After Qingyi left, and the soft click of the closing door faded away, the bedchamber fell silent once more.
Yun Che asked, “How do you feel?”
The Princess’s voice carried an unprecedented lightness, and her eyes seemed to sparkle with little stars.
“Brother Yun Che, you’re amazing! You dealt with her in just a few moves!”
“I never would have thought… that you could fight back like that.”
Yun Che chuckled softly. “What’s so special about that? She’s just the kind of person who bullies the weak and fears the strong.”
“Let me tell you, human nature is like that. The more weak and yielding you are, the more the other side will push its luck.”
“When you bare your claws, she’ll be afraid instead.”
“Mm-hmm!” Tantai Mingyue agreed. “I remember now.”
Although it was a little… violent and not very ladylike, Tantai Mingyue answered honestly, then paused. “But… it feels so satisfying.”
She suddenly smiled, and tears fell at the same time.
Those were tears from grievances built up over many years, tears finally given release. Those days and nights of being scolded, of having cherished possessions deliberately ruined…
Today, at last, they were let out.
“Thank you, Brother Yun Che,” Mingyue said softly, her voice choked with emotion but firm. “Thank you for letting me know… that I don’t have to be afraid either.”
“Remember this feeling,” Yun Che said gently. “You’re not a weakling for others to trample on. You just lacked a little courage. Today, you found it.”
“Mm-hmm!” Mingyue agreed. “I remember.”
At that moment, a system prompt sounded deep within Yun Che’s consciousness:
『Warning: 30 seconds remaining in this possession.』
『Please prepare for consciousness extraction.』
Yun Che immediately said to Mingyue, “Mingyue, my ability has reached its time limit. I have to go.”
A flash of panic crossed the girl’s eyes, but she quickly hid it and asked softly, “Oh…
Then will you come back next time?”
“Mm, I will.” Yun Che answered firmly. “I definitely will.”
Yun Che added, “Remember what I said. And… take care of yourself.”
Before the words had even faded, Yun Che’s consciousness was pulled away by a mysterious force and began to separate.
Tantai Mingyue regained control of her body. She lowered her head and looked at her own hands… these very hands had just slapped the imperial elder sister who had bullied her for so many years; these very feet had just stamped down on the person who always bullied her.
Mingyue stood still, feeling the companionship deep within her consciousness drift away.
She walked to the dressing table and looked at herself in the bronze mirror… her cheeks flushed red from excitement, her eyes bright with tears, but her back was straight, in a posture she had never shown before.
Tantai Mingyue wiped away her tears, and her gaze gradually grew steady.
Standing alone by the window, the night breeze lifted the loose strands of hair on her forehead.
From outside the half-open window of the bedchamber came a fluttering sound… a small bird with an entirely green body and a strip of gold along the tip of its tail flew in lightly and landed neatly on the edge of the dressing table.
“Cui Ling’er, you’re here.” Mingyue naturally extended a finger, and the little bird immediately hopped onto her fingertip.
“Little Mingyue, you’re acting strange today.” Cui Ling’er’s clear voice carried concern. “Just now, why did I feel as if there were two souls inside your body?
Who was he?”
Yes, it was strange. A person was talking to a bird. But Tantai Mingyue could indeed understand bird language.
She could understand Cui Ling’er’s words, and that ability was innate.
From the moment she could remember, the world had seemed much “noisier” to her than it was to other people.
At first it was vague, like listening to distant commotion through thick cotton.
She only knew that when she focused especially hard, she could “feel” the simple emotions of the little animals around her… the “happiness” of butterflies in the flowers, the “busyness” of ants under the tree.
As she grew older, that feeling became clearer and clearer.
In the spring when she was five years old, she squatted by the pond in the imperial garden and watched the koi swimming in the water.
Sunlight passed through the surface and refracted into glittering shards of gold across the scales. She watched in a daze and thought to herself, “They swim so freely.”
Just then, a slow voice carrying a faint hint of dissatisfaction suddenly and clearly entered her mind:
“…The sun on my back… feels so comfortable…
Yesterday’s fish food tasted good… but there were a few less shrimp today…”
Mingyue jumped in fright and sat back hard, staring wide-eyed at the fattest golden koi in the water.
The koi also stopped, and its bubble-like eyes seemed to “look” at her once before it slowly swam away again.
