At that moment, I understood the meaning of the Demon Lord’s silence when I’d sworn I could win Mu Xuan over with my flute. He must have been debating whether to stop me from humiliating myself.
But back then, I had brushed it off with, “It’s not like I’m good at anything else.”
The music Mu Xuan played was so beautiful it erased all my chaotic thoughts. In that moment, I could only see him standing beneath the moonlight, like a blooming epiphyllum flower—stunningly beautiful.
When the piece ended, Mu Xuan lowered the flute and looked at my dumbfounded expression. Handing the flute back to me, he said, “Understand now? In the future, find a place where no one can hear you to play.”
Holding the flute, I was utterly confused. As he turned to return to his room, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and blurted out, “Master, do you have some unspeakable pain in your life?”
Mu Xuan paused, turned back to look at me, and after a moment, replied, “What did I just say?”
Drooping my head, I repeated obediently, “Eat less, don’t make noise.” Under his gaze, I slunk back to the woodshed. “Goodnight, Master. See you tomorrow.”
But as I lay on the straw bed, staring at the moon through the cracks in the roof, I couldn’t understand it. Mu Xuan was talented in cultivation, gifted, graceful, and an extraordinary musician. With such a bright future before him, why would he choose to fall into darkness?
I decided that once I reconnected with the Demon Lord, I would risk my life to ask him what had happened all those years ago.
For now, I focused on staying calm and spent the next month living peacefully with Mu Xuan. During this time, I diligently cleaned the courtyard, woke up early to make porridge, and behaved so sincerely I nearly moved myself to tears.
But Mu Xuan remained unmoved. He still refused to undress in front of me… though, admittedly, it was a strange request. Yet I could tell he was still observing me, which made it impossible for me to contact the Demon Lord.
Not everything was bad, though. Over the month, I observed Mu Xuan as well and learned a lot.
I discovered his routine.
He was meticulous about cleanliness and, even in the harsh conditions of the mountain, insisted on bathing daily in the cold spring behind the mountain.
Though I found the idea of taking an ice-cold bath in the dead of winter utterly insane, it did present me with an opportunity.
After ten days of scouting, I memorized the path to the spring and planned to act that night. While Mu Xuan bathed, I would sneak over, search his clothes, and retrieve the Ling Jing. I even brought a basin and towel with me in case I got caught—I could just claim I was there to bathe too.
I thought my plan was foolproof.
But I had underestimated Mu Xuan’s abilities.
I took a side path toward the cold spring and spotted his clothes laid neatly by a large rock. Quietly, I crept closer, but before I could touch them, someone grabbed the back of my collar.
My heart sank. Turning around, I saw, as expected, Mu Xuan.
He was wearing only his trousers and had casually draped an outer robe over his shoulders, leaving his well-defined chest partially exposed. I swallowed hard.
His gaze was sharp as a blade. “What are you sneaking around for?”
Holding up the basin and towel in my hands, I stammered, “I… I swept the courtyard earlier and got a bit tired, so I thought I’d come to take a bath too…”
He looked at me for a long moment. “How convenient,” he finally said. “I’m not in the mood to bathe today. You can go first.”
Before I could process his words, he grabbed my collar and swung me forward. With a loud “splash,” I landed in the freezing spring water, completely submerged.
Bubbles raced to the surface as the icy cold gripped my body. Instinctively, I tried to kick my legs to swim up for air, but they cramped from the shock of the cold, leaving me unable to move. Panicked, I gasped for breath, only to inhale a lungful of freezing water. My vision blurred, and within moments, I felt myself starting to black out.
I couldn’t use a water-repelling spell.
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