“Oh, Little Sister, you still haven’t told me your name?”
Xu Lingxin raised the question directly after they had departed from the restaurant. Having been unprepared, An Fei gaped for a brief pause, ultimately regaining her footing after several seconds of silence.
“I… my name is Xu Lingxue.”
“Surnamed Xu? Such coincidence?”
She seemed to have chanced upon a jackpot that was either lucky or downright horrendous, for a trace of tender emotion flickered across the temple maiden’s countenance the instant the name Xu Lingxue was tossed into the air.
Observing such change, An Fei wished she could retract her words here and then, but it was far too late to regret.
“Lingxue, are you then from Great Yan?” Xu Lingxin’s cheeks flushed with warmth.
“Are you around fifteen – no, fourteen years old? Do you still keep around the small fox?”
Er… what?
With each energetic phrase departing from Xu Lingxin’s mouth, An Fei’s heart quivered with bitter regret and discomfort. At the same time, she fought to keep a steady countenance as her mind whirled in thought. Quite unfortunately, she couldn’t think too much regarding which option she was to undertake, for each brought forth unnecessary troubles.
There really was only a single choice from the beginning…
“…how did you know?” the young girl muttered after a long period of internal discussion.
“This…”
Xu Lingxin was similarly reduced to silence. The temple maiden tapped her chin to relieve the awkward atmosphere, and ultimately shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
“Little Sister, this…” her voice trailed.
“Do you have any plans for now?”
Her plans for the current situation?
Why, other than getting back to Jiang’an, what other goal did she have?
An Fei retorted in her mind, yet merely shook her head on the exterior. After having received the cowing news that a certain Wei Chang Luo was searching for a young girl by the name of Wei An Fei, she had no dreams of telling the truth of her identity – not whilst she was in Bei Tang.
Nonetheless, it was good news for the temple maiden.
“Then, Little Sister, follow me to my sect! The Morning Star Temple can offer you protection from the Haunted Buddhist Sect!”
An Fei’s brows immediately creased into an uncertain frown as she heard Xu Lingxin’s words. Suspicion brimmed in her heart as the young girl stared at the temple maiden for a long period of time, attempting to gauge the latter’s intentions.
“Why?”
What finally departed her lips was a single remark, interlaced with a questioning intent. An Fei felt her fingertips tingle with an unusual and piercing sensation as she allowed the word to bypass her tongue, and a shadow of unease glanced from within her heart.
“Why?” Xu Lingxin echoed with a rueful smile.
“Little Sister, you may not realize it, but Chang Jungyoon does not lie when regarding matters of revenge. Particularly when he had lost so many of his brethren – there is a guarantee that he would chase after you to the far depths of the earth until his sword has claimed your head.”
Regardless of however many years that man could have stayed with his companions, it would be highly unlikely for such lasting bonds to have connected.
That man didn’t even blink when she had stabbed all of the others wreathed in shadows, and only cried out when the temple maiden used her special martial arts technique!
An Fei silently scoffed in her mind, and elected to retain a dull countenance. Alas, the faint shift in her eyes was sufficient for Xu Lingxin, who proceeded to deeply sigh in defeat.
“Little Sister, you only shake your head and ignore the situation because you don’t know of the matters of the jianghu,” the temple maiden gently chastised.
“The Haunted Buddhist Sect as well as my Morning Star Temple both dispatched cultivators in securing the Shadow Blighting Pearl. Of course, as there is only a single Shadow Blighting Pearl, one faction must designate themselves as the victor, and the counterpart the defeated. That, the sects can tolerate.”
“A matter of pride; is that what you mean by those words?” the young girl quipped with an unearthly smile.
“But pride is just pride. As long as he can’t find me, or as long as he can’t kill me – surely he would give up by then? Time erodes all sentiments with an impartial gaze.”
Time?
