Chapter 7

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“A meeting gift.” Seeing Yu Youyou clutching the alchemy furnace in a dazed manner, Zhuang Changshu said to her gently. She was naturally serious, and the effort it took her to smile was the utmost display of goodwill.

Noticing that the little one was clearly unafraid of her, and hadn’t cried upon seeing her but instead smiled broadly, showing her small white teeth, Zhuang Changshu spoke calmly to this junior sister with whom she had crossed paths several times in the past. “If you ever need anything, you may come to me.”

The words were stiff and blunt; anyone else might think the second senior sister was difficult to get along with.

But Yu Youyou’s memories from the books contained this second senior sister’s presence, so she understood that it wasn’t that the sister disliked her so much that she couldn’t even smile.

Rather, this beautiful senior sister was simply not fond of bustling noise or laughter.

Today, she had already been very kind and was trying her best to express friendliness toward this junior sister she was meeting for the first time.

In the book, when Yu Youyou first returned to the sect and saw this sister, she also received a furnace of spiritual pills.

This was originally a gesture of intimacy and goodwill, but Yu Youyou scorned the pills for being too low-grade, unworthy of her status as the sect leader’s only daughter, and criticized her second senior sister harshly with cold sarcasm.

It was quite undeserved.

At that time, Yu Youyou was in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

The second senior sister had given her a large furnace of pills most suitable for that cultivation stage to help her progress.

She couldn’t just hand her high-level pills that might cause a surge of spiritual energy and damage her meridians during cultivation, could she?

Though she took into consideration the sect leader’s daughter, Zhuang Changshu did not hold a grudge against Yu Youyou; thus, their relationship simply wasn’t as close afterward.

She never refined pills for Yu Youyou again.

Moreover, by a fortunate coincidence, Zhuang Changshu, like the eldest senior brother Chu Xingyun, was a prodigy of cultivation—a rare genius who had completed Nascent Soul in just a few decades.

Though she still called herself “disciple” before the elders, in the cultivation world, she would be respectfully addressed as “Dao Lord Zhuang.”

She was the sect leader’s direct heir, a rare alchemy genius in the sect, with high hopes placed upon her by the masters, and a formidable sword cultivator with great combat strength, holding great prestige among the disciples.

Therefore, when Yu Youyou returned to the sect in the book, she did not enjoy the lofty status of the sect leader’s daughter, but she often heard words of admiration for “Senior Brother Chu” and “Senior Sister Zhuang.”

With these two as contrasts, how could Yu Youyou’s heart bear it?

She especially resented Zhuang Changshu, who stole her thunder.

Fortunately, Zhuang Changshu knew this junior sister disliked her and usually kept her distance; besides, she often secluded herself in cultivation, so the sisters rarely met.

If it weren’t for Yu Youyou later deceiving Zhuang Changshu into falling into a beast tide, attempting to kill her for the sake of her lover’s grand ambitions, Zhuang Changshu wouldn’t have had much involvement with her.

Such persecution, where one tries to kill another, enraged Zhuang Changshu to the utmost when she returned to the sect after great hardships and saw the sect leader mad and possessed, with many disciples fallen.

She agreed with Chu Xingyun’s decision not to kill Yu Youyou outright but to trap her in the Spirit Severance Realm.

However, Zhuang Changshu was more meticulous and considerate—she was a person of principle.

Fearing that Yu Youyou would bear the burden of atonement alone in loneliness and sorrow, she had traveled thousands of miles to bring the scoundrel man who had deceived Yu Youyou’s affections and wreaked havoc on the Ancient Sect—a man brimming with pride and ambition to conquer the world—down from the clouds with a single sword strike, destroying his cultivation and casting him next to Yu Youyou.

The little one now remembered the cold, icy gaze Zhuang Changshu had cast toward her, holding her dying lover in sorrow, tears streaming down her face.

She looked down from on high at the bottomless darkness beneath the clouds, where the feeble elderly couple, both white-haired and weakened by having lost their cultivation, dwelled.

“If you love him, then I wish you both eternity.”

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Thinking of this, the little one hugged the barely warm alchemy furnace, looked up, smiled obediently at her second senior sister, and struggled to stand, clenching her small fists as she said after a long while, “Thank you!”

Her second senior sister was so beautiful, generous, stood up for her father’s honor, and was so considerate. Even though the Yu Youyou in the book had offended her, she still wished for her to be like a pair of mandarin ducks flying wing to wing—a truly admirable person.

She could not quite understand why the former Yu Youyou disliked her beautiful senior sister so much.

A beauty, highly cultivated, skilled in alchemy—what a mighty ally to have!

The little one hastened her small fists in salute.

She held the alchemy furnace respectfully, clearly unlike what Zhuang Changshu had imagined.

Recalling her own capricious former master and the immoral Scarlet Flame Demon Lord who eloped with another’s partner, under the care of such people, the junior sister still remained pure and adorable.

Zhuang Changshu paused slightly and gave a faint smile.

The sect leader Yu, seeing this disciple smile again, proudly ruffled his daughter’s little head.

His daughter was truly loved by all.

The second disciple had smiled at her twice in such a short time—something unprecedented.

