Lu Yuandi stayed in the mountains for a day, which was the most time she could secure for herself as the Emperor.

The day was uneventful—eating, feeding chickens, and wandering the mountains.

When Lu Yuandi appeared at the Taoist Temple, the two children had already woken up. Chu Liuxue was the first to step outside and, seeing the Emperor standing at the door, was so frightened that her sleepiness vanished, and her face turned pale.

"Banknote! Run! The Emperor has come to arrest us himself!"

Tao Mian peeked out from behind Lu Yuandi.

"Why are you shouting at me?"

"......"

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the siblings still didn't know how to interact with the Emperor. Previously, when she had locked up Tao Mian, it had caused quite a bit of unpleasantness between them, and Chu Suiyan held a grudge against her, refusing to acknowledge her presence.

Lu Yuandi teased him on purpose.

"Little Tao, your little junior brother doesn't seem to like me much. Did you secretly speak ill of me?"

Chu Suiyan stood up abruptly to defend Tao Mian.

"Little Tao Shi Fu is not that kind of person! He wouldn't talk about others behind their backs!"

"Si Dui understands me," Tao Mian said, appearing out of nowhere with half a bun in his mouth, "I always give my opinions directly."

Chu Liuxue resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"How can you say that so shamelessly?"

"What's there to be embarrassed about? I, the Immortal, have always been strict with others and lenient with myself. Instead of tormenting myself with inner conflict, it's better to exhaust others with madness."

"......"

After spending some time together, Chu Liuxue finally believed Tao Mian's words that "the Emperor was even more troublesome as a child than you."

Lu Yuandi and Tao Mian were up to some mischief, somehow managing to set Wu Changzai's tail on fire!

The rooster flapped its wings and ran around the courtyard, with Tao Mian and his Second Disciple chasing after it, all three of them covered in dust.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

For someone as young as Chu Liuxue, having to manage two adults was truly a strain on her mind and body.

After lunch, Tao Mian wanted to take a nap. Chu Suiyan practiced swordplay in the courtyard, and Chu Liuxue was supposed to join him, but she often slacked off, dragging a chair into the shade to laze around.

Today, there were two chairs, with the Emperor joining her in idleness.

Lu Yuandi kept her mouth busy, constantly pointing out Chu Suiyan's mistakes—this move lacked power, that one wasn't executed properly... and so on. Soon, Chu Suiyan impatiently threw his sword aside, waiting angrily for Shi Fu to wake up and stand up for him.

Chu Liuxue also noticed that Lu Yuandi was giving random advice and asked her why she was doing it.

"My brother takes cultivation very seriously. He truly regards Tao Mian as his master and has vowed to inherit his skills."

"And what about you?" Lu Yuandi looked at the girl with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. "Little Tao has also accepted you as a disciple. Don't you have any ambitions?"

Chu Liuxue was equally honest.

"I told Tao Mian that his disciples never have good fates. I was already a wanderer with no luck, and I'm afraid that if I take it too seriously, I won't even achieve the humble wish of living to old age."

Lu Yuandi hadn't expected her true thoughts to be like this, and the girl's sincere belief that she wouldn't live long amused her.

She said, "You're different from us."

"Different from whom?"

"Different from me, from Gu Yuan, and even from your brother."

Lu Yuandi shifted to a more relaxed posture, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to sitting so leisurely after such a long time.

"We all have desires in our hearts. Peach Blossom Mountain doesn't keep those with distracting thoughts. You have no desires, so perhaps you can stay here longer."

Her gaze fell on Tao Mian, who was lying flat with his hands on his abdomen, an old bamboo fan covering his face.

"Tao Mian must have taken you to see Senior Brother Gu's grave."

She spoke softly.

Chu Liuxue didn't understand why she suddenly asked this question, but she nodded truthfully.

Hesitating, she threw a question she couldn't bring herself to ask Tao Mian before to this senior sister she hadn't known for long.

She really wanted an answer.

"I can't understand why Tao Mian, as an Immortal Being, would continue to take disciples when his disciples, even if they live to old age, would precede him in death. He must have been very sad about Senior Brother Gu's death, even though he didn't say it, I could tell. Why continue to take disciples then? Isn't it a sorrowful ending from the start?"

It took Lu Yuandi a long time to answer her junior sister's question. She looked up at the branches above, which had sprouted new buds. The branches intertwined, dividing the sky into various shapes, and two birds soared high, becoming two black dots moving from one grid to another.

She said, "What else can be done? With new disciples come new stories, new stories become new memories, and new memories fill new grids, overlapping with the past ones, making Little Tao's life colorful."

How pitiful it is for an Immortal Being to cling to a sliver of the past, endlessly reminiscing and ruminating.

Lu Yuandi raised an arm high, pinched off a sprig with new buds, and handed it to Chu Liuxue.

"Your background is not ordinary."

Lu Yuandi watched the girl's expression change slightly and smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to interrogate you. Perhaps it's fate. Even if Tao Mian wanted to take an ordinary disciple, I don't think it would be possible. Gu Yuan and I, we all have our own secrets and missions. You are no different."

She paused.

"But you have the advantage of choice."

Lu Yuandi didn't say much more, likely not wanting to interfere with her junior sister's thoughts.

Just like Shi Fu Tao Mian, she also believed that everyone has their own destiny and fate.

She said whether you go down the mountain or not, Tao Mian won't stop you. But the junior sister must understand one thing: once you go down the mountain, it's hard to return.

Lu Yuandi's departure was as sudden as her arrival; she left before dawn.

Tao Mian bid farewell to his disciple alone.

Before leaving, he politely mentioned why not stay a few more days. The disciple's response, unsurprisingly, sent a chill down his spine. She said if she stayed any longer, she might not be able to resist setting the mountain on fire to force Tao Mian to return to the Capital with her.

Watching the smile fade from Tao Mian's lips, Lu Yuandi couldn't help but laugh.

"Shi Fu, I'm leaving."

When Lu Yuandi said this farewell, the master and disciple were once again in sync, as if they both knew this was the last meeting.

The Second Disciple would not return to Peach Blossom Mountain.

She knew that her excessive feelings for Tao Mian would only grow with time, and her inherent obsession and madness would eventually drive her to do something extreme. But how could Tao Mian retaliate? In the past, when she attempted "assassinations" night after night, Shi Fu merely blocked and deflected her attacks without harming her in the slightest. The Peach Blossom Immortal was invincible, and the only one in the world who could hurt him was the disciple he personally taught.

Tao Mian was unwilling to fabricate a kind lie for her. He could deceive the heavens and the earth with lies at the drop of a hat, but he couldn't bear to deceive a sincere heart.

Lu Yuandi thought, this is truly an unsolvable dilemma.

Meeting is worse than not meeting; having feelings is worse than being indifferent.

So, let it be a mutual parting.