Inside Butterfly Valley, Liu Yiyi and Xiaochunhua were bent over working in a spirit medicine field.
Seeing once again these medicinal herbs that took years upon years to grow, Chen Yang felt the insight about the fragility of life grow ever clearer within him.
Life was fleeting — sometimes even shorter than a single spirit medicine plant.
"Brother Chen!"
Sharp-eyed Xiaochunhua spotted him first. She immediately dropped the small hoe in her hand and waved her arms excitedly.
Liu Yiyi also raised her head. Seeing Chen Yang, a joyful smile spread across her pale face, though her leg injury had only just healed and her movements were still a little awkward.
"Brother Chen, what brings you here? The sun is strong — come inside and sit."
She had clearly already heard about the events at Qingyun Peak's plaza the day before, and the gaze she fixed on Chen Yang was filled with admiration and a barely perceptible hint of longing.
Xiaochunhua came bounding over, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at Chen Yang.
"Senior Brother Chen is an inner disciple now! Of course he came to take us with him! We finally don't have to work as laborers here anymore!"
Her little face was written all over with hope and anticipation.
Chen Yang nodded and smiled.
"Right. Inner disciples are allotted attendants. I've got a place to stay at Qingyun Peak, and I'm not comfortable leaving you two here on your own."
His thoughts were on Li Baode.
Although Li Yan had been crippled and Li Baode would most likely not dare cause open trouble again, it was safer to keep the girls close — just in case.
After everything he had been through, he had grown far more cautious.
Xiaochunhua let out a cheer at the news, then blinked her big eyes and said with her usual gift for startling remarks:
"So Senior Brother Chen really does want both me and Sister Yiyi to serve him together!"
Liu Yiyi's face instantly flushed scarlet. She reached over and gave Xiaochunhua a light smack on the back of the head, equal parts embarrassed and exasperated.
"You little brat! What nonsense are you spouting?! I'll tear that mouth of yours apart!"
She sneaked a glance at Chen Yang, and her cheeks turned even redder.
Chen Yang was thrown into an awkward silence by the outrageous remark. He let out a couple of dry coughs and rubbed his nose, at a complete loss for how to respond.
That Xiaochunhua — always speaking without a filter. She was more than he could handle.
Liu Yiyi quickly said:
"Brother Chen, just… just wait a moment. I'll go pack my things." With that, she turned and hurried back toward the simple little hut nearby, face still red, her steps a little flustered.
Chen Yang and Xiaochunhua sat on the stone bench outside to wait.
Xiaochunhua chattered away nonstop, excitedly pressing Chen Yang for every detail of his battle with Li Yan the day before. Her eyes were full of starry admiration, as though she had already cast him as the great hero of some epic tale.
Chen Yang answered her questions absently, then suddenly noticed that Xiaochunhua's aura seemed considerably stronger than it had been a few days ago. He reached out with his senses and said in surprise:
"Xiaochunhua, have you broken through to the second level of the Qi Refinement Realm?"
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He remembered that not long ago she had still been at the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
The smile on Xiaochunhua's face stiffened for just a moment before returning to normal. She stuck out her tongue and turned her head away.
"Not telling you! A few days ago I went out on my own and had a lucky encounter!"
Chen Yang watched her quietly and did not press further, but he filed it away in his mind.
Her cultivation had risen so quickly — could she have accidentally eaten some spirit fruit? Or had she truly stumbled upon some other stroke of fortune?
Just then, Liu Yiyi came out carrying two small bundles she had finished packing. There really wasn't much to pack — just a few worn changes of clothes.
Xiaochunhua looked at Chen Yang again and asked hopefully:
"Senior Brother Chen, do we have one of those flying magical weapons? The kind that goes whoosh up into the sky and whoosh whoosh through the air!"
She mimed the motion as she spoke, her face full of longing.
Chen Yang shook his head with a slightly sheepish expression.
"No. And… I haven't yet cultivated the spell techniques to ride qi to fly."
He had advanced too quickly, and there were many things standard to inner disciples that he hadn't had time to acquire yet.
Xiaochunhua's face fell at that, looking a little disappointed.
