After packing up his stall in the market, Gu Yanqing gathered the two-hundred-odd spirit stones he had earned today inside his storage bag and did some quick mental math.
Factoring in what he had left before, his funds were reasonably comfortable again.
Just as he prepared to head back, Xiaoyu suddenly spoke up again.
“Since we’re already here, let’s look around before going back! Zhixue, you haven’t properly browsed the market before, right?”
“Every time we come, it’s like rushing through a chore. There’s no fun in that at all.”
Gu Yanqing glanced at Lin Zhixue.
Given her personality, an activity that purely wasted time wasn't something she would normally agree to.
Sure enough, Lin Zhixue didn't answer immediately, so Xiaoyu chimed in again.
“You were sitting by that stall for so long just now. Think of it as stretching your legs! It’s not like it’ll take that much time.”
Lin Zhixue turned to Gu Yanqing. “I want to stay and walk around a bit.”
He nodded.
Only in hindsight did he realize something was off.
When she asked him just now, the thought of refusing hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Back at the Gu manor, he would assign her tasks and she would carry them out.
After entering the sect, she came every morning to ask what they were doing for the day; he planned, and she executed.
Without him realizing it, the dynamic between them had changed.
He found that whenever she made a request, he simply had no habit of saying no.
West Street was much livelier than the stall-lined East Street, filled with vendors hawking sugar paintings, masks, and spirit beast cubs, their calls echoing back and forth.
The two walked side by side through the crowd, separated by roughly a fist's width—neither too close nor too far.
Passing by a stall selling spirit fruit, he asked, “Want to pick out a few spirit fruits?”
“No need.”
Not long after walking onward, Lin Zhixue halted her steps, her gaze landing on a stall.
A bracelet woven from spirit thread gave off a faint blue glow.
“Do you like it?”
“No need.”
She still softly declined.
Gu Yanqing realized her concept of window shopping seemed to differ from his own.
She would examine every single stall with great care and then buy nothing at all, as though simply looking was the sole purpose of browsing.
Reaching a street corner, a garment shop came into view.
The storefront was not large, but it was neat and tidy. A wooden plaque carved with the characters “Cloud Weaving Pavilion” hung above the entrance, with two sets of wind chimes suspended beneath it, chiming melodiously whenever a breeze swept through.
In the display window hung several dresses for female cultivators, ranging from plain colors to exquisitely embroidered ones, the fabric shimmering faintly in the sunlight.
Gu Yanqing paused before the display window. Lin Zhixue followed his gaze and came to a stop as well.
“Let’s take a look inside?” He pushed the door open.
Inside hung dresses of various styles, with several bolts of uncut fabric displayed along the walls. A female cultivator who appeared to be the proprietress was using a measuring tape on another customer.
Gu Yanqing took a turn around the shop and looked back at her. “Is there anything you like?”
“No need.”
“Why not?”
“It’s useless for cultivation.”
He looked Lin Zhixue over.
She was still wearing the outer sect Daoist robe distributed by the sect. Light gray in color, it wasn’t ugly, but...
From Canglan City to the Yunxiao Sect, she seemed to rotate through only those few identical Daoist robes.
“We aren't cultivating right now,” he said.
Lin Zhixue remained silent.
“Besides, didn't you say you wanted to look around?” Leaning against a clothes rack, he looked at her. “If you walk around without buying anything, what did you come here for?”
Lin Zhixue gave it serious thought. “To look.”
He suddenly felt a twinge of helplessness.
He realized that ever since getting to know her, he often encountered moments like this.
A pure, simple feeling of not knowing what to do with her.
She couldn't even bring herself to spend thirty spirit stones on a dress for herself.
“Just pick one.”
“No need.”
“It’s not a gift.”
Lin Zhixue looked up.
Leaning against the rack with an unchanged expression, he said, “Consider it a reward for accompanying me on missions lately. You’ve been my study companion for this long, sparring and going on missions with me multiple times, and you’ll probably have to accompany me on even more in the future. Think of it as an advance. Can you accept that?”
Lin Zhixue looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked to the clothing rack to browse through them earnestly.
Her fingertips brushed lightly over each piece of fabric on the rack as she inspected them with meticulous care.
After contemplating for a long while, she reached out and took down a pale cyan dress. Its shade was light and gentle, reminiscent of a clear sky washed clean by rain, with fine silver water patterns embroidered at the cuffs that were hard to notice unless viewed up close.
Holding the garment, she stepped before a bronze mirror to compare. Her features remained calm and detached, but the faint cyan softened her expression considerably, diminishing a touch of her usual aloofness.
“Looks nice,” he said, leaning against the rack as he watched her in the mirror. “Much better than that gray one you used to wear... the one from back at the Lin family.”
