After Forcing Myself on My Master, I Was Driven Down the Mountain

"Master... I-I'm innocent. You were the one who took the initiative this time..."

Kexi opened his mouth, still wanting to say something.

"Get out!"

"Sure thing!"

Kexi got out.

He sprang from the bed faster than he ever had in his life, grabbed the outer robe scattered on the floor and wrapped it around himself. Without even fastening his belt properly, he stumbled out the door.

Inside the room, Qiuyuan stood alone, the silvery moonlight stretching her slender figure into a long, long shadow.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at her trembling hands, then at her deathly pale face reflected in the blade of her sword.

"Slut." She whispered the word to her reflection in the blade, her voice hoarse, as if she were passing sentence on herself.

The next day.

At the Mystic Sect's mountain gate.

Kexi carried a travel pack that didn't belong to him at all.

Heaven knew when Yangyang had packed it for him.

He stood on the bluestone platform before the mountain gate, facing a row of senior and junior sisters.

Chisa held her saber in her arms, her brows tightly knitted.

Changli stood to one side, her long pink hair fluttering gently in the mountain breeze. Her face betrayed no expression, but a trace of worry was hard to hide in her eyes.

Suisui waved her little fan. She wasn't smiling this time, and her fan moved a little more slowly than usual.

Jinhsi clutched Yangyang's sleeve, her eyes red.

Yangyang stood at the very front.

Her eyes were swollen. Clearly, she had cried more than once last night.

She bit her lower lip and looked at the bulging pack on Kexi's back, then at his face, which had "I'm fine, I'm doing great, Master just drove me down the mountain, that's all, it's no big deal" written all over it. At last, she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Junior Brother, what exactly did you do? Why is Master driving you down the mountain?"

Kexi froze.

He looked at Yangyang's red, swollen eyes and the worry and reluctance that nearly overflowed from them, but scenes from last night flashed uncontrollably through his mind.

Qiuyuan's reddened eyes, the hand pressed against his chest, their palms clasped with fingers intertwined, and his own face buried in the pillow, contorted with shame.

His face burned, turning red from his neck all the way to his ears.

He opened his mouth. "Well... it was... during our extra lessons..."

"Hmm?" Yangyang watched him anxiously, waiting for him to continue.

The other senior sisters all pricked up their ears.

Jinhsi asked with an innocent look, "What happened during the extwa lessons? Brother Xi, did you and Master have a fight?"

A fight? Kexi wished it had only been a fight.

At least he could have talked about a fight, at least he could have complained to his senior sisters.

But the things he and Qiuyuan had done last night-no, the things Qiuyuan had done to him last night-could he possibly talk about those?

"It was... well..."

Kexi's gaze began to wander, drifting from the hilt of Chisa's saber to the ends of Changli's hair, from Suisui's fan to Jinhsi's nosebleed. He just didn't dare let it settle on Yangyang's face.

"During the extra lessons... Master and I... had a rather... um... major disagreement over academic viewpoints... and then Master thought... my academic attitude wasn't really suited to staying at the Mystic Sect for further study... so she suggested I go down the mountain and gain some experience first... Yes, yes, that's it. An academic disagreement, a purely academic disagreement."

Suisui's fan stopped.

She narrowed her eyes, her signature mischievous smile returning to her lips, though this time there was an indescribable hint of deeper meaning in it.

She looked Kexi up and down, taking in the faint red mark on his neck, then let out a meaningful "Oh," drawing it out three times longer than usual.

"An academic disagreement." She repeated the words. "You and Master had an academic disagreement during your extra lessons. And then Master drove you down the mountain before it was even light out."

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what happened." Kexi nodded vigorously.

"And the academic disagreement left that on your neck too?" Suisui pointed her fan at the red mark on the side of his neck.

Kexi instinctively covered his neck, his face turning another shade redder.

He gave a couple of dry chuckles. "Mosquitoes! The mosquitoes in the mountains are huge! The ones in Master's room are especially huge!"

