Ling Yuanhong whirled his head around to look at the owner of the voice, immediately changing his expression upon doing so. He was both terrified yet ready to flatter at the same time.
"Elder Brother Yichen, when did you return?" exclaimed Ling Yuanhong, rushing over at once like a lackey with an ingratiating manner.
Ling Chunxi risked a glimpse at this unfamiliar man standing at a modest distance from her. The man's tall frame was well dressed in royal blue brocade and he had a face as sculpted as jade. A face as handsome as it was expressionless, with eyes resembling the still waters a deep, old well with nary a ripple of emotion.
This was a man Ling Chunxi could easily identify — Ling Yichen. An outstanding junior of the Ling family with reportedly adequate abilities. Many young women in the clan idolized him and he wielded much influence in town. However, his cold demeanor gave him an unapproachable air, causing his admirers to fear drawing close to him and to only dare observe him from afar.
Ling Yichen regarded Ling Chunxi coldly without a word. It was an impossibility to even make a guess as to what his thoughts were. Ling Chunxi returned the favor by merely glancing at him and then departing in silence. Ling Yuanhong should be thanking Ling Yichen. If it weren't for his sudden appearance, she would have laid Ling Yuanhong to waste in an extreme rage.
"When did you return, Elder Brother Yichen?" asked a very perturbed Ling Yuanhong. If Ling Yichen had seen him bullying Ling Chunxi earlier, he'd be in big trouble.
Ling Yichen barely spared Ling Yuanhong any consideration as he wordlessly turned away and left. Ling Yuanhong shrugged this reaction off and hurried off to catch up with Yichen. Though Yuanhong admired Yichen, he also feared him as many of the other younger clan members did. Due to their beliefs in staunchly adoring and worshiping those they perceive as strong, none of them thought of Yichen's icy demeanor as odd.
Upon her arrival home, Ling Chunxi was no longer excited. She simply shut the door, pa.s.sed Aunt w.a.n.g some silver notes and instructed her to include meat in every meal from now on. Then without a care for the stunned looks Aunt w.a.n.g was directing at her, Ling Chunxi entered her room and closed the door behind her so she could begin to read the skill manual the third elder gave her in peace.
The third elder had said he knew nothing about the contents of this purportedly skill manual. Indeed, it could not be understood. Ling Chunxi's cultivation practices were inherited from the Ling Family's traditional method. After she embraced the consciousness behind these methods, she managed to acquaint herself with them. She was capable enough of learning complicated cultivation methods, but no matter how much she studied this skill manual, she couldn't comprehend it. The words on its pages did not form sentences, nor did they come together into paragraphs. Nothing about it made sense. So why did elder brother arrange for this book to be sent back to her?
Still, her elder brother would not have gone through the trouble of getting this skill manual to her for no reason, thought Ling Chunxi to herself. She would keep it with her first and explore it thoroughly at another time.
It was time to attend to the matter of her face. Ling Chunxi brought out and evaluated all the herbs she carted back from the medicinal hall. Soon after, she popped her head out of her room and handed Aunt w.a.n.g a selection of herbs with instructions to decoct them three times a day for her. Aunt w.a.n.g was perplexed by the request but refrained from asking any questions and dutifully went to carry out the orders she'd been given. This gave Ling Chunxi great satisfaction.
Next, Ling Chunxi wanted to address the predicament of her suppressed meridians. There was indeed a solution according to what she had uncovered. However, it was very risky and bore a low success rate.
As she considered her options, the question she asked herself was this—which would she rather, to bet on her chances or to live forever under other people's orders?
She'd bet on her chances of course!
…
Early in the morning on the second day, Ling Chunxi packed a small bundle with her and journeyed to the Purple Maple Mountain's rear peak. If her memory served her correctly, there lay a hidden cave beyond the waterfall there. She had discovered it by accident. An unhappy one. But that was another long story, involving Qin Xiruo at that.
