Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

Xue Lan was forced to drink a bowl of medicine containing a lethal dose of Julan root by Yin Shishi. It was so bitter that she felt her tongue was deformed.

Xue Lan looked at Cui Wu to the side.

Xue Lan: Why didn't you save me?

Cui Wu slowly looked at Xue Lan: "Senior Sister, good medicine tastes bitter."

Good medicine tastes bitter, Xue Lan is not unaware of this principle, but what about her junior sister who went to Lujia Village to check on her soul?

What about the junior sister she picked up herself?

Seeing that Xue Lan looked like she was about to cry, Cui Wu felt a little sorry for her and immediately changed the subject.

"Senior sister, a few days ago, Master invited a fellow Daoist to visit me in Luoxia City."

Only then did Xue Lan notice the hairpin Cui Wu was using to hold up his hair.

Cui Wu noticed Xue Lan's gaze and smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "This is a gift from Master."

Xue Lan nodded; she naturally knew that the hairpin was a gift from Ling Yuanzi.

Ling Yuanzi once gave Xue Lan and Yin Shishi hairpins when they came of age. On the hairpins were an image of Ling Yuanzi's avatar, in case his disciples caused trouble outside and were killed by the other party before he, their master, could come to their rescue.

Most importantly, before the hairpin is delivered to them, it needs to be kept by Ling Yuanzi's side and nurtured, and cannot be separated from her for even a moment.

"What's the name of that fellow Daoist you mentioned?" As soon as Xue Lan opened her mouth to speak, the lingering bitterness returned, making her speech somewhat slurred. She casually picked up a cup and drank some water to rinse her mouth.

Cui Wu answered obediently, "His name is Ling Huan!"

Xue Lan hadn't even finished sipping her water when she heard the name and almost spat it out.

"Ling Huan?"

Seeing that Xue Lan's expression was not very good, Cui Wu cautiously said, "That's right, Senior Sister..."

The girl carefully chose her words: "Is there something wrong with this person?"

Xue Lan slammed the cup down on the table, and the girl asked angrily, "Did you hit him?"

Cui Wu wondered if Master Chen had already spoken with his senior sister. The girl softly said, "We did."

Xue Lan looked at the hairpin in Cui Wu's hair and said, "Before Master had his Daoist name, he was a prince of the Great Shun Dynasty several hundred years ago. His surname was Xie and his given name was Linghuan."

Cui Wu's obedient smile froze instantly, then replaced by a tearful expression.

Yin Shishi couldn't help but laugh out loud at this moment. She had been in Luoxia City for quite a while, but this was the first time she had seen such a vivid expression on Cui Wu's face.

Miss Cui, who was in charge of appeasing the residents of the three cities and allocating supplies, was always calm and collected; it was rare to see her so uneasy.

Cui Wu's voice trembled slightly: "So...the person who delivered the gift...was Master?"

Xue Tong seized the opportunity to speak up: "Hold her, she's about to break!"

Looking at Cui Wu, Xue Lan felt that the girl was truly about to shatter like a glass mirror.

Xue Lan coughed lightly, adopting the demeanor of a senior sister: "It's alright. Xuanhuang Sect is not like Jiyue Mountain, so there's no need to take it to heart."

As soon as she said that, Cui Wu's face turned pale, and the girl murmured, "So I really did hit my master as soon as we met."

This was the first time in all her years of cultivating immortality that Cui Wu felt she had finally seen the end of her life.

Xue Lan: "Really, there's no need to worry about it!"

Cui Wu didn't look at her.

Cui Wu: I hit my master.

Xue Lan had no choice but to use her trump card: "The hairpin in your hair was made by Master himself. It was a gift for you when you came of age."

Cui Wu was struck by the words "coming-of-age gift," and the girl looked at Xue Lan with a somewhat bewildered expression.

"He still likes you quite a bit. He traveled a long way to personally deliver the gift, just to see you."

