After a Fake Death, the Emotionless Dao Senior Sister Became Obsessed - Chapter 22

Si Jing dipped her fair hand into the water, stirring the clear pool in the vat.

The small fish, floating belly-up, was motionless, swaying with the ripples, but its belly was still plump and round.

“Forget it,” she sighed.

“Since you’ve been reincarnated, I’ll bring you to the morning lesson tomorrow and let everyone try out the Fire-Igniting Talisman.”

Chu Zhao held her breath, but her gill covers couldn’t stop moving.

It must be a demon-luring trick! All human beauties are full of malice; if she really falls for it, she’ll be sucked dry of blood and eventually sent down the mountain again.

But after Si Jing spoke, she genuinely turned around without a hint of attachment and sat at the peachwood table.

Newly awakened, she showed no sign of weariness. She pulled out a stack of pale yellow paper talismans and focused her eyes on sketching the runes she would need for tomorrow’s lecture.

Chu Zhao hid beneath a lotus petal, peeking out.

The woman’s lips were slightly pale. When she was focused, her appearance was luxuriantly delicate and clear. The hand holding the brush was also slender and distinct, with smooth, fine skin and bone structure.

Suddenly, the candlelight flickered. It startled her, and with a gurgle, she buried herself in the water.

When no sound followed for a long time, Chu Zhao tentatively swam out, only to realize that Si Jing had simply put a ruined talisman up to the flame to burn it.

What an ice-cold block of wood!

During these few days of unconsciousness, she had been the one to secretly take human form and moisten her lips and throat with tea! Asleep, she had forgotten the fish!

Chu Zhao was aggrieved and chewed a few more bites of the lotus petal.

…But, but she was indeed extremely beautiful.

After a long inner struggle, the little white-spotted, red-bodied fish head surfaced again on the quiet water, droplets of water falling, concealed by the shadow of the candlelight.

Just then, the lamp in the room was extinguished.

“Rest now, and recuperate your spirit.” A frail, cold voice rang out.

A splash was heard from the water vat.

The little fish seemed to be hiding, and made no further sound.

Si Jing withdrew her gaze.

She carefully put away the finished talismans and, by the faint, snow-reflected light filtering through the window, silently appraised the table.

She was already adept at the Fire-Igniting Talisman; there was no such thing as a “ruined” one.

It was just… the intertwining and vibrant traces of the cinnabar lines, similar in spirit, made her think of the crimson color currently in the vat.

A fish’s eyesight wasn’t very good.

With the sudden extinguishing of the light, Chu Zhao swam blindly for a while, trying to climb to the edge of the vat.

Opening her eyes wide, she realized that the beauty, who seemed outwardly unflappable, hadn’t actually rested yet. She had simply lain down, her breathing light and shallow.

However, she hadn’t chosen to sleep on the simple couch, but was instead half-reclined within a giant dark iron sword casket.

The slippery, soft little fish hopped out of the vat with a shloop and plapped onto the ground.

She twisted her body, made her way to Si Jing’s side, and tilted her head.

Is this iron box really that comfortable to sleep in?

Her memory was poor, but she could still recall their first encounter with this cruel beauty; the woman had been sleeping on a cold piece of jade.

And she had slept soundly, without even a visible heartbeat.

Chu Zhao managed to crawl into the casket and curled up close to the woman’s chest.

It was indeed cold and quiet.

Not at all like her own heart, which was beating thump-thump nonstop.

Do humans’ chests stop beating when they fall asleep? How strange.

Chu Zhao was about to attach herself to Si Jing’s body as she had before, when a light, clear female voice came from above her head.

“Weren’t you told to rest well?”

Chu Zhao was so shocked she nearly jumped.

She tried to play dead again, but was lifted up by a pair of cupped palms.

The woman’s eyelashes were fine and thick, her eyes a seductive peach-blossom shape, yet her gaze was as cold as ice, like a mirror lake without a ripple.

Now, she held the fish in her palm, examining her closely.

Chu Zhao stared blankly for a while, her gill covers flushed, feeling a little shy.

It’s definitely not because of this cruel immortal cultivator! She must have been dazzled by her own reflection in the other woman’s eyes!

Vowing not to let this “playing-possum” immortal cultivator look down on her, she said with false bravado, “Not sleeping! You bit me so hard before, I… I want to bite you back!”

She buried her head and took several hard bites at the woman’s calloused thumb-index web, not stopping until it was covered with her teeth marks.

But the other woman seemed not to feel any pain, letting her cause trouble without a sound.

Chu Zhao looked up, puzzled, and saw the woman turn her face away, her expression indistinct. Her ink-black hair was scattered within the sword casket, and a cold, snowy light spilled onto her jade-sculpted collarbone.

She parted her lips as if to say something, but after a moment, she lowered her long lashes blankly.

“Forget it,” she said softly.

“I… can’t quite remember anymore.”

Waking up from a chaotic dream, everything felt like a snow-covered carriage rut, difficult to trace.

Si Jing knew she must have forgotten something to have angered this little fish so much.

“What?” Chu Zhao angrily bit the woman’s sleeve as expected.

“You forgot? You’re not allowed to forget! Cruel beauty… I haven’t forgotten yet!”

She had bitten her neck for so long, making her suspect she was about to be eaten, so how could she forget after just one sleep!

“You can’t even remember something so recent, how silly!” She muttered coquettishly, using her tail to brush her gill cover. “Is it because your chest doesn’t beat?”

Si Jing’s fingertip climbed up her garment, lingering on her chest.

