Wan Ling was so frightened by this discovery that she stood motionless in the pool, not daring to look up. Hugging her arms across her chest, she kept telling herself that this had to be an illusion. When the rippling turquoise water finally settled as smooth as a mirror, she clearly saw in the reflection of the mountain peak a man in white standing elegantly atop a tree, seemingly staring at her naked body in the pool.
Wan Ling let out a shrill scream of terror, startling the mountain birds into flight. Once she realized she was still naked beneath someone else's gaze, she raised a hand and summoned the clothes from the shore to wrap around herself. She hid in the water, too frightened to come out, and looked tremblingly at the white-clothed man standing on the treetop.
He was a man brimming with scholarly elegance, with handsome, transcendent features and a tall, slender build. Dressed in a simple white robe, he looked every inch the scholar. Wan Ling had never bared herself so nakedly before any man, and she was ashamed and terrified beyond measure.
Yet what infuriated her was that, although he looked refined, his skin was thicker than ordinary. He remained standing calmly atop the treetop without moving, a faint smile on his face as he watched her. He showed not the slightest shame, as though Wan Ling ought to be naked for him to see.
Overwhelmed by shame and indignation, Wan Ling finally gathered her courage and cried, "Where did this shameless wretch come from? Turn away at once! Keep looking, and this lady will gouge out your pair of thieving eyes!"
Perhaps her threat had worked. The scholar on the treetop suddenly vanished without a sound. With Wan Ling's cultivation, she had not sensed