The Price of Reconciliation

“You’re back?”

Jia Nan, who was reading a book, called out upon seeing Shangguan Xue return from the academy.

“The others said they’ll be here a bit later.”

“Alright, I’ll condense my Spirit Seals first then.”

Shangguan Xue nodded and sat cross-legged on her bed.

The first Spirit Seal she intended to condense was the body-tempering “Bright Jade Body,” one of her own invention.

With a flick of her elegant hand, she opened her storage pouch and retrieved a jade pendant, its surface lustrous and smooth, as white as congealed cream.

Jia Nan, having lived on the Eastern Continent, could not possibly fail to recognize what it was:

“Mutton Fat Imperishable White Jade?
When did you dig this up?”

“The day we broke up,” Shangguan Xue admitted honestly.

“Do you believe I’ll hang you up and give you a beating…”

Jia Nan was so exasperated she laughed.

She truly hadn’t expected this person to have the heart to go digging for jade right after a breakup.

“Alright, alright, aren’t I trying to get back together with you now?”

Shangguan Xue coaxed.

Jia Nan had to remind her: “You’re only twelve years old right now.

You want me to be in a relationship with you?”

“…My body may have shrunk, but my mind is as sharp as ever.”

Shangguan Xue always had some nonsense to say.

By now, she was already holding the Mutton Fat Imperishable White Jade in one hand, while directing the spiritual energy in her body to condense with the other.

The precious jade stone continuously shrank, as the spiritual energy within her body rapidly crystallized.

“A Spirit Seal that requires materials of this caliber,” Jia Nan commented from the side, “I don’t think the vast majority of people could ever cultivate it.”

“The Bright Jade Body requires jade stones,” Shangguan Xue explained.

“It’s just that the better the quality, the better the effect.”

She then exhaled a breath of turbid air.

“Done.”

At this moment, a tri-pyramidal crystal had formed within her body, its surface marked with a single, faint white annular pattern.

“I feel like… you haven’t changed at all?”

Jia Nan leaned over, staring at her intently, then couldn’t resist poking her cheek, feeling that the texture was no different.

Shangguan Xue sighed:

“Of course there’s no change.
A body-tempering Spirit Seal only shows its effect through continuous cultivation.”

She then shook out her long sleeve: “Alright, I’m going to condense the second one.
Don’t disturb me.”

Seeing Jia Nan move away, she recalled the contents of the fragmented scroll and began to condense “Purple Qi from the East.”

“Purple Qi from the East” required no additional materials and was quite simple in itself, so it didn’t take Shangguan Xue much time to condense.

She sensed the purple qi within her body and felt that the biting cold wind was not quite so chilly anymore.

The Spirit Seal for “Purple Qi from the East” was also a tri-pyramid, but it looked as though it had been sectioned off from a hexagonal prism.

Shangguan Xue had long anticipated this:

“A one-ring Spirit Seal is a tetrahedron, a two-ring is a pentahedron… a five-ring is an octahedron, like a hexagonal prism.”

“The original five-ring ‘Purple Qi from the East’ Spirit Seal is a hexagonal prism.
The one-ring version, a tri-pyramid, was cut from the original hexagonal prism.”

Jia Nan asked from the side: “Succeeded with both?”

“Definitely.”

Shangguan Xue jumped up.

“How could I possibly fail?”

“True enough.”

Jia Nan nodded in agreement, then brought up another matter.

“The others have arrived.”

Shangguan Xue poked her head out to look and saw that the room was now full of people.

“You’re all here.”

“You asked for us.
Did something happen?”

Beigong Qingmei was the first to ask.

Shi Ledong scanned the surroundings, as if checking for security flaws.

Ziyan, however, walked into the bedroom and lay down on Shangguan Xue’s bed.

‘Just as I expected of you, never standing when you can lie down…’ Shangguan Xue inwardly teased.

She cleared her throat: “Actually, it’s nothing major. Mostly… I just wanted to see you all.”

