My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 43.2

Xue Shuyan was taken aback, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corners of her lips, which usually seemed devoid of any excess emotion. As a mixed-blood, she had never been fully accepted by either the Hu people or the Han Chinese. But here in the Miaoyin Sect, there was someone who cared for her more than her own absent birth parents ever had. No matter how skilled she was at restraining herself, she couldn’t help but be moved by such sincere concern. Softly, she said:

“Don’t cry. I’m fine.”

“Your Miaoyin Sect saved my life once. It’s only natural that I protect you in return.”

With difficulty, she reached out and wiped the tears from Du Yunge’s eyes. The blood and dirt that had splattered across Du Yunge’s face and hair in the back hills had already been washed away by the maids with buckets of warm water. She had even changed into a fresh set of clothes. Now, she looked like a delicate, jade-like, and adorable young girl again, making Xue Shuyan’s outstretched hand, dark in comparison, seem somewhat out of place.

But Xue Shuyan was never one to be troubled by such trivial matters. One could say that the only things capable of truly troubling or confusing her were matters of great importance, such as the fate of the nation or internal and external conflicts.

So, without a trace of shame or inferiority, she wiped Du Yunge’s tears as usual and smiled gently:

“By your logic, if my skills are lacking and I failed to protect you properly then I brought this suffering upon myself, and I have no one else to blame.”

“Why are you crying, silly girl?”

In that instant, Du Yunge felt as if she were seeing two scenes at once. In one, she was still that little girl sitting by Xue Shuyan’s bedside, so overwhelmed by her absurd reasoning that she couldn’t even cry. She couldn’t make out Xue Shuyan’s expression clearly her vision was blurred by tears but she distinctly heard the unusually light tone in her voice. In the other scene, she was looking down from above, and from this vantage point, she could clearly see the genuine smile playing at the corners of Xue Shuyan’s lips.

From this moment on, Du Yunge’s dream began to spiral into chaos, a clear sign that she was about to wake. The scenes in her dream jumped around erratically, one moment here, the next there. Yet, somehow, Du Yunge could still piece together when these events had taken place.

At one point, she dreamed of a ragged Xue Shuyan, stumbling along with another girl of Hu descent whose face remained indistinct. Together, they endured countless hardships to reach Mount Wangyou. The Four Guardians of the Seasons stood in a row at the mountain gate, seemingly arguing about something before finally stepping aside to let the two girls, who had suffered displacement and homelessness, enter. Feng Chuncheng’s calm words still echoed in her ears: “Once your injuries are healed, you must leave the mountain. The internal strife of the Wuzhaka tribe is not something our humble Miaoyin Sect can meddle in.”

At another moment, she dreamed of Xue Shuyan personally pulling the teeth from a wolf, stringing them on a red cord, and wearing them around her own neck. Then, she dreamed of the Hu girl leaving under the escort of Qiu Yueman, while Xue Shuyan remained behind. Kneeling respectfully before Feng Chuncheng and Yun Anxue, she kowtowed three times and offered two cups of tea. Only after Feng Chuncheng had taken a slow sip did she lean down, placing a hand on Xue Shuyan’s shoulder and saying:

“If not for the fact that you risked your life to save our sect leader, our Miaoyin Sect would never have intervened in the messy internal conflict of your Wuzhaka tribe.”

“Since you pleaded so earnestly, you’ve seen for yourself: Guardian Qiu is highly skilled with twin hooks, excels in lightness techniques, and is adept at managing finances. Sending her down the mountain to assist your cousin in stabilizing the Wuzhaka tribe should suffice to secure the situation, don’t you think?”

“Our Miaoyin Sect’s rule of not interfering in worldly affairs must never be broken. However, now that we have extended our aid, not only you, a half-blood but even your cousin, who is destined to lead the Wuzhaka tribe, will have no choice but to send us tribute year after year. Do you understand?”

“In fact by keeping only you here and nurturing you to your full potential, you’re the one benefiting from this arrangement.”

Xue Shuyan bowed deeply once more, her voice hoarse as she replied after a long pause, “I understand. Thank you, both Masters.”

Only then did Du Yunge realize that this was the story of how her senior sister, Xue Shuyan, had come to join the Miaoyin Sect.

And so, she strained her ears, determined to linger a little longer in this dream, as if by doing so, she could reclaim the memories she had lost and the bond she had formed with Xue Shuyan during that time.

