The two stood face to face, the contours of their bodies brushing extraordinarily close. Cong Jinyue could smell the scent of magnolia blossoms clinging to Jiang Xingxuan.
It was a deep and lingering fragrance, carrying notes of rouge and powder, alongside an imperceptibly faint hint of sweet copper.
Does she look like an old friend?
“Daoist Sovereign… have we met before?”
Recalling the moments since they first encountered each other, Cong Jinyue tried her best to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks as she explained her situation. “I don’t remember. What I mean is, I have no memory of anything that happened before.”
The breath beside her ear paused, turning suppressed and drawn out.
As if feeling sorrow for her, Jiang Xingxuan’s voice also grew faint, like a murmur in a dream. “You don’t remember?”
She slowly backed away a fraction, gazing at Cong Jinyue as a wave of moisture welled up in her eyes.
Just as the sheen was about to spill over her eyelids, she suddenly lowered her eyes again, letting out a soft laugh accompanied by the chime of tiny bells, and slowly murmured.
“Never. We are merely meeting today for the very first time.”
She stroked the ends of Cong Jinyue’s hair, her smile remaining unchanged: “Ah-Yue, since you have joined my sect, why don’t you let me hear you call me ‘Master’ now?”
The faint pressure hovering in the air dissolved, and the atmosphere inside the room resumed its natural flow alongside her lighthearted voice.
Since that was indeed how she ought to address her now, Cong Jinyue could not help but smile back. Gazing into those exquisite eyes, she called out earnestly and formally:
“Master.”
These were the exact words Jiang Xingxuan had requested, yet when they actually reached her ears, she did not react with the pleased composure Cong Jinyue had anticipated.
It seemed that the form of address she truly wished to hear was not this one after all.
She even withdrew her smile, responding with only a single muted word, before lowering her head to adjust something between them.
Cong Jinyue followed the line of her pale forearm downward, only then realizing that Jiang Xingxuan had tied the ends of their hair together into a knot.
In the blink of an eye, a streak of faint ink-colored light flashed, and the intertwined lock of hair was neatly sliced off, drifting down onto Jiang Xingxuan’s palm.
Cong Jinyue looked back up at her, asking in confusion: “Master, what is this for?”
“A disciple’s initiation rite.” Jiang Xingxuan pinched the strand of black hair between two fingers. Holding it up against the fading daylight streaming through the western window to inspect it, a look of satisfaction actually emerged on her face. A moment later, she made all the hair vanish into thin air within her palm.
She glanced sideways at Cong Jinyue: “According to mortal customs, this counts as the tuition gift you present to me.”
Although Cong Jinyue could not recall her own name and had forgotten all past ties, she still retained a passing memory of the local customs of this world.
How could a tuition gift possibly be like this?
Furthermore, among mortals, the only ones who tie their hair together as a pledge are couples bound for a hundred years of devoted marriage.
However, Cong Jinyue had no intention of probing deeper right now. Judging from their interactions today, although Jiang Xingxuan’s words and actions were somewhat unpredictable, she was ultimately quite gentle and mild-tempered toward her.
In particular, that look in her eyes felt as though she had been looking forward to her arrival for a very, very long time.
Perhaps peach-blossom eyes just naturally look affectionate at everyone.
Thus, she stopped guessing and let out a bright smile: “As long as Master is willing to accept it, that is all that matters.”
Jiang Xingxuan was not infected by her smile in the slightest. Her gaze merely slid down to Cong Jinyue’s sleeve. After inspecting it briefly, she asked in a low voice:
“What connection did you have with Wenjian Peak before this?”
Cong Jinyue raised her wrist to look. On the edge of her light green sleeve, a three-inch sword pattern was embroidered with golden thread, clearly a mark used to identify one’s identity and affiliation.
This small golden sword was likely the emblem of Wenjian Peak.
Since her journey here alongside that squad of disciples was no secret, to avoid having her newly acknowledged Master suspect her of being fickle and disloyal, she gave an honest account:
“When I woke up, I ran into Senior Sister Yue Tongxiu leading a team back to the sect. This clothing was kindly lent to me by Senior Sister Yue.”
“Yue Tongxiu?” Jiang Xingxuan kept her eyes lowered, pondering for a moment before offering a half-smile. “Ah, I remember now… the head disciple of Tianque…”
Her fingertips brushed over the golden sword, tracing the paths of the threads as she brought it up like casual small talk: “Rumor has it that she is righteous without being stubborn, steady without being inflexible, fully living up to the honor of being the primary disciple of a major sect.”
Fingering the outline of the small sword, she shifted her eyes up to Cong Jinyue’s face, letting a slight smile blossom: “Does Ah-Yue think highly of her?”
She was already captivatingly gorgeous, this single smile was like the vibrant, lush blooms of March in the mortal realm, swaying with effortless elegance.
