When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 41

The hanging bed curtains swayed in the breeze.

Zhu Zhihan sat up, damp with sweat from her nightmare, and leaned against the bedpost, closing her eyes in feigned rest.

The summer in the Blade Sect was sweltering, with the incessant chirping of cicadas adding to the restlessness in her heart.

Once again, she had dreamed of events from her past life.

Faces she thought she had long forgotten appeared before her in the dream, tearing open the scars she had buried deep within. It seemed to be telling her avoidance would not bring closure.

“You said Su Siyue’s time to come up the mountain is approaching?”

[There are still ten days left.]

“Ten days…”

Zhu Zhihan sat quietly for a moment, feeling somewhat recovered, then rose from the bed and seated herself before the dressing mirror.

She had reached the Golden Core stage at the age of nineteen, and her appearance had frozen at that time.

The beauty in the mirror had fully matured, possessing a breathtaking allure. Her expression was serene, her snow-white hair cascading down, and even her eyelashes were pale, like a jade statue enshrined high upon an altar.

Unlike her childhood self, Zhu Zhihan now only needed to sit quietly to effortlessly capture everyone’s attention.

She deftly styled her hair into a simple bun. “Over the past decade, my senior brother has helped me track Su Siyue’s whereabouts, but it’s as if this person never existed in this world. How strange.”

“When the day comes, do you think she will appear?”

[She will.] The system lady affirmed with certainty.

“It seems I’ll have to find time to visit the Medicine Sect.” Zhu Zhihan sighed.

For over a decade, Zhu Zhihan had been cultivating quietly in the Blade Sect. Even when she ventured out for training or to test her skills, she deliberately avoided the paths of her past life those people seemed to harbor a peculiar interest in her, and until she was strong enough, she had no desire to face such a situation.

However, Su Siyue and the connections behind her were tied to Luan Wu’s descent into demonhood and the future of the Blade Sect. Naturally, the sooner she was found, the better.

So, she had to go.

But how to go about it and avoid drawing attention required careful consideration. After all, she had no wish to confront Dan Qi at this time.

Just as she finished styling her hair and changed into her outer robe, she heard urgent knocking at the door: “Junior Sister, Junior Sister!”

Zhu Zhihan went to open the door. “Senior Brother, what’s the matter? Come in and speak.”

But the senior brother did not enter.

Stammering and seemingly panicked, he struggled to convey his message clearly: “The life plaque, the life plaque of Sixth Junior Brother in the ancestral hall has cracked!”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhihan’s serene expression shifted abruptly.

The life plaques, made of Thunderstruck Wood, represented the life force of their owners. If a plaque shattered, it meant the disciple had met an untimely death.

Now, with a crack in the plaque, it indicated that Sixth Junior Brother’s condition was dire, teetering on the brink of life and death.

Her face darkened. “Did Sixth Senior Brother mention where he had been recently?”

The senior brother slapped his forehead and hurriedly pulled a letter from his pocket. “This was sent by his rogue cultivator friends. I’ve already read it. It says Sixth Junior Brother was taken by a seductress from the Joyful Union Sect. At first, we thought it was some romantic escapade, but since then, there’s been no trace of him.”

“The Joyful Union Sect.” Zhu Zhihan murmured. “Although the disciples of the Joyful Union Sect capture people to cultivate, I’ve never heard of them causing harm or taking lives.”

The senior brother was frantic. “What should we do, Junior Sister? Uncle Tu Meng and Elder Shi are away at the alliance meeting and cannot be reached for now. And no one knows where Third Elder has gone.”

Zhu Zhihan was far more decisive than her senior brother and quickly formulated a plan. “No matter what, it’s still a clue. I’ll go find our master, and we’ll head to the Joyous Union Sect.”

But her senior brother hesitated. “But isn’t the sect leader still in seclusion? She won’t emerge for another two days. Auntie Tu Meng warned us that the sect leader is terrifying when she’s in seclusion. Should we try finding the Third Elder instead?”

Zhu Zhihan brushed past him. “There’s no time. You keep looking for the Third Elder. I’ll go to our master. Don’t worry, I am her disciple, after all.”

