New Year’s Goods

As the year deepened, the days grew shorter.

With Luochen and Su Yue’s performance continuously improving, the New Year was fast approaching.

Luochen, basking in the sun at her usual spot, felt that the heavenly orb above offered not a single shred of warmth lately.

‘Shouldn’t this sun be paying its electricity bill?’

A shiver ran down Luochen’s spine, and she hastily activated her spiritual energy barrier.

‘Speaking of which, the New Year is almost here. Isn’t it time to buy some New Year’s goods?’

Every New Year, Luochen invariably bought lanterns, couplets, door gods, window paper, and firecrackers, adhering to the customs of her previous life.

Though she was in another world, these actions brought her a sliver of comfort.

It was as if she were celebrating the festival alongside her loved ones, far away on Earth.

‘Though, it’s probably not on the same day, is it?’

Shaking her head to clear the jumbled thoughts, Luochen decided she needed to enlist someone to accompany her down the mountain to buy New Year’s goods.

‘As for Master, she seems to still be researching how to better preserve spiritual energy within pills.’

‘Junior Sister has recently become obsessed with alchemy, constantly dashing to Danzhu Peak from dawn till dusk.’

‘Damn it, why is everyone so engrossed in pills?’

“Pills are ruining Bamboo Green Peak!” declared a certain senior sister, who had been slacking off.

‘In that case, it seems I can only ask Miss Chen to go with me.’

Luochen rose from her old companion, the lounge chair, stretched languidly, and headed towards Chen Ruan’s room.

****

‘It’s truly a bit rusty, not having activated my demonic energy for so long.’

Inside the room, Chen Ruan was circulating her demonic cultivation art at its absolute minimum.

Although her demonic energy wouldn’t leak out, Chen Ruan remained extremely tense, her divine sense constantly maintained at its widest search radius.

The moment she perceived Luochen approaching, Chen Ruan immediately ceased her cultivation.

“Sister Luo, why have you come?”

As Luochen opened the door, Chen Ruan smiled and came closer.

‘How does it feel like she already knew I was coming?’

Luochen found it a bit strange.

“I’m looking for someone to accompany me down the mountain to buy some New Year’s goods. Miss Chen, are you free right now?”

“Of course I am! Let’s go.” Chen Ruan seemed quite eager.

Jinyang City was adorned with lanterns and festive decorations, and people had already donned thick cotton clothing.

With the New Year approaching, joy was etched upon every face.

“Sister Luo, why do you celebrate the Spring Festival so grandly, just like mortals?”

Chen Ruan was somewhat curious.

“We cultivators have lifespans spanning thousands, even tens of thousands of years. A single period of secluded cultivation in the later stages might take years, or even decades.”

“Why then do you attach such importance to these annual festivals?”

In Chen Ruan’s view, it was already quite something for the Feibai Sect to host a New Year’s Eve party, yet Luochen even planned to specifically prepare New Year’s goods to decorate Bamboo Green Peak.

“If I were to use the lanterns and couplets from the Artifact Forging Peak, perhaps they wouldn’t gather dust or dirt for ten or even a hundred years.”

Luochen, feeling the bustling atmosphere of the mortal world, smiled faintly.

“But replacing these items anew every year, and coming down the mountain to observe every year, gives me a sense of being alive.”

“I feel as though I am one of them, that I too can share in their seasons of life.”

“Some people, by the end of their cultivation, have already lost their humanity.”

As if recalling Ye Yuli’s morbid smile, Luochen sighed with a touch of melancholy.

“I don’t want to end up like that, nor do I want others to become like that.”

“That’s why I come every year to replace the lanterns, hang new couplets, and watch everyone down the mountain mature or grow old.”

“To offer a cup of celebratory wine to a child reaching their first month, to present a white flower to an elder in their twilight years.”

“Only then can I truly feel it: they are not lowly mortals, and we are not noble immortals. We are all living, breathing people.”