If she could linger in this dream a little longer, perhaps she could draw closer to that young Xue Shuyan she had already forgotten and in turn, grow nearer to the present Xue Shuyan, who had mastered the art of stoicism to perfection, rarely revealing her true emotions.

“Enough,” Feng Chengchun and Yun Anxue spoke in unison. “If not for our sect leader pleading on your behalf, you might not even have been allowed to stay.”

Du Yunge then realized that her younger self was not present in the solemn atmosphere of the apprenticeship hall. Instead, she was diligently practicing lightness skills in the adjacent training hall, no wonder Feng Chengchun and the others felt comfortable bluntly discussing such heavy matters here.

Feng Chengchun finally released her grip on Xue Shuyan’s shoulder and said,
“Fortunately, your foundation is solid, and you haven’t learned any messy techniques from other sects. You haven’t gone astray and remain promising. But it’s improper to remain nameless. Is your mother Han Chinese? Or your father?”

Xue Shuyan thought carefully before replying, “My father is Han. His surname is Xi Yue.”
Her heavy Hu accent made the single-character Han surname sound like a two-syllable name. Fortunately, after repeating the sounds a few times, Feng Chengchun deciphered it as “Xue”:
“Since your father is Han, follow Han tradition and take his surname, ‘Xue.'”

Feng Chengchun, then still in her prime and full of vigor, glanced up at the wild geese passing overhead and sighed, suddenly realizing it was already late autumn.
“All named disciples of our Miaoyin Sect, since the founding by the first sect leader, have taken their names from classical poetry.”
“I shall name you using the characters ‘Shu’ and ‘Yan’ from the line, ‘Who in the clouds sends a letter? When the wild geese return, the moon fills the western tower.’ From now on, you are no longer the nameless, bullied mixed-blood child of the Wuzaka tribe. You are the rightful and honorable senior disciple of the Miaoyin Sect on Wangyou Mountain, Xue Shuyan.”
“From this day forward, you must protect our sect leader. Swear here to all deities of heaven and earth: alive, you are a member of the Miaoyin Sect; dead, you are a ghost of the Miaoyin Sect. No matter what, as long as you breathe, you must ensure our sect leader’s safety!”

Without hesitation, Xue Shuyan knelt and bowed. In her youth, she lacked the unyielding pride she would later embody, she was simply a mixed-race girl who had just received a name. Yet her words already carried a resolute, metallic ring. Such a person, once committed, would press forward with relentless determination, only ceasing when her passion was spent and her edge worn away:
“From now on, I am Xue Shuyan of the Miaoyin Sect!”
“As long as I live, I will protect Yunge with my life. Alive, I belong to the Miaoyin Sect; dead, I am its ghost. Should I ever betray this oath, may I be struck by lightning and die a wretched death!”

Du Yunge wanted to take one last look at the little Xue Shuyan in her dream, but a powerful force abruptly dragged her awake. She opened her eyes to find the sky outside gloomy and starless, with no moonlight seeping through the partially drawn curtains. In the pitch-black room, however, someone was persistently shaking her undoubtedly the one who had forcibly roused her from her slumber.

Still groggy, Du Yunge rubbed her eyes and mumbled, “Senior Sister.? What are you doing in the middle of the night? Why aren’t you asleep?”

Just as she was about to say, “I just dreamed of us when we were young,” the person’s movements suddenly halted. After a long pause, a soft chuckle broke the silence:

“Senior Sister?”

“Your dear senior sister probably can’t look after you right now, little sect leader.”

Du Yunge finally realized belatedly that this person couldn’t possibly be Xue Shuyan! If it were Xue Shuyan calling her, she wouldn’t do so at this hour. Even if there were some urgent matter requiring her to get up in the middle of the night, Xue Shuyan would first drape an outer garment over her and wipe her face, ensuring she wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable after being abruptly roused. How could anyone simply call her to wake up without doing anything else?

Just as Du Yunge opened her mouth to call out for Xue Shuyan to come in, she caught a faint, captivating fragrance drifting into her nostrils. Her heart sank, for she had heard of such tricks in the martial world, the more potent an inhaled drug like knockout incense, the more pleasant its scent, designed precisely to prevent the victim from sensing danger immediately.

But no amount of caution could help her now. The knockout incense had already taken full effect, and it was clearly of the strongest kind. Du Yunge barely had time to bite down hard on the hand covering her mouth and nose before she lost consciousness, plunging headlong into an abyss of endless darkness.

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