Ji Zhixing noticed that Lu Qing’an seemed off and quickly helped her over to a nearby bench to rest.
It was just an ordinary teleportation talisman. How could it cause such a reaction?
Ji Zhixing’s brows furrowed slightly as she reached out her fingers and placed them on Lu Qing’an’s pulse.
Her heartbeat was exceptionally slow, and her pulse was faint and barely detectable.
Looking at Lu Qing’an, who was leaning half her weight against her, Ji Zhixing saw that her face had turned pale and the color had completely drained from her lips.
Ji Zhixing decided immediately that she needed to take Lu Qing’an to the Medicine Refining Pavilion.
“Senior Sister, I’m fine.”
Lu Qing’an sat resting for a moment. Once she felt a bit of her strength return, she turned her head and met Ji Zhixing’s anxious gaze.
“I think it’s just because I haven’t eaten all day. My body is a little weak; I’ll be fine once I eat something.”
In the dining hall, Lu Qing’an devoured two bowls of rice in one breath, and her pale complexion flushed back to a healthy pink.
Beside her, Ji Zhixing’s expression shifted from initial worry to subtle shock.
She was astonished by Lu Qing’an’s constitution.
Noticing the look on Ji Zhixing’s face, Lu Qing’an said nonchalantly, “I’ve been like this since I was a child. It looks severe, but I’m completely fine once I’m full.”
“I’m stuffed.”
Lu Qing’an set down her bowl, rubbed her stomach sheepishly, and offered Ji Zhixing a shy smile.
The sun hanging in the sky was not glaring, gently radiating heat.
The two strolled slowly along the path. The scenery of the Liuyun Sect was breathtaking, so walking around never felt dull.
Ji Zhixing wanted to stay with Lu Qing’an to help her digest her food.
Lu Qing’an tilted her head up, gazing at the sun with a puzzled look.
“Senior Sister, why do I feel like Lingluo Peak is so much hotter than the other places?”
Following Ji Zhixing, Lu Qing’an had toured almost every other peak, big and small, and had gained a bit of understanding about the sect.
Ji Zhixing shook her head slightly and explained patiently, “Among the five peaks, only Lingluo Peak has soil different from the rest. It is soil brought from a distant volcano, specifically moved here.”
Hearing this explanation, Lu Qing’an’s eyes widened, her surprise completely evident.
“The soil of the entire peak?”
Ji Zhixing nodded, confirming her statement.
Lu Qing’an gasped. “How long must that have taken?”
Compared to Lu Qing’an’s shock, Ji Zhixing was much calmer.
“For cultivators with supreme cultivation, moving a mountain should be quite effortless.”
However, Master did not originally live on Lingluo Peak. He suddenly relocated there.
And because of that, there seemed to have been some unpleasant unpleasantness.
Ji Zhixing glanced at Lu Qing’an, who was still lost in shock, and kept those last two thoughts to herself without speaking them aloud.
“Senior Sister, teach me how to cultivate!”
Lu Qing’an was deeply shaken by what Ji Zhixing had just said.
In the city where she used to live, a cultivator’s ability to move mountains and drain seas existed only in storybooks.
Although Lu Qing’an had longed for it, she had assumed it was merely a legend after all.
Before coming to the Liuyun Sect, Lu Qing’an had even thought that cultivating to become an immortal was just a myth.
Now that she had a clearer concept of cultivating spiritual energy, Lu Qing’an tugged at Ji Zhixing’s sleeve, insisted on learning, and would not take no for an answer.
Ji Zhixing shifted her gaze to Lu Qing’an’s fair cheeks. Those eyes were looking at her pitifully.
Ji Zhixing pursed her lips slightly, pondered for a moment, and lowered her soft, gentle eyes, fixing them on the hand tugging at her sleeve.
“Okay.”
Her neat, delicate lips curved as she uttered the single word.
Guided by Ji Zhixing, Lu Qing’an followed close behind her to the Library Pavilion.
Lu Qing’an took a glance and realized that this was the very place where she had almost fainted earlier.
Ji Zhixing gave her a helpless look, carrying a trace of a smile.
She did not dare to use teleportation talismans now. Although Lu Qing’an had explained that her physical discomfort had nothing to do with the talismans, Ji Zhixing still felt a lingering fear in her heart.
Walking ahead of Lu Qing’an, Ji Zhixing pushed open the ancient, heavy doors. A fresh scent of ink drifted out from behind the entrance.
Lu Qing’an took a quiet sniff.
It was a woody fragrance like early morning, gentle and soothing.
Ji Zhixing led Lu Qing’an through the rows upon rows of bookshelves, weaving in and out as if navigating a maze.
“This book will be useful.”
She reached out a slender hand, pulled a book out, and placed it into Lu Qing’an’s hands.
Then she led Lu Qing’an around the next corner.
“This one is useful too.”
She placed another book in Lu Qing’an’s hands.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Qing’an had seven or eight books piled in her arms.
Ji Zhixing raised her head, looking at a book placed on a high shelf, her brows knitting together slightly.
There was a rule in the Library Pavilion forbidding the use of spiritual energy.
Here, everyone was no different from an ordinary mortal.
Taking in Ji Zhixing’s expression, Lu Qing’an set down the books she was holding.
She stood behind Ji Zhixing, stepped up on her tiptoes, her presence lightly enveloping the girl before her.
A slender finger tapped a book within Ji Zhixing’s line of sight.
Ji Zhixing froze for a second and shook her head slightly. “To the right.”
Lu Qing’an pulled the book out. “Here you go, Senior Sister.”
Like presenting a treasure, she tried to hand the book to Ji Zhixing.
