That day, Xu Lingxin entertained a particular visitor that had chanced onto her Mourning Peak. Rather, the celestial maiden had resigned herself that the elderly woman standing before her with crossed arms and quivering eyebrows was inevitable. As such, Xu Lingxin fanned herself and remained seated besides the cooking fire and watched He Xin diligently mix blocks of dried spice into a boiling cauldron.
“Xu Lingxin, this is the last time this Elder will stand before you regarding this issue. Any more will be direct disobedience against the Sect Leader,” the elderly woman cautioned, and wagged her finger with a distasteful glance.
“Hand over the mortal girl from Great Yong. The Sect Leader has found good use for her existence.”
“And what will this… good use be? Does the Sect Leader not remember that Little Sister Lingxue is under my protection? Mei Yue, have you forgotten?”
Xu Lingxin snapped the fan shut and gazed towards the fuming elderly woman. When she noticed that the latter was dressed in the exorbitant, violet-gold formal robes of the Morning Star Temple, the celestial maiden immediately sought to straighten her expression. She directed a cautionary glance in the direction of the wooden cabin a few meters back, yet Mei Yue seemed belligerent.
“The envoy from the Violet Jade Pavilion will be arriving soon, and the Mourning Star Temple requires a gift to present to His Highness,” the elderly woman pursed her lips and gnawed at her gums.
“They have sent a Heaven’s Childe this time, not a mere Outer Disciple. Mere hundred-year-old treasures and medicinal herbs will not be sufficient.”
“So what does my Little Sister have to do with this? Mei Yue, surely you haven’t forgotten your post as the Treasury and owner of the Medicine Peak of the sect?”
Xu Lingxin chuckled, and wiped at her dainty lips with her soft fingertips. She dipped a bamboo shoot into the fragrant cauldron to taste its contents, and signaled for He Xin to continue adding spices as she rubbed her tongue in satisfaction. The celestial maiden paid little attention to the increasing dissatisfaction on the latter’s brows.
“If a hundred-year-old treasure won’t be satisfied to whet this Young Master’s appetite, then offer him herbs and treasures slightly more aged, or simply offer him more,” Xu Lingxin sighed and rubbed her head with her palms.
“What’s the point of sending a mortal girl? Compared to a mortal girl who has no history nor prestige, would not a gift of exotic spiritual herbs, treasures, or even a martial arts technique be more suitable?”
“A mortal girl of no value? Xu Lingxin, have you forgotten my diagnosis!?”
Mei Yue screeched and stomped onto the soft earth with her right boot, infusing a considerable pool of spiritual essence into her fury. The boot clad with a holy radiance of violet and golden light seared a blistering scorch mark onto the earth, immediately cauterizing the moist soil into powdered ash. He Xin screamed in fright and kicked the cauldron on impulse, scattering the nearly prepared soup over the crackling flames and the exposed spice bag.
The noxious fumes of burnt and congested fragrances dragged everyone’s gaze to lock onto Mei Yue’s clenched fists, and Xu Lingxin dropped her fan and reached out with her hand towards the sword sheathed besides the legs of her chair. The celestial maiden glanced at the ever-slightly growing radius of corroded earth and corrupted vitality, and hurled her brows into a severe frown.
“Was there a need to start a plague on my Mourning Peak? Mei Yue, what is your explanation?”
“Explanation? Hmph – perhaps you should offer this Elder an explanation instead!” Mei Yue waved her hands, the palms effused with a brilliant scarlet radiance.
“A mortal girl whose bone age is not even that of fifteen years, and yet her physique holds a cultivation that resembles the Core Formation Realm, and her spiritual essence cusps the final boundary of the Foundation Establishment Realm! This is a perfect cauldron, the ultimate gift the Morning Star Temple has to offer in penance!”
“The original agreement with the Sect Leader was that you, Xu Lingxin, shall plunder on her cultivation and ascend as the sect’s third Core Formation Realm Elder, and youngest Venerable of the region! However, the mortal girl remains the same, and now we must face the pressures of the Violet Jade Pavilion – what else are we supposed to do!?”
