Chapter 479: She Seems a Little Different Toward You
Reed Mountain, Cold Mountain Academy.
A young man stood at the peak, his gaze fixed on the white clouds drifting across the blue sky.
He had long since grown up. Dressed in an ordinary long robe, he stood tall and straight, his features sharply defined and strikingly handsome.
So much so that, over the past few years, while accompanying his Young Lady in her studies, quite a few young girls just beginning to awaken to love had stolen glances at him.
Even some noblewomen of the demon race who came to tour Cold Mountain Academy would ask whose servant he was after seeing him.
If Tushan Jingci had not refused, Xiao Mo might already have been bought by some noblewoman and turned into an unspeakable sort of plaything.
Xiao Mo slowly closed his eyes and sensed the world around him.
With the slightest movement of his mind, a breeze passed through, and the clustered white clouds gathered into the shape of a white dragon.
The next moment, the dragon scattered apart and became flock after flock of white birds arrayed across the sky, as if about to begin their migration.
An instant later, those hundreds of white birds transformed into a long immortal sword hanging in the air, as though it would plunge viciously into the earth at any moment.
Between heaven and earth, the unseen resonance of the Way coiled around the young man and lingered without dispersing.
This was the middle section of Great Dream of Yellow Millet—transforming all things through the heart.
Great Dream of Yellow Millet possessed no specific spell arts.
But by the same token, everything in this world was a spell art of Great Dream of Yellow Millet.
So long as the mind could reach it, one’s strength was sufficient, and one possessed enough understanding of the resonance of the Way between heaven and earth—
a blade of grass, a leaf, a grain of sand, a cloud—
any of them could become Xiao Mo’s weapon.
“Xiao Mo...”
Half an hour later, just as Xiao Mo withdrew his spiritual power, a girl’s voice called out from behind him.
The moment he turned, he saw her running toward him.
She wore a water-green dress. The fabric was light, and when she ran, the hem fluttered upward, like ripples spreading across a lake when the wind brushed its surface.
The waist was fitted just right, setting off her slender figure and the soft, graceful lines of her body.
Her long snow-white hair was loosely tied with a plain ribbon. As she ran, a few strands fell free and brushed her cheeks before the breeze gently blew them aside again.
Her willow brows needed no painting to be green; her eyes reflected the colors of spring. When she smiled, they curved into little crescents, like March waters gathered in her gaze. Her nose was small and straight, and her lips were a soft pink. She wore no powder, yet there was a vivid freshness about her all the same.
She was sixteen now. Though her figure had not yet fully matured, it was already lovely enough—pure and innocent, yet touched with a faint alluring charm, the kind that made one think of a daughter next door just coming into bloom.
And among mortals, a girl her age could already be married.
“Xiao Mo, hurry and come back with me. My mother is coming to see me today. She should be here soon.”
Tushan Jingci spoke brightly, her voice sweet and soft, charming without being gaudy, tender and velvety in a way that seemed almost like an inborn gift of the fox clan.
“Of course, Young Lady.” Xiao Mo nodded.
“Come on, let’s go down the mountain.”
Swinging her pale arms lightly, Tushan Jingci walked ahead of him.
Each time her skirt fluttered, another pebble went skittering away under the kick of her embroidered shoe.
Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci walked through the mountain forest, passing beneath the dense trees.
The girl tipped her head back to look at the flowers overhead. Sunlight filtered through the petals and fell across her face in shifting flecks of light.
Suddenly she rose onto her toes and reached for a blossom hanging high above. Her sleeve slipped down, revealing a slender white wrist.
She could not reach it, but she did not get annoyed. Instead, she called to the young man behind her.
“Xiao Mo, I want that flower.”
She turned back and smiled at him, the smile utterly clean and bright, filled with the innocence only a sixteen-year-old could have.
Xiao Mo said nothing. He merely walked forward, reached up, plucked the peach blossom from the branch, and handed it to her.
“Put it on for me.”
The sixteen-year-old girl turned around, showing him only her back. The fragrance of her hair drifted to the tip of his nose.
Xiao Mo looked faintly helpless, but also as though he had long since grown used to things like this.
He tucked the peach blossom into her hair.
The pale pink flower against her snow-white hair was very beautiful.
“Ah! It really is getting late. Hurry, hurry.”
Tushan Jingci glanced at the sky and only then realized she really was about to be late meeting her mother, so she quickly grabbed Xiao Mo by the arm and pulled him forward.
They were both grown now.
And yet, to the girl, there still seemed to be no distinction at all between men and women.
Thinking about it, it’s been almost ten years since we came to Cold Mountain Academy...
Walking beside her, Xiao Mo could not help feeling a little emotional.
