Shen Qinghe was speechless.
If one said this man knew nothing, he kept fixating on this matter.
If one said he understood, he looked utterly bewildered—and besides, he truly seemed to have no reason to deceive her about this.
Shen Qinghe had no choice but to patiently explain to Lizhu: “Dual Cultivation is something done after two people who love each other hold a Dao Companion ceremony.”
“What counts as loving each other? What is love?” A flicker of confusion passed through Lizhu’s eyes.
Shen Qinghe continued to explain: “It’s when you see a person and your heart races, joy wells up inside you, and you instinctively want to be good to her—that counts as love. If both people feel this way, then they like each other.”
Lizhu nodded thoughtfully. “Then if I was born without a heart, can I still love someone?”
“I don’t know.” Shen Qinghe shook her head honestly.
She didn’t find it strange that a person had no heart. Perhaps it was because in the real world, she had read too many similar novels—in some of them, the protagonist had lost even their limbs and facial features, yet could reclaim everything and become a whole person again.
But Lizhu wasn’t the male lead. She didn’t know his storyline.
Shen Qinghe spread her hands: “Don’t dwell on this problem. Look at how you are now—isn’t that fine? Why must you have a heart? What if having one costs you your life?”
Lizhu nodded: “That makes sense. But I’m still curious about Dual Cultivation.”
They had come full circle again.
Shen Qinghe was puzzled: “Why are you curious?”
Lizhu: “Those cultivators all say Dual Cultivation is an indescribably wonderful thing. I want to see what it’s like.”
Lizhu remembered the disgusting expressions those cultivators wore when they proposed Dual Cultivation.
He was curious—what kind of cloying, sticky affair could make wicked people wear even more repulsive looks?
Shen Qinghe patted his shoulder: “I’ll let you know when I get the chance. I’m going back to rest now—you should rest too.”
Lizhu watched her retreating figure as she returned to her room, pressing his lips together.
Humans really were creatures that tired easily.
Dull.
Boring.
Shen Qinghe returned to her room and lay down. Her consciousness entered the Jade Thumb Ring, and she took two sips of the Spirit Spring Water. The clear, sweet liquid slid down her throat, and she instantly felt refreshed.
After rolling around twice on the comfortable large bed in the bamboo house, she was about to fall asleep when something occurred to her. She pulled out two more booklets.
Who else could understand the joy of having a private domain in the Cultivation World?
She understood it, at least!
She had just flipped through two pages when dark clouds suddenly gathered outside the bamboo house, and thunderclaps struck down one after another.
Shen Qinghe was startled, and the book in her hands fell to the floor. She looked anxiously out the window.
This house was made of bamboo—it shouldn’t be struck down, right?
Wait, this was the Spirit Spring Space. Was it even normal for it to thunder and rain here?
Her cultivation world really was fantastical enough.
The thunder outside finally stopped, and a light drizzle began to fall.
Shen Qinghe was a bit amazed and ran downstairs to look.
The ground, which had only been covered with sparse grass, was now thick with green blades, and the bamboo grove was lush and thriving.
She tasted a drop of the rain—it was slightly astringent, not as good as the Spirit Spring.
She ran over to taste the Spirit Spring.
Fortunately, the Spirit Spring’s flavor was unchanged.
Shen Qinghe looked at the ground, where small flowers were even sprouting here and there. She mused that if she planted some herbs here later, the results should be quite good too.
She strolled back to the bed and continued flipping through the book.
At some point, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
A gust of wind blew through the window, and the bead curtain inside stirred gently.
The wind condensed into a human figure, gazing at the young woman sprawled out on the bed, limbs splayed in all directions.
This woman slept more crudely than any cultivator he had ever seen, and she had even lied to him about resting—she had actually come in to read books. It must be some secret cultivation method she was afraid he would see.
Humans were always secretive, fond of hiding precious things away from others.
Of course, he was the same.
Whatever she was hiding must be something similar.
Lizhu stepped lightly to the bedside, looking at the books the girl had casually tossed onto the bed.
The book flipped a page on its own, revealing two small figures tightly intertwined.
Below were scattered words: “Dual Cultivation,” “Li Zhu,” “Demonic Cultivator,” “intertwined”—a mess of crude characters and vulgar phrases.
