Chapter 93: Use

The cultivation world has recently taken note of a certain matter.

The sword-cultivator junior who was the center of attention decades ago did not die; instead, she returned safely to the December Sect.

This news was like flowing clouds and a soft breeze, rapidly reaching the ears of every sect.

First, the December Sect was the premier cultivation sect, looked up to and watched by countless people. Second, that sword cultivator’s cultivation level was now at the early Nascent Soul stage.

After a long period of recuperation, the ranks of cultivators in the world were growing, yet those with high cultivation remained few and far between. A Golden Core cultivator was famous enough to be welcomed anywhere, let alone a Nascent Soul. The gap between the Nascent Soul and Mahayana stages is immense; within it, every step forward is more difficult than the initial breakthrough. Some remain at the early Nascent Soul stage for thousands of years; it is roughly divided into six layers of realm, and most Nascent Soul cultivators never even reach the second.

Even so, Nascent Soul cultivators were rare enough to be counted on one's fingers.

"Zora?" one cultivator muttered, his memory sharp. He easily recalled the tournament from decades ago. "Wasn't she the companion of Fellow Daoist Turi, Fellow Daoist Vane, Yiling Ke from Drunken Lu Bay, and Fellow Daoist Song?"

"But didn't she enter the Wave Husk Secret Realm? I remember back then..." A cultivator who had participated in the Bright Mirror Sea seal spoke, his voice growing smaller until it vanished. He looked on in shock, meeting the equally stunned gaze of a friend.

—

Doesn't that mean Zora passed the Wave Husk Secret Realm!?

A single stone stirred a thousand ripples. The reputation of the Wave Husk Secret Realm was comparable to that of the Map-Dream Immortal herself. Rumor had it that in that realm of certain death, countless treasures were hidden, any one of which could allow a cultivator to advance with ease. There were rare curiosities and various artifacts that encompassed the laws of truth. Opening pocket dimensions, reversing time, summoning dead souls, calling forth wind and rain, resisting lightning tribulations. Anyone's ambition could be fulfilled; any single artifact would be coveted by thousands.

Although Zora claimed she took nothing from the realm, the majority did not believe her. Who doesn't want to take a shortcut? Who can truly stay honest and advance step by step? In the eyes of many, cultivation was a field where one could use external objects to progress.

"A bunch of fools. Cultivation is about the person. The higher you go, the less you need external help. Aside from weapons, everything else is just icing on the cake. By then, you yourself are a treasure."

Zhou Shijin lay lazily on a chair woven from bamboo. Her cultivation had regressed time and again; she no longer knew what her level was. Her spiritual power remained deep, but her realm was unstable, making it impossible to judge accurately—she only knew it was falling.

Hearing this, Zora looked at her. Since she had spoken with her three friends a few days ago, the three of them had returned to their respective places with varying expressions. They hadn't met since; they all had affairs to attend to, and Song Zhihuai was preparing for the final step of entering the Heartless Path.

Mhm... the friendship should be able to be maintained,

Zora thought.

When she had woken up and stepped outside, she was faced with the three of them. Zhou Shijin was nowhere to be found.

Zora said expressionlessly: "I remember the appointed times were different."

Yiling Ke spoke bluntly: "Exactly! Why did our three times have to be different? We ran into each other yesterday, so we came together today."

Zora had written different times on the envelopes: Turi Qi was the earliest, followed by Yiling Ke less than a tea-break later, and finally Song Zhihuai.

Turi Qi said with a smile: "Congratulations, Junior Sister Zora, on walking out of the secret realm." She paused, swallowing the polished congratulatory words she had grown used to over the years. Her watery eyes curved slightly as she spoke directly: "Truly impressive."

Zora: "I think so too."

Song Zhihuai moved his lips, squeezing out a few stiff words: "Congratulations, Junior Sister Zora."

Yiling Ke said excitedly: "I knew you wouldn't die! Quick, quick, it's on me—let's go drink until we're drunk!"

Vane, who had been standing steadily by Zora's side, lifted his long lashes. The curve of his lips remained unchanged. He seemed to have something to say, but glancing at Zora, he saw the girl's expression was as easy to read as ever. Others couldn't spot her subtle changes, but the youth, with his exquisite mind, could capture them at any moment, so he said nothing.

As expected, Zora spoke after Yiling Ke finished: "No. We have to talk first."

"We can talk at the table just the same! I remember you like osmanthus cakes very much. I know a place where they're delicious; I've been remembering it for you all this time..." Yiling Ke’s voice trailed off at the end.

Turi Qi reached out to pat her shoulder, saying softly: "Junior Sister Zora is back now."

