Hearing the Grand Elder's words, Tushan Xinhua's brow furrowed, her lips pressed tightly together.
"Xinhua..."
Grand Elder Tushan Meng let out a long, heartfelt sigh.
"I know that Gui Ning divined a reading for his granddaughter. I also know that the little human child named Xiao Mo made contact with Jingci, and that he is very likely to become one of Jingci's great trials of love in the future."
"But fate is not something that can be decided entirely by a single divinatory reading. The path of the immortal must ultimately be walked by oneself, must it not?"
Tushan Xinhua raised her head to speak, but Tushan Meng waved a hand and interrupted her directly.
"I know what you wish to say. This Great Dream of the Yellow Millet was passed down to our Tushan fox clan in the ancient age by that benefactor of ours. If it were not for that benefactor, our Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan would have disappeared from history like so many of the other ancient beast bloodlines."
"At that time, our ancestors once said that if anyone, whether human or demon, ever studied the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet, they would become an honored guest of our Tushan fox clan, and the finest young woman of the clan would be pledged to them in marriage."
"But Jingci is simply too significant to our Tushan fox clan. The hopes of our Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan, and indeed the hopes of all fox clan demon folk in this Demon Realm, rest with her."
"And do not forget, after our defeat in the second great war against the Ten Thousand Laws Realm, the human folk within our Demon Realm have already begun to grow restless. Our Tushan bloodline must suppress the humans. We must seize the position of supreme ruler of this Demon Realm in one decisive move."
"Grand Elder, everything you say is right. The Grand Elder has devoted every thought and effort to the fox clan of this world. I have no standing to argue. But..."
Tushan Xinhua raised her head and looked directly into the other's eyes.
"Xiao Mo is Jingci's close friend. He has already risked his life to save Jingci once before. I cannot bring myself to repay kindness with treachery. And I will not allow anyone to harm Xiao Mo."
"You will not allow it? Ha ha ha..."
Tushan Meng laughed.
"Xinhua, I raised you from childhood. You are my disciple, but you are more like my daughter. Do I not know your nature?"
"Are you truly satisfied with this human? Is it that you do not want to hurt him, or is it that you are afraid that if you hurt him and Jingci finds out, she will resent it for the rest of her life?"
Tushan Xinhua said nothing.
"After all these years, you are still as irresolute as ever."
Tushan Meng turned away and waved her hand dismissively.
"Never mind. Never mind. You may step down. I will handle this matter."
"Do not worry. That Xiao Mo will not die for now. He still has a certain use."
"Once Jingci is grown, if she truly falls in love with this human then I will make Xiao Mo, before his death, the highest stepping stone Jingci ever had."
...
After the Hanshan Academy's break ended, on the first day back.
Tushan Jingci trudged to the Qianxue Study Hall in low spirits.
She felt for the first time that time had passed so quickly.
She had not expected that five days would go by in the blink of an eye.
The happy times were truly far too short but no matter how reluctant Tushan Jingci was, she still had to attend her lessons properly and Xiao Mo, as he always had, stood outside the study hall listening in.
Only the four book attendants, Wang Zhong included, were nowhere to be seen.
After the incident outside the pill chamber, Wang Zhong and the others had all been expelled from the Hanshan Academy. Four new faces had taken their places.
During the break between lessons, Lou Huo and the others also came to apologize to Tushan Jingci.
Just as she had with Chen Jue before, Tushan Jingci made it clear that "as long as Xiao Mo accepts your apology, I will forgive you."
Lou Huo and the other two looked at the human boy standing outside the study hall and felt deeply uncomfortable.
Like Chen Jue, they all felt that apologizing to a human was a tremendous humiliation but after receiving word from their elders at home, they had no choice. When there were fewer people around, they went and privately apologized to Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo accepted their apologies.
Although he had formed a poor impression of these young demon noble lords over the previous incident, from the standpoint of what had actually happened, these young lords had genuinely been dragged into a situation not entirely of their making.
They likely had not even anticipated that their own book attendants would be talked into going after Xiao Mo together.
As for the treasures they had sent, Xiao Mo did not keep a single one.
He intended to convert everything into spirit stones and give them all to the girl named Liu Shui.
After all, Liu Shui was the truly innocent party, and it was because of him that she had ended up in danger.
It had fortunately ended without serious harm.
So Xiao Mo felt that the one those young lords truly owed an apology to was not himself but Liu Shui but how could something like that ever happen?
The reason they had apologized to him was because of the power of the Tushan clan, because of Jingci's status, and because he was Jingci's most trusted companion.
