Little Jade Beauty: "You know I like you..."
The snow on Tianyan Mountain has just melted, and the cool meltwater flows down the rocky gullies beside the Suiyu Waterfall.
The forsythia, with its tender yellow buds just sprouting, is basking in the early spring sunshine beside the waterfall.
Yan Huanyue stepped out of the Heavenly Stele. She was covered in sweat from the trial, but the cold wind that swept through her sleeves made her shiver instantly.
Now that her innate spiritual energy is stable, it can also help her cultivation. After a long period of consistent spiritual energy circulation and expansion of her spiritual sea veins, the most significant result is her ranking on the Heavenly Stele.
A month after returning, I climbed nine places again.
The name "Re-entering the Cycle of Reincarnation" is already climbing to the upper-middle tier among outer disciples.
She shook her slightly numb arms, made a hand seal to wash away the sweat, and then raised her hand to tidy up her long hair again.
When she went to the dining hall for breakfast, she sat alone in a corner with her food.
She had already been practicing her sword at the Broken Jade Waterfall before dawn, but she had been practicing for a while. When she came out, there were hardly any people left in the training ground, and the dining hall was also nearly empty.
As she was eating, she overheard several people from the Jingzi Zhai (Quiet Vegetarian Restaurant) discussing, "Who exactly is this 'Re-entering Reincarnation'? He's climbing so fast, I can't help but notice him. Could he be from our restaurant?"
"Who are we supposed to be supporting? Hasn't the difference in everyone's cultivation level always been relatively constant?"
“I’ve noticed that Anan has been working even harder than usual these past few days in preparation for going to the Mingde Sect’s Cold Winter Secret Realm.”
“But Anan is already the number one in our sect’s cultivation level, so her ranking must be near the border with the inner sect, not in the ‘Re-entering Reincarnation’ position.”
Yan Huanyue quickly finished her meal and had just arrived at the entrance of Xinzizhai when she saw Li Ji come out and look around. It seemed as if he had just entered Xinzizhai and was now looking for someone.
Upon seeing her, Li Ji ran to her side in a few steps.
The person, usually so sharp-edged, was unusually gentle today, and asked in a low voice:
“Senior Sister Yan, you are the one who ‘re-entered the cycle of reincarnation’, right? I watched you enter the Heavenly Stele, and after you came out, the ranking of ‘re-entered the cycle of reincarnation’ changed.”
Han Shuangying had already discovered this, and Yan Huanyue didn't feel there was anything to hide, so she nodded casually.
Several people in the courtyard who were reciting scriptures to Gu Yuxiao looked at her in surprise when they heard this.
Someone said, "Senior Sister Yan, is it really you? Congratulations! You've been working really hard lately. Actually, I had guessed before that it might be you."
Yan Huanyue made a hand seal and said, "Thank you."
Gu Yuxiao sat upright in a chair under the magnolia tree, his hands tucked into his sleeves. He looked up at her and said, "Tell me about it?"
Li Ji also said, "Yes, Senior Sister Yan, could you tell me how you cultivated and climbed so many ranks in almost a year?"
Yan Huanyue said, "There's nothing particularly special to say, just practice more. You've probably seen it all today."
Besides that, there was the assistance of her own charred bones within her soul.
But that's something I can't say.
Li Ji was slightly excited, "Is that all?"
Yan Huanyue smiled and said, "Junior Brother Li, your talent is even stronger than mine. Your improvement each time is actually not low."
"But......"
Yan Huanyue said, "Junior Brother Li, neither of us is considered to have exceptional talent. After all, there are only a few people in this world with outstanding talent. If we really only compare ourselves to them, we will exhaust ourselves. We should just focus on taking each step carefully."
Before Li Ji could speak, Zhou Jiao leaned out of the window of Xinzi Zhai and asked, "What? 'Re-entering the cycle of reincarnation' is Senior Sister Yan? Is it true?"
The discussion inside the study had already become quite heated.
Zhou Jiao said with some skepticism, "Senior Sister Yan, do you actually have some extraordinary talent that you were hiding from everyone before, and are only now revealing it to scare people?"
