Why Aren’t You Cultivating Immortality? (GL) Chapter 2

“I really didn’t expect you to change your mind.” Xue Shichu smiled gently and, like a gentleman, pulled out the chair for Bai Moqing.
For their first meal together, Xue Shichu had chosen a Western restaurant. The place was quiet and elegant, with warm yellow lighting and an intimate mood. It looked very much like a date between lovers.
Bai Moqing watched Xue Shichu pour her half a glass of red wine and said, “Sorry. I don’t drink.”
“This is wine from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Part of my private collection.” Xue Shichu handed the glass to Bai Moqing. Her slender fingers held the stem, and in the dark red liquid, the reflection of a woman sitting alone by the window behind her appeared.
Using the reflection, Xue Shichu glanced at that woman. The curve of her lips rose a little higher, then her gaze quickly returned to Bai Moqing.
“Thank you.” Bai Moqing took it and set it aside.
She discovered that trying to interact with people was not difficult for someone like her, who had cultivated immortality for years.
But this meal was strangely hard to get through.
She rarely ate. Looking at the tender, juicy steak, she had no appetite at all. She slowly cut it into small pieces and chewed each bite with care. By the time Xue Shichu was nearly finished, Bai Moqing had only eaten one small piece.
She really could not eat anymore, so she put down her knife and fork and stopped forcing herself.
Xue Shichu looked at the almost untouched steak on Bai Moqing’s plate and asked, “What is it? Not to your taste? Do you want to order something else?”
Bai Moqing shook her head. “No. I’m full.”
“Full?” Xue Shichu could not help sighing. “You have such a small appetite.” As she spoke, she also put down her knife and fork, picked up her napkin, and wiped the corner of her mouth. Then she gave an ambiguous invitation. “I’m going to the restroom. Want to come with me?”
“No. Go ahead.”
After Xue Shichu left, Bai Moqing casually swept her gaze across the restaurant. Without realizing it, her eyes were drawn to a woman drinking coffee in the corner.
At a single table by the window, the woman wore a caramel-colored trench coat. Her black hair fell loose over her shoulders, and her head was turned slightly toward the window. In her left hand, she held a phone, her thumb occasionally swiping across the screen. In her right hand, she held a coffee cup by the handle. It was a bone china cup with a vivid red dragon painted along its side. From time to time, she took a sip.
Perhaps Bai Moqing’s gaze was too focused, because the woman noticed it. She raised her eyes and looked over. After a slight pause, she put down her cup, stood, and left.
She didn’t think I was some kind of creep, did she? Bai Moqing’s gaze followed the woman. Just as she was about to use her divine sense to inspect her, Xue Shichu’s voice sounded beside her. “Do you want to sit a while longer, or shall we go?”
Bai Moqing turned back. “Let’s go.”
By the time she stood, that woman had already walked out of the restaurant.
Through the glass door, Xue Shichu glanced outside. Her gaze happened to land on the same woman Bai Moqing had been watching.
The night wind was cool. Bai Moqing and Xue Shichu slowly walked toward the parking lot, where Xue Shichu’s car was parked.
When they were almost there, Xue Shichu suddenly stopped and turned to Bai Moqing. “The Tenglong River is not far from here.” She lifted her wrist and glanced at her watch. “There are still ferries at this hour. Do you want to take a night cruise?”
The dim streetlights pulled their shadows long across the ground. Bai Moqing refused. “No.”
For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Xue Shichu laughed softly and teased, “You are as distant as your name. You didn’t change that name yourself, did you?”
A dusty old memory surged into Bai Moqing’s mind because of that careless remark. She lowered her eyes slightly. “My master gave it to me.” Her voice was much softer than usual.
“Honk!” A piercing car horn sounded at the same time she spoke, covering her words. Xue Shichu did not hear clearly. After the car drove past them, she asked, “Who gave it to you?”
Bai Moqing shook her head lightly. She looked at the sky and said, “I should go home.”
Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars were few. It was perfect for cultivating under the moonlight. Her expression paused. Bai Moqing suddenly remembered that she was not cultivating anymore.
She turned to look at Xue Shichu. Xue Shichu did not seem ready to leave. After thinking for a moment, Bai Moqing said, “Dr. Xue, may I ask you a few questions?”
“Oh? Do you want to ask about your heart?” Xue Shichu raised a hand, motioning for Bai Moqing to place her wrist on it, and lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t bring a stethoscope, but I can also take a pulse. Come on. I’ll check it for you.”
Bai Moqing, who had barely smiled all evening, was amused by Xue Shichu. Her sincere smile was like a spring breeze brushing over a lake, sending circles of ripples across Xue Shichu’s heart.
