“Can you stop making that face?” Luo Er rolled her eyes, a little speechless.
This person fainted just like that, for no reason at all. It made me, small as I am, have to drag her back. And when she woke up, she put on this look like life wasn’t worth living, like she wanted to leave this world. I haven’t even said anything, have I?
Luo Tangtang ignored Luo Er. Her hands trembled as she clutched the pendant around her neck. It’s too early, I’ve arrived too early. How long will I have to wait now? A thousand years? Ten thousand years?
At this thought, her entire body couldn’t stop trembling.
“Hey, why are you still shaking?” A flicker of panic crossed Luo Er’s wide eyes. “Do you want to leave the valley? If you want to leave, just say it! What are you crying for?”
Luo Er chattered on, but Luo Tangtang paid her no mind, just sitting there blankly with vacant eyes.
“Argh—!” Luo Er scratched her hair in frustration and sighed as if giving in. “In a few days, Luo Yi might be leaving the valley to go to the Supreme Immortal Sect. You can go along.”
“?” Luo Tangtang turned her head, her expression wooden and a little dazed, as if she didn’t understand what Luo Er was saying.
“I said you can go with us to the Supreme Immortal Sect,” Luo Er repeated loudly.
At this, Luo Tangtang’s eyelashes fluttered twice. A spark of life briefly lit up her eyes, only to quickly fade away.
Senior Sister isn’t here. What’s the point of going anywhere? It would only bring more sorrow.
“What more do you want from me?” Luo Er’s face instantly darkened. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, wasting so much breath on this woman. Apart from the Main God and Luo Yi, it had always been others who pandered to her and put her on a pedestal. Why was it so different with this woman?
And this person didn’t even appreciate it.
It’s infuriating!
“Go if you want to! I can’t be bothered with you anymore.” Finally, Luo Er exploded. A loud bang followed, and Luo Tangtang felt a cold gust of wind hit her face. It seemed the door had been slammed so hard it broke.
‘Tangtang.’ Suddenly, a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time echoed in her mind.
‘System!’ Luo Tangtang shot her head up, her body instantly tensing.
‘You… you’re back!’ Luo Tangtang’s eyes stung, and tears began to fall.
‘Don’t cry,’ the system soothed, its voice sounding a little weary. ‘It’s not good for your eyes.’
‘Sob, sob, we’ve arrived at the wrong point in time! How am I supposed to find Senior Sister now!’
‘Don’t worry, you will find her,’ the system reassured, its tone, however, was very earnest.
‘Really?’ Luo Tangtang’s heart pounded fiercely. A new light shone on her scarred face.
‘Yes, rest assured, you two will meet. As for why, I can’t tell you right now.’
Luo Tangtang pouted, tears welling in her eyes. ‘I’ve become ugly, and my eyes are blind too.’
‘I know. I can see. I understand everything,’ the system sighed.
‘Rest assured, we haven’t arrived at the wrong point in time. This should be the original starting point.’
‘What do you mean?’ Luo Tangtang’s sobs abruptly ceased.
‘You will find out everything. Follow Luo… Luo Yi and Luo Er, and you will learn everything you want to know. For now, focus on healing your injuries.’
The system, disregarding Luo Tangtang’s confusion, finished speaking and fell silent once more.
Everything enveloped Luo Tangtang like a fog. She wiped her tears expressionlessly, her lips pressed into a thin line, the corners of her mouth turned slightly downwards. Her grip on the edge of the bed slowly tightened. After a long moment, a faint, crisp crack seemed to echo in the spacious room, only to vanish instantly.
Knock, knock, knock! A series of urgent knocks sounded at the door.
Luo Tangtang had just turned her head towards the door when she saw Luo Er knocking on the remaining half of it, peeking her head inside.
Luo Tangtang: “…You can come straight in.”
“This is called showing you the respect you deserve,” Luo Er pouted, stepping inside, her eyes holding a hint of grievance.
“Huh?” Luo Er’s gaze suddenly landed on a particular spot, as if she’d discovered a new continent. “What happened to your bed?”
“Hm? Oh, this!”
Luo Tangtang looked at the splintered edge of the bed, where many wood chips had fallen to the floor.
The beds in the rooms of Fusang Valley were unique. The entire bed base was carved from a single, enormous piece of polished rock, with wooden strips attached to the edges. The wooden strip on Luo Tangtang’s bed had now splintered, and even the edge of the rock connected to it had a crack.
Luo Er pointed at the crack in surprise. “What happened to this?”
“I don’t know. I just rested my hand here, and it cracked,” Luo Tangtang replied.
Luo Er’s gaze towards Luo Tangtang suddenly turned peculiar. She muttered under her breath, “She doesn’t look that weak to me.”
Luo Tangtang looked at her with an innocent expression. “Maybe the quality isn’t good. It’s not sturdy enough.”
