Ye Wujiu was a healer, so for him to appear at Senior Sister’s residence at this hour, it was very likely that Senior Sister was unwell.
Hearing the young man’s words, Shen Yun Yuan placed the medicine bottle Ye Wujiu had given her inside the dressing table, then turned to look at the young man holding flowers in his arms.
“Senior Brother Wujiu came to deliver medicine to me.” Shen Yun Yuan looked at the flowers in the young man’s hands and asked, “Are those flowers for me?”
The young man nodded, then could not help asking, “What kind of medicine needs to be delivered in the middle of the night?”
Shen Yun Yuan explained, “I happened to finish the medicine I was taking earlier. I can’t stop taking it for even a day, so I troubled Senior Brother Wujiu to deliver it.”
Hearing this, the young man, who had still been feeling somewhat jealous, raised his head and looked at her helplessly. “Senior Sister, I’m sorry. I…”
Shen Yun Yuan did not take it to heart. She accepted the flowers from him and saw that they were blooming in a dazzling array of colors. They were exceptionally beautiful. “These don’t seem to be flowers from the sect. Where did you pick them?”
“They’re from Bishui Village at the foot of the mountain,” Xie Zhao said. “Today, Senior Brother Chang Yi took us to Bishui Village for training.”
Shen Yun Yuan was somewhat surprised. “You went down the mountain today?”
The smile at the corners of Xie Zhao’s lips froze. “Senior Sister, didn’t you receive the spirit butterfly I sent you this morning?”
A spirit butterfly?
Hearing this, Shen Yun Yuan froze for a moment. Then, as though she had suddenly thought of something, she walked over to the dressing table and opened a wooden box.
As soon as she opened it, more than a dozen spirit butterflies glowing with a faint blue light began to dance gracefully.
Shen Yun Yuan casually tapped the wing of one of them. Immediately, the young man’s delighted voice came from within the spirit butterfly:
“Good morning, Senior Sister. Did you sleep well last night? Today, Senior Brother Chang Yi is taking us down the mountain to Bishui Village for training. I’ll practice hard.”
The spirit butterflies were small communication spiritual artifacts Shen Yun Yuan had made several years ago when she was bored. Xie Zhao had liked them very much at the time, so she had given them to him.
When Xie Zhao had still been living at Floating Cloud Peak, he would occasionally use a spirit butterfly to send her a message if something important came up, but he had not used them very often.
Yet now that he had only just moved out these past few days, he had unexpectedly been using them more frequently than he had in all the years before.
Shen Yun Yuan casually tapped open several more spirit butterflies. The young man’s voice came from inside them:
“Senior Sister, I’ve arrived at Bishui Village. There are so many people in this village. Senior Brother said that time is tight this time, so he can’t take us into town.”
“Senior Sister, the scenery in Bishui Village is so beautiful. Although it isn’t as beautiful as Floating Cloud Peak, if we get the chance, I’ll definitely come here with you to see it.”
“Senior Sister, we ate lunch at a farmer’s house. They raise a very adorable dog named Prosperity.”
“Senior Sister, while I was training, I discovered a sea of flowers blooming beautifully here. The flowers are very pretty. I’ll pick some tonight and bring them back for you.”
“Senior Sister, are you busy? Why aren’t you replying to me?”
…
…
After listening to every message the young man had sent her through the spirit butterflies, Shen Yun Yuan could not help looking toward Xie Zhao.
The young man had his head lowered, and she did not know what he was thinking at that moment.
However, Shen Yun Yuan knew that he must have become angry.
“I’m sorry, A-Zhao. I was too busy today and didn’t know you had sent me so many spirit butterflies.” After she finished speaking, Shen Yun Yuan looked at the flowers the young man had given her and said gently, “Thank you for the flowers, A-Zhao. I like them very much.”
Hearing this, Xie Zhao raised his eyes and looked at the gentle smile lifting the corners of the young woman’s lips.
He had been rather sad at first, but the moment he saw the smile on Senior Sister’s face, the unhappiness he had been feeling immediately vanished without a trace.
“Senior Sister, I’m glad you like them.”