The young man’s cheeks grew redder and redder, until finally he squeezed his eyes shut, but his mind was filled with the images and words from the book.
“Absurd!”
He gritted his teeth, each word forced out. Humans were simply ridiculous to the point of being laughable—how could anyone yearn for such a thing?!
What was so desirable about Dual Cultivation anyway!
And besides, this human had often hugged him before, just like in those picture books.
She definitely wanted to Dual Cultivate with him!
“Mm…”
The girl on the bed kept her eyes tightly shut, sleeping restlessly.
She finally managed to open her eyes, and what came into view was her own bed, her own room.
Her consciousness had returned from the Spirit Spring Space.
Outside, a gentle female voice faintly rang out, growing louder with each call, as if afraid she wouldn’t wake up.
Once she recognized who it was, Shen Qinghe’s face soured, and she pushed the door open impatiently.
“What are you yelling about?!”
“Qinghe, sister.” Seeing her come out, Su Wanqing stopped calling, her eyes slightly red and her lips pressed white.
Anyone watching would think Shen Qinghe had done something to Su Wanqing.
“Is something the matter?”
“Qinghe, sister, you seem to hold a lot of resentment toward me lately. Has sister done something wrong?” Su Wanqing asked cautiously.
Shen Qinghe was amused. “There’s no need to put on an act in front of me, Su Wanqing. If you have something to say, just say it directly.”
She didn’t believe Su Wanqing had come all this way just to make small talk.
Su Wanqing’s eyes flickered, her gaze settling on the plain jade thumb ring on Shen Qinghe’s hand. She pointed at it. “Qinghe, sister, I think this jade thumb ring of yours is too plain—it doesn’t suit you. Could you give it to me? Sister will exchange it for a prettier one.”
Shen Qinghe asked, “Which prettier one? Is it the Yunxi jade ring that brother gave you before?”
Su Wanqing felt a dull ache in her heart, but she still took out a crystal-clear emerald green thumb ring and handed it to Shen Qinghe. “Yes, I think this one suits you better.”
Shen Qinghe took it and put it on her other hand. The emerald ring paired beautifully with her fair, smooth thumb—it really did look nice.
“Not bad.” Shen Qinghe gave a compliment.
Then she turned to leave.
Su Wanqing’s expression shifted, and she hurriedly called out, “Sister, you haven’t given me that jade thumb ring yet.”
Shen Qinghe stopped and looked at her in confusion. “Why should I give it to you? Even though this ring looks ordinary, I quite like it. I don’t want to give it to anyone for now.”
“When will you give it to someone else?” Su Wanqing asked with difficulty.
Shen Qinghe said, “I don’t know.”
Su Wanqing gritted her teeth inwardly. She had already given up a jade thumb ring—if she got nothing in return, that would be too much of a loss.
“Then could Qinghe, sister, part with it? I also find this jade thumb ring interesting. Could you lend it to me for a couple of days?” Su Wanqing asked.
Shen Qinghe shook her head. “No. You’ve borrowed so much from the Azure Profound Sect—when you return all of it, then I’ll lend it to you.”
Su Wanqing: “…”
The maidservants beside her covered their mouths, stifling their laughter.
It was practically calling Su Wanqing a freeloader to her face.
Su Wanqing took a deep breath, as if she had made some kind of resolution. “Fine. I’ll return everything your brother gave me.”
Shen Qinghe looked at her in surprise, unable to believe that the female lead—who in the book had drained her brother of all his resources—could actually say such a thing.
Su Wanqing said, “However, the medicinal pills that Jingyuan-ge and I consumed can’t be regurgitated. I can only return the Magic Treasures.”
Su Wanqing readily took out her Storage Ring.
Shen Qinghe took it and swept her Divine Sense over it. Inside were indeed all the Magic Treasures her brother had given Su Wanqing over the years.
Was this person really being this straightforward?
Shen Qinghe felt something was off, but she couldn’t be bothered to worry about it. These were originally Azure Profound Sect’s belongings, so she immediately swept everything into her own Storage Bag.
“Now, can you lend me the Jade Thumb Ring?” Su Wanqing asked.