“Not my pulse. Other questions.”
Xue Shichu froze for a moment, lowered her hand, and asked, “What questions?” Feeling her face grow a little hot, she turned and walked toward the Tenglong River.
Seeing this, Bai Moqing followed her.
The river breeze blew gently. When Xue Shichu learned that Bai Moqing wanted advice on getting along with people because she was looking for work, she said warmly, “I have a relative who is an executive at Xue Group. If you need a job, I can help you.”
As she spoke, she took out her phone to make a call.
Bai Moqing quickly stopped her. “I’ve already found a job. I just don’t know how to get along with people.” Afraid of making Xue Shichu suspicious, she explained, “At my previous jobs, I didn’t get along well with my coworkers. I resigned after working only a short time. So I wanted to ask about social experience.”
After a pause, she added, “Although we haven’t known each other long, you make me feel I can trust you.”
Those words pleased Xue Shichu very much. Smiling, she looked at the wide river and slowly organized her thoughts, then told Bai Moqing everything she knew.
Her clear, gentle voice mixed with the sound of the moving tide and flowed into Bai Moqing’s ears. After listening, Bai Moqing politely thanked her. Xue Shichu reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’re friends. No need to be so polite.”
The sudden closeness made Bai Moqing uncomfortable all over. She pushed Xue Shichu’s hand away, shifted one step to the side, and said, “It’s getting late. We should go back.”
Xue Shichu flexed her own hand and said, “I’ll drive you home.”
“No need.” Bai Moqing casually pointed ahead. “I’ll take the bus home from over there. Goodbye.” Then she parted from Xue Shichu.
Watching Bai Moqing leave, Xue Shichu smiled and shook her head. She really was hard to get close to. Xue Shichu left the riverbank and went to the parking lot to get her car.
After walking for a while and making sure Xue Shichu was not following, Bai Moqing went to a dark, unlit place. She closed her eyes, and with a flash of divine thought, returned home in an instant.
The room was quiet. The curtains were pulled tight, and everything was dark. Bai Moqing’s eyes could see at night as clearly as in daylight. Even if someone covered her eyes with a blindfold, she could still see with divine sense.
She walked to the window and opened the curtains. Hazy moonlight poured into the room. Out of habit, Bai Moqing sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.
She silently recited the Heart-Clearing Formula, formed seals with both hands before her, and a pea-sized white light appeared in her palms. As the formula moved, it slowly spun and grew larger.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze spying on her.
Bai Moqing opened her eyes and looked sharply toward the direction the gaze had come from. Tall buildings stood everywhere, with thousands of homes lit up. In just an instant, the feeling vanished.
Who was it?
Bai Moqing closed her eyes in confusion and spread out her divine sense, searching all of H City for that spying presence.
After losing half her cultivation, her divine sense could still cover all of H City, but it was no longer like before, when she could take every person and object into view. Now she could only see a rough blur.
Her divine sense reached the eastern suburbs. There, a naked woman walked slowly, her body curved and smooth, her skin soft. Messy flax-brown hair fell over her shoulders, and a faint yellow light spread from her body.
Bai Moqing frowned. She saw the woman’s true form. A little cat demon.
The little cat demon was sensitive. The moment she sensed Bai Moqing, she changed back into cat form, turned her head, bared her teeth, and gave a fierce yowl. All her fur puffed up.
Bai Moqing quickly withdrew her divine sense and opened her eyes. She looked up into the deep night sky. Who was it, exactly?
She glanced down at her seated posture. Cultivation had become instinct. She kept saying she would no longer cultivate immortality, yet she still sat down to cultivate.
Even if she cultivated, she still could not survive the immortal ascension tribulation.
Bai Moqing patted her clothes, stood, went to the bathroom to shower, and then got into bed.
For the first time in many years, she lay down to sleep this early. Bai Moqing spread her arms and lay flat on the soft bed. With her eyes closed, she thought back on what Xue Shichu had told her and considered what she should do tomorrow.
Entering a company would not be difficult for her. A small confusion spell would do. But once she had a job, how to get along with people would be a major problem.
Yet that problem solved itself after Bai Moqing successfully entered Xiao Group.
Bai Moqing obtained an easy job that did not require her to worry much about interacting with others: document clerk in the archive room.
The archive room was connected to her office. In the office, other than her, there was only one older woman who looked quite mature but still charming. She did not talk much. Every day, she either played on her phone or on the computer.
On Bai Moqing’s third day at work, that mature but still charming older sister suddenly opened up and began chatting with her.
“Little Bai, you’re so young. How did you end up doing this job?”
