The Green Plum Cannot Rival the Sudden Arrival

It was a year-end night of heavy snow, when even the dead bones froze beneath the frost.

At the northern borders of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land, beside the official road at the foot of Jade Illumination Peak, a small, curled-up figure was gradually being buried under half a chi of snow.

No one spared him a second glance.

Merchants passing by pulled their fur cloaks tighter, cultivators flew overhead on their swords, and even the old street sweeper simply walked around where he lay, muttering "bad luck" and moving on.

The child's fingers had already frozen into purple, withered twigs. He clutched at the loose snow, but could no longer hold on.

His eyes, with the last shred of strength left in him, looked up at the endless flurry of goose-feather snow.

He thought, this is probably it.

In this world, no one had ever cared where he died.

A streak of light suddenly fell from the Nine Heavens and landed silently two zhang away from the child, stirring a barely perceptible flutter of green robes.

A pair of embroidered brocade boots, adorned with cold plum patterns, stopped before him.

A pair of slender, fair hands gently brushed away the snow that covered him, then reached for his frozen neck and quietly sensed for a moment.

"Still breathing."

That voice was like the first spring thunder, or like a bell echoing from distant mountains after the snow clears—cold, yet carrying a sense of reassurance that calmed the heart.

The woman bent down and lifted the child out of the snow.

With great difficulty, the child opened his eyes. In his hazy vision, he caught a glimpse of an extraordinarily beautiful face—fair as jade, pure and peerless, yet not cold. Her eyes were like the clearest moonlight reflected in a thousand-year-old cold pool: clear, compassionate, and... gentle.

"Child, what is your name?"

The child's lips moved, but no sound came out.

The woman let out a soft sigh, pulled him closer into her embrace, and wrapped him completely in her green sleeves.

"It's alright," she said. "From this day forth, you are the grand disciple of Jade Illumination Peak."

"Your name... Ye Xuan."

Her warm palm rested on the top of the child's head, gently stroking his withered yellow hair.

That was the first warmth Ye Xuan received in this life—and the most precious.

Luo Qingqiu, the Peak Master of Jade Illumination Peak, was known throughout the Nine Heavens Sacred Land as the Luo Han Immortal Venerable.

Her name was a legend across the entire Nine Heavens Continent.

Yet the woman Ye Xuan came to know was not the peerless immortal who made countless demons tremble in fear. She was simply a woman in green robes who loved to sit at the summit of Jade Illumination Peak in the early morning, staring off into the sea of clouds.

When she taught the Dao, her voice was soft and low, never harsh or impatient. She did not crave bloodshed, nor did she seek glory. She poured out her finest techniques and insights without reservation. Her only requirement was four words: "Clear conscience, no regrets."

Ye Xuan carved those four words into his very bones.

Jade Illumination Peak was not as bustling as other peaks. Its permanent disciples were few.

The second junior sister, Mu Qingxue, was born with a sword heart. Her temperament was as cold as her name—quiet and reserved—but fiercely protective of her own. Whenever Ye Xuan sparred with her, she would never admit defeat. If she lost, she would pester him for a rematch, tugging at his sleeve and mumbling, "One more round, big senior brother, go easy on me."

The third junior sister, Su Xingyao, had a round, pillowy face. She was frail, fond of snacks, and always smiling. Every time Ye Xuan returned from outside, she would be the first to run out, her round eyes sparkling as she asked, "Big senior brother, what good things did you bring back this time?"

And then there was Bai Ningbing—the little junior sister.

She was Ye Xuan's Dao companion, the deepest obsession of his life.

The two had practiced swordplay and watched the stars together since childhood. On countless snowy, windy nights atop Jade Illumination Peak, they sat side by side, burying in each other's hearts a vow that was still green and almost clumsy in its innocence: "One day, we shall cultivate together and attain the Great Dao."

In those days, Ye Xuan was a bright, spirited youth.

He was gifted with extraordinary talent, born with immortal bones. His cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, astonishing the many elders of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land. Yet he willingly gave up the greater part of his time to care for his master and junior sisters.

