After Ni Bao returned from the Upper Layer, she went back into the halls. Having cast off the burden she had carried in her heart for so long, even her steps had become lighter.
When she entered the inner hall, Zeng Nu was sitting there leafing through a Daoist book. He looked up in surprise and asked, "Ni Bao, I did not see you when you returned. Where did you go?"
Ni Bao's cultivation was ordinary. She was usually only responsible for matters in the inner court, tending the herbs in the various halls and occasionally asking someone to refine a few medicinal pellets. She knew few people, so she rarely went out.
Ni Bao pressed her lips together in a smile. "It was nothing important. Perhaps some exalted master saw that the Daoist robe on you, young sir, was brocaded and distinctive, so they summoned me to ask whether I could embroider Daoist robes for our fellow cultivators."
Hearing this, Zeng Nu was happier than if he himself had received a reward. He knew Ni Bao's skill very well, and said delightedly, "This shows that Celestial Xia still has quite a few people with a discerning eye." Then he grew troubled again. "But would that not make things far too tiring for you, Ni Bao?"
"What hardship is that?" Ni Bao said. "Young sir patrols outside, watching Origin Xia's movements at every moment. Often, a single circuit lasts several months. That is what is truly arduous."
She said earnestly, "Young sir, just go and do your work. Leave these little matters to me."
Yet Zeng Nu disagreed and insisted, "You have your own affairs, Ni Bao. Do not keep looking after my side. We are both serving Celestial Xia; there is no distinction of before or after, great or