After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 12

Qin Qingyi asked Xie Su to take Hu Yu back first, while she took Zhou Zhixue to the disciples’ inner rest chamber.

It took a lot of coaxing along the way before the little girl finally smiled again.

Seeing that Zhou Zhixue was no longer dwelling on the past, Qin Qingyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s very late now. Tomorrow, your Senior Sister will take you to class to meet the elders who teach lessons in the Sword Sect. Tonight, how about Zhixue sleeps in her own room?”

Qin Qingyi tried to entice her.

Zhou Zhixue had had her own room on Hidden Snow Peak for a while now, and as night was falling, it was time for this half-grown child to go to bed.

Besides, Zhou Zhixue’s room was right next to hers; if there was any trouble, she could attend to her immediately.

Zhou Zhixue obediently nodded and went back to her room to sleep.

Qin Qingyi thought today’s difficulties were finally over, so she let out a long sigh of relief, quickly washed up, and returned to her room. Before getting into bed, she cast a cleansing spell on herself, then contentedly pulled up the covers, ready to meet the Duke of Zhou (go to sleep).

But before she could fall into a dream, her fox’s overly sensitive ears picked up some rustling sounds.

Qin Qingyi’s ears twitched, hearing low sobs coming from the next room.

She rolled over, trying to pretend not to hear.

She had been coaxing a child all day; she couldn’t keep doing it all night.

But the sound, though low, seemed to penetrate everything. The repressed crying continuously reached her ears, disturbing her usually tranquil mind.

Cry, just cry. Once she’s cried enough and is tired, it’ll be fine.

Qin Qingyi wrapped herself into a ball under the blanket, burying her head, stubbornly.

Yet, when she closed her eyes, the sobs mingled with the words Real Person Wen Qing had spoken a few days ago.

Her Master said the girl was still young when she suffered the tragedy of her family’s annihilation and had come to the Sword Sect alone and lonely with her, asking Qin Qingyi to take better care of her.

“But whose background here isn’t miserable? Who didn’t get through it this way?”

Qin Qingyi muttered softly, as if thinking of something, and her eyes, too, became somewhat moist.

The crying next door gradually faded. The sounds suggested the person had fallen asleep, but on this side, Qin Qingyi was tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Flipping over like a pancake again, she finally couldn’t bear it anymore. She directly threw off the covers and sat up.

The candlelight in the room automatically lit up, illuminating the small chamber. As the candlelight flickered, Qin Qingyi put on a coat and walked straight to the table, pouring herself a cup of cold tea.

After careful thought, she drank the cold tea in one go, as if trying to convince herself: “Fine, just because she’s still young, as the Senior Sister, I should take extra care of the Junior Sister.”

On the other side, Zhou Zhixue was exhausted from crying and was drifting off to sleep. She clutched the quilt tightly, curled into a ball, tears still hanging in the corners of her eyes.

“Creak—”

The wooden door was gently pushed open. The faint movement didn’t wake the deeply sleeping Zhou Zhixue.

She was tired from crying and had already fallen asleep, wrapped in a thin blanket, huddled in a corner of the bed.

Qin Qingyi closed the door again, tiptoeing as she looked at the silent bed. She then let out a soft sigh of relief.

It’s good she wasn’t startled. She thought, looking at the pitch-black room, and then remembered that the Eastern Pearl Xie Su had given Zhou Zhixue today was still with her.

How could I forget about this? Qin Qingyi annoyedly patted her head.

As she took out the Eastern Pearl, a gentle, cool glow flowed through the room, illuminating this small space—not very brightly, but enough to avoid being completely dark.

It really is a good item.

Qin Qingyi softened her gaze and placed the Eastern Pearl on the candle stand, using it as a substitute for a candle.

A cold wind swept past the bedside curtains, also stirring the clothes on Qin Qingyi’s shoulder.

She turned to look, only to realize the window hadn’t been closed.

This child, isn’t she afraid of catching a cold?

