"Miss Ye."
Ye Lingling straightened up.
Bibi Dong sat upright in her armchair, one hand resting on the armrest. She tilted her head slightly.
"Tiandang Mountain is a thousand li from Spirit City. It's far too dangerous for a young woman like you to make the journey alone."
Ye Lingling froze for a moment.
Bibi Dong continued.
"Why not stay here at Spirit Hall?"
She said it evenly, leaving no room for discussion, yet without being forceful.
It was the kind of delicate balance only someone who had spent more than a decade seated in Pope Palace could manage—offering you a step down, but making sure it led in only one direction.
Ye Lingling's first instinct was to refuse.
She belonged to Taixu Temple. She was the Celestial Master's maid. Her task was done, so she ought to return and keep watch over the mountain.
But the words rose to her throat, then she swallowed them back down.
Before she left, the Celestial Master had said something.
His exact words had been: "Once you arrive, follow Hu Liena's instructions."
At the time, she'd been so focused on "going to Spirit City to deliver a message" that she hadn't given those words much thought.
Now that she thought it over—following Hu Liena's instructions meant staying here.
The Celestial Master spoke little, but not a single word he said was careless.
Ye Lingling hesitated for less than two breaths, then bowed. Her back bent to the exact same sixty-degree angle as before.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Your Holiness."
Bibi Dong murmured, "Mm." She turned toward the doorway and called out. A maid pushed the door open and entered.
"Prepare the east-side room beside the Saintess Bedchamber for Miss Ye."
The east-side room.
Hu Liena's bedchamber was in the northwest corner of Pope Palace's rear courtyard, and the east-side room was right next door. It was only ten steps away.
Hu Liena looked up at Bibi Dong.
Bibi Dong didn't look at her.
She lifted her teacup and took a sip, perfectly composed.
But Hu Liena understood.
Her teacher hadn't assigned Ye Lingling the room next door by chance.
It was deliberate.
This girl was the only person at the Celestial Master's side. Keeping her close to Hu Liena was like building a bridge between Spirit Hall and Taixu Temple.
Her teacher was paving the way for her.
Hu Liena's throat bobbed. She said nothing.
The Pine Needle Leaf tucked into her sleeve lay cool against the inside of her wrist.
On the first day, when Ye Lingling moved into the room, all she brought was a cloth bundle.
Inside were two changes of clothes, a wooden comb, and a strip of cloth for tying back her hair. That was all.
Hu Liena stood at the doorway, watching as Ye Lingling tossed the bundle onto the bed, then glanced around the room.
It wasn't large, but it was far brighter than Taixu Temple's Stone Hall—there were glazed windows, a sandalwood table, a new satin quilt folded neatly on the bed, and soothing incense burning in a copper brazier in the corner.
Ye Lingling sat on the edge of the bed and pressed her palm against the satin quilt. She bounced it twice.
"So soft."
She said it with complete sincerity, not out of politeness.
Hu Liena leaned against the doorframe, her six fox tails swaying faintly behind her.
"What did you sleep on at Taixu Temple?"
"Stone slabs."
Hu Liena's tails paused mid-sway.
"With a grass mat on top."
Ye Lingling added:
"It wasn't hard."
Hu Liena pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Stone slabs with a grass mat on top.
Five years keeping watch over Empty Mountain, five years sleeping on stone slabs.
The next day, Hu Liena had three new outfits sent over by a maid.
Ye Lingling refused to accept them, pushing them back twice before Hu Liena finally thrust them into her hands.
"Put them on."
"But—"
"The Celestial Master told you to follow my instructions. Changing clothes is an order."
Ye Lingling opened her mouth, then realized she had no grounds to argue.
She obediently changed into them.
It was a pale blue, narrow-sleeved dress with a silver-white sash at the waist. The fabric was finer than anything she'd ever worn.
Ye Lingling looked down at herself, unsure what to do with her hands. At last, she clasped them in front of her stomach, looking terribly ill at ease.
Hu Liena circled her once.
"You look lovely."
Ye Lingling's ears turned red for a moment, then quickly settled back to normal.
By the third day, they were already as close as could be.
They were close in age: Ye Lingling was eighteen, Hu Liena nineteen.
One was a maid who had kept watch over Empty Mountain for five years; the other, a Holy Maiden who had spent half her life confined to Pope Palace.
