After a Fake Death, the Emotionless Dao Senior Sister Became Obsessed - Chapter 31

The next day.

Jade Green Peak was as quiet and lonely as usual, only gaining a lively atmosphere when the spiritual bell chimed.

Birds flapped their wings, scattering the thin snow from the branches where they perched. The chatter of young disciples, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, drifted up the mountain steps, their chirping voices clear and crisp.

Chu Zhao was awakened by the swishing sounds of swords flying across the sky. She sat up groggily from inside her sword scabbard.

The quilt slid from her shoulders, and the woman who had been beneath her was nowhere to be seen.

The beauty’s embrace had grown cool and soft. She had slept very well last night.

Forgetting that she had already broken through to the Demon Core realm, Chu Zhao still retained the habits of a fish. She climbed up the pear-wood table along the chair and gulped down a few mouthfuls of clear water from the porcelain jar.

Sensing that something was not quite right, she realized she was now in a human body.

“Ptooey, ptooey.” She wrinkled her face, a little displeased.

Although Si Jing had replaced the water in the small porcelain jar with fresh water, she was a human now, and naturally should drink from a cup, just like a human!

Chu Zhao picked up the celadon cup Si Jing used for drinking, tilted her head back, and drank it all down to her heart’s content.

Examining the rim of the cup again, her face felt a little flushed.

She could smell the clean, cool scent that enveloped Si Jing.

The beauty must have drunk from this very cup not long ago.

Recalling how she had fallen asleep last night before finding the entrance to Si Jing’s heart, Chu Zhao felt a surge of annoyance.

With cheeks puffed out, she secretly pecked the celadon cup several more times.

She absolutely could not let Si Jing put her off tonight! It was time for her to properly dote on the beauty.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that a new batch of refreshments had been prepared on the table sometime earlier.

She had no idea where the woman got them from; she had never seen her eat even a tiny bit of anything.

Chu Zhao swept all the food from the plate into her stomach. Full and content, yet bored, she peered out through the paper-covered window.

The sun was good today, melting a lot of the accumulated snow. Tiny sprouts of green poked through the ground. The distant mountains were lush and green, shrouded in mist and dust, making them indistinct.

Yesterday, she had promised Si Jing to stay here obediently and not go out.

She should have been looking forward to the dual cultivation within the sword scabbard tonight, but Chu Zhao suddenly felt a little listless.

The room was silent, so quiet that she could hear the faint sound of thin snow bending the branches outside the window.

She looked down and carefully examined the ice bangle on her wrist.

Although she really liked the engagement token the woman gave her, and her ‘wives’ (the fish she talked to) also said that loving someone meant unknowingly indulging them and agreeing to whatever they asked, still… she now wanted to sneak out and have a look around, behind Si Jing’s back.

Despite being a koi, Chu Zhao actually disliked being confined to a fish tank, being fed and watched.

In fact, for a long time after leaving the desolate mountain, she had scorned her kin in the mortal world who were kept in fish tanks by humans, fat and pampered.

Other fish demons called this enjoyment, saying they could get food and affection effortlessly, so they might as well lay flat.

But Chu Zhao felt it was a constraint.

She preferred being free and unrestrained, doing what she wanted whenever she pleased, just like when she frolicked carelessly on the desolate mountain or swam vigorously in the large puddle.

The ice bangle was quietly slipped off and placed on the table with a light clatter.

The door to the sleeping quarters opened and closed.

A slender figure, with apricot eyes shining, looked left and right before melting into the bright spring day outside.

No one in Cloud Water Pavilion knew how the burned-down outer hall was rebuilt overnight.

It was only after morning classes, when some unnamed disciple who had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage stopped their sword in front of the brand-new hall, letting out a wail, “I don’t want to take talisman cultivation class, aah!”

The piercing shriek startled the birds in the forest.

Only then did the crowd realize what had happened.

Eyewitness A, Shen Susu, leaned against a low table, calm as a rock, before their Eldest Sister entered the hall. “This is a sad story.”

“There’s something I want to tell, but I don’t know if I should.”

“T-tell us… tell us,” Yuan Ling said hopefully, as a circle of eager faces had already gathered behind her.