Only then did her senior brother nod meekly.

It wasn’t until her second year as a disciple that Zhu Zhihan learned of Luan Wu’s habit of entering seclusion every three years. Starting on the Ghost Festival, Luan Wu would retreat to the icy pond in the back mountains for ten days. Even as her disciple, Zhu Zhihan had no idea why her master went into seclusion or what state she was in during that time.

Under normal circumstances, she would never dare to disturb her. But now, with their sixth junior brother’s life hanging by a thread, there was no time to waste. She had to at least check on her master and then decide what to do.

Arriving at the back mountains, she felt a chill seep into her skin the moment she stepped into the icy pond’s vicinity, despite it being summer. “Come to think of it, I’ve been here before,” she murmured, trying to calm her growing unease. The deeper she went, the more her instincts screamed in warning, a creeping dread coiling in her heart.

“Back then, Master helped me channel qi into my body,” she recalled.

The system comforted her: Do you remember the incantation I taught you in the Snow Mountain Secret Realm? Use it if things go wrong.

Zhu Zhihan nodded, the heavy sense of crisis easing slightly. Guided by the system, she finally reached the icy pond. Treading softly, she approached from a distance.

Peering past the rocky outcrop, she saw the familiar figure clad in snow-white inner robes, seated in the mist-shrouded, frosty waters. Her eyes were closed, and the floral adornment on her forehead seemed eerily enchanting. Otherwise, she appeared no different from usual.

Before Zhu Zhihan could sigh in relief, a sharp pain shot through her neck. A shadow fell over her vision.

Luan Wu had her pinned against the rocks, gripping her throat. The once-familiar phoenix eyes were now crimson, filled with malice and overwhelming pressure. “Master…” Zhu Zhihan choked out.

Luan Wu’s expression was cold, her beautiful face devoid of emotion, yet tinged with a childlike curiosity and murderous intent. It was as if, she had become a demon. No, she truly was one.

To Zhu Zhihan’s shock, she watched as crimson demonic patterns slowly emerged beneath her master’s eyes, strikingly similar to the high-level demons she remembered. The grip on her neck tightened, and the suffocation left no room for further thought.

She had to find that string of prayer beads.

Luan Wu doesn’t keep the beads on her during seclusion, the system quickly informed her.

Zhu Zhihan’s gaze shifted past Luan Wu, and through a gap in the rocks, she spotted the beads by the pond’s edge, next to Luan Wu’s fiery red outer robe. But retrieving them was the challenge.

Her vision darkening, she remained calm, gathering spiritual energy into a compressed ball at her fingertips while silently reciting the incantation. She just needed an opportunity.

Suddenly, the fingers crushing her throat loosened.

“Cough, cough!”

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision. She quickly blinked them away and focused her gaze.

Luan Wu took two steps back, staring down at her own hands as if dazed and struggling.

In Luan Wu’s eyes, Zhu Zhihan saw a familiar expression.

[Host,] System’s voice reminded her.

Zhu Zhihan paused. She neither threw the spiritual energy sphere nor made any move, only saying, “Let’s wait a little longer.”

Every time the prayer beads were used, Luan Wu appeared to suffer.

If possible, she didn’t want to use them.

Zhu Zhihan stood still, her body tense, ready to escape at the first sign of movement from the other.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the chill from her sweat-soaked back was palpable.

Finally, she heard Luan Wu’s hoarse voice: “I’m sorry.”

Facing her master’s now-clear eyes and the fading demonic marks beneath them, Zhu Zhihan let out a sigh of relief. She leaned back against the mountain rock, breathing heavily as she closed her eyes to calm herself.

[Incredible, truly incredible,] System repeated, sounding astonished.

Now that the danger had passed, Zhu Zhihan had the leisure to ask inwardly, “Is it really that surprising?”

System replied earnestly, [If this were the ‘Luan Wu’ from the storybooks, things should not have unfolded this way.]

Zhu Zhihan found this amusing. “So you judge based on storybooks?”