Qin Qingyi shook her head and walked to the window to close it. At that moment, the moon, high in the sky outside the window, broke through the clouds. Moonlight, like silk, covered the entire Hidden Snow Peak. Coincidentally, it had snowed a few days ago, and this mid-mountain area was also fortunate enough to be covered in silver. The moonlight scattered down, making it look like the ground was covered in scattered silver fragments.

There was a cold-repelling array on Hidden Snow Peak, which could actually block the flying snow of the mountain valley. However, Real Person Wen Qing insisted on keeping the slight snowfall, saying that the snow was necessary to justify the name of Hidden Snow Peak.

Qin Qingyi wrapped her thin clothes around herself and scoffed at this twisted logic.

But, she looked up at the zenith, is it the fifteenth? The moon is so round.

Qin Qingyi quickly calculated with her fingers. Sure enough, it was the middle of the month, the fifteenth.

Counting carefully, this was already her tenth year in the Sword Sect.

Gazing at the mountain scenery outside the window, Qin Qingyi closed the window. She gathered her robes and gently sat back on the edge of the bed.

Zhou Zhixue was sleeping soundly, her breathing even and very light.

Qin Qingyi looked down at her and sighed softly: “You’re lucky. You were rescued by Master and brought to the Sword Sect, and you have someone looking after you at night.”

Zhou Zhixue couldn’t hear these words in her sleep. She just curled up even more, shrinking further into a corner of the bed.

Qin Qingyi smiled, looking at the child who only occupied a tiny corner of the whole bed. She removed her outer robe, folded it neatly, and placed it beside the bed. Then, she lowered the bed curtain and lay down.

But as soon as she lay down and pulled the child into her arms, Qin Qingyi shivered from the cold.

“Hiss—”

This is too cold.

She felt as cold as if she were hugging a block of ice. Qin Qingyi’s eyes widened from the cold. It was then that she realized Zhou Zhixue was still unable to properly control her outwardly radiating spiritual energy, and her Ice Spirit Root was too overbearing, leading to the pervasive cold.

She quickly let go of Zhou Zhixue. Just a single hug, and her dantian felt like it was freezing.

Qin Qingyi quickly cast a cold-repelling spell on herself. Only after her limbs warmed up did she feel comfortable.

Propping her head up with her hand, she looked at Zhou Zhixue, who was curled up in a ball, her hands and feet frozen white. The quilt had long turned into an ice cellar, and Zhou Zhixue was shivering with cold.

Yet, this child said nothing during the day. Now, in her sleep, her body was almost frozen stiff, and she hadn’t woken up. Qin Qingyi looked at the white cold air exhaled from Zhou Zhixue’s mouth and knew the child must already be suffering greatly from the cold.

“A truly worrying child.”

Qin Qingyi mumbled, knowing that if she didn’t do something, the child wouldn’t make a sound even if she froze to death tonight.

How could such a terrible thing happen?

She complained softly: “Good thing your Senior Sister came over tonight. If I hadn’t come…”

Stopping there, Qin Qingyi paused, thinking about the days before when she had never come over. Did Zhou Zhixue endure it like this night after night?

At this thought, she fell silent.

The night was very quiet, so quiet that only the sound of their two breaths could be heard.

But one person’s breathing was steady, while the other’s was intermittent, occasionally accompanied by one or two repressed, painful groans.

After a long while, someone sighed softly.

“Fine. Well, someone has to be the Senior Disciple.”

Qin Qingyi lay back down, gently holding the person in her arms. This time, however, she activated her spiritual energy, slowly dispelling the coldness on Zhou Zhixue’s body, guiding that cold energy to retreat back to her dantian, and obediently retracting its sharpness.

Feeling the small body in her arms gradually warm up, no longer trembling, and her breathing becoming gentle and prolonged, Qin Qingyi finally relaxed.

Zhou Zhixue, in her sleepy confusion, didn’t know what was happening, but she could feel a soft, warm sensation coming from behind, pulling her out of her ice-and-snow dream. For the rest of the night, that warmth never disappeared, ensuring her a good night’s sleep.