Yanyun Sky was at the highest point of Five Spirits Mountain. Clouds and fire leaned on each other, and a long ladder reached for the sky, almost as if one could pluck the stars.
A cloud gate stood wide open, flanked by raging fires. A disciple stood on each side, their gazes meeting Wen Qianshu’s.
Wen Qianshu bowed and took out a letter. A red glow flashed on the envelope and shot into the fire.
One of the disciples said, “So it is Fairy Yan from Canglan Courtyard. This way, Fairy.”
2333 shivered: “Fairy?”
Wen Qianshu’s skin was a thousand times thicker than 2333’s. Her expression didn’t change as she followed him inside.
Mist swirled around jade palaces and magnificent towers.
The disciple led Wen Qianshu through a long corridor and onto a cloud ladder. “Fairy, you’ve come at an inconvenient time. The elders are currently in a meeting, so the Head is likely unavailable. If you don’t mind, Fairy, how about you go see our Young Miss first?”
Wen Qianshu nodded. “Of course I don’t mind. Please lead the way.”
Wen Qianshu had read the letter’s contents yesterday. Yun Cai had accepted a task from the Five Spirits Line to leave Five Spirits Mountain and pick a precious medicinal herb—the Fire Iris. Irises love water and often grow in the shallow waters of marshes, but the Fire Iris has smoke for its pistil and fire for its petals. It is said to bridge water and fire, beneficial for communicating with the five elements.
But it was precisely this characteristic that required the cooperation of one fire and one water cultivator to pick and preserve it. The disciples who picked and escorted it back would also be rewarded with one or two petals.
Wen Qianshu thought this was a great arrangement. Accompanying a beauty to pick flowers sounded very nice.
But 2333 thought this was not okay. “You’re just going to leave like that, leaving the female protagonist alone on Five Spirits Mountain?”
Wen Qianshu: “Oh? Do you have some plan that can only be implemented if I stay?”
2333: “No, but if she’s left alone, what if she does something and gets discovered?”
Wen Qianshu: “I’m taking Yun Cai with me. Who else is there to discover these things?”
“Don’t worry,” Wen Qianshu said. “Yan Han isn’t stupid, and none of these people are stupid.”
2333 felt something was off about her words. “You’re not secretly plotting something, are you?”
“Secretly plotting?” Wen Qianshu paused, blinked, and said, “How could I?”
She smoothed a wrinkle on her sleeve and said in an exaggerated tone, “Oh, you know, my dear 2333, I’ve never liked using my brain.”
2333: “…”
Could you be any more obviously fake?
Just as 2333 was about to say more, Wen Qianshu had already reached the end of the cloud ladder. She saw rolling waves of clouds, among which were many rings of fire. Disciples stood outside in twos and threes, watching the rings.
The guiding disciple walked towards a fire ring directly ahead and said, “Young Miss, this is—”
“Senior Sister Yan?”
A long spear shot out, erupting into flames with a bang. The tongues of fire leaped high, and sparks flew, only to be caught by its master and retracted into her hand.
Yun Cai was still dressed in fiery red soft armor, her long hair tied up high. A bright red ribbon fell, resting against the side of her snow-white neck.
She was inside the fire ring, facing another woman in red, who smiled and said, “Yun Cai, are we still fighting? Why don’t you just admit defeat, and we can get out of here.”
“Fight, why wouldn’t we?”
Yun Cai turned her head to reply, then looked at Wen Qianshu. “Senior Sister, please wait a moment.”
With that, she drew her spear with a backhand motion and swung it sideways, striking with the force of a thunderbolt. The other person was startled. “Hey, I’m your dear senior sister! Can’t you be a little gentler?”
Despite her words, her actions weren’t the least bit slow. She bent at the waist, half-lowering her body, and swept her long whip. Raging flames surged forth, creating a sea of fire.
Wen Qianshu sighed to 2333, “Now this is what a cultivation novel should be like. Fighting, bickering, searching for rare flowers and herbs.”
2333: “What, the way you usually traverse heavens and seas isn’t like this?”
“It’s not. It’s like—” Wen Qianshu pondered for a moment, then said, “It’s like being in university, with a particularly strict professor who makes you copy lines as punishment.”
2333: “No matter how strict a university professor is, they wouldn’t make you copy lines.”
“Wait, who’s discussing this with you?”
Wen Qianshu: “Oh, don’t worry about the details.”
Scorching sun, long spear, blazing fire.
It was like the brilliant morning sun, like the splashing sunset glow, as if all the richest, most magnificent, and most scorching reds between heaven and earth were concentrated here, gathered in this single moment.
In the end, Yun Cai still didn’t win. Her offense was too aggressive, and her opponent turned it against her, seizing an opening. But her opponent didn’t get off easy either, only narrowly winning the match.
The fire ring dispersed, and Yun Cai came out. The person behind her also landed, smiling. “You’ve improved, Little Cloud.”
Hearing this, Yun Cai frowned and turned back. “Don’t call me that. I don’t like it.”
The person behind her was surprised and followed, asking with a smile, “Oh, has Little Cloud grown up? Getting concerned about her image now?”
