Chapter 68.2

At this point, Xu Qianyu heard the voices around her and slowly began to awaken, opening her eyes. Foundation-building cultivators, if they were otherwise healthy, could quickly recover from spiritual pool damage as long as they took the first pill for nourishment.

She smelled a faint scent of pine and snow and initially thought it was her senior brother beside her. Turning her head, she saw her senior sister quietly watching her. Noticing that only one pill was left in the box in her senior sister’s hand, her heart sank: Could it be that her senior sister was a medical practitioner?

Three elexir, and she had eaten two. A sudden dread filled her; she fidgeted, saying, “Sister.”
Shen Suwei pressed down on her shoulder, not letting her sit up.
Xu Qianyu looked at him apologetically and said, “I’ll pay you back.”
“No need for that,” Shen Suwei replied, putting the box away and then looking back at her, his eyes clear and bright. “I want something from you.”

“You can say it,” Xu Qianyu sighed in relief, thinking that her senior sister had been very kind to her, and whatever she could get, she would try to give to her senior sister.
But the next moment, her expression changed when Shen Suwei pressed down on the treasured sword she was clutching through the thin blanket. “I want this sword.”
“No way,” she replied firmly.
Seeing her resolute expression, Shen Suwei spoke softly yet firmly, “Is that something you can’t give me, considering our bond?”

Anyone who loved swords would cherish such a treasured blade. Xu Qianyu was infatuated with it, and he could understand that. But he recalled his master’s words: Xu Qianyu’s nature was too fierce, and only a wooden sword could accommodate her. A blade of gold or iron the sharper it was, the more it would lead to mutual harm.
Today, that turned out to be true.

Even using a mundane sword had injured her spiritual pool. No matter how good the precious sword was, she could not use it.
Xu Qianyu felt a flicker of emotion when her senior sister mentioned their bond but still insisted, “No way.”

Shen Suwei said lightly, “Then spit that pill out and return it to me.”

The two seldom clashed, and Shen Suwei was rarely so aggressive; his words felt heavy, almost estranging them.
Xu Qianyu’s eyes held a hint of grievance, and after a moment, she said, “Sister, I can give you anything else. This sword, I want to give to someone.”
Shen Suwei was taken aback.

If she wanted to give it to someone, then so be it. But he wondered who it could be that made Xu Qianyu so worried in the Flower Realm, holding onto the sword even in a faint. He felt a strange sensation within him, slightly bored, and didn’t want to press the matter further.

“How about this?” Xu Qianyu took out the sword and cut off a narrow strip of her scarlet skirt, taking his wrist and wrapping it around twice, tying a knot. “I owe you a favor; let this be the proof. After we go out, I will repay you, okay?”
Shen Suwei silently withdrew his hand, the red ribbon hidden in his sleeve.
After that, Xu Qianyu stayed in the inn for another day.

She felt that her senior sister seemed no longer angry with her, as she treated her normally while she recovered and didn’t mention the sword again.
Her senior sister briefly told her about the Zhao family, and Xu Qianyu also caught a glimpse of her brother’s full appearance—the evil spirit. It was making low growling sounds from inside the cage.

The cage was under the watch of Xiao Yue. Xu Qianyu looked up and saw Xiao Yue, who was casually peeling crab claws, her neck arching as she elegantly flipped her hair back.
She concluded that this person was definitely not a girl; it was most likely Ruan Zhuqing.
Xu Qianyu’s thoughts were wandering, and as she poked at her rice, she suddenly wondered: Could it be that sister also isn’t a girl?

The senior sister always kept her distance from her, maintaining an atmosphere that lacked the usual intimacy shared by close sisters; there were moments when her demeanor conveyed an indescribable contradiction. But when she turned to look at her senior sister, she noticed that even while walking, not a single step would disturb her hairpin, and during meals, her manners were so graceful that she barely made a sound.
If she weren’t a woman, would it be too difficult to achieve this?

“What are you looking at?” Shen Suwei said lightly. “Aren’t you trying to return to the Guo residence? After we eat, I’ll send you back.”
“Oh.” Xu Qianyu turned her head away.
It was a bright sunny day, and the streets were bustling with people. Store signs gleamed with a rich aroma of alcohol on both sides, while stall owners called out loudly, selling everything from candy figurines to candied hawthorns and cloud cakes. Xu Qianyu walked alongside her senior sister, her gaze drifting to the various stalls.

“Do you want to eat something?” Shen Suwei extended her hand, holding a handful of coins. “Go buy something.”
Xu Qianyu was not polite with her; she quickly snatched some money from her senior sister’s hand and dashed off.

After a long while, she returned with a handful of colorful treats. When she saw Shen Suwei’s gaze first fall on the candies and then on her face, she couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. “Did I buy too much…?”
“But I bought double.” Xu Qianyu tilted her head and said, “Sister, look at the candy figurine of the ‘Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea’, the ‘Nine-Colored Deer’, and this candy butterfly, and this spider… Which one do you want to eat first?”
“Candied hawthorn,” Shen Suwei replied.

Xu Qianyu quickly split a string of candied hawthorn and handed it to her senior sister.
Shen Suwei took it, glanced at it, and casually inserted it into the spatial ring.
Xu Qianyu didn’t know how her senior sister could eat so quickly. By the time she organized her treats, Shen Suwei’s hand was already clean.

