Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 7 

Shen Lezhi found the pain almost impossible to suppress. The agony seeping into her body pushed her to the brink of losing control of herself. It was like being scorched, a continuously accumulating and inseparable torment.

Only the pair of hands around her waist supported her weak body, finally allowing her to regain some clarity of mind.

She knew who the person was. Those hands had a temperature familiar to her, and she felt it distinctly against her bare skin.

Shen Lezhi craved the short-lived coolness wherever Wang Xi touched, as it seemed to alleviate the pain.

She desperately pushed herself further into Wang Xi’s embrace, inhaling that ethereal, ice-cold fragrance.

The pain seemed to genuinely decrease slowly, and her consciousness cleared up a little more.

Wang Xi lowered her head slightly to gaze at Shen Lezhi, watching her tightly shut eyes, fluttering eyelashes, and weak, continuous whimpers. Shen Lezhi cried out in pain, her body nude, constantly pressing into the embrace.

Wang Xi’s breath hitched. She recalled Shen Lezhi when she was a child, just four or five years old, who often suffered due to constant illness and would sometimes timidly beg Wang Xi for affection.

When the child was in pain, she would cry, shedding tears and wanting Wang Xi to hold her.

Wang Xi did indeed dote on the younger Shen Lezhi, holding her and soothing her. Though she did not show it in her expression or words, her actions always showed a partiality.

As Shen Lezhi grew older, she no longer displayed such behavior. When Wang Xi looked back, she realized that the later acts of endearment were calculated; her obedience was all a form of manipulation.

Shen Lezhi seemed to have lost all temper and willfulness in front of Wang Xi, disguising herself as a weak, innocent, and pitiable person whom anyone would want to cherish.

Just like this moment: Shen Lezhi’s pale fingers tightly gripped Wang Xi’s lapel, her body wet from the medicinal bath, her hair damp, and the corner of her eyes carrying a fragile look due to the pain, presenting a wholly helpless and pitiful appearance.

Shen Lezhi was genuinely in agony. She grasped Wang Xi with one hand and pressed the other to her chest.

This was because the Life-and-Death Gu  within her heart was churning violently.

This was also the reason Wang Xi rushed over. The mother Gu of the Life-and-Death Gu in Wang Xi’s possession suddenly became abnormal. This situation could only mean that the subsidiary Gu inside Shen Lezhi’s body had encountered an issue. Wang Xi entered the room and saw the scene of Shen Lezhi desperately crawling out of the bathtub. She reached out and picked the person up, only to be immediately clung to by the other party.

Shen Lezhi was in so much pain that her expression was twisted. Wang Xi had not seen her like this for a long time. It seemed that ever since she was a teenager, even when on the brink of death, Shen Lezhi maintained that obedient composure.

Wang Xi carried Shen Lezhi to the bed and gazed at the latter’s body. Waves of red flushed across the pristine skin. Wang Xi reached out to touch Shen Lezhi’s chest, feeling the delicate texture beneath her fingers and the restless churning of the Life-and-Death Gu.

Wang Xi’s fingers began to move, exploring Shen Lezhi’s meridians little by little with spiritual power. The places her fingers swept over caused Shen Lezhi to tremble, whether from pain or other sensations.

After circling through Shen Lezhi’s meridians, Wang Xi calmed the Life-and-Death Gu, stopping its restless churning.

Following this, Wang Xi concentrated and held her breath, her gaze cold as she stared at Shen Lezhi’s face.

Shen Lezhi had been poisoned.

A poison Wang Xi had failed to discover in her previous life.

Hidden within Shen Lezhi’s meridians for years, it was impossible to detect, and Wang Xi did not know the poison’s effect. It was only its clash with the Life-and-Death Gu that led to its manifestation and outbreak this time.

Who would want to poison her?

Wang Xi thought of one person, then suddenly turned to scan the medicinal bath water Shen Lezhi had used in the room. She got up, walked over, collected some of the bath water, and stored it in her storage ring.

Shen Lezhi was still unconscious. Wang Xi checked her meridians again. The poison that was detectable moments ago had now vanished. Because Shen Lezhi remained comatose, Wang Xi had no choice but to send a message to the medicinal cultivators of the Medicinal Herb Peak, asking them to come for a diagnosis.

However, Wang Xi concealed the matter of Shen Lezhi being poisoned, only stating that she had fallen into this state after taking a medicinal bath. Yet, the medicinal bath water was checked and found to be fine.

Sure enough, even the medicinal cultivators from the Medicinal Herb Peak could not discern that Shen Lezhi had been poisoned, merely assuming that Shen Lezhi’s condition was a normal reaction of her body still adjusting to the Exquisite Heart.

When Shen Lezhi was fully conscious, only Senior Sister Qi remained in the room. Seeing her awake, Senior Sister Qi quickly stepped forward to check on her condition.

“What happened to me?” Shen Lezhi still remembered the sudden, unbearable pain and Wang Xi coming to hold her.