Shen Susu walked past Yuan Ling and held out her empty bowl, which should have been filled with cinnabar, to the crowd.

She motioned for others to give her a tip before she would continue her storytelling.

The crowd tutted but weren’t stingy. The bowl immediately clinked with many objects.

Some genuine fellow disciples gave spirit stones, some threw pebbles to pad the count, and finally, someone threw in a crimson fish jade talisman.

“Hoarding forbidden items, are we?” Shen Susu slowly looked towards a certain direction in the crowd, spotting a somewhat unfamiliar young girl’s face.

The girl blinked her eyelids, looked at her a few times, then hid behind someone else.

Shen Susu didn’t pay too much attention.

No one understood the utility of a good item like a fish jade talisman better than her. She happily grabbed the tassel of the fish jade and stuffed it into her robes.

Only then did she speak: “Everyone, you all know the peach tree that shades the sky behind the abandoned scripture pavilion, right?”

“Who doesn’t?” someone grumbled.

“There are many red silk ribbons with names written on them tied to the peach tree. Everyone is there. I think someone in the sect must be keeping a record of all the disciples in the Cloud Water Pavilion up until now,” Xiao Wan said gently.

Cen Lingwei scratched her head. “Is that so? I always tear off a piece of red silk ribbon, write down my wish, and tie it there.”

“Hey, hey, you’re getting off track.” Shen Susu coughed a few times, forcefully pulling the crowd’s attention back to herself.

“What I want to say is, last night, I went to wander near the scripture pavilion to clear my head, and I saw the peach tree’s branches surge and move robustly, scattering petals everywhere. It actually came alive!”

Everyone held their breath, silenced.

Shen Susu lowered her voice, glancing at Ah Qing who was dozing off on the roof beam.

“I also saw… Master.”

“Really?” A clear voice, like the clash of jade pendants, came from the crowd, carrying a mix of confusion and curiosity.

“Is Sh-sh-master powerful? Does she have a Demon Core, no… a Golden Core realm cultivation?”

“She definitely does,” Shen Susu waved a hand. “Don’t interrupt, I’ll continue.”

She looked around furtively, making sure Si Jing wouldn’t suddenly burst in, still covering her mouth with her sleeve, her voice barely audible. “I saw, you know, Master was tied up by that peach tree, and was, was even… hit in that spot.”

Even though she privately enjoyed strong liquor and blush-inducing romance novels, she still felt a little shy at the moment. She stammered for a long time without saying the exact spot.

“Which spot is that?”

“Sounds like a made-up story.”

“Refund!”

The crowd was filled with righteous indignation.

“Don’t go yet!” Sweat beaded on Shen Susu’s forehead. She pitifully tried to retain them with her eyes. “I haven’t told you how the outer hall was rebuilt overnight.”

But those present had their appetites whetted by the anecdotes about their Master and were unwilling to listen, spitting their scorn and dispersing.

“I, I’ll listen,” Yuan Ling pulled at Shen Susu’s sleeve, looking at her expectantly.

Shen Susu’s ears suspiciously grew hot.

The junior sister’s eyelashes fluttered. She leaned extremely close to her, unknowingly enveloping Shen Susu entirely in her gaze, not to mention her earnest and studious demeanor.

It was a pity that being so close, she couldn’t clearly hear Yuan Ling’s inner thoughts. She clearly remembered being able to hear them somehow when the junior sister used to stammer.

She whispered into Yuan Ling’s ear: “Well, Master… er, afterwards, she took advantage of the exhausted state of that spiritual peach tree and secretly broke off a dry branch.”

“She flew with her sword to this hall square, whoosh—she blew a breath, and the outer hall was rebuilt, no different from before.”

“So, so amazing!” Yuan Ling’s eyes sparkled, full of praise.

Shen Susu giggled foolishly a few times, lowering her head to hide her red ears.

The proximity was too close. She had a strange feeling that the person being praised wasn’t the Master, but her.

She wanted to add a few more embellishments to her tale, but the young woman in her arms suddenly retreated in panic, like a gust of wind, rushing back to her seat in the front row.

