The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. "A Medicine man!"
It might be decades before he encountered another one!
An Jiu sneered coldly.
"Don't you dare make a sound!" Mo Sigui snapped, turning his head toward her.
An Jiu couldn't be bothered to respond. The crisp jingling of bells outside her mind involuntarily conjured the image of that figure dissolving into dust in the wind. She forced the illusion away and carefully considered Mo Sigui's earlier words—whether she should seek out Mei Jiu after her body was reforged, since Mei Yanran was her mother.
Under the warm spring sun, the snow melted, and the weather grew increasingly mild.
Half a month later, An Jiu finally completed her second reforging.
This time, the compatibility between her body and mental strength had improved further. Her running speed now rivaled that of qinggong, and her movements were utterly silent. The damage inflicted on her body by her mental strength had been treated by Mo Sigui's Medicine, recovering about seventy to eighty percent. However, whenever she used her mental strength again, she would still suffer backlash—though slightly less severe than before.
Mo Sigui finally confirmed that An Jiu's mental strength was simply too powerful for her body to bear. If she engaged in combat, the overwhelming force of the Tendon Severing Palm's energy flow could cause her body to explode. Thus, learning Plum Fist had become an urgent necessity.
An Jiu wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Instead, she stayed within the Crane Control Army, exhausting every means to uncover information about Mei Yanran—but to no avail.
Seven or eight days passed, and An Jiu still refused to give up.
"You should take on a mission," He Cai suddenly appeared to remind her. The Crane Control Army had a rule: idle periods must not exceed one month.
An Jiu set down the scroll in her hands, Records of the Divine Martial Army , and asked, "You've been here a long time. Do you know much about the Divine Martial Army?"
"I know a little," He Cai replied, landing lightly about ten paces away from An Jiu.
"I'm looking for someone," An Jiu said after a moment's thought. Revealing that she was searching for her mother shouldn’t seem too strange, so she added, "My mother. I heard she's in the Divine Martial Army."
He Cai said, "Lord Chu has already handed this matter to the Celestial Group. They’ve collaborated with the Divine Martial Army the most—they should be able to uncover some leads."
Since she had no leads of her own and Chu Dingjiang had already stepped in to help, she had no choice but to set the matter aside for now.
An Jiu went to the Lamp Lighting Tower again to receive a mission. As she passed the Crane Control List, she instinctively glanced up.
Gu Jinghong's name was still there, marked with a red horizontal line to distinguish him from the other living members of the shadow unit.
Suddenly, she understood why Gu Jinghong had still tried to recruit her back then, even when her meridians were completely destroyed. Because she was from Mei Shi and suited for External Cultivation, she was the ideal candidate to practice the Tendon Severing Palm .
So, Gu Jinghong had known all along that practicing Plum Fist could mitigate the "win at great cost" drawback of the Tendon Severing Palm.
After leaving the Lamp Lighting Tower, An Jiu inquired about Gu Jinghong's residence and rushed over.
The doorway was pitch black, long devoid of lanterns—only a solitary Soul Bell remained.
Once a Soul Bell was hung here, no one would maintain it. Who knew when it might fall into the dust, just like the bell in her courtyard.
An Jiu climbed onto the porch, took down Gu Jinghong's Soul Bell, tucked it into her pocket, and swiftly left the Crane Control Army.
She handed the mission over to He Cai. Without disguising her appearance, she merely donned a veil and headed straight for the Hua residence to find Mei Jiu.
The eldest son of the Hua Clan had recently married, and red silk still adorned the entrance, adding a festive touch.
An Jiu knocked on the door.
When the side gate opened, the gatekeeper stepped out and looked around, only to find a lone woman standing there.The gatekeeper found it rather odd. The woman wasn't wearing a married woman's hairstyle and didn't appear to be from a poor family, yet she had neither carriage nor servants—not even a single personal maid! No respectable young lady from any household would be so unrestrained. Could it be that the Second Young Master had provoked some courtesan again? He'd just returned the day before yesterday, and now this young lady had followed him here. She must be someone he doted on exceedingly...
With this thought flashing through his mind, the gatekeeper glanced into the courtyard. Seeing no one around, he turned back and whispered to An Jiu, "Please follow me."
An Jiu was puzzled. She hadn't even said whom she was looking for—did this man have foresight?
"I'm here to see—"
"Shh!" The gatekeeper cut her off, lowering his voice further. "Please don't speak. If the Eldest Young Master finds out, I'll get another beating."
An Jiu wondered, Could Mei Jiu have known I'd come looking for her and specifically arranged for the gatekeeper to wait? That didn't seem likely! Considering Mei Jiu had been married into the Hua Clan under the arrangement of someone they feared most, would a newlywed bride even have such authority?
An Jiu followed the gatekeeper through several corridors until they reached a small door. The gatekeeper opened it for her. "I can only take you this far. Going further without being seen isn't possible." He paused, then smiled. "This humble one is called Liu San. If it's convenient, I'd appreciate a few kind words on my behalf."
An Jiu was utterly baffled. "I'm here to visit—"
Just then, footsteps sounded from beyond the door. Hearing them, Liu San hurriedly scurried away.
"May I ask who you are?" a clear voice inquired.
An Jiu turned to see a graceful girl of thirteen or fourteen standing by the door, her expression puzzled. The girl hesitated for a moment, about to curtsy, but upon noticing An Jiu's unmarried hairstyle, she visibly relaxed. "So you're not the new madam. Please follow me, miss."
Her demeanor suggested she was accustomed to receiving unfamiliar young women.
"Miss, I'm here to visit the new madam," An Jiu finally managed to say a complete sentence.
The maid stopped in her tracks. "You're not here to see the Second Young Master?"
As An Jiu was about to reply, she caught sight of a young man in a blue robe lounging lazily against the railing in the courtyard, teasing a caged bird with a slender blade of grass.
Noticing An Jiu's gaze, he paused and looked back.
Hua Rongjian still had that moonlit, radiant face, though he'd grown thinner and more mature. There was a touch of melancholy about him now, and his habitual faint smile made him seem even more rakish. "Here to visit my sister-in-law? Could you be a Mei Clan sister? Let me have a look. If you married this gentleman, you and your sister would be sisters-in-law, seeing each other every day."
Still as shameless as ever!
Though An Jiu mentally scoffed, she could sense his heart wasn't in it as much as before. His teasing seemed tinged with a certain world-weariness.
Hua Rongjian watched the veiled girl lazily, expecting her to flee in embarrassed anger at his words. To his surprise, she lifted her skirt, stepped over the threshold, and calmly walked toward him.
"Well now?" As she drew nearer and Hua Rongjian clearly saw her features, he suddenly laughed. "I thought no one else had such mettle—it's Mei Shisi! Care to reconsider becoming sisters-in-law with your own sister?"
An Jiu sat on a stone stool and looked at him. "Not long since we parted, yet this lump of Hua Rongjian's mud still hasn't managed to stick to any wall."
Propping his chin, Hua Rongjian gazed at her quietly for a long moment before suddenly saying, "Mei Shisi, let's fight."
"No," An Jiu replied.Hua Rongjian smiled, "Then why are you here? Could it be you've changed your mind about marrying me?"
"Never considered it, so how could I change my mind?" An Jiu replied flatly, her eyes unreadable. "I came to watch the comedy." (To be continued...)
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