Chapter 3 (1/2)
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Chapter 3
*edited the end of Chapter 2 for clarity and fixed names for Chapters 1 & 2. I'm terrible at spotting names…
Hidden in the grove, no one spoke for a long time.
”Master, Mistress……” Suo Ying's mouth was a little dry. ”Did they meet Sixth apprentice-brother?”
”Don't say such silly words, little apprentice-sister.” Du YuQi said: ”Sixth apprentice-brother has been dead for two years.”
”Right, it's only that Mistress missed and thought about him too much, so she imagined she saw him.” Du YuCheng comforted.
Mo QingYuan never said a word up till now. How to explain the yaoqi on this part of the mountain? Moreover, there was that person's silhouette he saw in the sky. It truly was very like the lost Sixth apprentice-brother.
Having encountered this issue, other than Gu XiaoMo, no one has the heart to go pick dates. Mo QingYuan said: ”Third and Fourth apprentice-brothers, accompany YingYing back to XiaoZhi Peak. I'll bring XiaoMo back.”
After everyone agreed, Suo Ying looked back at the figure of the handsome white-robed man reluctantly. Mo QingYuan smiled at her and said gently: ”Go rest early.”
Three people leaped onto their swords. Mo QingYuan turned around only to find the s.p.a.ce behind him startlingly empty. He flew laboriously in a big circle before he found in the far distance a Gu XiaoMo shoving dates into her dress as though her life depended on it. Suddenly he felt some frustration.
”XiaoMo.”
Gu XiaoMo turns her head to Mo QingYuan, her mouth full of dates all the way down her throat. After coughing a few times, she said uncertainly: ”Big, Big apprentice-brother.”
Mo QingYuan's face was black.
”As someone who lives here, aren't you afraid? Won't it be better if I send you to XiaoZhi Peak together with YingYing……”
”I'm used to it, senior apprentice-brother. Thanks.”
Gu XiaoMo jumps down the sword, scattering a few of the dates stuffed in her robes. She looked a little sorry. Mo QingYuan lightly said: ”Then I'll go back, you return to your house first.”
”Nn.”
That gray silhouette stands by the cliff, humble and small. She kept blankly staring after that sword light though he had already left for a while.
”Don't watch anymore, he's gone already.”
”What's it to you.”
”I've been waiting for you so long in this cold weather, you're sure merciless.”
”No matter how cold it is you won't feel it.”
”How hateful, poking at someone's weak spot……”
Gu XiaoMo sighed, looking over to the floating, translucent spirit fixated on the things in her robes. If you're asking why Gu XiaoMo is afraid of ghosts, it's because she has been able to see ghosts from birth. There are some ghosts whose appearances shouldn't be seen in public, but the scholarly and handsome ghost in front of her is an exception. He and Gu XiaoMo used to steal things to eat from the kitchen together. With this kind of record, there's bound to be sympathetic good feelings. After putting the dates on a rock beside her, that hungry-to-death ghost charged and threw himself forward on it.
This scene is a bit strange, a date raised up in midair, entering the scholar's mouth, slowly sinking down into his body and before entering the stomach, is s.n.a.t.c.hed away by Gu XiaoMo's outstretched hand and thrown into her own mouth.
”Hey, if you're doing it like this it'll feel strange.” The scholar said grievously.
”I'm not nauseous like you.”
”Since you're bullying me like this, be careful I won't find some ugly ghosts to scare you at night!”
Gu XiaoMo's face turned livid. Forget being afraid of ghosts, she's probably the only cultivator who has ever been blackmailed by a powerless little spirit.
”If you keep talking, I'll beat you up!”
”……you don't know even the most basic spell, don't think I don't know.”
Gu XiaoMo said evilly: ”You smelly-to-death ghost, go reincarnate already!”
”You're so lonely on this mountain, it's better if I keep you company.” The scholar smiled very slightly, and just when Gu XiaoMo was about to speak, changed the subject: ”You still haven't practiced your sword tonight.”
Once he spoke, she realized that the sword forms she learned today truly could use some improvement. The scholar sat to the side and ate dates, watching Gu XiaoMo practice in the cold autumn air. Sword light flashed continually and sweat fell like rain.
What genius, what natural talent for the sword? It's all dog s.h.i.+t. The scholar smiled lightly. It's because no one has seen her practice so hard. It's because no one would think that the usually lazy Gu XiaoMo would have low self-esteem for not being proficient in magic. Only her bitterly hard practice with the sword has come out with some success.
The scholar continues to watch over her. Eventually he finishes eating the dates, a small pile gathered under his feet. Gu XiaoMo pants: ”Tomorrow morning……call me…… to wake up……”
”You really want me to wake you up once the sun rises from the west?”
”I was late to the morning lesson and Master punished me to sweep the cultivation pavilion for a month.”
”Geeze, you're still so stupid. How can I go reincarnate in peace?”
The sword in her hand was raised in the air when she turned to face the scholar. He was still laughing leisurely. He was also like this when they stole and ate the same dessert together. When the time came for Master to start his inspection, he stuffed himself under his bed and almost died a second time. Every day he accompanies her as she practices her sword and even has advice for her sometimes. Like this she can already call him a friend. She recognized the loneliness hidden in his eyes and so he's stuck around for three years already, watched over her like a daughter and seen her progress. It's been worth it.
”Three years…… can you really go when you say you want to go?” She asked dumbly.
The scholar chuckled. Though this girl is usually very fierce with him, she's still very affectionate at a critical moment. With a serious face: ”After three years, if I still don't reincarnate, I'll become a wild wandering spirit…….”
”Aiya,” she thought of something troubling and said: ”If you go, who's going to wake me up tomorrow morning?”
The scholar ran away in tears. Gu XiaoMo stood in one spot unmoving for a long time, then sighed so lightly that it dissipated with the breeze.
From a house on DaZhi Peak emitted warm candle light. Mo Wei raised his hand in front of the window. Qiu Jing quietly sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes staring fixedly at the embroidery on the pillows, her thoughts unknown.
”I definitely didn't see wrong, that was Ze Xu.”
”If that was Ze Xu's soul, how can there be yaoqi?”
”Maybe if Ze Xu didn't die……”
”Mistress.” Mo Wei turned around, severe: ”Ze Xu fell from Broken Soul Cliff, you and I both saw clearly that day. Let's not deceive ourselves.”
”But……” Qiu Jing choked, her heart aching: ”Ze Xu…… he……”
”Mistress……” Mo Wei comfortingly wrapped his arm around Qiu Jing's shoulders and said softly: ”I'm afraid someone's pretending to be Ze Xu for some nefarious scheme……”
”Who can it be?” Qiu Jing wiped her tears. ”Aiyou, unless they want that thing……”
”Our Grandmaster once said, things have already pa.s.sed for a thousand years and the Jiao Clan has vanished. No one will ever know that thing is on TianYan Mountain……”
”That year, that thing was given to the ancestors for protection just in case something ever happens. Grandmaster split it up, giving one part to you and one part to apprentice-brother Lu Xiu. Unless something happened to him……”