In the morning mist of Songtao Forest, Xie Zhaolin stood on the branch of an ancient pine, her black robe blending seamlessly with the tree shadows.
Black qi curled around her fingertips, forming three palm-sized black sparrows. Their eyes glowed red as they spread their wings and flew in different directions. Not long after, the sparrows returned with information. A faint smile touched Xie Zhaolin's lips. She twirled eight threads of black qi between her fingers, each thin as a hair, each tracking a specific presence in the forest.
"Two Foundation Establishment beginners, five late Qi Refinement disciples, and a pill master," she murmured, the black qi spinning around her fingers. "They're cautious."
She formed hand seals, and the black qi silently seeped into the ground, setting a bewildering formation along the route the Qinglan Sect would inevitably take. At the same time, a faint glow sparked at her brow as three sharp strands of divine sense took shape.
The instant the lead Foundation Establishment cultivator stepped into the formation, Xie Zhaolin's eyes snapped open, and the three strands of divine sense pierced straight toward the brows of the two Foundation Establishment disciples and the pill master.
"Ah!"
The lead disciple clutched his head and screamed, letting his sword clatter to the ground. Before the second disciple could react, the divine sense pierced his brow, knocking him unconscious. The pill master barely activated his protective talisman, only to have the third strand of divine sense tear through it, leaving his eyes vacant in an instant.
Attacks fueled by Xie Zhaolin's divine sense weren't something they could withstand. The five Qi Refinement disciples hadn't even processed what happened before the second wave of her attack struck. Five strands of black qi shot from her sleeves, coiling precisely around their wrists. The qi surged along their meridians straight into their spiritual seas. None of them even screamed before collapsing limply to the ground.
Xie Zhaolin floated down gracefully. The first thing she did was gather the disciples' storage bags. Black qi danced around her fingers, effortlessly erasing the seals, and she swept all eight bags into her sleeves.
"Now…"
She approached the carriage, scanning its structure with her divine sense. The spiritual energy emanating from the hidden compartment beneath the floor was unusually strong. Still, she opened the curtains to inspect the visible cargo first—boxes of ordinary spirit herbs and spirit stones.
"As expected, just a decoy."
Xie Zhaolin let out a cold laugh. Black qi formed into a blade at her fingertips, slicing cleanly through the carriage floor. Seven jade boxes lay neatly inside the hidden compartment, cold air seeping out, frosting the wood with delicate frost patterns. If she hadn't once been the Hehuan Sect's chief disciple and deeply familiar with Qinglan Sect's style, she might've been fooled too.
After all, who'd hide something valuable in a seemingly ordinary carriage? Most people would assume treasures were in the disciples' storage bags.
She pulled seven replica jade boxes from her storage ring, each identical in size and pattern to the real ones. They were inscribed with a warming formation that mimicked the chill of the Ice Lotus. The real ones were safely in her possession. She replaced them with the fakes. No one would notice unless they opened the boxes.
"Now this is fun."
Satisfied, she looked at her handiwork. When the Qinglan Sect disciples woke up, they'd find everything looted except the most important Ice Lotus, which remained untouched. They'd assume common bandits had come for the storage bags, never suspecting the true target was the carriage's hidden compartment.
She casually swept up the decoy herbs and stones, restored the carriage to its original state, and let the black qi erase all traces of the fight, leaving just faint spiritual fluctuations to make it seem like the bandits had left in a hurry.
…
Inside Tinghe Pavilion, morning sunlight spilled across the blue stone floor. Xie Zhaolin's robe trailed along the ground as seven Ice Jade boxes slid from her sleeves onto the table.
"Nine Nether Ice Lotus," she said, tapping the lid of a box. Frost instantly spread across the tabletop, forming intricate patterns. "Four of them are yours."
Zhou Zhilán's breath caught.
The Ice Lotus in the boxes glimmered like crystal, the frost veins on the petals forming patterns like star charts. The chill refracted in the sunlight, casting a faint blue halo. Just as she reached to touch them, Xie Zhaolin tossed her a pair of icy silken gloves.
"Direct contact would frostbite your meridians," Xie Zhaolin said casually, opening the gloves. "I'll keep three as my reward."
Zhou Zhilán was about to reply when she felt a weight lifted from her spiritual platform. The seal that had bound her Primordial Soul since their first meeting had vanished—Xie Zhaolin had withdrawn it.
"We're even now," Xie Zhaolin said, rising. The four remaining boxes vanished into her sleeves.
"Senior!" Zhou Zhilán suddenly called, pulling a storage bag from her chest. "Please take these…"
Xie Zhaolin scanned the bag with her divine sense, noting neatly stacked high-grade spirit stones, healing pills, and even a few mid-tier artifacts.
"Oh?" Xie Zhaolin raised an eyebrow. "Extra reward?"
Zhou Zhilán stepped forward and tied the bag to her waist. "I'll claim publicly that Mingyue Sanren has secluded for breakthrough. No one will suspect a thing." She traced the Mingyue pattern on the bag. "Consider this emergency supplies for the road."
Birdsong drifted through the window as morning light brightened.
Xie Zhaolin's black robe shimmered with subtle patterns in the glow. She glanced at Zhou Zhilán one last time. "The Qinglan Sect will notice the irregularities within three days."
"Understood," Zhou Zhilán bowed. "Senior… where will you go next?"
Xie Zhaolin didn't answer. Her black robe billowed as she disappeared into the morning light.
Zhou Zhilán stood frozen, eyes lingering on the direction she had vanished.
"Zhilán!"
Her father's voice came from the far end of the corridor. He rushed in, pushing the door open. "That senior left?"
Zhou Zhilán was adjusting the concealment formation on the hidden compartment. "Yes."
"You actually gave her the resources we prepared for the Pill Pavilion?" Her father's voice trembled as he stared at the empty storage bag at her waist. "That's…"
Zhou Zhilán sat at the tea table and calmly poured a cup. "Not giving… investing."
"Investing?" His voice rose. "She's an unknown loose cultivator! She could leave Qingyang City anytime. What could she possibly return to you?"
The tea swirled in her cup, reflecting her calm face. She said nothing, taking a small sip.
Her father studied her for a long moment, then sighed. "You've had your own mind since childhood. I can't sway you." He gestured to the storage bag. "When do you plan to send these pills over?"
"No rush." She traced the bag's surface with her fingertips. "I'll wait a few days first."
"Aren't you afraid the Qinglan Sect will investigate?"
Zhou Zhilán smiled faintly. "Exactly why I can't act rashly."
She moved to the window, briefly seeing that bottomless darkness again in Xie Zhaolin's eyes from the day they first met.
"Like an ancient well. Calm on the surface, yet able to swallow everything with hidden light."
"Father," she said suddenly, "do you remember when I was seven and insisted on buying that batch of Snow Soul Sand?"
Her father blinked. "Why… suddenly bring that up?"
"Everyone said it was waste," Zhou Zhilán traced the window frame, "but I sold it to the Refining Hall later and made thirty high-grade spirit stones."
Her father was silent for a moment. "You mean… this senior…"
"My intuition has never been wrong," Zhou Zhilán said, turning. "If I dared to meet her alone back then, I can stake everything today."
Her father nodded helplessly. Before leaving, he couldn't resist glancing back. "Zhilán, I'll ask just one thing—worth it?"
"Worth it?" she whispered to herself, thinking of Xie Zhaolin's bottomless eyes.
"Of course it's worth it."
From the first glance, she knew this was someone who could change her fate. Just like that overlooked batch of Snow Soul Sand. Everyone else saw nothing, only she recognized its secret.
"From now on… this is my battlefield."