Clang, jingle, rattle—

The reward money Shen Susu had just begged for was suddenly spilled onto the table, scattering everywhere.

“Ouch!” she cried out. From the corner of her eye, she saw the beautiful, small yellow bird, perched haughtily on the rim of the bowl, squawking “Miao Miao.”

Swallowing her indignation, she scrambled to gather her bounty, but then she heard the woman’s indifferent voice from behind her.

“Susu, stay behind after class.”

Shen Susu turned her head in despair.

Si Jing stood there holding a stack of blank talismans, her eyes downcast, an image of immortal grace. There was no particular emotion on her face, making it impossible to tell how much she had overheard.

The woman picked up the small bowl that had been emptied, filled it with cinnabar for drawing talismans, and slowly walked to the front.

Taking advantage of their Eldest Sister not paying attention, the fellow disciples swarmed forward.

In the midst of the chaos, like greedy sparrows, they snatched back all the spirit stones that Shen Susu had just tricked them out of.

“…” Shen Susu slumped back in her seat.

She was truly foolish. If she had known that storytelling would lead to such a predicament, she wouldn’t have done it.

“Today, we will be learning the Lightning Descent Talisman,” Si Jing stood before the crowd, signaling Ah Qing and Tao Miao to distribute the blank talisman paper.

Ah Qing was still half-asleep, holding a talisman in her beak, her bird-eyes bleary.

After distributing the sheets to the sect disciples, she tilted her head to look at a small, frail-looking girl in the corner who was poking at a cinnabar bowl with her head down.

“Goo?” she called out in confusion.

Who was this? Had she seen her before?

She still flapped her wings, flew to the person’s desk, and placed a small stack of talisman paper into the girl’s hand.

The girl was wearing an unremarkable light-blue Daoist robe, the type that wouldn’t make a ripple if she disappeared into a crowd. But when she looked up, a fleeting, bright crimson flashed in her eyes.

Putting the talisman paper away, she thanked her with a delicate voice, “Thank you, silly bird.”

Ah Qing instinctively bristled. “Goo!”

Did this little girl just insult her?

Staring at the girl’s face for a long time, Ah Qing only felt that the girl’s features were shrouded like a misty veil; she should have been quite beautiful, but she couldn’t make out the details clearly.

She still felt like she hadn’t woken up properly. She looked around, thought hard, and counted the number of disciples.

Including this girl in front of her, sixteen. That’s right, goo.

The ball of blue-green bird feathers flapped its wings and flew away, bewildered.

It failed to notice the faint, unremarkable illusion magic fluctuation spreading like ripples near the desk where it had just stopped.

The girl propped her chin on her hand, a slight curve lifting the corners of her lips.

At this moment, Si Jing began to explain the incantation.

“Heaven and Earth, profound origin, the source of ten thousand energies,” she said, holding a talisman between two fingers. To demonstrate, she closed her eyes and quietly chanted,

“Xun wind rises and Zhen wood is born, Li fire tempers and Kan water condenses.”

The wind outside suddenly roared fiercely.

Clouds churned, and the sound of flying sand and rolling stones was deafening. Right nearby, the strong wind and startling thunder seemed to be sweeping around.

Following the woman’s final soft murmur, the talisman paper burned to ashes.

Everyone felt a flash of lightning streak across their vision.

A small branch that had been placed on the edge of the desk earlier let out a brittle crack. After attracting the lightning, it was instantly burned to ash, turning into a dead piece of wood.

Cen Lingwei, a talisman cultivator, had drawn her own talisman as a matter of course. She rubbed her eyes now, astonished by the precision and effortless control Si Jing displayed. She turned to the fellow disciple next to her to sigh, “Eldest Sister is truly the best.”

But she saw that same fellow disciple currently curled up in a ball, her slender, delicate shoulders trembling. Hearing the thunder, she looked like she was about to hide under the desk.

Cen Lingwei felt something was wrong. “What’s the matter?”

Although she remembered this spot usually being empty, she still reached out, wanting to offer some comfort. “You don’t need to be afraid. Eldest Sister has never failed in casting a talisman… Huh?”

The girl in the light-blue Daoist robe looked up, a faint blush on the corners of her eyes, and a bewitching crimson flashed in her gaze. “I, I’m not scared!”

