In the blink of an eye, it was late February and the weather was getting warmer. Dots of new green speckled the mountains and forests.
On the ancient forest path of the Jade Void Mountain , Feng Yu Die, wearing a white robe, stepped on the weathered stone steps, walking toward the depths of the mountain forest.
When Taixu passed away here three years ago, she said goodbye to the place where she had lived for fourteen years, and following a very simple map and Xiao Tian's guidance, she rode a pony toward the Black Star Sect.
While going up the mountain, she saw a sapling that was as high as her waist when she had planted it three years ago. It had now grown into a small tree that could withstand wind and rain.
She also saw the small tree where her master measured her height: every February, her master would bring her here and let her lean her back against the very old apricot tree, then use a small knife to scratch the bark of the tree above her head.
Feng Yu Die went to that apricot tree and stroked with her fingers the knife marks on the bark that spoke of time. Her heart was full of nostalgia for the familiar things, but alas, everything had changed.
Three years was a short time, even a blink of an eye for a cultivator, but was enough to make a fragile sapling grow into a tree that could withstand snow and cold and shelter birds from wind and rain.
She pressed her forehead against the tree trunk, closed her eyes, and gently bit her lip as she recalled the good moments she had shared with her master.
The breeze blew through her silver-white hair, revealing the immortal spirit that Feng Yu Die should display.
Pei Lianxue was a little surprised. She was actually quite annoyed with Feng Yu Die, who was always laughing and joking. But now when she looked at her, it seemed that she also had feelings. She was touched in her heart and asked kindly, "Shall I measure it for you?"
?!
Hearing Pei Lianxue's voice behind her, Feng Yu Die's eyes snapped open, and she instantly forgot about her master.
---Sister Pei showed she cared about me!
She turned, winking at Sister Pei with a silly smile. "I'd rather have a kiss from you."
Ye Anping, who had been silent until now, glared at her and interrupted. "It's getting late. Let's go up the mountain quickly."
"Oh~ just one kiss, mwah~~~"
Feng Yu Die quickly pouted her piggy's mouth and moved toward Pei Lianxue's face.
Pei Lianxue raised her eyebrows and subconsciously used her hands to push her face away. However, she did not expect this to be a plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Feng Yu Die planted a smooch on Pei Lianxue's palm and quickly withdrew her head. "... I kissed Sister Pei's hand, hehe."
"Yuck~~"
Pei Lianxue's face was full of disgust as she rubbed her hand against the tree nearby.
Ye Anping frowned slightly, but thinking that he had followed her to pay her respects today, he simply said nothing about it, only saying, "Let's go!"
"Great, hehe..."
... ...
After walking along the mountain road for about half an hour, the group passed through the forest and came to an open space on the mountaintop cliff.
An earthen tomb stood close to the edge, the tombstone facing the majestic mountains beyond the cliff. There were a few lines engraved on it, including the title and the year of birth and death.
In addition, there was a girl of average height wearing linen clothes, carefully sweeping away with a broom the poop left by the forest animals around the tombstone.
When she heard footsteps, the girl turned around vigilantly. But seeing Feng Yu Die's silver hair, she was overjoyed. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief and squinted a few times, before shouting, "Sister Feng?!"
Feng Yu Die narrowed her eyes, as if trying to recognize her, and asked uncertainly, "Could it be... Little Qiu?"
"It's me!"
The girl called "Little Qiu" immediately dropped the broom in her hand and rushed toward Feng Yu Die who caught her in her open arms and spun around.
Behind her, Ye Anping checked the girl and found that she was an ordinary girl without spiritual roots. He roughly guessed her identity -- she should be a girl living in a nearby village who played with Feng Yu Die when she was a child, right?
"Sister Feng, didn't you say when you left that you would come back every year? It's been three years!"
"Well... I said so, but I have encountered a lot of things."
Feng Yu Die looked at her up and down and sighed in her heart. After three years of not seeing her, this girl had changed so much.
She remembered that when she left, Little Qiu was half a head shorter than her. As a result, after not seeing each other for three years, she was now only as tall as Little Qiu's chin. You could say she had now become Big Qiu.
"Sister Feng, it's been three years. Why do you look like you haven't changed at all?"
"I'm a cultivator, so it's normal to grow slower." Feng Yu Die paused, then quickly pulled her to Pei Lianxue and Ye Anping, introducing one another. "Little Qiu, this girl's name is Pei Lianxue and she's awesome, and the man beside her is Ye Anping. They are both disciples of the Black Star Sect."
Little Qiu looked at Pei Lianxue with a hint of jealousy in her eyes, but when her gaze fell on Ye Anping, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks, and she bowed shyly. "Greetings to the two Immortals."
Ye Anping politely returned the salute, then said, "Sister Feng, go and pay your respects. The sun is going to set soon."
"Oh! Right, right!"
Feng Yu Die came to her senses, turned around, and ran to the tombstone on the edge of the cliff. She took Yun Tianchong's 'jewels' out of the storage bag and placed them on the stone altar in front of the tombstone. She knelt on both knees and clasped her hands together.
