There is a Bagua on Fengqin Mountain 3

As night falls, starlight illuminates the earth.

To avoid causing any further trouble, Huaiwen arranged for Xuan Ye and Onikiri to stay in a side room of his courtyard, and went back to the main house to sleep alone.

After blowing out the candles, she didn't go to sleep. Instead, she transformed into a butterfly and flew out, heading straight for the library. She wanted to investigate the truth under the cover of night.

Her master, Fulin, was an ascension to heaven two thousand years ago. After serving as a priest for more than a thousand years, he gradually withdrew from his priestly duties and came to Fengqin Mountain to become a Taoist immortal.

When the gods learned of this, they all appeared in their dreams to their descendants, urging them to come and study. Because so many people sought knowledge, the matter became known throughout the three realms, even prompting the Human Emperor to send them invitations.

Fu Lin had no choice but to take in a few destined disciples to quell the matter. Little did he know that this act of taking in disciples would last for eight hundred years.

Dynasties have risen and fallen, autumn has come and gone, but the harp-like mountain remains unchanged. One can imagine how many believers Fulan has in the human world. For this reason, literary giants have composed plays, and countless stories and tales about him have emerged, each more delightful than the last.

To learn about Fulin's past, a visit to the Fengqin Mountain Library is necessary. There, one can find casual notes written by former disciples out of their respect and admiration for Fulin.

Huaiwen had also looked through these casual notes. Most of them described what her master had said, what he had done, and who he had inspired. There were not many records about his daily life, but there were a few horizontal inscriptions.

Huaiwen didn't read the whole thing back then. Now, it's all good; she wants to read it late at night when everyone's asleep.

Apart from the restricted book area, the library on Fengqin Mountain was not heavily guarded, and Huaiwen could easily get inside.

With practiced ease, she found the collection of essays written by predecessors. Skipping over those she had read before, she picked up the remaining ones and, by candlelight, began to read them.

In the last book, Huaiwen finally found some useful records.

The inscription reads: "The questioner asked, 'How can one become an immortal if one has not severed the seven emotions and six desires?' The master replied, 'One does not attain the Dao by severing emotions and love, nor does one die a good death by becoming an immortal.'"

Qin asked again, "Master, have you not severed your emotions and love after attaining enlightenment?"

The master smiles, for the master is also compassionate; those who are heartless and ungrateful are not worthy of attaining immortality.

Seeing this, Huaiwen guessed that her master, Fulin, must have experienced a love affair before attaining immortality, but what kind of love affair it was remained unknown.

Huaiwen continued reading and found a page that read: "The following year, Qin attained enlightenment and returned to the mountain to thank his master. The master was pleased and gave him a red spider lily."

Scrolling down further, I couldn't find anything more.

Huaiwen had a flash of inspiration and found the "Harmony Book," which was used to record all the disciples of Harmony Mountain from ancient times to the present.

Following the timeline, Huaiwen successfully found Qin's name. Her original name was Pei Suqin, who attained enlightenment eight hundred years ago and ascended to become a divine official.

"call--"

There was movement! Huaiwen tensed up; she had already prepared what to say to her senior brothers and sisters later. But when she turned around, she found it was Xuan Ye.

She breathed a sigh of relief: "What are you doing here?"

Xuan Ye lowered his voice: "Have you forgotten what you promised me?"

Huaiwen retorted softly, "I haven't forgotten. But this is the library of Fengqin Mountain, it's not appropriate for you to come here."

Xuan Ye chuckled, clearly in a bad mood: "Without guards protecting the underground library, what important things could it possibly have that would be stolen?"

Huaiwen met Xuan Ye's cold gaze, a stark contrast to the gentle look in Xuan Ye's eyes before he took him to bed. At that moment, Huaiwen could even see the words "settling accounts" in Xuan Ye's eyes.

The fault lay with her, so she could only coax her gently: "I promised you I would keep my word. But you—you didn't keep your promise not to take human form so casually either."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Ye's anger subsided by half. He adjusted his breathing, relaxed his tightly furrowed brow, and suppressed his rage: "There is no one else here."

"Then we're even."

"..."

