In the end, An Fei was forced to call Shen Ming Yue, “Big Sister.”
As the young girl faced the condescending gazes of a little raven and a small fox, the waves of shame and depression rocked her closed heart into the jagged edges of the sky-piercing cliff.
An Fei sighed and raised a hand to directly whack the little creature onto the ground, extending her fingers to torment the small fox for another round.
She didn’t have a choice!
When Shen Ming Yue directed such a lascivious stare onto her body and threatened to strip and punish her otherwise, she didn’t have a choice but to raise the white flag into the heavens and wave them even if the earth fell down the next day!
“Ah…”
The young girl’s open mouth released another exhausted and exasperated exhale of breath, her countenance dull and devoid of much interest.
An Fei leaned into the slightly uncomfortable bed provided by the inn, her irritated mind seeking additional objects to amuse itself on its whim.
“Something wrong?” Shen Ming Yue raised her head from her bed, her limbs stretched to their fullest as she released a happy cry of relief.
“No, nothing’s wrong…”
Given Shen Haoren’s advanced age and her status as the first-born child, Shen Ming Yue was considerably older than An Fei’s current body, for she had attained her nineteenth birthday a few months ago.
With her seemingly perpetually bright and envigored personality as well as her stunning appearance, the youthful daughter of the Shen Clan had been plagued by an endless line of suitors knocking on her door since her debut as a Young Miss.
Tall height, slender limbs, an outgoing personality that wasn’t shy of interacting with the average stranger as long as they weren’t a shameless, creepy pervert, and a dazzling countenance to wipe all insults towards the ground without a single exchange, Shen Ming Yue could be named as the penultimate achievement of Shen Haoren’s life.
In comparison…
An Fei was short, rather introverted, and more likely to butcher the average passerby regardless of their distorted mental outlook at the first exchange of words…
…and her cultivation was brutally suppressed by the world until she was suffocated and struggling to wheeze through the last gasp of air, whilst Shen Ming Yue could boast around her strength as a late Foundation Establishment Realm practitioner!
“Younger Sister, do you want to have some nightly fun?”
The teasing voice filtered itself through the air to smack onto the young girl’s ear, causing An Fei’s body to contort in discomfort.
The young girl dove deeper into the bedsheets, covering her ears with the cotton blankets to the best of her ability.
“I’m going to sleep, no need!”
Ahem, even this seemingly perfect role model of a female cultivator that was a beauty could possess such a flaw, it seemed the heavens were not so partial after all…
–
An Fei found herself standing before an unusual sight.
In every direction, there was absolutely nothing to be seen, and the encompassing darkness chilled her to the bone, pouring into her heart with a bleak and desolate emotion.
She seemed to have returned to the void, of which she had glimpsed at in a previous dream many months ago.
Only…
“What do you see?”
She wasn’t the only person standing in the void and observing the principle of nihility at its purest essence. A few meters to her side, the young girl could see a little lass standing next to an elderly man.
Her eyes narrowed in surprise, before expanding rapidly in surprise.
“Those two…”
An Fei gasped, her mind resounding from the shock as she stared at the elderly figure and the young lass standing next to each other.
The young girl lurched a step forward, though her body inadvertently came to a halt without her even becoming aware of it.
Those two… hadn’t she seen them before?
However, that was in the picturesque garden, where they discussed something about a mortal soul and mortal cultivation…
So, what were they doing in this cold and empty void?
“What do you see?”
The elderly man gently rubbed the little lass’ head with an affectionate smile, his arm outstretched and pointing towards an incongruent location before him.
The little lass squinted as she attempted to peer through nihility itself, before lowering her gaze in a dejected sigh.
“Grandfather, I don’t see anything!” the little lass complained with a small pout encroaching on her delicate lips.
“This is the third time you’ve asked this question, but what am I supposed to see?”
The grandfather’s wrinkled countenance burst into warm laughter as his arms consoled the small temper tantrum of the little lass.
The elderly man swept towards the void, his sleeved arm embracing and encircling the empty darkness as though it were a pool of water.
“The void may possess nothing, but how come I see a river of stars? The void displays nothing, but why can I feel the fiery blaze of the countless desires of mortals brushing against my fingers?”
“But there’s truly nothing there!”
The little lass brushed her arm forward in the same location the elderly man had swept his arm through.
Underneath the elder’s smile, the little lass patted at the empty darkness around her, the confusion on her countenance becoming ever more pronounced by the second.
“Is there truly nothing there?” the elderly man rubbed the little lass’ head for a second time, before pointing towards another region of the void with his gnarled finger.
“Do not try to decipher the void’s secrets with your eyes, but with your heart. When your heart reaches out towards your surroundings, what do you see?”
The elderly man adjusted their position that his arms rested against the shoulders of the little lass, anchoring her still within the realm of nihility.
Though her lips maintained the pout of resistance, the little lass closed her eyes and stretched her arms before her to their maximum length.
“I see… I see…” the little lass’ lips mumbled as they parted with astonishment and delight, before being crudely replaced by a cunning smile.
“I see… I see… nothing! Grandfather, I don’t see anything!”
“Ah? What are you, a mortal?”
The elder raised a gnarled knuckle to lightly but securely rub deeply against the little lass’ forehead, the warmth in his smile magnifying by the second as he heard her playful shouts of pain.
The grandfather finally relinquished his lecture after the little lass had waved the white flag and sued for peace, before raising his finger to point into the sea of emptiness once again.
“So, my cunning little granddaughter who tries to trip one over her blind grandfather, what did you see?”
The little lass’s countenance flickered with an uncertain emotion, but she eventually raised her gaze to stare into the elderly man’s eyes, her voice reflecting her confusion and desire to know more.
“I saw the entire Realm, with Grandmother, Grand-Uncle Ling, Grand-Uncle Wen, Grand-Uncle Fang, Big Uncle Fang, and many, many others! Grandfather, what does that mean?”
“Nothing, just that my granddaughter is truly talented and imaginative, haha!”
The grandfather heartily laughed as he patted the little lass on the back, his body trembling with mirth and affection.
As An Fei silently observed their dissipating figures, she saw a strain of bleakness rush through the elder’s countenance, before darkness soon overtook her mind.
–
“…what… was that?”
In the Yang Clan’s inn, a young girl sat upright on the bed, her brows furrowed in confusion and concern. An Fei’s gaze swept around her surroundings several times, but the uneasy sensation refused to abate.
Why did she dream about the pair of an elderly man and a little lass again?
And what was the discussion regarding the void?
“There’s many things I simply don’t understand, ah…” the young girl sighed, her gaze lowered in thought.
“First of all, why am I even having such dreams…”
Unable to find penance for her mind, An Fei swiftly glanced outside to discover that the sun had yet to ascend towards the sky, and dawn had scurried away from its duty with its tail behind its legs.
On the adjacent bed, Shen Ming Yue’s eyelashes rustled lightly as her large bosom heaved up and down in a smooth, cyclidic motion.
Oh, the pities and sorrows of those with a small…
“This room isn’t that bad, however.”
The room the two young girls had been allotted with simple and plain in both design and decoration, with the entire room being composed of a variety of wood.
A vase of flowers stood at each corner, their faint fragrances emitting from the petals and succulent threads of nectar gently alleviating the tension on her mind.
With the discovery that dawn hadn’t even struck yet, An Fei decided to return to sleep.
Crawl into the blankets, ignore the patch of red below her, and return to dreamland – hopefully not another vivid experience with the odd and uncomfortable pair.
Ignore the patch of red below her pelvic region, ignore the damp and slightly sticky sensation…
Patch of red, damp and sticky…
“-AH!?”