[Mostly, yes.]

System seemed momentarily lost in thought, with a hint of barely perceptible relief. [But then again, she’s different from the ‘Luan Wu’ in those stories now. Her relationships within the sect have grown much closer than before, and she even has a disciple.]

As Zhu Zhihan listened, she sensed a slight awkwardness in System’s tone. Before she could grasp the fleeting insight, she suddenly felt something cold touch her neck.

She flinched!

A delicate, cool fingertip brushed over the burning, painful spot.

Looking up, she met Luan Wu’s now-dark eyes, filled with guilt.

Zhu Zhihan’s scalp tingled, and she instinctively tried to retreat, but the mountain rock behind her left no room to move.

Fortunately, Luan Wu seemed to sense her unease, curling her fingers slightly before calmly withdrawing her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Luan Wu said again.

Zhu Zhihan steadied herself. “It is I who have troubled Master.”

Only as she spoke did she realize how hoarse her voice was, nearly unintelligible to the listener.

Fortunately, as an alchemist, Zhu Zhihan often spent her free time concocting pills with various peculiar effects for amusement.

She retrieved a porcelain vial from her storage pouch and drank the flowing medicinal liquid.

A cooling sensation spread through her throat, and when she spoke again, her voice had almost returned to normal.

“I apologize for interrupting your seclusion, Master. The reason I came is Sixth Brother is in trouble.”

She lowered her eyes, adopting the demeanor of a respectful disciple, and recounted the predicament in detail.

Luan Wu, accustomed to this behavior over the years, showed no surprise, her eyes reflecting a mix of helplessness and a trace of barely noticeable pity.

A moment later, Luan Wu summoned her outer robe and prayer beads, using spiritual energy to dry her soaked inner garments before draping the robe over her shoulders.

“Prepare the spirit boat. We’re going to the Joyful Union Sect to retrieve him.”

As expected, the First Brother had still not found the Third Elder, and there was no response to his messages. He was likely passed out drunk in some corner again.

Over the years, the eldest senior brother had been preoccupied with tending to spiritual herbs, neglecting his cultivation to the point where he hadn’t even broken through to the Golden Core stage.

To avoid potential dangers on this journey to an unfamiliar sect, he was left behind. Zhu Zhihan and Luan Wu boarded the spirit vessel, heading for the Joyful Union Sect.

On the spirit vessel, Zhu Zhihan sat in her room, lost in thought.

She hadn’t expected that before going to the Medicine Sect to find Su Siyue, she would first make a trip to the Joyful Union Sect, the territory of another close friend from her past life.

For over a decade, she had avoided any interaction, never imagining she would break that habit at such a critical moment. Fate, it seemed, had a way of circling back.

Now, no matter what, it seemed inevitable that they would cross paths.

She could only hope that the other party wouldn’t hinder their mission this time.

Apart from that, there was another matter unsettling her heart.

What were those demonic patterns she had seen earlier at the cold pond?

Had her master fallen into demonic cultivation long ago? That didn’t seem right either.

Knock, knock. A sound came from the door.

Zhu Zhihan’s heart skipped a beat.

Why was her master visiting at this time?

The suppressed affection in her heart hadn’t faded with the passage of time; instead, it had grown even more intense. Even though she knew nothing would come of it, she still occasionally felt an untimely nervousness.

A moment later, Zhu Zhihan composed herself and called out clearly, “Please come in.”

The door opened, and Luan Wu entered, holding a bottle of topical medicinal ointment and a roll of bandages.

“We left in a hurry. Your injuries haven’t been treated yet.”

Zhu Zhihan murmured, “Master still remembers.”

She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she had forgotten about it herself.

Luan Wu placed the bandages on the table and held out the porcelain bottle to her.

“Will you apply it yourself, or shall I help you?”

Zhu Zhihan couldn’t help but imagine Luan Wu personally applying the medicinal oil for her.

Just being touched briefly earlier had been so stimulating, what would it be like if her entire neck were covered in it.

She immediately dismissed the thought, snatching the bottle. “I can do it myself!”

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