Chapter 500: Xiao Mo, Would He Like a Woman Like Me?
Cold Mountain Academy, the Forest of Confucian Grace.
This spiritually rich place, where nearly all the Confucian fortune of the demon-race world gathered, was now filled with a solemn and distant fragrance of books.
All of the Worthies who had passed this assessment were receiving the baptism of Confucian literary fortune in °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° this forest.
Although the ancestor of Confucianism had been human, this great path to Heaven was open to all things in the world, without distinction of race.
Therefore, even someone born of the demon race, so long as they studied Confucian learning with dedication and achieved something in it, would naturally be nourished by Confucian fortune, aiding their cultivation.
After all, teaching without discrimination had always been one of the principles Confucianism valued.
“Xiao Mo...”
“I seem to... have someone I like...”
Sitting cross-legged on the branch of an ancient tree, Tushan Jingci’s mind was still turning over and over the words she had said to Xiao Mo before.
That day, the instant those words left her mouth, Tushan Jingci suddenly realized what she had just said.
Xiao Mo had also asked Tushan Jingci who that person was.
But Tushan Jingci had said nothing. Her cheeks flushed, she turned and ran.
Then, on the very next day, she, this newly promoted Worthy of Cold Mountain Academy, had come to the Forest of Confucian Grace to receive this two-month baptism of Confucian literary fortune.
DONG...
DONG...
DONG...
Three long, distant tolls of a bell slowly rang through the forest, their lingering notes curling through the air and echoing without end.
The Confucian literary fortune coiling around Tushan Jingci gradually settled. The young woman slowly opened her fox-enchanting eyes.
“The time has come.”
Cun Caiguang, the headmaster of Cold Mountain Academy, stood in the forest and slowly spoke to the assembled Worthies, his voice like a deep bell.
“This enlightenment through the resonance of the Way in the Forest of Confucian Grace ends here. After you return, I ask all of you to properly digest what you have gained and understood over these days. Study and cultivate diligently, pursue learning with both feet firmly on the ground, and do not be impatient.”
“Yes.”
The Worthies sitting cross-legged throughout the Forest of Confucian Grace rose one after another and bowed respectfully.
After leaving the Forest of Confucian Grace, Tushan Jingci let out a long breath of turbid air, feeling as though much of the murky tightness pent up in her chest had scattered with it.
Her bottleneck, originally at the perfected completion of the Dragon Gate Realm, had actually loosened faintly under the baptism of Confucian literary fortune over these two months.
Yet Tushan Jingci felt it was still not enough.
She vaguely sensed that she seemed to be lacking something more before she could completely break through that bottleneck and smoothly step into the Golden Core Realm.
“Forget it. I won’t think about this for now—cultivation can’t be rushed anyway. I should go see Xiao Mo first!”
Tushan Jingci, who had never cared very much about realms and cultivation, very quickly threw the matter of cultivation to the back of her mind, her thoughts filled entirely with going to the bamboo courtyard to see Xiao Mo.
But the young woman had only flown a short distance when, against her will, the words she had said to Xiao Mo two months ago surfaced in her mind again.
“I seem to... have someone I like...”
Those words were like some sort of spell. Tushan Jingci did not want to remember them, yet she insisted on remembering them anyway. And every time they rang out, Tushan Jingci’s cheeks flushed red with a rush of heat.
“What should I do if Xiao Mo asks me again who the person I like is?”
Tushan Jingci slowed her flight and murmured to herself.
“Or... maybe I should just tell Xiao Mo who I like?”
“No, no...”
She hurriedly shook her head, even the roots of her ears dyed scarlet.
“If I tell Xiao Mo directly, that would be far too forward...”
“But I do like him. So what if I tell him? Isn’t liking someone, then telling the other person, only natural and right?”
Without realizing it, Tushan Jingci flew slower and slower. Her small hands rubbed together, her fingertips twisting uneasily around each other. She bit lightly at her lower lip, her brows faintly drawn, her delicate face filled with conflict.
At this moment, she seemed to have returned to that innocent, simple-hearted little girl from three years ago.
There was even, faintly, a little anger at herself in the young woman’s heart—
She had clearly decided long ago that when Xiao Mo woke, she would tell him everything.
But why, in the end, when she had reached this final step, had she grown timid again?
Acting so hesitant and shrinking—how was that anything like her old self?
“Young Lady Tushan...”
Just as Tushan Jingci’s thoughts were in turmoil and her heart full of conflict, a voice both unfamiliar and familiar suddenly came from not far away.
Tushan Jingci lifted her head, and a flash of pleasant surprise crossed her eyes.
“Sister Liu Shui!”
“Greetings, Young Lady Tushan.”
Liu Shui was also very surprised to see Tushan Jingci. She flew to Tushan Jingci and dipped in greeting.
“They really are exactly alike...”
Liu Shui looked Tushan Jingci over and thought to herself.
How could this be? Could the person she had seen that day truly have been Young Lady Tushan?
“Sister Liu Shui, what is it?”
Tushan Jingci looked at Liu Shui in confusion. She felt that the way Liu Shui was looking at her seemed a little strange.
“Oh, nothing.”
Liu Shui came back to herself and smiled as she shook her head.
“I only felt that after three years apart, Young Lady Tushan has become even more beautiful. Even though I am a woman myself, I feel as though my soul might be stolen away by Young Lady Tushan.”
“Hehehe...”
Tushan Jingci covered her mouth and laughed softly.
“What are you saying, Sister Liu Shui? Sister Liu Shui has become even prettier too.”
“Speaking of which.”
Tushan Jingci blinked her eyes at Liu Shui.
“Sister Liu Shui just returned, yet you’re in such a hurry. I wonder where Sister Liu Shui is going?”
“I...”
Hearing Tushan Jingci’s question, Liu Shui lowered her delicate head, a faint blush rising on her cheeks.
“When I had just returned to Cold Mountain Academy, I ran into Master Xian. Master Xian said Young Master Xiao had already emerged from seclusion, so I wanted to go see him... and also... also say a few things to him.”
Liu Shui’s voice was gentle, carrying a somewhat cautious note of testing. As she spoke on, her voice grew softer and softer.
“I see...”
Tushan Jingci could not help lowering her own delicate head. Her long eyelashes trembled lightly, hiding the look in her eyes.
And in the next moment, Liu Shui also looked at Tushan Jingci with some apprehension, unease and expectation mingled in her gaze.
“Young Lady Tushan... there is something I would like to ask you. May I...?”
“Of course.”
Tushan Jingci raised her head and smiled faintly, her tone as gentle as ever.
“Sister Liu Shui, just say it.”
“Well...”
Liu Shui lowered her head again. The fingers of both her hands rubbed together unconsciously, the tips faintly whitening. The blush on her cheeks spread little by little, and before she knew it, it had reached her ears.
“I want to tell Young Master Xiao... how I feel...”
When the words fell, she lowered her head deeply, her voice as soft as a feather falling onto water.
“Young Lady Tushan, Xiao Mo has always stayed by your side. You must understand Xiao Mo better than I do.”
She paused, as if gathering every last bit of courage she had.
“Young Lady Tushan, tell me...”
“Xiao Mo... would he like a woman like me?”