"Master, I've come back to see you."
She looked at the tombstone she had carved with her own hands and then glanced back at Pei Lianxue and Ye Anping, who were standing in the distance. As if fearing that Ye Anping would eavesdrop, she leaned over to the side of the tombstone and whispered, "Master, I also brought my future wife to see you. Her name is Pei Lianxue, and she is a very gentle and powerful girl. If you saw her, you would definitely like her."
Master Taixu, "..."
"Isn't that right? Sister Pei is beautiful and powerful. Do you think so too?"
Master Taixu, "..."
Feng Yu Die glanced back at Ye Anping and continued, "Him? His name is Ye Anping, the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect..."
Master Taixu, "..."
"No, no, no... I was not deceived by him. He is different from the men you told me about, master. He is very good to me, and he doesn't want to marry me, he just treats me well..."
Master Taixu, "..."
Feng Yu Die tilted her head and looked again at Ye Anping. "Is he handsome? I think he's not bad. Although he's better-looking than many men, he's not as good-looking as Pei Lianxue..."
Master Taixu, "..."
"This won't happen! I am too smart. If he tries to deceive me, I will kill him on the spot! He can't beat me. Also, this 'bird'... belongs to the one who deceived you back then, and he is the one who helped me get it."
Master Taixu, "..."
"I will be careful and remember your teachings! But Ye Anping is really different from other men. I think he is okay."
Master Taixu, "..."
Feng Yu Die suddenly looked aggrieved. "Ah... let's not talk about me. He's not good like that! Not good!"
Master Taixu, "..."
"Sigh..." Feng Yu Die stood up and bowed with her hands cupped. "Then, I will come again next year. I won't disturb your rest now, master."
As she spoke, two tears welled up from the corners of her eyes as if she couldn't help it. She raised her sleeves to wipe her eyes.
In fact, she still had a lot to say to her master. In the three years since she left, she went to the Black Star Sect, Dragon House , Moon Shadow Sword Sect, and defeated the demonic cultivator...
But she also knew that these words were nothing more than thoughts about her past. How could her master hear them?
Feng Yu Die sucked in the snot that dripped from the tip of her nose, wiped her tears dry, and patted her cheeks before picking up Yun Tianchong's balls and turning back toward Ye An Ping with a playful smile. "Okay! Master Ye, let's go! I'm done..."
Ye Anping looked at Feng Yu Die's red eyes. "Don't you want to stay a little longer?"
"Master thinks I'm annoying and told me to get lost."
"So you know you're annoying." Ye Anping shook his head and smiled, then looked at Little Qiu, who was trembling next to him and didn't dare to speak. He sighed. "Miss Qiu..."
"Ah...? Immortal, what's the matter?"
"Don't dwell on it."
"..."
Little Qiu frowned in confusion and tilted her head.
But Feng Yu Die understood what he meant. She pursed her lips and looked at Little Qiu silently. "Little Qiu, I will take you back to the village. Have you ever experienced flying with a sword?"
Little Qiu's eyes lit up. "Can I?"
"Of course!" Feng Yu Die gave a thumbs up, then summoned the flying sword, lifted her on it, and rushed toward the sky. "Hold on tight~~"
Watching the two fly away like this, Ye Anping sighed slightly. He didn't want to meddle in other people's business, but seeing the girl walking on a bumpy road like this, he felt mixed feelings in his heart.
That girl named Little Qiu was an ordinary girl with no spiritual roots. She would never be able to embark on the path to immortality in her life, so the best thing was for Feng Yu Die to cut off the relationship with her now.
He and his sister had saved her once, and now he was entangled in her destiny and couldn't escape.
As for that ordinary girl, she had no ability to resist at all. If she got entangled with Feng Yu Die's destiny, most likely only an extremely miserable death awaited her.
"Sigh..."
Looking at her brother's face, Pei Lianxue seemed to understand and asked, "Why don't I talk to her later?"
"No, she should know how to do it. We only met that girl once. It's better if she explains it herself."
Pei Lianxue smiled as she rested her head on Ye Anping's shoulder. "Brother, would I have been like this if Patriarch Ye had not come to my village? Wearing a coarse cloth skirt, dirty, and ugly, and I would have never met you in my life?"
"There are no ifs in the world."
"Hmm..."
Ye Anping was silent for a while, then said, "When I have free time later, I'll take you back to see your parents one last time and also take the opportunity to get engaged. The Pei family should live well now, and refining the Core requires breaking the mundane relationships. When that time comes, you may be asked to forget about your parents completely."
"Well, I have been mentally prepared for a long time. After I become your wife and the Young Miss of the Ye family, I will have nothing to do with the Pei family."
"Aren't you reluctant to give up? Many cultivators who have become immortals find it difficult to cut off the family bonds."
"Fortunately, both Patriarch Ye and Mrs. Kong treat me like a daughter, and I still have you, brother. And I will also repay my parents for giving birth to me. They are living a good life because of me now, with good food and clothing... "
"Alright then..."