Poetry Gathering

After stammering and grunting for a long while, Bai Yujun quieted down and began studying why this had happened.

After thinking it over carefully, she realized she had taken things too much for granted. She had assumed that refining her transverse bone would let her speak human language, but that thought was incredibly naive and simply impossible.

In reality, if a person did not speak for a short time, it would not affect their language ability. But if it went on too long, the problem became severe. For example, there had once been a man who committed a crime and fled for years. To avoid exposure, he pretended to be mute and never said a word. When he was finally arrested ten years later, he had gone an entire decade without speaking a single sentence. When the officers interrogated him, they discovered that he had truly become mute and lost the ability to speak.

Although Bai Yujun had been human in her previous life, that did not mean she could immediately speak after taking human form and refining her transverse bone.

After more than sixty years, she had long forgotten how to pronounce words.

Not speaking for a long time caused the muscles of the mouth to atrophy. Or rather, Bai Yujun's oral muscles merely had the shape but could not produce sounds through the vibration of air. The reason her throat could make sounds was because it had learned to control vibrations. She needed years of practice for her muscle tissue to develop muscle memory.

Bai Yujun's current condition was that her brain could form sentences, but her throat could not express them. Her throat muscles needed to start from the very basics, as if she were a toddler.

Those legends about being able to speak immediately after taking human form and refining the transverse bone were simply too miraculous.

So Bai Yujun could only train her throat muscles bit by bit along the road, starting with preschool-level pronunciation...

"Ah~"

"Oh~"

"Eh~"

Even simple syllables came out incorrectly. Whenever a syllable went off course, she became frustrated, either tossing her head or giving herself a tap on the forehead to remember its pronunciation.

Chu Zhe quietly watched Bai Yujun babble as she learned to speak. She was adorable. Every time she shook her head, her black hair fluttered around her troubled expression, making people ache for her, like a child learning to walk with unsteady steps.

Thinking Bai Yujun was so foolish that she could not even learn to speak, Chu Zhe could not help teaching her himself.

"Your method is wrong. Repeat after me: ah~ Draw out the tone."

"Yes, just like that. Stretching out the sound helps you learn faster."

"Repeat after me: I~"

Chu Zhe pointed at himself, then at Bai Yujun, using a simple and effective method to practice pronunciation. And it truly worked quite well. Bai Yujun suspected that it was a waste of talent for this senior brother not to become a teacher of small children.

Green grass spread lush and bright as four figures hurried past, leaving behind Bai Yujun's babbling and Xu Ling and Yang Mu's laughter...

On a stone bridge above a waterfall, Chu Zhe, drenched in sweat, taught the beauty to correct her pronunciation mistakes...

In a small town, Chu Zhe pointed at shop signs and had Bai Yujun read them out one character at a time. If she read one incorrectly, he deducted one precious pill...

Bai Yujun stared at the dwindling number of precious pills in her hand, on the verge of tears...

At an inn, beneath the moonlight, two figures sat beside a lotus pond correcting pronunciation. Moonlight over the lotus pond accompanied a beauty, drawing envy from countless onlookers...

Chu Zhe realized that even he could not understand himself. She was clearly a demon; even if he did not kill her, he should not have acted like this. Yet he always felt that she was unlike those savage demons, more like a foolish young girl. She would tilt her head in curiosity at the slightest thing, learned to speak especially slowly, and whenever she encountered a difficult problem, her delicate brows would furrow in a way that made people pity her. Whenever he could not see her, he would toss and turn in bed. Whenever they walked together, he could never tear his gaze away.

Xu Ling remained as cheerful as ever. Whenever she saw something fun, she could not move another step.

Yang Mu had changed to a new book, one he had bought at a bookstore in some county town. Back then, the clerk had mysteriously pulled him into an inner room and carefully brought out several unofficial histories and biographies. They were filled with scandals involving royal families and nobles, along with ghost and monster legends—books that could not be openly circulated. Well, Yang Mu liked them very much.

When they passed through Liu City, Chu Zhe felt that their continuous journey had been too exhausting and decided to rest in the city for two days.

