Crystal Constellations

With Yan Mingqing finishing not long after her, Lin Songmei waited until she left the shower area before beginning her shower.

In the shower, Songmei moved as if there was an incoming typhoon, Mingqing was waiting for her turn after all.

Coming out of the shower after drying herself and letting Mingqing in, Songmei inspected herself in the mirror, because who knows, what if she de-aged into a child?

She didn’t.

That was good at least.

Unlike what happened to Xueli, who seemed to have gotten a fair bit younger, the only visual difference that Songmei could see was that her skin seemed nicer. More supple and smooth with a lot less blemishes.

Damn, no wonder all the cultivators she saw were hot…

Getting dressed, Songmei sat down, splaying out on a cushioned chair while waiting for Mingqing to come out.

Judging from the time, once Mingqing came out from her shower, it’d be about time to go to dinner, so that seemed like a good plan. Songmei’s stomach was already grumbling just thinking about it... 

What soup could she get... 

Sitting by the window in a cushioned seat on the first floor of the apartment, splayed out like a dead fish, Songmei yawned, zoning out as she stared out the window while waiting for Mingqing to finish up. 

With the muted sound of the shower running in the background, the afternoon sun shining through the window, and the movie of life playing out on the distant streets below her, Songmei’s eyes glazed over. 

Songmei didn’t mind this life. For one thing it was... comfortable. Way more comfortable than her previous life where she toiled everyday in hopes of a better future. 

This... this kinda was that better future. 

Beyond that though, she had met so many cool people, made some amazing meaningful connections.

All she had to do was continue to put in the work cultivating. 

Oh frick. 

Also reading class materials... 

Coughing, Songmei swore to herself that she’d read a bit later tonight. 

Yet, swearing her productivity under her breath, unknown to Songmei at the time, her motivation would be blown away just as her quiet words were as she made her small declaration. 

Funny how that happens... 

Scrunching up further, like a shrimp laying on a chair, Songmei’s legs dangled over one of the armrests as she zoned out once more, thinking about her future plans and potential dinner places. 

At the same time, deciding to work a bit, Songmei focused on circulating a little more Qi, more than the usual background amount every cultivator did even when they weren’t paying attention. 

Vehicles... 

The transportation hub in full view from where she was sitting, Songmei spent some time bored, counting how many different types of vehicles she could see landing and leaving from the hub. Forming two streams of toy-like vehicles rising and falling out of the sky. 

Jets... Cars... Boats... Rugs... Pods

There was everything... 

Songmei swore she even saw a washing machine... 

Crazy stuff as always. 

Growing up, she had never seen anything remotely like this, the city she grew up in was... uninspired, the wall between the cultivators and common people firm and dividing, not that there were any cultivators in the city really. 

Her city was... weird. 

Looking back, it seemed to have been a little bit in the past. 

Although, sure, technology was there, vehicles flying at various heights going to work blah blah, multi-level hubs for multi-level operations blah blah, there was a certain... age to it. 

The technology was there as mentioned, rare, expensive infrastructure that most cities will have one or two sections of, but everything else seemed old fashioned. 

School was... the literal worst, they were living what felt like 50 years in the past. 

It was... sort of understandable though, her principal, the third son of a pretty prestigious academic family, had been the principal of the school for apparently 120 years. He wasn’t a cultivator of course, otherwise he’d be... cultivating, but he had eaten life prolonging medicine. 

This was one of the key things that allowed for the peaceful, yet sorta separate coexistence of the cultivation and non-cultivation societies. The cultivation world, although having people of most professions, focused more on their individual skills: their cultivation, their alchemy, their blacksmithing, their... ability to write horrendous jokes while working at the Daoist Times, that type of stuff.

On the other hand, the non-cultivation society focused a lot on... technological advancement, and other stuff. However, with the intricacies of the Dao, the medicine industry... kinda fell flat. 

Well it never even got off the ground in the first place. 

How was it going to compete with the miracle pills produced by the cultivation world?

The simple answer was, they don’t. 

Growing up, even Songmei, the orphan who probably ate dirt more times than she should have, had access to the most basic fever-alleviating pills when she got really sick. 

But the good stuff, the ~good~ stuff that Songmei had read about was things that... she didn’t think science could ever beat. 

Life extending pills! You could live for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years if you were rich enough!

Body purification pills! The beauty industry? Go cry in a hole!! You can’t do anything against this!

Brain enhancing pills! Need a temporary boost to thinking speed? The cultivation world has got you covered. 

... 

‘Was that a literal trash can flying out of the transportation hub?’

Songmei didn’t even know what to think anymore... 

Going back to zoning out, thinking about the TV show she had been watching, Songmei lost track of time, circulating her Qi without much else to do. 

Shower... 

Was still going. 

Songmei hoped Mingqing didn’t slip in the shower or anything... 

Her hair was longer than Songmei’s by just a touch though.... 

She sure missed Mingqing though... what was this feeling that irked her, that rummaged around, poked her and bothered her whenever Mingqing wasn’t nearby? What... was this? 

Without having had many friends in the past, what... What were these types of feelings? Was this just how you felt around friends normally? It didn’t feel like that though... it deserved more thought but that was for... in-bed at night Songmei.

... 

A stabbing sensation. 

Bolting upright, Songmei paused for a second, before rubbing her eyes. 

Pause. 

Qi stopped. 

Pause. 

Rub, rub... rub, rub, rub. 

Her eyes were probably a lot more red now... but... what?

For a split second, Songmei had felt like two fiery needles had stabbed into her eyes, yet just as fast, the sensation had disappeared. 

What?

Looking around, everything... seemed to be the same... 

Weird... 

If not for the fact that it would’ve been weird to hallucinate the feeling of immense pain in her eyes, Songmei would’ve thought that she hallucinated it... 

Hell, even if it was weird to hallucinate it, Songmei still felt like probably hallucinated it... 

Rub... rub, rub. 

A light press against her eyes with both her palms. 

Okay... her eyes were still there. 

And... Everything seemed to be fine. 

Thinking that... something, something had to be up that she didn’t know about, Songmei returned to her thoughts, deciding to just go back to keeping her eyes peeled for any more interesting vehicles that left the transportation hub. 

Lotta jets... not a lot of washing machines. 

Lotta cars and boats... not a lot of bikes or trash cans. 

Amusing herself with the transportation hub and its endless stream of interesting vehicles to look at, Songmei passed the time. Like, even the jets, cars, boats were interesting in their designs, there was ancient style, modern style, futuristic style, industrial style, and you probably need to go to the repair shop style... 

With that, Songmei waited for just a little while longer before Mingqing came downstairs ready to go, her hair up in a half-up, clothes all fresh, and skin... very nice, similar to Songmei’s... 

Body cleansing pills really were great for skincare... 

And Mingqing sure was attractive dammit.