Ji Zhixing’s cheeks flushed slightly red, and she gave Lu Qing’an a tiny, somewhat fierce glare. “Why hand it to me? Hold onto it yourself; this is for you to read.”
Lu Qing’an looked a bit confused, not understanding why Ji Zhixing had suddenly gotten annoyed with her.
She had no choice but to take the book she had just pulled out, stack it together with the previous seven or eight books, and hold them all in her arms.
She followed obediently behind Ji Zhixing.
Ji Zhixing secretly exhaled several times to calm her emotions. Though the red on her face faded, a faint lingering flush remained.
She did not know how to describe this feeling.
Her heart was thumping again.
Lu Qing’an’s sudden action just now had truly caught her off guard.
In truth, the Library Pavilion provided knee-high wooden steps with four wheels installed at the bottom, placed beside every bookshelf.
One could stand on them specifically to retrieve books placed up high.
Ji Zhixing had originally intended to use one of those steps.
Ji Zhixing led Lu Qing’an left and right through the aisles. By the time they finally exited the stacks, Lu Qing’an was holding over a dozen books.
Arriving at the area in the Library Pavilion designated specifically for reading, they found a square table. Ji Zhixing sat down across from Lu Qing’an.
“You need to read through all these books and understand their content.”
Lu Qing’an looked at the stack of books on the desk, which was now piled level with her eye line.
“Senior Sister, isn’t there a method that could instantly make me super powerful?”
As she spoke, her gaze met Ji Zhixing’s rather strict eyes.
Like a lush, growing patch of grass running into an obstacle, she drooped her tips and wilted.
She picked up the top book and resignedly flipped open the first page.
“Human beings, exquisite and wondrous, can absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and transform it for their own use…”
As Lu Qing’an read on, she became completely immersed in the book.
Ji Zhixing opened a book as well, but after staring at it for a while, she realized she could not register a single word.
Her gaze involuntarily drifted to Lu Qing’an’s face.
At this moment, Lu Qing’an was dressed in the disciple uniform of the Liuyun Sect, a white robe embroidered with subtle patterns over an inner garment of a different white, its collar tightly fastened.
Perhaps because the fabric was a bit coarse, or perhaps because she had bound herself too tightly, the area where her neck met the fabric was flushed an unnatural red.
It looked particularly striking against her fair skin.
Her brows were currently locked together in a frown, her eyes filled with perplexity. Her dark pupils reflected some of the words from the book; though indistinct, they created a few tiny white specks in her pitch-black pupils, like scattered stars in the night sky.
She must have reached a passage that was difficult to understand.
Ji Zhixing’s gaze slid past Lu Qing’an’s delicate, straight nose and rested on her pink lips.
Owing to her youth, those thin lips were exceptionally tender, like freshly bloomed flowers laden with morning dew, making one want nothing more than to pluck them and keep them carefully hidden away in one’s room.
When Lu Qing’an shifted her body slightly, Ji Zhixing instantly lowered her head, fixing her eyes back on the open page.
However, Lu Qing’an was merely stretching her stiff arms before sinking right back into the book.
Ji Zhixing picked up her ears, silently listening to every movement across from her.
Seeing that Lu Qing’an had settled down again, she raised her head, her gaze falling back onto her.
The tightly buttoned collar from earlier was now pulled open halfway.
Lu Qing’an had probably felt uncomfortable as well, scratching at it a couple of times and tugging the collar open.
A thin red mark encircled her neck, crisscrossed by a few scratch marks that stood out glaringly against her fair skin.
It did not look like something caused by the collar; rather, it looked as though someone had just strangled her neck with a thin string, and she had struggled fiercely to break free, Ji Zhixing thought.
Her waistband was not tied properly either. Just like the time Ji Zhixing had gone to pick her up, it was bound tightly to death.
Ji Zhixing guessed that Lu Qing’an had probably never even put on clothes by herself at home.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to tie even the simplest waistband so sloppily.
Recalling the times she had seen Lu Qing’an over the past few days, her waistband had always been bound tightly around her waist.
Ji Zhixing had seen people deliberately wear it that way to accentuate a slender waist.
However, looking at the person in front of her, Ji Zhixing felt that was unlikely.
Lu Qing’an’s waistband was tied far too crudely, like someone bundling up a package, complete with a dead knot, devoid of any aesthetic appeal.
She was relying purely on her good figure to make it look tolerable.
On anyone else, it would look horribly unsightly.
Time trickled away second by second. It was not until a growl of hunger came from her stomach that Lu Qing’an finally pulled herself away from the books.
She was startled to realize she had been reading for so long.
After Ji Zhixing accompanied her for a meal, they returned to the Library Pavilion to read.
The night deepened, and the starry sky swallowed up the daylight.
Estimating that it was almost time, Ji Zhixing originally planned to leave Lu Qing’an here while she went on patrol.
She stood up to retrieve her sword, and Lu Qing’an stood up right along with her.
“Senior Sister, are you going on patrol? I’ll accompany you.”
Lu Qing’an closed her book, neatly arranged the ones she had read alongside the ones she had not, and spoke to Ji Zhixing.
Ji Zhixing hesitated for a moment, but ultimately nodded.
The night sky was shimmering far brighter tonight. With the absence of the moon, the presence of the stars was much more noticeable.
The stars, which usually served as mere background decoration, had become the main characters tonight.
Yet because there was no moonlight to illuminate the path, the roads that were usually clear were now reduced to faint, blurry shadows.
Seeing this, Lu Qing’an leaned a little closer to Ji Zhixing.
After completing a round of patrol, Lu Qing’an followed Ji Zhixing back to her small courtyard.
Perhaps that had been her intention all along.
Standing in the courtyard, Lu Qing’an smiled with a sly yet adorable expression. “Senior Sister, can I still sleep here tonight?”