Neither had any friends their own age, and both were used to being alone. Yet once they got together, they couldn't stop talking.
They ate together during the day, sunbathed in the rear courtyard together, and practiced their abilities together. Though their training was entirely different—one practiced the healing arts of the Nine-Heart Begonia, while the other honed the bewitching combat skills of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox—they still liked being in the same courtyard, each in her own corner. Before long, they'd start chatting.
And then they'd forget all about training.
Once, Xie Yue passed through the rear courtyard, still not fully recovered. He saw the two girls chattering away at a stone table, surrounded by fruit and pastries, while Nine-Heart Begonia petals drifted all over the courtyard.
He watched for three breaths, then turned around and left.
It was nice that his sister had found a friend who wouldn't get cleaved by the Trident.
Evenings were what Hu Liena looked forward to most.
Because Ye Lingling would tell her about Taixu Temple.
The bedchamber window was half open, and moonlight spilled inside as the two of them sat side by side on the windowsill.
Hu Liena sat cross-legged, her tails draped over her knees and her chin resting on the back of her hand. Ye Lingling sat in the armchair across from her, swinging her legs. Whenever she got excited, she would throw her hands around as she talked.
"There's a Spirit Crane Valley behind Taixu Temple. The cranes there are so clever! Whenever I go to sprinkle the spiritual spring water, one white crane follows me around. It goes wherever I go, and stops whenever I do. If I crouch down, it stretches its head over so I can scratch it."
The tip of Hu Liena's tail twitched.
"What are the spirit cranes... like?"
"Pure white from head to toe, with a wingspan of two zhang! There's a spot of vermilion on top of their heads. When they fly, their wings spread wide, and spiritual energy swirls around them. They're so beautiful."
Ye Lingling traced the arc of a pair of wings with her arms, nearly knocking over the teacup beside her.
"And the main peak is covered in clouds all year round. They aren't ordinary clouds, but clouds condensed from spiritual energy. They don't scatter when you step on them; they're soft and springy. At dawn, when the sun first comes out, golden light bathes the entire mountain and the Cloud Sea rolls—"
Ye Lingling's hand stopped in midair.
"Your Highness the Holy Maiden?"
Hu Liena didn't move.
Her chin still rested on the back of her hand, and she was looking out the window.
But Ye Lingling noticed that the light in those fox eyes was different from usual.
It wasn't sharp or wary.
It was bright, and tender.
"That place... must be beautiful."
Hu Liena's voice was so soft that its final note faded into the night breeze.
She wasn't asking Ye Lingling.
She was thinking of that Cloud Sea she had never set foot in, of the white cranes beating their wings amid the spiritual energy, and of the Stone Chamber where someone in white had sat in seclusion for a hundred years.
Ye Lingling looked at her profile.
Moonlight slipped through the half-open window and fell upon Hu Liena's fox ears. They were translucent, their fine veins visible inside.
The tips of her ears were tinged pink.
Ye Lingling smiled.
The curve of her lips was bright and open.
That tiny pang in her chest—the one she'd felt in Bibi Dong's reception hall—had already vanished. Now, all that remained was pure joy.
The person chosen by the Celestial Master would look like this upon hearing the words "Taixu Temple."
That was enough.
"Of course it's beautiful."
Ye Lingling hopped down from the armchair and went over to the windowsill, leaning close to Hu Liena.
"When the Celestial Master comes to get you, you'll be able to see it for yourself."
Hu Liena's fox ears twitched.
Ye Lingling's smile widened.
"I'll show you around all of Taixu Temple. Spirit Crane Valley, the Alchemy Room, the Bell Tower, and the big pine tree behind the mountain—"
The very same pine tree that stood outside the Seclusion Chamber.
The Pine Needle Leaf she'd plucked from that tree was now tucked against the inside of Hu Liena's wrist, beside the Sword Mark left by the Severing Thought Sword.
Hu Liena didn't answer.
She turned her head and looked out the window.
The night sky over Spirit City wasn't as clear as the one over Tiandang Mountain. The stars were sparse, their light drowned out by the city's glow. But she wasn't looking at the stars.
She was looking north.
Tiandang Mountain lay to the north.
The place that had given birth to him, where the Cloud Sea surged and spirit cranes spread their wings, forever shrouded in the Daoist aura of quiet cultivation.
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