Three days after the battle at the bridge the caravan of Scholars from the Amber Lily Academy arrived at the mountain lake they’d set out for several days prior. Over the past several days Wu Ling had managed to repaint the wounds inflicted on Yue by Fenglun and he’d gone further to add an icy glitter among her soft fur in hopes that she could better use her ice powers to protect herself from an enemy attack. Both Su Xiang and Liang Xuanji had responded to the return of the snow rabbit with squeals of glee and Wu Ling had been exiled to the opposite bench so the two women could sit next to each other while snuggling the fluffy bunny.
While they’d moved too far from the bridge for Wu Ling to send Hou back to confirm that Boss Kong and his gang had given up the chase, there had been no signs of human pursuit in the days that followed, much to everyone’s relief. Occasionally, a group of spirit beasts would approach the caravan or their nightly camps with intention to cause trouble but a few fireballs lobbed by Hou discouraged the beasts even if none of them were directly singed by the heat of the blast. Just the deterrent effect of the young Golden Crow was enough to keep trouble away, at least for now. With the potential for wild energies to flow during the lunar eclipse, Wu Ling and Su Xiang didn’t dare to expect a peaceful night tonight.
“Junior Sister Wu, Sister Su Xiang,” Liang Xuanji said, eagerly approaching the sworn siblings. “We’re setting up an area near the shore for bathing. Instructor Huang has agreed to use her alchemy flames to heat a small pool near the lake for us and after so many days everyone is already lining up. Since you did so much to protect us, the research assistants and researchers have agreed that you can skip ahead in the line to bathe with the Instructors.”
“Thank you Senior Sister,” Wu Ling said, bowing gratefully with cupped hands. “But Sister Xiang and I are going to scout around the lake for a bit. You enjoy the hot water, I prefer a cold plunge anyway,” he said with the brightest smile he could muster. Truthfully after days in a bouncing carriage traveling over an increasingly primitive dirt road, he wanted nothing more than to soothe his aching body in hot water but there was no way he could join the group of girls for bathing! Instead, he’d pleaded with Su Xiang to come stand guard once they managed to search for a place where he could at least take a cold plunge to wash up.
“Junior Sister Wu really works hard to keep us all safe,” the Initiate Scholar praised, easily accepting Wu Ling’s fabrication. “Don’t stay gone too long. Tonight is the exciting night and everyone is going to be discussing different things about their disciplines while we prepare for the eclipse. You might learn a thing or two that could be useful,” she offered with a beaming smile.
“Oh we’ll hurry back,” Su Xiang said from beside Wu Ling. “Sister Ling might enjoy a cold plunge but I hope to be back before the hot water cools.”
“I won’t keep you waiting then,” the young scholar replied, waving to both of them before she turned and darted in the direction of what would soon become a heated mountain pool.
Finally free of prying eyes, Wu Ling and Su Xiang set out at a pace that was neither leisurely nor hurried, staying close to the shore of the lake as they both looked for potential threats and a place that was sheltered enough from private eyes for Wu Ling to wash up. “How did you manage two years at the Pure Virtue Musician’s Hall?” Su Xiang asked as they walked. “There must have been social events you attended at a school for refining young girls into proper young ladies. Some of them must have included overnight stays, trips to bathhouses, spas… you managed to avoid all of it?”
“It’s not as hard as you think,” Wu Ling answered, wandering off the deer trail and toward a secluded-looking waterfall that spilled into a pool before flowing into the lake. “Many young ladies are incredibly shy and overnight functions were often hosted by one cultivation family or another. Asking to have a tub placed in my room to wash up before bed didn’t draw any strange looks. Usually, several girls requested the same thing rather than joining the rest of the class in the open baths. It might not have been as luxurious but I hardly suffered for it.”
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“And all the other things? You avoided them as well?” Su Xiang pressed, trying to understand just how he could live for so long presenting a false face to the world.
“Everything can be handled with the right approach,” he said, beginning to remove his outer layers and pulling the jewelry out of his hair. “I could always sit apart from the group by offering to sketch everyone or I could play music for the group. Sometimes I managed to spend evenings with the fathers and brothers of my classmates by playing chess until the small hours of the morning. Most men are far less perceptive about the little things than women are and it was rare that a gentleman would turn down an invitation to spend the evening over a chess board with a ‘pretty young woman.’ At a certain point though, I didn’t really need to act very much,” he finally said. “It got to the point that I couldn’t tell where the act stopped and the real me started. I like playing chess, what did it matter if I had to sit demurely and serve tea between moves? I just enjoyed the game. The same could be said for having tea with my classmates and talking about life and our futures. I might not have been dreaming about finding a handsome young hero to marry like they were but not everyone in class was focused on love. I found I had more in common with the more cultivation-minded of my classmates than I had thought, and people like Senior Sister Yao were genuine friends,” he explained. “Now, are you going to turn around,” he teased as his hands dropped to the last layer of cloth still covering his slender body. “Or are you enjoying the show?”
“You brat!” Su Xiang cried with a pout, turning around on the spot so Wu Ling wouldn’t see how red her face had become. She hadn’t been staring, really! She’d just been interested in what he had to say because his life was so different from hers, or at least, that’s what she told herself. “So what are you going to do during the eclipse? Are you really going to paint like Sister Liang Xuanji thinks?” Su Xiang said, eager to change the topic.
“I am but not for the reason she thinks,” Wu Ling said, shivering as he waded through the frigid water toward the waterfall. “I’ve been pushing hard since Awakening,” he continued, searching for a deeper spot of the pool despite the chill. “I haven’t really stopped to process it all. I want to take this opportunity to recenter myself and,” Wu Ling’s voice cut off with a giant splash as his feet found a loose stone covered in moss beneath the water sending him instantly tumbling and plunging beneath the surface.
“Brother Ling?” Su Xiang called, still looking away from the pool but incredibly anxious. “Brother Ling say something or I’m turning around,” she added. Moments ticked by and after three breaths, Su Xiang couldn’t hold herself back any longer, turning back toward the pool and preparing to dive in after her sworn brother.
As it happened, she turned around just in time for Wu Ling to get his feet back under himself in the pool, standing up straight and exploding from the water in a giant spray. More water flew in a glittering arc as he tossed his long hair back over his narrow shoulders while his hands brushed water from his face. Su Xiang stood stunned at the perfectly sculpted alabaster figure before her in a scene that felt like one of Wu Ling’s paintings come to life. Standing waist deep in the rippling water his graceful frame tapered to his trim waist highlighting a natural physique that hinted at far more than it displayed. The chill water had brought a natural blush to his delicate figures and droplets of water clung to his long lashes as he blinked them away. As if it wasn’t enough for him to emerge from the pool like some perfected water spirit, the framing of the waterfall, the lush forest around them, and the crisp clear sky visible through the branches combined to create a scene that felt like it had been pulled from the Immortal World and dropped into their humble Mortal Realm.
“Sister Xiang,” Wu Ling repeated, sure that she hadn’t heard him the first two times he’d called out to her. “You’re staring again.”