After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 11

From that day onward, Luo Qingyi took up residence in Wu Ruo’s home.

Perhaps because her injuries had yet to fully heal, Luo Qingyi seldom ventured outside. Most of her days were spent resting in bed, though sometimes she would meditate in a secluded corner of the courtyard or take quiet walks away from the crowds. The high bamboo fence surrounding the dwelling shielded her from prying eyes.

Wu Ruo’s home was also tucked away in a remote and tranquil corner of Miaojiang, so visitors were rare. As a result, Luo Qingyi’s life remained undisturbed, peaceful and content, just as Wu Ruo had hoped.

She greatly enjoyed living with Luo Qingyi. The Miaojiang tribe was sparsely populated to begin with, and Luo Qingyi was not one for bustling crowds. After all this time, the Miao people remained unaware that an extra person had taken up residence here. Though Wu Ruo had no outlet for her urge to share the news, there was an upside she relished the joy of having Luo Qingyi all to herself.

But still, when would Luo Qingyi ever come to like her back?

“Big Sister Ruo! Teacher!”

The loud voice of Chuncao snapped Wu Ruo out of her thoughts. She patted the girl’s shoulder reassuringly. “I’m here, what is it?”

Chuncao exclaimed, “You’ve been spacing out all day! Look at this herbal mixture I prepared, do you think it’ll work to lure a king cobra?”

Wu Ruo sniffed the small bowl the girl was holding and said, “Hmm, the scent isn’t strong enough. Add some snakegrass flower and a strand of crimson tail, mash them together, then seal it for three hours.”

She suddenly recalled mentioning this to Luo Qingyi before, what had the other woman said again? Chuncao was slacking off and unwilling to learn, which was a sign of cultivation fatigue. The heart needed healing!

“I taught you this three days ago. How could you forget so quickly?” she added.

“Because I’ve been distracted,” Chuncao said playfully, blinking. “Big Sister Ruo, I saw a woman come out of your house earlier, then vanish really quickly. Who is she?”

Ah. Just when she thought she had been discreet, her secret had been exposed.

At the mention of Luo Qingyi, Wu Ruo’s face lit up with excitement. “She’s your shi—”

She swallowed the word before it could escape. Chuncao was a notorious gossip, if she found out, all of Wu Ruo’s students would know. And if word got back to Luo Qingyi, Wu Ruo would never be able to face her again.

“She’s a cultivator I rescued. She’s been injured recently and is recuperating here. Don’t disturb her, it might interfere with her cultivation.”

“Ohhh!” Chuncao knew her teacher’s preferences well. She had also heard before about how Wu Ruo had once been saved by a formidable female cultivator during a trip down the mountain.

The girl was sharp. She knew Wu Ruo wasn’t the type to be overly compassionate or take pleasure in rescuing others out of sheer kindness. Chuncao’s eyes sparkled mischievously as she suddenly asked, “Is this cultivator from the same sect as that swordmaster who saved you? The Zhiyuan Immortal Sect is right next to us, is she from there?”

“It’s her. The very same.”

At this, Wu Ruo perked up immediately.

She had kept quiet for so long to avoid letting the noisy girls disturb Luo Qingyi, but now that she had been asked directly, she couldn’t help but proudly admit it, practically bursting with the urge to boast to her disciple about her connection with Luo Qingyi.

Sure enough, Chuncao let out an earth-shaking scream, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire alchemy hall.

The girls were all adorable little troublemakers. They abandoned their herb preparations at once, crowding around Wu Ruo with eager, gossip-filled eyes, pestering her to tell the story.

Wu Ruo was absolutely thrilled.

“The moment she drew her sword, it was like a celestial maiden descending to earth one strike, and that damned demonic cultivator was dead! At that moment, she was glowing all over, her blade spotless, gleaming and radiant.”

“Do you know why I remember it so clearly? Because I dreamed of it for so long thoughts by day, dreams by night. And after years of doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, the heavens knew I was a good person, so they specially arranged for me to reunite with her and continue our fate.”

As Wu Ruo boasted, she basked in the enthusiastic reactions of the young girls. Faced with their chorus of “We ship it!” from Chuncao and the others, she was practically floating with delight, even nearly getting carried away enough to sneak into the room and steal a kiss from Luo Qingyi.

Oh no, she wouldn’t dare.

Just as she was spinning her tale, she suddenly spotted a paper crane, folded from xuan paper, fluttering its wings in the wind as it quietly flew toward the Alchemy Hall.

Seeing that she was still talking, the crane didn’t rush or make a sound, simply perching gracefully outside the window even hovering midair, its posture was elegant beyond compare.

Just like its owner, dignified and refined no matter the time or place.

“Alright, that’s enough for now. You all should go practice, only the most outstanding people get luck this good!”

The girls clamored in protest, unwilling to let Wu Ruo leave. She made up an excuse and slipped away, picking up the paper crane Luo Qingyi had sent her.

“Come back quickly. Your bottle fell and shattered.”

Luo Qingyi liked to call her gu insects “bottles,” since most of them were stored in bottle-shaped containers treasures she had collected over the years. Her little darlings were always kept securely in place, so how could one have suddenly fallen.

She hurried back, mentally running through the antidotes for various gu poisons.

She didn’t know which one had broken, but she hoped it wasn’t something as dangerous as the Bloodthirst Gu. If that thing accidentally harmed Luo Qingyi, she would never forgive herself.

From a distance, she formed the Insect-Summoning Hand Seal and gripped a medicinal pill from her pouch, ready to administer it to Luo Qingyi at a moment’s notice.

The courtyard was just as usual, with no signs of withered plants or any ominous phenomena. Wu Ruo let out a sigh of relief until she stepped inside and saw the shattered fragments on the floor. Her pupils constricted violently.

