TDFM Chapter 101

Paper Butterfly 

 

Although there was no need to keep night watch in Shenle Valley, Yun Qing had formed the habit, so she still only slept for two hours at night and woke up punctually at midnight.

 

The room was pitch black, with only faint light seeping through the white window gauze. Outside, the autumn wind stirred the leaves with a rustling sound, and maple leaves fell on the roof with soft pattering sounds, like scattered raindrops.

 

Beside her, Fu Xue’s breathing wasn’t as long and steady as when she usually slept deeply.

 

Yun Qing called out softly, “Junior Sister?”

 

“Senior Sister, you’re awake?” She indeed wasn’t sleeping.

 

“Mm, why aren’t you sleeping?”

 

“I don’t know, probably the poisonous mushrooms really damaged my brain during the day – I’m actually not sleepy!”

 

Yun Qing sat up and opened the window. The wind carried in pale moonlight and the dry, quiet breath of night.

 

She sat cross-legged by the window and said, “Since you can’t sleep, why don’t you meditate and practice with me.”

 

Fu Xue hemmed and hawed, turned over, and lay on her side propping her chin with her hand as she looked at her, changing the subject, “Senior Sister, what would you want to be reincarnated as in your next life?”

 

“Why are you suddenly asking such a question?”

 

“Ah, it just occurred to me. Senior Wushe wants to be a little dog in his next life, Sister Muyu wants to be a little bird in her next life, and Sister Ruibin wants to be a squirrel in her next life.”

 

“What about you? What do you want to be?”

 

Fu Xue laughed, “I want to be a little pig – open my eyes and eat, close my eyes and sleep.”

 

“Then get turned into roast pork.”

 

“……” Fu Xue choked for a moment and quickly said, “Then I won’t be a pig. I’ll be a little rabbit instead. Little rabbits are so cute.”

 

“Right, then get shot through the head with an arrow by a hunter, taken home to be made into dried rabbit meat, and the fur could make a cute hat. That’s slightly better than being a pig.”

 

“No, no, no, I won’t be a rabbit anymore. I’ll be a little cat, that should be fine, right?”

 

“Not bad either, except for one thing – you’ll starve to death if you don’t eat mice.”

 

“Ahhhhh!” Fu Xue flopped back heavily onto the bed, grabbed her pillow to cover her face, and kicked her legs in frustration. Her muffled voice came from under the pillow. “Senior Sister, you’re so mean!”

 

Yun Qing chuckled, “Junior Sister, just be a person. Why be a little cat or little pig? When Goddess Nuwa molded humans back then, she molded people. Did she ever mold little cats or little pigs?”

 

“Fine,” Fu Xue removed her pillow and said with a grin, “Then in our next lives, we’ll still be fellow disciples and sisters. No, we’ll be real sisters. It’s agreed – next time it’s my turn to be the older sister.”

 

Speaking of this, Yun Qing suddenly remembered something about senior and junior sisters. The seniority in immortal sects had always been determined by who entered earlier, not by age. So logically, since she had entered later than Fu Xue back then, she should have been the one calling Fu Xue “Senior Sister.”

 

According to their master’s recollections, he had immediately seen that Yun Qing was more reliable than Fu Xue, so he decisively arranged for Yun Qing to be the senior sister. Later, as expected by the old man, Fu Xue was indeed sometimes truly unreliable.

 

Fu Xue continued, “Senior Sister, do you think Ci Li has ever eaten mice?”

 

Seeing that her senior sister didn’t respond, she mused to herself, “If you ask me, he definitely has. He couldn’t have been cultivating from the moment he was born, right? What would he eat when his spiritual intelligence hadn’t awakened if not mice?

 

Of course, it’s hard to say – maybe he was carefully and meticulously raised by someone who couldn’t bear to let him catch mice?

 

Ah, but that’s not right either. If he had been lovingly raised by people, he couldn’t be so small and thin, right? He was probably born as a stray cat who couldn’t get enough food. When he couldn’t even eat his fill, would he still be picky about mice? Sigh, poor little cat.”

 

Yun Qing simply stopped meditating and leaned against the window, listening to her junior sister’s chatter. She supported herself on the window sill with one hand and looked up at the crescent moon hanging in the maple tree crown.

 

“Senior Sister? Senior Sister? What are you thinking about?”

 

Yun Qing’s gaze passed through the night sky, and in a trance, she saw those beautiful eyes again.

 

Shi Qingshang clearly knew that blindness was a clan rule, yet he still allowed Ding Lisheng to cure his eyes. After returning to Shenle Valley, he had been concealing this matter all along. She felt that he was a “rebel” among the Shenle clan.

 

Yun Qing had considered that there might be others in Shenle Valley who knew about Qiguang Zi’s matter. At least that Grandma Baiyin should know, but because of Shi Feijia’s orders, everyone in the Shenle clan remained silent about immortal matters, leaving her no way to approach them.

 

So, could the rebellious Shi Qingshang become a breakthrough point?

 

No matter what, it was at least a hope worth trying.

 

But how should she approach him, test him, and persuade him?

 

****

 

Before Yun Qing had figured out how to approach Shi Qingshang, he had come to find her first.

 

Early that morning, she had practiced sword techniques under the maple tree for a while. The sun had just barely emerged, and the morning breeze carried a fresh, slightly bitter scent similar to tea leaves – that was the smell of maple leaves.

 

After completing a set of sword techniques, she felt her muscles and bones stretch pleasantly and her heart feel refreshed. Just as she sheathed her sword, she suddenly heard movement in the maple tree, like the sound of some small animal climbing through the branches and leaves.

 

Yun Qing looked up and couldn’t help but be startled.