Fearing she might not understand, he explained, "It's like those characters in storybooks, who appear poor and bullied, but actually have immense wealth and can make others kneel and kowtow to them, calling them 'Grandma' in an instant? Just say it, I can accept it."
Yan Huanyue shook her head helplessly, "If he had any exceptional talent, how come he hasn't even broken into the rankings of inner disciples after a year?"
While a naturally born spiritual body doesn't offer much benefit to cultivation, a portion of her soul condensed into charred bones, helping her balance her internal and external spiritual energy.
But this was achieved at the cost of death, so it's not very useful for learning from.
The news that she had "re-entered the cycle of reincarnation" spread from Xinzizhai and quickly throughout the entire Zhijingtang.
But there are too many amazing things in the spiritual cultivation world, so she was talked about for two or three days. After that, the topic of conversation among the disciples became the Mingde Sect's Suihan Secret Realm Trial.
The trial before entering the Cold Winter Secret Realm is conducted solo, but once you actually enter the Cold Winter Secret Realm, you can team up with others.
Because she had surprised even some of the outer disciples and inner disciples a few days ago, some people asked her if she wanted to form a team if she also passed the test.
Yan Huanyue refused them all.
Her purpose in entering the Cold Winter Secret Realm was not entirely pure. If she teamed up with others, it would easily expose her whereabouts, and it would also hinder her companions who really wanted to get some rewards.
To her surprise, Yu Zhao and Xue Jingnian also came to ask her one after another whether she would participate in the test and what the team would be like afterward.
Xue Jingnian seemed much more composed than before. She ignored him, so he left without asking any further questions.
After walking quite a distance, he turned around and said from afar, "Yan Huanyue, at this time last year, I said you wouldn't be able to persevere... Congratulations."
When she ignored him, Yu Zhao followed behind her and said, "Don't be so stubborn. I can protect you. I'll only give you this one chance."
Upon hearing this, Yan Huanyue couldn't help but laugh and ask, "Where is Fellow Daoist Tan?"
Yu Zhao said, "I can protect both of you, but since our engagement has been dissolved, don't act out in front of Gui Yi."
Yan Huanyue stopped and looked back at him, a strand of hair gently floating at her chin.
Her eyes were fixed on Yu Zhao's eyes, and she said with a half-smile, "Senior Brother Yu, the Suihan Secret Realm is dangerous. You should protect yourself first. I hope you... can return safely."
Yu Zhao felt a chill run down his spine.
He always felt that Yan Huanyue had changed a lot, and she had given him the feeling of being suddenly chilled by her cold indifference more than once.
Does she really hate him?
Because he guessed about his relationship with Guiyi, he turned his love into hatred?
.
After Yan Huanyue finished reciting the scriptures that evening, she returned to the gate of her small courtyard and was quite surprised to see Pei Xuanzhi standing in front of the gate wearing a cloak.
He carried a dim bamboo lantern and looked much better than before. He was slender and tall, and was looking at the dark mountain scenery in the distance with a detached expression.
Upon seeing her return under the moonlight, he leisurely called out, "Senior Sister Yan."
Yan Huanyue had been living a carefree life for over a month and had almost forgotten about him. When she suddenly saw him again, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unfamiliarity, like a long-awaited reunion.
She asked, "When did you leave the pass?"
Pei Xuanzhi replied, "Just now."
Yan Huanyue walked over to him and looked at his face, which was no longer so pale. "How are you feeling?"
Pei Xuanzhi replied, "With the support of the Heart Contract, I recovered quickly and am much better now."
Yan Huanyue turned to open the door and asked, "You have a key, why don't you just open the door and go in?"
Pei Xuanzhi turned around and stood behind her, his gaze sweeping over her hair ribbon that was fluttering slightly in the wind, and then scrutinizing her movements as she opened the door. He said slowly, "I don't come here often. It will be better when you come back."
A faint, cool fragrance wafted over from behind, and a shadow loomed over them; they were only about half a step apart.
Yan Huanyue felt that he was standing a little too close, so she moved half a step to the side.
Pei Xuanzhi seemed completely oblivious, remaining standing in his original spot with an indifferent expression.