It was the vessel containing the Love Gu. She had stored it in the most airtight treasure jar she owned, sealed deep within the innermost layer of her bookshelf. That shelf held only this one gu, a relic of her youthful infatuation, long buried away.

She had never intended to bring the Love Gu back into the light. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that this supposedly lost-for-centuries artifact would one day cause trouble.

“You’re here.” Luo Qingyi sat at the desk, her expression slightly awkward, tinged with guilt. “I’m sorry. I was trying to get a book from your shelf, but the bottle suddenly slipped. It was my carelessness.”

It wasn’t Luo Qingyi’s fault.

She knew, the Love Gu was aware of her feelings. The creation of this gu was inextricably tied to Luo Qingyi. If it sensed her presence at close range, it was bound to react.

She had forgotten to warn Luo Qingyi to stay away from the inner shelves or perhaps, she hadn’t dared. She hadn’t dared to reveal her dark, unworthy love, hadn’t dared to let Luo Qingyi form any other impression of her.

Wu Ruo quickly reassured her, “It’s fine, really. Where did the contents spill? Did it crawl onto you? That thing can dissolve into the skin.”

“No, I haven’t. When it shattered, there seemed to be a flesh-pink sphere inside that quickly crawled away, probably hiding in some corner.”

Luo Qingyi answered swiftly, her brows still furrowed as if pondering the sphere’s direction of movement. “What kind of gu is this? If it’s a mild one, I can stimulate it slightly with spiritual energy, and it’ll crawl out soon.”

“It’s a gu that’s useless to us gu cultivators but feeds on a cultivator’s spiritual energy. Not good. You should stay as far away as possible, don’t let it dissolve into your body. It’ll interfere with your recovery.”

She still didn’t dare.

Luo Qingyi didn’t doubt her explanation, but her left hand moved subtly, quietly resting behind her back. She added, “Then it’s fine. I’ll channel my spiritual energy, and you try to lure it toward you.”

Wu Ruo nodded, biting her fingertip until blood dripped onto the floor. She drew an invisible sigil in the air and called to Luo Qingyi, “Ready.”

Golden light shimmered in the air as illusory sword energy clashed violently. Though Luo Qingyi had lost her memories, her control over spiritual energy hadn’t weakened, in fact, through recent cultivation, it had become even more refined.

In the blink of an eye, the flesh-pink sphere crawled out from beneath the bookshelf, landing right in front of Wu Ruo’s eyes and swiftly wriggling toward the blood on the floor.

“Now!”

But just as Wu Ruo solidified the array, the love gu seemed to sense something. It stopped advancing toward the blood and instead turned in place, crawling straight toward Luo Qingyi!

“Bad! Qingyi, get out of the way!”

Luo Qingyi, agile as ever, understood immediately. With a light leap, she hovered midair, out of the gu’s reach. At the same time, she intensified the spiritual energy, tapping lightly in the air.

“Gurgle…”

The little flesh-pink gu let out a pained sound, curling up motionless on the floor. Wu Ruo swiftly pinched it between her fingers, sealing it into a new vial.

Only then did Wu Ruo exhale in relief only to notice a cut on Luo Qingyi’s arm from the shattered glass!

“Ah! You’re hurt!” Her heart ached like a knife twisting inside. The thought that her own broken love gu had caused this filled her with guilt. Without thinking, she lifted Luo Qingyi’s wrist. “Let me get you some medicine.”

“No need.” Luo Qingyi didn’t pull her hand back, letting her hold it. “If you’d come a minute later, it would’ve healed already.”

The wound had already stopped bleeding, leaving only the faintest trace of a cut. Wu Ruo relaxed slightly, still cradling her arm. “Does it hurt? Let me blow on it, blowing makes the pain go away.”

Luo Qingyi didn’t respond. Instead, her slender fingers brushed over Wu Ruo’s hand, lingering on the bleeding fingertip. “Do you always hurt yourself when casting gu?”

The wound on her fingertip smoothed over under Luo Qingyi’s touch, the gentle contact warm, like a tingling breeze soothing her battered fingers.

“Pretty much. A master’s blood is the best lure for gu, whether as feed or bait.” Wu Ruo smiled. “I’m used to it. It doesn’t hurt at all, so don’t worry about me.”

An endless sweetness welled up in her heart, like happiness falling from the heavens, settling firmly in her chest.

Luo Qingyi didn’t speak, merely furrowing her brows as she gave Wu Ruo a disapproving glance.

“Don’t worry about me. Just tell me what you’d like to eat or do today.”

Wu Ruo quickly changed the subject, and under her guidance, Luo Qingyi didn’t press further.

Together, they cleaned up the shattered fragments on the floor, restoring the room to its tidy state. However, as Wu Ruo disposed of the glass shards, she couldn’t shake the feeling that her right eyelid kept twitching incessantly.

She didn’t realize that the moment the bottle was sealed, the pale pink bead inside suddenly erupted into a vivid, intense crimson.

And she had also overlooked the fact that the love-gu worm, as it crawled out, had already consumed the blood Luo Qingyi had earlier dripped onto the floor.

The day passed quickly without any strange occurrences, easing Wu Ruo’s mind.

Night had fallen. After bidding each other goodnight, Wu Ruo drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

But Luo Qingyi remained awake. Her cultivation had reached the level of a grandmaster, making sleep unnecessary for replenishing energy. A light meditative state was enough to amplify her spiritual circulation and efficiency.

Every rustle and whisper from the outside world naturally reached her ears. She lay still, her spiritual energy flowing smoothly, her mind immersed in profound mystery.

To an observer, she would have simply appeared asleep.

Then, without warning, the small bottle on the table abruptly shattered. The pale pink now deep crimson worm slowly crawled its way to Luo Qingyi’s bedside.

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