 

On an arm-thick branch extending from the maple tree hung a little monkey.

 

This little monkey had wrapped its tail around the branch and was hanging upside down with its entire body. It strangely kept one hand behind its back, whether it was scratching an itch or doing something else wasn’t clear. Seeing her look up, the little monkey winked at her and grinned in a human-like smile.

 

Yun Qing found it amusing and laughed, “You little thing, where did you come from?”

 

The little monkey’s hand that had been behind its back suddenly reached forward, clutching a bunch of fresh flowers and offering them to her.

 

Yun Qing was somewhat surprised, “For me?”

 

It winked again, and the flowers left its grasp, thrown toward her.

 

Seeing Yun Qing catch the flowers in her hands, the little monkey nimbly flipped and climbed back up the tree, jumping into the branches and leaves in a few moves, nowhere to be found again. After a rustling sound, silence returned beneath the maple tree, leaving only the sound of wind stirring the branches and leaves.

 

Yun Qing looked down at the bouquet of flowers. It consisted of seven or eight white hosta flowers and five or six orange-red wild chrysanthemums, complete with leaves and flowers – quite a large bunch with a rich fragrance and dewdrops still clinging to them. From their freshness, they appeared to have been just picked.

 

Among the flowers was tucked a paper butterfly folded from flower paper. At this moment, the paper butterfly recognized Yun Qing, its wings trembled, and it slowly rose from among the flowers, fluttering its wings and hovering before her eyes.

 

Then, Shi Qingshang’s voice came from the paper butterfly:

 

“I know a good place for cultivation.”

 

—

 

Following the paper butterfly, Yun Qing came to a gentle slope facing north.

 

There was actually a sea of flowers here.

 

An entire hillside of hosta flowers – who knew how many years they had been growing. Above the broad, lush green leaves stood strings of white flowers, with icy posture and snowy souls, elegant and lovely, spreading everywhere with a fragrant aroma. When the wind passed through, the flower branches swayed like jade waves surging.

 

They bloomed intensely and fragranced openly, like the sincerity of youth.

 

Standing in the sea of flowers, Yun Qing looked around and could see all of Shenle Valley’s brilliant autumn colors at a glance. She took a deep breath, feeling the floral fragrance flowing through her lungs, her spirit delighted by the beautiful scenery before her.

 

She raised her hand, and the paper butterfly landed on her fingertip.

 

“Do you like this place?” came Shi Qingshang’s voice.

 

But it didn’t come from the paper butterfly.

 

Yun Qing turned around and saw Shi Qingshang standing among the flowers holding a qin, his bright eyes gazing at her.

 

Yun Qing’s gaze swept over an earring that had appeared on his right earlobe. An irregularly shaped obsidian stone was adorned with a pale golden feather – both hard and light, creating a subtle sense of harmony.

 

Noticing her gaze, Shi Qingshang slightly tilted his face to let her see more clearly. He asked, “Does it look good?”

 

Yun Qing made an “mm” sound. It wasn’t common to see men wearing earrings, but this earring did indeed suit him well.

 

Silence suddenly fell between them. The wind carried the flowers’ fragrance through the space between them, and an emotion called awkwardness quietly spread.

 

At this moment, a voice came from that obsidian stone, speaking in an extremely low tone that only Shi Qingshang could hear, with a tone of disappointment:

 

“Brother, your expression really looks like you’re being molested by a bear demon! Can’t you smile?”

 

Shi Qingshang’s mouth twitched as he thought, how can you see my expression from so far away?

 

Indeed, this earring was actually a small magical treasure.

 

While others’ magical treasures could transmit sound across a thousand li, this one was made rather hastily and could only transmit sound across a hundred-odd zhang. So at this very moment, Ding Lisheng was hiding in a birch tree a hundred zhang away, secretly guiding Shi Qingshang’s actions.

 

“I should have known you’d be so hopeless – I might as well possess your body and handle this matter myself!” His words were truly asking for a beating.

 

Shi Qingshang didn’t think there was anything wrong with himself.

 

When a person began seriously pursuing the girl he liked, shouldn’t he avoid appearing too frivolous?

 

Yes, he liked Yun Qing.

 

At first, he had only harbored curiosity and investigative thoughts about this woman, but that day when she flicked away his eye mask with her sword and he saw her face – heaven knows how fast his heart beat at that moment!

 

He had never felt such a thing before. He was overwhelmed by an emotion that was both blissful and panicked, so much so that he almost failed to dodge her next sword strike.

 

He finally understood why Ding Lisheng remained infatuated despite knowing that Shi Feijia could be his great-grandmother.

 

How could anyone resist instinct?

 

He had retreated step by step, his heart already in complete disarray. He instinctively used frivolous laughter to mask his overflowing emotions, but after calming down, he felt there was no need to mask anything at all.

 

He simply liked someone – liking was such a wonderful thing, what was there to hide?

 

When Ding Lisheng asked him whether his feelings for Yun Qing counted as love at first sight, Shi Qingshang couldn’t answer. He felt that perhaps she had attracted him even earlier, but when he saw her, this attraction became clearer and more intense.

 

In any case, he just liked her and wanted to tell her.

 

He knew that Jiang Baiyu seemed to have some possessiveness toward Yun Qing, but so what? For a woman like her, it would be normal for many people to like her, wouldn’t it?

 

Why couldn’t there be one more of him?

 

……

 

Shi Qingshang took a deep breath. The familiar fragrance of hosta flowers entered his lungs, and he began to speak: “We—”

 

But Yun Qing spoke at the same time: “Let’s spar.” As she spoke, she drew her sword.

 

“……Alright.”