Huaiweng said sternly, "And City Lord, I must remind you, this is not Luofu. You cannot act as you please. If your identity is exposed, things may become complicated."

"What?" Xuan Ye sneered, "Now that my identity has been exposed, you're going to side with them and kill me?"

Huaiwen shook his head and sighed helplessly: "I'm not a butcher, killing animals every day."

These were clearly kind words, but they just sounded a bit awkward. Xuan Ye kept a straight face and refused to say anything more. He flicked his sleeves and disappeared into the library.

Huaiwen knew she hadn't managed to appease the demon king, but she had important business to attend to, so she didn't chase after him. She figured he wouldn't cause her any trouble.

Unfortunately, Huaiwen couldn't find Pei Suqin's name or any records of his deeds in the other volumes that night. She could only leave the library and return to her residence.

Huaiwen stood outside, looking at Xuan Ye's room, which was dark and the door was closed. She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should go in.

She wanted to know if Xuan Ye was staying inside properly. Although she knew he wouldn't cause trouble at Fengqin Mountain in the middle of the night, he might be wandering around because he was angry.

The moonlight fell on the steps, and Huaiwen recalled his time with Xuanye. Their feelings for each other were like tender bamboo shoots, growing stronger day by day.

Before emotions can be clearly defined, spending time together becomes important. Huaiwen recalled the saying, "Those who are heartless and ungrateful do not deserve to attain immortality," and nodded repeatedly.

After thinking it over, Huaiwen took a deep breath, abandoned the idea of ​​pushing the door open and went to Onikiri's room. Seeing them sleeping soundly with the sun shining on all sides, even drooling in their sleep, he felt a warm current flowing through his heart.

It seems they've been living in fear and haven't been sleeping well these past few days. Huaiwen covered them with a blanket and left.

Huaiwen herself hadn't expected to find herself standing outside Xuan Ye Gate. She sighed deeply, probably still worried that Xuan Ye would cause a ruckus at Fengqin Mountain.

She had no choice but to conjure a fairy butterfly and enter Xuan Ye's room. Seeing a figure inside, she felt relieved and turned to go back to her room for a good night's sleep.

At dawn, the mountain forest was quiet and cool, the stream babbled, and the clouds and mist swirled. As usual, Huaiwen was already meditating on the rocks beside the stream.

Before she came here, she specifically left messages with the sleeping Oni-slayer and Xuan-ye, fearing that their inability to see him would cause a minor disturbance.

But before she could get into the zone, she heard playful sounds coming from the woods. Huaiwen had never heard such sounds before at this time. She naturally got up and went to investigate.

Huaiwen hid behind a tree, her eyes suddenly lighting up – it was her master. She was about to excitedly walk over to offer him her blessings upon his completion of his seclusion when she saw a woman in a yellow and white striped skirt following behind her master.

In the silent forest, every sound was amplified by nature. The woman had her back to Huaiwen, so he couldn't see her face, but he could hear her say, "Master, you said that those who are heartless and ungrateful are not worthy of becoming immortals. Then, to whom do you have affection?"

Fu Lin calmly replied, "Those who are troubled by love are countless. Love is not about who you give it to, but about whether you can control it. Only those who can control their emotions can achieve great things."

“But Master…” the woman’s eyes reddened, “I just really like you.”

“Suqin, I love all my disciples, but I cannot fall in love with them.”

The fog suddenly thickened, and Huaiwen wanted to go forward, but after taking a few steps, she suddenly woke up in bed. For Huaiwen, it was all a dream. She sat on the bed, recalling the dream and piecing together the information she had found the night before.

Rather than believing that the female ghost was Pei Suqin from the record book, she was more puzzled as to how she had dreamed of the two of them together.

There was a knock at the door. Huaiwen got up and opened it. It was Onikiri, who had prepared breakfast and invited her to eat. Huaiwen looked at the dark food on the stone table in the courtyard and unconsciously frowned, politely declining the invitation.

"He's still not up?" Huaiwen asked Ghost Destroyer, looking at Xuan Ye's door.

"No, there's no response when we knock on the door."

Huaiwen nodded, assuming the Demon King was too tired and sleepy, so she didn't wake him. But she remembered that if she went out without him, he would throw a tantrum and cause trouble. So she did as she had in the dream, leaving the spirit butterfly behind and heading towards the stream.

