The Book of a Hundred Lives.
Tushan Moon Spirit Peak, beneath the Moon Spirit Tree.
After nearly ten days of the Moon Spirit Tree's blessing, the young woman sitting beneath the tree finally opened her eyes slowly.
"Very good, very good."
Tushan Meng stepped forward, looked at Tushan Jingci, and gave a satisfied nod.
"Worthy indeed of the one I have chosen. This Moon Spirit Tree has a natural affinity with you. One day of cultivation in this place is worth several days for any of the other clan members."
"The Grand Elder praises too generously. It was nothing more than good fortune on Jingci's part." Tushan Jingci rose to her feet and smiled humbly.
Though she had to admit, even she was surprised by the results the Moon Spirit Tree had produced.
Her cultivation, which had been stuck at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, now seemed to have loosened slightly, and within a few more days she would be able to smoothly enter the middle stage.
"Ha ha ha, that modest manner of yours, it truly is identical to what your mother was like as a young woman." Tushan Meng smiled, a note of reminiscence in her eyes.
"Jingci, go back and rest properly. And furthermore, I still hope you will agree to become Tushan's Holy Woman. This is not only for Tushan's sake. It is also for the sake of you and Xiao Mo."
"For the sake of me and Xiao Mo?" Tushan Jingci's eyes blinked slowly, and a faint tension rose in her heart.
"You like Xiao Mo, do you not?" Tushan Meng smiled, her tone gentle.
"What is the Grand Elder saying? How could I possibly like Xiao Mo?" Her heart having been read, Tushan Jingci smiled and denied it, but inwardly a measure of wariness had already risen.
"There is no need to conceal it, Jingci."
Tushan Meng sighed, her tone sincere.
"I am not a narrow-minded person. In my view, liking someone, what does it have to do with their race or bloodline?"
"But my thinking so does not mean everyone thinks the same way." She paused, her gaze settling on Tushan Jingci with a certain depth. "Jingci, if you wish to make others hold their tongues, the only way is to rise to the very top yourself. When you become the Holy Woman of our Tushan clan, when you become Tushan's future leader, will anyone still dare to say a word against you then?"
Tushan Jingci lowered her head, her slender fingers rubbing against each other without thinking, as though weighing something in her mind.
"Very well, Xiao Mo is staying in the innermost courtyard of Hundred Flowers Alley. Go and find him yourself."
Seeing that Tushan Jingci had already been somewhat swayed, Tushan Meng said nothing further, only adding one final earnest word.
"But what I just said to you, I hope you will... think it over carefully."
…
"Sir, this one cannot bear it anymore."
"Sir, please, no more."
"This one truly cannot manage, sir."
"Goodness, sir, you are truly this one's undoing."
In the room, Xiangniang was pressing herself against a large pillow stuffed with cotton, her body twisting and turning without ceasing, her lips pressing again and again against the pillow, muttering away in a dreamy daze.
At one side of the room, Xiao Mo was sitting at his leisure and pouring himself a cup of tea, sipping it at an unhurried pace and watching this scene before him with a composed expression.
The night before, Xiao Mo had seen Xiangniang's intentions long before they played out.
He had not drunk the tea at all.
Instead, the instant he accepted the cup, Xiao Mo had quietly cast an illusory technique over Xiangniang.
Everything that had seemed to happen the previous night was nothing more than an illusion Xiangniang had experienced entirely within her own mind.
Though, to speak frankly, the dreamy murmurings and provocative movements Xiangniang had performed under the illusion were the sort of thing that would have had most ordinary men swallowing hard and struggling to maintain their composure.
Xiao Mo shook his head, rose and walked out of the room, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
About one incense stick's time later, the illusory technique gradually dissolved, and Xiangniang slowly opened her eyes on the bed.
Her eyes still carried a hazy quality, along with the satisfied, drowsy languor of someone who had been thoroughly rained upon but very quickly, Xiangniang realized that what she was pressing herself against was not Xiao Mo, but a large cotton pillow as tall as a person.
She paused, then the cheeks that had already been flushed with embarrassment turned so red they reached the tips of her ears.
Xiangniang was, after all, a cultivator at the peak of the Dragon Gate realm, and at this point it was impossible for her not to know exactly what had happened.
She had fallen under an illusory technique.
Which meant that for the whole previous night, she had been... grinding against a pillow?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Xiangniang threw off the covers and got out of bed in a huff, yanked the door open, and found Xiao Mo sitting in the courtyard eating breakfast with perfect ease.
Xiao Mo turned his head and looked at Xiangniang without particular expression. "Since you are up, come and eat something. But before that, perhaps change your clothing. It is broad daylight, after all."
