Bab 10: Sadly, I Am Still Alive
Yu Xuelan groaned and her head pounded. Her eyelids that sunk heavily on her eyes prevented her from fully lifting them, but she immediately darted her eyes open when she was greeted by a sharp pain in her head.
She sat upright and rubbed her temples, trying to remember what had happened before she passed out. A rush of déjà vu passed through her as she saw a different ceiling that lied above her once again.
"Lin-shijie!"
Another strange voice called out and Yu Xuelan glanced in the voice's direction, noticing it was a young girl trembling as she held a bucket full of water and a towel.
She exclaimed in joy and she slammed the bucket down onto the table, running outside the room.
"Lin-shijie has woken up!"
Yu Xuelan scratched her head in confusion at the unusual address. The last time she was a disciple was never. She had never once been a disciple, even when she was the Young Madam of HaiShen Yu. Her father had forbidden her to learn any sort of martial arts because he disliked violence.
So how did she even end up this way?
She brushed her blanket off and gently removed the towel that rested on her forehead. She quickly put on her outer robe and noticed the series of ink scroll paintings of unique landscapes that hung on the walls.
Although the technique was quite mediocre, the single fine brushstrokes that illustrated each strand of grass in the landscape intrigued her. She realised that all the paintings depicted the same maiden.
In the first one, the maiden was playing a pipa alone in a willow tree forest. In the second one, the maiden was by the window screen, gazing at the moon. In the third one, it was quite hard to distinguish what was being illustrated, but it seemed as if the girl was sitting amongst the streets, feeding birds.
Even with the different sceneries, one thing all these paintings had in common was that the maiden's expressions produced a sense of despondency as if yearning for someone to talk to her.
"This is not the time for me to be analysing paintings! Where am I now??" she yelled in her thoughts.
She dashed to the window, brushing the translucent curtains away, and examined the alluring garden. The view of the elegant landscapes, pavilions, clouds and trees, would make one want to live forever in this illusory-like realm.
There was a group of children who seemed to be around the age of ten, playing happily together on the grass field near the stone bridge.
One child noticed Yu Xuelan looking through the window and immediately pointed at her, and the others gazed in the same direction.
"She woke up!" One exclaimed.
"Tell Master Wu!"
Yu Xuelan blinked in confusion but had a subtle idea of where she was. The children instantly ran towards Yu Xuelan's window, holding what seemed to be a small bird in their palms.
The black-clad girl smiled and asked the children, "Goodmorning, may I ask where I am?"
"You're in the Feather Temple!" a young girl said with excitement and Yu Xuelan's mind froze.
"The... The Feather Temple?"
The Feather Temple was a residence that belonged to the people of the ShenMing Wu Sect.
One thing that she clearly remembered was that ShenMing Wu was known for its freedom and extremely welcoming atmosphere. Most of the brothers and sisters here had notably outgoing personalities that would make even the most introverted people warm up.
The temple floated above the clouds; they called it the sect that was the closest to heaven. To enter the Feather Temple, one of the grand elders must grant permission or receive permission from the Sect Master to teleport to the temple through a special array. If it was an outsider, then the array formation would only work once and its use would cease after leaving the temple.
Yu Xuelan crouched down in disbelief while still gripping onto the bottom of the window frame. She had just woken up in a village after eight years, murdered a person, coughed out blood and fainted, and now she was in the sky.
"Are you alright, Lin-shijie?" A young boy expressed his concerns.
"Oh, yes. May I ask if for how long did I pass out for?"
"Three days!" A girl put out three of her fingers as she said cheerfully.
Yu Xuelan choked in shock and her face went pale, thinking about how she had wasted three days on sleeping when she still had two other people to find.
"But still, thank goodness I'm not at the Tiger Palace," she muttered to herself in relief.
The Tiger Palace belonged to the Zheng Long Sect where Long Wen was from. If Long Wen had taken her to the palace, who knew if she would still be sleeping peacefully right now.
