The Cold, Aloof Senior Sister Deserves To Be Paired With A Peerless Beauty - Chapter 2

“Is she alive today?”

Countless characters were arranged in an orderly fashion, resembling neither an array nor any kind of magic spell.

But how could a mere string of strange characters pull a person into this place?

Was someone trying to bring her back from the dead? Or was there another purpose?

At this thought, Chi Li furrowed her brows, narrowing her eyes as she attempted once more to identify those characters.

However, they did not belong to any national script she had studied, nor were they any form of immortal sect incantation.

“These are…” Chi Li murmured to herself, but no one was there to answer her confusion.

As if sensing her bewilderment, the characters began to shift before her eyes.

Only this time, they transformed into a script Chi Li recognized, floating before her.

Though these words were organized, they were numerous. For Chi Li alone, they were a dizzying sight like a surging tide, they crashed into her mind, instantly causing a splitting headache.

The moment Chi Li tried to close her eyes to rest, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a specific passage.

The world seemed to freeze. Chi Li read that passage several times over. Her pupils constricted sharply, and her hanging hands subconsciously clenched into fists, tightening until her knuckles turned a terrifying white, as if she were desperately suppressing something.

It wasn’t until her fingernails sank deep into her flesh and a stinging pain radiated from her palms that Chi Li snapped back to reality. But the heartbeat in her chest thundered in her ears like a drum.

She looked down again, staring blankly at the blood on her palms, feeling the threads of pain.

To a cultivator, this level of pain was insignificant.

However, the pain in her palms now made Chi Li realize one thing clearly.

She wasn’t dead…

Having had her spiritual root extracted, she should have had her soul dispersed, barred from the cycle of reincarnation. Yet, here she was, standing perfectly fine in this unknown place, even capable of feeling pain.

Chi Li had lived for over three hundred years; she recovered her composure quickly, her cold gaze falling once more upon the passage she had seen earlier.

[The Favored of Heaven, Mo Fan, killed his wife Mu Zhi to prove his Dao, successfully ascending to the Upper Realm…]

“Impossible…”

Chi Li murmured, her voice thick with disbelief. Then, as she looked at the name she loathed to her very core, a bloodthirsty murderous intent welled up in her eyes.

“My junior sister is such a genius, how could she be a mere tool for his Dao?!”

However, as her voice fell, the surroundings remained silent. No one could answer her questioning.

Chi Li forced herself to calm down, knowing that panic was useless.

She narrowed her eyes again, coldly scrutinizing every floating word and every sentence.

The further she read, the more terrifyingly dark her expression became. The stinging pain from her clenched fists no longer helped her maintain her reason.

After a long while, Chi Li loosened her grip and suddenly burst into laughter, a laughter that made her throat dry, filled with self-mockery.

It was only in death that Chi Li learned her excellence was merely a stepping stone for someone else. No matter how hard she worked, she could not escape the bone-deep pain of having her spiritual root stripped, nor could she avoid the fate of that root being gifted to another.

Because…

Chi Li’s near-manic laughter ceased. Her cold, ethereal face was now veiled in a ghostly killing intent, her eyes harboring a deep ferocity. Her lips parted slightly as she spoke her own fate.

“Because I am nothing more than an insignificant stepping stone.”

“The Favored of Heaven…”

Chi Li sneered. Even knowing she was just a passing traveler in a storybook, her years of pride would not allow her to bend her back.

“Ridiculous,” she spat, her voice full of disdain.

No wonder. Ever since her Master brought Mo Fan back, everyone around him seemed to change into a different person the moment they encountered him.

As it turned out, everyone was a stepping stone for him, a catalyst for his ascension.

And that Mo Fan, when he entered the Cangqing Sect, he was a mere beggar. To put it kindly, his talent was mediocre; to put it bluntly, he had no spiritual root at all.

For years, the Immortal Venerable Yilin who always preached that cultivation depended on the individual had searched for every heavenly treasure imaginable just to barely drag him through the gates of cultivation.

