His body... hurt so much!
Jiang Chen woke from his stupor, and the very first thing he did, as if by instinct, was to reach out beside him, grasping for his sword.
Thankfully, the sword was right there.
Only when his hand closed around the hilt did he dare open his eyes.
The first thing he saw was stalactites hanging upside down overhead.
He was in some cave.
Every moment of the earlier battle was carved into his memory; nothing should have slipped his mind.
Ignoring that Deer-Ox had, without a doubt, been his fatal mistake.
It galled him. But when the Deer-Ox had soared through the air, charging at him with all its might, he had truly reached his limit, and could not dodge it.
Before the Gate of Heaven and Earth was pushed open, a mortal body could not tread the void or soar on emptiness. Even with the advantage of the Four-Spirit Body Refining Art, Jiang Chen could only buy himself an extra moment of hanging in midair. There was absolutely no way he could survive a fall from that tall cliff.
Let alone the fact that the Deer-Ox's desperate collision had already scattered the Dao essence he had summoned in an instant.
He still remembered that plummeting fall, the sickening lurch of his heart rising into his throat, straining to leap out with all his life-force... that terrifying sensation.
But he could not remember, now, how he had fallen unconscious.
So—who had saved him?
"Who else, but me, with a secret art to rescue you."
That voice was extraordinarily alluring, as if it had read right through Jiang Chen's thoughts. It drifted from afar, nearer, and settled into his ears.
Jiang Chen sat up. He felt something strange about his body, but had no time to examine it, for the woman in the long black gown, her features hidden behind a black veil, had already walked up before him.
She was strong!
That was Jiang Chen's first judgment.
"For saving my life, I will remember it in my heart of hearts." Jiang Chen offered his thanks with solemn gravity, then asked: "May I ask who you are?"
"My given name, I will not tell. Men are all the same, anyway — what comes too easily, they never remember." The veiled woman's voice drifted lightly, as though nothing could find a grip on it, nothing could land.
She reached out a hand white as frost upon snow, and with one finger, gently brushed the tip of Jiang Chen's nose: "You only need remember that it was I who saved you..."
Jiang Chen was no Zhao Yan. Where had he ever seen such a scene? And he had just clawed his way back from the brink of death, so he could not help but startle.
Fortunately, the long sword in his hand, that icy touch, calmed him a little.
He forced the corners of his mouth to lift: "Since I do not know the lady's name..." He glanced at the woman's veil, and forced a stiff smile: "...nor what she looks like. How could—"
How could he remember her? He thought.
"Hehe~" The veiled woman laughed, one hand to her brow: "You really are adorable."
"Er..." Jiang Chen unconsciously tightened his grip on the long sword. Not because he felt threatened, but because he truly was nervous.
The veiled woman crouched before him, her long gown trailing to the ground. She propped her elbow on her knee, cupped her chin in her hand, and met his eyes directly: "Never mind. I will come looking for you later. When that time comes, the moment you see me, you will recognize me. Unless you... pretend not to know me."
Those soul-shaking eyes of hers suddenly wound a thread of plaintiveness into them: "You... would you do that?"
"No... I would not." Jiang Chen recited the Sutra of Deliverance in his heart, and said gravely: "For saving my life, I dare not forget."
"I knew you were a good lad."
A lad?
This might well be an old senior who had cultivated for many years...
Jiang Chen instinctively edged backward a little.
But the woman seemed to read his thoughts again, and chided him coyly: "What are you thinking? I am the same age as you!"
His embarrassment was like an endless chain of pitfalls — no sooner had he stepped out of one than he stumbled into the next.
Jiang Chen could not help asking: "What is happening now on Jade Balance?"
"What else could it be? They went back empty-handed." The veiled woman tossed it off lightly, then added: "Rest assured, your little sweetheart is fine."
"What little sweetheart!" Jiang Chen nearly leapt to his feet: "Rucheng and I are sworn brothers!"