The dream happened, and she wanted to go and see what was happening in the dream.

The mist swirled around her, just as it had in her dream. Huaiwen went inside, but after a long while, she found nothing of value. She did, however, discover tender bamboo shoots. As she squatted down to pick a few to take back, a white skirt caught her eye.

Huaiwen looked up and saw Lingshan Xuanye looking down at her with a resentful expression.

Huaiwen quickly stood up and asked him in a cute way how he got here.

“Psylocke brought me here.”

The spirit butterfly would guide her, Huaiwen thought to herself, but what she left behind wasn't the guiding spirit butterfly. Huaiwen then scrutinized Xuan Ye closely, staring at him for so long that Xuan Ye finally asked, "You've been looking at me for so long, what are you trying to say?"

Coming to his senses, Huaiwen chuckled awkwardly, "I was just wondering, do you eat bamboo shoots?"

Xuan Ye remained silent, and Huai Wen understood what he meant, but still kept saying that the stir-fried bamboo shoots were delicious and that he, the demon king who was used to eating big fish and meat, should try them.

Amidst laughter and conversation, Huaiwen reached out to peel a bamboo shoot, but the moment he grasped it, he felt as if he had been electrocuted.

The sound of arguing reached her ears.

I hate you.

"Without love, how can there be hate?"

"You're the one who's wrong."

"Yes, it was my fault. Ah Qin, it was your teacher who was wrong."

"What's wrong, A-Jun?" Xuan Ye squatted down, helped Huaiwen up, and asked with concern, "What's wrong? A-Jun? What's wrong?"

"My hand hurts."

Following Huaiwen's words, Xuan Ye lifted Huaiwen's sleeve and peeled off the bandages one by one, revealing a bright red red spider lily branded below her wrist.

Huaiwen chuckled silently, while Xuanye's eyes reddened. This was left by Pei Suqin. This was the mark she left after defeating Huaiwen.

Xuan Ye raised his other hand and erased the red spider lily. Huai Wen's consciousness gradually returned. She watched as the red spider lily on her arm slowly disappeared. She withdrew her hand and said, "I want to find my master."

"Finish it first, then go."

"No, it works."

Xuan Ye couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she had to let go. She watched Huai Wen wrap the bandage back around and around, a surge of anger rising in her chest. Seeing Huai Wen turn and leave in a hurry only added to her gloom.

On her way to Fulin's secluded retreat, Huaiwen sorted through her thoughts. Of the sentences she had just overheard, one was clearly not spoken by Pei Suqin and Fulin. She had never heard that tone before.

And she had also underestimated Pei Suqin. Previously, whoever left their own mark of victory, it was merely a brand.

However, Pei Suqin's traces were poisonous and carried a consciousness that penetrated her body, which was why Huaiwen guessed that she could read Pei Suqin's memories.

The tightly closed door was clearly telling Huaiwen that Fulin was currently in seclusion and should not be disturbed.

"Ah Jun, what brings you here?" Bai Yuqi approached with several disciples.

Huaiwen replied, "Senior brother, when will Master be able to emerge from seclusion?"

Bai Yuqi calculated the time: "At the earliest, in half a month."

Huaiwen lowered his head, and Bai Yuqi asked again, "What's wrong? Do you have something urgent to tell your master? Why don't you talk to your senior brother? See if we can help you out?"

"without……"

Upon hearing this, the other senior brothers jokingly asked if Huaiwen was in such a hurry because he wanted to leave Onikiri and the little dog at Fuqin Mountain.

Huaiwen shook his head, while the little dog Xuanye rolled its eyes.

"It's alright, just ask Master when he comes out of seclusion. Your fellow disciples can just pretend they didn't see anything for now."

Huaiwen sighed. She had already crossed a line when she asked Bai Yuqi if they had a mistress. Now, with so many people around, she was too embarrassed to ask again whether her master had any romantic entanglements.

She had no choice but to give up. She figured it was only half a month; she could wait. Besides, she figured the ghost wouldn't chase her here anytime soon, nor would it do anything evil.

She bid farewell to her fellow students and returned to the bamboo house.