Three months later, Puding’s legs finally fully recovered. To set his mind at ease, Abbot Huiru permitted him to travel abroad on a journey for a period of time, using it to refine his state of mind and dispel the affliction of inner demons.
By now, it was late March, and Puding had already reached the borders of Jiangnan.
The climate here was gentle and pleasant, and the scenery was magnificent and winding.
Walking into a dense forest, the surroundings were completely swathed in verdant green. As the spring breeze swept past, the treetops rustled and whispered.
Passing through the forest, what met the eyes was a stretch of azure-threaded bald cypress trees neatly aligned along the lush green river, resembling a dark-cyan strip of silk.
A few emerald-green branches and leaves fell upon the water’s surface, looking like massive pieces of emerald jade adorning the river.
The sound of babbling, flowing water was crisp and pleasant to the ear, making it seem as though only the murmuring trickle of the river remained in the entire world.
Wearing a brownish-black bamboo hat and a dark-cyan monk robe fluttering in the wind, Puding looked as though he had stepped right into a landscape painting.
One person and one river, one static and one dynamic.
This very scenery left one’s chest feeling tranquil and immensely broad.
At that moment, a harsh and resonant voice rang out:
“Face like peach blossoms, jade-like complexion,
Heart like spring waves, silver-like ripples.
Cherry-apple mouth tipped with carmine lips,
Throughout ancient times, what hero does not dote?”
A raggedly dressed, sallow-complexion Taoist priest was chanting with great gusto and relish.
Walking right up to Puding, he carefully observed his physiognomy.
“Little master, this poor Taoist has observed physiognomy for many years. Your phoenix eyes are brimming with moisture; though you reside in the gates of emptiness, your peach-blossom affinity remains unceasing.”
Puding’s expression stiffened: “Daoist priest, you worry too much! This poor monk is steadfastly dedicated to the gates of emptiness and will not indulge in romantic attachments.”
The old Daoist examined him more closely and remarked, “Look at you the corners of your eyes are tinged with red. There are some things you cannot decide whether you want or not; more often than not, you are driven by circumstances beyond your control, and your heart cannot help itself either.”
“Furthermore, little master, you are fundamentally a person of the mortal realm, and your worldly ties remain unbroken!”
Puding remained silent, thinking to himself: Utter nonsense! Very well, as a man of religion, I won’t lower myself to bicker with this old ox-nose Daoist.
He offered a slight bow: “Amitabha, well-virtued, well-virtued.”
stroking his long black beard, the old Daoist strode away, vanishing from his line of sight before long.
Puding shook his head. This was surely just a fake Daoist priest looking to swindle some silver coins.
As dusk gathered, he arrived at a dilapidated temple to use as a resting place.
Taking two steamed buns out from his bundle, he finished eating them and lay down directly on the ground. Having walked all this way, he was truly exhausted to the bone.
Around midnight, a dark shadow sneaked stealthily into the temple and quietly filched the bundle lying beside him on the floor.
Sensing the commotion, Puding knitted his brow and abruptly snapped his eyes open: “Who is there!”
The bandit attempted to flee, but Puding grabbed hold of him in a flash. Unexpectedly, the scoundrel whipped out a packet of numbing powder from his pocket and flung it forward with a fierce sweep, causing Puding to immediately collapse onto the ground in a faint.
Not long after the bandit fled, he was blocked right in his tracks by a white-robed man wielding a sword.
The man’s face was half-concealed by a thin white veil that fluttered gently in the wind. Pronouncing each word distinctly, he stated: “Drop the items, and I’ll spare your life.”
The moment the bandit witnessed this situation, he knew this was a person he could not afford to offend.
“Spare my life, female hero! Spare my life, female hero! I, I…” Tossing the bundle onto the ground, he fled in a terrified panic, scrambling away into the distance until he vanished completely.
Lifting the bundle, the white-robed man stepped into the dilapidated temple.
The instant he laid eyes on the person upon the ground, his pupils contracted sharply: “It’s you!”
Seeing Puding lying unconscious upon the ground, he checked his pulse and immediately realized Puding had been afflicted with numbing powder. However, possessing no antidote, he had no choice but to lay Puding back down upon the floor and wait for him to wake up naturally after the space of an hour.
Leaning back against a dust-covered altar and cradling his treasured sword in his arms, the white-robed man closed his eyelids, two strands of dark hair draping across his chest while his charming face remained faintly discernible beneath the veil.
