Hearing Tantai Yunzhi’s voice outside the door, Su Yi breathed a sigh of relief. So it was Yunzhi; he had thought it was Gongsun Lin.
Turning toward Ming Xi, who was still smiling coquettishly, he lowered his voice. “My junior sister is here. I’m going to open the door, so hurry up and put that thing away.” He pointed to the shadow-recording stone she was twirling in her fingers.
Hearing this, far from reigning herself in, Ming Xi raised her brows in feigned astonishment, her voice carrying a lazy lilt of mockery. “Visiting you so late at night? Young Manor Lord Su, this junior sister of yours... really doesn’t know her manners.”
Seeing her shameless display, Su Yi couldn’t help rolling his eyes, silently thinking: ‘How do you have the nerve to criticize anyone else? At least she knows to knock—what you did is straight-up trespassing!’
Refusing to waste any more breath arguing with Ming Xi, he turned, walked over to the door, and opened it.
Outside, Tantai Yunzhi stood quietly, the cool moonlight accentuating her slender silhouette.
Catching sight of Su Yi, she nodded slightly. “Senior Brother.”
“Mm, come on in.” Su Yi stepped aside to let her into the room, his demeanor perfectly natural.
Yet, as Tantai Yunzhi stepped into the room, Su Yi instinctively glanced back toward the table, only to find it completely deserted.
Ming Xi had vanished without a trace, as if she had never even been there, leaving behind only the faintest wisp of an exotic fragrance about to disperse into the air.
Su Yi was not surprised in the least. That woman had always been elusive; she had likely just found the situation dull. Withdrawing his gaze, he looked toward Tantai Yunzhi and asked, “Coming to see me so late—is something the matter?”
Tantai Yunzhi did not answer immediately. Her gaze seemed to sweep casually across the room, the wings of her nose twitching imperceptibly. That unfamiliar, faint fragrance caused a trace of bewilderment to flit through her clear eyes, but she did not press the matter.
Raising her hands, she presented a sheathed longsword to Su Yi.
“Senior Brother,” she began, her tone as cool and aloof as ever, yet tinged with an elusive gravity. “The sword you gave me back in the secret realm... while nurturing it recently, I discovered what seems to be a lingering wisp of unique sword intent upon it.”
“Oh?” A flicker of surprise crossed Su Yi’s face. Reaching out, the moment his fingertips brushed against the icy scabbard, a subtle tremor rippled through his sea of consciousness.
A hazy yet razor-sharp figure wielding a sword quietly coalesced. The opening stance, the rhythm of the sword strokes—it carried an uncanny sense of familiarity... bearing quite a resemblance to Murong Yue, whom he had fought back then!
Focusing his perception for a moment, understanding dawned in Su Yi’s eyes, soon giving way to mild amusement. “This... seems to be a sword Murong Yue once used.”
“Miss Murong? The one who left the hall with you earlier today, Senior Brother?” Tantai Yunzhi asked softly in confirmation.
“That’s her.” A smile tugged at the corner of Su Yi’s mouth. “Seems she’s still holding a bit of a grudge over me defeating her back then.”
Lightly caressing the longsword, Su Yi added, “Murong Yue left behind this wisp of her own sword intent to show me her current strength.”
He paused, finding it somewhat comical. “Though, she probably never expected I would turn around and gift the sword to you.”
“Is that so...” Hearing his explanation, Tantai Yunzhi’s eyes fell upon the longsword. Reaching out somewhat absentmindedly, she gently traced the cold patterns on the scabbard, her gaze complicated.
“Do you want me to erase this sword intent for you?” Su Yi asked tentatively. With his current capability, wiping away an unanchored strand of sword intent was no difficult task.
Tantai Yunzhi immediately shook her head, almost instinctively pulling the longsword a little tighter against her chest. Though her voice was soft, it held an uncharacteristic resolve: “No.”
She looked up at Su Yi, as if a tiny, faint ember had ignited within her cool eyes. Her words faltered slightly, as though searching for an excuse: “Isn’t Miss Murong... roughly matched in strength with Senior Sister Gongsun? I also want... want to...”
“No, with them!” Realizing it sounded off to mention only Gongsun Lin, she quickly corrected herself, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks from agitation as her voice dropped even lower. “To... to see where the gap lies.”
“Oh?”
Watching her rare display of competitive spirit mixed with shy embarrassment, the smile on Su Yi’s face broadened.
Though he couldn’t quite grasp why a sword bearing Murong Yue’s sword intent would provoke such a reaction from Tantai Yunzhi, he was certainly pleased to see it.
‘She must have realized that our upcoming trip to Ancient Sword Mountain will put us close to her clan’s territory. Since running into people or matters tied to her family is inevitable, she probably felt a sudden urgency to grow stronger,’ Su Yi reasoned to himself, feeling all the more confident in his decision.
‘This trip to Ancient Sword Mountain might end up doing far more than just firming up Tantai Yunzhi’s resolve to get stronger.’
Looking at Tantai Yunzhi kindly, he encouraged, “In that case, keep that sword intent. If you can gain some insights from it, it will surely benefit your path of the sword. This journey to Ancient Sword Mountain might be the perfect opportunity to temper yourself.”
Tantai Yunzhi nodded vigorously, clutching the sword even tighter as that tiny ember in her eyes burned a little brighter.
Having sorted that out, she began curiously taking in the furnishings of Su Yi’s room, noticing the few small dishes of food left uncleaned on the table.
A faint trace of puzzlement surfaced in her clear eyes. “Senior Brother, shouldn’t one already have achieved inedia upon Foundation Establishment, no longer needing worldly nourishment? Why would you still... indulge in bodily appetites?”
Caught off guard by the question, Su Yi replied naturally, “In principle, yes. But still, enjoying the taste once in a while isn’t bad. And don’t go telling anyone else this—”
His smile grew even fonder. “—that girl Gongsun Lin might look like she cultivates diligently all the time, but she actually sneaks out to eat pastries from time to time. I’ve caught her in the act quite a few times.”
Speaking of Gongsun Lin back then, Su Yi’s tone was filled with familiar warmth, fondly recalling how adorable his junior sister could be.
Tantai Yunzhi listened quietly, her eyes resting on the smiling profile of Su Yi’s face. Watching the natural radiance that flowed in his eyes whenever he mentioned the name “Gongsun Lin,” her arms involuntarily tightened around the longsword. Something seemed to sting lightly at her heart, stirring an imperceptible yet unmistakably real wave of sour bitterness and suffocation.
Lowering her eyelashes to veil the complex emotions flitting across her eyes, she couldn’t help asking herself in her heart: ‘I didn’t bring up Senior Sister Gongsun, did I...’
Why had Senior Brother suddenly brought her up?
Was it because, in his heart, the only person with whom he could share such trivial bits of life, the only one who could make him smile so unguardedly, had always been Senior Sister Gongsun alone?
Did her words earlier about “seeing where the gap lies”... end up reminding Senior Brother of something instead?
An indescribable sense of loss quietly wound itself around her heart like delicate, tangled vines.
Rate on N.U.
