When the White Moonlight Holds the Script - Chapter 6

Dan Qi couldn’t understand why she felt such a profound obsession with a mortal girl she had just met.

A few days earlier.

The once-every-thirty-years Immortal Alliance Selection was about to begin, and her overly cautious sect leader brother had repeatedly come to persuade her to attend.

“Since our master passed away, you’ve been the only one left on Dan Peak. I worry about you. You must take on a disciple!” the sect leader insisted.

Dan Qi: …

She truly didn’t understand her brother’s perspective. What was wrong with being alone? She could refine pills whenever she wished, conduct interesting experiments at will, it was utterly carefree.

Given how persistently annoying her sect leader brother had become, disrupting her own affairs, she eventually agreed.

She’d just bring back some random child to fulfill the obligation.

The trials took place within the Sumeru Realm, while she observed from outside.

Among the countless small illusions, one girl caught her attention.

The Xuan Yin Body.

She had once read about it in the sect’s archives. According to the records, the Xuan Yin Body was supposed to be a somewhat mediocre constitution, not worth noting.

But she found it suspicious because the following pages had been deliberately torn out.

Seeing this girl immediately reminded her of that incident.

An idea sprouted in her mind.

If she took this girl as her disciple, observed and experimented on her, wouldn’t she be able to uncover what was written on those missing pages?

Dan Qi had been born a prodigy. Since being accepted by her master, she had never encountered any obstacles in the path of alchemy.

Everything she wanted had always come easily to her, so things that were challenging and unknown held a special allure.

In just a few breaths, she had nonchalantly sketched out her next steps.

She would proactively show kindness, offering to take the girl as her disciple. The girl, being completely unfamiliar with the cultivation world, would surely agree after all, winning people’s complete trust and affection was what she excelled at.

Once she brought the girl back to Dan Peak, she could, under the guise of treatment, collect some of the girl’s blood and hair as materials for her experiments.

But contrary to her expectations.

The girl refused.

Those eyes were exceptionally clear, yet chillingly indifferent.

The girl said, “I don’t wish to become your disciple.”

Before she could even process her astonishment, an inexplicable, sharp pain spread through her heart.

It was an intensely overwhelming emotion she had never experienced in her centuries of life.

As if she could have possessed something precious, but had pushed it away and lost it with her own hands.

This person before her… shouldn’t be looking at her with such eyes.

That cold, unfamiliar gaze erected an insurmountable wall between them. They… should have been closer. The girl should have gazed at her with adoration, dependently calling her “Shizun.””

Why was she suddenly thinking these things? She couldn’t sort through her confusion.

But she had a premonition that if she said and did nothing, they would truly become strangers from this point on.

Strangers.

The mere thought of that word describing their relationship made her heart ache unbearably.

In the past, faced with such cold treatment, even if interested in the Xuan Yin Body, she would never have pursued further.

But now, driven by this strange emotion, she cast aside her pride and pressed on, “Do you despise me? Why?”

The young girl said that they were merely passing acquaintances, so there was no question of dislike or aversion. She added jokingly, “As for why I refused you, it’s probably because I consulted the divination and felt that our destinies clash. Being together would only lead to a bad outcome.”

How absurd it sounded.

No one present believed it, not even the girl herself, who admitted it was just a joke.

Yet, inexplicably, Dan Qi believed it.

Fragmented images flashed before her eyes, all stained with blood. She couldn’t make out the details, but even these broken pieces were enough to suffocate her.

Her hands began to tremble.

If she insisted on becoming the girl’s master, would it lead to such an outcome?

No… it couldn’t be…

Those were just illusions. If the girl became her disciple, she would treat her well.

She wouldn’t seek the secrets of the Xuan Yin Body from the girl as she had initially planned, absolutely not!

But in the brief moment she was lost in thought, the girl had already fixed her determined, shining gaze on someone else.

The girl said she wanted that person to be her master.

Dan Qi followed the girl’s gaze and saw it was that ill-tempered Dao Lord.

Dan Qi had heard many rumors about that Dao Lord.

He was a madman with a terrible temper. Who knew if he could even teach properly or if he would punish his disciples harshly?

How could the girl choose to become his disciple?

She wanted to dissuade her, but after the Dao Lord spoke, the girl didn’t spare her another glance.

An unfamiliar emotion surged in her chest sour and bitter.

Dan Qi knew she was different from others from birth. She rarely felt her own joys or sorrows but could easily perceive others’. She could effortlessly pretend to be whatever others wanted her to be.

People said she was gentle and compassionate, a rare kind soul. But they didn’t know that even when parting from her blood relatives or when her own master died, she had never shed a single genuine tear.

At this moment, she thought, so this is what heart-wrenching pain feels like.

In the end, the girl still formed a master-disciple bond with that Dao Lord, so quickly that Dan Qi had no time to stop it.

But it didn’t matter.

The girl hadn’t yet followed the Dao Lord back to his abode, hadn’t served the ceremonial tea or engraved her name into the life tablet. The master-disciple relationship could still be changed.

She would persuade her.

So she volunteered to guard the Spirit Cleansing ceremony. Her reputation was always good, and her request was quickly approved.

To her surprise, something unexpected happened on the day of the Spirit Cleansing.

Demons had infiltrated.

Two high-level demons blocked her path. These repulsive creatures had developed human-like intelligence and were taunting her.

