After Mingxing Hall experienced its third snowfall of the year, Baize Dijun, who had been spinning like a top from busyness, felt he couldn’t continue like this any longer.
The chaotic tangle of destiny threads in the Mirror of All Living Beings still hadn’t been sorted out, the thorough investigation of the mountain, river, and land deities in the lower realm was also underway, the surveillance of the Sea of Leaving Hatred, the elimination of fallen demons in the lower realm… matters were piling up one after another. Even though many didn’t require his personal attention, he was after all the administrator of the myriad divine halls. When nothing went wrong, he could idle away in Mingxing Hall sleeping in all day, but once trouble arose, he was busier than anyone.
After going half a month without eating or sleeping, Baize Dijun could no longer endure it. With a single summoning letter, he called his disciples to Mingxing Hall.
Looking at Mingxing Hall, which she hadn’t seen for nearly a month, Zhi Xi surprisingly felt a surge of nostalgia. Her teacher had an eccentric and willful temperament and often gave them months-long breaks before, but she had never once, like now, hoped that their days would return to their former regularity, even if boring and monotonous.
Behind her came the sound of a long palanquin touching down. When she turned back, she saw Xuan Yi sitting in a rattan soft chair, floating over leisurely. Xuan Yi elegantly spat out a plum pit while affectionately calling to her: “Senior Sister.”
This little princess wore different clothes every time they met. Today she wore a colorful dress, without a draped shawl, but with a thick and long jet-black belt tied around her waist, making her appear even more slender as a willow.
As soon as she came over, she friendly shared half a bag of candied plums—truly a gluttonous little brat.
Zhi Xi felt both annoyed and amused: “Always eating these things instead of proper meals.”
Xuan Yi linked arms with her as they entered Mingxing Hall together, saying in a soft voice: “Teacher said he has coursework to assign. He’s definitely going to make us run errands for him again. Senior Sister, let’s refuse together later.”
Zhi Xi laughed: “Have you finished writing that three-thousand-character travel record?”
Oh no, she had completely and utterly thrown the three-thousand-character travel record to the back of her mind. Xuan Yi grabbed her arm: “Good Senior Sister, let me copy yours later.”
Zhi Xi deliberately teased her: “I can lend it to you to copy, but then you have to do this assignment for me too.”
Xuan Yi shamelessly brought up her injury: “My legs aren’t working well, I can’t do it for you. How about I make Senior Sister a few more jars of rouge paste instead?”
As she spoke, she looked Zhi Xi up and down, furrowing her brow: “Senior Sister, why aren’t you dressing up anymore? You look good when you dress up.”
She pursued what she called “the elegance of clear water,” often wearing only a plain dress, with a single jade hairpin adorning her hair, no rouge or powder to be seen, and not even using bracelets, earrings, or waist ornaments. Last time when she went to Zhuxuan Yuyang Manor and Qing Di’s palace, she had deliberately dressed up and was quite stunning, but today upon seeing her again, she had reverted to her “elegance of clear water.”
Zhi Xi only smiled faintly without answering.
As they spoke, they had arrived at Hede Hall. Many disciples had already gathered before the hall. Not having seen each other for half a month, they were chatting and laughing warmly. Upon seeing Zhi Xi, they all bowed in greeting, and by the way exchanged thoughts about the three-thousand-character travel record.
Zhi Xi was speaking enthusiastically when she suddenly heard a sweet and gentle voice say with a smile: “Senior Sister Zhi Xi, my respects.”
She paused, her expression naturally turning around. Sure enough, she saw Shao Yi standing opposite her. She nodded lightly: “Junior Brother Shao Yi, my respects.”
That day at Qing Di’s palace, after getting thoroughly drunk, she felt she had figured things out. Whether regarding him or Fucang, she had been deluded by illusions, arbitrarily projecting her imagination onto them. Once she discovered that the real them differed from her imagination, she had been foolish. So the problem wasn’t with them, but with herself. She wasn’t mature enough or honest enough, always becoming infatuated with figures from her own imagination.