In those ten years, Jingci had graduated from Elementary Learning Peak and moved on to Cloud-Soaring Peak, where she studied Confucian learning. She had even nurtured a quite remarkable strand of righteous qi within herself.
Recently, she had also been preparing for an examination, intending to qualify as a worthy.
As for cultivation, Jingci had grown three more tails.
A Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox gained one tail with each realm.
In other words, at sixteen, Jingci had already reached the first of the middle three realms—the Dragon Gate Realm.
Compared to her, he himself, who was the same age, was only at the Dragon Gate Realm as well.
And yet he cultivated every day. It could not be called to the point of forgetting food and sleep, but he had certainly been diligent.
He had also taken no small number of pills and spiritual flowers and herbs.
But in Xiao Mo’s memory, Jingci hardly cultivated at all.
She mostly just slept every day.
That alone was enough to show how terrifying high-bloodline demons truly were.
Xiao Mo was also beginning to understand why the demon-race world was structured by bloodline hierarchy.
Because an ordinary cultivator might train for days and still not match what one of them gained from a single night’s sleep.
And setting aside Jingci’s learning and cultivation—
now that she had grown up, Tushan Jingci had also become the object of admiration for most of the young men in Cold Mountain Academy.
Who in the academy did not know that in one of the classrooms at Cloud-Soaring Peak, there was a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox studying there, whose beauty defied description?
But that was only natural.
The fox clan was famous for its beauties to begin with.
Let alone the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox clan.
And Xiao Mo felt that even among the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Foxes, no one could surpass Tushan Jingci in beauty.
In the past, Madam Tushan had been called the most beautiful woman in the demon-race world.
Perhaps in a few more years, that title would fall to Jingci.
But because no unfamiliar men were allowed anywhere near Tushan Jingci’s courtyard, and because she rarely attended gatherings of poets and young talents aside from spending time with her close female friends, those admirers had no way to approach her directly. They could only wait at the foot of Elementary Learning Peak, or outside the study halls of Cloud-Soaring Peak, all for the chance to catch a single glimpse of her.
And when they did see Tushan Jingci, they all fell into a daze. Only long after she had gone did they slowly recover.
It was only one look.
But that one look was enough to leave them tossing and turning at night, as though everything else in the world had lost its color.
Quite a few young masters from great demon families had written her love letters, but Tushan Jingci had not accepted a single one, nor read a single word.
Though the girl had not yet experienced the world and did not know what “love” was, she knew one thing very clearly—
she did not like a single one of those demons.
Before long, Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci returned to the courtyard.
Even before stepping inside, Xiao Mo saw Liu Shui in the yard hanging clothes out to dry.
Though Liu Shui’s talent was only average, she truly was hardworking.
Now twenty-one, she had already reached the early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
To ordinary mortals, Liu Shui could already be considered one of those immortal figures of the mountains.
But Liu Shui’s mother knew nothing about her cultivation.
She had always believed her daughter was an ordinary person, and as Liu Shui grew older, she had even begun trying to arrange matches for her.
But Liu Shui had refused them all.
And after stepping into the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, Liu Shui’s road of cultivation could mostly only be walked through her own comprehension. Xiao Mo and Yueshi could give her only limited guidance now. No one would trouble Liu Shui anymore, either, so she had no real need to keep coming to this side residence.
But Liu Shui still came as often as ever, cleaning the courtyard, doing chores, and washing clothes.
The clothes she washed were not Tushan Jingci’s, since Jingci’s own garments were handled by dedicated maids.
The ones Liu Shui washed were Xiao Mo’s and Yueshi’s.
It made it seem almost as though Liu Shui were serving Xiao Mo and Yueshi instead.
Even though Tushan Jingci, Xiao Mo, and Yueshi had refused her many times, Liu Shui insisted on continuing.
In the end, they could only let her do as she wished.
What Xiao Mo did not know, however, was that every time Liu Shui washed his clothes, she did so with even greater care.
“Young Lady Tushan, Young Master Xiao, you’re back.”
Seeing Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci return, Liu Shui quickly stepped forward and bowed.
“Mhm, Sister Liu Shui, we’re back.” Tushan Jingci nodded and quickly took Liu Shui’s hand. “My mother is coming soon. Stay and have dinner with us, all right?”
“No, no, there’s really no need to go to so much trouble...” Liu Shui quickly waved her hands. “Some relatives are coming to visit today, so I really have to be leaving now. If I go back too late, it would be hard to explain.”
“All right...” Tushan Jingci’s expression turned regretful. “Then be careful on your way down the mountain, Sister Liu Shui.”
“Thank you for your concern, Young Lady.”
Liu Shui curtsied. After exchanging a few more words with Tushan Jingci, she left the courtyard.