Xiangniang looked down at the gauze dress she was wearing, her pale skin visible in shifting glimpses through the fabric, and even she, who was usually rather bold about these things, felt a measure of embarrassment standing like this in broad daylight.
She yanked the door shut, changed into a pale pink palace dress, then walked back out and sat beside Xiao Mo with a disgruntled air, picking up a steamed bun.
She bit into the bun with considerable force, as though she were imagining it was Xiao Mo himself, chewing with vengeful intensity but as she chewed, she suddenly looked down at the bun in her hand in some surprise, her eyes blinking. "This bun... did sir make it?"
"Just threw it together." Xiao Mo took a sip of millet congee, his tone mild. "The young lady will just have to make do with it."
"Hmph."
Xiangniang was still somewhat cross, but the bun genuinely was good, and without quite noticing, quite a bit of the resentment in her heart had dissipated.
"Sir truly is heartless."
Her tone came out like a pout, and also like a complaint.
"This one went that far, and sir still refused to yield, and even used an illusory technique on me. In sir's eyes, is this one truly so beneath contempt?"
Xiao Mo shook his head, his tone even. "Of course not. It is only that in matters of the heart, nothing can be forced."
"Nothing can be forced?" Xiangniang set down her chopsticks and looked directly at Xiao Mo with those bewitching eyes. "Then does sir perhaps have someone he cares for?"
Xiao Mo gave no answer but even without one, Xiangniang had already guessed as much.
"Sir, the one you care for, setting aside whether she cares for you in return, even if you are fond of each other, what of it? Sir, you and Jing... and her, in the end it would be impossible for you to be together."
As she spoke, Xiangniang's tone softened without her meaning it to, carrying something between consolation and a sigh.
"Sir, you should just accept me. It would be better for you and for me both. Not only could we cultivate together in dual practice, but we could have a whole litter of little fox cubs, and this one would serve you faithfully for the rest of her life. Otherwise, sir's position here in Tushan, I am afraid..."
Halfway through the sentence, Xiangniang seemed to realize she had said too much. Her voice cut off abruptly, and she lowered her head, bit lightly at her lip, and said nothing further.
"Otherwise my life would be in danger?" Xiao Mo smiled and finished the sentence for her.
Xiangniang did not answer but silence was itself an answer.
"Xiao Mo! Xiao Mo!"
Just as the courtyard had fallen into a quiet, a young girl's light and cheerful voice rang out from outside the gate, clear as a bell, particularly pleasing to hear in the morning light.
At the sound of Tushan Jingci's voice, both Xiao Mo and Xiangniang rose at the same time and walked together to open the gate.
"Xiangniang pays her respects to the Young Miss Jingci."
Xiangniang clasped her hands before her and gave a graceful bow, her manner deferential.
Tushan Jingci's gaze moved back and forth between the two of them. In those beautiful eyes there was a measure of worry she could not quite hide, and somewhere within it a faint undeniable thread of jealousy but with others present, she pressed all those complicated feelings down, gave a light smile, and said with courteous pleasantness, "My respects to Xiangniang."
Then Tushan Jingci shifted her gaze to Xiao Mo, a vinegary note in her expression. "I heard you were living here in Hundred Flowers Alley, Xiao Mo, so I came to see you as soon as I came out of seclusion. Though I wonder, perhaps I have come at an inconvenient time? With a beauty to keep you company, Young Master Xiao must be quite comfortable here."
"Passably." Xiao Mo answered honestly. "Though I have been looking forward to the Young Miss coming out of seclusion."
"Truly?" Tushan Jingci stepped forward, her eyes looking at Xiao Mo without blinking, a hint of scrutiny in her gaze. "You were truly looking forward to me coming out? You are not afraid I would disturb whatever pleasant company you have been keeping?"
"There has been no pleasant company to speak of." Xiao Mo shook his head, his manner candid.
"Hmph, good then. Let us go." Tushan Jingci turned her head away and muttered under her breath, "Living in a place like this every day, it is a wonder how you have not been devoured."
Xiao Mo smiled and pretended not to hear Jingci's muttering. He turned, faced Xiangniang, and gave her a formal bow. "Many thanks for the young lady's attentive care these past days, and many thanks for the kind warning just now. As for what path lies ahead, that is still something I must find on my own."
With that, Xiao Mo drew a small bead from inside his robe and held it out to Xiangniang.
"This Dao resonance bead is one I condensed from my own Dao resonance over these past days. It is not especially precious, but it may be of some small help when the young lady breaks through to the Golden Core realm."