Recalling something, Chi Li cursed coldly, her words merciless, filled with resentment and fury.

“A waste like him… if Master hadn’t insisted on cleansing his marrow back then, how could my junior sister have nearly lost her life?!”

As she remembered this, her rage and hatred radiated uncontrollably. Her dark expression made her look like a vengeful ghost crawling out of the abyss.

And yet, such a person had the audacity to make her junior sister the victim of his “killing one’s wife to prove the Dao.”

Even if the Heavens favored him, were the lives of others not lives at all?

If Heaven were a God, it could not be considered a God that pities the living beings of the world.

If a God has no compassion, how is it fit to be a God?

“Killing one’s wife to prove the Dao is merely the behavior of a coward. Even if such a person ascends to the Upper Realm and becomes a God, it is a tragedy for this world.”

“My junior sister, my Mu Zhi… since I brought her back, she has been brilliant and extraordinary, a true favored daughter of heaven. She does not need to be anyone’s tool for the Dao.”

“And as for me…”

Chi Li’s voice paused. The depths of her pupils reflected the words that described her life in a few brief strokes. She spoke again, her voice carrying a pressure that made the surrounding characters tremble.

“How could I be someone else’s stepping stone?”

“I, Chi Li, have cultivated for over three hundred years. I formed my Golden Core at fourteen and am the youngest Spirit Severing stage cultivator to date.”

“My junior sister and I, we are only ourselves.”

As her voice fell, the surrounding characters trembled even more violently, until everything around Chi Li vanished.

Chi Li looked up, her gaze piercing through the void, as if landing upon someone.

As the characters vanished, so did Chi Li’s figure…

Warm sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches, scattering mottled light and shadows across the ground like a painting casually rendered by another, swaying with the wind.

Falling leaves, like nimble butterflies, fluttered into the window, eventually settling gently upon the woman sitting cross-legged with closed eyes on the bed.

A touch of warm sunlight fell upon her face, adding a hint of softness to that ethereal and cold countenance, though a lingering chill remained between her brows.

The woman’s brow furrowed slightly as fine beads of cold sweat trickled down her forehead, as if she were enduring some terrible nightmare.

Spiritual energy gathered around her, and the inadvertently released pressure felt like a piercing wind; the moment it struck, the foliage outside rustled loudly.

Cold sweat soaked her plain white dress, her slender frame trembled slightly, and her pale lips murmured something unintelligible.

At that moment, there was a polite knock at the door. The person inside did not speak, but the person waiting outside seemed to have long since received permission; after standing for a brief moment, they pushed the door open and entered.

The visitor first peeked her head, in her features were charming, her demeanor bright and flamboyant, and the pearl hairpins in her hair chimed softly. Then, she spoke, deliberately lowering her voice.

“Immortal Sister, I’ve brought you some peach blossom cakes.”

After speaking, she carefully carried the plate of pastries inside. Knowing the person within hadn’t responded because they were likely cultivating, she lifted her skirt and lightened her footsteps.

Mu Zhi tiptoed to the table, set down the pastries, and sat down accordingly, resting her chin on her hand as she watched the figure behind the gauze curtain.

A breeze drifted in from the window, causing the curtain to sway slightly, making the figure behind it appear flickering and indistinct, like something out of a fairyland. Mu Zhi watched, somewhat entranced.

Mu Zhi waited for a long time, silently calculating the other’s cultivation time.

Just then, a bird landed on the windowsill. Its chirp wasn’t loud, yet it snapped Mu Zhi out of her reverie.

The figure behind the curtain still hadn’t moved. Mu Zhi felt a bit puzzled that today’s cultivation session was lasting so long, but she nonetheless rose and walked to the window to shoo away the bird with the sharp cry.

But the bird refused to be driven away. Not only was its cry strange, but its feathers were pitch black, and its crimson eyes stared fixedly at the figure inside the room.

