From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister

"About that... I texted you yesterday, why didn't you reply?" Liu Qianqian asked softly with her back to him as he was getting dressed.

"Yesterday? I was kind of tired and slept all day, never got around to checking my phone," Fang Ren replied casually.

Liu Qianqian gently nodded, her expression a bit complex, before she spoke again, "There are many things... I've never heard you talk about."

"Mm."

Fang Ren finished dressing and started walking towards the outside, telling Liu Qianqian, "You go back to school first, I'll buy some clothes and then head back."

"I'll go with you," Liu Qianqian immediately followed him.

"You should go back to school. It's just buying some clothes, I can go by myself," Fang Ren said.

"It's fine, there's not really a big meeting at school anyway, and... oh right," Liu Qianqian paused, then said, "I suddenly remembered I lost my favorite hair tie. I was just going to buy one."

Fang Ren glanced at the hair tie she used for her ponytail and remarked, "Isn't that your favorite one?"

"Ah?"

Liu Qianqian was momentarily flustered, then awkwardly laughed and said, "You remember, huh."

"Hmm, it seems like it was from our sophomore year," Fang Ren nodded in response.

Liu Qianqian smiled and said, "Yeah, we went shopping together back then, and the wind was so strong that day. I remember I liked my hair down, but it kept getting in my eyes, so you suggested buying a hair tie. You wanted to see me with a ponytail."

Fang Ren didn't really understand why she suddenly brought up these memories. He simply nodded, "Yeah, that was a long time ago."

Back then, he liked her but had never dared to confess his feelings, always beating around the bush with various hints. But Liu Qianqian treated him just as a friend, never considering any other possibilities.

Liu Qianqian continued, smiling as she reminisced, "And then you accompanied me to pick one out. Actually, I really liked the sky-blue one, but you said the pink was cute, so I bought a pink one. Then you said I looked great in a ponytail, so from that day on, I wore my hair like that every day."

"Yeah."

Fang Ren nodded. He wouldn't think of her words in a romantic way because Liu Qianqian had always said things and made gestures that made him misunderstand a lot in the past.

It was only after his failed confession that he realized her words never had any hidden meanings; she was just describing things candidly.

The words she just said probably had no such intent either.

Watching Fang Ren casually acknowledge with a nod and a dismissive reply, Liu Qianqian felt a sense of loss within. He no longer said things with a hidden edge, nor did he playfully tease her with words like he used to.

He no longer liked her.

Liu Qianqian felt saddened, ever since Mu Huanqing appeared, she had been deeply hurt; however, she had no choice. If she were to become romantically involved with him, when her family eventually came to take her away by force and made her marry another man, how heartbroken would he be then?

They left the hospital and started walking down the street.

"You go back, I'll be heading back soon too," Fang Ren said.

"It's okay, I really want to buy a hairclip," Liu Qianqian said with a smile.

Fang Ren blinked, "It feels like I haven't seen you smile in a long time."

"With all the pressure from the family, I couldn't smile at all those days," Liu Qianqian said with a laugh, but what she really wanted to say was, how could I smile when you've been with another woman?

"Problems resolved by now?" asked Fang Ren.

"Yeah, it's actually quite a coincidence. You told me in the afternoon that everything would be sorted out by tomorrow, and the next day it really was," she replied.

"That's really great," he said.

...

The two of them remained silent for a while after, Fang Ren didn't want to strike up a conversation. All he wanted now was to quickly change out of his blood-stained clothes; he didn't see anything wrong with walking along the street with Liu Qianqian, as she only saw him as a normal friend.

Liu Qianqian's silence, however, was filled with questions she wasn't sure how to voice.

"I used to think... the Nymph Xuan Nv was long gone," Liu Qianqian suddenly said.

"Not just you, I thought so too," Fang Ren responded.

"I never imagined Hui Qing was actually the venerated Nymph Xuan Nv, admired by countless people," Liu Qianqian said thoughtfully. "And I really didn't expect that you would meet her, and be in such a good relationship."

"Hmm, I didn't expect it either. Everything happened so suddenly; it was only when that fourth-order void beast appeared that I finally realized," Fang Ren replied.

"Has she... returned to the Central Battlefield now?"

"She has gone back, her strength has been restored," he answered.

"Her marriage... is it a matter of her own choice?" Liu Qianqian asked.

"Not at all. The societal pressure, the mandate from the Central District Command, and some nonsense mission forced on her, designating her to be with that Song guy as a matching pair; she has no freedom whatsoever," Fang Ren spoke with evident distaste.

Liu Qianqian frowned slightly, "Then why did she choose to be with you? Didn't she consider how you would feel after she left?"