“That was dark gray.”
“Dark gray, then.”
Lin Zhixue didn't reply further, gently smoothing out her cuffs before the mirror.
Xiaoyu floated up from her shoulder, its voice bursting with pride. “I think so too! Zhixue looks good in anything! But this really is nicer than the sect’s Daoist robes! ...Wait, no, Zhixue looks pretty in the sect robes too, but even prettier in this! Gu Yanqing, your taste isn’t half bad this time! I thought you didn't know how to do anything besides soaking in medicinal baths and getting whipped!”
Lin Zhixue said nothing, merely lowering her head to smooth out every last crease on her cuffs.
Stepping out of Cloud Weaving Pavilion, the street was even more crowded than before.
Afternoon was the bustling peak of the market. Long queues formed before snack stalls, and several children darted through the crowd, chasing and playing with one another.
Carrying her wrapped dress, Lin Zhixue walked by Gu Yanqing’s side before suddenly slowing her pace.
“That person...” She looked ahead toward a meat bun stall not far away.
Gu Yanqing followed her gaze.
In front of the stall stood a young girl. A few streaks of deep blue subtly showed through her long black hair as she stood on tiptoe, handing several spirit stones to the stall owner.
The owner was a plump middle-aged man who beamed as he accepted the spirit stones. From the steamer, he picked up three piping-hot meat buns, wrapped them in greaseproof paper, and handed them to her.
Taking them with both hands, the girl lowered her head to sniff them, a faint glimmer of satisfaction curling at the corner of her lips.
“Why is she here?” Lin Zhixue asked.
Xiaoyu drifted out from the jade pendant, following her gaze in total bewilderment. “Who? That black-haired girl? You two know her?”
“We ran into her during the last mission.” Lin Zhixue briefly explained in a low voice what had happened while Xiaoyu was asleep.
The strange person in the mountains, amnesia, demonic cultivator, how they had ventured into the mountains and found her, but chose not to bring her back to the sect.
Xiaoyu blinked after hearing the story, looking back at the girl who was currently clutching a bun and nibbling on it. “She’s that demonic cultivator? Why does she look just like an ordinary little girl? And where is her demonic qi? Didn’t you say earlier that the demonic qi on her was very obvious?”
Gu Yanqing had noticed as well.
Right now, not a trace of demonic qi leaked from her. Standing there, she looked like a completely ordinary mortal girl, even her cultivation fluctuations suppressed to the bare minimum.
Had they not seen her in the mountains, one wouldn’t give her a second glance even when brushing past her.
Lin Zhixue had already begun walking toward the bun stall.
The girl was taking a big bite of her bun, her cheeks puffed out. Seeing them, she froze for a moment, then blinked and swallowed the food in her mouth.
“I remember you,” she said. “The mountain.”
“Why did you come down the mountain?” Lin Zhixue asked.
The girl looked down at her clothes.
It was still that tattered robe, but it had been washed, and her hair was neater than when they had last seen her.
“Before... you mentioned the aura thing. I thought about it a few times before I learned to hide it. After hiding it well, the people down the mountain weren't afraid of me anymore.” She raised a hand and pointed at herself. “Without that energy on me, no one keeps staring at me.”
She learned it on her own?
Just from hearing them say “your aura is different from ordinary people,” she had figured out how to rein in her demonic qi completely on her own.
Gu Yanqing remained silent for a moment before asking a very practical question: “Where did you get the spirit stones to buy buns?”
“I saw them trade this for things.” The girl looked down at the remaining few spirit stones in her palm, then pointed toward the bun stall’s sign. “So I traded things too. The rabbits in the mountain, they didn't want. Fruit, they wanted. Later, I caught a very big deer, and they gave me ten stones.”
She fished the rest of her spirit stones out from her tunic and displayed them open-palmed. Her face remained devoid of expression, but a subtle, almost imperceptible lift surfaced in her voice.
“There’s still a lot left. I can buy many buns.”
She held up the bun in her hand and offered it toward Lin Zhixue. “Do you want to eat? It's really good.”
“No need.”
She then held it toward Gu Yanqing, who also shook his head.
The girl pulled her hand back and resumed nibbling on her bun with single-minded focus, her cheeks puffing out once more.
Watching the girl munch on her bun with glistening lips, Gu Yanqing couldn't help but recall their first encounter, when she stood alone by the cliffside, solitary and frail.
Yet now, she had learned to blend into the market, knew how to restrain her aura, and could carry spirit stones in peace.
“This. It really is delicious.” She looked up, grease still clinging faintly to the corner of her mouth. “Next time you come, it's my treat.”
Rate on N.U.