Since the real Shao Yi was the type she most detested, it was best to keep her distance as before. As for that wildly beating heart, if she left it alone, it would eventually calm down one day.
Xuan Yi found a shadowy corner of the hall and began haphazardly piecing together and copying Zhi Xi’s travel record. This senior sister’s attitude was really too serious. The teacher only required three thousand characters, but she wrote six thousand—three thousand describing scenery and three thousand describing treasures. It gave her a headache copying it.
She had only copied a small portion when a seductive and low voice suddenly rang out above her head: “What are you writing?”
Xuan Yi raised her head. Fucang, whom she hadn’t seen for half a month, was standing beside her, looking down at the booklet spread across her knees. He had changed back into white clothes, presenting a spotless and elegantly handsome annoying appearance. Probably seeing that she was copying the travel record, his eyes flickered and a trace of a smile appeared on his face.
“Senior Brother Fucang.” She extended her hand toward him. “Let me see your travel record.”
Fucang really hadn’t expected that after not seeing each other for half a month, her first words would be asking him for homework to copy. He had no choice but to hand his over to her as well, watching as her brush flew like she was divinely inspired, copying extremely fast.
His characters were elegant and upright. In comparison, her characters were wild and flamboyant, practically a mass of cursive script. After watching for a while, Fucang pointed at a place where the ink marks were unclear and asked: “What character is this?”
Xuan Yi glanced at him like looking at an illiterate person: “You don’t recognize this character? This is… uh… this is…”
Oh no, even she herself didn’t recognize it anymore. Without any shame, she made something up: “This is the character ‘ge’ in ‘pavilion.'”
Fucang said flatly: “What’s written before is ‘Hou Yi’s arrows.’ Where does the character for pavilion come from?”
“It just comes from there.” Xuan Yi waved her hand. “Go away, don’t bother me.”
Not only did he not leave, he actually squatted down, pointing at another spot and asking: “What character is this?”
Xuan Yi frowned and turned to look at him: “Can I happily copy my travel record or not?”
Fucang disdainfully curved his lips: “Your characters really need proper practice.”
Xuan Yi ignored him, continuing to write wildly while saying: “When I’m as old as you, my handwriting will naturally look good.”
Old? Fucang was about to snatch her booklet when he heard the sound of disciples paying respects from in front of Hede Hall. Baize Dijun had arrived.
Xuan Yi sneakily shrank to the very back, burying her head and working hard to finish copying the last thousand characters. Baize Dijun’s voice sounded listless: “The fall of the Sea of Leaving Hatred has disrupted many established orders in the divine realm. I will be busy for some time to come and unable to teach. Remember to memorize the booklets I distributed to you last time. Additionally, I have other coursework to assign—”
With a flick of his fingertip, a long sheet of white paper appeared on the desks before the disciples, densely covered with at least fifty lines of writing. At a rough glance, it was all strange items like eyeballs, teeth, fingers, and such.
“There are fifty items here. Mingxing Hall has twelve disciples. Each disciple who brings back two items will have completed the coursework. Classes will resume in half a year. Whoever hasn’t completed it will copy the booklets I distributed before one hundred times.”
The disciples immediately erupted. This shameless teacher! Transferring his fury from being overwhelmingly busy onto these innocent juniors! What coursework! Every time he said coursework, it was never anything but making them find his lost items or collect these strange things for him!
Zhi Xi shot to her feet with a “whoosh,” the first to speak up righteously: “Teacher, forgive my bluntness, but collecting these things cannot be considered coursework at all!”
Gu Ting also couldn’t agree: “The Sea of Leaving Hatred has already fallen. Teacher, shouldn’t you restrain these strange hobbies a bit?”
If he hadn’t thrown the Fangfeng Clan’s corpse into the Sea of Leaving Hatred, would such a major incident have occurred?
