She pursed her lips, rolled out from under the blanket to sit up, and looked up at him. “Perform a disciple greeting? You still dare to casually take a disciple? Aren't you afraid of getting stabbed in the back twice again?”
With this glance, she could see the man beside her bed clearly.
He didn't look much different from how she remembered him.
He was still gentle and serene, his features delicate as if finely carved from warm jade, completely devoid of any overbearing sharpness.
The only difference was that his once ink-black hair had now turned completely snow-white, loosely bound behind his back, with a few silver strands cascading over his shoulders.
Entirely different from the confrontational encounter she had imagined, he seemed even more gentle and good-tempered than before. Not reacting to the thorns in her words at all, he simply picked up the medicine bowl from the side table and steadily held it out to her.
His voice was like spring water splashing against mountain rocks, without a single ripple. “Drink your medicine first.”
Song Yao stared at the dark, murky medicine before her and couldn't help but furrow her brows.
What kind of game was he playing now?
What?
Did her dying once mean all their past accounts were settled?
Song Yao took the medicine bowl, hesitated for a moment, and tilted her head back to gulp it down quickly. Just as the bitter taste numbed the back of her tongue, a piece of osmanthus candy was handed to her.
She instinctively took it, popped it into her mouth to suppress the bitter astringency, and asked, “I've finished drinking it. Now what?”
Perhaps due to her physical discomfort, she felt inexplicably irritable in his presence. Her tone was somewhat sharp, carrying an air of reckless abandon.
Her master, however, seemed entirely oblivious. Taking the empty bowl from her hand and setting it aside, he remained as gentle and mild as ever. “Can you get up? If you can, open the array core first.”
Song Yao understood.
Ah, so that was it.
It turned out he still had a favor to ask of her.
She had originally intended to get out of bed, but pausing as a thought struck her, she stretched out her arm toward him, revealing the Nine Saints Hall disciple mark on her wrist. “Easy enough. First, remove this for me.”
Fusheng's gaze drifted to the mark on her wrist, then shifted to her face.
Ever since she woke up, this child had been bristling like an angry cat, her face cold and looking utterly unapproachable.
But bristling was still better than having no spirit at all.
Pursing his thin lips slightly, he reached out and covered her wrist.
The faint mark on her wrist began to glow with a soft light. The patterns rippled and shifted like water, expanding and contracting until they condensed into a slanted branch of peach blossoms.
The delicate edges of the petals shimmered with flecks of golden light. They slowly sank beneath her skin along the lines of her blood vessels, leaving behind only a very faint pink mark, as if a single peach petal had drifted onto her wrist.
Song Yao: “?”
Wait.
It was one thing not to remove it, but why did he give her a personal disciple mark instead?
Did he still want her as his disciple?
Had he not suffered enough before?
Her sluggish mind spun for a moment, and her voice turned slightly cold. “What is the meaning of this? Aren't you afraid that I won't release the people inside the array core?”
“Oh.”
Fusheng gathered his sleeves, placed the remaining bag of osmanthus candy on the table, and walked out at an unhurried pace. “If you don't want to release them, then don't. Your body is in poor shape and won't recover easily. For now, just rest well.”
Song Yao: “?”
Before closing the door, he added, “In any case, I am no longer the Hall Master.”
Song Yao: “...?”
She was somewhat dazed.
Was this still the compassionate and solemn Hall Master of the Nine Saints Hall, the one who always carried the weight of the common people in his heart?
With hundreds of lives sealed inside the array core, a matter of life and death, he actually casually dismissed it with “if you don't want to, then don't”?
Wait a minute.
He wasn't the Hall Master anymore?
Then who was the Hall Master?
Just how many things had happened while she was asleep?
In any case, she couldn't lie idle anymore. Song Yao yawned, got out of bed, cradled the bag of osmanthus candy in her arms, and walked out slowly with a messy head of hair like a bird's nest.
Just as she reached out to push the door open, she bumped straight into a tall, upright figure.
Zhu Zhao had been about to knock. Seeing the door open, she lowered her hand, her gaze locking onto Song Yao's face as her tense jawline softened slightly. “You're awake.”
Not expecting her to come, Song Yao fished two pieces of osmanthus candy out of the bag in her arms and offered them. “Yep, I'm awake.”
Zhu Zhao didn't take the candy right away.
She lowered her eyes, her voice tight with a hint of apology. “The situation was urgent earlier. I was leading our people to clear out and intercept the cultivators of the other sects, so I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry. I should have kept you by my side.”
“Why would you need to protect me?”
Song Yao found this baffling and stuffed the candy directly into her palm.
Leaning against the doorframe, she looked up at Zhu Zhao's travel-worn appearance and noticed the token hanging from her waist. Realizing what had happened, she smiled and teased, “Hall Master Zhu, you've only just taken office and you're already so eager to show concern for the injured disciples. Aren't you going to be a bit too busy?”
Hearing the title “Hall Master Zhu” roll off her tongue somehow carried an inexplicable, different flavor.
Zhu Zhao paused briefly, staring straight at her. “I don't just show concern for anyone.”
That look was a bit strange.
Song Yao blinked. Before she could ponder too deeply, she patted Zhu Zhao's shoulder. “Fair enough, fair enough. I'm fine. But since you just apologized to me, why don't you make it up to me and grant me a request? How about it?”
With that tone of hers, she was probably about to ask for something rather outrageous.
Yet with her pale face and bright, watery eyes, she looked so pitiful that it was difficult to refuse her.
Zhu Zhao averted her gaze and replied, “Let's hear it.”
Song Yao immediately rolled up her sleeve and thrust her wrist right in front of Zhu Zhao, showing her the pink peach blossom mark that was so faint it almost blended into her skin. “You're the Hall Master now. Give the order and have Fusheng remove this mark of mine.”
Zhu Zhao: “...”
She knew she wouldn't say anything good.
Zhu Zhao gently pulled her sleeve back down and corrected her, “You should call him Master.”
“Fine.”
Song Yao was quick to change her tune this time. “Then have Master remove this mark of mine.”
Zhu Zhao shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?”
Song Yao scowled, leaning back with her arms crossed. “Haven't we reconciled? Aren't we on good terms now? If so, is it really too much to ask for this small favor so I can leave the Nine Saints Hall?”
Zhu Zhao's eyes darkened imperceptibly, her eyelashes lowering to conceal the turbulent emotions in her gaze. “Do you really want to leave that badly?”
Song Yao nodded in all seriousness, her tone completely open. “Yes. Is that not allowed?”
Beneath her sleeves, Zhu Zhao's knuckles turned white from clenching her fists. She loosened and tightened her grip before finally squeezing out a cold, hard word from her throat: “No.”
Song Yao's face fell. “Why not again?”
Zhu Zhao rubbed her temples and said, “Ye Chongguang is looking for you.”
Song Yao brushed it off, waving her hand. “So what if Ye Chongguang is looking for me? Isn't he already dead?”
“...”
Zhu Zhao stared at her, falling into a complex silence for a moment. “Song Yao, what kind of fool are you pretending to be?”
Song Yao gave a half-smile. “How am I playing dumb? Second Senior Sister—ah, no, Hall Master Zhu—is it really fair for you to use your authority to slander people like this?”
Even under these circumstances, she could still grin and play around.
Suppressing the urge to drag her back into the room and teach her a proper lesson, Zhu Zhao spoke expressionlessly, “Is the one looking for you really Ye Chongguang, or the Immortal Venerable behind him? Song Yao, you should know that better than anyone.”
Rate on N.U.
