Eastern Divine Continent, the Xiaoyun Hall provisional command hub.
It had already been some time since Chen Baiqing reassigned Lin Luoyu there.
Everyone in the sect had a different temperament, and naturally each had a utterly different way of getting things done.
Cui Hao complained and clowned his way through everything, business concluded amid jests — you might think he was mucking about, but what he turned out was bona fide proper work.
Second Senior Brother was steady, and liked to dig into old things; when it came to hard-won experience, he handed over the whole purse, nothing held back.
As for Eldest Senior Sister — she had a kind of natural grace. No telling why, no reason given, but things simply got handled well, and the results came out excellent.
This was the first time Lin Luoyu worked with Third Senior Sister alone.
Ordinarily, back at the sect, Third Senior Sister was never much of a pressure. She either sat by the lake sharing out candied fruit and reading, or brewed tea for Master, and now and then answered the odd question about cultivation — usually Lin Luoyu's own.
Lin Luoyu knew that Third Senior Sister's methods were far from ordinary, and that Master entrusted many important matters to her — this very command of the Eastern Divine Continent, for instance, was almost entirely Third Senior Sister's doing on Master's behalf.
But knowing something from a distance and feeling it up close are two different things.
Lin Luoyu's steps were light as she went, nodding hellos to the Xiaoyun Hall and Xuanqing Tianzong disciples along the way, then stepping into the council hall she now knew like home.
Chen Baiqing sat in the seat of honor, her calm face betraying little. Only when she sensed a visitor did she lift her eyes — and when she saw it was Lin Luoyu, a trace of warmth showed through as she spoke softly:
"You're here. I've put you through a lot lately, Junior Sister."
Lin Luoyu shook her head slightly, then set the jade token gently on the desk before Chen Baiqing, answering as she did:
"What's Senior Sister's is my own duty."
Chen Baiqing smiled and nodded. She didn't reach for the jade token — instead she reached for the candied fruit on the side table, picked one up, and held it out to Lin Luoyu.
"There I go being formal again. Here — Eldest Senior Sister bought these for me a while back. By my count, I've been hoarding them far too long."
Lin Luoyu took the candied fruit without hesitation, but she didn't say much either.
About the friction between Third Senior Sister and Eldest Senior Sister, Cui Hao had tipped her off as well.
"Philosophy" — a word on which everyone had their own ideas.
Over this stretch of working together, Lin Luoyu had come to understand Third Senior Sister's philosophy well enough.
Sometimes Lin Luoyu even wondered whether Third Senior Sister had requested her here partly for that reason.
Third Senior Sister's philosophy was extreme decisiveness, extreme rationality — in most matters, a single clean cut to end all aftertrouble.
She was in the habit of buying the greatest gain at the smallest price, and for that she could shed every tremor of emotion — even when it made her look like she was acting against human instinct itself.
For example: the evil cultivators making waves in the Eastern Divine Continent. Third Senior Sister's method was refreshingly simple — kill.
Kill them pot and all. Kill straight down every thread a clue dangled.
Her method of identifying evil cultivators was refreshingly simple, too: identify nothing.
Linked with an evil cultivator. Traded with an evil cultivator. Conspired on anything with an evil cultivator —
Then you were declared an evil cultivator in reserve.
No gentle persuading, no turning over a new leaf; once you had practiced evil arts, you were executed on the spot, every case.
Naturally, running things this way drew objections — because inevitably there really were some innocent people caught in the net.
Third Senior Sister's answer went: My soft heart was never provisioned for evil cultivators, nor for their reserves. You demand that I take responsibility for the evil cultivators — then who takes responsibility for the people the evil cultivators killed?
It had quite the flavor of: if you insist on talking morality with me, then I have several other moralities to talk with you about.
Whatever resistance she met — even the misgivings of Xiaoyun Hall's own core disciple — Third Senior Sister executed the course without yielding an inch.
And the results were spectacular.
Overnight, evil cultivators became public enemy number one across the Eastern Divine Continent.
Ordinary cultivators no longer dared have any connection with them; every sect and organization that stood in the open sun cut its ties to the last thread.