"This... for me?" Xiangniang paused slightly, surprise filling her eyes.
She had not expected Xiao Mo to have prepared something for her.
"Meeting is a form of fate. Consider this my rent for staying in the young lady's home." Xiao Mo placed the Dao resonance bead lightly into Xiangniang's hand, his tone easy. "Farewell. No need to see us off."
"Elder Sister Xiangniang, we will be going now. Many thanks for taking care of Xiao Mo all these days." Tushan Jingci also gave a graceful bow.
"Both of you, take care on your way."
Xiangniang watched as Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo turned and walked away together.
Holding the Dao resonance bead tightly in her hand, Xiangniang watched Xiao Mo's figure gradually receding, and a reluctance she could not help rose in her eyes. She took an involuntary step forward but she stopped herself in the end.
Leaning against the doorframe, Xiangniang gazed in a daze at his figure and the Young Miss Jingci walking side by side, talking and laughing, until those two forms disappeared completely at the edge of her sight.
"Young Miss Jingci is a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox. How could you possibly be with the Young Miss? You are asking for death, you know..."
Xiangniang pressed her lips tight, her expression shifting faintly, her head lowered, speaking softly to herself.
"Truly a fool."
…
"The Young Miss's cultivation seems to have advanced considerably in these past days."
Walking side by side with Tushan Jingci along the town streets, Xiao Mo sensed the spiritual energy flowing around her, and noticed that Jingci's presence had grown considerably more concentrated and refined, as though she had already entered the middle stage of the Golden Core realm.
Her cultivation level had surpassed his in the blink of an eye.
"It has advanced a great deal."
Tushan Jingci gave a happy nod, her expression full of delight.
"Xiao Mo, you have no idea how remarkable that Moon Spirit Tree on Moon Spirit Mountain is. I cultivated beneath it for only a short few days and it felt like dozens of years of cultivation. If there is ever an opportunity, I will take you there to cultivate beneath it as well."
Xiao Mo only smiled and did not pick up that thread.
Even ordinary fox clan members had to perform great services before they could cultivate beneath the Moon Spirit Tree, let alone someone of his human origins.
"To hear the Young Miss speak of it like that, the Moon Spirit Tree as the treasured foundation of the Tushan clan truly lives up to its reputation." Xiao Mo turned the subject, a note of feeling in his voice. "I wonder how Tushan's ancestors came to obtain it."
"Every person has their own fortune. How could something like that ever be explained clearly?"
Tushan Jingci waved a hand, and then shifted the topic herself, tilting her head to look at Xiao Mo with an expression that was half smiling. "Speaking of which, Young Master Xiao's cultivation has also advanced quite a bit these past days. Could it be that someone has been cultivating in dual practice with him?"
"Nothing of the sort." Xiao Mo heard perfectly well the sour undercurrent in Jingci's words, and shook his head. "Nothing happened between me and Xiangniang. We were entirely above board."
"Well, aside from Xiangniang, there were also plenty of beautiful fox demons living around Young Master Xiao. Did his heart truly not stir for even a single one?" Tushan Jingci pressed the question again, though her tone was a measure lighter than before.
Xiao Mo shook his head again, his voice calm but sincere. "None of them are as beautiful as the Young Miss."
Tushan Jingci gave a small start at that, then a smile spread slowly at the corners of her lips, and she gave a nod. "That is true. None of them are as beautiful as I am."
She slowed her steps, then turned her face to look at Xiao Mo with a genuinely serious expression. "Oh, and Xiao Mo, you once told me you would never deceive me. Is that right?"
"Yes, I would not deceive the Young Miss."
"Good. Then I want to ask you one question, and you must answer me honestly." Tushan Jingci's eyes curved into two pretty crescent moons, her voice carrying a note of playfulness alongside a barely perceptible longing.
Xiao Mo replied, "The Young Miss may speak directly."
Tushan Jingci quickened her steps, the long legs beneath her skirt moving lightly and with ease, walking ahead of Xiao Mo, then turning gracefully to face him with her skirt lifting slightly, both hands clasped behind her back, a bright smile on her face as she looked at him. "Then tell me, Xiao Mo. If the person who wanted to cultivate in dual practice with you were not Xiangniang and the others, but me instead, would you agree?"
Xiao Mo fell into silence, his throat moving slightly, at a loss for words for a moment.
Watching Xiao Mo like this, the brightness in Tushan Jingci's expression grew even more radiant.
She walked forward with graceful, unhurried steps, the clearest and most gentle light rippling in those fox eyes of hers, as she said softly, "You see, and you still say you do not like me."