Growing with the Qin

"Whatever you do, you need a plan!" His father in his previous life had said that.

Su Mo was merely a small fry at the Qi Refining stage who had yet to enter the Dao. Naturally, he would not rashly attempt to assassinate Liu Feng.

He was no assassin, either!

His last visit to the courtyard in West City had been impulsive. Without that string of coincidences and fortunate encounters, he would probably have died there himself.

This time, Su Mo would not do anything so foolish again.

"I need evidence..." Standing in the darkness, Su Mo suddenly looked toward West City.

An enormous question suddenly rose in Su Mo's mind.

News!

Why was there no news?

So many people had died and been refined into Blood Pills, yet he had heard no discussion whatsoever about either the courtyard in West City or the Blood Pills.

And the Academy clearly knew about it already!

Yet the common people knew nothing of it.

Had the Academy said nothing? Or was the Academy deliberately concealing it as well?

Su Mo suddenly felt as though he had been swept into an enormous whirlpool, leaving him cold from head to toe.

Who in this world could still be trusted?

Su Mo silently arrived outside the Riverboat Pavilion. Its lights blazed brightly, but for some reason, it was no longer open for business. Everything inside was silent; only the hanging candle lanterns illuminated the pavilion as brightly as daylight.

The little girl was inside the Riverboat Pavilion at that moment. Su Mo gazed at it for a long time without approaching, then turned toward his own Painted Pleasure Boat nearby.

He needed to think. Solitude... could keep his mind clear and working.

After returning to the Painted Pleasure Boat, Su Mo did not light a lamp. Instead, he stood in its cabin, gazing at the pitch-black sky.

He did not know when it had begun, but he had actually grown fond of moving about in the darkness.

The stars scattered across the sky flickered, as though gazing back at Su Mo.

The cities of his previous world no longer had such clear night skies.

No... no... Something suddenly occurred to Su Mo.

It seemed the Academy was not deliberately concealing anything. Rather, the reason lay in this world itself.

Su Mo had been a humanities student in his previous life and had read many novels. His preconceived notions had colored his understanding.

But this world was different from the novels of his previous life.

An unfathomably deep gulf seemed to divide this world's mortals from its cultivators. Though they lived beneath the same starry sky, they seemed to inhabit two separate worlds.

Between this world's mortals and cultivators...

There was no communication!

Cultivators had been involved in the Blood Pill affair at the West City courtyard, making it a matter of the cultivation world. And matters of the cultivation world never reached mortal lips.

Yet those who governed the mortals were closely connected to the cultivation world. The Sage and some officials at court were cultivators, and this was even more true of the Ministry of War, which controlled military affairs.

This created a strange situation in which those above and those below had slipped off separate tracks.

It also allowed the Liu Household to secretly murder mortals to refine pills without the matter ever coming to mortal attention.

Yet the Liu Household controlled the Ministry of War and was supposed to protect those very mortals.

This was... a knot that could not be untied!

Gazing up at the stars, Su Mo let out a deep breath...

So did mortals deserve to die?

"A link. I need a link!" Su Mo closed his eyes in thought.

He needed a hub connected to both cultivators and mortals to understand this matter.

But his only contact with the cultivation world was the Academy. Though the Academy cultivated the World-Harmonizing Dao, seeking the relationship between people and the world, it had only managed to enter worldly life. That much was clear from the nickname mortals had given Third Senior Sister Gu Yu: "Sword Demon." The Academy deliberately lowered cultivators' standing to bring them into contact with mortals.

Yet the Academy had still failed to connect the cultivation world with mortals. In the end, it was a pillar of Great Hua and could not come too close to the ground.

Su Mo looked toward the brightly lit Riverboat Pavilion, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Luo Yin was said to be the reincarnation of the Music God. Though a cultivator, she cultivated the Music Dao, had established the Riverboat Pavilion, and played for the people of the world.

The Riverboat Pavilion was a link!

A junction that knew both the cultivation world and the mortal world!

Su Mo approached the Riverboat Pavilion. Seeing a female guard at the entrance, he was about to speak when she stepped forward to greet him.

"Are you Young Master Su Mo?" the female guard asked respectfully.

"Yes, I am!" Taken aback, Su Mo nodded woodenly.

"My lady left instructions that Young Master Su Mo may go upstairs on his own whenever he arrives. She is with the little young miss in the pavilion on the boat's second floor," the guard explained.

"Thank you!" As Su Mo expressed his thanks, he noticed that this guard was also a cultivator. Her cultivation realm even seemed considerably higher than his own.

Su Mo entered the Riverboat Pavilion. There were only attendants inside, no guests.

A maid led Su Mo up to the second-floor pavilion, and he heard the little girl's cheerful laughter from a distance.

Luo Yin was teaching the little girl to play the qin. The little girl seemed to have no talent for it whatsoever; even under Luo Yin's guidance, she made a complete mess of the tune.

Luo Yin helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead while the little girl grinned without a care.

Suddenly, the little girl turned toward the pavilion door. "It's Young Master... Young Master is back!"

"How do you know?" Luo Yin paused, looking at the tightly shut door.

Luo Yin had naturally sensed Su Mo entering the Riverboat Pavilion, but the little girl was no cultivator. How could she sense his arrival?

The little girl did not concern herself with how she knew her young master had arrived. She only knew that she had felt him board the Riverboat Pavilion.

She hopped down from the tall bench and ran to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, she saw that Su Mo had indeed just come up the stairs. She dashed into his arms.

"Young Master, Young Master!" The little girl snuggled affectionately against him.

The little girl was only just over ten, barely half Su Mo's height. Her tender face reached only his waist. Su Mo stroked the top of her head, and his restless heart settled.

Luo Yin rose and watched this harmonious scene, feeling an unexpected trace of envy.

These two siblings...

"Thank you for taking care of us these past few days, Fairy Luo!" Su Mo took the little girl's hand and thanked the quiet, breathtakingly beautiful Luo Yin. He did not specify whether he meant her care for him or for the girl, encompassing both at once.

Luo Yin shook her head slightly. "Why be so polite? Jing Yan has now joined the Academy too. Since we follow the same path, surely we can address one another as peers this time?"

Su Mo smiled, remembering how confidently he had once spoken of the Immortal-Mortal Divide.

In the end, he too had set foot on this road.

Just as he had written in his scroll: to share a couch with tigers, first become one yourself.

"Greetings, Senior Sister Luo!" Su Mo bowed. Luo Yin was a close friend of Third Senior Sister Gu Yu, so there was nothing particularly improper about addressing her this way.

Luo Yin smiled and nodded.

The little girl tilted her head, looking first at Su Mo, then at Luo Yin. Seeing how politely the two treated each other, she suddenly felt that the atmosphere was rather strange.

"Young Master, Young Master, Senior Sister Luo taught me to play the qin today!" Remembering something, the little girl called out happily, like a child waiting to be praised.

Su Mo smiled and stroked her head, then reached down to lift her into his arms. He pinched her soft little cheek. "Oh? Then how did your lessons go?"

Her excited little face instantly fell. Imitating Su Mo, she shook her head and sighed softly, looking like a miniature adult. "Alas, my talent is naturally outstanding. Unfortunately, the qin and I have no rapport, so I can never quite get the knack!"

Beside them, Luo Yin covered her mouth and chuckled, giving Su Mo a meaningful look.

The Riverboat Pavilion was filled with peace and harmony!