"Little girl," she said softly, "my name is Zhou Yifeng. This one beside me is my disciple—Xu Quinoa."
"I asked her to come down here while I was still atop the mountain. We've just come to retrieve the remains of my junior brother who died on the mountain, but unfortunately, his storage ring was missing, and I think your brother might have taken it."
"We do not mean harm. If my disciple has offended you… I offer my sincere apology."
Ling'er bit her lip, her eyes brimming once more with tears. Her hands clenched around Chu Feng's body as her gaze turned cold and her body convulsed with anger.
"You mean no harm?" Chu Ling'er cried out, her voice rising like a blade through the air, "but what of my brother that your disciple just wounded?!"
As her words boomed in the air, as an unseen pressure began to fill the cave.
Whoosh...
The very air turned cold.
A pale frost shimmered slightly at the spot where she knelt clutching Chu Feng, and the surrounding air trembled with a faint chill. Her slightly rough delicate body began to release an icy aura that made the flames from the burning stakes flicker.
Zhou Yifeng's eyes widened as her breath caught for a brief moment. "Glacier-lotus spirit root…" she whispered under her breath.
She gasped and it was only a moment of shock quickly concealed by her usual calm demeanor. Her gaze fell deeper on Ling'er.
How unexpected, she thought to herself.
How could she have known that coming to this remote and abandoned area, she would be taking away such treasure?
Xu Quinoa, standing nearby, noticed the slight shift in her master's demeanor. Though it lasted no more than the blink of an eye, she had never once seen her master falter in front of anyone. Her eyes turned again toward the little girl before her. Just what did the master see that made her lose her demeanor for a second?
Zhou Yifeng's voice was calm but firm, "Dont worry and get agitated too much, it is just a minor injury, not one that can't be cured. I shall give him a healing pill... but only after he returns what he has taken."
Ling'er's body did not relax at all, she kept her voice loud. "you kept saying my brother has taken something of yours, but my brother has never…"
Zhou Yifeng cut her short, "little lady, don't be fast to come to a conclusion. You should know that I will not just come down here to accuse your brother falsely. I have used my methods on the mountain and it points to your brother.
He had once been there and it had been precisely where my junior brother's body had fallen."
Ling'er memory jagged, through her frustration she had not been in her right senses and had forgotten that Chu Feng really did go up the mountain not long ago.
Her lips trembled. Could it be true? Did he really pick something up…?
"I... I don't know if my brother has truly taken anything, he never told me of such!" Ling'er replied stubbornly.
Zhou Yifeng covered her mouth and chuckled as she studied the girl before her. How can she not know what the little girl was thinking?
"You are scared, little one," she said with a sigh. "You're afraid your brother has indeed taken what we are looking for, and that after I have gotten it back, I will break my word and let him suffer."
Her words struck Ling'er like a hammer. She clenched her fists. Though her body still trembled faintly, she raised her chin and looked Zhou Yifeng in the eyes.
Zhou Yifeng laughed again, her voice clear and cold. "There is no need to pretend before me. I can sense your unease."
She turned her gaze to Xu Quinoa and ordered, "Give me a healing pill from your ring."
Xu Quinoa, who had been standing silently with arms crossed, shot a look at her master and refused.
"Why must it be me who gives him a healing pill?" she asked in protest.
"Because it was you who broke him," Zhou Yifeng replied.
"I did not break him!" Xu Quinoa stomped her foot and raised her voice. "Had I truly wished to, one percent of my power would have been enough."
"I do not wish to argue," Zhou Yifeng said firmly. "Hand over the pill."
Xu Quinoa snorted in frustration, but she dared not defy her master. With reluctance, she retrieved a yellow-gold pill from her ring and handed it over.
Zhou Yifeng accepted it and when she saw the pill in her hands, she was slightly shocked. She shot a meaningful look at her disciple, her gaze lingering in silence for a while.
Xu Quinoa, feeling her master's eyes upon her, did not bother to return the gaze. She just snorted again, folded her arms tightly, and turned her face away. The meaning behind this exchange between master and disciple was unclear, yet it carried a strange weight.
Ling'er, watching Zhou Yifeng delay, clenched her teeth in impatience.
"She has already given you the pill," Ling'er said sharply. "Why are you not healing my brother?"
Zhou Yifeng looked at her, then sighed and shook her head with a faint, rueful smile. She turned her eyes toward Chu Feng.
Upon seeing his deformed body of rashes and decay, she hesitated to act. This body was too grotesque. She recoiled slightly, as though even touching him would sully her.
She looked back at Ling'er and extended the pill. "You feed it to him," she said softly, concealing her disgust beneath the facade of gentleness. She did not wish to appear callous in front of this girl, whose opinion she clearly regarded.
Ling'er was too agitated to catch a glimpse of any of this and without hesitation, she took the pill, opened Chu Feng's mouth, and forced it down his throat.
She waited in silence.
Though she was no cultivator, Ling'er understood well the power of pills. Her master had used them often—she had seen their wonders with her own eyes.