“Isn’t it inconvenient for you to carry so many?” Shen Suwei extended her hand. “Just give me my share.”
Xu Qianyu stood under the shade of a tree and carefully separated Shen Suwei’s portion.
“This candy figurine is different,” Xu Qianyu explained seriously. “Because the candy figurines are sold in pairs. Do you want a male peacock or a female peacock?”
Shen Suwei suddenly smiled. “The female one.”

“Okay.” Xu Qianyu was very happy; the male peacock would spread its tail, and she wanted the male one.
Just as they finished dividing, the two hadn’t taken more than two steps under the sun when suddenly it became dark above them. A golden eagle, with wings spanning half a person’s height, dove down from the sky.
The change happened too quickly; Xu Qianyu only saw a pair of fierce golden vertical pupils.
“Sister!” Her candies scattered everywhere as she caught Zhao Qinghe, watching helplessly as her abdomen was pierced by the bird’s beak, blood flowing everywhere.
“It’s okay.” Her cold hand grasped Xu Qianyu’s for a moment. Her face was pale as paper, but she seemed oblivious to the pain, her clear eyes gazing at her. “It’s just identity.”

Shen Suwei had just looked up and seen the bird; it blinked its right eye at him from the sky and, as it dove down, opened its sharp beak, exclaiming, “Shen Shixiong (Senior Brother), it’s me! I’ve changed to a male form!”

Shen Suwei: “…”

He did not dodge.
But upon seeing Xu Qianyu’s expression, it felt heavy, making him instinctively look away. Seeing that she hadn’t eaten any of her treats, guilt filled his heart.
Xu Qianyu watched as her senior sister’s body became transparent and then vanished, her eyes growing warm.

Dying in the spatial realm indeed did not mean true death; one would merely be sent back. During the time she spent with her senior sister, she had developed feelings and had planned to stay in touch after returning. However, before they had truly connected, they were abruptly separated, and she couldn’t bear it.
Shen Suwei was already standing in the water array of Penglai.

Thinking of Xu Qianyu’s abandoned gaze, he felt a fine, twisting pain in his heart, almost in a daze.
“Shen Shixiong (Senior Brother).” Lingzhu hurriedly ran over, hands clasped together. “You must hurry inside; that—Sister Junior is too fierce; my sister can’t hold on much longer!”
Shen Suwei’s expression tightened, and he stepped back into the array.
Returning to the flower realm, it was still noon, under a clear blue sky.

The frantic cries of birds echoed, growing closer and then fading. Shen Suwei saw a petite red figure holding a sharp sword, pursuing the golden eagle through the sky. The fierce sword energy cut through its feathers, scattering them everywhere: “Return my sister!”
As soon as the golden eagle spotted him, it let out a mournful cry, soaring toward him like a fledgling bird returning to the nest.

Shen Suwei drew his sword in response, sidestepping the bird.
Under the sun’s halo, Xu Qianyu’s sword was suddenly blocked by someone.
That person jumped down from the air, their snowy robe billowing. They wore a wooden hairpin and had no other adornments; their hair and eyes were extremely dark, and their long eyelashes partially covered their indifferent gaze.

Incorporating an identity into the flower realm that hadn’t originally existed was precisely this disadvantage.
Between their brows and eyes, there were indeed some similarities to their original form.
The man wielded a three-foot peach wood sword, and his swordsmanship was astonishingly fast, forcing Xu Qianyu back in just a few moves.
Xu Qianyu staggered back a few steps, landing on the ground. She looked up at him, her tone icy.
“Who are you?”

“Guo Heng,” the man replied, sheathing his sword. He shook out his robes as he passed by her without making eye contact, dropping a parting comment. “Sister Junior, you should call me brother.”
Saying this, he bent down and got into an ornate carriage parked by the roadside, where the coachman greeted him, saying, “Young Master.”
Shen Suwei acknowledged with a sound, lifted the carriage curtain, and glanced back. “Mingtang, get in. We’re going back to the Guo residence.”

Xu Qianyu paused for a moment before silently boarding the carriage.
“Brother.” Inside the dim and narrow carriage, with the axle creaking, Xu Qianyu suddenly spoke sweetly.
Shen Suwei paused and gently replied, “Call me ‘brother’.”

His tone was slightly cold, sounding both like a reminder and a reprimand.
“Brother.” She seemed to suppress her anger, yet provocatively continued, “Have you returned from your travels? Where have you been cultivating? I didn’t hear Guo Yi mention it.”
Shen Suwei said, “At the Baiyun Temple at the foot of the mountain.”

“Oh, so it’s the Baiyun Temple.” Xu Qianyu glanced at him sideways. “If you hadn’t said, I would have thought you came from the Penglai Immortal Sect.”
Shen Suwei caught the brightness in her eyes, sparkling like starlight, and knew this was not good.
Xu Qianyu had recognized him.

It was precisely because she recognized him as her inner sect senior brother, Shen Suwei, that she stopped fighting and obediently got into the car with him. However, her anger over her sister’s “death” was redirected at him for preventing her from killing the eagle.