Chapter 22 Don't call me Taoist Master, I am your Master.
"I want more kisses!" Ling Shu hugged Zhuang Jinfu's waist tightly.
Zhuang Jinfu felt uneasy.
This kiss was like a dam holding back a flood, but now there's a gap in the dam, and there's a fear that it might be a leak that allows the floodwaters to overflow.
As the strength in her waist diminished, Ling Shu closed her eyes and fell backward.
It fell straight to the ground.
She just watched coldly.
After a while, with a flick of her finger, Ling Shu was placed on the bed. She opened the door and left. Hai Gu was sitting on the veranda, with a basin of warm water at her feet.
“Bring the Firebird over.”
Hai Gu arrived, and Zhuang Jinfu asked directly, "Why is she unconscious?"
Firebird's expression was as if it had just acquired a copy of Zhuang Jinfu's wild and unofficial history.
Firebird: "You really did it?"
The sea maiden immediately smiled: "Immortal Venerable, would you like some water?"
"Need not!"
Zhuang Jinfu's face was as black as a dark cloud.
Hearing the commotion, Zhao Chi came over to check. As soon as he arrived, he heard these two sentences. Zhuang Jinfu's face darkened drastically, and she froze in mid-air, unsure whether to go in or not.
Fearing being accidentally hurt, he quietly withdrew.
Firebird chuckled meaningfully: "Master and disciple, taboo, transgression, immortal and demon, hehehe!"
Suddenly, sharp icicles filled the room, and even the sea maiden stood up straight and obediently.
Zhao Chi felt grateful for his own fear of death.
Firebird's laughter caught in her throat. She swallowed nervously and said tremblingly, "Um, it's normal to feel dizzy. The beautiful dream created by my magic artifact isn't a good thing... It will deplete your vital energy. When your vital energy is low, you'll feel sleepy. That's normal... You'll be fine after a nap."
The icicles spun slowly in the air, refracting the soft candlelight. The light and shadow gently fell on Ling Shu's face as she slept peacefully and obediently.
Zhuang Jinfu's heart softened.
The beautiful yet dangerous icicles disappeared into the air.
"Hai Gu, take her out."
The next day, Ling Shu woke up, threw off the covers, got out of bed, and ran outside barefoot.
As soon as she opened the door, she bumped into Zhuang Jinfu, who was about to push the door open.
Zhuang Jinfu looked at her clothes. She was only wearing a thin nightgown. Although the weather was warm, it was still a chilly day. She frowned and said, "Where are you in such a hurry to go? You're not even wearing shoes."
Ling Shu stared at her with wide eyes: "Who are you?"
Zhuang Jinfu: "?"
Then, a shout filled with discontent echoed through the courtyard: "Hai Gu, bring that crooked charlatan here!"
Ling Shu's shoulders twitched: "You...you're so fierce."
Zhuang Jinfu faced Ling Shu directly as he stepped over the threshold, forcing Ling Shu to retreat.
Ling Shu's eyelashes trembled, as if she were afraid of her: "What are you doing? This is my home. You are not allowed to force your way in."
After saying that, she added, "Being pretty isn't an option either."
Zhuang Jinfu pulled her straight inside.
Ling Shu pulled at her hand: "Bad woman, bad woman!"
Zhuang Jinfu pressed her down and sat her down on the edge of the couch.
Ling Shu struggled to stand up, angrily saying, "You bullied me, my mother will not let you get away with this!"
Then a robe fell onto her.
Zhuang Jinfu knelt down to put her shoes on.
Ling Shu swallowed all her angry words.
Firebird was brought over, muttering curses, "Why are you waking people up before dawn!"
Zhuang Jinfu looked displeased: "You said she'd be fine after a good night's sleep, but she doesn't even know who I am now. What's going on?"
"Huh?" Firebird was puzzled and scratched its head. "How is that possible? My magical artifact won't cause amnesia, will it?"
Ling Shu sized up the group of people: "Who are you? Where is my mother? I want my mother."
The three were speechless.
Zhao Chi, who was peering through the doorway, was also stunned.
Firebird asked, "Little beauty, how old are you?"
Ling Shu replied, "I'm ten years old."
The three of them were speechless once again.
