Chapter 509: But He Also Said One Thing
Half an hour later.
The spell formation in the courtyard quietly dissolved.
Xiao Mo escorted Daoist Yunxi out of the bamboo courtyard.
Seeing her master come out, Gui Junmeng walked forward and stood quietly at her side.
In her arms, she held a well-behaved calico cat. The cat had its eyes narrowed, its tail resting lightly over the crook of her arm, looking lazy and at ease.
“Fellow Daoist Xiao, there is no need to see us farther. Please stop here,” Daoist Yunxi said warmly, turning toward Xiao Mo.
“Daoist Yunxi, Miss Gui, take care.” Xiao Mo bowed. After a brief pause, his tone carried a little apology. “This time, I have made Daoist Yunxi come all this way for nothing.”
“Even if Junmeng does not say it aloud, in her heart she has always wanted to meet the husband named in her marriage contract.” Daoist Yunxi smiled faintly, her gaze carrying a hint of benevolent warmth. “Today, the two of you met. That means the journey was not for nothing.”
She took a jade pendant from within her robes and handed it to Xiao Mo.
“If one day you think things through, or if there is anything you do not understand regarding dao arts, you may bring this jade pendant to Seeking Immortality Temple at any time.”
Xiao Mo looked at the jade pendant in Daoist Yunxi’s palm. After hesitating for a moment, he still reached out, accepted it, and put it away.
“Thank you, Daoist Yunxi.”
“No need for courtesy.”
Daoist Yunxi nodded slightly and bowed in return.
“Farewell.”
“Take care, both of you.”
Xiao Mo watched Daoist Yunxi and Gui Junmeng walk toward the edge of the bamboo grove.
Under the moonlight, master and disciple gradually receded into the distance, their sleeves fluttering lightly in the night wind.
Another clear breeze brushed through the bamboo grove, and the bamboo leaves rustled softly. By the time Xiao Mo looked up again, the two had already vanished into the depths of the grove, as if they had never appeared.
After returning to the courtyard, Xiao Mo slowly sat down on the steps.
His gaze fell on the horizontal stroke on the stone table, the line that had been split in two.
The tea on the table had long since dried, leaving only two faint water marks behind.
“A thousand years. Twin lives...”
Xiao Mo murmured softly to himself.
He sat there on the steps, motionless, as though he had entered meditative extinction.
Moonlight quietly shone over him, and bamboo shadows swayed gently at his side.
No one knew exactly what he was thinking.
...
After leaving Cold Mountain Academy, Daoist Yunxi and Gui Junmeng stepped along the tips of the wind, walking into the distance one step at a time.
The calico cat in the young woman’s arms clung tightly to her arm, its round eyes wide open, looking as if it were terrified of falling.
“What impression do you have of Xiao Mo?” Daoist Yunxi asked her disciple, her tone carrying the casual ease of idle conversation.
Gui Junmeng thought for a moment, then answered one word at a time.
“He is rather good-looking.”
“He is rather good-looking. And then?”
“He is rather tall,” Gui Junmeng continued, her tone still as calm as before.
“Anything else?”
“No...”
Gui Junmeng shook her head. Then, after thinking carefully again, she slowly said, “He seems more like a scholar. Not very much like a Daoist.”
“That is indeed so.”
Daoist Yunxi nodded, a trace of appreciation appearing in her eyes.
“He clearly cultivates dao arts, yet gives people the feeling of a man of letters. That is indeed rather rare.”
She turned her head, looked at her disciple’s exquisitely beautiful profile, and reached out to gently stroke her hair. Her movements were tender and affectionate.
“What? You are not going to ask me what his final answer was?”
“There should be no need to ask.”
Gui Junmeng’s eyes were calm as water, without sorrow or joy, as though she had already foreseen everything.
“Since Xiao Mo did not leave with you, Master, that means he refused.”
“He did refuse.”
