The Celestial Master Will Come to Pick You Up

"Miss Ye."

Ye Lingling straightened her posture.

Bibi Dong sat upright in an armchair, her hand resting on the armrest, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"From Tiandang Mountain to Martial Soul City, it is a journey of a thousand miles. It is far too unsafe for a girl like you to travel back and forth alone."

Ye Lingling was momentarily stunned.

Bibi Dong did not stop speaking.

"It would be better to stay here in Martial Soul Hall."

The statement was delivered with perfect composure, leaving no room for negotiation, yet it was not overtly forceful.

It was the kind of tact only someone who had sat in the Pope Palace for over a decade could master—offering you a step, but one that led in only one direction.

Ye Lingling's first instinct was to refuse.

She was a member of Taixu Temple, a handmaiden to the Celestial Master; once her mission was delivered, she should return to guard the mountain.

But the words reached her throat and were swallowed back down.

Before she had departed, the Celestial Master had said one thing.

The exact words were: "Once you arrive, await the orders of Hu Liena."

At the time, her mind had been entirely focused on "going to Martial Soul City to deliver a message," and she hadn't pondered the deeper meaning of the instruction.

Now, as she mulled it over—to await orders meant she was intended to stay.

The Celestial Master spoke little, but every word was chosen with purpose.

Ye Lingling hesitated for less than two breaths before bowing. Her waist bent to sixty degrees, the exact same angle as before.

"Then I shall trouble Your Excellency the Pope."

Bibi Dong gave a soft "Mn." She turned her head and called out toward the door, and a maidservant pushed it open and entered.

"Prepare the east wing of the Saintess Bedchamber and let Miss Ye stay there."

The east wing.

Hu Liena's bedchamber was in the northwest corner of the Pope Palace's backyard, and the east wing was right next door; one could reach it in ten steps after pushing open the door.

Hu Liena looked up at Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong did not look at her.

She picked up her teacup and took a sip, her expression calm and collected.

But Hu Liena understood.

Her teacher had not assigned Ye Lingling to the room next door by chance.

It was intentional.

This girl was the only person by the Celestial Master's side; keeping her by Hu Liena's side was equivalent to building a bridge between Martial Soul Hall and Taixu Temple.

Her teacher was paving the way for her.

Hu Liena's throat moved, but she said nothing.

Inside her sleeve, the Pine Needle Leaf pressed against the inside of her wrist, feeling cool to the touch.

On the first day, when Ye Lingling moved into the wing, her luggage consisted of only a single cloth bundle.

Inside were two changes of clothes, a wooden comb, and a ribbon for her hair. That was all.

Hu Liena stood at the doorway of the wing, watching her toss the bundle onto the bed and then look around the room.

The room was not large, but it was much brighter than the Stone Hall of Taixu Temple—glass windows, a sandalwood table, a new satin quilt folded on the bed, and calming incense burning in a bronze burner in the corner.

Ye Lingling sat on the edge of the bed, pressing her palm into the satin quilt, bouncing it twice.

"So soft."

The two words were spoken with complete sincerity, not as a mere pleasantry.

Hu Liena leaned against the doorframe, her Six Fox Tails swaying slightly behind her.

"What do you sleep on at Taixu Temple?"

"A stone slab."

Hu Liena's fox tails paused for a beat.

"It has a straw mat spread over it."

Ye Lingling added:

"It isn't hard."

Hu Liena pursed her lips, not responding.

A stone slab with a straw mat.

Guarding the Empty Mountain for five years, sleeping on the stone slab for five years.

The next day, Hu Liena had a maid deliver three new sets of clothes.

Ye Lingling refused to accept them, pushing them back and forth until Hu Liena finally shoved them directly into her hands.

"Wear them."

"But—"

"The Celestial Master ordered you to follow my lead. Change your clothes; this is a command."

Ye Lingling opened her mouth, only to realize she had no ground to argue.

She obediently changed into them.

A light cyan dress with narrow sleeves and a silver-white silk ribbon at the waist; the fabric was countless times finer than anything she had worn before.

Ye Lingling looked down at herself, not knowing where to put her hands, eventually crossing them over her stomach, feeling incredibly constrained.

Hu Liena circled around her.

"It looks quite good."

The roots of Ye Lingling's ears turned red for a moment, though she quickly suppressed it.

By the third day, the two were inseparable.

They were of similar age: Ye Lingling was eighteen, and Hu Liena was nineteen.

