In the distant mountains within the landscape painting, there was someone.
That person was even speaking.
The voice was hard to describe. If it had to be compared to something, it was like the toll of a bell—far-reaching, with lingering echoes.
Very calm, very clear-minded.
Those who heard it ought to possess self-knowledge, ought to reflect upon themselves.
The breathtakingly beautiful nun said, "For his sake, I have no regrets."
The voice still drifted from the distant mountains in the painting. "Can a person truly have no regrets? One day, beneath a blue lamp and among yellowed scriptures, when you see mandarin ducks with necks entwined, see Bimu traveling together... can a person truly bear no resentment?"
The nun fell silent for a moment, then said, "I do not regret this moment."
"Foolish child." The voice in the distant mountains seemed to grow even farther away, as though its speaker were walking deeper into the distance.
"You wished to save someone, and I permitted it. You wished to settle him back in the sect, and I permitted that as well. I even helped you conceal the traces, blot out the secrets of heaven, tend his wounds, and brew his medicine... Whatever you wish to do, I need not ask. But you yourself must know what you are doing."
The lingering echoes drifted on, until at last they could no longer be heard.
The kneeling nun braced her hands against the mat and bowed her head deeply.
The mountains in the ink-wash painting seemed farther away now, the clouds lower. It felt as though rain might fall at any moment.
Only after a long while did Yuzhen raise her head. Looking at the birds formed from curling green smoke overhead, a strange delight appeared on her face. "I am like a