Liu Yiyi, on the other hand, was perfectly cheerful. She said softly:
"It's fine. From Butterfly Valley to Qingyun Peak is only a little over an hour on foot. We can just walk there slowly."
"All right then." Xiaochunhua quickly perked back up. She stepped forward and grabbed Chen Yang's hand, grinning as she said, "Senior Brother Chen, let's go!"
And with that, she pulled him toward the exit.
Liu Yiyi watched Xiaochunhua take Chen Yang's hand so naturally, opened her mouth as if to say something, then ultimately said nothing at all. She simply lowered her head with a faint blush, quietly picked up her bundle, and fell into step beside Chen Yang.
* * *
At that same moment, on Jade Bamboo Peak, inside the Jade Bamboo Lodge where Zhao Yanran resided.
A faint, translucent curtain of light enveloped the lodge, sealing the inside from the outside — a protective and soundproofing formation array.
Within, the sound of a guqin flowed gently, like a murmuring stream.
Lin Yang, dressed in white robes, sat by the window. His fingers moved across the strings of a guqin with focused concentration, the faint androgynous smile never leaving the corners of his lips.
On the chaise longue, a game board had been set out.
Zhao Yanran and Yang Tianming sat facing each other, deep in a game of Go.
Yang Tianming placed a stone, his voice steady yet carrying an unmistakable air of dominance.
"Junior Sister must already know about what happened yesterday."
Zhao Yanran's fingers paused ever so slightly on the piece she was holding. She gave a small nod, a flicker of complex, unreadable emotion crossing her beautiful face.
How could she not know?
Chen Yang had crippled Li Yan and advanced to the inner disciples.
The news had already spread like wildfire through the outer disciples' laborer quarters, and word had naturally reached her as well.
"Junior Sister need not worry herself over this."
Yang Tianming's tone was unhurried, as though he were speaking of something utterly trivial.
"If that Chen Yang continues to pester you and refuses to know his place, Junior Sister need only say the word. I have my ways of making him disappear entirely — eliminating the problem at its root."
Zhao Yanran's heart clenched. She quickly looked up, her voice carrying a note of urgency.
"There's no need for that, Senior Brother Yang! Thank you for your kind intentions. But I've heard… that Senior Brother Li Yan's conflict with Chen Yang this time had nothing to do with me — he stepped in on behalf of his cousin Li Baode at Pill Hall…"
She instinctively tried to distance herself and Chen Yang from the affair, afraid that Yang Tianming might truly go after Chen Yang.
Just at that moment.
The melody from Lin Yang's guqin shifted subtly — growing more lilting, yet somehow more elusive.
Yang Tianming glanced at Zhao Yanran, about to say something more.
Suddenly, from beyond the formation array's curtain of light that sealed the lodge, came a rapid, feeble pounding, followed by a hoarse, frantic voice on the verge of tears, broken and faltering as it filtered through:
"Senior Brother Yang… Senior Brother Lin… Junior Sister Zhao… open the door… please… open the door…"
"It's me… Li Yan…"
"Senior Brother… Junior Sister… open the door…"
The voice rang out again and again, drenched in desperation and pleading, calling out four or five times without giving up.
Zhao Yanran's elegant brows furrowed involuntarily. She could no longer focus on the game.
A flash of impatience crossed Yang Tianming's eyes. He said coldly:
"What a nuisance. A defeated wretch, a cripple — and he still has the face to come here and disturb our peace? I'll go send him away."
Zhao Yanran sighed and waved her hand.
"Leave it, Senior Brother. After all… after all, we were once fellow disciples. And he has already fallen to such a state… Let's see him for a moment and hear what he has to say."
She had softened in the end.
Or perhaps it was a flicker of pity for Li Yan's current condition — and a desire to hear from his own lips what had truly happened the day before.
As she spoke, she raised her slender hand and cast a spell technique.
The translucent curtain of light enveloping the lodge rippled gently, spreading outward like rings on water, opening a passage wide enough for someone to pass through.
The scene outside the lodge came into view.
A figure swathed in bandages, face as white as paper, aura utterly depleted, was slumped against the doorway.
Who else could it be but Li Yan?
He looked even more wretched and pitiful now than when he had been carried away the day before, his eyes shot through with bloodshot veins and hollow despair.