Yu Ziyu ran back to the Taoist temple, and Li Jiyan followed her at a distance. When they reached the temple gate, Yu Ziyu reacted quickly, trying to close the gate and keep Li Jiyan outside.
Li Jiyan didn’t back down and reached his left hand into the door. Yu Ziyu didn’t notice and pushed the door shut with a creak, instantly trapping Li Jiyan’s hand.
Li Jiyan’s hands were already covered in knife wounds and burns, and now his palms were pinched so tightly that they were congested and bruised. He groaned in pain and broke out in a light sweat.
Stimulated by the pain, Li Feng seemed to be about to emerge again—Li Jiyan was secretly alarmed. Li Feng had been appearing so frequently lately; had his condition worsened?
Seeing Li Jiyan’s pained and conflicted expression, Yu Ziyu was eager to try and asked, “Li Feng?”
Li Jiyan struggled to stay conscious, breaking free from the suffocating feeling. His eyes were bloodshot, a truly frightening sight. He braced himself against the door with one hand and asked, “You want Li Feng to come out that badly?”
”What’s it to you!”
Yu Ziyu longed to see Li Feng. She liked it when Li Feng called her Daoist Master, liked his affectionate gaze, liked teaching him to read and understand the Dao, and liked the ticklish feeling when he kissed her ear.
But she couldn’t admit that she loved Li Feng.
Li Feng is a wandering ghost who cannot see the light of day, while she is a Taoist priest who punishes evil and promotes good. They are from different realms, separated by the mortal and spiritual worlds. How could she, a transcendent being from the Ziwei Star of the Great Xuan Dynasty, possibly fall in love with a wandering ghost?
That’s so unbecoming of me.
She ran into the temple and jumped onto the millstone to read. Li Jiyan also came in, stood in front of her, and after hesitating, issued another warning that had no real force.
“Yu Ziyu, I’ve said it before, if you fall in love with Li Feng, I will never let him out.”
Yu Ziyu felt guilty, her cheeks flushed again, and she said hesitantly, “He’s so flirtatious, who would like him? Why do you keep bringing this up? I don’t understand.”
”I’m not happy that you like him more than me.”
Li Jiyan moved with heavy, slow steps. He was a coward; he was head over heels in love with her, yet he didn’t even dare to hold her hand. Every step he took closer to her was filled with trepidation; he only dared to endlessly yearn for her in his heart.
But Li Feng was different. The moment he touched her, he dared to kiss her, hug her, and lick her hand. His delusions were easily fulfilled by Li Feng, and his jealousy of Li Feng was even deeper than that of Xiao Jin.
He hated himself like this, unable to do anything but filled with resentment. For Yu Ziyu, Li Feng might be the lover she fell in love with at first sight, while Xiao Jin was her childhood sweetheart.
Only Li Jiyan, caught in the middle, is nothing.
Yu Ziyu’s mind was filled with the spring scene of lying on the grass with Li Feng just now. She covered her mouth as Li Feng kissed the back of her hand, his tongue slowly tracing the skin of her hand, kissing her so passionately, like an animal in heat in spring.
”Yu Ziyu, why aren’t you replying to me?” Li Jiyan pulled her wandering thoughts back.
Yu Ziyu put down her book and yelled at him in dissatisfaction, “What do you want me to say? You’re messing with my mind every day. You’re so immature!”
”You kissed him, so you should kiss me too, otherwise it’s not fair.” This was his bottom line.
”Nonsense.” Yu Ziyu moved her body, turning her back to Li Jiyan.
Li Jiyan stood there, looking at her slightly crooked hair bun, without saying a word.
After a long while, Yu Ziyu couldn’t sit still any longer.
Still with her back to Li Jiyan, she stretched out her right hand towards him: “Here, have a kiss, okay? You’re so annoying. I was even thinking of marrying you after I left the monastic life, but with your unreasonable personality, which girl would dare to marry you?”
”What do you mean?” Li Jiyan didn’t understand.
Yu Ziyu frowned and said irritably, “Didn’t you want fairness? Li Feng just kissed my hand, so now you can kiss it too, okay? I’m busy cultivating immortality and have countless affairs to attend to, and you don’t even show me any consideration.”
”He did it himself?”
”I am a monk and I do not lie. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine.” Yu Ziyu was about to withdraw his hand again.
“I believe you.”
Li Jiyan grasped her wrist, his heart pounding in his chest. He lowered his head to kiss her hand. Just before his thin lips touched the back of her hand, he suddenly remembered something, released her hand, and walked towards the water vat beside her.
He took out a silk handkerchief from his bosom, scooped up a ladle of water, wet the handkerchief, and quickly wrung it out.