He looked down at her and said, "My senior brother Ning heard that your cultivation has improved a lot."
Yan Huanyue pushed open the door and said, "It's nothing, just a slight improvement over before."
Pei Xuanzhi followed her into the main room, put down the bamboo lantern, and slowly closed the door.
Yan Huanyue lit the candles and went to make hot water for tea. Pei Xuanzhi stood by the table, took out a stack of yellow talismans from his sleeve and placed them on the table. "These are what I drew during my seclusion. Senior Sister, please take them and use them."
Yan Huanyue scooped tea leaves with a small bamboo spoon. "Drawing talismans consumes a lot of energy. It's not easy for you to draw these. Keep them for self-defense."
Pei Xuanzhi straightened his clothes and sat down beside her, looking up at her, and asked in a light tone, "Senior Sister Yan... I've come out of seclusion, but you don't seem very happy."
Yan Huanyue calmly withdrew her sleeve, turned to look at the fire in the small stove, fetched water to make tea, and casually said, "No, I just think it would be better for you if you could go into seclusion for a while longer."
This is because they think he came out too early.
Pei Xuanzhi's gaze fell on her fair fingertips, watching the steam from the cup slowly swirl around her hand. After a long while, he said, "Senior Sister Yan, have you thought about me these days?"
Yan Huanyue paused, her scalp tingling slightly, but she managed to lie without changing her expression: "I was thinking of doing that."
Pei Xuanzhi smiled faintly, took out a small jade figure from his sleeve, and gently placed it on the table.
The young lady's hair fluttered, her dress billowed, and her sleeves swayed in the wind. One hand emerged from her sleeve, holding a straight and slender horizontal sword.
Yan Huanyue knew at a glance that the carving was of her, but the little jade figure did not have a face carved on it.
Pei Xuanzhi stared intently at the jade-like figure on the table, his pale fingers gently tracing the figure's smooth cheek.
"I've been sculpting her so that I can focus on my seclusion for so long. Senior Sister Yan, do you think she looks like you?"
Yan Huanyue placed the hot tea beside him and said, "Maybe it looks like it, I don't know."
Pei Xuanzhi looked up at her, his eyes gleaming with a hint of coldness amidst the glittering starlight. "Then why do I only want to sculpt her..."
Yan Huanyue stood to the side, sipping her tea, and said, "Perhaps you didn't know enough people before. You should get to know more people so you can have more material when you're carving jade."
Pei Xuanzhi gently took the jade figure into his palm, his gaze fixed solely on her, and said casually, "Is that so?"
Yan Huanyue put down her teacup. The aroma of tea in her nose faded, but the subtle fragrance emanating from him had already spread throughout the air.
She looked down at him, and he held the jade figure in his hand, his brows lowered, his long eyelashes glowing in the candlelight, gazing intently at the jade figure.
She resisted the urge to search for the fragrance and reminded him, "It's getting late."
Pei Xuanzhi didn't even look up, and said indifferently, "Then Senior Sister, go take a bath first. I'll just wash myself with your water."
As husband and wife, and having just emerged from seclusion, Yan Huanyue felt that his presence made it inconvenient for her to meditate and cultivate, but she couldn't very well let him return to his own courtyard today.
After falling asleep at night, she vaguely saw a large golden snake coiled around her body. The snake had half its body upright and was coldly staring at her with its bright red tongue flicking out.
A faint, cool fragrance wafted from her, and her legs pressed against the slightly moving snake's body, feeling icy cold.
She struck it with her palm, but suddenly saw Pei Xuanzhi pressing down on her waist and lying on top of her, his skin covered with a thin layer of pink.
His dark, unfathomable eyes stared fixedly at her, and drops of blood from his lips fell onto her face, burning her horribly.
"You know I like you..."
Before he could finish speaking, he lowered his head and bit her shoulder like a wolf cub.
Yan Huanyue felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and couldn't help but call out, "Xuanzhi..."
The moment the words left his mouth, he instantly regained his senses.
The curtains were drawn high, and Pei Xuanzhi was sitting at a table with the dim candlelight, reading a book.