Behind, with her head gently protruding from the windowsill of the cabin, An Fei inspected the elderly woman’s exchange with the celestial maiden. The young girl clenched her hands into tight fists when her weak translating abilities relayed to her the contents, and threw curse after curse in her mind. And yet, reminded by the scarlet flare engraved into her flesh by the unreasonable Immortal, she deigned not to invite any more trouble onto her frail shoulders…
…though that option seemed a bit too late.
“If we can satisfy the Violet Jade Pavilion’s demands, then the region can obtain Bei Tang’s penance, and we would no longer have to suffer so much during the winter! With the remedy for the accursed rain in our hands, what is the value of a single mortal girl whose origins are unknown save that she is from Great Yong, Bei Tang’s bitter enemy? A single mortal concubine, a single mortal cauldron, and our people will no longer suffer!”
Mei Yue fiercely exhaled the breath in her lungs and gently massaged the pooled spiritual essence in her hands to return to her dantian. As the brilliant streams of scorching heat and energy left her body, the elderly woman sighed and rubbed at her eyes, albeit casting inquisitive glances towards the silent Xu Lingxin.
The celestial maiden plucked the sword from its sheath and mused with her reflection boring into her eyes through the glimmering blade.
“Our people have suffered greatly over these years, and desperately requires the remedy designed by the ancestors of the Violet Jade Pavilion. A problem that requires a simple solution – if it is as you say, then do you have any proof that the Heaven’s Childe arriving here carries the antidote’s recipe?”
“We have received it before His Highness’ visit! The Sect Leader is in possession of the details, and has already begun production of the remedy!”
The grim words sung a marvelous tale alongst the otherwise silent peak. Mei Yue smoothed her robes and clutched her hands to her chest, her gaze fixated onto Xu Lingxin’s seated figure. As He Xin desperately attempted to fix the broken cauldron and salvage the soup while remaining as quiet as physically possible, the elderly woman refreshed her mind with the piercing winds atop of the peak, and savored the deathly spiritual qi emanating from the fringes of the Mourning Forest. Soon enough, before the celestial maiden could form her mind, Mei Yue deigned to take action.
“The Violet Jade Pavilion has shown their sincerity, and the Morning Star Temple cannot disappoint them now. I know that you’ve gotten endeared to that mortal girl, but remember under whose hands you have been fed, clothed, raised, and trained – your roots, your origin! Very well – I shall extend my promise,” the elderly woman reached into her robe, and withdrew a freshly inked scroll.
“As owner of the Morning Star Temple’s Medicine Peak, I, Mei Yue, shall extend this Soul-Binding Contract. The mortal girl Xu Lingxue shall be offered as a cultivating cauldron to be exchanged with the remedy to the nation’s black rain. Under no circumstances shall the mortal girl be harmed, and those who violate this contract shall suffer a death of a thousand cuts under the heavens’ gaze!”
Xu Lingxin’s eyes snapped open to their limits, and her figure exploded into a brilliant flare of golden sparks as she raced at the elderly woman. Before Mei Yue could either react or maintain a defensive posture, the celestial maiden had snatched away the scroll and was scanning its contents. Mere seconds had passed before a myriad of expressions flung themselves across the Mourning Peak, inundating the latter’s spirit in a torrential ocean.
There was hope, betrayal, anger, and yet… resignation.
“You… you actually got approval from the Violet Jade Pavilion, and even had a Heaven’s Childe imprint a fragment of their soul…” the celestial maiden sighed and clenched her head.
“What an absolute farce. Mei Yue, do you seek to force my hand that much? You have become far too desperate!”
“You think too much. While you have gotten soft in your dainty middling with a mortal girl from another country, I seek to save the people dependent on our sect. All this old woman seeks is to preserve the lives of those who have entrusted their futures to the existence of our sect. Before that, all else is secondary!”
Mei Yue flung her hands into the air, and gracefully prostrated her wrinkled body towards the endless blue skies stretching beyond the Mourning Peak. The elderly woman slashed a light cut onto her fingertips with a thin blade of spiritual essence, and spread the thin crimson trails across her forehead. Then, exhaling and purging her body of any impurities brought by the mortal air, the Elder of the Medicine Peak clenched her teeth, and willed her spiritual essence to well at the base of her throat.
“Mei Yue of Morning Star agrees to the Soul-Binding Contract. The mortal girl shall be sacrificed to save the three hundred thousand lives under this sec!”