He jogged back to the millstone with a damp handkerchief, took Yu Ziyu’s right hand in his, and wiped the back of her hand repeatedly with the handkerchief. A slight smile played on his lips: “There’s his saliva on it, wipe it off.”
Yu Ziyu said disdainfully, “Isn’t that just your own saliva?”
”Yes and no, anyway, it has to be wiped clean.” Li Jiyan carefully wiped Yu Ziyu’s hands, not missing a single spot between her fingers, before finally lowering his head as if to kiss her, and deliberately asking, “Can I kiss you?”
Yu Ziyu felt a chill run down her spine and coldly snorted, “Kissing is allowed, but licking is not.”
Li Jiyan was much more obedient than Li Feng, and he truly only placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. Feeling sweet inside, he pinched her fingertips one by one, then intertwined his fingers with hers, holding on tightly.
”Let go! My hand is to practice hand seals, not for you to touch!” Yu Ziyu tried to pull her hand back, but couldn’t, and her anger gradually surged.
”Just a little longer, please.” He carefully observed Yu Ziyu’s expression and then asked, “Li Feng has never held your hand like this before, has he?”
”I don’t want to tell you, it’s so annoying.” Yu Ziyu’s right hand was being held by Li Jiyan, and she suddenly felt like teasing him. She stretched out her left hand to Li Jiyan, “I want you to hold this one too.”
Li Jiyan was flattered and overwhelmed by the sweetness of the gesture. Without the slightest hesitation, he grasped Yu Ziyu’s left hand with his other hand. The two of them, hand in hand, looked rather comical in the empty Taoist temple.
Yu Ziyu burst into laughter, a laugh unlike her usual manic or hysterical chuckles. This time, it was genuine, hearty laughter, a laugh at her own wit, making her double over with laughter.
Li Jiyan didn’t know what she was laughing at, so he squeezed her palm and said, “What are you laughing at? Tell me so I can have some fun too.”
After laughing for a few rounds, Yu Ziyu finally returned to normal and said, “I’m holding Li Jiyan’s hand with my right hand and Li Feng’s hand with my left.”
She clasped her hands together, placing Li Jiyan’s left hand on top of her right, and solemnly and deliberately said, “Li Jiyan, Li Feng, you two must get along well from now on. We are of the same root, why are you so eager to harm each other? Hahahaha!”
Yu Ziyu burst into laughter at her own humor, clutching her stomach as she slid off the millstone. “Hahaha! You two are jealous of each other and hate each other. It’s like the flood washed away the Dragon King’s temple, you’re family members who don’t recognize each other![1]That is a classic Chinese idiom used to describe a misunderstanding or conflict among one’s own people — A massive flood destroys the temple of the Dragon King—the very deity who controls … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2177889_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2177889_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); I’m dying of laughter!”
Li Jiyan stood there stunned, watching Yu Ziyu squatting on the ground laughing wildly.
He finally couldn’t hold back any longer, pulled her up, straightened her shoulders and made her look directly at him: “I hate Li Feng, I’m not the same person as him! I’ve told you many times, I don’t like him.”
Yu Ziyu was still laughing: “The flood washed away the Dragon King’s temple, you two are really funny, I’m dying of laughter!”
Li Jiyan released her, his mind in turmoil, a lump in his throat, unable to utter a word. He turned around and said, “I’m going down the mountain first; I still have to go to the military camp.”
He took a few steps forward, then stopped and said, word by word, “Yu Ziyu, you can only love me. You can only love me, not Li Feng.”
Yu Ziyu couldn’t stop laughing, and tears welled up in her eyes from laughing so hard.
After Li Jiyan left, she finally stopped laughing and hummed a calming mantra as she walked towards the side hall. Inside, she meditated and cultivated, while simultaneously studying the contents of the “Dongling True Scripture” in her mind.
Lingxuzi returned from the palace in the afternoon, bringing with her a roast chicken, a box of osmanthus cakes, a plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots, and two large white steamed buns. She called out, “Ziyu, come out for dinner.”
Yu Ziyu was already starving. Smelling the aroma of roast chicken, she sprang up from her prayer mat and ran outside: “Master, what delicious food did you bring?”
”I just brought some from the imperial kitchen.” Ling Xuzi handed her a food box. “Take it to the dining hall, take it out, and put it on a plate.”
”Alright!” Yu Ziyu picked up the food box with great interest and ran towards the dining hall.
Ling Xuzi washed her hands and face in the courtyard, took off her blood-stained Taoist robe, and then returned to the dining hall. Yu Ziyu had already taken out the dishes from the food box and placed them on the low table, sitting cross-legged and waiting for Ling Xuzi to return so they could eat together.
When Ling Xuzi sat down opposite her, she presented the chopsticks with both hands: “Grandmaster, please have your meal.”
The two of them each took a steamed bun and started eating.