“I’m leaving.”

Shi Ledong turned as if to go.

“Wait a moment, Dong-jie.”

The twelve-year-old Shangguan Xue flew over and hugged her thigh.

“When we wanted to see you, you never came to find us,” Beigong Qingmei explained Shi Ledong’s behavior.

“Weren’t we broken up back then…” Shangguan Xue weakly defended herself.

“We’re back together now.”

“Who’s back together with you?”

Shi Ledong let out two cold laughs.

‘Tsk, if you were really unhappy, you’d just maintain your iceberg face… The fact that you laughed, even if it was a cold laugh, means you’re in a good mood.’

How could Shangguan Xue not understand her?

“You want to get back together…” Yanzi spoke up languidly.

“Then you have to give something in return, right?”

“I’ve even signed a deed of indenture,” Shangguan Xue said, referring to the contract she had signed right after she became small.

Beigong Qingmei didn’t participate in this topic of discussion: “Is it truly nothing major?”

“I’ve reached the Body Tempering Realm.
That’s not a major event, right?”

Shangguan Xue said, tightening her hug on Shi Ledong’s leg.

“But, there is one small matter.”

“Speak.”

Shi Ledong gave her a helpless look.

“Let go of me first.”

Seeing that she wasn’t leaving, Shangguan Xue obediently let go.

“You can’t just hug Dong-jie~” Ziyan rolled around on the bed.

“The person lying on my bed is not allowed to speak,” Shangguan Xue said, flailing her arms.

Jia Nan, who had been observing for a long time, finally spoke up: “Playing favorites will only get you beaten up.”

“Fine.”

Shangguan Xue lay back down on the bed, casually hugging Ziyan’s thigh.

“What I wanted to say was, to exchange information with you all, I have to trouble Jia Nan to make a trip.
That’s not very convenient.”

“Can’t you guys rig up some method for remote communication?”

“There is a way,” Beigong Qingmei’s words surprised her.

“There really is a way?”

Shangguan Xue jumped over and hugged Qingmei’s thigh.

“How long has it been…” Ziyan hummed in dissatisfaction.

“There is.”

Beigong Qingmei nodded.

“The Ink Pavilion has invented a tool for long-distance communication, but the threshold for using it is too high.”

“How high?”

“A spiritual consciousness of the Nirvana Realm or above.”

After hearing this, Shangguan Xue let out a mischievous laugh: “My spiritual consciousness hasn’t decreased… alright, it’s decreased a little, but it’s still at the Earth Integration Realm.”

“Re-cultivation doesn’t have much effect on spiritual consciousness?”

Beigong Qingmei became focused on the academic question.

“That I don’t know.”

Shangguan Xue spread her hands.

“It might just be that I’m special.”

“What’s the tool?”

Shi Ledong brought the topic back on track.

“This.”

Beigong Qingmei took out a multi-faceted bronze mirror.

“Through the mirror, you can talk to each other.”

“Let me see.”

Shangguan Xue took one and channeled her spiritual consciousness into it.

Beigong Qingmei did the same.

On the surface of the mirrors in their hands, the face of the other person appeared.

“That’s really nice,” Ziyan came over to look.

“One for each of us?”

Shi Ledong asked.

“How much?”

Qingmei thought for a moment: “You all can decide.”

‘Still the same as always… settling accounts clearly.’

Shangguan Xue felt a bit emotional; so many years had passed, but their way of interacting hadn’t changed.

Shi Ledong, Ziyan, Jia Nan, and Shangguan Xue each took a bronze mirror.

Shi Ledong exchanged hers for a spirit treasure, Ziyan for pills, and Jia Nan for precious materials.

Shangguan Xue, after some thought, took out a scroll of a Spirit Seal from her storage pouch:

“A body-tempering Spirit Seal I invented. Put it in the Scripture Pavilion.”

The others gathered around to look, and on the cover were written the words “Bright Jade Body.”