The next second, the room was filled with ice spikes, the air was chilling, and each ice spike was surrounded by white magical energy, indicating a glaring danger. Ling Shu clapped her hands and said, "Wow, how beautiful! Do it again and again!" Then she stood up and reached out to grab them.
"Be careful!" Hai Gu exclaimed urgently.
Ling Shu touched the ice pick with her fingertip, and blood immediately gushed out. Ling Shu quickly withdrew her hand and cried out, "Waaaah, it hurts so much! The ice pick has splinters!"
Zhuang Jinfu felt a headache.
Hai Gu immediately scolded, "You knew the girl was awake and you still did something so dangerous! Get out of here right now!"
Zhuang Jinfu immediately removed all the ice spikes from the room, leaving only a ring of ice spikes around the Firebird's neck.
Firebird: "..."
Firebird: "I'm innocent!!!"
The sea maiden rushed forward and immediately used her healing magic to treat the hand injury. Fortunately, the injury was minor; any deeper and it would have damaged the bone.
Zhuang Jinfu carried the Firebird out. The Firebird had been bound by magic, but once inside the courtyard, the magic dissipated, and the Firebird cried out and fell to the ground.
She looked up and saw a white sword, its blade sharp and pointed directly at her.
"No!" Zhao Chi shouted from the side, and Zhuang Jinfu stopped swinging his sword.
Zhao Chi's heart pounded with panic. Who was Zhuang Jinfu? An immortal!
She possesses immense magical power, capable of killing with a mere flick of her finger without needing to use her sword. Her sword, nurtured over the years through the blood of tens of thousands of evil cultivators and demons, possesses a sword aura capable of suppressing cultivation levels. Unless protected by its master, ordinary people cannot touch it, as doing so would damage their very foundation. Hence, some say that the Plum Blossom Sword is a deadly weapon.
This sword rarely appears in the world. Occasionally, a lucky person may see it worn by an immortal. Any cultivator who enjoys listening to anecdotes and interesting stories knows that once this sword is drawn, it means that the immortal has the intention to kill.
Using plum blossoms to kill living beings was Zhuang Jinfu's ritual for taking lives.
The words Zhao Chi blurted out at the critical moment when Huo Que was on the verge of death stunned even herself.
She actually wanted to spare the life of someone who had ulterior motives towards her and relentlessly pursued her.
On second thought, perhaps it was because of the few words Firebird had said to her that had woken her up.
Firebird was also stunned: "What did you say, beauty? You don't want me to die, you love me."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Chi immediately realized that he had been irrational for saying something unnecessary: "I apologize for being presumptuous, please go ahead."
Firebird, panting heavily, accidentally swallowed a mouthful of dust. Spitting a few times, it cried out, "A night with a wife is worth a hundred days of kindness! You can't just stand by and watch her die!"
Zhao Chi flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.
Seeing that pleading with her was useless, Firebird immediately changed its target: "Celestial Immortal! Her amnesia might not be fully resolved! Keep me here! I'll help you heal her!"
Zhuang Jinfu then sheathed his sword, grabbed the person by the back of his collar, dragged him inside, and threw him beside the bed: "Tell me, how do you plan to treat him?"
"Please let me go first."
A silver ring was put around her foot, and Zhuang Jinfu released her.
Firebird immediately turned around and rushed outside, but its foot, which was encircled by a ring, couldn't move for a long time. It said angrily, "Celestial being, you're so hateful."
She turned back, took down the palm-sized, two-finger-thick, polished green corn hanging from her waist. The corn floated in her palm, and a wave of green magic rippled outwards, landing on Ling Shu. The ripples spread outwards from her.
After a long while, Firebird asked her, "Little beauty, how old are you now?"
"Ten years old."
Zhuang Jinfu gripped the hilt of his sword, staring at her with a gloomy expression.
Firebird quickly tried to salvage the situation: "If once isn't enough, I'll try again."
After ten times.
"Little beauty, how old are you now? Don't say you're ten."
"Huh? I am ten years old!"
Zhuang Jinfu said slowly and deliberately, "Fire, Sparrow."
Firebird knelt down with a thud: "I really gathered all my magic power, Heavenly Immortal! Please believe me this once! My magic artifact can't be used for more than two hours, and there has to be a seven-day interval. A day and a night have passed since the night before last, and I haven't used any magic to harm her! Believe me, I beg you."
