Chapter 65: Junior Sister, Girl in the Forest
The girl in the pavilion was not very old. She even looked one or two years younger than Pei Lianxue. She was wearing a white shirt that looked like a men’s bathrobe. She didn’t seem to be wearing pants. Her jade-white legs were swinging slowly. There were still a few drops of crystal dew hanging on the toes of bare feet. Her hair was even longer than her height, and it was depending on the ground without any ties. The colour of her hair was very strange, silver and black as if a small part of her hair had been especially bleached. It didn’t look like it had drifted, but it looked like it was born that way.
The girl was there to admire the moon and play chess with her, but Pei Lianxue suddenly walked into the bamboo forest and concentrated on practising her sword without noticing her at all.
Seeing that Pei Lianxue was so serious about her sword dance, the girl was not prepared to disturb her. She looked away, picked up the wine glass in front of her, and took a sip.
As the sake entered her throat, her cherry lips opened slightly, and a mouthful of white mist full of aura came out of her mouth.
A bamboo dragonfly seemed to be passing by and encountered this white mist. It became drunk in an instant, lost its direction, and fell.
The girl raised her hand slightly, and an invisible force slowly lifted the fallen bamboo dragonfly, letting it fall gently on the stone table, becoming her wine pet. However, at the next moment, the girl seemed to notice something.
Her pair of yin and yang eyes, like the sun, moon, and stars, white on the left and black on the right, narrowed slightly and glanced at Pei Lianxue again.
The girl quickly moved her head back a little. The next moment, the jade porcelain wine glass she held in her hand flew out from between her index thumbs as if it had been hit by something. The porcelain cup fell to the ground and shattered all over the floor.
The girl murmured, “During the Qi refining period, has the Leaf Shadow Sword Technique been cultivated to the fifth level?”
At this time, Pei Lianxue also heard the sound of the porcelain cup breaking, so she quickly stopped dancing and turned to look at the girl. She had never noticed anyone else in the bamboo forest before. But now, when she saw the girl’s appearance, she was stunned, and even her breathing stopped involuntarily.
The girl was silent for a moment, then took out a small chess-like mooncake from the plate on the stone table, ‘Mooncake, do you want it?'”
The sound of the bell reached Pei Lianxue’s ears with the wind.
Pei Lianxue turned her head left and right, looked beside her, then pressed her chin and asked, “Are you talking to me?”
“…”
The girl remained silent for a moment, then nodded slowly.
Pei Lianxue, feeling a hint of unease, swallowed hard. She looked up at the moon in the sky, a crescent shining softly, and whispered, “It’s not the time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Why eat mooncakes now?”
“Who said you can’t eat mooncakes unless it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival?” the girl replied in a casual tone.
“…”
Pei Lianxue pursed her lips, studying the girl for a while. She couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl seemed ethereal, almost otherworldly.
And eating mooncakes during the half-moon phase…
Coincidentally, the mist in the bamboo forest clung to Pei Lianxue’s skin, sending a shiver through her. It reminded her of ghost stories her senior brother used to tell, where beautiful entities lured people in before revealing their true, monstrous forms. She wondered if this girl might be some kind of spirit.
Suddenly, Pei Lianxue remembered her courage and decided to probe the girl with her spiritual consciousness. The investigation confirmed her suspicions—there was no one inside the pavilion.
“…”
The girl furrowed her brows slightly, showing a hint of annoyance. “Why are you probing me with your spiritual sense?”
Pei Lianxue, now even more convinced of her suspicions, mustered the courage to ask, “Are you… a spirit?”
“…”
After a prolonged silence, the girl nodded expressionlessly, “Well, my body is buried under your feet, and you stepped on me.”
“?”
Hearing this, Pei Lianxue was startled, quickly moving three or four steps to the side.
The girl raised her lips slightly, “You stepped on my head just now, and now you’re stepping on my left hand.”
“?”
Pei Lianxue hastily took another step to the side.
“That’s my calf right there.”
“Sorry…” Pei Lianxue apologised quickly. Realising the girl had been dismembered and buried, she summoned her flying sword from the storage bag, stepping on it and hovering in mid-air. “Now, I’m not stepping on you. I really didn’t mean it…”
“It’s okay.” The girl smiled, floated up from the pavilion’s stone bench, and waved to her. “Not many people come here. Come and sit with me for a while.”
“No… No, thank you for your kindness!! I… I have something urgent to do!”
Pei Lianxue shrank her neck, turned on the flying sword, and flew back to the triple courtyard with all her strength.
Seeing her leave, the girl didn’t chase after her but sat back on the stool,
“…”
“How rude.”
Afterwards, the girl paid no attention to her, picked out one of the more than 20 small mooncakes on the table, and tossed it into her mouth.
After chewing, she raised her eyebrows, “Huh? The one with egg yolk filling… I obviously only put one in.”
“…”
The next morning, today’s clouds were relatively short, wrapping Tianyun Peak inside.
Pei Lianxue’s triple courtyard was now surrounded by clouds and mist, like a fairyland. Xiao Yunluo got up early, thinking about bringing some pastries to Pei Lianxue, and after finishing her sword practice, she accompanied her to visit her senior brother.
Last night, Xiao Yunluo had a lot on her mind. The black stone sword her mother gave her had been lost, and she still dared not tell her mother about it. She rarely had the opportunity to see her mother on weekdays and always felt that she had not met her mother’s requirements. So now, Xiao Yunluo wanted to make up for her mistakes.
She wanted to become like Pei Lianxue. She heard Pei Lianxue say last night that the reason why she was so good was because her senior brother taught her well.
Therefore, Xiao Yunluo wanted to contact the young master of the Hundred Lotus Sect and ask him if there was any way to become like Pei Lianxue.
“Call–”
After packing the pastries, Xiao Yunluo came to the door of Feng Yudie’s triple courtyard house and stretched out her hand to knock on the door. However, as soon as the back of her hand knocked on the door, the door was pushed open.
“Huh? Where’s the door latch?”
She was a little confused for a moment, and the first step she took when she walked in made her even more confused. A horizontal line was neatly drawn at the entrance of the yard with a white-yellow powder.
Xiao Yunluo twisted her eyebrows, squatted down and touched the white-yellow powder, rubbed it, hesitated for a while, and simply tasted it.
“Bah – isn’t this salt? What was Lianxue doing last night? Why did she spread salt all over the yard?”
…