Baize Dijun looked completely innocent: “How is this not coursework? Could it be that coming to study with me just means reading books all day? The four wilds and eight wastelands are so vast—how many places have you been to? In the future when you reach fifty thousand years old and receive divine positions, will you still have to ask for directions wherever you go? The disciples I teach cannot be bookworms. They should each be capable in both civil and martial arts, knowing astronomy above and geography below.”
Sophistry! This was sophistry! Even Tai Yao couldn’t help himself: “Teacher… I’ve been here for ten thousand years and have never seen you teach any techniques.” From beginning to end it was just reading books and memorizing them. What civil and martial capabilities—he really dared to say it.
Baize Dijun sighed: “I was originally thinking that you were all still young. Training in techniques, fists, and feet could wait until you’re forty thousand years old. Moreover, your family elders all have their own methods, so there’s no need for me to overstep my bounds. Since that’s the case, once I finish this busy period, I’ll naturally comply with your wishes.”
He wanted to say more, but saw a little immortal attendant run over from outside Hede Hall, calling to him breathlessly: “Dijun, Wenhua Hall has sent another divine official to urge you!”
Baize Dijun’s face turned green. Dropping the line “Remember to complete your coursework,” he hurriedly left Mingxing Hall.
Xuan Yi had finally successfully finished copying the three-thousand-character travel record. When she raised her head, she discovered that the teacher had already left. Wasn’t he going to collect the travel records? She had worked so hard to finish copying it!
Over there, the disciples had no choice but to do this apparently unpleasant coursework. Since the teacher was spinning like a top from busyness, they felt too embarrassed to speak ill of him behind his back and could only grumble to themselves. After looking over the items listed on the white paper several times, Gu Ting suddenly pointed at one of them: “I can actually obtain these three stamens of whirling peony.”
Another disciple also said: “My family has the eyeball of the Nine Infants.”
The disciples first marked off the things their own families could obtain. The remaining ones looked extremely difficult to get their hands on. After arguing noisily for half a day, they each took on different tasks, leaving only three or four that were simply impossible to complete. Only then did they leave Hede Hall one by one in a huff.
Fucang walked along the snowy path. After walking a few steps, he couldn’t help but turn back to look. Xuan Yi was following behind him like a tail, neither too close nor too far. When he went east, she also went east. When he went west, she also went west. Somewhat helpless, he thought about how Zhi Xi, Gu Ting, and the others who had been walking with him just moments ago had long since avoided them. He had no choice but to stop and turn back: “What are you doing?”
Xuan Yi waved the white paper in her hand: “Doing coursework.”
Fucang said flatly: “I have the Black Water Xuansnake gallbladder and the Azure Bird tail feathers. Didn’t I already say so earlier?”
“That’s you having them, not me having them.”
Fucang exhaled. Why was talking to her so exhausting? He moved closer and squatted down, saying in a low voice: “Your legs aren’t working well. Go back to Zhongshan obediently. You don’t need to worry about the coursework.”
Xuan Yi lowered her head and picked at the carved flowers on the rattan chair: “Teacher won’t start classes again until half a year from now.”
Fucang was at a loss for words. Was it because Xiaolong Jun had left and she couldn’t adjust her mood, so she turned to clinging to him instead? Or was it because…?
He stood up and continued walking forward, his tone very resolute: “Go back to Zhongshan.”
She remained silent, continuing to act as a tail following behind.
Fucang suddenly felt he could understand Qi Nan’s feelings. He abruptly stopped in his tracks, turning to stare at her coldly. Xuan Yi floated over and grabbed his sleeve, gently shaking it. This dragon princess who was always unreasonably obstinate—once she retracted her claws and revealed her docile side, he actually had no way to deal with her.
“…Don’t hold me back.”
Fucang grabbed the armrest of the rattan chair and, without looking back, strode toward the outside of Mingxing Hall, pulling her along.
—
**Author’s Note:**
Looks like we’ll be entering V status on Friday!! So nervous!