She naturally knew Yiling Ke had been moved by the situation back then. At that time, she wanted to believe Zora would return, but time was like a cruel knife, carving away their confidence bit by bit. On one side was crumbling confidence, on the other was the desire to maintain a sliver of hope.

Fortunately, they all had their own affairs and were busy, so they didn't need to be in sorrow at every moment.

Unlike Junior Brother Vane.

Turi Qi looked toward Vane, whose appearance still retained a youthful air. Surely he was the one who suffered most. They had thought of helping him, perhaps finding him a position so that busy work might keep him from drowning in longing. But he refused.

True, Vane's talent was startling; he could become one of the pillars of the cultivation world in a short time. What position could he not have? It was just that he didn't want it. He chose to drown in that suffocating blue sea, recollecting the past over and over.

The other three were moving forward, while he remained frozen in place. Perhaps after more time, he would separate from them completely.

But now, the heavy and mysteriously terrifying aura that had accumulated on Vane over time was gone. Previously, he occasionally disguised himself before the world as a genius, reliable, empathetic yet slightly arrogant fellow cultivator. However, his appearances in public had grown fewer and fewer. Aside from missions being completed at a startling speed and the piles of corpses unrelated to missions that marked his trail, he was never seen.

Many only knew his name, never his face.

Turi Qi looked back at Zora, her smile deepening.

"Thank you," Zora first thanked Yiling Ke politely, then said stubbornly, "But I still have to first..."

Before she could finish, Yiling Ke couldn't suppress her sorrow any longer, and tears slid down. Zora immediately became as alert as an animal whose tail had been stepped on. She shut her mouth, looking at her with uncertainty.

Vane’s lashes trembled slightly. Song Zhihuai was also greatly surprised—though it didn't show on the outside. He fumbled about his person, seemingly looking for a clean handkerchief. But before he could take it out, Yiling Ke roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, her voice thick with sobs: "I really thought you'd die in there..."

Zora stared at her tears, seemingly observing them with curiosity, while her mouth answered: "I didn't die."

"I know," Yiling Ke quickly regained her composure. Feeling embarrassed, she cleared her throat. "A friend returning from the dead—as a friend, it's only normal to cry a little."

Zora: "I didn't die. It's not 'returning from the dead'." Before she finished observing, Yiling Ke stopped crying. Zora stared with her almond eyes and asked: "Why did you stop crying?"

"..." Yiling Ke skipped her question, giving a forced smile. "You returned from the dead

in my heart

."

Turi Qi let out a laugh. "Then next—"

They all looked at Zora, whose brows were knotted in a struggle.

"..."

"..."

Ultimately, she did not compromise because of the tears.

Zora: "I want to talk. No eating."

Yiling Ke: "..." Her biggest feeling wasn't an urge to complain, but:

Ah, Zora really is back. This is her.

Yiling Ke waved her hand: "Fine, fine. Talk then. What do you want to say?"

Zora: "I want to speak to each of you one by one."

Yiling Ke wore an expression of "Since it's you, this request is perfectly reasonable." She said she understood and walked toward the forest.

Who would have thought Zora intended to speak right in front of everyone?

Yiling Ke, having doubled back: "..."

If everyone can hear, what's the point of having them come over separately? Isn't it a waste of time?

Zora faced Yiling Ke. She first recalled and pondered carefully, her face solemn. "I thought about you in the secret realm, and about our promise. I thought that maybe by the time I came out, you might have lost your life. Fortunately, you didn't die."

Yiling Ke was stunned. After a while, as if hiding her true emotions, she knit her brows slightly and offered a smile. "...Don't worry. I'm not that weak."

But you died in the original plot.

Zora thought for a moment but said nothing, giving an exceptionally perfunctory "mhm."

Zora then said to Turi Qi: "I thought about you in the secret realm. I thought that maybe by the time I came out, you might have lost your life. Fortunately, you didn't die."

Turi Qi froze.

Before she could react, Zora said to Song Zhihuai: "I thought about you in the secret realm. I thought that maybe by the time I came out, you might have lost your life. Fortunately, you didn't die."

Song Zhihuai... Song Zhihuai said with emotion: "Thank you, Junior Sister Zora. I am also so relieved."

Yiling Ke was dumbfounded. Snapping out of it, she said: "Wait! The words were all the same, weren't they!"

Zora thought for a moment: "It seems so."

"Then adding a 'you all' and saying it together wouldn't be better?"

Vane finally spoke: "Because Zora believes that even if the words are the same, every person is unique."

