Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 4

Shen Lezhi woke up just as the sky was beginning to brighten. Her long-standing routine from her modern life dictated that she had to be at the greenhouse by six in the morning to record the status of the plants being cultivated at the research institute.

Although she no longer had to work, she was always a self-disciplined person. After dressing, she went out to the courtyard to exercise. This body was not yet in her ideal state—frail limbs and a burdened heart meant that even a little extra activity would leave her breathless.

Although Shen Lezhi had found the Profound Jade Sect’s cultivation manual in the Archive, it was truly obscure and difficult to understand. She couldn’t make sense of it, so she could only exercise in ways she knew.

She stood in the courtyard and slowly assumed the starting posture for Tai Chi. Her grandmother had taught her this. Shen Lezhi hadn’t formally studied it; she just practiced with her grandmother every morning. After going to college in another city, she kept this exercise as her morning routine. It wasn’t until her work became too busy that she had to stop exercising. Picking it up again now wasn’t too difficult.

Shen Lezhi practiced for about an hour, and the sky was fully bright. She changed her clothes and rushed to the wasteland to check on the spiritual plants.

But the Green Cloud Branches in the field still hadn’t sprouted. Shen Lezhi’s heart slowly sank. Senior Sister Qi  from the Medicine Herb Peak had already told her yesterday that Green Cloud Branches grow very fast, and if they didn’t sprout after a few days, it was highly likely that there was a problem with the seeds.

The Immortal Sect was built upon a spiritual vein, and every inch of land carried spiritual Qi, which had its own attributes. The Medicine Herb Peak was the most concentrated area for water and wood spiritual Qi, which is why the spiritual fields there were fertile and produced the spiritual spring water.

The wasteland Shen Lezhi had found was abandoned precisely because the spiritual Qi was sparse. She hadn’t known it, but now it seemed that even the easiest-to-grow Green Cloud Branches couldn’t survive here.

Shen Lezhi felt somewhat discouraged, but she still got up and headed towards the Medicine Herb Peak to retrieve the spiritual spring water for irrigation today. The round trip took her more than two hours. The journey up and down the mountain was an exhausting labor that her current physical strength could barely endure.

However, a knot of frustration was building up in Shen Lezhi’s heart. It was like she was stubbornly challenging herself. Even when her legs were trembling, she refused to stop and rest for a while.

Her clothes were soaked with sweat. The more exhausted she became, the more hastily she walked. She misstepped, lost her balance, and fell directly to the ground.

A sharp pain shot through her ankle. She gritted her teeth and stood up. The internal frustration that had gathered in her heart finally dissipated with the pain of the fall.

Shen Lezhi conceded and stopped walking, leaning against the trunk of a large tree, looking up at the sky above. Through the tiny gaps in the foliage, the blue sky and white clouds were so clean that not a trace of pollution could be seen. Such a sky was rare in modern cities. Most of her fellow researchers spent most of their time in greenhouses or laboratories. Even when they went to the countryside, it was difficult to see such a sight again.

Mists wrapped around the peaks, the vegetation was lush and green, and even the sounds of animals moving in the thicket were vibrant and pleasing.

It was too unfamiliar.

These sights felt too unfamiliar to Shen Lezhi. Her stubborn persistence in planting the Green Cloud Branches was only because she needed to find something similar to what she did in her hometown. Since waking up, Shen Lezhi had been hiding in her small house, not actively going out to communicate with others. Planting the Green Cloud Branches was her way of forcing herself to take an interest in something.

But the rules of cultivation here were beyond her comprehension, making Shen Lezhi realize even more clearly that this was not her world.

“Sigh.” Shen Lezhi sighed softly. After resting for a while, she prepared to continue her journey.

She walked a few steps forward, but her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a peculiar small plant. At the base of a thick tree, there was a spiraling plant with short, fine branches extending from the edges of the spiral.