At the onset of the Yin hour, Puding shook his head, blinked his eyes, and slowly opened them. Through the moonlight, he caught sight of a pure white silhouette before him. Rubbing his eyes and thinking he was seeing things, he looked closer beneath the veil on that face rested an extraordinarily familiar outline.
“Xiaobai, is that you?”
He slowly rose to his feet and drew closer.
Xiaobai pulled down his veil: “You’re finally awake.”
Puding’s eyes lit up: “It really is you!”
“Your bundle was almost stolen away by a bandit; I intercepted him and kept him from succeeding.”
“Many thanks! Thanks to you, otherwise I wouldn’t know how I’d get through the days ahead.”
Xiaobai cast a sidelong glance at him: “Since when do you need to be polite with me? I was merely passing by this area after finishing a mission, and never expected to run into you.”
He always felt a profound affinity linking him to Puding, and moreover, Puding was none other than Huisheng big brother it was simply a pity that he could not disclose his true identity to him.
With a hint of bitterness in his voice, Xiaobai said, “It’s still early; go back to sleep.”
Tilting his head slightly backward, he murmured, “Actually, when I’m out and about, I don’t sleep very soundly; the slightest disturbance wakes me up, unlike you—every time you sleep, you drop off so deeply, and occasionally you even snore.”
“Oh? Do I snore?” Puding scratched the back of his head with a somewhat bashful expression.
“You didn’t know? I’ll imitate it for you to hear!”
Xiaobai emitted a few rumbling snoring sounds from his throat.
Hearing this, Puding bit his lip and smiled: “Is it really that harsh? Why does it sound like an old grandfather…”
“Only just figured that out? I often ask myself in my heart: is the person sleeping beside me a little monk, or an old grandfather!”
“You…” Puding lay down sideways, “Go to sleep, I’m not talking with you anymore.”
Suddenly losing all sleepiness, Xiaobai remarked, “You don’t need to rise early, nor do you have to attend morning chants. Seeing you haven’t for a few days…” Pausing briefly with a hint of hesitation, he added, “I still wanted to chat with you a bit longer.”
Turning over onto his side and resting his arm behind his head, Puding replied, “Mhm, go ahead, I’m listening.”
Hearing him speak thus, Xiaobai suddenly didn’t know what else to say: “Sleep!”
Feeling puzzled in his heart, What’s wrong? Is he unhappy?
“The moment I woke up just now, the instant I laid eyes on you, I just felt that the way you looked wearing a veil… was even more beautiful!” His voice dropped extremely low so low that without listening closely, it was completely inaudible.
“What did you say?” Xiaobai muttered softly.
Puding cleared his throat softly: “I said you look so beautiful!”
Silence fell over Xiaobai before he slowly replied, “Actually, I don’t like being described with that word; it makes me look just like a woman.”
Yet, come to think of it, he was naturally built resembling a woman to begin with! Even more dazzling and alluring than a woman, in fact.
Abruptly drawing closer and lying down alongside him on the same side, Xiaobai gazed at his curved, ink-drawn brows and said, “Now, how do you… feel about things? Since you were injured at the age of ten, you’ve presumably never experienced what it feels like when a man’s masculine Qi is at its most abundant and vigorous.”
Puding was somewhat perplexed: “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know?”
A slight shock rippled through his dark pupils as Puding instantly comprehended Xiaobai’s meaning.
“You mean the ‘fifth-watch yang surge’?”
Puding’s cheeks burned a fiery red as he offered a sheepish smile, radiating an intense masculine vigor beneath the moonlight: “I haven’t experienced that just yet.”
Lifting the volume of his voice, Xiaobai asked, “It’s been all this time, and you still haven’t?”
Could it be that he hadn’t fully recovered? That couldn’t be right judging by his pulse, he possessed the entirely healthy physique of an adult male.
“It doesn’t matter; perhaps you will in a few more days.”
Closing his eyelids slowly, Puding drifted off into a deep sleep.
Gazing at him earnestly, Xiaobai thought to himself: He really is carefree and unbothered, falling asleep this fast. At the same time, it was true that he possessed no real worries; if he hadn’t crossed paths with Pei Yaoguang, he would have lived an even happier life.
At this thought, recalling his severed finger, an excruciating wave of pain clutched at Xiaobai’s heart while anger burned relentlessly within his chest, making him wish he could immediately hack off Pei Yaoguang’s head and tear him limb from limb!