Seeing it wouldn’t leave, Mu Zhi felt a flicker of displeasure. Just as she was about to speak, something seemed to brush past behind her.

To her, it was nothing more than a gentle breeze that merely fluttered the corner of her clothes.

But to that strange bird, it was as if the wind carried sharp blades; before it could react, it was struck down to the ground.

Mu Zhi stared blankly at the twitching bird on the ground. Her hand, which had been shooing it away, paused. She then looked at her own hand in confusion, her beautiful brows furrowing as she whispered:

“Is my strength actually this great?”

As she spoke, Mu Zhi leaned half her body out, wanting to check if she had actually slapped the bird to death.

But movement came from behind her subtle and extremely quiet, yet Mu Zhi noticed it immediately.

Mu Zhi’s eyes lit up instantly, and she walked briskly to the bedside. Although the curtain hadn’t been opened yet, the person inside was no longer in a meditative posture.

“Immortal Sister.”

Mu Zhi called out softly, but when she received no response, she realized something was wrong with the person inside. Ignoring everything else, she hurriedly pulled open the curtain.

“Immortal Sister, why are you in a daze?”

The voice in her ear was ethereal, appearing to come from far away, blurry enough that she could only make out one phrase: the “Immortal Sister” that was so familiar to Chi Li.

The ringing in her ears gradually faded, and the surrounding noise, accompanied by the worried voice of the person before her, entered her ears.

Chi Li snapped her eyes open. The face leaning close was magnified and momentarily blurred, causing a bloodthirsty, terrifying killing intent to surge in her eyes instantly. Her deep pupils were like an abyss-like cold pool, making one subconsciously shiver.

“So fierce.”

The tone carried dissatisfaction and a bit of playfulness, yet there was still worry for her, the girl wasn’t intimidated by Chi Li’s current expression in the slightest.

“Are you feeling unwell? Do you want me to call a doctor to check on you?”

Chi Li finally saw the person before her clearly. That youthful, beautiful face gradually overlapped with the one in her memories, causing a touch of softness to instantly enter her eyes, as if the murderous god from a moment ago wasn’t her at all.

Subconsciously, Chi Li opened her mouth, only to find her throat dry. When she spoke, it felt like she was straining her vocal cords, and her voice came out hoarse.

“Junior Sister.”

Hearing this, the person in front of her knit her delicate brows and muttered:

“I’m not that yet.”

As she spoke, she seemed to think of something and immediately grabbed Chi Li’s arm. She looked up, and deep within her eyes, there seemed to be fragments of light, like stars at night, so dazzling one couldn’t look away.

Chi Li met her eyes and was momentarily dazed. That literary description of the other’s ending flashed through her mind again, causing her hand to tighten instinctively. It was only through extreme suppression that she ensured she didn’t frighten the person before her.

Mu Zhi didn’t notice the complexity in Chi Li’s eyes, only speaking joyfully:

“Has Immortal Sister’s heart softened? Have you agreed to take me to cultivate?”

Hearing the words “Immortal Sister,” Chi Li frowned not out of displeasure, but confusion.

“What did you call me?”

“Immortal Sister,” Mu Zhi repeated obediently, her hold on the other’s arm becoming even more intimate.

Hearing this address again, Chi Li’s frown deepened, but soon a warm softness brushed against her brow.

“Frowning makes you look less pretty.”

Chi Li came to her senses and glanced at Mu Zhi beside her. The way the girl was dressed seemed familiar.

She thought back carefully for a moment, and it was as if something exploded in her mind. Her past memories rewound step by step until they stopped at this familiar version of Mu Zhi.

Whether it was how Mu Zhi addressed her or her current attire, it was exactly as she had looked years ago when Chi Li had just sent her home.

Realizing this, Chi Li shifted her gaze from Mu Zhi and scanned the layout and decorations of the room.

It was exactly the same as back then…

Even Mu Zhi was exactly the same as back then…