Xie Zhaowei, the senior sister of Qingya Sect, had talent unmatched throughout the sect, yet she used The Hundred Ways of Diligent Cultivation as a pillow and would always lie down rather than sit.
Jiang Xiaoman, a low-ranking disciple, had no spiritual roots. After practicing the Qi Guiding Formula hundreds of times, the only response she got was her stomach rumbling.
Searching for a way to mend her meridians, Jiang Xiaoman climbed to the seventh floor of the scripture library in the middle of the night and stumbled upon the senior sister asleep on a bookshelf.
The genius lifted the book covering her face and asked, “Did you bring the roast chicken with salt and pepper?”
From then on, a teapot and two quilts joined them in the scripture library, along with a little servant who couldn't be chased away.
Xie Zhaowei taught her to decipher obscure scriptures, while Jiang Xiaoman experimented with fragrant medicines to help her sleep. Only then did Xiaoman learn that every time the senior sister channeled her energy, her soul felt as if it were being pierced by ten thousand needles.
Later, demonic cultivators breached the mountain gate.
The woman who was always saying, “I'll practice tomorrow,” drew her sword before everyone and used a forbidden technique to save the sect, pinning her own soul to the cycle of rebirth.
From then on, she was reborn in every lifetime with her memories intact, suffering the agony of a fractured soul again and again.
Before they parted, Xie Zhaowei said, “Don't look for me.”
With red-rimmed eyes, Jiang Xiaoman promised she wouldn't.
But she couldn't bear to give up even half a page of a ruined book. How could she ever give up on a living, breathing person?
From learning about herbs and medicine to cultivating the soul and breaking formations, she traveled from city to city, searching for one unfamiliar face after another.
She remembered that person saying she would bring back sugar-roasted chestnuts in three days.
The chestnuts could wait.
She had to come home.
