While Han Suyin was reminiscing about her parents, Yue Rin was currently investigating her backpack.
Please don't be a bug or a mouse or anything disgusting…
As she prayed, she rummaged through it again, slowly this time, especially around the spot her hand had brushed earlier. There, tucked beneath her second waterskin, she spotted something white.
A thin, pale thing… like a feather.
Her fingers went careful on instinct. Yue Rin lifted the waterskin, and sure enough, a feather lay underneath it.
She drew it out and held it up to the light.
It was pretty. Too pretty.
Not dyed. Not painted. The white was not flat either. It had a faint pearly sheen, like moonlight caught in silk. The barbs were neat and fine, layered so cleanly they looked combed by a meticulous hand, and when she tried to bend it, it did not crease the way a normal feather should. It had weight without heaviness, softness without going limp. Stranger still, it did not even smell like damp feathers. It had no smell at all.
Yue Rin frowned. "A bird feather?"
That was her first thought. The second thought followed right after.
How did it get under my waterskin?
And how had she not noticed it when she refilled them?
Just as she was about to toss it back into the forest, her hand paused.
…What if this was one of those protagonist opportunities?
Like some ancient material that had not shown itself for a thousand years, waiting specifically for her to stumble across it?
Yue Rin knew she was probably being jumpy. Like she had started seeing treasure in every stick she stepped on and every leaf that brushed her cloak.
But still, if you transmigrated into a cultivation world, explored a secret realm, and then found a ridiculously pretty feather in your own bag, what would you think?
Besides, there was no harm in keeping it. It was the first time she had seen a feather this beautiful. Worst case, she could test it later or search the library once she got out. And if it truly was ordinary, she could still gift it to A-Ling.
"Are you done?"
Han Suyin's voice snapped her out of it. Yue Rin quickly slid the feather back into her backpack, placed both waterskins on top, closed it, and turned with an innocent expression.
"Yes, I'm done. So, about the spirit beast…"
Yue Rin didn't waste time. She told Han Suyin what she knew. The spirit beast guarding the kelp appeared to be reptilian, crocodile-like, and had likely reached the early Qi Condensation realm by now.
It liked to hide deep underwater, especially around the kelp herb, blending in with the riverbed to ambush prey.
Its signature move was circling in a wide radius to create a whirlpool that dragged people under. It also had thick armor and a bite strong enough to crush bone.
As Han Suyin listened, she immediately recognized it. The Blackwater Crocodile. a dangerous underwater spirit beast, and even outside it, it was still deadly
After Yue Rin finished speaking, Han Suyin stood up and looked like she was about to thank her and head back, but hesitated when she noticed Yue Rin hovering on the edge of saying something.
"Um…"
Han Suyin lifted a brow. "Is there something else?"
Yue Rin wrestled with herself for a moment. It was better not to pry into other people's affairs. So instead she asked, "I'm a bit curious… what's life like in a sect? Would you mind telling me?"
Han Suyin realized Yue Rin was trying to make her stay a bit more, and that thought made her strangely happy. She sat back down without another word, and soon they were talking about everything and anything that came to mind.
* * * *
Inside a hastily prepared tent, Pei Jinglan had been waiting for Han Suyin to return for a while. When she still didn't show, he stood.
Qin Xueyi saw him move and asked, "Senior Brother… where are you going?"
"To check on the others' progress, wait for me here."
Qin Xueyi just smiled. "Okay."
In her heart, she hoped that vixen would be struck dead by now.
Pei Jinglan stepped out and swept the area with his gaze. He immediately found Han Suyin far off, sitting beneath a tree, chatting with someone in a shabby cloak.
Pei Jinglan's expression turned even colder when he saw her smiling.
She had never smiled at him like that before.
How dare she smile at someone else?
He walked over, and in two steps, he was already beside them. Han Suyin was startled when he appeared out of nowhere, but before she could speak, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her up.
"I told you to inquire, not to hang around with rogues like a prostitute. When we return to the sect, you'll be confined to our residence for a month as punishment." his voice was as cold as ice.
"You're hurting me," Han Suyin whispered. His grip was tight enough to bite into bone.
She didn't know what had suddenly possessed him, but when he compared her to a prostitute, anger bubbled in her chest, but she didn't dare show it.
Pei Jinglan saw the tears gather in her eyes and realized that he might have overdone it. He released her. Her wrist coming out red and painful.
Without looking back, he began walking away, and before he left, he threw Yue Rin a dangerous glance, then said to Han Suyin, his face still forward, "Follow me."
Han Suyin hurried after him, casting Yue Rin an apologetic look as she went.
Yue Rin had wanted to intervene, but Han Suyin had warned her with her eyes not to.
So Yue Rin stayed seated, watching as Han Suyin disappeared into a tent behind Pei Jinglan. She could only sigh and offer a quiet prayer in her heart.
She knew all too well what kind of drama this was and forced herself to stop thinking about it.
Because there was something else that needed her attention.
The feather.
Yue Rin pulled it out again and examined it a second time. After a moment, she decided on the same test she had used at the shrine, injecting it with her own Qi.
Just a thin thread.
The instant her Qi touched it, Yue Rin felt it drink.
Not absorb, drink.
Like a starving creature finally tasting water.
Before she could even pull back, the feather tugged harder, and the thread became a siphon. Her dantian lurched as if someone had grabbed the bottom of it and yanked.
In a blink, a terrifying amount of her Qi vanished.
Yue Rin's face went pale. Dizziness slammed into her, followed by sharp pain crawling along her meridians as her own Qi turned turbulent, fighting the foreign pull and shredding its way through her channels.
"Stop!"
The feather in her hand softened, then melted into pale specks. In the same instant, something cold surged into her.
It wasn't like ordinary Qi. It pulsed in a strange, steady pattern, clean and relentless. It surged up her arm, ran along her spine, and for a heartbeat she felt it catch behind her shoulder blades.
Yue Rin tried to force it out.
That only made it flare.
The more she resisted, the more it scraped through her meridians, turning her insides raw. Panic rose in her throat. She was barely awake enough to understand what was happening, but she knew one thing clearly.
This was dangerous.
With shaking hands, she fumbled for her entry token.
Then the cold pulse clipped her chest center.
It struck her heart anchor like a bell being rung from the inside.
Yue Rin's breath vanished. Her vision flashed white at the edges. The world tilted, and she fainted.
It all happened within moments. To anyone watching, it looked like she had simply dozed off against the tree.