“Quality?” Luo Er’s face darkened. A bed made of stone isn’t sturdy enough? You didn’t come here to sleep on it, did you? You came to test its strength against yours!
“Ugh!” Luo Er covered her eyes, not wanting to look at her.
“What did you come looking for me for?”
Since Luo Er didn’t speak, Luo Tangtang had to ask.
“To take your medicine!”
“Take my medicine?” A hint of surprise appeared on her face.
“That’s right.” Luo Er placed her hands on her hips and said very seriously, “Your injuries haven’t healed yet. You need to take medicine.”
After speaking, her eyes held a trace of gloating. “Don’t worry, I specially selected these medicines. I guarantee they’ll be—potent!”
This… Luo Tangtang fell silent.
In the spacious and quiet apothecary, a huge wooden barrel sat silently. It was filled with a green liquid, from which steam rose.
Luo Er stood on a small stool, holding various strange ingredients and continuously adding them to the barrel. Red liquid mixed into the green, and Luo Er picked up a long stick and began to stir.
Luo Tangtang stood to one side, watching the red and green liquids swirl together. She felt a chill, a cold, sinister energy creeping up from the soles of her feet, along her spine, and throughout her entire body.
“Come on, hurry up and change into these.” Seeing Luo Tangtang staring, Luo Er pointed to some clothes set to one side.
“Can I skip the bath?” Luo Tangtang glanced again at the liquid in the barrel. Even from a distance, she could smell the overpowering, pungent medicinal scent.
“What do you think? Your skin is all shriveled up. Don’t you want to get better?” Luo Er rolled her eyes. Good thing I blocked my sense of smell, or this stench would be unbearable.
“These clothes are woven from Nine-Cold Heavenly Silkworm silk. They’re very expensive. I even brought Luo Yi’s set for you.”
“Don’t be ungrateful.”
Luo Tangtang glanced at her own exposed skin and said no more. She picked up the clothes and went into a partitioned area within the apothecary to change.
Large patches of her skin were shriveled; only small areas retained their original smoothness. It looked very unsightly.
She sighed. There wasn’t much sorrow in her eyes, only a certain dullness.
Nine-Cold Heavenly Silkworms lived on high mountains perennially covered in snow. Their bodies were inherently cold, and the silk they produced carried a chilling aura. The moment Luo Tangtang put on the clothes, she shivered. She lowered her eyes gently and walked out.
“Hurry and get in!” Luo Er urged, seeing her move so slowly.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? These clothes have a powerful cold nature. They must be used with this medicated bath. If you keep dawdling, the cold energy will invade your body, and you’ll be the one suffering.”
Luo Tangtang felt it too; the clothes were indeed intensely cold, and her entire body couldn’t stop shivering.
“Get in, get in!” Luo Er pointed at the medicinal barrel, urging her impatiently.
Luo Tangtang looked at the steam-shrouded wooden barrel and stepped inside.
The moment she stepped in, the pores all over her body seemed to eagerly open up. Her shriveled skin began to emit a faint sheen, and a comfortable sensation spread through her. But before Luo Tangtang could relax for more than a moment, a numbness started to creep over her body.
After the numbness subsided, waves of stinging pain followed. It felt as if her entire body was covered in insects, biting and crawling all over her.
Luo Tangtang bit her lower lip, green droplets of the liquid clinging to her eyelashes.
Her face instantly contorted, looking quite ghastly.
“Is it very ugly?” Luo Tangtang asked.
Luo Er looked at Luo Tangtang. The spiritual channels all over her body stood out like the gnarled roots of an old tree, and dark veins covered her face.
She silently turned her face away.
“Just bear with it for a bit. It’ll be over soon,” Luo Er offered, a rare attempt at comfort.
Her ghastly face must have been too ugly for her, Luo Tangtang thought silently, looking at Luo Er’s averted face.
“There are still remnants of the Torrent of Time in your body. It will erode your life force. This medicated bath is helping you expel it now. Just bear with it, and it’ll be over soon.”
“Mm,” Luo Tangtang nodded lightly.
Actually, she wasn’t usually this afraid of pain. In the past, she couldn’t feel pain at all. She remembered a world where she had been cut by a knife, leaving a pool of blood, yet she felt nothing. She just stood there quietly, motionless, watching.
Even when her relatives in that world, their eyes filled with fear, dragged her to a hospital, she felt nothing.
But, she didn’t know when it started, she began to feel pain, and found it unbearable.
“You’re just a monster.”
In a damp, cold basement, a disheveled woman had pointed at her, screaming frantically.
Luo Tangtang suddenly wished she could go back to that time, to tell that woman, her mother—I’m not a monster. I can feel pain now.
Her vision gradually blurred. She fainted again.
A cold object was pressed to her lips. Someone pried her lips open, and liquid was poured in.