The reason Shen Lezhi noticed it was that a flash of cyan-green light had just darted from that spot. Shen Lezhi was sure she hadn’t been mistaken, but she didn’t know if the light was emitted by the small plant or something else.

She walked closer to examine it. Pushing aside the surrounding weeds with her fingers, she saw that the root of this plant had already rotted, as if it had been gnawed by insects or animals. The main stem was bent, and the spiraling leaves drooped into the soil. The wilted, yellowing state of decay had already begun to spread from the leaf tips.

Shen Lezhi felt a sense of pity, but she didn’t dwell on it. She was about to stand up and continue on her way when a gentle breeze blew, stirring her robe and also lifting the small plant. The bent main stem suddenly stood straight up, and the yellowing leaves danced in the wind. Like a life refusing to die, it stood stubbornly before Shen Lezhi.

It was clearly just the wind. When the wind stopped, the branch drooped again, burying itself deeper in the soil.

Shen Lezhi slowly exhaled. She squatted down again, dug up the small plant, and placed it in a square container.

Holding the small plant, she quickened her pace towards the Medicine Herb Peak. Perhaps, perhaps the spiritual spring water could save it.

Hadn’t Senior Sister Qi said that these spiritual plants live on spiritual Qi, and the spiritual spring water contains richer spiritual Qi?

Shen Lezhi no longer stopped, practically running all the way to the spiritual spring at the Medicine Herb Peak. Her half Exquisite Heart pounded violently, and her breathing could barely keep up.

This time, no Senior Sister came to help her. Holding her breath, she finally reached the spiritual spring and scooped up the water with both hands to pour over the withered small plant.

Her heart felt overloaded, and waves of suffocation surged over her. Shen Lezhi couldn’t help but cough, hunching over with the force of it. Her vision was stained crimson from the coughing. The fresh blood she coughed up seeped into the plant’s branches along with the spiritual spring water. Shen Lezhi couldn’t hold on any longer. Her vision went black, and she completely fainted.

She didn’t see the withered, bent small plant slowly emit a hint of cyan-green light—the color of life. The yellowed leaves fell off, and new green buds sprouted from the broken ends.

When Shen Lezhi woke up again, she was back in her small house. Sitting by the bed was the person whose clothes were as white as snow and whose hair was as black as ink. It almost made her think she had returned to the first day of her transmigration.

“Wang Xi…” She was a little afraid of Wang Xi and instinctively called out her name upon seeing her.

Having directly called the other woman’s given name, Wang Xi looked up and fixed her gaze upon Shen Lezhi, startling Shen Lezhi back to her senses immediately.

“Master,” she quickly corrected herself, not daring to meet Wang Xi’s eyes.

Shen Lezhi still remembered last night, when the other woman leaned over her, oppressing her body. The crimson corners of her eyes made Shen Lezhi feel the cold aura of frost and snow. Shen Lezhi felt terribly cold. The skin on her neck was broken by Wang Xi’s bite, and a chill spread around the wound. She couldn’t stop trembling, shaking all over. Wang Xi only retreated slightly, pinched her jaw, and gazed at her.

Shen Lezhi, similarly, trembled and called out “Master.”

But then she heard a chuckle from Wang Xi’s throat.

She didn’t understand the meaning of that laugh, only seeing her own blood staining Wang Xi’s lips, a shocking red. Although the surroundings were still very cold, Shen Lezhi felt like her whole body was burning as if she were in a sea of fire.

The person before her was as cold as a goddess yet tainted with bewitchment. Shen Lezhi had never seen anything like it.

She truly couldn’t stand Wang Xi gazing at her like that, nor could she stand the bloody stain on her lips. She tremblingly raised her hand, her thumb pressing against Wang Xi’s lips, wiping away the bloodstain. She tightly closed her eyes, her trembling fingers careful, her breath coming in fragmented gasps.

Her burning fingertip touched the other woman’s soft, icy lips. It was as if she, too, was staining Wang Xi with her body temperature, her breath.

