“Junior Brother Ji? Why are you here too?”
Chen Miao raised her hand, revealing a stretch of fair, jade-like arm, and shouted loudly at Ji Wangshu.
Then she saw Mu Zhiming beside her turn her head, the grayish-white pupils beneath her black eye veil fixed squarely on her.
“Oh, and Senior Sister Mu is here too.” Chen Miao stuck out her tongue and quickly added.
Only then did Mu Zhiming’s grayish-white pupils shift away, giving her a slight nod of acknowledgment.
Ji Wangshu stepped out from behind Mu Zhiming, pushing his way through the crowd to reach Chen Miao’s side. The surroundings were noisy and bustling, so the two moved to a quieter corner nearby.
“Senior Sister Chen, why are you here? I just asked Mu, aren’t Immortal Sect disciples supposed to dislike flower viewing?” Ji Wangshu asked curiously.
“Oh, that’s…”
As she said this, Chen Miao furrowed her brows and pouted, as if there was something she couldn’t divulge.
…………
“Chen Miao, you and a few of your junior sisters were eliminated this time, and there happens to be a task I need you to handle.”
Inside the Sect Grand Hall, Liu Fuyao looked at the few disciples before her and said calmly.
These were the ones she had just summoned. Although they hadn’t advanced to the finals this time, their performances were still decent. With their dual spiritual roots, as long as they cultivated diligently, breaking through to the Golden Core wouldn’t be a problem. They would all become the backbone of the sect in the future.
“Ah, Sect Master, your words are so hurtful.”
Chen Miao pouted at Liu Fuyao upon hearing this, her tone carrying a hint of playfulness.
“Alright, stop being cheeky.” Liu Fuyao gave her a glance.
Chen Miao was one of the earlier disciples to join the sect. She was kind-hearted and got along well with all the senior sisters, especially with Mu. She could even play around with her. Liu Fuyao, as the Sect Master, knew her temperament well.
“In a couple of days, there’s a Flower Festival in the mortal world. All of you go enjoy yourselves and, in the meantime, gather information about the Wood Spirit Three-Needle Flower.” Liu Fuyao said calmly.
The few female disciples were taken aback, exchanging glances with one another. It was Chen Miao who spoke up first:
“Sect Master, everyone knows the Three-Needle Flower can cure Senior Sister Mu’s eye condition, but what does the Flower Festival have to do with it?”
“I received word that the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will also participate in this Flower Festival. They hold information on a large number of rare treasures from secret realms, so you can try asking them.”
“Besides, it’s the Flower Festival—isn’t the Three-Needle Flower also a flower? It might yield some leads… Consider it trying Ziming’s luck…”
…………
Chen Miao looked at Ji Wangshu before her, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn’t share this information with him.
Although Junior Brother Ji was familiar with Senior Sister Mu, he still wasn’t a member of the sect.
Besides, he must already know that the Three-Needle Flower could cure Senior Sister Mu’s eye condition, right…
Chen Miao’s thoughts drifted, and she snapped back to reality, responding after a moment: “Nothing, just coming down the mountain for fun…”
Ji Wangshu was somewhat acquainted with Chen Miao. Seeing her, who usually held nothing back, act like this, he knew there must be some secret she couldn’t let him know. So he stopped pressing.
“Mu, let’s keep wandering then. I see a plaza up ahead…”
Ji Wangshu said to the space behind him without turning around. But when he looked back, that water-blue figure wasn’t there.
He froze instantly, then panicked, frantically searching through the crowd. After a long while, he still couldn’t find Mu Zhiming. Cold sweat trickled down his back, his brows knit tightly, and his breathing grew rapid.
“Damn it, Mu’s gone.” He turned back, dejected, and said in a low voice to Chen Miao.
“Oh dear, Junior Brother Ji, what are you afraid of? Senior Sister Mu may be blind, but her heart isn’t. She must have caught a whiff of some lovely flower fragrance and wandered off on her own… Besides, she’s no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator…”
Chen Miao found Ji Wangshu’s frantic state amusing.