The surrounding illusion magic intensified a few degrees, almost distorting the air.

Cen Lingwei’s body stiffened.

Had she met this fellow disciple before? The impression wasn’t deep, but… she must have, right?

She nodded, returning to her original seat in confusion, feeling as if her heart had been pecked, and she had forgotten something.

On the other side, Nie Qian also turned her head to look over.

Seeing the extra desk and the girl, she let out a questioning “Hmm,” her expression puzzled.

Chu Zhao’s eyes were still filled with a terrified mist. She glared at Nie Qian, her cheeks puffed out, silently gesturing:

What are you looking at? Hurry up and draw your silly scribble!

Sure enough, she watched Nie Qian scratch her head and mutter to herself, “Am I sleepwalking…? Why do I see the Koi Fairy?”

Chu Zhao was triumphant.

After condensing her Demon Core, her cultivation had improved significantly. The illusion magic that was once beyond her reach was now effortless; she could conjure it with a mere lift of her finger.

If this was the case, she could bewitch all the children on Donkey Peak and trick them into offering her delicious mealworms every day.

Lost in her pleased thoughts, Chu Zhao didn’t notice that most of the disciples around her had already drawn a Lightning Descent Talisman, while her desk remained empty.

A swipe of a snow-colored robe silently brushed past and stopped beside her.

“Is there anything you are still confused about?” The cool voice flowed into her ear.

With the cover of the illusion magic, Chu Zhao felt a sudden surge of confidence.

She glanced at Si Jing, who was looking down at her, and let out a delicate huff, “Not at all! Such a simple talisman, Ah Chu could draw it even if I turned into a fish… even with my eyes closed!”

“You, Eldest Sister, are nothing special.”

She figured the illusion magic would automatically correct her words, so what reached the other person’s ears would definitely be a polite and reverent tone.

Just as she was feeling smug, she suddenly heard the woman speak with crystal clarity.

“But I do not recall having a junior sister such as you.”

Chu Zhao instantly bit her lip, her gaze inching towards the woman beside her.

A mental war raged within her, combining the dismay of being caught sneaking out, the anxiety of the illusion magic failing, and the humiliation of being exposed.

She almost wanted to immediately transform back to her true form and escape this place.

But before she could clearly see the woman’s expression, she felt a wave of cool air wash over her.

Her right hand was suddenly grasped by a delicate palm.

Si Jing half-crouched, guiding her brush to lightly dip into the cinnabar.

She then took another blank talisman paper and, with steady, unhurried strokes, smoothly and effortlessly outlined the symbols on the paper.

A flawless Lightning Descent Talisman instantly materialized on the sheet.

The distance was extremely close. Chu Zhao turned her head to look at the beauty, a little entranced.

Is Zhi Zhi teaching her how to draw talismans, like she teaches her junior sisters?

Touched by Si Jing’s gentle and indulgent posture at this moment, she lowered her eyelashes shyly, intending to use the illusion magic to cover her attempt to steal a kiss.

But she suddenly felt the woman release her hand, and her pale lips moved slightly.

She only heard a string of obscure, incomprehensible incantations whispered past her ear.

Abruptly, the edges of the talisman paper curled and scorched, with faint but chilling flashes of lightning sparks tracing over it.

Chu Zhao immediately curled up in a ball in fear, biting her lip tightly so as not to let out a shameful scream of terror. “…Mm-wuu!”

Her mind was shaken, and the illusion magic was about to break.

The disciples sitting in the front row had heard the sound and were already curiously turning around to look.

The woman seemed unwilling for her human form to be seen by the crowd. She dabbed her fingertip with talisman water and drew a line across Chu Zhao’s skin, silently murmuring a few words. Chu Zhao then uncontrollably transformed back into her original form.

She plop-plop-plopped and slid into the small porcelain jar the other party had placed down beforehand.

The illusion magic shattered and dispersed, and the extra desk vanished from everyone’s sight like dissipating clouds.

Chu Zhao could only clearly hear one sentence from Si Jing, spoken softly to her, but containing a subtle emotional shift:

“Why… did you take my ice bangle off?”

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