Shen Lezhi didn’t know what she looked like in Wang Xi’s eyes at that moment. Her brain had long stopped thinking, leaving only fear.

Fear of what? Fear of Wang Xi leaning in and biting her again. Fear of Wang Xi doing something even more intimate.

Just like now. Shen Lezhi was convinced that the two of them had that kind of private relationship. Being alone with her in the room made her extremely nervous.

Her avoidance was obvious. Wang Xi looked at her, paused, and the coldness in her eyes suddenly faded a bit.

“Why did you suddenly go to the Medicine Herb Peak?”

Shen Lezhi heard Wang Xi’s voice. Whether it was her imagination or not, Wang Xi had clearly restrained her aura, and the chill in the air had also weakened somewhat.

As expected of a lover? Only showing tenderness to her.

Shen Lezhi lowered her eyes. Thinking of the two people’s ending in the book, she pitied Wang Xi’s affection.

But none of this concerned her. She lowered her eyelids, avoiding Wang Xi’s gaze, and only softly answered the question: “I went to fetch spiritual spring water.”

As Shen Lezhi spoke, she suddenly remembered the small plant she had saved. She abruptly lifted her lowered head. “Ah! My plant!”

Wang Xi examined her but pointed to the small plant on a nearby wooden table, allowing Shen Lezhi to look in that direction.

The withered leaves had now been replaced by vibrant green buds, and the bent branches had straightened up.

“It’s alive?! It’s actually alive!” Shen Lezhi completely disregarded her image, immediately got up from the bed, and quickly walked to the wooden table, staring incredulously at the newly grown sprouts.

This truly shocked Shen Lezhi. The spiritual plants in this world were far beyond her imagination. After a closer look now, Shen Lezhi realized what this small plant was. The “Spiritual Plant Cultivation Manual” had a record of it. This wasn’t actually a grass; it was a flower called the “Nightside Bloom” (夜邊花), named because it usually bloomed at night.

The purple three-petaled flower would blossom from the center of the spiral. Although this spiritual plant had no medicinal value, its scent was refreshing after blooming, and some female cultivators would make sachets out of it to carry. For Shen Lezhi, cultivating it would bring the greatest reward.

“Why have you suddenly taken a liking to spiritual plants?” Wang Xi’s voice rang out again just as Shen Lezhi was at her happiest.

This questioning tone made Shen Lezhi’s whole body instantly stiffen. Because she was leaning on the table observing the Nightside Bloom, her back was to Wang Xi. Fortunately, Wang Xi couldn’t see her rigid expression.

After a moment’s pause, Shen Lezhi thought of an answer: “I forgot. I was reading a book in the Archive and suddenly became interested.” She tried to keep her tone calm, as if stating a fact. She wasn’t entirely lying, as Shen Lezhi had indeed become interested the moment she saw the “Spiritual Plant Cultivation Manual” in the Archive.

She didn’t know if Wang Xi believed her. She only met Wang Xi’s deep eyes, which were like a secluded valley in a distant mountain, profoundly deep and unfathomable. This made Shen Lezhi’s heart palpitate. She wanted to look away but had to force herself to stay put, unable to dodge.

“Come here,” Wang Xi commanded, staring at her.

The sense of oppression surged back, and the temperature in the room dropped again.

Wang Xi suspects her. Shen Lezhi sensitively realized this.

Her teeth began to chatter slightly, and her whole body resisted moving closer to Wang Xi. But she couldn’t hide. She was helpless. Slowly walking in front of Wang Xi, she had an instinctive fear of death, but then told herself inwardly, What’s wrong with dying here? I was already dead.

Thinking this way, she felt calmer.

Shen Lezhi watched Wang Xi raise her hand. Those eyes, as cold and desolate as a secluded valley, peered into hers. The fingertips, like ice and snow, gently touched her eyes, making her instinctively close them.