Junior Brother Ji really was too anxious where it counted. He truly treated Senior Sister Mu like a mortal.
She just couldn’t see the Mu Zhiming who leaped into the air on the plaza, crazily swinging her giant sword with fast-slow sword techniques, as some blind person in need of care.
“Oh, oh, right, that’s true.”
Ji Wangshu scratched his head and calmed down, realizing his worry had been a bit unnecessary.
Then his eyes rolled, and he imitated Mu Zhiming’s usual habit, flaring his nostrils.
The various floral fragrances in the air, mixed with the subtle scents of different women, drifted to the tip of his nose, and he frowned.
Is this how Mu usually identifies me?
With this many smells, it’s a wonder she can pick them apart…
Ji Wangshu couldn’t help but think back over the past six months, how Mu Zhiming had gone from someone who could see the colors of flowers to someone whose vision was nothing but darkness, forced to rely on scent—a hundred times harder—to distinguish things.
How much of the difficulty and hardship did he truly know?
If only there really were some rare treasure that could cure Mu Zhiming’s eye condition…
Ji Wangshu couldn’t help but sigh again, casting aside his stray thoughts. He steadied his mind and picked out a familiar scent from among all the others.
It was the plum blossom mixed with faint fragrance unique to Mu Zhiming, and because she’d been with him for so long, it had picked up the strange floral scent on him.
His heart leapt with joy, and he quickly pushed into the crowd, walking toward the direction of that scent.
…………
“Senior Sister, will we really find it here?”
On the other side of the market town, amidst the crowded throng, a woman in a purple dress asked in a low voice, looking around furtively.
“What’s the rush… Even if we don’t find it, aren’t there plenty of those Immortal Sect disciples around? We’ll just grab a few and take them back. That’ll be enough to report.”
The woman beside her, dressed in a black dress, replied calmly. She walked through the crowd with poise, indistinguishable from anyone else.
“And with that sneaky look of yours… are you afraid no one will figure out we’re demon cultivators?”
The black-dressed woman snapped at the purple-dressed one, annoyed.
“Heh heh… it’s just that I’ve been in seclusion so long, I never got the chance to come out. They kept saying there were so many geniuses out here, that we weren’t allowed down the mountain until we reached the Golden Core…”
The purple-dressed woman rubbed her head awkwardly, then lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, saying proudly:
“But honestly, I don’t see any geniuses… Those Immortal Sect disciples we saw are nothing special. Even without you making a move, Senior Sister, back when I was at the Foundation Establishment Stage, I could beat them in three moves.”
“Don’t be arrogant. The other Immortal Sect folks may be mediocre, but there’s still Su Qingyue and Mu Zhiming.”
The black-dressed woman glanced at her, reaching out to push her back down, then continued:
“Keep a low profile. There are people from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion around. Our branch sect was destroyed this time, and they know we’ll come seeking revenge.”
After speaking, the black-dressed woman continued forward, then her expression shifted. She sniffed the air, made a subtle gesture with her right hand beneath her dress, grabbed the purple-dressed woman, turned her head, and whispered in her ear:
“I caught the scent.”
The purple-dressed woman froze, then stood on her tiptoes, looking around, nostrils flaring.
“Where? Where?”
The black-dressed woman then pointed her jade-like finger toward the plaza ahead. That was where the crowd was thickest, everyone stopping before a large stage. At the very front of the crowd stood a woman, graceful and poised.
She wore a water-blue daoist robe, her skin fair as snow, her three thousand green threads coiled atop her head and secured with a plum blossom hairpin.
What drew the most attention, though, was the black eye veil over her delicate brows and the black choker around her pale neck.
A strange floral scent quietly drifted from her into the crowd, reaching the black-dressed woman’s nose.
“I’m certain. That’s the scent of the Wood Spirit Three-Needle Flower we’re looking for.”