Terrified, she ran back to the imperial consort mother and stammered, “The fish… the fish is saying it wants shrimp!”
The imperial consort mother smiled and patted her head. “Little Mingyue, are you hungry?
We’ll have the imperial kitchen make shrimp for dinner.”
Mingyue said anxiously, “No, Imperial Consort Mother, it’s the fish that’s talking.”
The imperial consort mother only treated it as childish nonsense and didn’t take it seriously.
As for Cui Ling’er, she was a little bird Mingyue had met three years earlier beneath the old Chinese parasol tree in the imperial garden.
At that time, the little bird had been injured, its wing cut by a branch. Mingyue carefully carried it back to the bedchamber, wrapped the wound with a silk handkerchief, and fed it water and grains of rice.
She named the bird Cui Ling’er, and Cui Ling’er was also very curious about this human girl who could understand its speech.
From then on, Cui Ling’er became a regular visitor by her window.
“That is my friend,” Mingyue said softly, gently stroking Cui Ling’er’s feathers with her fingertips. “A friend very, very far away.”
“A friend?” Cui Ling’er tilted its little head. “Like you and me?”
Mingyue blushed a little when she heard that and said shyly, “It’s still a little different.”
The bird shook its head, looking as if it didn’t quite understand.
Mingyue lifted a hand and touched her chest, where some wondrous warmth still lingered.
“Yun Che, you must come back…” she repeated softly, her eyes full of anticipation.
When she turned and walked toward the bed, her steps were lighter and more purposeful than before.
In the mirror, the young girl’s eyes shimmered with a light called hope.
The night in the deep palace was still long, but some people had already seen the first light of dawn.
Outside the window, moonlight flowed like water.
…
Xiaoyao Prefecture
Shenxiao Palace
Great Bamboo Peak
Yun Che’s consciousness returned to his original body, and he suddenly opened his eyes.
In front of him, the system’s settlement prompt appeared right on time:
『The third binding has officially ended.』
『Bound target: Tantai Mingyue (Yuanhai Continent · Great Zhou Dynasty 9th Princess)』
『Initial intimacy: 0 (first binding). Note that intimacy points are only awarded the first time the system is used.』
『This binding lasted: 2 hours.』
『Tantai Mingyue cooldown period begins: 120 hours (five days).』
Listening to the heartfelt story of The Match Made in Heaven and the deep love of the Seven Fairies stirred within her a longing for true feelings.
The belief carried by that story… that true feelings can overcome all hardships… resonated with her deepest desire.
A basic bond of understanding and companionship between the lonely was established: +15
Through “action empowerment”… helping her fight back, teaching her the truth, and giving her hope… her own courage was awakened: +20
『Total intimacy change: +35』
『Note: No cultivation level comprehension or skill inheritance was directly obtained this time.』
Yun Che frowned slightly and focused his attention on the last prompt.
“That’s not right…” he muttered, stood up, and walked to the window, letting the night wind brush his face and help settle his thoughts.
The system had been operating for some time, and a pattern could be faintly discerned… it always bound itself to immortal maidens of extraordinary talent.
Li Zijun was a descendant of the Confucian Sage, carried the orthodox inheritance of the Confucian school, and was a big shot in the Nascent Soul stage; both her talent and strength were top-tier.
But this Tantai Mingyue…
Yun Che recalled every detail of the possession. Tantai Mingyue was not an ordinary person who could not cultivate; the girl’s body did indeed have spiritual power fluctuations, but they were very weak.
“She looks delicate and weak, with no combat ability at all…” Yun Che tapped the window lattice with his fingertip. “The system only binds me to high-talent targets, so where exactly does this Princess’s talent lie?”
He closed his eyes and carefully traced the sensations from the possession. Mingyue’s spiritual power was extraordinarily pure, almost free of impurities, and such purity was extremely rare.
Yun Che opened his eyes, and a glimmer of thought flashed through them. “Could her talent not be a simple cultivation constitution, but some more special and hidden type?”
The cultivation world was vast and boundless, and talents came in all kinds and forms. Some talents seemed utterly unremarkable at low levels and might even be mistaken for a waste constitution until some opportunity made them erupt in full force.
“Or perhaps,” Yun Che said as he turned and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, “her talent needs a specific environment or emotion to be activated?”
“Forget it. The next time I bind with her, I’ll find a way to test it.” Yun Che made up his mind.