Xue Ranran squatted down sadly, picking up the pill that her Shifu had thrown on the ground. When she stood up, she made ready to be scolded by her Shifu. But Su Yishui was silent for a while and then suddenly turned and left.
Ranran didn't feel relieved at all. She had been weak since childhood and had always been a burden to her parents. Now that she had finally found a way to learn skills, she was still useless, how could she not feel depressed?
Qiu Xier, unaware of her junior sister's distress, let out a long sigh of relief for her and whispered, "It looks like Shifu can't be bothered to waste words with you, hurry back to your room and hide."
Xue Ranran silently put the remaining pill back into her box, planning to find an opportunity to recheck the formula and see where she had made a mistake this time.
She then obediently went back to her room, took off her jacket, crawled into bed to sleep.
But she couldn't sleep because of the moonlight shining through the window. She was also worried about her senior brother who had overeaten, not knowing how he was doing.
After tossing and turning for a while, Ranran felt that the senior brother might want to drink some light porridge to nourish his stomach early tomorrow morning.
So she tiptoed out of bed, getting ready to go to the kitchen to prepare some porridge.
However, before she reached the kitchen, she saw a dark figure standing in the small kitchen from afar.
Ranran was startled, thinking it was the senior brother sneaking out again. But when she got closer, she found that the person holding a bowl and eating leftovers by the stove… was actually her Shifu…
She remembered that just the other day, she heard her Second Master Uncle Yu Tong proudly mention that their master had transcended the worldly desires and had completely entered the period of fasting from three years ago, occasionally eating petals and dew, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and had not consumed any worldly food for a long time.
But the celestial figure that Yu Tong had described was now, taking one bite after another, eating very deliciously…
"Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you some hot food?" Xue Ranran couldn't help but ask.
It was only when she spoke that Su Yishui, who was immersed in the ham fried rice, became aware of someone behind him.
He turned his head quickly, looking at the young girl behind him with some annoyance.
That Qingxin Pill was too potent!
He had only smelled the aroma and tasted it lightly.
At first, he had only felt a surge of emotions after it entered his mouth, but after calming down, he didn't feel anything amiss.
But when he sat in meditation at night, sitting on the grass cushion, all he could think about was memories from his youth.
His former Shifu, Mu Qingge, took him to stroll through the long streets of the capital city. Along the way, there was hustle and bustle, numerous shops, with brocade banners fluttering in the wind…
This demoness knew exactly which shop had delicious desserts and pastries, being one who loved to indulge in leisure. She bought a lot along the way, also making him eat a lot, while snickering and saying, "Eat more and put on some weight, once you become ugly, I'll let you go…"
The laughter that ran wild in the streets pierced through the lonely quiet night, growing in the meditating heart like wild grass. And between the breaths, he seemed to smell the fragrances in those streets once more.
A sense of restlessness grew quietly in the silent night.
Su Yishui felt that he couldn't calm his mind, so he thought of walking under the moonlight, but before he knew it, he had come to the small kitchen.
After that, he just continued to come in. He saw a bowl of cold ham fried rice on the stove, and he picked it up and started to eat it…
This act of eating, was like water breaking through a dam, out of control. And he was caught red-handed by this sick girl.
Ranran only had good intentions. She was afraid that her Shifu's stomach, which hadn't had soup or rice for three years, would get cold from the cold leftovers, so she thought of heating it up for him.
She did not expect that, in the next moment, Su Yishui suddenly grabbed her thin shoulder in a fierce grip.
Ranran didn't have time to cry out before she felt the big hand gripping her shoulder as if it was about to crush it.
Just as she cried out in pain, she suddenly noticed that her Shifu's face which came up close to her, seemed to melt away like sealing wax under hot water, revealing sharp brows and eyes shining with a cold light of the night.
Ranran ignored the pain in her shoulder and called out a low voice, "Shifu… your face…"
Right then, Su Yishui suddenly let go and took a few steps back, then said coldly, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
By now, his features had become quite clear.
Just as Ranran had imagined, Su Yishui's appearance was as stunning as his posture and demeanor. Even though she could not get a clear look in the night, she could still see his tall nose and cold, starry eyes.
But… why did a man who should be in his thirties still have the youthful vigor of an eighteen or nineteen-year-old on his face…
It seemed as if the last twenty years had been frozen on Su Yishui's face.
Ranran didn't have the leisure to admire her Shifu's handsome appearance, she just gasped and asked, "…Shifu… you scared me to death."
Su Yishui said mildly, "It's dark, I thought you were a thief. Tomorrow, I'll have Yu Tong get you some ointment to prevent bruises."
Hearing that her Shifu had mistaken her for someone else, Ranran felt somewhat relieved and coughed to remind him, "Um… Shifu, your face is showing…"
Su Yishui looked into the water tank, and indeed saw his long-lost face reflected back in the clear moonlight…
He seemed slightly startled, then took another hard look at the young girl holding her neck, frowned deeply, and left with a sweep of his sleeves.
Ranran stood blankly for a while, then she soaked the rice and prepared soup before returning to bed.
Early next morning, Su Yishui wore a mask made of ebony wood, covering everything but his mouth, seemingly still ashamed to show his face.
He specifically called Ranran to the tea hall and asked if she had mentioned anything about the revelation of his face, to the other disciples.
Ranran shook her head candidly. The incident had just happened last night, and since she didn't share a room with her sister Qiu Xier and the others, she had no chance to talk about it.
And since she was now called over before breakfast this morning, she naturally hadn't spread the word.
