Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Only then did I suddenly remember.

Compared with Wei Xun,

Xuan Ci always spoke gently and smiled with his eyes.

He prepared everything with care.

I could come whenever I wanted and leave whenever I wished.

When I left, he would be reluctant to let go and would kiss my cheek softly.

Yet he had never once asked, “When will you come see me again?”

Letting things be, following nature.

No wonder he was the Buddhist Saint.

I kept sinking into that soft look in his eyes.

I had almost forgotten that back then, he had agreed to dual cultivation

because I looked like Song Zhiyin.

I sighed almost inaudibly.

I could not help feeling disappointed.

But the sound was drowned out by the pouring rain outside the window.

Patter, patter.

The flower branches were battered until they suddenly bent sideways.

When I woke, dawn had not yet broken.

Yet there was no one beside the bed.

Xuan Ci was not there.

I froze.

Usually, I always woke in his arms,

my eyes dazed and lazy as I let him dress and wash me.

Not a single day had been an exception.

Was it his turn today to explain scripture to the others?

Soon, I had no time to think about that.

When I woke today,

the spiritual energy in my meridians was exceptionally full and abundant.

But my lower abdomen ached faintly.

As if a seed had just fallen into my dantian,

struggling to take root downward and grow upward.

At last, with a pop, it broke through the soil.

I instantly sobered.

The spiritual energy in my body had never been so solid.

At my dantian, that tiny cluster of roots glowed with golden light.

A spiritual root.

From today on, I, Yu Sui, was also someone with a spiritual root!

That bit of disappointment was instantly thrown to the back of my mind.

My heavens.

What Wei Xun, what Xuan Ci, what Yin Shanyu?

Love and affection, twists and turns,

substitute or not substitute.

Could any of that compare to one-tenth of my spiritual root?

Obviously not. Obviously not.

I granted amnesty to the entire world on the spot.

Even Song Zhiyin, who had broken the glass lantern, was forgiven.

When I stepped out in high spirits,

I heard people whispering outside the courtyard.

“It was not even dawn when Senior Brother left for the Sword Sect. What could be so urgent?”

“Oh, you don’t know? I heard the Chief Disciple of the Sword Sect regrets it and no longer wants to marry the Sect Leader’s Daughter. He is making a fuss about breaking the engagement.”

“What does that have to do with our senior brother?”

“Fool. Senior Brother is obviously going to support the woman he loves.”

“Wait, isn’t the woman he loves Yu–”

“I called you foolish, and you really are foolish. Haven’t you noticed who that Miss Yu resembles? Think about it yourself.”

“Senior Brother is not that kind of person. He treats Miss Yu so well. There must be some misunderstanding.”

There probably was not.

I lazily basked in the sun all morning.

At noon, Xuan Ci returned.

He stood before me in silence for a very long time.

So long that I thought he was about to say, “Do not listen to their nonsense.”

“I did not go.”

The man who was always gentle

turned his head away at this moment,

not daring to meet my eyes. “I–”

It seemed he had a chance with Song Zhiyin now.

I interrupted him. “Let us end things here, Xuan Ci.”

Was I regretful?

Actually, a little.

After all, I did not know whether I could find another cauldron who fit me this well.

Amitabha.

May the Buddha bless me, and may the next one be as obedient as Xuan Ci.

I patted his shoulder and said cheerfully, “Truly, congratulations.”

“Then I wish you and Song Zhiyin a hundred years of happiness and many children soon.”

Xuan Ci abruptly looked at me.

For some reason, his face was a little pale.

His long lashes trembled like butterfly wings.

After a long silence, he finally said softly, “All right.”