Xu Lingxin’s eyes crinkled at the hint of resolve and experience within An Fei’s gaze, and couldn’t help but scold in her heart. The temple maiden shook her head and swayed her sleeves with refined elegance and splendor reserved only for a celestial maiden.
“The word ‘time’ can never be assigned to or affiliated with a cultivator. To us, of which a mere Spirit Building Realm cultivator possesses a lifespan extending over two hundred years – time and its erosive effects pose little threat.”
Before time erodes his vow for vengeance, you will have long since died. Therefore, don’t be so foolish anymore.
An Fei quickly deduced the hidden meaning of the words casually uttered by the temple maiden, and slowly moved her right hand to rest her palm against the hilt of her butterfly swords.
Taking good measure of the brief, momentary pause granted by the setting sun, the young girl blocked out Xilong’s expectant gaze and stared into Xu Lingxin’s exquisite irises flickering with shards of gold and silver.
“So, you offer me the Morning Star Temple’s protection to hide from Chang Junyoon’s revenge. Why?”
“Has Little Sister never heard of the phrase keenly uttered by those of the secular world?” Xu Lingxin’s lips curved into a bitter smile.
“Beat a cultivator to the ground, and he will wail for his father and uncles. Beat the father and uncles to the ground, and they will wail for their ancestor. Finally, beat an ancestor to the ground, and he will wail for the penance from Heaven.”
“Although this matter ultimately resulted in deeply entrenching Little Sister, who is a mortal, into a conflict between cultivators, it attributes great part to my decision to stake an ambush at this city.”
Claiming responsibility…
Witnessing the saintly expression and countenance bloom before her gaze, An Fei felt the discomfort and unease strongly throb within her heart. The young girl’s lips gently tugged downwards on instinct, but she suppressed her involuntary urges by forcing her mind to focus on the current issue at hand.
“Where is the Morning Star Temple? And what is Elder Sister’s name?”
As she received the gesture of affirmation from An Fei, Xu Lingxin exulted to herself upon realizing that a burden had lifted itself from her chest. Indulging in the sensation of relieving a karmic shackle within such a short period of time since its conception, the temple maiden’s lips etched themselves into a charming smile, and she reached out with her fair and exquisite hand.
“My, Little Sister, you’re awfully in luck!” she patted An Fei’s slightly dusty and scattered hair.
“My Morning Star Temple was located on the western border regions of Great Yan. Given that Little Sister doesn’t really know how to speak the dual languages of Bei Tang, the outcome isn’t so intolerable, now?”
The young girl immediately nodded at the abhorrent nature of the language within Bei Tang. Upon recognizing the words ‘Great Yan’ within Xu Lingxin’s teasing statement, An Fei’s countenance bloomed with relief, only to cloud over rather shortly.
“…was?”
“Er…” the temple maiden revealed an awkward smile full of elegance and grace.
“A few years ago, the region containing our headquarters was annexed by the Violet Jade Pavilion…”
The young girl was stifled into silence, and gaped at the bashfully grinning temple maiden. As An Fei recalled that she had actually considered the prospects of relying on the Morning Star Sect’s prestige to slip into Great Yan from Bei Tang, her cheeks slightly puffed in discontent.
“Ah? Little Sister, don’t give me that look!” Xu Lingxin chuckled with a shameless expression.
“Even if the territories surrounding our sect was annexed, the Violet Jade Pavilion’s influence only extends to the secular world. As for the operations of the sect, they are naturally left untouched.”
“Yet it would be difficult for the Morning Star Temple to obtain fresh blood, no?” An Fei interjected with a grim expression.
“What kind of rational sect would dare allow their enemy to absorb new forces? Was this a reason why you extended the invitation to take shelter in your sect, Elder Sister?”
“Er…”
Blackhearted!
This sect was gilded in nature!
An Fei slapped herself on the forehead upon witnessing Xu Lingxin’s continual smile, feeling regret for settling on her previous impression of the Morning Star Temple. At the same time, the young girl wondered why she found such saintly smiles familiar.
