Read Novel Full Chapter 501: What Were You Doing All This Time?
Chapter 501: What Were You Doing All This Time?
In the bamboo courtyard, Xiao Mo was regulating his breath and recuperating, stabilizing the realm he had only just entered—the Golden Core Realm.
To tell the truth, even Xiao Mo himself had not expected that after this seclusion, he would be able to step into the Golden Core Realm in one stroke.
He exhaled deeply, then continued to carefully sense every change within his body, as well as the surrounding rhythm and fortune of heaven and earth.
That volume of Great Dream of Yellow Millet now seemed to have thoroughly merged into his bloodline, becoming one with him.
Both Xiao Mo’s spiritual power and his soul had been tempered and strengthened to an extraordinary degree over these three years.
What felt even more marvelous to him was that his mind seemed to have opened all at once.
Those Daoist classics he had read before—when he recalled them now, many insights he had never understood in the past unexpectedly arose in his heart.
Moreover, relying on the mysteries of Great Dream of Yellow Millet, Xiao Mo could faintly sense the veins of resonance of the Way flowing around him. Thread by thread, strand by strand, they all appeared in his mind.
“Young Master.”
Just as Xiao Mo was still immersed in the lingering resonance of Great Dream of Yellow Millet, a woman’s voice came from outside the courtyard, gentle and familiar.
Xiao Mo lifted his head and looked over. A hint of delighted surprise appeared in his expression.
“Sister Liu Shui, you’re back.”
He quickly rose, went forward to open the courtyard gate, then turned and poured a cup of tea, offering it to Liu Shui.
“Sister Liu Shui, please come in.”
“Thank you, Young Master.”
Liu Shui took the teacup, but she did not hurry to drink. Instead, she looked straight at Xiao Mo, her eyes carrying the joy of seeing him again after so long.
“Young Master has become even better-looking after this seclusion. And I heard from Master Xian that Young Master has now stepped into the Golden Core Realm as well. That truly is amazing.”
“Heh. It was only luck.” Xiao Mo smiled and invited Liu Shui to sit, his gaze also passing lightly over her. “Judging from Sister Liu Shui’s aura, you should have reached the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm as well. If this continues, as long as Sister Liu Shui works hard in cultivation, entering the Golden Core Realm in the future should not be anything too difficult.”
Xiao Mo was not merely being polite.
Although Liu Shui’s talent could not be called outstanding enough to make her a Daoist genius, it was certainly not low.
In the future, if she had enough resources to support her, stepping into the Golden Core Realm should not pose too great a problem.
But if she wished to challenge the Nascent Soul Realm, that would likely be much more difficult.
“Naturally, I must work hard. Even someone as talented as Young Master cultivates so diligently. With talent as poor as mine, how could I dare to slack off?” Liu Shui smiled warmly. Being praised by Xiao Mo like this made a trace of happiness rise in the young woman’s heart despite herself.
“It is good not to slack off. The immortal path is long, and there are far too many things one must face. Only by holding fast to one’s original heart and not growing lax too easily can one walk farther.”
Xiao Mo nodded, drank a sip of tea, and looked at Liu Shui with a smile.
“I heard from Jingci that Sister Liu Shui left this time because Aunt Liu took you to meet prospective husbands? I wonder if you met anyone you liked.”
“Young Master Xiao, please don’t tease me.”
A blush rose over Liu Shui’s cheeks. Her pale, slender fingers clenched tightly around her skirt, the tips faintly whitening.
“Mother truly was thinking of me. Those men were all fairly good as well, but I had no such intentions toward them. Fortunately, I’ve already told Mother about my cultivation. In the future, she won’t make me go meet prospective husbands again.”
“And most importantly...” Liu Shui lifted her eyes and looked straight into Xiao Mo’s, her gaze carrying an unprecedented seriousness and resolve. “In truth, there has long been someone I like in my heart.”
“Oh?” Xiao Mo paused slightly, somewhat surprised. Then he smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Sister Liu Shui to already have someone in her heart. I wonder which young master could have earned Sister Liu Shui’s favor?”
“How could it be called favor...”
Liu Shui’s eyes grew increasingly moist, as though they held a spring of clear water. Her voice was soft, yet especially clear.
“The person I like... is already before my eyes...”
...
In the courtyard halfway up the mountain, the peach tree was in full bloom, pink petals drifting down in fluttering showers.
Tushan Jingci looked at the peach tree in the courtyard and could not help falling into a daze, her gaze blank. No one knew what she was thinking.
“Young Lady Tushan, do you think... Xiao Mo would like a woman like me?”
In Tushan Jingci’s mind, the words Liu Shui had said to her just now echoed again and again. The young woman only felt that her heart was in chaos, impossible to untangle no matter how she tried.
“Sister Liu Shui should have seen Xiao Mo by now, right?”
She murmured to herself, her fingertips unconsciously twisting her sleeve.
“What would Sister Liu Shui and Xiao Mo... talk about?”
“Sister Liu Shui should have... told Xiao Mo how she feels, right?”
“Then Xiao Mo... did he accept her or not?”
The more she thought, the more complicated and indescribable Tushan Jingci’s heart became, as though a dense tangle of fine threads had wrapped around her chest and could not be undone.
The light gauze skirt in the young woman’s hands had already been pinched into wrinkle after wrinkle, marks deep and shallow, as though they could no longer be smoothed away.
“What if Xiao Mo accepted Sister Liu Shui...”
Her voice grew softer and softer, so faint that even she could hardly hear it.
“What if the two of them... truly become dao companions?”
“Sister Liu Shui is so beautiful, and she can take care of Xiao Mo so properly with housework and everything... Logically speaking, Xiao Mo should like a woman like Sister Liu Shui, shouldn’t he?”
She abruptly stood, pacing back and forth through the courtyard. Her skirt swayed gently with her movements, and her slender shadow was stretched long and short by turns.
After a long while, Tushan Jingci finally stopped. Her hands were clenched before her, and she spoke to herself with no small amount of resentment.
“Ah... Tushan Jingci, Tushan Jingci! You like Xiao Mo, and Sister Liu Shui likes him too. What else is there to say?”
“What, then? You didn’t dare tell Xiao Mo how you felt yourself, and now that Sister Liu Shui went and did it, you feel uncomfortable instead?”
“Then what were you doing... all this time...?”
By the end, her voice already carried a bit of grievance and vexation. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she had failed herself.
She sat back down on the stone stool in the courtyard. Her gaze fell on the tree full of flourishing peach blossoms, yet it seemed as though she saw nothing at all.
Tushan Jingci’s beautiful eyes blinked softly. As her gaze shifted and shimmered, no one knew what the young woman was thinking.
The wind brushed past. A few petals drifted lightly onto her shoulder, but she did not notice.
Suddenly.
Tushan Jingci shot to her feet.
She pressed her thin lips tightly together. In those usually gentle eyes, there was now a firmness that had never appeared before.
Lifting her skirt, she ran down the mountain without looking back.