Only, as she was leaving, her eyes slipped toward Xiao Mo a few extra times, carrying a trace of softness.
Tushan Jingci naturally noticed it and turned to Xiao Mo.
“Xiao Mo, have you noticed that Sister Liu Shui seems a little different with you?”
“How is she different?” Xiao Mo asked.
“I... I can’t really explain it either. It just feels different...” Tushan Jingci pursed her lips.
“You’re overthinking it. From what I can see, Sister Liu Shui has always been the same.” Xiao Mo smiled a little.
“Is that so... all right then...”
Tushan Jingci looked at Sister Liu Shui’s retreating back.
Even though Xiao Mo said that, she still felt that lately Liu Shui treated him differently from everyone else.
And just as Tushan Jingci was trying to figure out what exactly felt different, a familiar fragrance drifted down from the sky.
“Mother...”
Tushan Jingci’s eyes lit up at once. She stopped thinking about anything else and looked up at her mother descending through the air, waving her hands again and again.
Tushan Xinhua descended from the sky and took human form.
“Greetings, Madam.”
Yueshi and the other maids bowed.
Xiao Mo also cupped his hands and saluted.
“Mother, you haven’t come to see your daughter in half a year! Did you forget all about me?”
Tushan Jingci ran forward, puffing out her cheeks, her voice soft with sweet grievance.
“Even if I forgot everyone else, I wouldn’t forget you, little girl. I’ve simply been busy lately.” Seeing her daughter, Tushan Xinhua’s eyes were full of tenderness and motherly affection.
“Come, let Mother have a good look at you.”
Tushan Xinhua stepped back, took hold of her daughter’s shoulders, and carefully examined her.
“Mhm. You’ve grown taller again, girl. And prettier too.”
“Well, of course. I take after you.” Tushan Jingci hugged her mother’s arm and wheedled sweetly.
“You little thing. Since when did your mouth get so sweet?” Tushan Xinhua flicked her lightly on the forehead. “But sweet words won’t help. Get ready. In a while, Mother is going to test your lessons.”
“Ah???”
The moment Tushan Jingci heard that her mother meant to test her studies, all her delight vanished.
All of a sudden, she felt that perhaps it was not such a bad thing when her mother did not come very often.
After dinner, Tushan Jingci tried to use sleepiness as an excuse to go to bed.
But she was dragged right back and thoroughly examined by her mother.
And when parents tested their children, it was never a pleasant affair.
Half an hour later, Xiao Mo saw Jingci come out of the room with her lips pursed and a pitifully aggrieved look on her face.
Aside from testing Jingci’s learning, Tushan Xinhua also intended to inspect Xiao Mo’s progress over the past half year.
And when Tushan Jingci heard that her mother was going to test Xiao Mo too, her eyes immediately brightened.
I can’t be the only one who gets scolded. Xiao Mo has to suffer with me too.
That was what she thought.
But the result left Tushan Jingci rather unhappy.
Because her mother was very satisfied with Xiao Mo’s cultivation.
“Xiao Mo, your cultivation truly is very good now.”
Looking at the young man before her, Tushan Xinhua praised him openly.
Not only had Xiao Mo reached the early Dragon Gate Realm at such a young age, the resonance of the Way around him was rich and without the slightest impurity. It was plain to see that Great Dream of Yellow Millet truly suited him.
Given enough time, Tushan Xinhua felt that by the time Xiao Mo came of age, he might well reach the Golden Core Realm.
More importantly, he was neither arrogant nor impetuous. His temperament was steady, and he showed none of the so-called pride that geniuses often carried.
“Thank you for your praise, Madam. Everything I have today comes from the Madam and the Young Lady.”
Though there was some exaggeration in Xiao Mo’s words, the resources he had used for cultivation over the years did indeed all come from the Tushan residence, including the cultivation method he practiced.
“There’s no need to thank me. The Tushan residence did not raise you out of charity. In the future, all you need to do is protect Jingci well,” Tushan Xinhua said.
“Yes. I will do everything I can to protect the Young Lady,” Xiao Mo answered.
Hearing Xiao Mo say he would protect her well, Tushan Jingci’s eyes curved into crescents, and her heart felt warmly comforted.
But in the very next moment—
one sentence from Tushan Xinhua wiped all that happiness away.
“Xiao Mo, you’re still living in this courtyard at present, yes?”
Tushan Xinhua looked at him calmly.
“Starting today, move out.”
Recommendation for a friend’s book — Playing with the Northern and Southern Dynasties
The Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties were absurd and beautiful. Men, women, old, young—everyone could wind up on the table. Han Kun transmigrates into Northern Qi and very nearly becomes one of the dishes himself, forcing him to fight his way up with his peerless wheel-turning skill.
Han Kun: “I’m in a very bad mood right now.”