Cui Wu suddenly remembered when he was at Jiyue Mountain. When Immortal Venerable Caijun was busy cultivating, all the other disciples were focused on Qi Yaoyao. On the day Qi Yaoyao came of age, the gifts she received filled the entire cave.

"Senior sister, these were all gifts from Master. Do you like any of them? You can pick one." A girl in a peach-pink dress looked at Cui Wu.

Cui Wu thought she should be ambitious, but then she saw a jade hairpin on Qi Yaoyao's table.

It was just an ordinary jade hairpin; the jade wasn't magical, and the carving wasn't particularly exquisite. It stood out from the other gifts people gave it.

But Cui Wu simply liked it. The girl pointed to the hairpin: "Junior sister, can I have that?"

Qi Yaoyao looked in the direction Cui Wu was pointing and gave him a disdainful look: "Here you go."

That was the first and last time Cui Wu asked Qi Yaoyao for something.

That cheap jade hairpin had been in her hair for three years; it was a coming-of-age gift she had asked for herself.

Back then, the girl still idolized her master and senior brother, thinking that Qi Yaoyao was just a spoiled junior sister.

Until she discovered that Qi Yaoyao was a demon spy, she was poisoned by demonic energy and fought against her. In the process, the hairpin was damaged by the demonic energy and broke into several pieces.

After that, Cui Wu lost the jade hairpin forever, and also lost the camaraderie he had accumulated over the years.

As Cui Wu lashed her soul ten times before Mount Jiyue, she wondered if she would be alone on this long and arduous path to immortality.

After that, she had fellow disciples who cared about her, and they called her Xiao Wu. She was no longer the cold and aloof Cui Wu that others spoke of.

The eldest disciple was willing to reverse the timing of Jiyuan Peak for her sake and ask Grandmaster Xuanji to investigate the demonic poison for her.

Her second and third senior brothers were willing to accompany her to see her parents in the mortal realm. They wouldn't coldly dismiss her with, "Now that you've ascended to immortality, you've severed all ties to the mortal world!"

The junior brother was aloof, but he would gently call her A-Wu, and then ask with concern, "What's wrong?"

Having been neglected on Jiyue Mountain for many years, Cui Wu had gradually become an insignificant person. Suddenly receiving these things she had never dared to hope for before, she proceeded with extreme caution, fearing that she might take a wrong step.

She was terrified when she learned that Ling Huan was Ling Yuanzi.

She was afraid that Ling Yuanzi would think she wasn't a good disciple, and she was afraid of losing everything she had gained.

But now Xue Lan tells her.

Her new master didn't dislike him. He traveled thousands of miles, bringing her the coming-of-age ceremony she hadn't received from the Immortal Master Caijun when she turned fifteen, just to see her.

Cui Wu recalled the young man's eyes back then; they held a kindness that didn't match his outward appearance.

The smile on his face when he heard the word "Master".

He said, "This is a fire-extinguishing hairpin that he made himself for Xiao Wu."

For our fifth child.

"Xiao Wu?" Xue Lan looked at Cui Wu, who was lost in thought. "Don't you like hairpins? Senior Sister will make you something else."

Cui Wu immediately retorted, "No, I like it very much!"

Xue Lan lowered her eyes, looking heartbroken: "So you don't like what Senior Sister does."

Cui Wu didn't know that Xue Lan was being unreasonable, and the girl looked to Yin Shishi for help.

Yin Shishi stepped forward and pretended to grab Xue Lan's ear, but Xue Lan dodged it.

The girl staggered out the door, a dazzling smile on her face: "Since this Ascension Ceremony is being hosted by me, Xue, I'll go and make the preparations."

Watching Xue Lan's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, Cui Wu's smile vanished. He glanced at Yin Shishi, whose face had also turned cold.

"Senior Sister Yin, my senior sister's health..."

Yin Shishi slowly began, "She seems oblivious to her own pain..."