Jinhsi tilted her head and chimed in innocently, "But there are never any mosquitoes in Master's room. Master killed all the bugs within ten li with her sword qi. I've been to her room lots of times, and I've never seen a single mosquito."

"There were just a lot last night! Right, one flew in from who knows where last night. It was huge and fierce, and it bit me several times-"

"Brother Xi," Jinhsi corrected him earnestly, "mosquitoes don't bite people, they sting them."

"...Thank you, Jinhsi." Kexi's smile had completely petrified.

He turned his head and met Yangyang's gaze.

Yangyang didn't press him.

She simply watched him quietly, taking in his bright red face, the mark on his neck that he couldn't hide no matter what, and the way he flustered and stumbled over his words.

Her eyes were still red, but her gaze was calm, so calm that Kexi's heart began to race.

She wasn't a fool.

She knew Kexi was lying.

But she didn't expose him. She merely nodded gently and said something that nearly made Kexi fall to his knees on the spot.

"Then... take good care of yourself after you go down the mountain."

Kexi felt as if someone had squeezed his heart hard.

He looked at Yangyang's face as she fought back tears and wanted to slap himself twice right then and there.

She was worried about him, worried for his sake, while he was spouting nonsense, not daring to tell her a single word of the truth.

But what could he do?

Could he say, "Sorry, Yangyang, I slept with your master last night, so she drove me down the mountain"?

"I will." He took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound a little more normal. "Don't worry. It's not my first time going down the mountain. I'll take care of myself."

Chisa stepped forward.

A rare hint of reluctance appeared on her normally icy face.

She pressed a heavy money pouch into Kexi's hand and said solemnly in her usual colonel's accent, "You take this money. Don't scrimp on food and drink on the road. Down the mountain is not like up here. You must be careful in everything you do."

Kexi took the pouch. It was so heavy that his hand sank under its weight.

His eyes grew a little warm, and his voice caught slightly. "Senior Sister... thank you."

"What are you thanking her for?" Suisui stepped forward and rapped him on the head with her fan. It hurt just the right amount, as always, but she didn't smile this time. "Come back soon. Without you on the mountain, I won't have anyone to tease. How boring would that be?"

For all her teasing, she still stuffed a package into his travel pack.

Changli stepped forward. She didn't say much, only tucked a heavy bundle into his pack. "Junior Brother, down the mountain isn't like up here. Keep your wits about you in everything you do. There are a few common medicinal pills I prepared and a map in the bundle. Don't get into fights with people, and run if you meet someone you can't beat, all right?"

"...All right." Kexi lowered his head, not daring to look at her.

Jinhsi came over last.

She stood on tiptoe and tucked a little cloth bundle into his arms. Inside were a few pieces of dried food and a safety talisman. The talisman paper was folded every which way, clearly by her own hands as well.

"Brother Xi," she said in a muffled voice, "remember to eat after you go down the mountain. If I'm not there to remind you to eat, you'll get skinny from hunger. If that happens, Master will feel bad, and we will too."

Kexi tucked the crooked little bundle inside his robe and reached out to ruffle her hair.

"...Okay."

He turned and walked down the bluestone steps. Step by step, his pack heavy and his legs heavy, his mind completely blank, without a single thought. Only the gazes behind him weighed on his back, making each step very, very slow.

After he had gone some distance, he couldn't resist looking back.

The four senior and junior sisters were still standing before the mountain gate.

Chisa still held her saber, standing straight as an unmoving ice sculpture.

Changli had one hand slightly raised, as if saying goodbye, or perhaps asking him to stay.

Suisui waved her little fan, a smile on her lips, but it covered half her face, and he couldn't see her expression clearly.

Jinhsi stood at the front, waving to him on tiptoe.

And Yangyang-

Yangyang stood where she was, her hands clasped before her. She neither waved nor spoke.

She simply watched him, quietly watching him across the long bluestone steps and the growing distance between them.

The mountain breeze lifted the hem of her skirt slightly. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she made no sound.

He read her lips.

"Take care."

Kexi turned sharply and quickened his pace.