It did not take long before Chu Feng stirred. A cough escaped his lips, and his eyes snapped open.
Ling'er's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, she leaned over, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and held him tightly.
"Ling'er, I'm alright," Chu Feng said hoarsely, returning her embrace. "I've made you worry again."
Ling'er shook her head, withdrew from the hug, and looked into his eyes.
"Are you truly well?" she asked with urgency. "Is there any pain? Did the pill heal everything?"
Chu Feng smiled faintly and patted her on the head. "I said I'm fine. That means I am."
"Enough of that." Zhou Yifeng stepped forward, her gaze falling on Chu Feng. He looked back at her. He had heard her voice while slipping into unconsciousness, but now that he saw her clearly, he was startled—this woman, though stern, was even more breathtaking than the young girl who had wounded him.
"You should already know why we've come," Zhou Yifeng said calmly.
Chu Feng sighed and gave a slow nod.
He had heard enough while he was down and Ling'er was bartering with them. It was about the ring he had picked up from the corpse's finger in the mountain forest. He had never thought that it would bring so much trouble. If he had known, he would have left it buried where it lay.
Though his body still ached, the pain was dull. He rose slowly, stepped to the side of his stone bed, and reached into a hidden compartment. From it, he drew out the ring.
"Throw it," Zhou Yifeng commanded.
Chu Feng hesitated. That was no proper way to return something to an elder. At least he thought. But when he saw the cloth Zhou Yifeng held out and the look in her eyes—the disdain and disgust she was trying hard to conceal, he understood. She did not wish to directly touch anything that had been touched by him.
Unbothered, Chu Feng flicked the ring into the air. It spun once before landing neatly on the white cloth in Zhou Yifeng's hand.
"I've returned your ring," Chu Feng said coldly. "Now, the two of you can leave."
Zhou Yifeng looked at him and smiled faintly.
"We will leave," she replied. "But she is coming with us." Her tone sharpened as she pointed at Ling'er.
"Never!" Ling'er burst out before Chu Feng could speak. "I will never go with you people!"
Zhou Yifeng did not even glance at the girl. Her eyes remained fixed on Chu Feng, as if only his response held weight.
"You are her brother. You may not be a cultivator and can never cultivate because you have no spirit root of your own, but surely you must know she can walk that path."
Chu Feng's expression darkened.
"You need not say more," he said, his voice hard. "She is my sister. Naturally, I have made arrangements for her. She will cultivate—but she will do so at my side. I will not hand her over to strangers I cannot trust."
Zhou Yifeng's smile faltered.
"I see," she said. "My disciple's previous actions may not have made the best impression. For that, I apologize. But tell me—do you truly believe you can offer your sister everything she needs to grow stronger? Can you protect her future?"
"I've already said no!" Chu Feng snapped. "I believe for you to say such a thing, you should have seen through her spirit root, isn't it? So you must also have an evil intention. You want to take her away and turn her into something for your benefit. I won't allow it!"
He stepped forward, eyes blazing, as if daring her to try and take Ling'er by force.
Ling'er instinctively stepped behind Chu Feng, her body trembling faintly as the memory of her former master flashed through her mind.
"I see," Zhou Yifeng said softly, nodding with understanding. Her gaze settled on Ling'er, who hid behind her brother. "So there is a shadow you carry."
She continued, "But I am not that kind of person. The place I would take you is a sect, not my personal abode. And to make you feel at ease, I don't cultivate ice, I never had an affinity with it."
She paused, then added with a calm yet weighty voice, "Understand this: if I wished to take you by force, I could have done so already. But I speak to you now from sincerity, not coercion."
Just then, Xu Quinoa stepped forward, her finger thrust toward Chu Feng, her voice sharp with disdain.
"What are you dragging for, it is already goodluck that your sister was noticed by my master and you, as her brother—do you truly intend to delay her path for your own selfish reasons? You know you have no spirit root, no future in cultivation; practically no future at all. Are you going to drag her down with you into obscurity?"
Chu Feng clenched his teeth, anger boiling within. This girl had struck at the heart of his shame without restraint, again and again, since the moment she appeared.
"You have no right to speak of my brother like that!" Ling'er shouted at Xu Quinoa, her voice ringing with fury. "A thousand of you can never be compared to a single one of him! Not now, not in the future!"
"You…" Xu Quinoa's finger trembled, her face turning dark with anger.
"Well, I guess you are right. There is no way I can be compared to him. He is just a waste of a person."
"That's enough!" Zhou Yifeng interrupted sharply, her tone cutting through the air like a blade. She turned her eyes once more to Chu Feng, as she spoke,
"So what will it be?"
Chu Feng looked at her, his expression twitching furiously. "You are never going to accept a refusal, are you?"
Zhou Yifeng's voice turned cold. "Of course not. I will not let such talent go to waste. If you continue to resist, I will use force—and I cannot promise the outcome will be pleasant."
A heavy silence followed.