grinned and said: “You really know how to joke.”

Pei Xuan’s dark eyes rested on her. The corner of his mouth showed the faintest hint of a smile that felt more like a taunt. He said: “Same realm. My first climb took two hours. The second took one and a half.”

She stared at him, and her smile slowly fell. He had said same realm, not her Qi Refining Stage. He knew her situation.

“Today’s lesson ends here,” Pei Xuan said. “When you can reach the summit in under two hours, I will teach you again.”

He resumed his earlier posture. This time he didn’t even shake off the snow. He simply closed his eyes and sat still. On the summit, it was as if only Ye Wan Wan remained. And the cold, amused mockery that seemed to leak from this man.

Ye Wan Wan clenched her jaw, said nothing, and turned to descend.

Back in her room, she skipped dinner and fell asleep. The next morning she started climbing again. She reached the summit in three and a half hours. Pei Xuan didn’t even open his eyes. He was in closed cultivation. She knew that until she met his mark, he would ignore her. On a nearby stone platform she carved a small mark to log her time, then headed down.

For ten days in a row, she went up and down. From four hours to three, then to just over two. She was still short of the two-hour goal.

Even Li Wan Zhi couldn’t stand it. He sat beside her with his food and said: “You’re still not running? A master who has you climb like a fool every day, why keep him?”

Ye Wan Wan didn’t reply. She just looked at him.

Li Wan Zhi straightened his face and said, very grave: “I still want to run away. I have not changed my original intent.”

“Oh,” Ye Wan Wan said.

Then she glanced at Fang He An.

Li Wan Zhi turned and saw Fang He An looking this way. His face fell.

Fang He An smiled and said: “Junior Brother Li, still not giving up? Come on, finish eating and follow me to Third Senior Uncle.”

Li Wan Zhi’s face collapsed completely and he groaned: “Do we have to…”

“We sure do,” Fang He An said.

Ye Wan Wan ignored their back-and-forth. After eating she returned to her room to meditate. The ten days of climbing had been tiring, but the effect was excellent. She could feel her spiritual energy becoming more condensed, and her body changing. After having her Golden Core dug out before, her body had been weak, and winter cold had bit deep. Only her upright energy had kept others from noticing. But in these ten days, she found she had become fine with cold. Normal winter chill was nothing after Snow Mountain. Freeze long enough, and you get used to it.

She adjusted her breathing to a peak state. It was still early, so she began to draw talismans. These ten days she had entered the Spirit Market only to train, but using time acceleration cost spirit stones. Even though she had earned fourteen thousand by selling talismans, she had also bought the house. She had about two thousand left, topped up by selling some Mystic Spirit Grass and Mystic Spirit Pill at her stall. If she wanted to lay a Spirit Gathering Array in her cave, those spirit stones would not last long. She thought: [Time to earn spirit stones.]

She focused and lifted her brush. Soon three talismans were done. She shook out her hand and said: “Good. Faster than last time.”

This time, after finishing the talismans, she also carved two Defensive Array Stones. She hung one up for sale and kept one talisman for herself. As for price, she did not make them cheap.

Before she could return to her room, someone appeared at the stall. Hearing the same lazy drawl, Ye Wan Wan explained: “This one is a Calamity Dispelling Talisman.”

“Peace and dispelling calamity, sounds the same,” the voice said.

“It isn’t,” Ye Wan Wan replied evenly. “If you’re healthy, wear Peace. If you have illness or inner injuries, wear this one to ease half the pain.”

“One talisman halves it? If I buy two, will I be fully cured?”

Ye Wan Wan thought for a moment, then added: “…Each person can only use one. A second won’t do much.”

“Your talisman isn’t that great then,” the buyer said.

Ye Wan Wan went speechless. She was about to roll up her sleeves and argue, when the sound of coins rang again. She thought: [Forget it. He paid. I can put up with it.]

The buyer asked: “What are these Array Stones?”

“Defense,” she said.

“Oh… then I don’t need them.”

When he wandered off, Ye Wan Wan turned back to her spirit house to train. While she was in seclusion, both Array Stones at her stall were bought.

“Defensive Array Stones, just right for junior sister,” Dou Ming said as he tucked them away and left the Spirit Market.

Compared to Ye Wan Wan training in the Spirit Market, Supreme Sect’s Azure Cloud Peak looked a bit lifeless.