Yet, while the flower’s fragrance was intoxicating, it seemed as though it could also imperceptibly attack and kill.
Suppressing an inexplicable thud of heart-palpitations, Cong Jinyue answered thoughtfully: “Senior Sister Yue is welcoming and caring, as are the other senior sisters. They treated me just like a junior sister of their own sect, they were all wonderful.”
“Out of courtesy, it is not just Senior Sister Yue alone.”
She watched Jiang Xingxuan’s slightly softened features as the anxiety in her heart lessened a bit: “I ought to thank each of them one by one.”
Jiang Xingxuan fell silent for a brief moment, before softly saying: “Ah-Yue must not show favoritism toward others.”
Though the phrasing sounded a bit odd, her Master was likely warning her not to be biased, lest she neglect the care shown by the other senior sisters and appear snobbish and ungrateful.
Cong Jinyue immediately lowered her head to accept the teaching: “Thank you for the guidance, Master. I understand.”
“Very well, this was never a major issue to begin with.”
Jiang Xingxuan used one hand to lightly pull up the hem of Cong Jinyue’s slightly dusty skirt, while using her other hand to present a set of crimson robes before her.
Her smile turned a bit gentler: “Perhaps this was dirtied when Mantou pounced on you earlier. Change out of all the clothes on your body, I will return them to Wenjian Peak another day.”
Cong Jinyue accepted them with both hands and thanked Jiang Xingxuan. But after waiting a moment, she noticed her Master was still standing in the exact same spot, without any intention of stepping aside.
“Master, am I changing right now?” Cong Jinyue looked around, and seeing no privacy screen, she asked: “Which room should I go to?”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xingxuan raised her eyebrows, appearing even more perplexed than Cong Jinyue was.
Her expression was innocent and blank, as if showing no hesitation before her and being completely candid with one another was the most normal thing in the world, rather than something to feel bashful about.
For a moment, Cong Jinyue even began to wonder if she herself was being overly sensitive, in the pursuit of the Dao, was there really no concept of modesty between women?
Silence filled the room. Two pairs of eyes stared at each other without a word, both parties looking utterly confused.
“Awoo, ”
The sound of sharp claws scratching against the door rang out, the cat outside had run out of patience.
Only then did Jiang Xingxuan snap back to reality. Her cheeks flushed slightly, her expression darkened a fraction, and with a wave of her hand as she stepped outside, several small flags were recalled into her sleeve: “I will wait for you in the courtyard.”
Why does she look like she’s in a bad mood all of a sudden?
It couldn’t possibly be because I didn’t strip off my clothes right in front of her, right?
Looking at the room’s decor, Jiang Xingxuan had likely lived and cultivated alone for many years. Perhaps she had simply transcended worldly conventions to the point of being entirely detached from such norms, and being suddenly reminded of it felt like an immortal tumbling back into the mortal world, causing her a bit of embarrassment?
Stripping off her old clothes, Cong Jinyue made excuses in her heart for her Master’s strange reaction before putting on the new attire.
The red robes were like fire. Once worn, the size was a perfect fit, as if every inch of the fabric had been meticulously tailored according to her exact figure.
Cong Jinyue marveled at the wonder of magic garments in her heart, and after tidying up briefly, she pushed open the door and stepped out.
The courtyard was radiant with spring light. Jiang Xingxuan leaned on her hand against the railing of a red pavilion, idly curving her fingers to manipulate water droplets and play with the carp in the pond. Mantou had shrunk down to the size of a domestic tabby, curled up next to Jiang Xingxuan, meticulously licking its paws and cleaning its face.
Noticing her come out, the person and the cat turned their heads simultaneously, both unexpectedly freezing in place.
A orb of water floating in midair lost control because of this and splashed into the pond, sending countless droplets spraying everywhere. It drenched Mantou completely, and even left several light and dark watermarks across Jiang Xingxuan’s dress.
Neither of them remembered to dodge.
Mantou had not even shaken its fur dry, nor had it retracted its tongue from licking its paw. Meanwhile, Jiang Xingxuan snapped back to her senses a step faster, immediately raising her fingers to her chest.
Countless sparkling water droplets rose up from their bodies upon command, colliding with one another to coalesce into a translucent mirror of water.
Under the bright sunlight, this flowing curtain shimmered with ripples, refracting a spectrum of radiant, multicolored light.
Through this rainbow sheen, Cong Jinyue looked back at Jiang Xingxuan from across the distance.
Jiang Xingxuan’s vermilion lips curled into a smile, her pupils dark as lacquer, with tiny fragments of light twinkling within them, resembling a long-dormant, uninhabited realm suddenly regaining a ray of morning sunlight.
In that single instant, only one thought remained in Cong Jinyue’s mind, her Master truly possessed a breathlessly stunning countenance.