“Cough, cough.” Luo Tangtang coughed violently. She opened her eyes and saw a pair of eyes rolled halfway up, showing large expanses of white.
Luo Er!
“You’re awake! If you’re awake, drink it yourself.” Luo Er abruptly slammed the porcelain bowl down beside her.
“Do you know? I was the one who dragged you back again this time! Don’t you know you’re really heavy?”
Luo Tangtang pressed her lips together. “Sorry. Next time, I’ll let you know before I faint.”
Luo Er: “…”
Luo Er’s face turned pale then flushed by turns. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally just snorted coldly.
“You still need to soak in this medicine for three months. If you faint like this again, I’ll definitely die of exhaustion. Pay more attention!”
“Okay,” Luo Tangtang nodded, looking agreeable.
Rumble, rumble. The sound of a stomach growling broke the silence.
Luo Er jumped back abruptly, the tips of her ears turning red. Her eyes darted around in panic. “You didn’t hear anything! I didn’t do anything!”
After saying this, she stomped her foot in vexation. “It’s all Luo Yi’s fault! She insisted I learn to eat like those humans and wouldn’t let me take fasting pills. Now look, I’ve embarrassed myself!”
Luo Tangtang suddenly found it rather amusing.
“You… you’re not allowed to laugh!” Luo Er’s gaze turned sharp.
“Mm, okay.” Luo Tangtang immediately schooled her expression, but the corners of her mouth still twitched upwards slightly.
“I’m going to make food.” Luo Er dashed off in a flash, disappearing so quickly that Luo Tangtang barely had time to react.
Luo Tangtang immediately struggled out of bed and went after her.
She wasn’t in the habit of letting a child cook for her, even though she had been relying on Luo Er quite a bit since she arrived.
Luo Tangtang didn’t know her way around very well, and Luo Er had run off too quickly. She searched for a long time but couldn’t find the kitchen.
Until thick smoke began to billow from somewhere.
Luo Tangtang paused, looking at the sky that was dark with smoke in one direction. After a moment, she headed that way.
Just as she reached the doorway, Luo Tangtang heard a fit of coughing.
The kitchen door was wide open, and thick black smoke poured out from inside like a vortex. Luo Er must have used some kind of magic.
“Cough, cough.” Suddenly, the coughing grew more violent.
Luo Tangtang had no choice but to cover her mouth and nose and step inside.
“Luo Er,” Luo Tangtang called out.
“Luo Tangtang, what are you—Ahahahahahaha!” Luo Er, standing on her little stool, turned around at the sound of Luo Tangtang’s voice and saw a soot-covered figure.
“How did you get like this?” She stifled her laughter, her cheeks puffed out, clearly struggling to hold it in.
Luo Tangtang couldn’t see either, because the covering over her eyes was now obscured by a black, sooty mess…
“Let me help you,” Luo Tangtang said after Luo Er had her fill of laughter, her voice tinged with helplessness.
“You—wait a second.” Luo Er waved her hand, and the soot on the covering over Luo Tangtang’s eyes vanished.
“Sigh, let me do it.” Luo Tangtang stepped forward and put the lid on the pot.
“Can you manage?” Having spent some time together, Luo Er wasn’t as difficult to get along with as she had been initially.
“Mhm, I can probably make noodles, at least.”
Luo Tangtang looked at the burnt mess in the pot and said, “What I make should at least be edible.”
Under Luo Er’s skeptical gaze, Luo Tangtang made three bowls of plain boiled noodles.
She made excellent plain boiled noodles, even if that was the only dish she knew.
“It looks… edible.” Luo Er’s wide eyes stared at the bowl of noodles before her, and she took a loud slurp.
Instantly, her wide eyes shone with a bright light.
“I think you’re pretty good! From now on, you’re in charge of the food!”
“Mm, but this is all I know how to make.”
“That’s fine! This is good too. As long as there’s this to eat, it’s fine.” Luo Er suddenly grinned, her eyes crinkling.
“Then what about this one?” Luo Tangtang pointed to the extra bowl.
“Mine.” Luo Er pulled one bowl of noodles towards herself with one hand and snatched the extra bowl with the other.
“This one is Luo Yi’s.”
“She won’t eat it.” Luo Er’s wide eyes flickered.
“She should be cultivating at this hour.”
“Cultivating?” Luo Tangtang glanced at the already dark sky outside.
“Yes,” Luo Er nodded.
She said with a serious expression, “Luo Yi gets up to cultivate early in the morning every day and only returns late at night. You don’t need to worry about her.”
“Is that so.” Luo Tangtang paused, a thoughtful expression on her face.
The following days passed by peacefully. Every day, Luo Er would drag her off for a medicated bath and to drink her medicine, and then Luo Tangtang would cook for her.
Apart from that first meeting, Luo Yi never appeared again.