She looked around but did not see Wang Xi.

“Are you looking for the Jiyue Immortal Venerable? The Immortal Venerable had something to attend to and just left,” Senior Sister Qi observed her look and chuckled playfully. “The Immortal Venerable truly dotes on you. Every time you have a minor issue, she sends a message asking our Peak Lord to come over. I begged our Peak Lord to bring me along to see you this time after hearing it was you.”

Shen Lezhi heard this but did not reply, lowering her eyes, though she inwardly complained.

How could she not dote on her?

After all, the two were in that kind of relationship.

When one’s little lover gets sick, naturally one would be frantic.

Shen Lezhi’s memory of that time was quite clear. She still remembered the warmth of Wang Xi’s palms when she was picked up. Though she was in agonizing pain, she clearly remembered the feeling of those hands supporting her.

She also remembered the gentleness of the person’s fingertips touching her body as she lay on the bed.

The more Shen Lezhi thought about it, the redder her face became.

Although she speculated that Wang Xi’s fingers moving across her skin were not for the purpose of taking advantage—surely the Jiyue Immortal Venerable, a pillar of the Immortal Sect, would not be thinking of that kind of thing at a time like that, but was clearly checking her condition—

Shen Lezhi was still incredibly shy.

She had dated girlfriends and was a pure lesbian, never having felt attraction to men since childhood.

She only met her first love in university and had not dated since the breakup.

The matter of being touched all over her body by another woman while completely nude was truly…

“Why is your face so red?” Senior Sister Qi, noticing Shen Lezhi’s unusual complexion, immediately asked.

“No, no, no,” Shen Lezhi hurriedly replied, patting her cheeks, attempting to cool herself down.

Senior Sister Qi, worried that Shen Lezhi was feeling unwell, wanted to check again. Shen Lezhi shook her head frantically, insisting that she was fine, which finally reassured Senior Sister Qi slightly.

“I still need to water the Azure Cloud Branches,” Shen Lezhi quickly changed the subject to prevent Senior Sister Qi from probing further.

“Can’t you rest for a while after just waking up?” Senior Sister Qi shook her head helplessly.

Having seen Shen Lezhi at the Medicinal Herb Peak before and later learning that Shen Lezhi walked to the Medicinal Herb Peak every day to collect Spiritual Spring Water, Senior Sister Qi had a slight understanding of Shen Lezhi’s temperament.

“I feel perfectly fine,” but Shen Lezhi was not one to heed advice, at least not regarding planting, where she maintained a stubborn attitude.

Even as a child, regardless of wind or rain, there was no reason not to work in the fields. After entering the research institute, she worked despite wind or rain, never missing a day of observation or data collection.

As she spoke, she lifted the quilt and got out of bed. Senior Sister Qi could not argue with her. Seeing that Shen Lezhi was indeed fine and genuinely wanting to see the Azure Cloud Branches that had delayed sprouting, she compromised and followed Shen Lezhi.

Upon reaching the spiritual field, the Azure Cloud Branches had already flowered and borne fruit. Senior Sister Qi curiously went forward to check, finding that the fruits of these few Azure Cloud Branches contained an even richer spiritual energy.

The quality of spiritual plant cultivation is graded. Senior Sister Qi concentrated for a moment, yet could not even gather spiritual energy, indicating that the surrounding spiritual field was extremely lacking in spiritual energy and should not be able to grow spiritual plants at all.

However, the Azure Cloud Branches before her were growing exceptionally well.

So well that when Senior Sister Qi picked a fruit, she could feel the pleasure of her fingertips being wrapped in spiritual energy without even needing to concentrate.

“This is truly a marvel,” Senior Sister Qi exclaimed.

Shen Lezhi could not sense the spiritual energy; she only saw the plump and lush fruits of the Azure Cloud Branch before her. Happily, she picked them one by one, preparing to exchange them for new seeds.

“Junior Sister Shen, you might as well learn alchemy,” Senior Sister Qi handed one of the Azure Cloud Branch fruits to Shen Lezhi and casually mentioned.

Disciples of the Medicinal Herb Peak rarely studied cultivation alone; alchemy or medicinal healing were the main studies for Medicinal Herb Peak disciples.

However, Senior Sister Qi paused after speaking, then pursed her lips and said no more.

Shen Lezhi was the disciple of the Jiyue Immortal Venerable, the foremost sword cultivator of the Immortal Sect. How could she neglect the Way of the Sword and rush to follow another school of thought?

Senior Sister Qi squeezed her fingertips, feeling a sense of pity.

She saw great perseverance in Shen Lezhi in this area, whether it was waiting for the Azure Cloud Branch that had not sprouted at the normal time, or her daily persistence in collecting Spiritual Spring Water from the Medicinal Herb Peak.

And when Shen Lezhi shared information about the spiritual plants with her, her eyes lit up, appearing full of stars—an undeniable joy.