Asking them to apologize to an ordinary human girl was something not even their fathers would be willing to do, let alone these young demon nobles.
Hearing that Xiao Mo intended to sell those apology gifts and give the money to Liu Shui, Tushan Jingci had no objection.
Near the Hanshan Academy there happened to be a small town where various rare treasures could be traded.
This town was called Hanshan City, and it was a settlement attached to the Hanshan Academy's sphere of influence.
Hanshan City had ordinary mortal taverns and markets, as well as a number of establishments frequented by cultivators.
For instance, the "Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion" in Hanshan City was the largest cultivator trading establishment in the area.
Ordinary cultivators could find the rare materials and treasures they needed there.
Cultivators would also sell rare items or magical beast cores they had obtained by chance but since merchants were shrewd, Tushan Jingci was worried that Xiao Mo might be taken advantage of by some unreasonable adult, so she insisted on bringing Elder Sister Yueshi along to accompany Xiao Mo.
When they arrived at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, Xiao Mo sold everything he had brought and received a total of five hundred high-grade spirit stones.
Spirit stones were graded as low, medium, and high.
The term "piece" referred to a standardized unit of size established by convention in the cultivation world.
The size could vary slightly within acceptable margins, but not too much.
The exchange ratio between each grade was one to one hundred.
For example, one high-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for one hundred medium-grade spirit stones, or ten thousand low-grade spirit stones.
An ordinary teacher at the Hanshan Academy, someone of Teacher Xian's standing, received a monthly stipend of twenty high-grade spirit stones.
Of course, that was only the base stipend.
Any income from missions Teacher Xian carried out for the academy or from opportunities he encountered outside would be calculated separately but in any case, five hundred high-grade spirit stones was quite a substantial sum by any measure.
On the way back to the Hanshan Academy, Xiao Mo also thought over whether he ought to hand over this large sum directly to Liu Shui.
After all, for an ordinary young woman to possess such a large amount of wealth, if anyone found out, it would certainly invite mortal danger.
That afternoon, Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci returned to their courtyard.
At the courtyard's bamboo gate, they saw a young girl standing there with a basket in her arms, looking around.
The moment Liu Shui saw Xiao Mo return, her eyes lit up immediately. She quickly stepped forward and gave a proper bow. "This humble girl Liu Shui pays her respects to the Young Miss of Mount Tu and to Young Master Xiao, in gratitude for your help during the incident some days ago."
"Older Sister Liu, do not thank me. It was Xiao Mo who saved you. I did not have much to do with it." Tushan Jingci said with a smile.
"That is kind to say, but had the Young Miss not arrived in time afterward, the events of that day might not have ended well at all. Both you and Young Master Xiao are my life-saving benefactors."
Liu Shui said with the deepest gratitude.
Even now, thinking back on what had happened a few days ago still left Liu Shui's heart trembling.
"Please do not worry about it, Older Sister Liu Shui. Besides, all of it was Chen Jue's and the others' fault." Tushan Jingci stepped forward and helped the young girl, who was five years older than herself, to her feet.
Liu Shui looked at the adorable little girl before her and gently wiped the corner of her eye, then pulled back the cloth covering her basket.
"I have been meaning to come and visit you and Young Master Xiao as soon as possible. But I inquired for quite a while before I was able to find out your identities and where you live."
"Inside here are some jujube cakes that my mother and I made. They are nothing valuable."
"And in this pouch is a small token of gratitude from our family."
As she spoke, a faint flush came to Liu Shui's cheeks.
She was not being modest. She genuinely felt that what she had brought was too humble to offer.
Even if the pouch held most of her family's savings, it amounted to nothing in the eyes of someone from a family like this but beyond these things, her family had nothing else to give.
Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo exchanged a glance. Xiao Mo gave a nod, and only then did Tushan Jingci accept the basket but Tushan Jingci held the money pouch back out to Liu Shui, and with a cheerful, matter-of-fact manner, she said, "Older Sister Liu Shui, I do love these jujube cakes, and I will accept them without being polite. But the silver coins in this pouch, please take them back."
"But Young Miss of Mount Tu..."
"All right, that is decided. I am going to take my afternoon nap. Xiao Mo, make sure you look after Older Sister Liu well for me."
Liu Shui still wanted to say something, but Tushan Jingci had already set her short legs going and run into the courtyard.
Watching the slender figure of the little girl recede, Liu Shui could not help but press her lips together in a warm smile.
"The Young Miss of Mount Tu really is something different."
"Our Young Miss is indeed a little different." Xiao Mo smiled, then drew a spirit stone pouch from his robe. "Please take this, Older Sister Liu."
