The next day, at the Martial Training Hall.
Faint morning light filled the courtyard, and thin mist hung like gauze.
Tang Yao wore blue robes, her deep-blue hair ribbon fluttering with her ponytail in the wind. Her blade sliced through the morning mist, resolve showing in the youth's eyes. Her features were picturesque yet drawn tight with frost and snow, and fallen leaves danced wherever her blade passed.
Sweat slid down her jaw, forming amber points of light in the morning sun.
The sight was truly pleasing to the eye. Quite a few female disciples stopped to watch, their hearts filled with regret.
One could not help whispering, "Ah, such a handsome fellow. What a shame he's a cut sleeve..." Someone beside her promptly nudged her.
"Exactly. Looking at him like this, Tang Yao really is quite good-looking."
However quiet their voices were, Tang Yao could hear them as she practiced. She botched a movement, and the sword nearly flew from her hand.
Tang Yao put away her sword with some embarrassment. She had come early that morning, and unlike yesterday, all the disciples were very polite to her today.
At least those few who had disliked the sight of her yesterday were no longer making snide remarks in front of her.
She had even deliberately stood beside Tang Xin, thinking that if no one paid Tang Xin any attention again, she could stay there and chat with her. Yet today, they were all laughing and talking with Tang Xin.
These people really did turn their sails with the wind.
Tang Yao wiped away her light sweat and looked up, spotting the youth Yun Feng had punished with twenty laps yesterday staring at her.
The youth's face had been full of hatred, but the instant Tang Yao met his eyes, he forced out a "friendly" smile with his brows furrowed.
Although he had been sent off to run yesterday, his companions had told him all about Tang Yao's "glorious exploits."
Tang Yao: "..." So ugly.
Bro, how about you stop smiling? It's downright creepy.
"Senior brother." A female voice brought Tang Yao back to her senses.
Mu Shixue?
She actually came to say hello? And called me "senior brother"?
"Junior sister?" Tang Yao played along, cradling her sword in her arms as she regarded Mu Shixue at leisure.
All her earlier gloom gone, Mu Shixue raised her chin and smiled with her lips pressed together, seemingly in an especially good mood. Then she patted Tang Yao's shoulder and said slowly and leisurely, "Senior brother, you'd better practice hard."
"With your aptitude, I'm sure taking first place among this year's newcomers won't be a problem." With that, she left Tang Yao with a beautiful view of her retreating figure.
This complete reversal in attitude left Tang Yao rather baffled. Tang Xin beside her was equally puzzled.
"Has your senior sister..." Tang Yao turned to Tang Xin in confusion, slipping one arm around her neck as she lowered her head to ask, "gone crazy?"
"I don't know either..." Tang Xin was slightly dazed, staring ahead thoughtfully. It seemed her senior sister had not smiled like that in a long time.
"Your, your hand."
Only then did Tang Xin react, immediately springing away and frowning at Tang Yao. Given how the two had gotten along since childhood, Tang Yao putting an arm around her was no different from a jackal putting an arm around a sheep-it sent chills down her spine.
Only at Tang Xin's words did Tang Yao realize what she had done. Her hand immediately froze in midair, and she forced an ugly smile. "Force of habit... we're sisters... brothers... no... sisters..."
"Forget it." Tang Yao wanted to cry but had no tears. She could not explain it.
Tang Xin looked at Mu Shixue's receding figure, then at Tang Yao. Confusion appeared on her eternally unchanging face. She shook her head gently and turned to practice her sword, leaving only a quiet murmur. "Have they both gone crazy...?"
By dusk, only a handful of people remained in the courtyard. Most disciples came to practice swordsmanship for only half a day, either in the morning or the afternoon.
As the last rays of the setting sun fell on Tang Yao, she put away her sword at her waist and loosened up, feeling comfortable all over. Because she had continually consolidated her cultivation, her Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivation was now incomparably solid. She could already trounce many of those flimsy Golden Core weaklings who had popped pills to get there.
Tang Yao stretched, her bones making faint, crisp cracks, and noticed that Tang Xin was still intently practicing sword forms not far away.
As expected of the female lead-steadfast and unyielding. Tang Yao went over to make her presence felt, said goodbye, and prepared to return to Long Mountain Residence.
On the way back, Tang Yao did not take the route Tang Xin had shown her last time, instead admiring the mountain scenery on her own. Though the Azure Cloud Sect lacked the grandeur of the Profound Heaven Sect, it still had centuries upon centuries of heritage. The mountain residences were decorated in a simple, antique style, mountain paths wound through layers of mist, and golden sunlight scattered over the shimmering lake beside the mountain.
But why did it feel like she'd seen this scenery an hour ago?
At that moment, four words appeared in Tang Yao's mind.
She had gotten lost...
Tang Yao stopped and pushed aside the vines beside her. A spring lay shrouded in thin mist, its surface reflecting the setting sun, a few crimson maple leaves floating on it. Vapor curled upward, giving off warmth.
There was actually a hot spring here?
She reached out and scooped up the glimmering water, delight showing in her eyes. This hot spring contained rich Spiritual Qi. If she came to soak here after sword practice every day, wouldn't her cultivation shoot right up?
As droplets slipped from her fingertips, she suddenly glimpsed a stretch of white-jade shoulder and neck on the opposite bank-
A youth was immersed in the hot spring, his black hair spread like an ink-dark lotus. Amid the rising steam, his collarbones emerged above the water like crescent moons.
They froze on opposite sides of the hot spring. The youth abruptly sank down, leaving only half his face exposed. His pale-purple eyes regarded Tang Yao with some annoyance, the tips of his ears faintly red.
"S-sorry!" Tang Yao shot to her feet and stumbled backward. She turned, ready to make a run for it!
Could this be a spring some disciple had spent a fortune building for himself? Had she blundered onto someone else's turf?
Just then, a splash sounded behind her, as though the youth had risen in a fluster. "Stop!"
Only an idiot would stop!
Hearing that, Tang Yao ran even faster. How could she possibly dare stop?