Chapter 283 - Robes and Needlework

Chapter 283: Chapter 283 - Robes and Needlework

Elder Qin did not follow Su Bai any farther.

After bringing him to Liu Meng’s courtyard, the old man looked toward the closed door of the private alchemy chamber, then back at Su Bai with an expression carrying far too much hope.

"I will leave Meng’er to you, Martial Nephew Su."

Su Bai barely had time to respond before Elder Qin turned away.

Judging from how quickly the old man disappeared down the path, he had clearly decided that remaining nearby might only give Liu Meng another person to ignore.

Su Bai watched him leave before looking once more at the mountain of robes occupying the courtyard.

Calling it a hobby was becoming increasingly difficult.

He approached the alchemy chamber and knocked lightly on the door.

A familiar sweet voice answered from inside almost immediately.

"Master, please wait a little longer. I will be finished soon."

Su Bai paused.

That response came far too naturally.

From the sound of it, Elder Qin had probably knocked on this door so many times that Liu Meng no longer bothered checking who was outside before answering.

The thought was amusing, but Su Bai decided not to make the old man suffer any further.

"Junior Sister, it is your Senior Brother Su."

Silence suddenly filled the room.

A heartbeat later, something struck the floor with a dull thump, followed by hurried movement and what sounded suspiciously like a chair scraping sideways.

Su Bai’s brows rose.

Several breaths later, the door opened.

Liu Meng stood on the other side.

Her eyes were brighter than Su Bai remembered, though the surprise on her face had not completely disappeared. A few loose strands of hair had escaped beside her cheeks, likely from whatever frantic movement had taken place after hearing his voice.

For a moment, Su Bai simply looked at her.

Nothing about her seemed wrong.

She was still the same sweet girl who had accompanied him through Fallen-Star Sanctuary, the same person who had broken into tears when he finally returned alive.

The memory brought a quiet warmth to his chest.

"I’ve come to visit," Su Bai said with a smile. "How have you been?"

Liu Meng opened her mouth, but before she could answer, her gaze slipped past him.

It landed directly on the mountain of robes outside.

Her expression stiffened.

Su Bai followed her eyes.

Liu Meng immediately stepped forward, caught his sleeve, and pulled him through the doorway before he could inspect the courtyard any longer.

"Senior Brother, please come inside first. I have not cleaned up properly."

The door closed behind him with suspicious speed.

Su Bai looked at her embarrassed expression and wisely chose not to mention that the collection outside was already large enough to supply a small group of disciples.

"It is not a problem."

Compared with the courtyard, the interior was surprisingly orderly.

The alchemy furnace remained in its proper place. The supporting formations had been maintained, the spirit-fire channels showed no signs of neglect, and the tools surrounding the furnace were clean rather than abandoned beneath dust.

Su Bai’s concern eased slightly.

Whatever Elder Qin feared, Liu Meng had not discarded alchemy completely.

His attention soon moved elsewhere.

One side of the chamber had been transformed.

Several robes hung neatly from wooden stands, each separated enough that the fabric could fall naturally without creasing. Unlike most of the pieces outside, these were immediately recognizable as something different.

The materials alone were superior.

Some carried faint spiritual fluctuations. Others had subtle patterns woven through the cloth, while a few reflected light strangely whenever Su Bai shifted his viewing angle.

The workmanship was even more surprising.

The seams were clean enough that he could barely see where separate sections of fabric had been joined. Embroidery followed the flow of the cloth rather than fighting against it, and even the simpler designs looked deliberately restrained rather than unfinished.

Su Bai stared for several breaths.

Liu Meng noticed where he was looking and touched her cheek somewhat awkwardly.

"I developed a hobby while Senior Brother was away."

Su Bai glanced toward the wall of robes.

Calling this a hobby felt like calling alchemy a method of boiling herbs.

Liu Meng continued before he could say anything.

"I made several that should fit you. Would Senior Brother like to try them?"

Su Bai smiled.

"I would love to."

The embarrassment immediately disappeared from Liu Meng’s face.

Her eyes brightened as she hurried toward the nearest robe.

The first one looked relatively simple. Its outer layer was dark and understated, with only faint silver stitching around the cuffs and collar.

"This one uses corrosion-resistant cloth."

Su Bai touched the sleeve and immediately recognized the unusual texture.

Liu Meng had obtained some of the material from her own gains inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary and kept it when she donated most of the things she did not personally need.

"I strengthened the seams with spirit thread, but I did not add much else because I wanted to see whether the cloth would remain comfortable after being reinforced."

She looked slightly dissatisfied.

"It worked, but I think the shoulders could still be improved."

Su Bai looked at the robe again.

He would have called it excellent already.

Apparently, Liu Meng had developed different standards.

The next robe was made from pale gray fabric interwoven with extremely fine strands that gave off a weak fluctuation of Fire and Ice spiritual energy.

"The main cloth is Frost-Sun Silk," Liu Meng explained. "I asked the Liu Family Auction House to find it for me. It naturally absorbs small amounts of heat and cold from the surroundings."

Su Bai slipped an arm into the robe.

A comfortable temperature spread across his skin almost immediately.

"It keeps the wearer warm in cold places and cool when the surroundings become hot. It will not protect against actual attacks, but ordinary environments should be much more comfortable."

Su Bai looked down at the robe.

That sounded dangerously useful for someone whose expeditions had already taken him through environments that seemed personally offended by human survival.

Liu Meng had already moved toward another piece.