Chu Xingyun did not share Yu’s proud sentiment.

He was rummaging through his storage ring for a while, taking out a jade bottle filled with spiritual water and other items. Meanwhile, Yu Youyou, who had been clenching her fists for a long time, suddenly brightened.

She had just eaten quite a few snacks, and Yu, concerned about his daughter’s digestion, noticed several beams of spiritual light wandering outside the hall.

Those lights hovered around the hall’s exterior, shining brilliantly. Yu pondered for a moment, then lowered his head and said to Yu Youyou, “Daddy has to handle some matters and will return soon. You…”

As the leader of a great sect, Yu was busy every day. During Yu Youyou’s unconsciousness these past few days, the elders had been managing the sect affairs.

However, as sect leader, he could not neglect his duties indefinitely. He wanted to bring his daughter along to handle matters but hesitated, worrying she was still too fragile and might be exhausted following him.

“I’m busy.” Though clingy and wanting to be close to her father, Yu Youyou understood he had many important tasks and waved her small hand to show she wouldn’t cause trouble.

She told herself to be busy, and Yu, not one to fuss, muttered about finishing sect affairs quickly and returning, then said to the two disciples standing before him, “You two take care of Youyou for now. When I’m back, I will find someone more suitable.”

These two were elite disciples with their own cultivation; Yu did not want them to be burdened with childcare and hinder their training.

Though he had stayed with Yu Youyou these past three days, he had instructed the Steward Hall to find a suitable person to care for the child in the future.

“No need to worry, Master.” Chu Xingyun said.

He... was actually not good at caring for children.

Born into the royal family, surrounded by countless servants, even though cultivators traveled without servants, he had only barely learned to take care of himself, with little experience in childcare.

However, in these past days, he had visited the town at the sect’s foot and observed how families cared for children, taking notes.

As for Zhuang Changshu, she had endured hardship in her youth, doing anything for silver—including caring for young children—and was not bothered by temporary duties.

Moreover, Yu Youyou was obedient and not mischievous, making her easy to care for.

Yu Youyou hurriedly nodded.

Yu then handed his daughter over.

Chu Xingyun and Zhuang Changshu reached out simultaneously to take her.

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With the two disciples’ hands before him, Yu raised his precious daughter, unsure whom to hand her to first.

The little one held the alchemy furnace and the jade bottle of spiritual water, quietly lowering her head.

Both are... her wings...

“Changshu, you hold her.” Yu thought. The eldest disciple had already held her recently; to avoid favoritism and to let his daughter grow closer to her senior sister, it was Zhuang Changshu’s turn.

He passed his daughter to the disciple, who received her, feeling the weight as if cradling a towering mountain.

Without showing it, Zhuang Changshu exerted some strength, then lowered her gaze to the little one in her arms.

Yu Youyou shyly rested her small head skillfully on her shoulder.

Timidly doing the boldest thing she could.

Naturally familiar.

“Salute.” While pressing her cheek against the beautiful senior sister’s, smelling a faint, pleasant scent of pills, Yu Youyou suddenly remembered something and peeked from her senior sister’s shoulder to say.

At the hall’s entrance, Yu, catching the fleeting light, was slightly startled, then frowned in thought and turned back in surprise.

“You want to pay respects to the sect?” This so-called paying respects to the sect means that when disciples first enter the sect, they must pay homage to the predecessors of past generations.

Though Yu Youyou was the sect leader’s daughter with a high status, if she wanted to truly claim to be a disciple of the Ancient Sect, she also had to pay homage.

Moreover, several elder predecessors still lived in the sect; Yu Youyou was a junior. By right, she should pay her respects.

Having been unconscious for three days was understandable, but now that she was awake, she should meet the elders rather than avoid them.

Yu pondered briefly, then nodded gently. “Very well. Besides, your great uncle came to visit you in person just after you returned. Since you are awake, you should pay respects to the elders.”

Yu Youyou’s heavy slumber for those days had terrified Yu greatly, so he urgently summoned the sect’s grand elders to examine her health.

He kept all of this in mind.

Unable to resist giving more reminders, it was clear that the spiritual lights in his hand contained grave news. He looked back repeatedly but still left swiftly.

After Yu left, Zhuang Changshu quietly tilted the heavy little one in her arms and frowned slightly.

Though her features were delicate and clear, after decades as senior brother and sister with Chu Xingyun, she sensed something amiss.

Seeing her hesitation and fearing it might unsettle Yu Youyou, she quietly transmitted a message, “Junior sister, what concerns you?”

“Little junior sister...” Zhuang Changshu had always kept a respectful distance from Gong Miaohua.

Yet, she found the little sister very adorable.

Moreover, as the sect leader’s highly respected daughter, she cared deeply. Thinking this, she transmitted to Chu Xingyun as well, “Her previous high fever was somewhat unusual, reminding me of a certain...”

“Unusual?” Yu Youyou was comfortably lying with her little belly exposed in the beautiful senior sister’s arms, curious and twitching her ears, humming softly to ask.

What was unusual?

Yu Youyou wanted to know too.

The transmission suddenly stopped.