"Young Master Xiao, this is...?" Liu Shui asked with puzzlement.
"These are the apology gifts from the masters of the book attendants involved in the incident. I have converted them into five hundred high-grade spirit stones. Older Sister Liu was the true victim in all of this. These spirit stones belong to Older Sister Liu." Xiao Mo answered honestly.
"Hmm? F... five hundred?"
Liu Shui froze for a moment, then was so startled she stepped back, waving her hands repeatedly.
"Young Master Xiao, that is simply not possible. If it were not for you stepping in to help, I would very likely not have survived. How could I accept so many spirit stones? That is absolutely not acceptable."
"The reasons are not entirely easy to explain to Older Sister. But on that day, Older Sister Liu was completely innocent. All I can say is that it was because of me that Older Sister Liu ended up in danger."
Xiao Mo gave a brief explanation.
"But this spirit stone pouch, Older Sister would do best to keep it hidden and tell no one about it. If you are ever truly short of funds, simply take out one high-grade spirit stone at a time and go to the Treasure Pavilion to exchange it for low-grade stones. That should not draw any particular attention."
Liu Shui looked at the spirit stone pouch in Xiao Mo's hand and still shook her head in refusal. "I, I may not fully understand your reasons or your meaning, Young Master Xiao, but it is a fact that you saved my life. Because of that, I truly cannot accept this."
"But even so, one who receives an apology gift on someone else's behalf ought to share a portion of it with the one who deserves it most."
Xiao Mo smiled and deliberately made the consequences sound more serious.
"If Older Sister Liu were to refuse entirely, there would be something sitting in my heart that would not settle right. My thoughts might not flow freely, and that could interfere with my cultivation."
"But..."
Liu Shui pressed her small hands together, looking conflicted but very quickly, something seemed to occur to her and her eyes suddenly brightened. "Young Master Xiao... I still cannot accept the spirit stones. But how about this, would you give me a cultivation art instead?"
"A cultivation art?" Xiao Mo paused.
"Mm."
Liu Shui said earnestly.
"I do not even know if I can cultivate, but I would like to try. If I am able to, then when someone tries to bully me in the future, I might at least be able to run away. And I could protect my mother too. After all, there will not always be a kind person like Young Master Xiao around when I need help."
Listening to Liu Shui's idea, Xiao Mo considered it briefly, then agreed. "That actually makes sense. How about this: Older Sister Liu Shui, come back here tomorrow evening. I will test your spiritual root for you. How does that sound?"
"Yes, yes." Liu Shui gave a happy bow. "Thank you so much, Young Master Xiao! Then I will not take up any more of your time."
"Safe travels, Older Sister Liu." Xiao Mo returned the bow with clasped hands.
After seeing Liu Shui off, Xiao Mo returned to the courtyard.
Tushan Jingci jumped out of her room with delight and clapped Xiao Mo on the shoulder. "Xiao Mo, Older Sister Liu has left?"
"Mm, she has." Xiao Mo gave a nod. "But Older Sister Liu would not accept the spirit stones. She said she wants to cultivate, so I plan to go into the town tomorrow to buy a spirit root testing stone and a few cultivation manuals to give her."
"Then I will come with you." Tushan Jingci said happily. "And Xiao Mo, you can also invite Older Sister Liu to come and visit us whenever she likes. Elder Sister Yueshi can help teach her cultivation. Then Older Sister Liu can come and play with all of us too."
Looking at the girl's bright, cheerful expression, Xiao Mo gave a nod with a smile. "Of course. I will go and tell Older Sister Liu tomorrow."
Xiao Mo understood perfectly well that the reason Jingci wanted Liu Shui to come to their courtyard often was not simply to play with her, nor only for Yueshi to guide her cultivation. It was also a way of protecting her.
With this arrangement, others would see that Liu Shui had a connection with the Tushan clan. No one would dare treat her casually.
Although Jingci appeared utterly carefree and innocent on the surface, her consideration for others was in truth very thoughtful.
"Jingci, thank you. You are truly very kind."
Looking at Tushan Jingci's bright, pure expression, Xiao Mo could not help but say with feeling.
"Xiao Mo, I am not kind at all." Tushan Jingci puffed her cheeks and raised her small hands, baring her fingers in a playful show of ferocity. "I am very fierce, you know."
"Is that so?" Xiao Mo smiled. "But how can I tell?"
"Xiao Mo, you foolish thing."
In the light of the setting sun, Tushan Jingci rose on her tiptoes, leaned forward, reached out her small hand, and flicked Xiao Mo on the forehead. Her eyes curved into crescents.
"That is because it is only for you."