"I was so surprised when Master Wu brought you back! I never knew he had a personal disciple!" A girl beamed with happiness.
"Disciple?"
"Yeah! There are so many disciples in ShenMing Wu but they're all looked over by other elders and seniors. This is the first time Master Wu claimed to have his own disciple!" The boy said with eyes glistening with sparkles.
Yu Xuelan awkwardly laughed and tilted her head in confusion, trying to comprehend what they'd just said.
"But I'm surprised. You look quite weak, miss. I wonder why master picked you," a boy bluntly said.
She continued to laugh it off since she had no idea what they were talking about.
"Unless you're not actually his disciple." He said as he furrowed his brows, deep in thought.
"But his secret wife?!" the children exclaimed in curiosity.
She coughed vigorously from the confusion that she thought she would pass out again.
"He has never brought back anyone before. Let alone a woman," one said.
"Hah, wife? I'm his secret mother!"
The children's smiles soon faded as they immediately backed away and gave a ninety-degree bow, clasping their palms together.
"Wait, I'm not his mother. I'm just joking with you guys!" Yu Xuelan jokingly laughed as she waved her hands to tell them to stop bowing.
"Greetings, Sect Master Wu!" they exclaimed and their loud voices echoed throughout the entire garden.
"Sect Master Wu?" Yu Xuelan mumbled in confusion.
She turned around and realised Wu Zhitian was standing at the bedchamber door with his eyes slightly widened from surprise. Wu Zhitian's heart gradually grew unsettled when he saw the girl that was in front of her. Luckily, the surface of his expression was indifferent, so he maintained a calm composure.
However, Yu Xuelan didn't know why but she was not so good at hiding her emotions when in front of this man. She darted her eyes left and right and she desperately wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it.
The children ran away and went back to playing around the field, leaving the white-robed boy and her alone together.
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, dismissing what he had just heard.
"Yes. I must thank Master Wu for your concern," Yu Xuelan said softly, still feeling embarrassed about the joke she made with the children.
Yu Xuelan knew that the reason she fainted was that she used too much spiritual energy that night, especially since her soul hasn't adjusted to Lin Yuhe's body yet.
The black-clad girl noticed the boy was gazing at her as though she was a family member that had passed away. His skin was extremely pale, almost identical to the paper of the ink scroll paintings.
"Is something wrong?" Yu Xuelan asked.
"You must be hungry," he said with the same solemn look. "Come with me."
Yu Xuelan shook her head, "It's alright, thank you Master Wu for the offer but I need to leave soon."
"Where?"
Where? To find the other people she was supposed to dispose of?
In her mind, she was drowning herself in her own tears and just wanted to pass away once again. If she had told him that, he would probably see her as some lunatic. But what was new? Once labelled as a lunatic in the past, doesn't mean it couldn't happen again.
"Sect Master Wu, are you going to put me in the prison chambers? I'm sure you saw everything that happened that night," Yu Xuelan asked, staring still into his eyes.
Wu Zhitian's lips slightly separated and his lashes trembled, not expecting those words to come out of her mouth. There was a brief silence that befell them until he reached in his robe, grabbing out a note.
"Isn't this yours?"
It was the commandment note, but Yu Xuelan was confused why he had it.
"Come and eat and I'll give it back to you."
Her eyes immediately lit up, and she replied without hesitation, "Ok."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
xbemoo
xbemoo Shijie = senior female disciple
Summary
HaiShen Yu: Water-based cultivation methods
Yu Xuelan (Daughter of the late Sect Master)
Yu Yang (Current Sect Master and Yu Xuelan's uncle)
Zheng Long: Earth-based cultivation methods
Long Wen (Daughter of the Sect Master - Yu Xuelan's childhood friend)
Long Rei (inner disciple)
ShenMing Wu: Wind-based cultivation methods
Wu Zhitian (Sect Master)
Wu Ming (inner disciple)
Shu: (Won't be mentioned till Book II)
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone