"Is Miss Liu Shui at home?"
Daoist Master Yun Xi looked at the woman before her with a warm and unhurried smile.
"She is, she is. But if I may ask, who are the two of you?"
Though the two young women before her were beautiful beyond words and did not look like anyone with ill intentions, Liu Shui's mother still felt a measure of caution in her heart.
In her view, her daughter could not possibly be acquainted with women of such extraordinary looks and bearing.
"Please do not worry, madam. We are two Daoists from the Seeking Immortals Temple, and our intentions are entirely good." Noticing the other woman's wariness, Daoist Master Yun Xi smiled and spoke in a measured, unhurried tone. "We have come today to bring Miss Liu Shui a considerable opportunity."
"An opportunity..." Her mother lowered her head and hesitated for a moment, then finally stepped aside and welcomed the two young women in. "Please come in, both of you. I will go and call Shui'er out."
"We are sorry for the trouble."
Daoist Master Yun Xi gave a small nod, and brought her disciple with her into the courtyard.
Inside the room, Liu Shui was lying on her bed, quietly letting tears slip down her cheeks, her mind running over and over the words Xiao Mo had used to decline her, a pain in her heart like a blade turning.
At the sound of her mother's voice saying two immortal ladies had come to find her, she could not help raising her head, puzzlement filling her.
She had no acquaintance with any immortal ladies but not wanting to be lacking in courtesy, Liu Shui quickly wiped the corners of her eyes, smoothed her slightly disordered hair, straightened her clothes, took a slow breath, and opened the door.
"Miss Liu Shui, we meet again."
When Daoist Master Yun Xi saw Liu Shui come out, she rose and gave her a bow with the same warm, gentle smile as before.
"You two are..."
Liu Shui recognized them immediately.
They were the two Daoists she had encountered in that city.
She had not expected them to appear in her village.
"We are Daoists from the Seeking Immortals Temple. I am called Yun Xi, and this is my disciple, whose name is Gui Junmeng." Daoist Master Yun Xi gave a simple introduction, her manner warm and easy.
"We met once before, in Chuncha City. Even among the crowd, I could sense that you have an unusual affinity with Dao resonance, quite beyond the ordinary. We were heading to a banquet at the time and were not able to greet you. I apologize for that."
She paused slightly and continued. "Afterward I did some divining and calculated that we would meet again. So I have come this time to ask you, Miss Liu Shui, whether you would be willing to join our Seeking Immortals Temple and pursue the cultivation of the Daoist arts?"
"Cultivate... the Daoist arts?" Liu Shui blinked, surprise showing fully in her expression. She had never imagined she would be invited to join a Daoist temple.
"Yes."
Daoist Master Yun Xi gave a nod, her tone gentle.
"In the Demon Realm, it may well be that only our Seeking Immortals Temple can offer you a proper environment for cultivation. With your natural gifts, reaching the Nascent Soul realm in the future should not be a problem. Whether you can step into the Upper Three Realms will depend on your own fortune."
"Additionally, if you have any doubts about our intentions, you may ask Daoist Friend Xiao Mo about us."
"The two of you... know Young Master Xiao?" Liu Shui asked in surprise.
"We do."
Daoist Master Yun Xi smiled faintly, her gaze soft.
"After we leave the Hanshan Academy this time, we will not be returning here. And with your current cultivation, it would be very difficult for you to find our Seeking Immortals Temple on your own. So I would like you to make your decision tonight. We will be leaving at dawn and will wait for you at the entrance to the village until then."
"That is all I had to say. We will not take up any more of your time."
With that, Daoist Master Yun Xi gave a bow and took her leave of mother and daughter, then turned and walked out of the courtyard with Gui Junmeng.
In the moonlight, the two figures, one ahead and one behind, gradually disappeared beyond the courtyard gate.
After Daoist Master Yun Xi had gone, Liu Shui sat alone in the courtyard and thought for a long time.
She had no doubt about what Daoist Master Yun Xi had said but in her heart, she had never been especially driven by the pursuit of cultivation for its own sake.
And yet...
Xiao Mo's face drifted into her mind, and the words he had used to decline her came back to her.
Though Xiao Mo had said he thought of her only as a neighbor's elder sister, Liu Shui's heart still could not accept it, still could not let go.
"If my cultivation were a little higher, might I be able to walk at the side of Young Master Xiao?"