It was indeed hollow and empty there.

She once thought all people were like this.

Without a heart, and without a pulse or body temperature.

The people she met, the paths she took, the things she did—the memory would last a month at most, then be like snow covering a carriage rut, impossible to trace.

Even the dreams she had would be instantly erased upon waking.

Later, Si Jing learned that… only she was the anomaly.

It was all because of that day.

Su Xue took on a new apprentice; she gained a junior sister.

The little girl, her face red from crying, was always clinging to the door of her sleeping quarters, pulling at her, forbidding her to leave. “…Senior Sister, Senior Sister, why won’t you pay attention to me?”

Si Jing was helpless. She shook off the little hand and walked away quickly.

After three months of closed-door cultivation, she didn’t remember knowing the person in front of her.

Later, she would forget her again and again.

Even though they had once descended the mountain together for experience, participated in the Sword Trial Grand Competition in Northern Zhou, and kept each other company for over ten years.

Finally, the little girl grew into a stubborn young woman. When she left Verdant Peak, she taunted, “You are cold-hearted and unfeeling after all.”

Si Jing stood three steps away from her the entire time.

From bewilderment to silent contemplation.

She didn’t even have a heart, how could she be cold-hearted and unfeeling?

After her junior sister passed away, she had gone to mourn, but the memory was still like a fleeting cloud. Now, after an unknowable number of years have passed, she still finds it difficult to recall the other girl’s name, appearance, or voice.

Outside the window, fine snow hissed, and the entire Verdant Peak breathed in quiet stillness.

But Si Jing had never experienced the taste of a throbbing heart.

Which is why, when the little fish was so lively and joyous in her arms, chattering and complaining in a delicate voice, she speculated: Does this feeling correspond to what an ordinary person feels when their chest beats?

Suddenly, her fingertip felt cool and soft.

The little fish naughtily opened its mouth and enclosed her finger pad.

“What about me, then?” Chu Zhao leaped to Si Jing’s neck hollow, a little annoyed, pecking strand after strand of the woman’s smooth, cool hair.

“Silly beauty! You are not allowed to forget me!”

She had never met such a silly beauty before.

But being silly had its advantages—that way, no one would steal her.

Si Jing tucked her hair behind her ear, her eyes lowered.

“Stop fooling around.” The fragile expression vanished, and she reverted to her indifferent look. “Rest now.”

On the peachwood table, a thin piece of talisman paper, which had been turned over earlier while writing runes, lay there. Two neat and upright characters were written on it.

“Chu Zhao.”

Waking up from a long dream, she had almost forgotten everything from the past few days, but the unintentionally glimpsed handwriting caused her frozen memory to sprout and revive.

Seeing that bowl of fish soup, she suddenly remembered the petite and spoiled little fish that had made a ruckus in her arms.

Si Jing didn’t understand why a demon would knowingly approach her despite knowing her condition.

She only knew that a name she was able to set down on paper…

Must be extremely important.

“The back mountain’s spiritual spring is available for all of you to cultivate and establish your foundation, but from the hour of Hai (9 PM – 11 PM) until sunrise, if red light overflows from that area, you must quickly depart and by no means approach.”

— Cloudwater Retreat’s Six Not-To-Dos, Article Four.

Su Xue, her eyes slightly tipsy from drink, shivered in the cold mountain night wind at midnight. With her Daoist robes sleeves crossed, she made her way to the back mountain with her hands tucked inside.

She lightly and quietly parted the verdant bushes, not even waking Ah Qing, the one guarding the back mountain.

Huai Ning was leaning in the spiritual spring, bathing and recuperating.

Flower petals floated and swayed around her; only a smooth, soft shoulder was visible, faintly rosy in the night.

The Peach Blossom’s Wu Xing (Five Elements) affinity was Wood, prone to comfort, and quite slow-witted.

Su Xue crept up behind Huai Ning and first observed her. The woman’s cheeks were flushed; she was clearly comfortable and dizzy from her bath.

Su Xue smirked and stretched out her hand from her sleeve.

She plucked once, and a few petals fell into the wine jar. She plucked again, and petals fluttered down.

“You scoundrel.” Suddenly, her sleeve was caught by a branch that snaked up from an unknown place.

Su Xue’s heart cried out a warning. She looked up and met Huai Ning’s gentle eyes, which held a hidden blade of a smile.

The other woman’s movements were completely unlike her soft words. With a powerful tug, she dragged Su Xue into the water. “Get in here.”

Su Xue gulped down several mouthfuls of the spiritual spring water. Just as she tried to surface, she was pressed down again by the branch. She was tormented until her face was pale, and she whimpered in surrender, “…Stop. Junior Sister, stop…”

Huai Ning slightly lifted a finger, and the branch hooked the Daoist woman’s chin. “As soon as you came out of seclusion, you started causing trouble for me, didn’t you?”

“Nonsense,” Su Xue sneered, water dripping from her chin. She was a bit disheveled but her vibrant beauty was undiminished.

As she spoke, she kicked the wine jar further away underwater.

“May the Heavenly Venerable grant infinite life and fortune! Heaven’s Way can attest, I went into seclusion and cultivated all for you, Junior Sister.”

“What a coincidence,” Huai Ning raised her eyelids, replying with a smile. “I don’t believe in either of those two you mentioned.”

“Mind your words, Junior Sister, that’s dangerous talk,” Su Xue glanced nervously at the sky.

“Instead of talking about all that, the sect finally has no little brats to bother us tonight. Hurry, come cultivate with me!”

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