The news that Ngân Linh, a celestial maiden whom everyone despised, had obtained the ancient artifact Book of Heavenly Secrets in the Phong Yên secret realm sent shock waves through the cultivation world. Countless cultivators lamented the injustice of Heaven. Mộc Phong nearly lost his composure too; he managed to praise me a few times before telling me to go home and get some good rest.
“Why pills again this time?” The fox lying on the bed in the newly redecorated room was covered in injuries. He looked at me with a wounded expression.
I stammered, “I’ve been really busy lately. If you want decoction, I can have Thẩm Độ make some for you.”
“No need.”
Giang Úc gripped the porcelain bottle and forced a smile. “Pills are fine.”
Ever since returning from the secret realm, I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw Giang Úc risking his life to search for me, his snow-silk robe mottled with bloodstains. Then, when he saw me, his normally shadowed eyes suddenly lit up. Even though he could barely stand, he staggered over and held me tight. He said I had to take him with me wherever I went from then on.
I didn’t answer. I only quietly hugged him back. He was so lost in the joy of finding me again that he had no idea I’d sidestepped his question.
After half a year together, I’d once thought he had only a slight fondness for me. If I couldn’t go back, staying here and being with him didn’t seem so bad. But I was wrong. Giang Úc’s feelings for me were far more intense than I’d imagined.
In all things, moderation is best. Before, I’d only hoped he wouldn’t despise me. Now, I hoped he wouldn’t care about me too much. Because I didn’t belong here.
I began avoiding him. I stopped taking care of him myself. I left a pill for his injuries at his bedside each day; he’d be healed in seven days.
I asked Thẩm Độ to change his bandages. Just two days later, Giang Úc refused to let anyone change them and stopped taking the pills, too.
When Giang Miên came to see me, I was in Senior Brother’s room. Senior Brother had dug up an entire storehouse of medicinal herbs and wanted to sell them for spirit stones, but he couldn’t identify most of them, so he called me over.
The spirit stones from the sale would all be mine, so I was very diligent and came every day. Sorting medicinal herbs took a long time; it couldn’t be finished in a day or two. Lately, I’d been sneaking over as soon as dusk fell.
My junior sister was there too, sitting beside me, rather awkwardly. Every so often, she’d ask me about a particular herb; otherwise, she silently sorted them.
Giang Miên arrived while my hand rested on Senior Brother’s shoulder. “Miên Miên, go back first and tell Giang Úc to take his medicine obediently. I’ll visit him in a little while.”
“Yes, yes, I will.”
After Giang Miên left, I rubbed Senior Brother’s arm and said, “You strained a muscle from overworking. I’ll prescribe a few medicated plasters, and you’ll be fine.”
He cried out as if the sky were falling. “A muscle strain? I’m at the Golden Core stage—how can my body be so weak?!”
I helplessly rubbed my forehead. After spending three days and three nights in the secret realm digging up medicinal herbs without rest, even an immortal would strain a muscle. By the time the Book of Heavenly Secrets finally reached the bare outer perimeter, its cover had nearly split apart.
“Have I been working too much lately? How did I suddenly strain a muscle? I’m at the Golden Core stage…” Senior Brother was so absorbed in the shock of his muscle strain that he sat there dazed all night.
We were short one helper today, so I worked a little longer. It snowed heavily that night, and by the time I returned covered in cold snow, it was nearly the hour of the Ox.
I gently pushed the door open, glanced at Giang Úc sleeping soundly, and checked how many pills were left in the bottle. The count was right; he’d been taking his medicine obediently.
I breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when Giang Úc suddenly opened his eyes and seized my wrist. He pulled me onto the bed.
“Don’t go.” He pressed close to my ear, pleading, while his other hand stroked my back. Only then did I realize he wasn’t wearing anything beneath the covers.
“Giang Úc!” I was startled and struggled free of his grasp, sitting bolt upright. But the more upright I sat, the more flustered I felt.
At that moment, Giang Úc had almost completely lost control of himself. In the bitter winter cold, his long, narrow fox eyes gleamed with desire, shimmering like water as he stared fixedly at me. His slender, pale fingers hooked around my hand and placed it on his erect fox ears.