"Then why would she do that?"
"Aftereffects. The aftereffects of indulging too deeply in a beautiful dream, damaging the body."
"So there's no other way?"
"Yes."
Firebird was bracing itself for its head to be ripped off when it suddenly heard Zhuang Jinfu's extremely soft voice: "Go down." Firebird fled in panic.
Ling Shu tilted her head and looked at her: "Daoist who can turn into ice, you seem to be in a bad mood. Do you need Ling Bao to hug you?"
The sea maiden looked worried.
"I'm fine." Zhuang Jinfu's voice softened. "Don't call me Daoist Master, I am your master."
"What is a Master?"
"A teacher is one who imparts knowledge, teaches skills, and resolves doubts."
"Lingbao doesn't understand."
Zhuang Jinfu rubbed her head and sighed, "If you don't understand, then forget it."
Ling Shu blinked and asked her, "Master... do you know where my mother is?"
Hai Gu tensed up. How could this be explained? She had lost her memory and was only ten years old in terms of mental age. She wouldn't be able to handle it. Hai Gu was afraid that the heartless person would say something cruel, so she hurriedly interjected, "Your mother went to seek immortality and ask about the Dao."
"Your mother is dead."
Hai Gu was almost terrified: "Don't listen to her nonsense! Your mother is still alive, she just went to a faraway place to cultivate."
Ling Shu froze, lowered her head, and tears streamed down her face. Her sobs choked as she cried, "Mother always said that one day she wouldn't be able to protect Ling Bao anymore, that she would die, and that I would be all alone. She... she actually... really died."
Hai Gu stood up and kicked Zhuang Jinfu, then raised her foot to stomp on her. She didn't dodge and silently endured it.
Hai Gu: "She has amnesia now, and only has the mind of a ten-year-old child. Why are you saying these things? I'll stomp you to death, stomp you to death." After venting her anger, she went back to hug Ling Shu, patted her shoulder, and coaxed her: "If you're sad, just have a good cry. Hai Gu is with you. I don't need you, my heartless master, anymore."
"Yes, I will." Ling Shu cried and wiped away her tears. "Ling Bao remembers, I like her very much."
Zhuang Jinfu stood still, her heart, as calm as a still pond, stirred for a moment at those words, then only a trace of bitterness remained. She hadn't felt what it meant to be moved by love in a long time, and this bitterness was truly unfamiliar, and... truly unbearable, but she wouldn't regret those words because of this unbearable feeling.
She stood still, quietly waiting for the girl to finish crying.
Finally, after only a few sobs and gasps, Zhuang Jinfu said, "Let's go back to Shangqing Mountain."
Hai Gu agreed, got up to tell Zhao Chi, and asked what to do with the firebird and the leopard in the cage. She said to release the leopard back into the mountains and forests, and take the firebird back, and wait until Ling Shu regained his memory before making a decision.
After packing her things, Ling Shu calmed down.
As they set off, the group stepped out of their room and were about to leave the courtyard together when they discovered that Ling Shu had fallen behind.
Turning around, Zhuang Jinfu told her to follow.
Ling Shu opened her arms and said to her, "Hug me."
Zhuang Jinfu: "?"
Ling Shu said, "Hai Gu packed so many things, it's obvious she's going on a long trip, too far, Ling Bao doesn't want to go. Mother made me hold onto her tails, she wrapped me in her eight tails, then hid the tails, and hid Ling Bao too. You are my master, you should hold me too, right? I'm so afraid that people outside will find me."
Zhuang Jinfu: "I have no tail."
"Then I won't leave."
"Now we don't have to worry about being discovered, let's go."
Zhuang Jinfu walked straight away.
But when they reached the courtyard gate, she still hadn't caught up.
Turning back again, she saw Ling Shu standing there, her eyebrows almost furrowed into a tearful expression, glaring at her reproachfully with a pout.
"Keep up, everyone's leaving."
"don't want."
"I don't have a tail, so you can't carry me. You have to walk on your own."
"No, no, no! Walking is too tiring when traveling long distances." Ling Shu stomped her feet and cried out, "I don't want to walk, I don't want to walk."
Zhuang Jinfu walked back helplessly, turned around and squatted down in front of her, "Get on, I'll carry you."
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