Hearing her voice, he looked at her on the bed with a puzzled expression and asked, "Senior sister, do you want me to get something for you?"
Yan Huanyue's face was slightly flushed, and a thin layer of sweat covered her forehead. She stared at him, somewhat lost in thought.
It was a dream... How could she have such a dream?
Pei Xuanzhi blew out the candle and said in the darkness, "The candlelight was too bright, did it bother you?"
A short while later, there was a rustling sound of fabric by the bed. He pulled down the curtain, lay down in the brocade quilt on the outer side of the bed, and said with a hint of drowsiness, "Let's rest." Gradually, his breathing became more and more even.
Yan Huanyue reached into his blanket and pinched his arm.
Pei Xuanzhi winced in pain, letting out a muffled groan, and murmured sleepily, "Sister..."
Yan Huanyue gently patted his collar and whispered, "It's alright, go to sleep."
After a long while, she finally found his wrist and examined it for a long time; it didn't seem like he had been injured suddenly.
Did she really have that dream out of control?
She rubbed her temples, then weakly swallowed a calming pill. It was all... a mess.
.
The next morning, she tried to avoid Pei Xuanzhi as much as possible, and quickly got ready to go out.
Pei Xuanzhi stood by the bed, fastening the jade belt at his waist, and casually said, "I heard you're also going to the Mingde Sect?"
Yan Huanyue nodded and said, "Yes."
Pei Xuanzhi said with a smile, "Since Senior Brother Ning and the others are going, I wanted to go and see them. So I told Father that I would go with them. With so many people and several elders leading the way, Father has nothing to worry about."
Yan Huanyue watched as his long fingers adjusted the jade belt, and inexplicably recalled his appearance in her dream last night. She was somewhat absent-minded. "Oh, if you want to go, then go."
Pei Xuanzhi asked, "Senior Sister Yan, may I travel with you?"
Yan Huanyue turned around, opened the door, and said, "No, I'm going by sword this time. If you want to go, you can go with Senior Brother Ning and the others."
Pei Xuanzhi smiled faintly, not dwelling on the matter, and said in a low voice, "Alright, let's go home together after this is over."
Yan Huanyue exhausted herself every day until she couldn't even lift her arms. She would go home and fall asleep as soon as she got up. Even though Pei Xuanzhi was sleeping right next to her, she didn't have a dreamless night for several days in a row.
She couldn't help but think that having a bizarre dream now and then, apart from slightly tainting him, really didn't mean anything and didn't represent anything.
As the day drew near, she went to Mingdezong alone from the very beginning. Two days after she arrived, the people from Tianyanzong began to arrive one after another.
Inside and outside the guesthouse, disciples from various sects chatted amongst themselves, inquiring about certain famous figures and discussing whether they could form a team after passing the exam.
Yan Huanyue kept her door tightly closed, and she didn't even come out when the people from Tianyan Sect came.
One night, Zhou Jiao, returning from sword practice, encountered Pei Xuanzhi wandering alone around the Mingde Sect and couldn't help but sigh:
“Brother Xuanzhi, still wandering around? You can’t even get through the door now. Pack your things and wait for Senior Sister Yan to divorce you.”
Pei Xuanzhi stood in the night wind, his cloak billowing around his neck, and said with a smile, "Senior Brother Zhou is overthinking it."
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 00:42:39 on December 7, 2023 and 01:11:32 on December 9, 2023!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Fleeting Glimpse (1);
Thank you to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Van Helsing 30 bottles; Yueming 26 bottles; rubric, pollen syndrome 20 bottles; Sun Dan 16 bottles; 9@you, yazimi, if you don't change it is cucumber 10 bottles; Liwu 9 bottles; cute cheese 7 bottles; Qiu is a little angel 6 bottles; Xue Rong, 42293163, Neptune_, mushroom tired 5 bottles; ginger candy hangover cure 3 bottles; kugushenghua 2 bottles; kurosakiiji, ☆candle under★, niangqing, bujie, cute batch, Zhouman's sword bone, seven days without eating, pipi, osmanthus horseshoe, domineering shufen loves me, Xia Minglang. 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
