At the center of three mountain rocks fitted together from finished character-shaped pieces, a hot spring roughly a zhang across burbled with bubbles, and the air carried the faintest scent of sulfur. Qingchu's clothes had been folded neatly atop the rocks. Her hair hanging loose, she crouched in the pool and gently worked soapberry over her long black hair. Fine white foam slowly ran down from the tips of her hair and slipped into the pool, where bubbles rising from the bottom broke it apart and pushed it toward a bowl-sized hole beneath a rock, through which it slowly flowed away.
Having washed her hair, Qingchu carefully tied it into a bun and secured it firmly with two wooden hairpins. After cautiously looking around, she began softly humming a tune and rose from the pool. She slowly rubbed soapberry over her entire body, washing herself spotlessly clean. Naked, she sat on a black stone by the pool, tilted her little head, and quietly gazed at the sky, waiting for the sun and mountain breeze to sweep the moisture from her body. The blue birthmark on her face had already faded considerably.
"Big Brother Lin~" Qingchu, sitting blankly on the mountain rock, suddenly called softly. Her little face swiftly flushed scarlet, and like a startled cat, she leaped back into the pool. She let the scalding water soak her entire body, leaving only her little head above the surface. Shyly and timidly, she looked around for a while. Only after listening closely and hearing no movement nearby did Qingchu gently pat her chest and let out a quiet sigh.
After spacing out in the water for quite some time, Qingchu finally moved back to the edge of the pool and reached into her clothes pocket, taking out a palm-sized box. The box was carved from ebony, with a tiny mimosa flower carved on its surface in a simple, rustic style. Humming her tune, Qingchu opened the box. Inside lay half a box of fine powder gleaming with a clean red light. A wave of warmth rushed into her face, mixed with a trace of pungent medicinal scent that made Qingchu sneeze several times in succession.
Pouting, she shook her head. Qingchu narrowed her eyes and muttered absentmindedly, "The medicine Big Brother Lin mixes for other people all smells so nice. Why does this medicinal powder he mixed for me smell so awful? But this was mixed by Big Brother Lin himself~ It wasn't mixed by those senior brothers." Blinking, Qingchu carefully pinched up a little powder and delicately spread it over the half of her face bearing the blue birthmark, then rubbed her face hard and carefully with her fingers.
Fine Gold and jade powder were especially effective at removing scars. Moreover, this Fine Gold and jade had been obtained by Lin Xiao from Old Man Li Le. They were high-quality materials born alongside a fire-element Spiritual Energy stone vein, tainted with a trace of fire-element Spiritual Energy. Ground into an exceedingly fine powder that could meld into the skin, this fire-element Fine Gold and jade allowed tiny wisps of fire-element Spiritual Energy to seep into Qingchu's facial skin with every rub, bit by bit wearing away and dispelling the cold poison within the blue birthmark on her face. The powder also contained spiritual medicines carefully blended by Lin Xiao, medicines especially suited to nourishing the skin. Once the birthmark had slowly been worn away by the fire-element Spiritual Energy, not even the slightest scar would remain.
Qingchu's enormous blue birthmark contained an inborn thread of cold poison, making it extremely troublesome to treat. The Origin Sect's alchemy hall could not concoct a suitable medicine, and who would be willing to specially refine medicine for a mere servant disciple like Qingchu? Cultivators with sufficiently profound cultivation could forcibly erase the birthmark with true essence. But as had just been said, who would expend such effort for a little servant disciple?
With that blue birthmark on her face, Qingchu had endured the mockery of some vicious senior brothers and sisters from her sect for so many years. Inferior and too afraid to harm herself, she had long grown accustomed to that lonely, desolate isolation. Other than Old Man Li Le, who else would spare Qingchu a second glance? Only Lin Xiao—cold and hard as a stone man, with a voice that was rarely anything but strange—would instinctively care for Qingchu and specially prepare this spiritual medicine to remove the birthmark from her face. Her fingers gently gliding over her cheek, Qingchu felt the strange sensation of tiny strands of warmth flooding into her face. It was as though that warmth had burrowed into her heart as well, leaving it wave after wave of cozy warmth, like a frozen winter bug suddenly seeing the long-lost warm sunlight and feeling its whole body thaw.
Humming a cheerful tune, Qingchu carefully spread the powder across her face. Then, following Lin Xiao's instructions, she circulated her pitifully meager true qi and urged the medicinal power to seep deeper into her cheeks. She had used the medicine continuously for a month, but when its effects penetrated her face today, the sensation was especially different. It seemed as though a ball of flame were burning in her cheeks. Qingchu clearly sensed that the stiff, icy patch within her face was slowly melting away. Slowly, slowly, half her face grew hot.
Lowering her head to look at the pool, Qingchu saw her lovely face reflected in the clear water. Thread after thread of viscous blue fluid slowly seeped from the pores of her cheeks and dripped into the pool. Only a tiny, negligible trace of the blue birthmark remained on Qingchu's face, and even that final trace was now rapidly fading.
