Volume Three: The Unfettered Path, Chapter Ninety-One

By the time Jinli returned to Lotus River, her thoughts were still in turmoil. It took Seven Return calling her several times before she finally came to herself.

“Is something wrong, My Lady? Are you feeling unwell? Your face is so red.”

Hearing that, she quickly covered her face. “Maybe... maybe the weather is just too hot.”

Seven Return, hearing this answer, did not ask after the true reason.

He brewed her a pot of floral tea. Jinli watched the flower petals slowly unfurl in the white porcelain cup, and that strange flutter in her chest stirred again. She asked, “Seven Return, you... you...”

Seven Return listened attentively. “What is it, My Lady?”

“Do you have someone you like?”

Seven Return froze. Surprise flashed across his face, followed by a flicker of panic in his eyes. He forced out a stiff smile to hide his unease. “Yes... yes, I do...”

Jinli lifted her gaze to him, and the moment he looked up, he ran straight into those clear eyes and instinctively averted his own.

“Then... do you know what it means for the heart to stir?”

Seven Return looked at Jinli for a long moment, emotion rippling faintly in his eyes before he turned his gaze away again.

Only then did he slowly say, “A stirring of the heart is... when there is a beautiful person, and once seen, they are never forgotten; if not seen for a single day, one longs for them like mad.”

The light in his eyes faded from bright to dim.

A stirring of the heart is wanting to wear the most beautiful mask, and also wanting to cast off every layer of pretense. Wanting to show the very best of oneself before you.

Listening to those words, Jinli again pressed a hand to her chest, where that heart began to beat more and more clearly.

If not seen for a single day, one longs for them like mad.

Was this what it meant to be moved?

Seven Return gave her a gentle smile. “Has My Lady fallen for someone?”

Jinli hurriedly lowered her hand and said with an awkward laugh, “No.”

How could she possibly admit that she had been moved by that boy?

The conversation about a stirring heart came to an end for the moment. That night, after dinner, Jinli had Seven Return bring out many scrolls. These were summaries of all the classic records from the beginning of the Great Wilderness to the present, all piled away in the library long enough to gather dust.

As he wiped them clean one by one, Seven Return asked, “My Lady, why did you suddenly want to read these today?”

“I’m just flipping through them. I have nothing else to do anyway.”

By deep night, Jinli still had found nothing about the Mirror of Kunlun. Facing a little mountain of scrolls, she said to Seven Return, “Seven Return, it’s late. You should go back first. I’ll tidy this up myself later.”

Seven Return set down the scroll in his hand. “My Lady, it is you who should rest. Sleep first. Read the rest tomorrow. If you keep on, you’ll ruin your eyes.”

Hearing that, Jinli yawned and nodded. Indeed, drowsiness had come over her as well. Only after Seven Return left did she return to her room, wash up, change, and lie down to sleep.

The Mirror of Kunlun was a treasure of the divine race. If it truly appeared in the heavenly realm, they could not have failed to notice it. Yet the last time it had appeared was at the Heavenly Empress’s Peach Blossom Pool banquet. How many years had passed since then?

Jinli had just been growing sleepy, but the more she thought, the more wakeful she became. In the end she simply pulled on her robes again and returned to the study, continuing to search through the divine treasures.

Then, at last, her eyes fell upon the name of one of them: Soul-Casting Candle.

After the war between gods and demons, the Nine Profound Sovereign once used this candle to forge the soul of his departed empress. There were many versions of the tale. Some said the Sovereign truly forged the empress’s soul; others said her consciousness dissipated in his arms, beyond all hope of return.

Truth and falsehood were mixed together in rumor.

She did not know whose words she should believe.

But after that one use by the Sovereign, there had never been a second Soul-Casting Candle. Perhaps no one dared, as the Divine Mother once had, to pour out everything they possessed to forge the soul of their own child.

She closed her eyes and rested for a while.

The fall of Tushan Yan still would not settle in her heart.

The next morning, Jinli woke in the study. When she opened her eyes, Seven Return was already tidying away the scrolls she had read the night before.

“Seven Return.”

“My Lady, did you stay up all night again?”

Jinli nodded, her expression heavy. At that moment, Seven Return spoke: “My Lady, are you still thinking about the matter of the Sovereign of Yao Spring?”

