Chapter Twenty-Four: My Thanks to Senior Sister for Dispelling My Doubts

Staring at the fierce tiger before him, its skull impaled by a sharp spike, Su Bai finally let out a long breath. In the distance, Xiao Huixin was nearly frightened to death; she understood well the principle that one’s lips and teeth are interdependent.

A stick of incense later

Su Bai carried a cup of tea, his face full of eager politeness, and set it in front of Xiao Huixin. “Senior Sister, my humble abode has little to offer. Please have this tea to calm your nerves.”

“Thank you, Junior Brother.” Xiao Huixin, clad in the robe Su Bai had lent her, managed to cover her exposed skin under the dim candlelight. Even so, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, though she was being gazed at by a boy much younger than herself.

But Su Bai had no interest in such matters; he didn’t even bother to restore his inner energy before directly asking, “Senior Sister, why are you here?”

As he spoke, Su Bai glanced out the window at the night. Though summer had just begun, a gentle coolness lingered, drifting in with the moonlight that poured into the room.

Xiao Huixin felt no need to guard herself against her junior brother, who had just saved her. In her eyes, Su Bai was merely an inexperienced junior. Though she wondered why he was in such a desolate place, it seemed no cause for suspicion.

She answered without reservation, “Oh, it’s like this. I was sent by the Third Elder to go two hundred miles to Mount Wudang and deliver this item to Master Zhang.”

As she spoke, she pointed to the slim bamboo tube strapped to her leg, but had no intention of showing it to Su Bai.

“Oh? So Senior Sister came here on orders?” Su Bai narrowed his eyes and took back the teacup from Xiao Huixin, apologizing, “I got caught up talking with you and let the tea go cold. I’ll pour another cup, please wait a moment.”

Soon, he returned with a steaming, fresh cup of tea.

“Please, Senior Sister.” Su Bai gestured politely.

“Thank you, Junior Brother.” Xiao Huixin sipped the tea, still shaken by the ordeal. “To be honest, if it hadn’t been for those two thieves attacking me on the way, I wouldn’t have gotten into such trouble.”

“Oh?” Su Bai raised his brows, eager. “Senior Sister, who could have angered you so?”

Xiao Huixin’s face twisted in anger at the memory. “It was Su Kun and Huang Yang, those two scoundrels! They coveted the treasure my master entrusted to me!”

“Is it the item you’re meant to deliver to Master Zhang?” Su Bai asked at the right moment.

“Exactly.” Xiao Huixin sighed, frustrated. “I don’t know how they learned about it. I’m no match for them; I nearly lost my life. Luckily, I had a tracking device my master gave me before she left. If I return safely, I can use it to expose them. With both evidence and witnesses, I doubt their master would dare protect them.”

Su Bai considered her words, then asked, “Do you still have any more of those devices with you?”

“What does Junior Brother want with it?” Xiao Huixin, though at ease, still asked necessary questions.

“No need for suspicion, Senior Sister. I’m just curious. Since I joined the sect, my master has kept me here, never letting me see anything beyond this hut. Meeting you tonight, I just have so many questions!” Su Bai realized his earlier question was abrupt and quickly tried to reassure her.

“Oh?” Xiao Huixin was puzzled. “Which elder did you apprentice under?”

“Ninth Elder, Xi Menghe,” Su Bai replied without hesitation.

“Ninth Elder is a good man, always patient with lower-level disciples and never showing favoritism. The only pity is...” She stopped herself, embarrassed. “Forgive me, I spoke out of turn.”

“Senior Sister, do you know something? Please, don’t hold back.” Su Bai’s urgency was palpable; he sensed instinctively this matter was deeply connected to him.

“Junior Brother, you don’t know? Ninth Elder, because of his innate limitations, can only cultivate up to the peak of the Spirit-Focusing realm.” Without noticing Su Bai’s pensive look, Xiao Huixin continued, “But he managed, through sheer perseverance and intelligence, to defeat several candidates for elder of the Transcendent realm, earning his current position. Though he can’t enjoy the two hundred years of life that others do, his strength is indisputable.”

Hearing this, Su Bai could no longer hold back his most pressing question. “Senior Sister, I wonder—if someone keeps channeling inner energy into a person who’s never practiced martial arts, what harm could it cause?”

Xiao Huixin tilted her head, frowning slightly. “Why would anyone do such a thing?”

“What would happen if they did?” Su Bai grabbed her shoulders, eyes wide. But under her gaze, he quickly released her, apologizing. “Senior Sister, I just desperately want to know how the person who took my brother away years ago caused his death. Forgive my rudeness.”

Seeing his sincere apology, coupled with her debt of gratitude, Xiao Huixin merely smiled it away.

“No need, Junior Brother. Besides, I owe you my life.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Senior Sister. Please, go on.” Su Bai cursed himself inwardly for losing his composure.

“Alright,” Xiao Huixin continued, “If someone keeps channeling inner energy into a normal person, trying to forcibly raise their cultivation...”

She paused. “It depends on their realm and talent. If they have a good foundation, you might push them up two or three minor levels.”

“What if you push someone from the earliest Copper Skin stage straight to Bone Refining?” Su Bai managed to keep his composure, though his heart was tumultuous.

Xiao Huixin burst out laughing. “Junior Brother, you must be joking! Everyone wishes they could pass their lifetime’s cultivation to their descendants. If it were really possible, the martial world would be unrecognizable!”

