Water blossomed into spray, then scattered, landing without a trace.
Someone approached from afar, coming from the north.
She wore spotless white, with tiny bell bracelets around her ankles and wrists, and her features were exquisitely beautiful.
Radiant as spring blossoms, luminous as the autumn moon.
No beauty through the ages could compare; here was a lovely woman who delighted the eye.
Li Zizai stared, dumbstruck.
Romance had yet to awaken in him. He simply thought she was beautiful.
The newcomer stepped ashore. Seeing the muscular little girl staring openmouthed, she covered her mouth and smiled, a glint of mischief flashing in her eyes.
"Am I pretty?"
Li Zizai nodded blankly and answered honestly, "Pretty! You're the second-prettiest person I've ever seen."
The woman in white asked curiously, "Then who's the first?"
Li Zizai declared proudly, "My mother, of course!"
At that, the woman in white smiled sweetly, but something seemed to come to mind, and her smile suddenly vanished.
Li Zizai asked, "Are you unhappy?"
The woman in white replied, "A little."
Li Zizai asked, "Why?"
The woman in white said, "I've never met my mother."
Li Zizai said, "You're so pitiful."
Li Zizai asked, "Did your mother abandon you?"
The woman in white replied, "No, she's asleep."
Li Zizai said, "She really can sleep."
The woman in white: ...
Just then, a voice rang out.
"My foolish disciple knows no better. Please don't take offense, fellow Daoist."
Li Zizai turned his head.
Seeing that his master had awakened, he was overjoyed. He ran over and called sweetly, "Master."
Xuanming smiled kindly.
Sensing his disciple's unease, he reached out to comfort him. However mature beyond his years this little rascal might be, he was still only a child.
Shouldering a heavy burden alone for two days while traveling through