Su Yishui nodded and said indifferently, "The first rule of the sect is not to mention or discuss my appearance with anyone. Take it that last night's incident never happened."
Ranran did not understand why her Shifu instructed her so, but she obediently nodded. She was a disciple who could receive three taels of silver every month, and she held her Shifu in high regard as if he were a lord.
Since her lord Shifu had spoken, she would follow his orders without questioning. After giving his instructions, Su Yishui looked at her for a while longer, seemingly getting displeased again and icily said, "You may leave."
However, it seemed that her fellow disciples had not learned this first new rule.
During the casual conversation at dinner, Qiu Xier regretfully said, "Our Shifu has such great charisma, it's a pity that he's not good-looking, and now he's even wearing a dark mask… It's said that cultivating immortality can keep one youthful forever, will our Shifu become more pleasing to the eye when he advances his cultivation?"
She had heard of the divine physician on XiShan since she was a child, and so many years had passed, yet her Shifu actually looked so ugly and strange. It seemed that the belief of immortality preserving youth was somewhat overrated.
This also made Qiu Xier, who considered herself not beautiful enough, feel hopeless about her future. If she couldn't become an immortal, at least cultivating to be youthful and beautiful would not be a waste of the boring time spent fanning the fire by the pill cauldron.
As they spoke, Ranran was focused on eating. Due to the trouble caused by her Qingxin Pill yesterday, she hadn't eaten well for two consecutive meals. Today, she herself made honey-glazed ribs and delicious fish soup, and was now enjoying her meal.
Hearing her senior sister's words of envy, Ranran disagreed, saying, "Looks can't be eaten."
Beside her, the second senior brother Bai Baishan, who was picking up vegetables, joked, "Your pill can indeed be eaten as a meal, little junior sister. What flavor of pill are you planning to refine next time?"
Hearing this, Ranran's expression fell. Their senior brother was still on bed rest.
Because of the trouble she caused, even her broken pill cauldron had been taken away by Yu Tong.
According to Yu Tong, Shifu had instructed her to practice meditation first. Only when she could focus without distractions and let go of all thoughts could she start refining pills again.
And their esteemed Shifu, who had now regained his youthful appearance, seemed very stingy about showing himself. He had gone to a cave on the north side of Mount Xi to meditate in seclusion, apparently not planning to come down the mountain for a month.
Since their Shifu was so diligent, how could his disciples slack off? So, apart from eating and fetching water, they spent the rest of their time sitting cross-legged in meditation with the Yu siblings.
Qiu Xier's dream of attaining beauty had not yet materialized, but her legs seemed they are becoming bowed.
One day, as the young ones were practicing with Yu Chen, the copper bells hanging on the tree in the courtyard suddenly started ringing.
Yu Tong told them that these bells were connected to the spiritual shield at the foot of the mountain. The continuous ringing indicated that someone was breaking into the mountain.
Normally, ordinary people could not cross the spiritual shield to come up the mountain, but the bells kept ringing and eventually shattered into pieces to the ground.
Obviously, someone had successfully breached the mountain and entered directly through the mountain gate.
The Yu siblings exchanged glances, both getting up and preparing to go down the mountain when the intruders had already arrived in front of them.
The newcomers were a group of tall men and women in moon-white robes, appearing to be around twenty years old. But from their speed and ability to leap to the top of the mountain in an instant, they were clearly not ordinary people, but likely cultivators.
The leader was a man with a red exorcism talisman painted between his brows, wearing a feather crown, and with an arrogant expression. He cupped his fists and said, "I am Wei Fang, the chief disciple of the Jiuhua Sect, and I am here by the order of my master to request Master Su to head to Jueshan to subdue demons."
The Jiuhua Sect was one of the three major sects that had besieged the female demon back then and was also part of the group that nearly leveled the top of Jueshan some years ago.
Back then, they were at a stalemate with Su Yishui, and since they couldn't destroy the Reincarnation Tree, they temporarily agreed to wait until the spiritual fruit matured and fell before deciding the fate of the reincarnated female demon.
Now, as the twenty years have passed and the time for the spiritual fruit to fall is approaching, the three major sects have agreed to go to Jueshan together.
But unexpectedly, Jueshan has been occupied by the disciples of the demonic Wei Jiu, making it impossible to enter the mountain. If the situation continues, a fierce battle is inevitable. Therefore, Holy Master Kaiyuan of the Jiuhua Sect sent someone to invite Su Yishui, who is also considered a powerful ally.
However, Yu Chen has no good impression of these righteous cultivators and simply gave a perfunctory greeting, saying, "My master is in seclusion and will not be out until a month later. Please go back."
Before Wei Fang could respond, his fellow disciples behind him indignantly spoke up, "Even the Jiuhua Sect is not being respected. Is Su Yishui being too arrogant?"
Wei Fang was also dissatisfied and coldly said, "It was your master who obstructed us in every possible way, claiming he needed to undo the Face melting curse, which is why our respected elders left the Reincarnation Tree alone. Now that the demonic Wei Jiu has been drawn here, your master is hiding and not mentioning the curse. Does he really want to live without a face forever and become a faceless immortal?"
These words were practically an insult, and Yu Chen, with his fiery temper, was not about to tolerate it. He made a lightning-fast move, intending to punch the man.
Wei Fang, as the chief disciple of the Jiuhua Sect, has cultivation far superior to Yu Chen's. So when Yu Chen attacked, he quickly formed an ice spell and cast it towards Yu Chen.
In the next moment, Yu Chen was frozen in ice, unable to move.