To find a sword that matched Mu Qingxue's sword heart, he ventured alone into the Ten Thousand Demon Valley at the far north of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land—a place where even formidable cultivators of the Integration stage dared not tread lightly. He wandered through that storm of blood and murder for seven full days, pursued and hunted by three great demons. His body was raked by dozens of claw wounds so deep the bone showed through. In the end, dragging his blood-soaked, broken body, he crawled back to Jade Illumination Peak, both hands still clutching the Frostfrost Sword.

Mu Qingxue took the sword, and for the first time, tears rimmed her eyes. She bowed her head for a long while before forcing out a choked whisper: "...Thank you."

To nourish Su Xingyao's congenitally deficient constitution—a body that fell ill at the slightest change of season—he would descend into the depths of the Earthfire Abyss every month to harvest the Fire Spirit Mushroom, which grew only amid thousand-degree flames.

That place would corrode even spirit-energy barriers, and every time he returned, his hands were torn open, crisscrossed with horrifying blackened, bloody gashes from the burns.

Every time Su Xingyao saw them, her eyes would redden with pain. She would cradle his hands in her palms, tears streaming down her face, while stubbornly insisting: "Who told big senior brother to be so strong? Anyone else couldn't even step within ten feet of the Earthfire Abyss..."

Ye Xuan would only laugh and say, "Next month I'll go again."

Those were the best years of Jade Illumination Peak.

But the turning point came with the arrival of one person.

It was a fine autumn day.

Master Luo Qingqiu returned from abroad, bringing with her a youth dressed in snowy white, with a face as pale as paper.

The youth was exceptionally handsome—delicate features like a painted scroll, a temperament so pure he seemed to have stepped out of an ancient celestial painting.

He looked frail, so fragile that when Luo Qingqiu helped him walk into Jade Illumination Peak, the mountain wind alone seemed enough to knock him over, stirring an involuntary pang of pity in anyone who beheld him.

"This is your little junior brother, Bai Yujing," Luo Qingqiu said, her tone carrying a tenderness and solemnity Ye Xuan had never heard from her before. "He possesses a one-in-ten-thousand 'Jade Bone Spirit Body,' but his innate foundation was damaged, leaving him extremely weak. As senior brothers and sisters, you must take good care of him."

Ye Xuan was the first to step forward. He offered Bai Yujing a Warming Body Pill he had refined himself and said, "Junior brother, if you need anything at all, just say the word."

Those were his true feelings.

Bai Yujing kept his eyes lowered, accepted the pill, and thanked him with a weakness that was just perfectly measured to inspire sympathy.

At that moment, Ye Xuan noticed nothing. He did not see that beneath those half-lowered lashes, the instant Bai Yujing took in his appearance and the fluctuation of his spiritual energy, something flickered in the depths of those eyes.

It was not gratitude.

It was calculation.

Change was like the snow covering the mountains—it came without sound.

A flake here, a flake there. And by the time you noticed, it had already buried everything.

At first, Ye Xuan only vaguely sensed that his second junior sister, Mu Qingxue, no longer came to spar with him.

He went looking for her, only to find her lingering outside Bai Yujing's cave dwelling, saying that Bai Yujing's swordsmanship—though weak—carried a spiritual grace that "had far more charm than big senior brother's brutish strength."

Ye Xuan felt a sting in his chest, but he reasoned that the new junior brother was frail and deserved extra care. So he held his tongue.

Later, his third junior sister Su Xingyao stopped coming to pester him for the fire lingzhi mushrooms he had gathered with such hardship.

When Ye Xuan returned at the beginning of the month, he ran into her in the courtyard and saw her cradling a box of ordinary mortal-world pastries, smiling brightly. Those were simple snacks that Bai Yujing had asked someone to buy from the foot of the mountain. Yet Su Xingyao guarded them like treasure, hugging them close, saying, "Junior Brother Yujing knows I have a sweet tooth and specially had someone buy these. They smell far better than lingzhi."

Ye Xuan fell silent for a moment, set the fire lingzhi down where it was, and said, "I'm glad you like them."

Later still, even his master Luo Qingqiu began to look at him with different eyes.