Su Bai lowered his gaze, fists clenched in frustration. “But what if it actually happens?”

“Then their foundation would be unstable, and inner energy could go out of control at any moment,” Xiao Huixin replied without hesitation.

“Senior Sister, let me pour another cup of tea. Please rest well here tonight. I have an extra set of bedding, so I’ll sleep in the woodshed.” Su Bai released his hands, his tone calm.

“Thank you, Junior Brother. I’ve talked so much, my throat is dry.” Xiao Huixin stuck out her tongue playfully, embarrassed.

“No need for formality.” Su Bai took the teacup, its light fragrance rising, though he had no mind to savor it.

Soon he returned with another steaming cup.

Xiao Huixin took it and drank without hesitation.

Not far away, Su Bai asked, “Senior Sister, do you have any other family?”

The question caught Xiao Huixin off guard; she didn’t know how to respond.

After a moment, she asked, “Why does Junior Brother ask?”

Su Bai smiled lightly. “Since you’ve asked, I won’t hide anything.”

He took several steps back and continued, “Since the Ninth Elder took me as his disciple, I’ve been here for half a year. He’s never taught me any martial arts, instead, every half month, he channels inner energy into me. Especially since I advanced to the Bone Refining stage, he’s grown more impatient, visiting every ten days. Each time, the amount increases, and ten days isn’t enough for me to absorb it. So I wonder, what could Master’s intentions be?”

He turned, smiling at Xiao Huixin. “But thankfully, Senior Sister descended from the heavens to enlighten me.”

Xiao Huixin forced a smile. “Yes... quite the coincidence.” Yet as she answered, she secretly began to gather inner energy—only to find, to her horror, she couldn’t summon even a trace. Her limbs grew weak. She eyed the teacup, instantly realizing the source.

“You... what did you put in the tea!” Xiao Huixin cried in shock and fury, her former gentleness vanished.

She never imagined the boy, who had just saved her, would poison her so swiftly. Now, unable to access any inner energy, she was a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Su Bai answered slowly, “Senior Sister, you didn’t notice while speaking. The first cup was already poisoned. Only when you said you were acting on orders did I switch to a muscle relaxant; the second cup was supposed to be the antidote. But then you said you’d been ambushed and marked your attackers. Now, I just need to find them by name, trade with them, and keep your treasure for myself. So I swapped the second cup for a deadly poison. Tell me, did I do right?”

Xiao Huixin was so terrified she couldn’t speak. She never imagined a child could calculate so thoroughly. She was meat on the chopping block.

She lunged forward, dropping to her knees and begging, “Junior Brother, for the sake of our shared sect, spare me! I swear I won’t tell anyone. If you let me live, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life, without complaint!”

She crawled forward, trying to grasp Su Bai’s feet. But Su Bai saw through her ploy, dodging and sneering, “Senior Sister, even at death’s door you want to mark me, draw the sect’s wrath? Do you take me for a toddler?”

Seeing her plan exposed, Xiao Huixin changed tactics. “Didn’t you say you have no martial arts? I can write down everything I’ve learned for you!”

Hopeful, she watched as Su Bai took out a white vial and shook it. “This is half the antidote. The rest depends on you.”

He tossed the vial, and Xiao Huixin scrambled to grab it, swallowing the pills desperately, like a starving beggar.

Yet as she swallowed and tried to stand, she suddenly collapsed, dead on the spot. She fell stiffly, without the slightest struggle.

Su Bai stepped forward, kicked the body to confirm, then wrapped it in a robe and buried it in a secluded spot. Only after finishing did he truly relax.

The promise of an antidote was merely to get her to swallow the bone-melting pill.

Earlier, the tea contained not just drugs to block her inner energy, but also a numbing agent. The claim that it was a muscle relaxant was only meant to lull her into complacency.

The second poison melted her insides, and the bone-melting pill turned her bones to liquid. That was why Su Bai hurried to dispose of the body.

He couldn’t be sure that someone at the peak of the Spirit-Focusing realm wouldn’t detect traces of blood. And once Xi Menghe learned someone had seen him, Su Bai couldn’t guarantee what might happen.

But there were things he still didn’t understand, though he figured Xiao Huixin wouldn’t know either, so he wouldn’t waste more time on her.

Sitting beside the buried earth, Su Bai gazed at the dim sky. He had hidden the grave with a pile of grass and dug a pit three or four meters deep for safety.

As the waning moon rose, he sat alone, staring at the silent forest, and sighed, “Senior Sister, killing you was truly out of necessity. If I hadn’t lived so cautiously, I’d have been torn apart long ago in the Su Prince’s Mansion.”

He walked toward the wooden cabin, pondering his next steps. “Since the old man is so formidable, escaping under his nose seems impossible. If he catches me, he definitely won’t treat me so kindly. What should I do?”

Not long after, Su Bai returned to the trap where he had killed the tiger. The memory still unsettled him.

“Luckily, my reflexes were quick. If I’d hesitated, I’d have been its dinner.” Gazing at the bloodless tiger corpse, Su Bai lamented, “I never expected trouble to follow so swiftly. I truly am beset by disasters.”

Looking at the scattered traps around him, Su Bai felt a headache coming on. “In three days, he’ll be here. I need to rearrange everything, make sure that old fox finds nothing amiss.”

And so the night deepened.