During the meal, Yu Ziyu spoke with great pride about Li Feng: “Grandmaster, Li Feng said that we were husband and wife in our past life. I killed my husband to cultivate immortality and prove my Dao, which is why we are now on different paths as humans and ghosts.”
Ling Xuzi, who had been eating in silence, finally looked up: “How come he’s even more insane than you?”
Yu Ziyu, seemingly unconcerned, picked up some bamboo shoots and placed them in Ling Xuzi’s bowl, continuing, “He also asked me to teach him to read and write, saying he wants to cultivate with me and become a ghost immortal in the future. Ancestor, I’d like to take him as my disciple, is that alright?”
Ling Xuzi seemed to have something on her mind. Her expression remained unpleasant after she returned. She said indifferently, “You two are really something, one dares to teach and the other dares to learn.”
She tore off two chicken legs from the roast chicken and gave them to Yu Ziyu, saying seriously, “Ziyu, what have you thought about what Master told you last night?”
”What’s up?”
“Cultivating immortality is going against the heavens, and failure is the norm. What your master means is that since you’re going to fail sooner or later anyway, you might as well give up now. With your temperament, you could find something else you enjoy doing and have fun, living like an immortal.”
Yu Ziyu poked at the steamed bun in her bowl with her chopsticks and said stubbornly, “I only like cultivating immortality, and I want to cultivate immortality.”
Ling Xuzi finally sighed softly, “Fine, whatever you want, as long as you’re happy.”
Yu Ziyu felt that there was something hidden in the Ancestral Master’s words, but she didn’t want to ask too many questions. The Ancestral Master always had her own reasons for speaking and acting, and as a disciple, she should just obey and not ask too many questions. Besides, her mind wasn’t on this matter at the moment.
Since becoming a nun yesterday, she has been staying on the mountain and has started to miss her parents and sister.
“Grandmaster, may I return to secular life tonight and go home for a while, and then resume my monastic life tomorrow? Is that alright?”
Lingxuzi paused in her tea-drinking motion: “Is this how you become a monk?”
Yu Ziyu clutched her Taoist robe, feeling guilty: “I want to go back and see my mother and sister. They must miss me too.”
”Didn’t you sever all ties? Didn’t you say you were determined to become a nun and never again be attached to the mortal world?” Lingxuzi teased her deliberately.
Yu Ziyu couldn’t bear it any longer and leaned over to shake Ling Xuzi’s arm: “I just want to go back and let my family see what I look like in a Taoist robe. Let them know that I’m doing well in the Taoist temple and they don’t need to worry about me.”
”Alright, let’s go down the mountain then.”
”Thank you, Ancestral Master!”
Before leaving, Yu Ziyu begged Ling Xuzi to style her hair into a Taoist nun’s hairstyle.
Ling Xuzi also gave her a whisk, made from the same horsehair she had been selecting and tidying up the day before. However, the horsehair had been burned by Yu Ziyu, so she had to cut off a small section, making it look rather immature compared to ordinary whisks.
Yu Ziyu straightened her new Taoist robe, slung her silver sword over her shoulder, and fastened her black lacquered scimitar at her waist. Holding a whisk in her left hand and bowing with her right, she said, “Grandmaster, this disciple will descend the mountain first and return tomorrow.”
”Alright, go ahead. Head up the mountain early tomorrow morning, and your master will take you to study at the number one cultivation sect in the Great Xuan.” Ling Xuzi saw her off as she left the Taoist temple.
Yu Ziyu stopped in her tracks: “Where is the number one cultivation sect in the Great Xuan Dynasty?”
Ling Xuzi: “You’ll know tomorrow. Everyone in the sect is an extraordinary person. If you go there to study, you can become an immortal very quickly.”
Yu Ziyu knelt down and kowtowed to Ling Xuzi, already impatient: “Grandmaster, why don’t we go now? I’m not going home.”
Ling Xuzi’s eyes were indifferent: “Go again tomorrow, and listen to me.”
”Yes, Your disciple obeys.”
Before the sun had even set, Yu Ziyu hurriedly ran down the mountain. Just as the last rays of the setting sun pierced the sky, she returned to the gate of the Yu residence.
She was dressed in a dark red Taoist robe, with her hair tied up in a Taoist nun’s bun. The guards at the door almost didn’t recognize her: “Third Miss? What are you doing here?”
”Don’t worry about it!”
Yu Ziyu rushed into the mansion, shouting, “Mother, sister, I’m back! Come out quickly, I’ve come down the mountain!”
Yu Ningying and Zhao Tianjun were the first to run out. When they saw her like this, they were both amused and exasperated: “Girl, what happened to you?”
Yu Ziyu proudly twirled around in front of her parents: “This Taoist robe and whisk were made for me by the Ancestral Master, aren’t they beautiful?”
”Beautiful, beautiful.”
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