Everyone looked over together. He smiled expressionlessly and said: "Perhaps she feels that even if the words are the same, the intention is directed at one person specifically. It cannot be mixed together, and she doesn't want to perfunctorily say it to a group."

"..."

Zora nodded in great agreement. "Because the time in the secret realm was so long, I understood one thing." The girl's expression was open and candid, without any hint of shyness or a sense of declaring a major belief. She said it as if she were saying today's meal was delicious: "Even if we are all friends, and the thing I'm relieved about is the same, my feelings for each of you are different."

She seemed a bit confused herself, frowning before relaxing. She spoke willfully yet somewhat naively: "Anyway, saying it to each person feels more comfortable."

This was actually something the System had reminded her of when she couldn't figure it out. So she wanted to say it one by one.

The others were silent.

What a sincere sentiment. Truly Junior Sister Zora.

Song Zhihuai’s expression remained ice-cold, but his heart was frantically moved, and a string of praises began to bubble up within him. Turi Qi smiled and agreed gently: "That makes sense."

Yiling Ke blushed and stammered: "...Even—even though that's a very common truth, it should have been quite difficult for you. It seems you learned a lot in the secret realm."

Zora said honestly: "I learned many killing techniques." She paused: "And techniques to make people wish they were dead."

After Zora finished speaking, the others were still caught in their emotional fluctuations, but she acted as if she had finally finished her announcement and completed the task. She directly threw the emotion of a reunion to the back of her mind. Although she understood a bit more, she was still that person who prioritized herself; she wouldn't invest too much gaze into a field she couldn't fully comprehend.

Zora liked food very much and was a bit happy. Treating the reunion talk as completed, she automatically entered the same interaction mode as before, smoothly jumping to the next topic: "Where are the osmanthus cakes?"

Before Yiling Ke could even emerge from the emotional afterglow, Turi Qi was the first to snap out of it and laughed: "Junior Sister Yiling should know."

Yiling Ke opened her mouth several times, wanting to give an emotional reply to Zora's moving words, but she found Zora looking at her with total urgency.

Zora asked repeatedly: "Where are the osmanthus cakes? How do we drink until we're drunk?"

Seeing Yiling Ke silent, Zora thought for a moment and considerately removed one question: "Where are the osmanthus cakes?"

The atmosphere vanished instantly. The surge of emotion was forcefully suppressed.

Yiling Ke: "..."

Fine.

Then, the group went to the place Yiling Ke mentioned to drink until they were drunk.

Near midnight, Zora held a wine cup and took another cautious sip. It still stung her tongue. This was a tavern under the management of Drunken Lu Bay—a perfectly safe location for them.

Zora looked at the three people passed out in front of her, unable to understand: "What's wrong with them?"

Vane set down his wine cup: "They relaxed their spiritual power and let the alcohol take effect."

"Oh."

Only two of them remained sober. The other three were sleeping deeply, seemingly releasing the frustrations of the past years. Naturally, it was Vane who went out to handle their affairs. He had the cultivators in charge of the tavern settle the three of them into rooms one by one, then he pushed the door back open.

The girl was leaning by the window, propping up her chin.

"What are they doing?"

Vane approached, his eyes cast down at the ground.

"This is the mortal realm. They are holding a lantern festival."

Zora lifted her head, interested: "Like the one we attended last time? The one in Ning'an County?"

To Zora, that was only a few years ago, but to Vane, it was a major portion of a mortal's lifetime.

The youth's expression faltered slightly. His dark eyes lowered, watching her. He said: "Yes."

Zora listened to his soft voice.

"It is the lantern festival we once attended."

Zora couldn't hear the deeply hidden, complex, and dense emotions in his voice at all. She was a bit bored, and the wine didn't taste good. She decided: "Let's go look."

"Okay."

...

The lantern festival was still very boring. Zora watched for a while and walked for a long time, only to find they were just lanterns. What was so good about looking at lanterns? She soon grew tired of it and chose to look at the river lanterns she had seen last time.

There was a river here too. The bank was dark, without lights. Zora sat on a high stone platform, watching the lantern festival on the other side of the river. Vane only felt an exceptional sense of peace. A true tranquility he hadn't felt in decades.

The youth also looked across the river. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he first lowered his eyes to look at the dark river, and then turned his head slightly. Zora was staring at him, directly. There was no ripple in her eyes; they were as clean as if she were casually looking at the scenery.

Vane: "What is it?"

Zora: "Nothing. The things across the river are all things I've seen before."

Vane watched her.

Zora thought for a moment and said sincerely: "It's not as pretty as it used to be. But it's not my thing, so it doesn't matter. I might as well look at you, especially since you are something that belongs to me now."