“I only want to understand it.”

Seven Return set down the scroll and looked at her intently. “My Lady, you should look ahead.”

Such a plain sentence, yet it seemed to spark a hidden fire.

She raised her eyes, and the coldness in them sharpened at once. “Seven Return, I am very grateful that you want to comfort me. From now on, do not concern yourself with my affairs.”

With that, she rose and left without haste.

She had left Lotus River, and she would find a way. She would uncover the truth in the end.

Alone, she came to Pear Blossom Valley. Pear blossoms clustered thickly overhead, falling in soft rustling showers. With her heart knotted in unease, she wandered among the pear trees, occasionally meeting the people of the valley.

She only greeted them as she always had.

It had been almost four months since the Sovereign of Yao Spring fell, yet to her it still felt as though it had happened yesterday.

“A Jin!”

Jinli frowned in confusion, paused, then lifted her eyes. The frost in them melted somewhat at once.

The young man wore a light-blue martial outfit over a white inner robe, crisp and clean, with a trace of cool detachment. A belt drew in his narrow waist, revealing it at a glance; the hem of his clothes swayed lightly with the movement of his long legs.

His high ponytail was tied with a simple ribbon, adding yet more to his handsome charm.

By the time he ran up before Jinli, she had not yet reacted, and the next moment he had already drawn her into his arms. His voice was sweet and tender, almost coaxing. “I finally found you.”

He had relied on memory to find Pear Blossom Valley, but could not locate the place called Lotus River. At last, he had seen her here.

Pear blossoms fell upon the young man’s shoulder. In only a few days apart, he seemed to have grown taller again. Though he had grown a little thinner, the strength beneath the fabric of his chest was still distinct, and his shoulders had broadened a little.

Children these days really did grow quickly.

The young man released her. His peach-blossom eyes were still curved in a smile, and the delight in his gaze was impossible to miss.

A little awkward, she could only say, “How did you come here? Has the trial ended?”

The young man nodded. “It’s over. I came first in the sect.”

The girl nodded. “Not bad.”

The young man looked at her with eager anticipation. “Does what you said before still count?”

“What?”

“You said you’d give me a reward.”

Jinli laughed helplessly. “What reward do you want?”

Geng Yuan leaned closer. Jinli instinctively retreated a little. The corners of the boy’s mouth lifted into a captivating smile. “Whatever A Jin wants to give me, I’ll accept it.”

Jinli smiled. “Anything at all?”

“Yes, anything.”

“Then... I’ll give you this.”

Jinli spread her hand, and a pale moon-white sword tassel appeared in her palm.

“You practice the sword path, so this sword tassel is for you.”

The delight in Geng Yuan’s eyes slowly softened into tenderness. His eyes seemed to redden, and a mist as dark as night clouded his pupils.

“Thank you.”

This was the third thing A Jin had given him.

He treasured it carefully and tucked it into his robes. Then, looking up, he saw Jinli raising a hand to his head.

He froze.

Jinli said, “A blossom petal landed on your hair.”

Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, the boy unexpectedly bent down slightly, his eyes smiling, the fringe at his forehead shifting faintly, handsome in a way that could not be fully named.

“What are you doing?”

“Since A Jin noticed it, of course A Jin should help me take it off.”

He was simply a fox spirit in human form.

When Jinli lifted her hand and touched the boy’s hair, the pad of her finger began to feel hot as well.

“...All right.”

The boy straightened, puffed his cheeks, and blew at the fringe that had fallen into his eyes. Then he smiled. His skin was fair and fine, his features exquisitely flawless, and even his smile gave others a feeling as gentle as spring breezes.

Bright eyes and white teeth could scarcely be better described.

Her heart began to pound more and more fiercely, and looking at the boy beneath the pear blossoms, she gradually found that she could no longer tear her gaze away.

His lips were the color of begonia petals, the line of his mouth beautiful, seeming so soft...

No. Jinli, what nonsense are you thinking?

How could the mighty empress of Lotus River be so bewitched by beauty? She had always been like this before too, but even a prodigal son, if he turns back, is worth more than gold. How could she still be so obsessed now?

It was simply a disgrace to all the cultivation she possessed.

She had not the least bit of self-restraint.