That night, it was said that scholars from around Liu City were holding a poetry gathering at Qingyuan. Upon hearing the news, Xu Ling insisted on seeing the legendary romantic scholars. The three Chunyang Disciples changed into ordinary clothes and headed for Qingyuan. Even so, no matter how plain their clothes were, cultivators could not conceal their extraordinary aura.

Yang Mu imitated a scholar and held a folding fan, though no matter how Bai Yujun looked at it, it seemed as though he were holding a sword.

Qingyuan was the largest and most beautiful garden in Liu City. It had been built by the local richest man as a gathering place for scholars, who could enter and leave freely. In the Tang Kingdom, where literary culture flourished, every city could be said to have such a place. Poetry gatherings were often held there, and countless people had risen above the rest within its grounds.

The four of them entered Qingyuan easily in their current attire.

Lanterns hung high, and a full moon shone overhead. Qingyuan was bustling with activity.

A gathering of scholars naturally could not lack courtesans from the pleasure houses performing onstage to add to the festivities. Countless snack stalls filled the garden, beautiful lanterns were everywhere, and even the lotus pond was covered with floating Lotus Lanterns. Unlike the desolation atop Mount Hua, the mortal world was lively and dazzling, so wonderful that one never wished to leave.

Of course, most importantly, there could be no lack of young ladies from powerful and wealthy households.

Countless poor scholars shared one dream: to use their talent to catch the eye of some young lady from a great Lineage and carry off a beauty in the end. They dreamed that with a beauty at their side, they could soar to the heavens in a single leap. Folktales abounded with stories of daughters from wealthy families falling for poor scholars. The highest achievement was for a poor scholar to become the imperial son-in-law and rise like a meteor from then on.

Xu Ling and Bai Yujun grabbed pastries with both hands and ate to their hearts' content. Chu Zhe merely smiled faintly, drawing flirtatious glances from countless young ladies. Yang Mu did not spare those young ladies a glance, instead becoming interested in the fire-breathing performer. Perhaps he did not understand how someone could breathe fire without knowing spells.

"Eat~ Delicious~"

Bai Yujun could only speak two-character phrases. Then she extended a slender hand and offered Chu Zhe a piece of sweet cake, repaying her hardworking language teacher.

Chu Zhe happily accepted the sweet cake and put it into his mouth. It was sweet—sweet enough to melt into his heart.

Qingyuan's most famous sight was Buyue Tower, located at the center of the garden. Buyue Tower was actually a three-story pavilion built atop a rather high stone bridge. It was beautiful and magnificent. Fine timber and bluestone became wondrous beneath the hands of skilled craftsmen. Curtains hung all over the pavilion, and waves of laughter drifted down from above.

After entering the garden, Chu Zhe seemed to notice something, but he did not care. He acted as though he had seen nothing.

Bai Yujun curiously watched the dancing girl gracefully twirling atop a colorful lantern in the middle of the lotus pond. Compared to this, the energetic dances in modern nightclubs were far inferior. Just look at that figure, those movements, that charm, that seductive allure. The lives of these cultured men were truly carefree.

Bai Yujun did not notice that many people were staring at her. Some gazes were envious, some jealous, but even more were greedy, as though they wished they could swallow her in one bite.

Suddenly, her keen sense of smell caught a stench amid the crowd—the odor of fur that had not been washed for a long time.

It was a smell impossible to forget once smelled: the scent of wolf fur.

She grabbed Xu Ling and warned the three of them in her unpracticed speech.

"Demon, here."

Xu Ling and Yang Mu froze, not understanding what Bai Yujun meant. Chu Zhe, who often taught Bai Yujun to speak, understood and signaled for Yang Mu and Xu Ling to find a way.

Yang Mu immediately cast a spell over his eyes. Within his slightly blurred, faintly swaying vision, an unusual aura drifted through the crowd. There was demonic energy, yet after scanning the area, he could not find the demon.

Chu Zhe stopped Yang Mu and Xu Ling from drawing their swords. The situation was unclear; there was no need to attract attention.

"Yujun, can you find that demon?"

At those words, Bai Yujun nodded.

"Yes. Need close. Far, no."

Using the words she had only just learned to answer, Bai Yujun was thrilled that she could say six words at once.