Yun Cai glanced at her. By the standards of a cultivator’s age, Yun Cai was still young. However, with her brows slightly furrowed and her light-colored eyes sharp, she already had a hint of icy frost and cold moon about her. Unfortunately, she was too young for it to be intimidating, leaving only embarrassment and annoyance.
So, finding it amusing, the other person repeated “Little Cloud” a few more times.
Yun Cai pressed her lips together and said, “I’m leaving.”
With that, she held her spear in one hand and tugged on Wen Qianshu’s sleeve with the other. “Senior Sister, come with me.”
The person who had fought Yun Cai smiled and nodded amiably at Wen Qianshu. With phoenix eyes, upswept hair, she too was a graceful beauty. Wen Qianshu nodded slightly in return and followed Yun Cai, finally asking, “Do you dislike it that much?”
Yun Cai was taken aback. She turned to look at her, then sullenly replied, “My father likes to call me that too.”
Wen Qianshu: “Then have you told them a few more times?”
Yun Cai: “I have, but they don’t take it seriously.”
“It seems the angrier I get, the more interesting they find it; and the more interesting they find it, the more they say it.”
Yun Cai was silent for a moment, then suddenly sighed and mumbled, “There’s nothing I can do. It’s so frustrating.”
Wen Qianshu froze, staring at Yun Cai. “Everyone has things they can do nothing about.”
Yun Cai: “What about you? Do you have any? How many?”
Yes, of course.
From the birthday cake that was never given so long ago, to the endless spells she had to copy now; from the small matters concerning 2333, to the large matter of Jiang Mingyue’s identity—all of these seemed to be a fog, things she could do nothing about.
Memories are rarely comfortable. Good or bad, they are buried in the distant past, and one insists on digging them up to gaze upon the remains.
Wen Qianshu still remembered the first time Jiang Mingyue had hit her sore spot. Back then, Wen Qianshu had been suspicious, angry, and had fought back, trying to hurt the other person. But the Wen Qianshu standing here now simply answered calmly and lightly—
“Not at the moment.”
Yun Cai: “Really?”
Wen Qianshu: “Really.”
They descended the steps one by one, passing through the vast sea of clouds. Flames, like fallen leaves or swimming fish, were scattered throughout the boundless cloud layers.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about this.” Yun Cai twirled the spear in her hand, its tip pointing forward. “We’ll follow this path. Not far from here is Yanyun Sky’s library tower. Its spire is the highest point on all of Five Spirits Mountain. However, only people from Yanyun Sky can enter the tower.”
Wen Qianshu: “So?”
Yun Cai smiled and whispered, “So, we’ll climb up from the outside.”
2333: “?”
Why does this plot seem so familiar?
Wen Qianshu wanted to laugh but forced herself to maintain her “persona.” “Aren’t we going to see Head Yun first?”
“He’s busy, he won’t have time for a while,” Yun Cai said. “Stay close to me. I’m already familiar with this route.”
She looked into the distance. “If we wait a little longer, the guards at the library tower will be changing shifts. We can slip past during the gap.”
2333: “…”
Why are you so skilled at this!
2333: “Host, don’t. If you’re discovered, your reputation as the Senior Sister of Canglan Courtyard will be ruined.”
Wen Qianshu: “Reputation? Can you eat it?”
2333: “?”
Where’s the person who told me yesterday that reputation was very important?
Did you lose your memory?
2333 tried to play its trump card: “You might be punished by Yan Qingxi—by copying the rules of Five Spirits Mountain!”
Wen Qianshu: “Then I’ll copy them. It’s not like I can finish copying them anyway. Infinity plus infinity is still infinity.”
2333 was about to die from anger.
“She didn’t even say why we’re climbing the tower.”
Yun Cai: “Now’s the time. Follow me.”
The two of them leaped into the air. Wen Qianshu’s diligent flight practice since joining the sect finally paid off. She kept up with Yun Cai, her posture composed as she spiraled upwards.
Wen Qianshu: “She did say.”
2333: “What?”
Wen Qianshu: “She said why we’re climbing the tower.”
They flew past the tall tower and landed on its spire.
Because the space was too narrow, Yun Cai even reached out and wrapped an arm around Wen Qianshu’s waist. “Senior Sister, stand steady.”
Wen Qianshu lowered her gaze but ultimately said nothing.
The two of them were squeezed together, crowded on this tiny spire where it was difficult to even take a step.
Their breaths mingled, their dark hair intertwined.
In the distance, the round sun was about to set. The sunset glow was like a surging ocean wave, recklessly flooding the clouds. The splashing, scattering, brilliant, and endless red clouds enveloped every spark and every inch of flame in Yanyun Sky.
As far as the eye could see, there was a sea of fire; above and below, there were only clouds and sunset glow.
Wen Qianshu suddenly felt her whole body relax.
She knew this feeling.
This feeling of someone who would always state it when they were angry; who would always follow through on a promise; who would do their best to plan things out when they decided to do something; who wouldn’t force others to do anything, at most just feeling secretly annoyed with themselves—this, this damn, familiar, intoxicating sense of ease.
Wen Qianshu laughed softly, but her eyes felt very dry.
Perhaps the sunlight was too glaring.
She said, “The sunset at Yanyun Sky.”
“It truly is beautiful.”
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