A youthful, delicate face bearing a light, ethereal aura that could take one's breath away appeared in the reflection on the water. Qingchu frantically patted her face, staring in shock at her reflection in the ripples as she asked herself again and again, "Is this me? Is this Qingchu? Is this me? Is this Qingchu? No, it can't be. How could I look like this?" Having grown used to her "ugly" face, Qingchu simply could not believe that the beautiful face in the water, like that of a little fairy maiden, belonged to her.
That exquisite oval face, that elegant straight nose, those rosy diamond-shaped lips, paired with two large blinking eyes—and on that fair little face hung a faint, almost imperceptible shy smile. How could such a beautiful girl possibly be Qingchu? "Not me, not me~ This person isn't me!" Qingchu muttered in panic, forcefully pinching her cheeks. Yet the pain from her cheeks told her that the beautiful face in the rippling water was hers! It was Qingchu's!
"Wuwu, Big Brother Lin~~~" Large tears suddenly rolled down Qingchu's face. What young girl did not care about her appearance? The venomous words from Qingchu's senior brothers and sisters had long left her young heart covered in scars. To Lin Xiao, one dose of spiritual medicine had been no more than the lift of a hand, yet it restored vitality to Qingchu's tiny, battered heart. Qingchu stared blankly at the face in the water, her own face full of glittering tears. Suddenly, her little face tightened, and a resolute, steadfast spirit appeared in her brow and eyes.
Carefully placing the ebony box back into her clothes pocket, Qingchu took out another jade bottle no larger than a thumb. From it, she poured out a pale red pill with a rich, fragrant scent. This pill was one of seventy-two Beauty-Nourishing Pills Lin Xiao had refined seven days earlier after suddenly ordering the daoist stewards under him to search every mountain and valley among the Origin Sect's tens of thousands of peaks. They had found two Midnight Orchids bearing fruit, and he had taken their fruits to refine the pills. Lin Xiao had specifically instructed Qingchu to take a Beauty-Nourishing Pill once the birthmark on her face was gone.
The Beauty-Nourishing Pill was a spiritual medicine for nurturing one's looks, one that Danxia and Hua Feng'er had expended immense effort trying to refine, only to fail because of Lin Xiao's several muddleheaded mistakes. Danxia and Hua Feng'er were both gone now. Lin Xiao had refined seventy-two Beauty-Nourishing Pills but did not know what to do with them, so in one sweep he tossed them to Yi Yi to send to the medicine shop on consignment, keeping one to give Qingchu. In Lin Xiao's view, since Danxia and Hua Feng'er had cared so deeply about their appearances, Qingchu, being a woman as well, should be the same, shouldn't she?
Gently rolling the Beauty-Nourishing Pill between her fingers, Qingchu wore an expression beyond description. When Lin Xiao had given her the pill, he had briefly explained its effects. Qingchu naturally understood what this Beauty-Nourishing Pill represented—an ageless face. If this tiny pill were placed among the Origin Sect's lower-generation disciples, some disciples would fight until their heads cracked for it.
Qingchu had once accompanied several female Origin Sect cultivators of her martial ancestors' generation to Medicine Mountain to gather herbs. There, she had heard their resentful sighs—before the Golden Core was formed, their looks had already grown old. For a woman, what could be more cruel? Qingchu remembered even more clearly how one female cultivator, whose cultivation was nearing the Golden Core Stage, had once sighed toward the heavens: if there were a medicine that preserved youth forever, she would trade all her cultivation and every magic treasure she possessed for it. Cultivation could be cultivated anew, and magic treasures could be acquired again, but youthful beauty was valued by even these female cultivators above their very lives.
"Big Brother Lin!" Qingchu called softly and happily, then swallowed the Beauty-Nourishing Pill. A dense fragrance enveloped her body, while wisps of pale white mist circled all around her. Qingchu felt wave after wave of tingling itchiness throughout her body. In only a moment, an extremely thin layer of dead skin peeled away from her. When the fragrance and mist dispersed, Qingchu's skin had become white as mutton-fat jade and smooth as beautiful jade, and her whole body seemed shrouded in a hazy glow.
Staring in disbelief at her now exquisitely beautiful hands, Qingchu took a deep breath, and two more tears rolled from her eyes.
After standing blankly in the pool for a while, Qingchu suddenly cried out softly, "Oh no, Little Qing is going to steal medicine to eat again today. I can't let it get caught." In a flurry, she grabbed her clothes and swiftly dressed herself. She hurriedly climbed onto the mountain rocks and cautiously looked around. Then Qingchu stamped her feet in anxiety. "It's over, it's over! The nearest flying boat is still fifteen li from here. Wuwu, fifteen li—how long will I have to run? By now, Little Qing has already reached the medicine shop. It's probably been discovered by the senior brothers patrolling the mountains long ago."
Another stream of tears fell. Qingchu sniffled and complained softly, "It's all Qingchu's fault, spacing out for so long. Wuwu, if Little Qing gets a piece cut off, it won't be able to move again for a long time."
Hurriedly setting off, Qingchu raced toward the nearest flying boat docking point. Yet after rushing less than a hundred zhang down the little forest path, Qingchu abruptly seemed to have seen a ghost. In utter panic, she turned and fled into the woods beside the road, plunged headfirst into a clump of dry grass, curled herself tightly into a ball, held her breath, and did not dare make the slightest sound.
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