Liu Qianqian couldn't comprehend why Mu Huanqing did what she did. She thought Mu Huanqing was too selfish — knowing she couldn't stay with Fang Ren forever, why did she get involved with him only to leave him behind heartbroken?

"At that time, her meridians were all shattered, with no possibility of recovery. She could only live as a mortal, which is why she met me. But who would have thought, all sorts of things happened later on," Fang Ren spoke.

"So that's how it was..."

Liu Qianqian then retracted her previous judgment about Mu Huanqing in her heart. She felt Mu Huanqing was lucky, yet also unlucky.

Lucky because she had the chance to put everything aside and love someone she wanted to love but didn't dare to love; unlucky because fate played tricks on her, forcibly tearing apart her marriage bond.

Thinking of this, Liu Qianqian suddenly felt she was actually the lucky one. She now had the qualification to be the winner of the Global University Alchemy Competition and obtained the freedom to marry. Additionally, the person she liked had lost his love, and she could now be with him.

She could disregard the opposition from her family, she didn't have to worry about someone hurting Fang Ren, and she could respond to him happily and loudly by the river that day, "I like you too!"

Liu Qianqian continued, "I was planning to leave here after the school's sports meet, but now I suddenly don't want to go."

"Why?" Fang Ren asked casually.

"I won't tell you yet, it's still a secret," Liu Qianqian smiled.

Fang Ren didn't ask further about it, as long as she had her marital freedom, that was good enough. At least she wouldn't be seen crying like she did that afternoon.

"Oh right, that day at the school, in the afternoon, when I bumped into you by the restroom door, I thought you didn't want to be friends with me anymore," Fang Ren suddenly remembered Liu Qianqian crying that day.

"That day..."

Liu Qianqian reminisced for a moment. That day had been filled with extreme sorrow for her. Upon learning that Fang Ren was really going to marry Mu Huanqing, she cried and said many uncontrollable things:

I said your girlfriend is so pretty, you two get along so well...

Mu Hui is so pretty, after all, I've been bored with my face for three years. She's fresher...

I heard you only met recently and are getting married just over a week later. That's way better than just being friends after three years...

Fang Ren! You don't understand anything! You don't get it! You're just a blockhead!

So stupid!

Everything she said was so sour, like she had eaten an entire lemon.

On that day, she had made herself very clear, but Fang Ren kept saying that he didn't understand what she meant, even dodging the topic.

That day, Fang Ren really didn't understand the meaning behind Liu Qianqian's words because the thought "Liu Qianqian could never like him" had become deeply ingrained in his subconscious.

Liu Qianqian said too many things, did too many things that led him to misunderstand; subconsciously, he wouldn't think her words had anything to do with romantic feelings.

But in Liu Qianqian's eyes, Fang Ren actually understood her feelings; he just pretended to be ignorant and refused to acknowledge them, not wanting to reveal the truth to avoid embarrassment for both of them.

Now that Fang Ren could no longer be with Mu Huanqing, Liu Qianqian felt that Fang Ren's heart would soon return to her. She just needed to stay by his side, soothe the wounds left by Mu Huanqing, and with patient waiting, soon, the boy who used to like her would confess his feelings to her again.

Patience, patiently waiting.

She couldn't tell him those words right after he split up with Mu Huanqing when he was still significantly affected. Otherwise, Fang Ren might continue to feign ignorance due to not being able to accept a new relationship so soon.

She believed that Fang Ren would definitely come back into her life.

"There's one last thing I want to ask," Liu Qianqian said.

"About Cultivators?" Fang Ren asked.

"Yeah," Liu Qianqian said. "You never told me you were a Cultivator."

"Oh, I only acquired a Spiritual Root recently; before that, I was just genuinely a mortal," Fang Ren said.

"Recently acquired? Around when?"

"A week ago."

"A... a week?" Liu Qianqian was stunned.

"Mhmm."

"So, you mean... just seven days?"

Fang Ren nodded.

"..."

Liu Qianqian, looking at his undisturbed face, was completely dumbfounded. Although she was a mortal with no Cultivation Ability and couldn't discern Fang Ren's Realm.

However, it was clear at the school gates that Fang Ren had fought evenly with Su Sen!

Su Sen was last year's provincial Cultivator's competition third place! His current Cultivation Level had reached the Peak of the Yuanxin Realm, just one step away from advancing to the next Realm!

Fang Ren fought evenly with him, which meant he, at the very least, needed the same Peak of the Yuanxin Realm.

But... he had only possessed a Spiritual Root for seven days!

Seven days from acquiring True Qi to the Peak of the Yuanxin Realm?

Seven days to cross nearly four major Realms!

This Cultivation Talent... had far surpassed the Xuan Nv...