A familiar feeling of a tightening heart, but this time he didn't use spiritual power. The tightening was only a phantom pain, like a conditioned reflex because his heart had been bound too tightly in the past. Yet Vane felt as if his blood were flowing backward; the pain stimulated his nerves like the excitement left after killing someone, cutting bone, and crushing an enemy.

But on the surface, the youth only froze for a moment and said: "Because of my shell?"

Zora felt it wasn't just the shell, but she couldn't understand what it was, nor did she think to clarify it. It was meaningless. Anyway, she did whatever made her happy and followed her heart. She said casually: "Probably."

Hearing this, the youth avoided her gaze, lowering his lashes. His beautiful long lashes obscured his dark eyes, but a moment later, he lifted them again to meet her gaze.

"Yes," Vane said, his voice soft and slow, like someone enticing another while being willing to offer up his own flesh and soul. "It should be so. You can use your servant as you please. Use me as you please. Not just looking at me; other things are naturally allowed as well."

Zora tilted her head. Vane seemed to be stating an exceptionally ordinary fact, spreading his palm: "...For example, if you are cold, you can take my warmth as you wish."

She was indeed a bit cold. Her cultivation still couldn't eliminate the defects of her own constitution. It was just easier to suppress now. Zora wasn't polite; she looked down and placed her hand in his palm. He used spiritual power—it wasn't just the warmth of two ordinary people holding hands; his heat was transmitted steadily with spiritual power, making him feel like a piece of warm jade. This wasn't something everyone masters; it requires a cultivator's study.

Clearly, he had studied it and mastered it exceptionally well.

Zora: "I know." She had always been the "user."

Vane lowered his eyes, controlling the trembling of his body. After all, it had been a long, long time since he had touched her—so long that the moment his skin touched the girl, the white bone beneath his skin stiffened and trembled uncontrollably.

The youth’s voice was as normal as ever. As before, he was good at talking: "But like a new object, one needs to hear an explanation to know it has other uses, so it can be used more comfortably and be worth the value."

An instruction manual? The System mentioned those,

Zora thought.

Zora stared at Vane, with a hint of regret: "I know. You can cook, comb hair, and do many chores. But the rest won't do. I can't kill you; a dead person's bones and meat don't seem to have much use."

Zora couldn't think of anything, so she simply threw the matter to him: "What else can you do?"

Vane: "I have walked every part of the world."

Zora mused for a bit: "I can take you along for missions."

Vane smiled: "I know which passages the most demonic cultivators sneak out from. We can go kill them directly without wasting time searching."

Zora wasn't interested in killing, but she was interested in fighting with her strength. She said: "That works."

The air between them merged as they spoke. The hem of the girl's skirt and his black robes intertwined for a moment, then unraveled as she casually swung her legs. The river lanterns here were sparse, and the dots of candlelight couldn't illuminate them. Vane's ponytail clung to his back as he bowed his head, a few strands falling to his chest. His features hid a sharp edge, yet his lips were smiling, softening the sharpness.

He had done many things in those decades, and it was as if only now was he turning back for the first time, recollecting and narrating slowly. He would not mention any of his emotions at the time; he wouldn't say anything about how he missed her or worried about her. Vane only slowly analyzed what these actions and knowledge could bring in terms of fun or utility for the girl—he only said things that would interest or please her.

They were close as if whispering. Zora habitually leaned her ear closer to listen. Her servant kept his head lowered, his dark eyes fixed on her, speaking slowly but without pause, his eyes slightly curved.

Vane appeared normal on the surface, but deep in his bones, he felt a strange shudder because of her proximity. He felt her cold palm, her soft profile, her trembling lashes when she blinked, and her amber pupils.

"...No matter what, please use me as you please. No matter for what."

The youth appeared quite loyal. His gaze was glued to her face. At the end, his tone was finally no longer purely calm, leaking a trace of unease.

—

As long as she doesn't abandon him.

He worked so hard to become a useful servant because he didn't want to be abandoned again. Vane never blamed her; in his view, if Zora abandoned him, it would only be because he was no longer useful to her. It would be his fault. So he was correcting it—as long as she didn't abandon him.

This greed was like thorny vines, taking root and sprouting over the decades, and now growing frantically, crawling through his blood vessels, internal organs, and marrow, driving sharp thorns deep into his flesh in every spot. This "pain" didn't cause him suffering; it only kept him clear-headed, making him realize clearly what he wanted right now.

The trace of unease that he finally couldn't help but leak on the surface was, in Vane’s heart, a tidal wave large enough to drown him.

Please, don't abandon him.

...Don't leave him behind.