At the warmth on the back of her hand and that all too familiar voice, Gu Ning's heart stopped and she snatched her hand back as though shocked.
She turned and saw that tall, flippant figure.
Gu Ning's face went red.
"Senior Sister, did you sleep well last night?" Yu Ruo, in a robe of purple, tilted her head, her hair falling loose over one side, looking utterly harmless.
"Rather than showing me such concern, you would do better to show some for your own body."
Gu Ning gave nothing away on the surface, but inwardly she was already calculating how to shake Yu Ruo off.
If she were alone she could simply ignore the girl. She was not wholly at her mercy the way the plot said, after all.
But looking at the girl standing beside her, Gu Ning began to have her doubts.
Su Qiuyin was watching the two of them and their delicate atmosphere with a puzzled look.
One of them was all smiles, and one of them was not smiles at all. It was hard to picture what the pair of them had looked like last night.
Not to mention all the other things it brought to mind.
At that thought, a flush rose on Su Qiuyin's face, but what rose in her heart was a far more pressing pressure.
She shifted a little closer to Gu Ning, and the look she turned on Yu Ruo carried a trace of... hostility?
Feeling the girl beside her squirming, Gu Ning blinked, with no idea what the little thing was up to now.
Yu Ruo turned her head slightly and saw the small creature tucked in at Gu Ning's side.
Su Qiuyin, cheeks puffed out like a spirit pet.
A knowing smile curved Yu Ruo's lips.
"So it's Junior Sister Su. I was unwell last night, and I have yet to thank you for sending someone to see me back."
Her tone was gentle, but to Su Qiuyin that gaze made her skin crawl.
She shrank another half step behind Gu Ning and mumbled.
"It, it was nothing..."
Just then Yu Ruo lifted her hand, perfectly naturally, her fingertips brushing toward the hair at Gu Ning's temple.
"Senior Sister, there's a leaf in your hair."
The gesture was far too intimate, and Gu Ning tilted her head away on reflex.
But that gesture was a torch, and it lit Su Qiuyin up in a rush.
Her body moved faster than her mind. She shot out a hand and seized Gu Ning's sleeve.
Practically plastering herself against her, she blurted at Yu Ruo.
"S-Senior Sister Yu." Su Qiuyin spoke up abruptly, her voice small but with a hard edge of resolve in it.
"The two of us are taking the commission to investigate the town. If you're interested, we can travel together."
The girl paused. "But if you mean to keep pestering Gu Ning, I... I won't back down either!"
"?"
"?"
Both of them looked baffled.
Seeing their expressions, Su Qiuyin's face went scarlet in an instant, plainly realizing that she had just said something rather serious.
Her fingers were nearly twisting the hem of her dress into a braid, but her body did not budge an inch, and she even leaned a little closer to Gu Ning.
This girl usually put a little tilde on the end of every sentence. Where had she suddenly found the nerve to pop her ultimate?
And what exactly had she been filling in with her imagination?
Gu Ning rubbed her brow.
Though the girl had guessed right, as it happened. She really did want Yu Ruo out of her sight.
Surprise flashed through Yu Ruo's eyes and turned at once into deeper interest.
She did not answer, but shifted her gaze to Gu Ning instead.
"Senior Sister Gu."
Her voice was not loud, but it carried well enough for every disciple straining to eavesdrop nearby.
"Last night I was careless in my thinking and rash in my conduct, and I frightened you. Here and now, Yu Ruo offers her apology to Senior Sister."
Gu Ning's eyelid twitched. What was this woman selling out of that gourd of hers?
Yu Ruo raised her head, her gaze open and forthright, and yet carrying a thread of grievance.
"I saw Senior Sister come here alone, and thought it must be for the Cangwu Town commission."
"As it happens, when I went down the mountain the day before, I came by a lead on the movements of the demonic sect. I had meant to offer it in apology and go with Senior Sister to make amends by merit, but it seems..."
She glanced at Su Qiuyin with heavy significance.
"It seems that would be inconvenient."
Gu Ning let out a cold snort.
Refuse, and she was the heartless one.
Accept, and she had to carry this hot potato along.
And the woman had struck her weak point with precision.
She really did not know where the stronghold was!
Gu Ning drew a deep breath and let her cold aura out in full, and the whispering all around vanished on the instant.
"Give me the lead." Her voice was frigid, her gaze knife-sharp and fixed on Yu Ruo.
"You may come along. But on this journey, every action follows my command."
"If there is the slightest misstep, or any repeat of last night, I would not mind adding one more record of house-cleaning to the sect's books."
Her voice was cold as frost, and it carried an authority that allowed no argument.
Yu Ruo's heart leapt with delight.
Looking at the girl whose whole face was refusal, it was as though the words were not distaste at all, but an invitation.
"Naturally," Yu Ruo said, drawing a jade slip from her robe and offering it up respectfully.
"Everything as Senior Sister says."
Gu Ning took the jade slip and sent her divine sense in. A map, markings, everything in order.
Gu Ning sighed inwardly. Much as she hated to admit it, the privileges of a protagonist beat a supporting role's hollow.
Intelligence, complete and served up.
The good news, though, was that there was nothing on it about the Saintess Tao Yao. Which meant Yu Ruo did not know about this commission's hidden boss.
But she did know the inside story, and the moment she had Tao Yao's position, she could send Yu Ruo and the rest away, sneak over, and drop her ultimate on the woman.
If it did not kill her it should leave her half crippled. Best case, she took her alive, and if she fled, no harm done. The orthodox and demonic paths could not stand the sight of each other anyway. Call it ridding the people of a scourge.
It would also keep Yu Ruo and Tao Yao from ever meeting, denying Yu Ruo one more ally.
Gu Ning was quite satisfied with her plan.
She looked up into Yu Ruo's not-quite-smiling eyes and ground her teeth, but could only give a small nod to confirm that everything was in order.
So she turned and handed her identity medallion to the disciple checking credentials, confirming that the commission was accepted.
Once she had tucked the necessary papers into her storage pouch, she turned to ask Su Qiuyin whether there was anything else to prepare.
Only to find that small face, ordinarily so soft and pitiable, now filled with disappointment.
If she had a pair of animal ears, they would have drooped flat.
"Has something knocked her down?" Gu Ning could not make head or tail of it, and could only cough lightly to pull her back out of her funk.
"Qiuyin?"
"Here!" Su Qiuyin jumped like a startled rabbit, her small frame giving a shiver.
Realizing it was Gu Ning calling her, she answered at once.
"Qiuyin's cultivation is shallow. Everything as Senior Sister says. I only hope not to drag you down..."
The girl laced her ten slender fingers together and mumbled it under her breath.
The reason she had taken this commission was that she had learned Cangwu Town was the very place her master had picked her up.
But her master would never agree to it. The woman would not even let her use a sword, for fear she might hurt herself, and only allowed her to learn a few spells.
Fussing like a mother hen.
She had only slipped out this time because her master was in secluded cultivation.
And halfway there she had caught sight of Gu Ning's unmistakable back and followed her in.
When she saw Gu Ning taking the commission too, she had been secretly delighted, thinking she would get some time alone with her senior sister. But...
Su Qiuyin's eyes slid over to Yu Ruo.
"It feels like someone's intruding..."