Daoist Yunxi gazed toward a small mountain village below, her eyes distant.
“He said that matters of feeling should not exist merely because of a paper marriage contract, nor should they be bound by the Great Dao. Otherwise, that would not make them dao companions. It would make them a transaction.”
“I see...”
Gui Junmeng lowered her delicate head. Her eyes blinked softly, and her long lashes cast faint shadows beneath the moonlight.
“But he also said one thing...”
Daoist Yunxi strolled toward the small mountain village. Her voice drifted slowly from behind her, each word clear as it entered Gui Junmeng’s ears.
“Whether it is Jingci or Miss Gui—I will not let either of them die.”
At those words, Gui Junmeng could not help but stop.
She froze where she stood, as if that sentence had fixed her in place.
A long, long while passed.
Gui Junmeng slowly turned her head and looked in the direction of that bamboo grove.
Moonlight was like water, spilling over her shoulders and through her hair.
In those calm eyes, clear as water, the entire river of stars was reflected.
...
Liu Family Village.
The night was growing deeper. Most households in the village had already shut their doors and windows and settled into heavy sleep.
Even the village’s stray dogs were mostly sprawled before doors, dozing, their ears twitching every so often as they stayed alert to the movements of the night.
Now and then, a few barks came from somewhere in the distance, but they soon disappeared into the still night.
Sensing someone pass by, several stray dogs lazily lifted their heads and glanced at the two women walking past, then slowly closed their eyes again and went back to sleep.
In a side courtyard within Liu Family Village, Mother Liu sat on a wooden stool in the courtyard, sighing from time to time. Her gaze could not help drifting toward her daughter’s room, and her eyes were filled with worry.
Today, Mother Liu and her daughter Liu Shui had only just returned to Liu Family Village. After they finished tidying the house, Mother Liu had watched her daughter go out cheerfully, her eyes full of anticipation, heading in the direction of Cold Mountain Academy.
Mother Liu knew it in her heart.
Her daughter was going to see that Tushan household servant named “Xiao Mo.”
As for her daughter having someone she liked, Mother Liu was naturally happy to see it happen.
After all, even a cultivator ought to have someone by her side.
But in the evening, Mother Liu saw her daughter run back into the courtyard with red eyes. Then she shut herself in her room and refused to come out no matter what. She had not even eaten a mouthful of dinner.
Mother Liu knew then that something must have happened between her daughter and that young man called Xiao Mo.
She had gone to ask her daughter herself, but her daughter would not say a word, only keeping herself shut inside the room in silence.
As her mother, all she could do was worry helplessly in the courtyard, her heart feeling as though something had seized it, unable to let go no matter what.
“No. I still need to go talk to that girl.”
Mother Liu stood up and was just about to walk to her daughter’s room again to properly persuade her.
But just then, a knock suddenly came from outside the courtyard gate.
“Who could it be at this hour?”
Mother Liu muttered inwardly, her footsteps pausing slightly. Suddenly, she thought of a possibility.
Could it be that person called Xiao Mo? Had he made her daughter cry, then regretted it and come now to look for her?
At that thought, Mother Liu casually grabbed the rolling pin beside her, walked forward in a few quick steps, and opened the courtyard gate.
However, to Mother Liu’s surprise—
Standing outside the courtyard gate was not the young man she had imagined, but two women beautiful enough to be immortals.
In particular, the young woman holding a cat in her arms was so strikingly lovely that she seemed even more beautiful than a heavenly immortal, making it impossible to look away from her for a moment.
“Forgive us for visiting late at night, Madam.”
Daoist Yunxi bowed, her tone gentle and courteous.
“You two immortals are...” Mother Liu came back to herself. The hand holding the rolling pin could not help lowering as she asked, somewhat dazed.
“We have come to find Miss Liu Shui.”
Daoist Yunxi smiled faintly, her voice as soft as the wind.
“May I ask whether Miss Liu Shui is at home?”