Looking around, she realized this was her own quarters.
"……Third Master Uncle."
Collecting her wits, Ruan Wei spoke.
Cui Yanjun uttered an acknowledgement, then walked outside to call Feng Wuya in.
The two elders sat down together by the table in the room.
"Why did I pass out?"
Ruan Wei straightened up and shook her head.
It hurt quite a bit.
Cui Yanjun looked surprised. "You don't even know yourself?"
Know what?
Ruan Wei shook her head.
"Bizarre," Cui Yanjun frowned, stepping forward to press the red mole between Ruan Wei's brows. "This is a mark."
"Third Master Uncle, what is a mark?"
Ruan Wei asked in genuine bewilderment.
Cui Yanjun opened her mouth to reply.
Feng Wuya suddenly interrupted, "It's nothing out of the ordinary."
"Alright, Junior Sister, since Weiwei is fine and has already woken up, let's leave it at that."
His tone made it abundantly clear that he did not want Cui Yanjun to continue.
Why?
Ruan Wei looked at him.
What was her Master trying to conceal?
Cui Yanjun understood Feng Wuya's intent. After a moment's thought, she too concluded that telling Ruan Wei would not help matters.
"I'll head back first."
Cui Yanjun stood up, but before leaving, as if remembering something, she added, "Weiwei, come see me once you've recovered a bit."
"Master……"
Ruan Wei wanted to ask further.
"No need."
Feng Wuya, whose expression was usually warm and gentle, now wore a sharp edge. He seemed somewhat angered. "The matter of the mark…… do not dwell on it."
"Why?" Ruan Wei asked.
"Master, if you don't tell me, I'll find a way to figure it out. I'll search and guess, and judging by Third Master Uncle's attitude, the answer probably isn't that hard to find."
She was not one for beating around the bush.
Rather than being blindsided by ignorance, she preferred to plan for the long term.
Ruan Wei was simply too stubborn.
Feng Wuya couldn't help thinking that she was still far too young.
She was just a child.
Yet she was also too clever; such brilliance often brought its own undoing.
After a moment of silence.
"Is that red mole between your brows something you were born with?"
Unable to hold out against her, Feng Wuya spoke first.
"Yes."
In her memories, the original owner had possessed this mole since birth, and the Ruan Family had even regarded it as a symbol of an Innate Spiritual Body.
If that was the case, it could only be karma sown in a past life.
"People have past and present lives," Feng Wuya said calmly. "Your red mole is a marker left by someone from another lifetime who has come to find you."
It was rare for him to be this furious. Given that Ruan Wei possessed an Innate Spiritual Body, her past life must have been someone of immense virtue.
Yet this red mole was no token of star-crossed lovers finally uniting.
Cui Yanjun had examined it; this was a one-sided mark.
It was a brand left upon Ruan Wei by someone with deliberate intent.
Especially since in this lifetime, she bore a spiritual body and possessed a Heaven-grade Water Spirit Root.
"Weiwei, this mark is not born of goodwill."
Feng Wuya added. Ruan Wei was a child, but she was too clever to be treated like one; such a warning would not fall on deaf ears.
"So someone will track me down by this mole?"
Thinking of her current fragile spiritual roots and a constitution that seemed ready to collapse at the slightest touch, Ruan Wei couldn't help feeling a chill run down her spine.
She hesitated for a moment.
Past lives and present lives.
A red mole that followed her into this life, coupled with the original owner's tragic "white moonlight" persona—surely she wasn't the protagonist of some destiny, was she?
"I'm afraid it's more than just tracking," Feng Wuya said, a hint of deeper worry coloring his tone. "This red mole accompanied you into this world. The karmic entanglement runs deep; it is suspected to be a curse cast using that person's heart's blood."
"They can likely pinpoint your location through your aura."
Ruan Wei fell silent, unable to stop herself from reaching out to touch the red mole between her brows.
A living GPS.
"Then why did I pass out?"
Hearing her ask this, Feng Wuya wasn't entirely certain either. "Your Junior Sister said the mark holds too many karmic entanglement loops. Perhaps you were able to sense the other person through it."
"Coupled with the fact that you were…… practicing swordsmanship this morning and exhausted your body, you simply collapsed from the strain."
Practicing swordsmanship?
Ha, wasn't that just getting beaten up?
The master and disciple discussed it for a while, but failed to come up with any countermeasure.
"Why not seal it?" Feng Wuya suddenly slapped his forehead. "We can just have Cháojiàn put a seal inside."
Ruan Wei was stunned. "Put a seal…… right on my forehead?"
"……"
"……"
Feng Wuya shook his head. "Hard to apply. Never mind, that area is your sea of consciousness; sealing it for too long will stunt the growth of your divine sense."
"Let's just leave it be. No one came looking for me in the first ten years anyway."
Ruan Wei proved more open-minded than Feng Wuya.
According to the plot, the original owner hadn't been hunted down before she kicked the bucket, after all.
"I originally planned to wait until you reached Foundation Establishment, and have Cháojiàn take you and Xuantong to Tongzhou. Oh well, you'll just have to stay on the mountain and practice swordsmanship until you reach the Golden Core stage."
"Master!"
Before Ruan Wei could throw a tantrum, Feng Wuya's sleeves fluttered and he vanished right where he stood.
A moment later, Ruan Wei focused her mind to probe the red mole between her brows.
Her spiritual power gathered into wisps of fine thread, testing the area around the red mole with tentative, delicate probes.
Nothing.
There was no abnormality whatsoever.
It lay dormant and quiet within her sea of consciousness.
Overthinking things was not Ruan Wei's style.
It only made her desire to grow stronger all the more urgent.
For her own safety, for the vengeance of the Ruan Family, and even for this world that seemed bound to her by a thousand invisible threads.
---
Fortunately, Ruan Wei hadn't been unconscious for too long.
Dragging her weak and aching body, she went to find Xiao Xuantong, who had just finished body-tempering training.
Unlike the Senior Brother in those memories, Xiao Xuantong had not yet grown into a full-grown man at this stage. His Raven still hung at his waist, and his face lacked the sharp, lean jawline brought on by later growth spurts.
"I heard you passed out from exhaustion?"
Xiao Xuantong asked the moment they met.
"Yeah, it hurt too much."
It seemed her Master and the others had chosen not to let news of the mark spread too widely.
Ruan Wei simply went along with it.
Xiao Xuantong nodded in understanding. His Junior Sister's physique was not even as sturdy as his own at eight or nine years old.
Her height either.
When tossing her around during morning sword practice, it took virtually no effort at all.
"Let's go. We'll catch a spiritual chick in the back mountain and I'll make you something extra for lunch."
Ruan Wei followed her Senior Brother to the back mountain.
She watched as he skillfully caught the spiritual chick, scalded it, plucked its feathers, chopped it into pieces, and tossed it into the pot.
Scallions, ginger, garlic, and seasonings.
Not a single thing was missing.
When served on the table, it was fragrant, colorful, and appetizing.
Xiao Xuantong went ahead and stir-fried two plates of vegetarian dishes as well.
Ruan Wei expressed her thanks and dug in with gusto.
Yet she noticed that Xiao Xuantong didn't even reach his chopsticks toward the spiritual chick.
Ruan Wei asked in confusion, "Senior Brother isn't eating?"
"Mn," Xiao Xuantong shoveled a mouthful of rice, his gaze open and frank. "I can't stomach meat; it makes me vomit."
"Master said I took monastic vows in a past life and received Buddhist teachings, and this lifetime's karma hasn't faded yet."
Seeing him speak with such casual candor, she thought of the mark she had just concealed.
Ruan Wei paused.