"If I were a little more capable, might Young Master Xiao see me differently?"
One thought after another of this kind stirred in Liu Shui's heart.
And after crying for a while, some things had gradually become clearer to her. Young Master Xiao's talent was so extraordinary, and at such a young age he had already entered the Golden Core realm, while she herself was still at Foundation Building.
Even if Young Master Xiao had accepted her feelings, what then?
How could she ever keep pace with him on the road ahead?
And yet if she went away, what would become of her mother?
Knowing her mother as she did, her mother would certainly not come with her.
"Shui'er, it is cold at night. Let us go inside."
Just as Liu Shui's thoughts were growing more and more tangled, her mother came out carrying a bowl of hot water and called softly to her daughter.
"Mother, I am not cold." Liu Shui shook her head and gave her mother a small smile. "And do not worry, Mother. Those two immortal ladies are good people. There is nothing to be concerned about."
"Mm." Her mother smiled and gave a quiet nod. "Your mother knows."
"But Shui'er." Her mother took her daughter's small hand and patted the back of it gently, her voice warm. "If you have decided to go to the Seeking Immortals Temple, then just go with those two immortal ladies without looking back. You need not think too hard about it."
"But Mother, if I go, what will become of you? Who will look after you?" Liu Shui pressed her lips together, looking at her mother with deep reluctance, the longing in her eyes impossible to hide.
"You foolish child." Her mother smiled, her gaze full of love. "Since when do children have to stay at their parents' side forever? Being able to become an immortal of the mountains, how wonderful a thing that is. How much honor it brings to the family."
"And Shui'er," her mother's voice softened a little further, carrying a note of feeling, "your mother may be nothing more than an ordinary person, but even I can see that in this world, the lives of ordinary folk like us are as fragile as insects on the ground."
"The further you go on the path of cultivation, the less anyone will be able to bully you. That is all your mother needs to feel at ease."
"Mother..." Liu Shui's eyes trembled slightly, tears already hanging at the corners, on the verge of falling.
"Enough, enough. You are a grown woman. This is not a final farewell. What is there to cry about?"
Her mother reached out and wiped the tears from the corners of her daughter's eyes with a practiced, gentle hand.
"What I am saying is, if you want to go, then go, and do not for a moment let your mother hold you back. If you do, your mother will never have peace of heart for the rest of her life."
Liu Shui pleaded, "Mother, please come with me..."
"Never mind that. Your mother is not going to cause you extra trouble. Once you leave, I will move in with your second uncle. There is plenty of ease in that. You do not need to worry about me. Just take care of yourself. Do you understand?"
Liu Shui gave a tearful nod and said nothing.
"Good. Then it is decided."
Her mother smiled and gently gathered her daughter into her arms, a soft sigh in her voice.
"Foolish girl. Remember this, once you have made up your mind about something, never regret it. Your mother believes in you. Whatever you do from now on, it will be right."
…
The second watch hour.
The deep night hung like a heavy curtain, pressing silently over the mountains and the village.
Above in the night sky, stars scattered like grains of fine sand covered the whole of the heavens, glimmering with a cool and distant light.
On two stones outside Liu Family Village, Daoist Master Yun Xi and her disciple were sitting with their eyes closed in cultivation, their breathing even and steady, their whole persons suffused with a composed and deeply Daoist stillness.
The three-colored cat, now named Li Hua, lay quietly at Gui Junmeng's feet, curled into a ball, purring softly, its belly rising and falling with each breath.
As though sensing something, the cat raised its head and glanced toward the village entrance, then let out a small, soft meow and reached out its fluffy paw to tap gently at its new owner's knee.
Gui Junmeng slowly opened her eyes, and through the night she saw Liu Shui walking out of the village, her figure stretched long and slender in the moonlight.
At the same moment, Daoist Master Yun Xi also opened her eyes and looked toward Liu Shui.
She knew that this young woman called Liu Shui had made her decision.
"You have thought it through? You will come with us?"
Daoist Master Yun Xi looked at the young woman with a smile, her words as soft as the evening wind.
"Yes, Daoist Master. I have thought it through." Liu Shui gave a bow, her gaze full of certainty as she looked at Yun Xi, her voice quiet but remarkably clear. "I am willing to follow the Daoist Master and cultivate. From this day on, I place myself in the Daoist Master's care."