"I meant that beauty from the State of Yun, what are you getting so worked up for?" The veiled woman deliberately widened her eyes, putting on a show of surprise, but the mischief deep in them betrayed her.
"What beauty? She was veiled too — who knows if she is beautiful or not." Tired of being teased this whole time, Jiang Chen could not help shooting back, and then said: "I do not know her at all. You should not say such things..."
"Oh, so the beauty is of no concern to you..." The woman blinked her eyes: "Then rest easy — your brother... is fine too."
She laid deliberate emphasis on the word "brother."
Jiang Chen truly could not withstand it. If this were a sparring match, he would already have thrown down his sword and conceded.
So he simply cupped his fists in salute: "I thank the senior for her rescue; in days to come I will surely repay it with all my strength. Now I must return — by now my friends must be beside themselves with worry."
"Who is your senior? Perhaps I am even younger than you?"
"Then—"
The woman's eyes smiled: "Call me big sister."
"..."
"All right, I will not press you. But has it not occurred to you to notice any change in your body?"
Change in the body — there was, indeed. Especially in his lower spine, there was a faint, cool sensation. But he had no sooner woken than the woman had drawn close, and there had been no time to examine it.
"You mean?" Jiang Chen asked.
"Have you any idea how you looked when you fell? That poor sight..." The veiled woman shook her head, as if loath to recall it: "Big sister could revive you, leave you this lively and kicking. First, because your big sister's cultivation is deep. Second, because my secret art is formidable. Third... well, because you are especially suited to this secret art!"
From the woman's tone, Jiang Chen sensed something amiss. "Might I ask what secret art the lady used?"
The veiled woman avoided the question, and only said: "You seem to share a faint connection with the Lunar Star? There are not many methods within the orthodox Dao that touch the power of the Lunar Star. Especially at your level."
Drawing down the star's power was something done only in the Outer Tower realm. If Jiang Chen shared any tie with the Lunar Star, it could only be because of the Ethereal Realm. But that was his greatest secret.
Now that he had formally transcended the mortal, he knew far more of the cultivation world. Yet he had still never heard anyone speak of the Ethereal Realm — it must be far from being made public. Or perhaps, at his present level, he was far from qualified to touch it.
He naturally would not expose it.
"Your secret art... does it involve the Lunar Star? From what the lady says..." Jiang Chen said deliberately: "Are you not of the orthodox Dao?"
"Call me big sister." The veiled woman gave Jiang Chen a pat that was neither hard nor soft — it was more like flirtation than anger.
Only then did she say: "We are, in fact, one of the few orthodox lineages."
"May I ask..." Jiang Chen hedged past the address: "...from which line do you hail — Da Luo Mountain, Yujing Mountain, or Penglai Isle?"
"Secret!" The veiled woman's eyes were full of laughter: "Do you not want to look?"
"Look... at what?"
The veiled woman lifted a jade-white hand, boneless soft, up before Jiang Chen, then drew one finger downward.
Before Jiang Chen could react, his whole upper garment split apart, baring the sharply muscled upper half of his body.
On instinct he wanted to cross his arms over his chest, but that seemed too cowardly. So he could only stand rigid and unmoving.
Little did he know that this very posture only made his discomfort all the plainer.
The veiled woman drew out a small mirror from somewhere, drew slowly close to Jiang Chen, and set the bronze mirror behind his back.
"Look at me," she said.
"Huh?" Jiang Chen was taken aback.
"Look into my eyes~"
She had leaned so close that her fragrant breath, through that black veil, seemed to blow onto his face.
"Do not think too much... look, through my eyes, at your own back reflected in the mirror."
Clang!
Jiang Chen drew his sword.
The veiled woman seemed not the least surprised, not the least moved. She only kept looking at him, still that close.
Jiang Chen tilted back slightly, held the blade across before him, and used its polished edge to mirror the bronze glass.
"This way I can see more clearly," he said.
And then he saw — there, where his neck met his spine, a lotus had bloomed, he knew not when.
A sinister lotus, its petals of white bone.