The four cultivators sat around the table in Linyue's chamber.
"So," Song Meiyu began, resting her chin on her hands. "What's the plan?"
Shen Zhenyu spoke up in his calm, unhurried voice. "I've checked the guards. They don't patrol this area much."
"Of course they don't," He Yuying said lazily, leaning back on his chair. "Who in their right mind would come to this courtyard of exile? Six previous brides possibly died here. This place might be haunted. And cursed."
Linyue nodded, her expression calm. "That's good for us."
Shen Zhenyu gave a small nod. "I've also checked the exit route for possible escape."
Song Meiyu clasped her hands together. "Brother Zhenyu, you're always the most dependable and the best!"
Shen Zhenyu's expression didn't change, completely unaffected by the compliment. "That's why I came along. If not, who would take care of troublemakers like you?"
Song Meiyu gasped. "I'm not a troublemaker! I'm a delicate flower."
Linyue's lips curved into a small smile. "Brother Zhenyu, we'll live even without you," she said softly, glancing at the others. "Just… not sure about the building."
Song Meiyu snorted. "Right. Because Brother Yuying nearly burned the table down just boiling water for tea!"
He Yuying raised a single brow. "The kettle was weak. It couldn't handle my… superior flame control."
"Superior?" Song Meiyu laughed so hard she nearly toppled over. "It was so superior the table almost ascended to the heavens in flames!"
Shen Zhenyu let out a long, world-weary sigh, rubbing his temple. "Alright. Let's focus and start our plan."
Song Meiyu immediately fished out a small pouch from her sleeve. "Here! The fire blossom seeds. Freshly stolen—I mean, borrowed—from Master Tian Mo's stash."
Shen Zhenyu didn't even blink. "The garden here isn't tended. It's practically a barren wasteland. We can plant them around the edges."
He Yuying's eyes lit up faintly, and his lips curled into something dangerously close to a smile. "It will be fun."
Shen Zhenyu shot him a flat look. "We're not doing it for fun. Just use them when necessary."
"Of course," Linyue said with her usual calmness, though there was a suspicious glint in her eyes. "Absolutely. We're not going to do it for fun."
Shen Zhenyu raised an eyebrow. "How convincing."
"Don't worry, Brother Zhenyu," Song Meiyu said cheerfully. "It'll be fine. Totally fine. What's the worst that could happen?"
Linyue rose to her feet, smoothing her robes. "Let's go. It's already midnight."
The other three stood up from their seats in sync. They shuffled out of Linyue's chamber and into the night air. The courtyard stretched out before them, silent and gloomy, its cracked tiles and withered weeds glowing faintly under the moonlight.
They stood there for a long moment in complete silence. It would've looked dramatic, if not for Song Meiyu breaking it with a loud sigh. "No matter how many times I look at it," she said, hugging her arms, "this place is really depressing. Like a place where ghosts would come to cry about their tragic love lives."
"That's why," Linyue said calmly, "we're going to plant the seeds. To brighten it up."
He Yuying gave a lazy nod. "The more the merrier. Let's turn this courtyard into a fireworks show."
Shen Zhenyu shot him a sharp look, his voice flat. "Remember. Just plant enough for a distraction, not enough to burn the entire palace to ash."
"Don't worry," Linyue replied smoothly. "We'll only plant a bit here and there."
"Right, right!" Song Meiyu chimed in, clapping her hands together. "Leave it to us!"
Shen Zhenyu sighed. "Alright. I'll go with Yuying to the backyard to lay some traps."
"Mhm," Linyue gave a small nod. "Leave the gardening to us."
"I'd rather do gardening than digging," He Yuying muttered, eyeing the dusty courtyard with distaste.
Song Meiyu spun around to face him, her expression scandalized. "No way! How can beautiful ladies like us do the digging?!" She clutched her sleeves dramatically.
He Yuying blinked at her slowly. "…You're holding a shovel in your sleeve, aren't you?"
Song Meiyu froze, then hid her hands behind her back. "That's… purely decorative!"
Shen Zhenyu, watching this unfold, pinched the bridge of his nose. Why me? Why always me?
Linyue only smiled. "We need the shovel. How can we do gardening with our beautiful, smooth bare hands?"
Song Meiyu straightened up instantly, her confidence restored. "That's right! Our delicate hands were not made for digging dirt!"
Before the conversation could devolve into a debate on hand creams and soil damage, Shen Zhenyu cut in sharply. "Alright. Yuying, come with me."
He Yuying let out a long-suffering sigh, as if Shen Zhenyu had just sentenced him to a year of hard labor.
As the two men disappeared toward the backyard, Song Meiyu's eyes lit up. She spun to Linyue, clutching her shovel. "Sister Linyue! Where do we start?"
Linyue's calm smile didn't waver. "Let's start by not breaking or exploding anything."
Song Meiyu nodded enthusiastically. "I can try! But I can't promise!"
A beat of silence passed.
"…Let's start at each end," Linyue said at last.
"Alright!" Song Meiyu beamed, already marching off.
The two split up, moving in opposite directions. Soon, the quiet courtyard was filled with the soft scrape of shovels against dry earth. Song Meiyu, true to her excitable nature, planted not one, but three seeds at a time with every step. She tossed them into the soil like she was scattering candy for eager children.
Linyue, watching from across the courtyard, raised an eyebrow but refused to lose the unspoken competition. With a small huff, she tossed a handful of seeds along the entire trench she had dug.
As she straightened up, Linyue muttered under her breath, "Is this too much… or too little?"
She gazed at her section of the courtyard, now sporting several neat lines of trenches brimming with fire blossom seeds.
Fire blossom seeds were created from the pollen of rare fire spirit flowers. Once watered, they would bloom into thin, vine-like threads, weaving themselves into an intricate underground network. And when exposed to even a trace of fire spiritual energy, they would trigger a chain of explosions.
The problem? This was their first time using them. No one, not even Master Tian Mo, had told them exactly how strong the explosions could be. Mainly because Master Tian Mo had forbidden them from using the seeds altogether. Totally reasonable, of course. Considering this group's… history with fire-related "accidents."