"Enter." Ye Lanshan immediately placed the Wooden Heart Lotus into the space.
"Master, when I practice swordsmanship, I always feel like I have strength but can't channel it, and lately I haven't been sleeping well. So I wanted you to check if I've gone wrong somewhere in my sword practice." Xiari entered with her head lowered, her face flushed red, fingers fidgeting at her chest, her tone full of embarrassment and guilt.
Ye Lanshan listened and placed her fingers on Xiari's pulse, letting spiritual energy flow through her fingers into Xiari's meridians. She closed her eyes and examined carefully—the meridians were intact, and her cultivation had even improved recently, showing no signs of a sword practice mishap. But Xiari would never lie, so where was the problem?
His brow furrowed slightly, as if encountering a difficult puzzle. Then suddenly, his brow relaxed, and he said gently, "When practicing swordsmanship, don't be too impatient. Remember, haste makes waste. This technique cannot be mastered in a single day; it requires daily accumulation and gradual refinement."
Xiari nodded and whispered, "I'll remember that."
"Also, don't let too many distracting thoughts cloud your mind during cultivation, or you might easily fall into demonic possession." Ye Lanshan, as if recalling something else, quickly added this as Xiari turned to leave.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master. Xiari will not let you down." She turned back, her eyes glistening with tears, but a smile curved at the corners of her lips.
With the substitute found and other matters arranged, what should he do next? After leading Xiari out of the room and closing the door, Ye Lanshan fell into his own tangled thoughts.
"Oh, right, I need to buy some daily necessities and food. Otherwise, I'll starve to death before I even find the phoenix." Although in this world, the higher one's cultivation, the longer their lifespan and the less food they needed, Ye Lanshan—at least for now—hadn't reached that level and still needed to eat.
On the street, ignoring the resentful glare from Huntian in the space, Ye Lanshan kept stuffing things inside, creating a stark contrast with his usual ethereal demeanor.
"What's the use of buying all this stuff? Are you planning to set up a pot on the road?" Huntian was utterly speechless seeing the pots and pans in the space.
"How did you know that's exactly what I was thinking? I really do intend to set up a pot and cook on the road." If that doesn't show how people from Huaxia know how to enjoy life, what does? Just look at Ye Lanshan—though she's from the cultivation world, she's also from Huaxia, and influenced by that culture, enjoyment had become her favorite pastime.
Huntian in the space could only watch helplessly at the miscellaneous items, sulking alone.
Although Huntian wasn't the only one in the space—Wu Jiao was in seclusion cultivating, Yan Hu was lazily sleeping, and Wooden Heart Lotus was too troubled by having to impersonate Shanluo to care about these odds and ends—only Huntian would complain about this pile of clutter stacked like a small mountain.
Shopping time always flew by. Before the supplies were fully gathered, the sun had already set. Ye Lanshan rubbed her sore shoulders and found a corner to inventory the day's purchases in the space.
"This should be about enough, but I'm short on some pills. Still, there's one night left, so it should be manageable." Ye Lanshan muttered to herself.
"Hey, you're not really planning to have me impersonate you, are you?" Wooden Heart Lotus frowned deeply, still resistant to the idea.
"Otherwise? No one else can capture the essence of Shanluo. I believe you won't slip up." Ye Lanshan thought the persona of Shanluo was easy enough to play, but there was a certain aura that radiated from the bones, impossible for anyone else to mimic.
The body Wooden Heart Lotus used was crafted by Ye Lanshan herself, and she had used a secret technique to contract the female ghost, reaching a point where they could communicate telepathically.
Even if something happened far away in the capital that Wooden Heart Lotus couldn't handle, Ye Lanshan could quickly tell her how to resolve it.
Wooden Heart Lotus was silent for a moment, then calmly reminded, "The phoenix is not to be trifled with. Its nirvana flames are incredibly powerful—among all the strange fires in this world, almost none can rival them. You need to be careful on this journey."
"I'm just going to try my luck. It's not even certain there's a phoenix there." Ye Lanshan was unconcerned.
"There is a phoenix there." Wooden Heart Lotus was certain.
"And that phoenix has a very violent temper. If it weren't so severely injured, it would have already come out to cause havoc." Mentioning the phoenix plunged her into memories—back when she was naive and inexperienced, she had clamored to go to the Sunset Mountains to find a phoenix and broaden her horizons. That very trip had caused her heart and her entire being to fall deeply into that person's hands.
"Is that so? You really don't need to worry. The Dark Lord will be traveling with us, and we'll surely return safely." Ye Lanshan's voice was calm, showing no trace of fear or excitement.
But those few words snapped Wooden Heart Lotus out of her sorrowful memories.
"What makes you think you've grasped the Dark Lord's intentions? You're still too young. Let me tell you a truth I learned with my life: don't assume you've mastered him, because you haven't even guessed what he's thinking." Wooden Heart Lotus had long seen that Ye Lanshan was extremely confident, even somewhat arrogant.
She always thought she could perfectly read others' minds, but people's thoughts weren't so easy to guess. If she continued this arrogance, it would eventually lead to big trouble.
Ye Lanshan listened calmly to her words, her expression indifferent—unclear whether she had taken them to heart or not.
"We're just using each other for what we need. There's no talk of control." She met Wooden Heart Lotus's eyes, her gaze as calm as still, deep water.
"I never intended to control anyone's thoughts. But even if I didn't scheme, what then? If this body weren't so complicated, why would I bother wading into this mess?"
"I'd love to quietly cultivate, become a god, and find my master along the way. But Ye Yu's meridians were severed for me, and Grandfather treats me with wholehearted kindness, giving me a shred of warmth in this lonely world. How could I abandon them?"
This was the first time Ye Lanshan had opened her heart to someone, and even she didn't know why she had said all this.