“Can I learn? How do I learn?” Shen Lezhi was, however, very interested in this.

Senior Sister Qi did not expect the person truly wanted to learn. She curiously assessed Shen Lezhi, beginning to suspect that the reason Shen Lezhi was still only at the Qi Condensation stage, even after becoming the disciple of the Jiyue Immortal Venerable—worse than some outer disciples—was because her heart was not in the Way of the Sword.

But since Shen Lezhi was interested, Senior Sister Qi was happy to tell her: “The Medicinal Herb Peak offers alchemy classes, but they are only introductory. If you truly wish to study seriously, you must first ask the Jiyue Immortal Venerable.”

Shen Lezhi nodded upon hearing this. She understood: a formally acknowledged disciple could not casually study the techniques of another lineage.

Soon, the Azure Cloud Branch fruits were all picked. Shen Lezhi needed to take the fruits to exchange for seeds, and Senior Sister Qi also had to leave, so she offered to take Shen Lezhi via sword flight.

Five Azure Cloud Branches yielded eighteen fruits, which were exchanged for a bag of Azure Cloud Branch seeds and ten seeds of the Laughing Flower (歡笑花).

The Laughing Flower is the most commonly cultivated low-level spiritual plant. Its petals come in pink and bright red varieties, and when in bloom, they emit an intoxicating fragrance. The petals can be crushed to make scented pills or dried to be carried, making them very popular among female cultivators.

Furthermore, the mature petals of the Laughing Flower have different fragrances, resulting in scented pills of various scents.

Shen Lezhi decided to plant the Laughing Flower next because Senior Sister Qi mentioned that the alchemy class would teach how to refine scented pills, saving her the need to buy materials later.

After receiving the seeds, Shen Lezhi could not wait to get to work in the field. Fortunately, she had already cultivated a plot of land yesterday, so today she only needed to sow the seeds and water them.

However, Shen Lezhi did not rush to plant the Laughing Flowers. The Spiritual Plant Cultivation Handbook stated that the Laughing Flower dislikes sunlight and prefers to grow in dark places. Shen Lezhi decided to wait until the sun set before planting them.

For now, she wanted to construct a simple shed specifically to shade the spiritual field where the Laughing Flowers would be planted.

She gathered some branches. This world was not like the modern era, where trees had been excessively felled, and large forests were rare, even in some rural areas, let alone in cities.

Here, the vegetation was lush, and green trees could be seen everywhere. Shen Lezhi had a personal sword hanging in her small hut, but she rarely used it. Since she could not find an axe, she decided to use her personal sword.

Indeed, the sword was incredibly sharp, proving even more useful than she imagined, cutting down materials as easily as slicing mud.

She collected a large amount of branches and leaves, spreading and tying them to form a roof. For the support structure, she chopped a few bamboo poles. The four corners were sharpened and buried in the soil, secured with a few rocks, and long bamboo poles were tied crosswise on both sides for balance.

Shen Lezhi stayed busy until darkness fell before returning to her small hut.

Today was a rare day of peace where she only focused on what she wanted to do, too tired to think about anything else.

After washing up, she habitually checked the Nightside Flower (夜邊花) potted separately on her desk. Shen Lezhi loved these small potted plants and used to keep many at home.

She did not need to research its data. Although she also loved her research work, simply watching a seed sprout, flower, bear fruit, wither, and dry up—

Witnessing the beginning and end of life—

She often found it miraculous. Observing the simple movement of the branches and leaves also piqued her interest.

Shen Lezhi leaned on the desk, her fingers touching the leaves of the Nightside Flower. Perhaps because it was nighttime, the branches and leaves felt slightly cold.

She watched closely, concentrating hard to try and revisit the feeling of sensing a plant’s emotions from before. Her gaze fell on the newly grown sprout. Two days had passed, and the sprout seemed to have undergone some change.

The Nightside Flower is supposed to only have one sprout per plant, which curls into a spiral when mature. However, the Nightside Flower in front of Shen Lezhi now had three sprouts, and tiny lines were emerging at the tips of the sprouts.

Shen Lezhi slowly sat up, confused. She took out the Spiritual Plant Cultivation Handbook and flipped through it, finding a spiritual plant that matched the description.

The “Weeping Soul Strand”. It is extremely similar to the Nightside Flower during its sprouting stage, the difference being that the Weeping Soul Strand will have three delicate sprouts. Tiny lines appear at the tip of the sprouts during its growth period, which is the key distinction from the Nightside Flower.

Shen Lezhi paused, staring at the Weeping Soul Strand, thinking that the name alone did not suggest anything good…

She subconsciously pushed the potted plant further away, showing a slight distaste.

Suddenly, she heard a tender voice.

[Wuwu (Sobbing).]

Shen Lezhi’s outstretched finger froze. She had successfully felt that inexplicable emotion transmission again, and this time, she clearly heard the sound.

It must be the Weeping Soul Strand right in front of her.

It was crying.

And it sounded incredibly wronged.