Chapter Forty Three

They entered the sect leaving behind a rather busy-looking Feng Shuchang and Feng Mei Xing who both hurriedly departed after them. Ling Da Chuanli didn't look around too much wearing a half smile on his lips as he carefreely followed Jiang Tingyi who didn't seem to find a need to introduce or tell him of the places they passed. But this fit Da Chuanli's preference anyway since he didn't like long-winded explanations unless he asked for it. As they got deeper into the sect, Da Chuanli noticed more and more sect members patrolling the area. His eyes flicker faintly as they cross paths with the fourth patrol group within less than a few minutes. 

However, he didn't ask why, as he had a hunch of what they were guarding, entering an isolated courtyard smelling heavily of medicine and herbs. And, underneath all of that a strangely unsettling yet hauntingly familiar scent. One which resembled the traveling winds on top of a wintery mountain he could never quite forget. "Da Chuanli?" Only when Jiang Tengyi called out to him, did Da Chuanli realize he had stopped walking, frozen in place at the courtyard entrance in a stifling haze. His chest-thumping oddly, the air entering his lungs strangely stagnant. Trading Jiang Tengyi's questioning gaze with a faint smile, Da Chuanli forced his refusing limbs to step forward into the thick air surrounding the courtyard. 

Each step forward became harder and harder as if his body were refusing much to his frustration. It was only when Jiang Tengyi stopped in front of a lit-up room, knocking softly on the wood did the stuffiness inside his heart stop. "Junior sister, it's Jiang Tengyi." A young woman whose voice could rival a bell's laugh spoke up gently from within. Underneath this gentle facade was the indifference of an immortal one expects of a cultivator. "You may enter." As the door slid open Da Chuanli searched for the owner of the voice, sitting behind a delicately lily-patterned cloth screen. 

The willow shadow of a young woman sat at a floor desk, her hands seemingly fiddling with strings and an embroidery frame. Da Chuanli could see shockingly silver hair spilling from behind the screen as if a winter fae were hiding behind the screen instead of a human. Jiang Tengyi spoke carefully and rather quietly compared to earlier. Like he was afraid of startling the delicate person. "Junior sister, I brought along the person I told you about, the one which master asked to come with me on my journey beyond the sect. Do you recall it? He's the young master of the Azure sect." Jiang Tengyi gestured the oddly calm Da Chuanli forward "Miss." At the sound of his voice, the young woman's busy fingers stiffened briefly before the smell of medicine became stronger mixed with blood worrying Jiang Tengyi. "Junior sister, did you hurt yourself?" 

"It's nothing. You say he's from the Azure sect?" The young woman picks up a piece of cloth holding it to her fingertip which she seemingly pricked. Jiang Tengyi seemed to sigh to himself due to her stubborn independence before verbally assenting to her question. "His name is Ling Da Chuanli, the younger brother of the sect patriarch. Da Chuanli, this is my junior sister, Lady Chao Bai." Seeming to indicate he should call her by this name Da Chuanli carefully and politely called out "Lady Chao Bai, I apologize if I startled you earlier." She seemingly paused once more after he spoke, but being unable to see her person from behind the screen. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. 

"Young Master Ling is it? There's no need for an apology, I am easily startled is all." Without waiting for him to question her words, the young woman smoothly pushes the screen close without warning. Her striking silver hair flowed down her back following a light blue robe up to disturbingly covered-up eyes underneath a silver ribbon. Her nose and rose lips amplify her unique features and inhumane appearance. For some reason, Da Chuanli automatically placed the color of her eyes to those of the misty mountain tops and caught his breath. The first to react was Jiang Tengyi who moved forward to hand her a bandage for her tiny injury appearing disapproving. "Junior sister you shouldn't embroider when you're unwell. Master and madam will worry about you." 

Her indifference when wrapping her still-bleeding finger was obvious, taking his concern as obsolete and unnecessary. "It's just a minor chill, nothing to worry about." He exhaled heavily appearing unhappy "Still, what is master to say to your aunt if you became even more ill rather than healthy after being sent here to recuperate?" All the while Da Chuanli stood by the door like an outsider, every word out of her mouth easing the strangeness within he felt upon first entering. Slowly but surely the turbulence in his spiritual sea calms as he is reminded once more that she is no longer on this earth. Wang Lan Biyu would only be ten and seven this year, but this young woman appears to be around their age and uncaring of his identity. He was just caught off-guard by the familiar smell. That's it.