Listening to Luochen’s words, Chen Ruan fell into a trance.

She had never contemplated these questions; would she, too, become like that in the future?

She thought of Shuanghua; was this kind of person, who disregarded the lives of mortals, what Sister Luo meant by ‘losing one’s humanity’?

‘I don’t want to become like that.’

Luochen gently tapped Chen Ruan’s head, pulling her back from her thoughts.

“Alright now, let’s cast aside all these heavy topics to ponder later, shall we? First, let’s go pick out some lanterns.”

Luochen’s tone was lighthearted, and she grabbed Chen Ruan’s hand, breaking into a run.

“Hey, wait for me!”

****

‘Which one should I buy, after all?’

Gazing at the dazzling array of lanterns before her, Luochen felt her decision-making paralysis flare up again.

“Pfft.”

Looking at the lanterns, Chen Ruan seemed to recall something, her eyes crinkling into a smile.

“What’s wrong?” Luochen was a little puzzled.

“Sister Luo, do you still remember that enormous sky lantern we released at the end of the Lantern Festival?”

Chen Ruan gestured with her hands, indicating its size.

“I remember.”

“Didn’t that sky lantern have our, uh… chibi-style portraits on it?”

“How about you try drawing our portraits onto these lanterns and hanging them up again? Hmm… perhaps whoever’s room it is gets a lantern with their portrait on it?”

‘Miss, your idea is quite dangerous.’

Imagining several glowing figures floating outside her room at night, a shiver of dread ran through Luochen.

“No, no, absolutely not.” She flatly refused. “That’s a scene straight out of a ghost movie, isn’t it?”

“G-ghost movie? What’s that?”

Chen Ruan found the coined term difficult to grasp.

“It’s a term to describe very scary situations.”

“Oh, I see.”

‘Language skill +1.’

Chen Ruan nodded, signifying her understanding, and then secretly pulled out a small notebook, rapidly scribbling something down.

Luochen: ‘?’

“Miss Chen, what are you secretly writing there?”

“N-nothing… I’m not writing anything.”

Chen Ruan clasped her hands, holding the notebook behind her back, feigning innocence. However, the guilt plastered across her face betrayed her.

“Is that so?”

Luochen pretended to continue selecting lanterns.

“I don’t believe you!”

Player Luochen suddenly unleashed [Tickle Attack] on Player Chen Ruan, with devastating effect!

“Hahahaha, I was wrong, Sister Luo, hahahaha, I’ll show you, I’ll show you, hahahahaha!”

Chen Ruan, whose armpits had been ‘apprehended,’ immediately surrendered.

[The Senior Sister of Bamboo Green Peak’s Quotations—Trendy Sayings You Must Learn]

When Luochen saw the title of the book, her anxious heart finally gave up the ghost.

She opened it, and guess what she found?

It was filled with all the popular Earth memes she had ever uttered.

“This book… it hasn’t spread around yet, has it?”

Luochen’s voice trembled slightly; she felt her image, carefully built over many years, was on the verge of collapsing.

“Only the Peak Master of Bamboo Green Peak has seen it.”

Chen Ruan drew in her head, trying her best to minimize her presence.

“I definitely never told you the phrase, [Old geezer, drop the gold coins!] (TL Note: A humorous, slightly disrespectful slang phrase used to demand money from an elder, often in a playful or meme context.), did I?”

Luochen’s vision went dark. ‘Could it be…?’

“This book was indeed compiled jointly by me and Daoist Friend Su Yue.”

Facing Luochen’s scrutinizing gaze, Chen Ruan sheepishly stuck out her tongue.

‘Junior Sister, I can’t believe even you!’

“My only request is, don’t let it spread too widely.”

Luochen was on the verge of tears, yet no tears came. ‘If everyone sees this book, my career as a senior sister will surely come to an end.’ 

“This is internal research material; it won’t be spread. You can rest assured, Sister Luo.”

Chen Ruan patted her chest, promising.