Lin Luoyu savored the candied fruit on her tongue, and chewed over a question of her own.
If a thing that needed doing went about it the wrong way, but came out right in the end — was the thing right, or wrong?
Because everything Third Senior Sister had done these past days was, to Lin Luoyu, precisely such an interrogation.
Chen Baiqing gathered up all the jade tokens before her, then said:
"Junior Sister has been at it hard for a good while. Rest for a few days — how would you like to go back to Tianyan Sect with me for a while?"
Lin Luoyu gulped down her candied fruit in a hurry, and let out a small sound of confusion:
"Huh?"
Right now, Chen Baiqing herself was the final decision over the entire Eastern Divine Continent command. If she was gone for a few days, wouldn't everything fall apart?
Chen Baiqing raised her eyes slightly. "What is it?"
"Then what about things here?"
"Naturally, the people here will hold the fort for a few days. They should know by now how I would run things. Besides, nothing here is heaven-shaking. If it truly does get mangled, the sky still won't fall."
"Why the sudden thought of going back to Tianyan Sect, Senior Sister?"
"Because word came that Eldest Senior Sister has returned to Tianyan Sect for the time being. And by my reckoning of the days, Eldest Senior Sister's anger should have cooled. Naturally I have to go back and say some sweet things to her."
For once Lin Luoyu was at a loss for a reply. To say, at a time like this, that Third Senior Sister's decision was wise, resolute and magnificent… that somehow didn't feel right either.
"Eldest Senior Sister is Eldest Senior Sister, after all." Chen Baiqing tucked the remaining candied fruit back into a space ring kept specially for such things, and rose in a leisurely manner. "Our philosophies may differ — but when Eldest Senior Sister is angry, a junior sister coaxes when coaxing is due. After all, when we were little, Eldest Senior Sister coaxed me often."
"Buying these candied fruits counted. So did taking me out to play."
"Eldest Senior Sister's face is too thin for words. If something troubles her heart, she'll never open her mouth about it first — but in her heart she always keeps a record of the good we've done."
Lin Luoyu watched Chen Baiqing come to her side, produce two pouches, and press them on her; Lin Luoyu took them on instinct.
One pouch was small and very light. Felt through the cloth — a hairpin, perhaps.
The other was considerably bigger and had some weight to it. What she felt inside was scattered in pieces — little toys, by the feel.
Chen Baiqing dropped her voice to a whisper: "When you travel back from the Eastern Divine Continent, you prepare a gift for Eldest Senior Sister, naturally. This was a spur-of-the-moment trip I decided on — so of course I've prepared a share for Junior Sister, too."
Holding the pouches, Lin Luoyu hesitated. "Isn't this a bad idea?"
"If Junior Sister has the heart, that itself is the gift." Chen Baiqing smiled lightly and winked. "If when the time comes Eldest Senior Sister is still cross — I'll be counting on you for a couple of kind words."
Lin Luoyu felt the pouches once more, and in the end tucked the hairpin pouch away.
Chen Baiqing's face, seeing this, opened into an even warmer smile:
"Let's go. If we get back early enough, we might even catch Master."
Lin Luoyu felt the other, larger pouch in her hand:
"This must be the one for Master, right?"
Chen Baiqing answered honestly:
"That one's for everyone. Once we're back at the sect, open it and you'll see. There's a share for Master in it, of course."
"Since the mission is coaxing Eldest Senior Sister, Eldest Senior Sister gets an extra gift on top."
"Whether we can be as close with Eldest Senior Sister as before this time around — that's all down to your help, Junior Sister."
Lin Luoyu hesitated slightly, but still nodded her agreement:
"I'll do my best."
Chen Baiqing nodded, satisfied, and said in a low voice:
"Then shall I follow Master's example and give this operation a codename?"
Lin Luoyu thought the idea had quite something of Master's bearing in it, and asked:
"What codename?"
Chen Baiqing's tone was firm, every syllable crisp and clear:
"It shall be called — Eldest Senior Sister Is the Best!"
Lin Luoyu nodded lightly.
Wonderful. The name of the plan now carried full ten-tenths of Master's flavor, too.