The following day.
Standing outside and surveying the surroundings in all directions, Puding found the scenery in this region exceptionally pleasing to the eye and refreshing to the spirit, prompting him to decide to linger here for a spell.
Xiaobai went out to gather some timber and hemp ropes, hammering and tying them together until he finished constructing a swing.
The swing was suspended beneath a tree in full, blooming magnolia blossoms. Viewed from afar, this spot resembled an untroubled utopia far removed from the mundane world.
Sitting sideways upon the swing with his right knee propped up by his elbow, a gust of spring breeze swept past, causing pink magnolia petals to flutter down like snow.
Xiaobai’s pebble-like dark pupils gazed into the distance.
The next instant, a magnolia petal drifted aimlessly on the wind, landing squarely right between his brows.
Puding experienced a fleeting moment of daze as he gazed upon that handsome face. Xiaobai’s brows possessed a long, curved contour, and his complexion was as flawless and unblemished as white jade.
So pure!
Puding withdrew his gaze.
Pinching the petal between his fingertips with his eyelids half-closed, Xiaobai looked like a deity holding a flower between his fingers, gazing down at it with gentleness.
This petal possessed an exquisite sense of geography, landing precisely upon the center of his brow just like… a divine mark born right between his eyebrows.
Smiling with the flower pinched in his hand, he raised his arm to toss it upward, letting it flutter away on the wind to land softly upon his vermilion lips. Wrapped in sparkling morning dew and illuminated by the rising golden sun, it presented a crystal-white, translucent halo that blended seamlessly with his lips, whose color was as pale as cherry-stained dyes.
As a breeze blew by, it drifted all the way down to land upon Puding’s dark monk shoe, slightly dampening a tiny patch of it.
Picking up the petal from the tip of his shoe, Puding softly recited a poem: “Willing to follow the Master up to the Heavenly Altar, at leisure helping immortals sweep away fallen flowers.”
This very scenery caused him to cast his previous grievances and helplessness instantly to the back of his mind. If possible, he truly wished time could stand still at this very moment.
“What are you thinking about? Come over.” Xiaobai lowered his legs to carve out a space beside him.
The two of them sat side by side.
Puding asked, “What are your plans for the future? Have you ever thought about breaking away from the organization entirely one day on your own?”
A stern expression crossing his features, Xiaobai replied, “Either I live, or I die. If I manage to survive until the very end, I will certainly do as you wish!”
“What about you? Monk, are you going to remain a monk for the rest of your life?”
Puding’s heart suddenly felt hollow and empty: “Actually, I don’t know either—I’ll just take things one step at a time.”
Pondering silently in his heart, Xiaobai was well aware of the reason behind his decision to become a monk: half of it stemmed from his physical condition. Now, however, his body had already returned to normal.
“Have you ever thought about reclaiming your position as an estate heir in the future?”
He shook his head: “Never.”
Snorting in disbelief, Xiaobai retorted, “I don’t believe you. Search your conscience and ask yourself again.”
He smiled: “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Come, I’ll give you a push.”
Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Puding walked behind Xiaobai and gave him a gentle push, feeling his thin, slender, yet warm back beneath his hands.
As the swing rocked back and forth, Puding suddenly accelerated both speed and force, giving it a heavy shove that sent the swing soaring high into the air.
“Monk, why are you exerting so much effort? I’m not a child anymore do we really need to play like this?” Xiaobai felt both amused and exasperated.
Such a joyful and relaxed day inevitably reminded him of the carefree, untroubled life of his youth.
Huisheng big brother, meeting you is truly wonderful!
His white robes fluttered and whipped violently against the wind. The breeze grew increasingly fierce, and the pink magnolia blossoms overhead tumbled down in a rush, resembling a group of excited children joining in their fun, eagerly jostling and bumping the swing along.
Turning his head sideways, Xiaobai called out, “Come, get on here with you.”
Puding vaulted up onto the swing.
With the boundless mountain ranges stretching out endlessly before them, the two of them embraced the blue sky, swinging back and forth until their heartbeats trembled in unison. Two figures in the air one dark, one light drew closer and closer together.
Suddenly, Xiaobai leaned his head against Puding’s shoulder, smiling brightly like a flower while a warm wave surged within his heart.
Puding’s eyes shimmered with a brilliant, sparkling watery luster as his cheeks bloomed like peach blossoms. Lowering his head, he gazed deeply down at him…