The wait was always agonizing.
Especially when the outcome of this wait determined whether Yan Shouyi would lose a beloved family member.
Yan Shouyi and Master Guanyun sat outside the door, Master Guanyun fidgeting with her prayer beads, yet mispronouncing a passage from a scripture several times in a row.
Normally, these scriptures had become muscle memory. Master Guanyun had recited them her entire life, so such mistakes were impossible.
Although Yan Shouyi didn't make any mistakes, his heart was far from the outward calm he displayed. He kept looking back towards the room, his thoughts entirely elsewhere.
After about half an hour.
Master Guanyun couldn't bear it any longer. She put down her prayer beads, picked up her whisk, and stood up, saying, "I don't know what's happening inside. Half an hour has passed, and there's been no movement at all."
Yan Shouyi was also worried about his grandmother's condition. If there was no movement, it could mean an unfavorable outcome.
"Let's wait a bit longer," Yan Shouyi said, frowning and pursing his lips.
Silence fell between them.
"I'll go take a look."
A few seconds later, Yan Shouyi stood up and walked towards the door.
He couldn't wait any longer either.
Just as Yan Shouyi's hand was about to touch the door, it suddenly opened.
Inside, Wen Yuxian, her face appearing around forty, still retaining her charm, stood there holding a cup of tea.
Yan Shouyi and Master Guanyun were both stunned.
"Grandmother..."
"Sister..."
Wen Yuxian smiled slightly, "The Glacial Lotus Seed was effective."
The worry that had been etched on their faces instantly vanished. Yan Shouyi and Master Guanyun eagerly reached out to grasp Wen Yuxian's hand.
However, in the next second, both were stunned again.
They were not ordinary people, so touching an incorporeal ghost was easy. But at this moment, when they touched Wen Yuxian, they didn't feel a spiritual body, but rather... a solid tactile sensation.
Although the touch felt like touching a sculpture of ice, Wen Yuxian was a real presence, not a ghost floating in mid-air.
Yan Shouyi looked down in disbelief. His grandmother was no longer floating, but standing firmly on her feet—she even had a shadow!
"Wh-what's going on?" Yan Shouyi exclaimed in shock.
"The Glacial Lotus Seed granted me the power of ice. I used this power to condense an ice-formed body, and my soul resides within it. In a sense, it's like returning to life through a borrowed corpse," Wen Yuxian explained.
It was as if a Zanpakuto could slash out a tangible ice blade energy, Wen Yuxian had gained such an ability.
Now, Wen Yuxian had not only resolved her cold poison but also gained new abilities and even possessed a physical body!
Even though the body had no warmth, this was astonishing enough!
Yan Shouyi and Master Guanyun could not hide their overwhelming joy. It was only after Wen Yuxian calmed them down for a while that their emotions stabilized.
"This can be considered a blessing in disguise. Now that you are safe, Sister, we can wholeheartedly focus on finding the formation's eye!" Master Guanyun said with a smile.
Yan Shouyi then pulled Wen Yuxian aside and asked in a low voice, "Grandmother, since you are safe, can you tell me directly about my mother, so I don't have to make another trip to Longhu Mountain?"
Wen Yuxian shot Yan Shouyi a glare, "The moment you saw I was okay, you started asking about your mother. So, I, this old woman, am not as important as your mother?"
Yan Shouyi was instantly speechless. He never expected that such a terrible mother-in-law relationship existed in his Yan family!
Old Yan, your relationship management is not good!
Wen Yuxian said, "The reason I sent you to find Zhang Santong was to delay your learning of these old matters. So, if you want to know, you still have to ask him. I will not tell you."
"You... why bother!"
Yan Shouyi looked crestfallen, feeling he was just one step away from news of his mother, only to be ruthlessly shut out by his grandmother.
But then his eyes rolled, and he said, "If you can't talk about my mother, how about telling me about your master?"
"Is there any connection between these two matters?" Wen Yuxian looked at Yan Shouyi with confusion.
Her master was three generations older than Yan Shouyi. Her master had died before Yan Shouyi was born.
It was somewhat strange for Wen Yuxian when Yan Shouyi asked about her master at this moment.
Yan Shouyi naturally couldn't directly state that "Master Miaohui faked her death to join the Twelve Yuan Chen." He could only make up an excuse on the spot:
"Your master was also the sect leader of the Emei Sect. Perhaps she knew where the Lotus Formation Eye was. Based on her preferences during her lifetime, we might be able to deduce the location of the Lotus Formation Eye."
"That makes sense," Wen Yuxian nodded. She called Master Guanyun over, told her Yan Shouyi's casually made-up excuse, and they both began to recall their past with their master, Master Miaohui.
When it came to Master Miaohui, the two disciples shared a common understanding—a deep-seated emotional blockage that had remained untreated for years.
When Wen Yuxian was accepted into the Emei Sect, Master Miaohui was only in her early forties. At that time, she was not yet the sect leader of the Emei Sect. Her talent was the strongest among her peers, and she was highly valued by the then sect leader.
But strangely, Master Miaohui, who should have been full of vigor, had a very solitary personality. She disliked talking to her fellow disciples, always appeared dejected, as if harboring some hidden worry.
Her fellow disciples also seemed to dislike Master Miaohui, deliberately distancing themselves from her in public and gossiping about her behind her back. However, Master Miaohui ignored them all, never arguing, and merely recited scriptures behind closed doors.
Later, when Wen Yuxian grew a little older, she overheard some secret texts that said Master Miaohui, in her youth, had had a child with a common man from the lower mountain. Later, that man abandoned Master Miaohui and ran away with the child.
It was said that because of this, Master Miaohui developed a deep aversion and hatred towards men. It wasn't until she became the sect leader of the Emei Sect and learned that Wen Yuxian, whom she had cultivated as her successor, had also been snatched away by an outsider man, that she became enraged. Upon hearing the news, she was overwhelmed with anger, spat blood, lost all her cultivation, and soon after fell gravely ill and passed away.
Because of this, Master Guanyun had also resented her irresponsible senior sister, Wen Yuxian. But with Wen Yuxian's miraculous return from death, her resentment had vanished.
Time heals all wounds.
Yan Shouyi was greatly surprised to hear that Master Miaohui once had a child.
He then thought to himself: Could it be that the man who abandoned Master Miaohui was the reason she faked her death to join the Twelve Yuan Chen?
But what did this have to do with our folk sects? Master Miaohui should have sought out that man, so why join the Twelve Yuan Chen?
Yan Shouyi couldn't ask directly and could only slowly guide Wen Yuxian to reveal the identity of that common man.
Unexpectedly, he did gain some insight.
The common man who abandoned Master Miaohui was a successor of a folk sect!