This one was lighter, woven from soft blue-gray cloth with almost invisible patterns around the chest and back.

"I used Quiet-Mind Silkworm Thread here. The thread itself carries a very weak calming effect, so I combined it with a diluted Clear-Spirit medicinal solution before weaving the inner lining."

Su Bai’s eyebrows rose.

"You used alchemy?"

Liu Meng nodded as though that were completely normal.

"Ordinary soaking made the effect fade too quickly, so I changed the refining method and allowed the medicinal essence to bind to the fibers before the cloth dried."

She handed it to him.

"When worn, it should make distracting thoughts slightly easier to settle. It may help during meditation or long periods of comprehension."

Su Bai examined the fabric more carefully.

For him, that calming effect might very well become the opposite, which made using it during meditation somewhat questionable.

Even so, Liu Meng had made it for him.

That alone made it worth keeping.

Still, this was no longer simple tailoring.

Liu Meng had taken what she understood about medicines and applied it directly to cloth.

Another robe used Ironcloud Spider Silk mixed with softer spirit fibers. The spider silk provided surprising tensile strength, while Liu Meng’s treatment prevented the finished robe from becoming stiff or unpleasant against the skin.

She had even refined a mild body-nourishing solution into the inner fabric so repeated wear would reduce irritation from prolonged Qi circulation rather than merely endure it.

Su Bai listened as she explained the process with growing enthusiasm.

Her hands moved constantly as she spoke, tracing seams and pointing out where she had changed the weave after earlier attempts failed.

The more she explained, the more Su Bai understood why Elder Qin had been unable to drag her away from this.

Liu Meng was enjoying herself.

Her expression was bright in a way that was difficult to fake.

More importantly, she had not abandoned alchemy nearly as completely as Elder Qin feared.

She had simply begun using it differently.

Medicinal solutions stabilized fibers. Controlled spiritual flames treated difficult materials. Powdered minerals were refined before being worked into protective embroidery, while certain threads had to be soaked, purified, or strengthened using techniques that were unmistakably derived from pill refinement.

Su Bai looked around the chamber again.

The furnace was still being used.

Just not always for pills.

Liu Meng eventually stopped beside several robes that had clearly received even more attention than the rest.

"Senior Brother should take all of these."

Su Bai looked at her.

"All of them?"

"They were made for you."

Her answer came without hesitation.

Su Bai glanced across the row.

There were enough high-quality robes here to make his previous habit of carrying emergency clothing seem embarrassingly unprepared.

"I will accept them, then."

Liu Meng smiled brightly.

"But please wait for one more. I have almost finished it."

Su Bai followed her gaze toward a worktable deeper inside the chamber.

A dark robe rested there, surrounded by fine tools, several small formation plates, rolls of thread, and materials Su Bai did not immediately recognize.

"What does that one do?"

Liu Meng’s smile became slightly proud.

"I am trying to add spatial storage."

Su Bai stared at her.

For several breaths, he genuinely wondered whether he had heard incorrectly.

"A robe with spatial storage?"

Liu Meng nodded.

"I cannot make the space very large yet. The difficult part is keeping the spatial pattern stable while the robe bends and moves, so I am reinforcing the formation directly into the stitching."

Su Bai looked at the robe again.

He had entered Verdant Peak because Elder Qin feared Liu Meng was neglecting alchemy. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Somehow, he had instead discovered that she was trying to sew storage artifacts into clothing.

He no longer knew where tailoring ended and artifact refinement began.

Liu Meng returned to her chair and picked up the needle she had apparently dropped when she heard his voice earlier.

"I only have a little left to finish."

Su Bai moved closer without interrupting her.

The needle passed through the fabric.

Liu Meng’s fingers followed immediately.

There was no hesitation between one movement and the next.

Her wrist shifted by the smallest amount, changing the angle of entry before the needle emerged from another point. The thread tightened at precisely the right moment, and her other hand repositioned the cloth without disturbing the surrounding pattern.

Su Bai’s initial amusement gradually faded.

He watched more carefully.

Liu Meng had clearly practiced this thousands of times.

The movement looked effortless only because every unnecessary motion had already been worn away.

Her fingers were smooth and unblemished, which confused Su Bai for a moment until he noticed several empty containers beside the worktable.

He recognized the medicinal scent still lingering inside them.

Scar-removing cream.

Su Bai’s gaze returned to her hands.

’So they had not always been unblemished.’

The realization made the mountain of discarded robes outside seem slightly different.

Liu Meng continued stitching.

The needle entered, turned, emerged, and changed direction again.

Su Bai’s eyes slowly narrowed.

Something about the motion felt familiar.

A needle did not always need to fly toward an enemy.

It did not always need to pierce as deeply as possible, search for a weakness, or carry killing intent.

The needle in Liu Meng’s hand pierced only as much as necessary.

Too shallow, and the thread would not hold.

Too deep or at the wrong angle, and the material could be damaged.

Each movement depended on understanding exactly where the needle needed to enter and where it needed to emerge.

Su Bai’s breathing gradually slowed.

Liu Meng remained completely unaware of the change beside her.

Her attention was on the robe.

The needle slipped through another section of cloth.

Su Bai suddenly saw something else.

Precision was not merely finding a flaw. Sometimes it meant passing through something without creating one.

Deep within him, the Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed stirred.

Su Bai did not move.

His gaze remained fixed on Liu Meng’s hands as she continued stitching, while the seed that had remained quiet for so long began responding to a kind of needlework Su Bai had never once considered.