As he calmed himself down his smile became easier to uphold while he sat beside Jiang Tengyi who gestured him over. Sending him an apologetic look "As you can see, my junior sister's health isn't the best. She carries a rather violent cold curse which froze over her dantians so she needs daily treatment to keep it from reaching her heart. And because of her curse-" Jiang Tengyi glances at the eerily quiet young woman across from them. "-she also has more notable features in comparison to others." Da Chuanli questions the young woman directly skipping over Jiang Tengyi, wanting to hear the answer in her own words. "Lady Chao Bai, can you tell me why you are so insistent on leaving the safety of the sect? Traveling would only put you at more peril than recuperating safely here." 

Chao Bai waited a bit for him to finish before answering calmly having expected his question. "Young master Ling is correct, recuperating here would be much better for me. However, I do not have long left to live." "Junior sister!" Jiang Tengyi cut in sharply. Da Chuanli was a bit interested because of her honesty and showed rare patience. She ignores his reprimand going on serenely "Rather than staying in one place waiting to die, I'd much rather die outside." "But what if I still refuse? Your life and death have nothing to do with me." She wasn't ruffled by his humorous tone nor rudeness and instead pursed her lips falling into a estranged silence. It seemed she was thinking deeply about how to convince him as the beauty didn't speak for a good long time. 

Just when he thought she would make a naive request boring him, surprisingly the young woman asked through gritted teeth. "What is it the young master still desires for me to say?" Feeling more at ease as the young woman seemed to finally shed her pretense Da Chuanli felt a hint of real amusement coat his glittering eyes. "The lady's time is precious, but what does it matter to me a stranger? Just because you are weaker than an average person I am to pity you? What can the young lady offer me in return for taking you along?" His master had said she wouldn't be a burden. Da Chuanli wanted to know how little of a burden she would be. Trembling in what he assumes is suppressed fury because of his frivolous words he found a faint delight from teasing her.

Jiang Tengyi perhaps sensing her anger but also not wanting to butt into their conversation again sat beside Da Chuanli wearing a disgruntled expression. However, it seems that she truly lived up to her title as a lady as the young woman took a single deep breath and didn't explode as Da Chuanli expected her to. Her tone was icy when speaking next "I had heard the young master of the Azure sect was reputable as the most honorable gentleman amongst cultivators. To think that your honor amounts to only mere gossip and is lacking behind closed doors." He gave a half smile taking her insult with a grain of salt "Who was it who spread false rumors? Certainly, the young lady cannot hold me accountable for the falsities others speak on my behalf." 

Her lip curled into a half sneer she refused to let out on account of her image, seeming not to want to stoop to his level. Shameless. Looking between his smiling friend with twinkling eyes and his irritated junior sister, Jiang Tengyi didn't know who to admire more. His unabashed friend or his tolerant junior sister. So, he opted to be a bystander from now on as it seemed that the two wouldn't be compatible no matter what he said. The man smartly sat back in his cushion playing the fool. "Lady, the real reason you want to come along with us doesn't matter to me. I merely want a reason to trust leaving my back unguarded to someone other than Jiang Tengyi when we will be spending days and nights traveling as companions. I can trust Jiang Tengyi's character, but I cannot trust you." 

Having him speak bluntly, Chao Bai's fingers flinch under her blue sleeves and curl inward leaving imprints on her delicate palms. "Jiang Tengyi, leave us." Finally, she turns to Jiang Tengyi sitting at the side without the aura of a junior speaking to their senior at all interesting Da Chuanli further. Instead, it was as if she were a farther rank above him than people would first assume. And to his surprise, Jiang Tengyi listened to her without hesitation shooting Da Chaunli a look as he closed the door after himself. Only once Chao Bai no longer heard the sound of another human breathing around them did she release the ice in her spiritual sea to the surface. 

Da Chaunli narrowed his eyes at the woman who slowly became surrounded by layers of frost. Watching without moving as frost encompasses all but her upper body taking her as a moving glacial doll. Holding her icy translucent scales that faintly resembled clear opal scales to her covered eyes. The young woman seemed to encompass the entire northern blizzard within her thin body. It was hard to believe she was a human at all. However, Da Chuanli showed neither fear nor disgust for her frightening imagery. Wearing a rather apathetic expression in the face of her inhumane state. "All around me, I see nothing but snow and ice blinding me to the spirits besides those whose heavenly fates are grander than my own. The elusive nature of Jiang Tengyi's spiritual essence is the only one capable of helping me hide this curse of mine." 

"Then you are merely using him as a cover, does Feng Shuchang know of your plans?" To this intimidating aura being released from Da Chuanli, Chao Bai merely sent him a callous smile in return. "Know, how could they not? But what I offer them in return is worth it." Her fingers lightly trace her desk filled with unfamiliar drawings and embroidery covering it with snowflakes with a mere brush of her fingertips. Her voice lowered seriously leaving no room for doubt "On the day in which they siege the Golden City, it will be I, Chao Bai, who cracks open that wretched barrier shattering it once and for all."