"Cultivation is your own affair. There is nothing about care in it." Daoist Master Yun Xi held out a token representing the status of an inner disciple of the Seeking Immortals Temple and handed it to Liu Shui, her tone steady and unhurried. "When we reach the Seeking Immortals Temple, there will be someone to teach you the Daoist arts. From today, you are a disciple of our Seeking Immortals Temple."
"Many thanks, Daoist Master." Liu Shui accepted the token in both hands and held it in her palms. But her eyes carried the look of someone with something else on her lips, as though she wanted to say more yet was not quite sure how to begin.
"If there is something else you wish to say, please say it directly." Daoist Master Yun Xi had read her hesitation and said gently, "Those of us who cultivate the Dao must keep our thoughts unobstructed. There is no need to hold anything back."
"Daoist Master, my mother is not getting any younger." Liu Shui bit her lip and spoke plainly. "Would it be possible for me to first see my mother safely to my second uncle's home, and then go with you from there?"
"Of course." Daoist Master Yun Xi agreed readily. "We can accompany your mother there together, and you may set out with us after that. Is there anything else?"
"There is one more thing."
Liu Shui pressed her lips gently together and lowered her head, as though gathering the very last of her courage.
"I would like to... say farewell to someone."
…
In the bamboo courtyard, Xiao Mo had still not moved, sitting like a stone, quietly turning over the matter of Jingci and Gui Junmeng in his thoughts but a faint stir of movement from somewhere in the bamboo grove made him lift his head slowly.
In the moonlight, a young woman stood outside the courtyard gate, her hands clasped gently before her, composure in every line of her bearing.
"Elder Sister Liu Shui."
Recognizing who it was, Xiao Mo rose and stepped forward to meet her.
Whatever one might say about matters of the heart, Xiao Mo felt no doubt that his words that evening had been the right ones but whatever the case, Elder Sister Liu Shui was still his friend.
Seeing the look of quiet sadness on her face, a pang of self-reproach stirred in Xiao Mo's heart all the same.
"Sir, do you have a moment? Would you be willing to... take a short walk with me?"
Liu Shui looked at Xiao Mo, her small hands pressing at her sleeves without quite meaning to, those slightly trembling eyes full of the anxiety of someone afraid of being refused.
"Of course." Xiao Mo gave a nod and stepped to the side with a welcoming gesture.
Xiao Mo and Liu Shui walked side by side through the bamboo grove.
The moonlight poured down like water from the night sky, casting the whole grove in a cool, still quiet.
They walked on thick fallen bamboo leaves, the soft crunch of their footsteps drifting through the silence of the grove, lingering long after each step had passed.
"Elder Sister Liu Shui, about this afternoon..." Xiao Mo quietly ordered his thoughts and spoke carefully, wanting to say something to help her feel a little better but he had barely started before Liu Shui gently cut him off. "I know. I understand what you meant, sir. You do not need to apologize to me. These things cannot be forced."
With those words, she raised her head and smiled faintly, a smile that carried a measure of release alongside a trace of sadness that one would barely notice. "Sir, I am going to the Seeking Immortals Temple."
"The Seeking Immortals Temple?" Xiao Mo's steps slowed slightly, and he looked at the young woman beside him.
"Mm." Liu Shui gave a nod and explained in a quiet voice. "A Daoist master called Yun Xi came to find me. She said I have a talent for the Daoist arts and invited me to the Seeking Immortals Temple to cultivate. I have already given her my answer. I came tonight to say goodbye."
"Although I know little about Daoist Master Yun Xi myself, her cultivation is undeniably profound."
Xiao Mo considered for a moment and spoke slowly, with a warmth that was genuine. "And for Elder Sister Liu Shui to be accepted into the Seeking Immortals Temple, I am certain she will achieve something on that path and find the great way that belongs to her."
"Find my own great way?"
Liu Shui gave a soft smile, and her gaze rested quietly on the man before her. In those eyes, something deep that he could not quite read was tucked away.
"The truth is, I have already found my own great way."
Her voice was very soft, as though afraid of disturbing the moonlight deep in the bamboo grove.
"Only, this great path does not lead toward me."
"But even so."
Liu Shui gripped her sleeve tightly, and each word seemed to cost her everything she had left.
"I will still use everything I have to try to catch up with him."