One was a maid who had guarded the Empty Mountain for five years, the other a Saintess trapped in the Pope Palace for half her life.

Neither had friends their own age, and both were accustomed to solitude, yet once they were together, they couldn't stop talking.

They ate together during the day, sunbathed in the backyard, and practiced their arts together—though the content was vastly different, one being the healing techniques of the Nine-Heart Begonia and the other the charm combat skills of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox. They simply liked being in the same courtyard, each occupying a corner, chatting away as they practiced.

They would often forget to practice altogether.

Xie Yue once dragged his not-yet-fully-recovered body past the backyard and saw the two girls sitting by a stone table, chattering away with a table full of fruits and snacks, while petals from the Nine-Heart Begonia drifted across the courtyard.

He stood there for three breaths, then turned and left.

It was good that his sister had a friend who wouldn't be struck down by a Trident.

The night was the time Hu Liena looked forward to most.

Because Ye Lingling would talk about Taixu Temple.

The windows of the bedchamber were half-open, moonlight spilling in as the two sat side-by-side on the windowsill.

Hu Liena sat cross-legged, her fox tail resting on her knees, her chin propped on the back of her hand. Ye Lingling sat in the circular chair opposite, legs swinging, gesturing wildly whenever she got excited.

"There's a Spirit Crane Valley behind the back mountain of Taixu Temple, and those cranes are so intelligent! Every day when I went to sprinkle the spirit spring, a white crane would follow right behind me. Wherever I walked, it followed; when I stopped, it stopped, and when I crouched down, it would stretch its head over for me to scratch."

The tip of Hu Liena's fox tail twitched.

"Spirit Crane... what are they like?"

"Pure white all over, with a wingspan of two zhang! A splash of bright red on their heads; when they fly and spread their wings, the spirit energy flows around them—it's so beautiful."

Ye Lingling mimicked the arc of the wings, arms spread wide, nearly knocking over a teacup nearby.

"And on the main peak, it's covered in clouds all year round. Not ordinary clouds, but clouds condensed from spirit energy. They don't dissipate when you step on them; they're soft and fluffy. Early in the morning when the sun first rises, the whole mountain is bathed in golden light, and the sea of clouds rolls—"

Ye Lingling's hands froze in mid-air.

"Saintess?"

Hu Liena didn't move.

Her chin remained propped on the back of her hand, her eyes fixed outside the window.

But Ye Lingling noticed—the light in those fox eyes was different from usual.

It wasn't sharp, nor was it guarded.

It was bright and soft.

"That place... must be very beautiful."

Hu Liena's voice was very low, so soft that the tail end of her words scattered into the night breeze.

She wasn't asking Ye Lingling.

She was thinking of that sea of clouds she had never stepped foot in, those white cranes flapping their wings in the spirit energy, and that Stone Chamber where she had spent a hundred years in seclusion—with a person in white sitting inside.

Ye Lingling looked at her profile.

Moonlight leaked through the half-open window, hitting Hu Liena's fox ears, making them translucent enough to see the fine veins within.

The tips of her ears were tinged with a hint of pink.

Ye Lingling smiled.

The arc of her lips was bright and candid.

The slight bitterness in her chest—which had already dissipated in Bibi Dong's reception hall—was now replaced by pure joy.

The person chosen by the Celestial Master would reveal such a look upon hearing the words "Taixu Temple."

Enough.

"Of course it's beautiful."

Ye Lingling hopped down from the armchair, walked to the windowsill, and leaned in close to Hu Liena.

"When the Celestial Master comes to collect you, you will be able to see it with your own eyes."

Hu Liena's fox ears twitched.

Ye Lingling's smile widened.

"When that time comes, I will take you to tour the entire Taixu Temple. Spirit Crane Valley, the Alchemy Room, the Bell Tower, and that big pine tree on the back mountain—"

It was that very pine tree growing at the entrance of the Seclusion Chamber.

The Pine Needle Leaf she had plucked from that tree was currently pressed against the inside of Hu Liena's wrist, resting right beside the Sword Mark of the Severing Thought Sword.

Hu Liena did not respond.

She turned her head to look out the window.

The night sky over Martial Soul City was not as clear as that of Tiandang Mountain; the stars were sparse, largely washed out by the city lights. But she was not looking at the stars right now.

She was looking north.

Tiandang Mountain was in the north.

That place which had nurtured him, where clouds surged like an ocean, spirit cranes beat their wings, and the atmosphere was shrouded year-round in the aura of ascetic cultivation.