Bai Moqing lifted her head from behind her book and calmly answered, “As long as I can support myself, the job itself is not important.” After saying that, she lowered her head and continued reading.
The charming older sister lifted an eyebrow, stood, and twisted her not exactly tiny waist over to Bai Moqing’s desk. She leaned sideways halfway onto the desk. Bai Moqing’s heart gave a hard jump. She looked up and asked, “Sister Feng, is something wrong?”
Without making it obvious, she shifted back a few centimeters.
“Sister Feng?” An Huaigu frowned. “My surname is An. My full name is An Huaigu. Where did this Feng come from?” Her fingers tapped lightly on the desk.
“Um…” Bai Moqing blinked and said apologetically, “So it is Sister An. Sorry, I remembered wrong.”
Looking at Bai Moqing’s cute, blank, cool, tempting-without-knowing-it little bottom energy, An Huaigu especially wanted to touch her face and tease her. Her hand reached halfway out, but then she remembered that this new coworker had only been here three days. If she started touching her, Bai Moqing might think she was a lecherous older woman and get scared away.
She quickly pulled her hand back, gave Bai Moqing a coquettish look, and said, “You really are adorable.” Then she twisted her waist and returned to her own seat.
Bai Moqing quietly let out a breath, picked up her cup, and went to the break room for water.
Before she reached the door, waves of excited cries came from inside. When she entered, a group of women was crowded by the window, looking downstairs.
“Ahhh, is that the new president? Black trench coat, long legs, abstinent aura, goddess! I swear, I’m about to bend!”
“The presidents before were all bald uncles in their forties or fifties. Where did they find this goddess?”
“I heard she’s the chairman’s daughter. She used to work here, then went to the branch office in N City as president. Now that she’s back at headquarters, she’s probably going to take over the whole group…”
Bai Moqing finished pouring water, glanced at the group of women who kept gossiping with hearts in their eyes, then turned and left without the slightest curiosity.
Back in the office, she sat in her seat and quietly read the book she had not finished.
Click, click, click. Suddenly, the sound of high heels came from the hallway. Every step had the same force and the same pause.
Bai Moqing lifted her head and looked toward the door. She had a feeling that the sound of those high heels belonged to the new president.
The sound came closer and closer. At the office doorway, a woman appeared.
Her features were clean and pretty. Her thin lips were the right shade of cherry pink. Her peach-blossom eyes were cold and calm, without a ripple. Her black hair fell over a black trench coat. Under the coat was an immaculate white silk shirt and straight suit pants. At one meter seventy-seven, plus three-centimeter heels, her whole body gave off an abstinent aura.
Bai Moqing froze. Wasn’t this the woman who had been drinking coffee in the corner of the Western restaurant that night?
While she was stunned, the mature and charming older sister smiled broadly and went to greet her. In a familiar, excited tone, she said, “Ah Xing, you’re finally back!”
An Huaigu reached the door, then remembered there was not only her in the office. There was also a new little coworker. She turned back, pointed her chin toward Bai Moqing, and said, “Ah Xing, that’s the new employee. Her name is Bai Moqing.”
Then she introduced the newcomer to Bai Moqing. “Little Bai, this is President Xiao, the future person in power at our Xiao Group. Hurry and say hello.”
Bai Moqing obediently stood and greeted her. “Hello, President Xiao.”
Xiao Xing glanced at An Huaigu, walked up to Bai Moqing, and, for some unknown reason, held out a hand. “Hello. Xiao Xing. Xiao from Xiao Group, Xing as in punishment.”
Her voice was cool, and her pace unhurried, like a distant mountain wrapped in clouds and mist, visible but unreachable. It was also like a stream flowing through a deep valley, slowly entering the heart. Comfortable, yet carrying an unreachable, misty feeling.
An Huaigu narrowed her eyes. A grand president had taken the initiative to shake hands with a low-level employee? Something was wrong.
Xiao Xing. Bai Moqing paused slightly and silently repeated her name several times. Xiao Xing, Xiao Xing. What a powerful name.
When she came back to herself, Xiao Xing’s hand was still raised. Bai Moqing quickly reached out and shook it. Their hands met, skin touching skin. Bai Moqing instinctively tried to sense the other woman’s spiritual energy and cultivation.
Finding that Xiao Xing was only an ordinary person, Bai Moqing felt an inexplicable sense of loss.
For one instant, she had felt that the person who saved her was Xiao Xing.
Xiao Xing withdrew her hand and turned to An Huaigu with no expression. “Huaigu, come to my office.” She turned and left. At the door, she looked back at Bai Moqing once more.