When I gave him medicine, Giang Úc’s fox ears sometimes stood up like that. But he’d never let me touch them. Curious, I’d once secretly waited until he was fast asleep and tried touching them. I never thought the first time he willingly let me touch his fox ears would be under these circumstances.
I was helpless. But my hand was honest, stroking them anyway. They were soft and warm.
“Ngân Linh.” Giang Úc’s voice was hazy, and his cheeks grew even redder.
I sighed. I parted his lips with my fingers, and he obediently opened his mouth. Then I placed a Clearheart Pill on his tongue. It was freshly refined and dissolved as soon as it entered his mouth, taking effect three seconds later. Under Giang Úc’s bewildered gaze, the farce finally came to an end.
Giang Úc returned to his original aloof, courteous self. We tacitly agreed to bury what happened that night in the past. Everything seemed to fall back into place.
The Book of Heavenly Secrets only took human form inside the secret realm. Outside, it was still a book—and a blank one at that. I was a little worried. “If you want to save the world, you could at least give me a hint, my good man!”
After flipping through it for days and finding nothing but blank pages, I was summoned to Mộc Phong’s study. He handed me a new box of Life-Ending Pills and said he’d upgraded the formula.
I stared in silence at the black-purple smoke seeping through the cracks in the box. Wasn’t this just going to kill me faster?
Fortunately, thanks to the Detoxification Pills and Clearheart Pills, the toxins in my body had greatly diminished, and their effects were no longer as agonizing as before. I absolutely couldn’t touch these Life-Ending Pills again.
After recuperating, the chains suppressing the cultivation in my body began to loosen—a sign of a breakthrough. I looked up a recipe for the Nascent Soul Pill, preparing to go down the mountain with Thẩm Độ to find the ingredients.
He’d been at the Phi Tinh Sect for a month. I’d originally wanted him to take Senior Brother as his master and become an inner disciple, which would give him a brighter future than working as a medicine boy.
But Thẩm Độ only wanted to learn alchemy from me. He said he had no affinity for the sword and wasn’t cut out for swordsmanship. It made sense, so I started teaching him alchemy. Since I wanted to teach him as much as possible, I took him along wherever I went.
When Giang Miên heard I was going down the mountain, she raised her hand and asked to come along, too. The Phi Tinh Sect really was a little dull, especially lately, with Giang Úc pushing her to cultivate. It was enough to make her suffer in silence. But if I wanted to take her, I still needed Giang Úc’s approval.
“Big brother listens to you more than anyone, Sister. Go talk to him. He’ll definitely agree.” The little fox looked at me expectantly, her clear eyes full of hope.
This girl really knew how to wheedle. I gritted my teeth and nodded. “All right, I’ll go ask.”
“Wonderful!”
Since that snowy night, I hadn’t gone to Giang Úc’s room again. Standing outside his door, I took several deep breaths, but still couldn’t bring myself to push it open. Maybe I should ask first and deal with the consequences later? I backed away a few steps, intending to retreat.
“Creak…” The door suddenly opened by itself. Giang Úc’s gentle voice came from inside. “What a distinguished guest.”
“Um…” I’d meant to stay outside, say what I needed to in one breath, and make a quick escape.
But Giang Úc spoke first. “Come in and sit down. We can talk.”
“Huh? Oh…”
The faint fragrance of tea lingered in the air as Giang Úc asked calmly, “What brings you here today?”
“Well, I want to take Miên Miên down the mountain with me.”
“Down the mountain?” His eyes slid toward me, carrying an invisible pressure that made me shift uneasily in my seat.
Good grief, he really was worthy of being the villain. My cultivation was clearly higher than his! So why was his presence so overwhelming?!
I stammered through an explanation, and the longer Giang Úc listened, the quieter he became. In an instant, the room fell utterly silent. Awkwardly, I took a sip of tea. “If you don’t want her to go, then I won’t take her. But we’ll be gone for about a month this time. I’ve already told Senior Brother; while I’m away, he’ll look after both of them for me.”
“Hmph.”