Those peach-blossom eyes held a pool of autumn water, when the shimmering ripples crested, even ancient wells and solid boulders would boil over and capsize for her.
Let alone a heart that was far from stone.
As Cong Jinyue stood dazed by her beauty, the water mirror suddenly shifted, transforming into a moderately sized ring.
From within it bounded out a tiger-striped little beast.
Mantou opened its four paws, retracting its claws, and leaped into Cong Jinyue’s embrace, before expertly hooking itself around her neck.
A soft chuckle echoed from the pavilion.
Jiang Xingxuan sent the water back into the pond. Perhaps because of this heartwarming scene, her voice sounded as gentle as a spring breeze:
“Ah-Yue, you and I need to go to the Sword Tomb tonight to claim a sword. Before that, I still have one matter to attend to, you may rest here for now.”
“I have already set up a protective array around the perimeter. Not even a Nascent Soul cultivator’s divine sense can slip inside.”
Jiang Xingxuan flicked her finger toward the two of them, and a storage ring gently slipped onto the tip of Mantou’s tail: “There are plenty of pastries inside, try some.”
She spread her sleeves and rode the wind, flying off like a red butterfly fluttering its wings. Finally, she turned her head back with a smile: “By the way, don’t feed any to Mantou.”
The beauty vanished without a trace, leaving only her echoing voice behind: “Otherwise, when she goes out in the future, I fear she’ll drag all the dust along the path clean with her belly.”
“Meow-woo, ” The little beast on her neck roared in anger.
Cong Jinyue couldn’t help but let out a soft snort. She patted Mantou’s plump belly and intentionally let out a sigh: “It indeed is a bit chubby.”
A pair of clear, yellow vertical pupils instantly locked onto her. Perhaps truly hurt in a sensitive spot, even the tips of Mantou’s ears drooped down as it let out a weak, pitiful “meow.”
“Alright, alright, don’t be mad, don’t be sad.”
Cong Jinyue gently patted the cat’s plump hindquarters as she stepped into the red pavilion, sitting down right where Jiang Xingxuan had just been leaning against the railing: “Mantou, is that the name Master gave you?”
A cat paw pressed against her palm, the paw pad was pink, warm, and soft.
Cong Jinyue turned her hand and raised a finger, tapping lightly on the cat paw, only to have her fingertip pressed down again by the paw, the cat’s paw must be on top!
Having no intention of competing with a small cat for dominance, she asked out of curiosity: “Can you understand human speech?”
Seeing Mantou nod, Cong Jinyue asked again: “Then can you speak?”
The little beast shook its head and let out another “meow,” its whiskers trembling. Immediately after, a sweep of its long tail caused various colorful, intricate pastries to appear out of thin air, neatly covering the entire bench.
Mantou sat bolt upright with round, wide eyes, putting on an innocent and pure facade. However, its uncontrollable, constantly twitching nostrils completely betrayed its ambition.
“You want to eat?” Cong Jinyue picked up a piece of pastry, and Mantou immediately raised its front paws, bowing up and down vigorously, even whipping up a mini breeze.
Cong Jinyue’s heart melted instantly. She looked around before extending the pastry toward the cat’s mouth, whispering an instruction: “You eat half, I eat half. Don’t let Master see.”
Red plum blossom cakes, green mung bean cakes, white glutinous rice balls, in the span of time it took for a red carp in the pond to blow a string of bubbles, they were swallowed up by the human-cat duo working in tandem.
A gentle breeze blew past, sending waves of flowers rolling, while the scent of magnolia surged like a tide.
Bathed in the subtle scent of magnolia, cradling a fluffy ball of a cat in her arms, any remaining troubles Cong Jinyue held melted away under the genial spring sun.
Ever since waking up, she had been rushing about with people she had met purely by chance, witnessed such a terrifying scene during the sect selection, and almost failed to gain a Master. She could truly be described as a duckweed drifting with no place to rely on.
Right here and now, for the very first time, a sense of peace bloomed within her.
In this chaotic world, she had temporarily found a branch to roost upon. Although Jiang Xingxuan was somewhat unpredictable in temper, judging her by her actions rather than searching her heart, she treated her exceptionally well.
And once a person feels secure and carefree, it becomes easy to grow lazy and weary.
In this warm spring day, leaning against the vermilion railing and lulled by Mantou’s purring, Cong Jinyue gradually drifted step by step into a shallow dreamland.
In the dream, the sky darkened, and the spring wind grew cool. A faint scent of fragrance seemed to sweep over her, gentle yet forceful, wrapping her tight like an embrace…
An embrace so tight it almost stole her breath away.
Trance-like, Cong Jinyue opened her eyes, meeting a pair of bright, clear eyes head-on.
They were mere inches away, brimming with boundless affection.