Someone guarding the Spirit Cleansing with her must have betrayed them.

She immediately realized this.

In everyone’s eyes, her combat skills were poor. The enemy must have been familiar with the arrangements in the Sumeru Realm and sent two high-level demons she “couldn’t defeat.”

Then it dawned on her, this was a perfect opportunity.

If she appeared to kill the demons and save the girl when she was pushed to the brink, would the girl be so terrified that she’d throw herself into Dan Qi’s arms seeking comfort? Would her attitude change, perhaps even… willing to let Dan Qi become her master?

After all, the girl probably only admired the Dao Lord out of admiration.

What was so special about using a blade?

Anything the Dao Lord could do, she could do too.

And when the girl was in danger, the Dao Lord wasn’t even there.

Thinking of the red-clad woman who had been urgently called away due to unforeseen circumstances elsewhere, Dan Qi let out a soft, disdainful hum.

Almost as soon as she realized this, Dan Qi stopped holding back her strength. After swiftly dispatching two demons, she plunged into the Spirit Cleansing Pool where the girl from the Mustard Seed Realm was located.

But she was a step too late. All she saw was a shattered flowerpot and jade bricks, the area in complete disarray.

There was no body, the girl must have escaped.

She breathed a sigh of relief, a strangely peculiar emotional experience.

The Mustard Seed Realm had been tampered with, preventing her from using her divine sense. She had no choice but to resort to the most rudimentary method: searching every corner, one by one.

With each place she searched, she felt a genuine sense of gratitude that she didn’t come across the girl covered in blood, eyes closed.

Along the way, she encountered many troublesome mortals. At first, she saved one out of convenience, but that foolish individual clung to her sleeve, wasting a great deal of her time. After that, she simply ignored them.

After spending the better part of an hour, she finally found her little girl.

The situation was both better and worse than she had imagined.

The girl had protected herself well and had even saved two others. But because of this, Dan Qi’s original rescue plan had failed.

No, she had to come up with another way.

After a moment of contemplation, she drew the dagger from her waist and stabbed it into her shoulder, then slashed herself several times to feign the appearance of having fought a fierce battle.

A young girl newly introduced to cultivation stumbling upon a wounded immortal, developing a bond of shared hardship amid a crisis, and later, when danger arises again, the immortal risking her life to save the girl moving the girl to let go of past grievances. It wasn’t a bad script, was it?

Zhu Zhihan watched the woman lying in a pool of blood not far away, the corner of her mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.

How… “coincidental.”

If she hadn’t been reborn, if she hadn’t spent over a decade living side by side with this woman, she might have actually believed it.

Long ago, she had thought her master was gentle, kind, fragile, and easily bullied. She had even overestimated her own abilities, standing before a powerful enemy to protect her master.

But what happened afterward made her abandon such thoughts forever contrary to what everyone believed, her master was incredibly strong and wealthy, adorned with magical treasures and artifacts. Even by sheer attrition, she could wear down any foe.

She simply didn’t believe that the demon clan would dispatch a “Earth”-rank great demon just for insignificant novices like them who hadn’t even stepped onto the path of cultivation.

So Dan Qi was faking it.

What exactly was Dan Qi trying to do?

Du Peiran and Xiao Chuling stood beside Zhu Zhihan. Seeing the woman collapsed on the ground, they took a step forward as if to help, then forcibly stopped and looked to Zhu Zhihan for guidance.

They were waiting for her instructions.

Zhu Zhihan was pleased, she needed two people who would obey her completely.

After a moment’s thought, she said, “This person lying in front of us is too much of an eyesore. Move her somewhere out of sight.”

The two: ??

Though baffled by the order, they faithfully went to carry it out.

Unfortunately, just before their hands could touch Dan Qi, she coughed as if rallying, her eyelashes fluttering as she regained consciousness.

Now that she was awake, moving her didn’t seem appropriate anymore.

The two halted their actions and turned to Zhu Zhihan with questioning looks.

Zhu Zhihan sighed. “Bring… this immortal master inside. The smell of blood is so strong, it might attract demons soon.”

So, the two of them helped Dan Qi up, and moments later, all four of them crouched in a row beside the artificial rockery.

Zhu Zhihan’s expression was cold, her gaze fixed on the moon gate in the distance, alert to any potential demons that might appear.

She could feel Dan Qi staring at her.

Dan Qi chuckled softly, “Thank you for saving me.”

Du and Xiao both looked awkward.

They could sense that Zhu Zhihan didn’t like this immortal master and weren’t sure how to respond.

Zhu Zhihan, however, was direct: “No need to thank us. Didn’t you walk here yourself and fall right in front of us? You’d be better off thanking yourself.”

Dan Qi: “…”

Du and Xiao lowered their heads, suppressing their laughter.

Dan Qi changed the subject: “Is this a drawn array? It’s truly impressive.”

Zhu Zhihan finally turned her head.

Before Dan Qi’s eyes could light up with joy, she heard the young woman say, “Aren’t you tired, Immortal Master? You’ve lost so much blood. Why not close your eyes and rest for a while? Perhaps you’ll recover faster. Isn’t that, right?”

It sounded like a caring remark, but coming from Zhu Zhihan’s lips, no one doubted that “close your eyes” actually meant “shut your mouth.”

Support When the White Moonlight Holds the Script