In the blink of an eye, Xie Zhao had already coaxed himself into feeling better.
He skillfully took a vase from the bookshelf nearby, arranged the flowers inside it, and placed it on the desk. Then he said to Shen Yun Yuan, “If you replace their water with water from the spirit pool every day, they’ll survive for longer. If Senior Sister doesn’t have time, I can come over every day to change the water for them.”
Shen Yun Yuan could tell what he was really getting at. He was using changing the flowers’ water every day as an excuse to come see her.
On the second day after she had asked him to move out, Xie Zhao had moved out of Floating Cloud Peak and gone to live with the sect’s disciples at Qiyun Residence.
Qiyun Residence was where the sect’s disciples lived. It was also quite large, but it was certainly not as good as this place.
“No need. Qiyun Residence is somewhat far from here, and you also have to practice swordsmanship and cultivate during the day. It would be too troublesome. I’ll have Chu Yue change the water when the time comes.”
“A-Zhao… doesn’t mind the trouble,” the young man said softly, lowering his head.
How could he possibly consider it troublesome if it meant seeing Senior Sister every day?
To be honest, he regretted it.
He had regretted it on the very first night after moving into Qiyun Residence. Senior Sister was not there.
In the past, his residence had only been separated from Senior Sister’s by a single courtyard, but now…
With his head lowered, the young man’s dejected appearance made him look exactly like a puppy that had been abandoned.
Shen Yun Yuan had grown up together with Xie Zhao. How could she not know why he had been coming to see her every day these past few days?
People had feelings. They could not simply sever them at will.
But she did not regret it. This withdrawal from her would inevitably be a form of liberation for him in the future.
At the same time, she had always firmly remembered that the reason Xie Zhao was so attached to her now was entirely because his spiritual blood was inside her body. It was not because he genuinely liked her.
He did not understand this principle, but she did.
Just as Shen Yun Yuan was thinking about this, the young man suddenly extended his hand and placed a small porcelain bottle in front of her.
“Senior Sister, tomorrow is the day you take your medicine each month. I don’t live at Floating Cloud Peak anymore, and I’m afraid I might finish class late tomorrow. If you feel unwell and I can’t make it back in time, I prepared this for you in advance.”
Shen Yun Yuan stared at the medicine bottle the young man had placed before her, and her pupils contracted slightly.
The medicine the young man was referring to was naturally his blood.
Shen Yun Yuan’s gaze fell on the corner of a black hair ribbon showing beneath the young man’s sleeve. Her throat was filled with bitterness.
“All right…”
Shen Yun Yuan put away the bottle and gripped it tightly in her hand.
Seeing that he had completed his task, Xie Zhao smiled and said, “It’s getting late. Senior Sister, you should rest early. I’m going back to Qiyun Residence.”
Shen Yun Yuan said, “Senior Brother Wujiu said that my spiritual meridians are recovering very well. They may completely recover after some more time.”
The young man, who had been about to leave, stopped in his tracks. His expression filled with shock. “Really?”
As Xie Zhao spoke, irrepressible delight shone in his eyes. “Senior Sister, your spiritual meridians are really going to recover?”
Seeing the joy in the young man’s eyes, Shen Yun Yuan nodded. “Mm. Really.”
Ye Wujiu had neither refused nor agreed when he left earlier, but Shen Yun Yuan knew that he must have a way to repair her spiritual meridians.
Only after her spiritual meridians were repaired would A-Zhao no longer need to continue serving as her medicine.
“That’s wonderful, Senior Sister!” After learning this astonishingly good news, the young man became somewhat agitated. “Then, in the future, can Senior Sister practice swordsmanship with me and go down the mountain with me to exterminate demons?!”
“Mm.”
Because Shen Yun Yuan had been born with damaged spiritual meridians and had always been in poor health, she had been raised within the sect. She had never gone down the mountain, and the outside world was very unfamiliar to her.
After learning that her spiritual meridians were close to recovering, Xie Zhao was even more excited than she was. He kept saying that in the future he would take her all over the world and show her all the splendor in existence.
“Se… Senior Sister.” The young man stood before her, his ears red and his manner somewhat awkward.