After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 29

[Since I was a child, I was always the one told to be a bit better behaved, to be more reserved. My mom always said I was like a reincarnated monkey, running around and never staying home, let alone acting like a girl—she even said my handwriting didn’t look like a girl’s.]

[I never expected that one day someone would tell me my writing was too restrained, that it wasn’t “grand” enough.]

[Not grand? It’s very grand.]

[It would be too embarrassing to admit I’m crying over such a small thing.]

[But I’m not just crying over this. Why does it feel like I’ve been here so long and I can’t do anything right? I haven’t figured out what I should have, and I can’t do well what I want to. I really…]

[Impossible. Her background involves deep entanglements; there must be a problem with her descending the mountain. No, I must investigate when I have the chance.]

[Mainly, Master is too beautiful. I don’t want others to see her.]

Only I can look, hmph hmph.

Lin Xinran remarked, “Green, green the mountain mist; yo-yo the deer cry. What a perfect match.”

“Did you see? That little girl’s face has been flushed red the whole time. She’s too cute. I checked online—she has so many ‘mom fans.’ Honestly, I kind of want to become a mom fan myself.”

“Look at this comment about her: ‘Bright eyes, white teeth, and a round little face that looks so squishy and easy to pinch—a natural-born actress.’ Oh, I’ve been squatting here with you for so long, and it’s true. Is this what you guys call ‘spirituality’?”

“She…”

Ning Songwu raised her hand and cast a Silence Seal. Her ears were quiet for a moment, but only a moment. Lin Xinran’s cultivation was a level above hers; in less than three breaths, she broke the spell and let out a long sigh.

“Being an elder sister is like being a mother—it truly isn’t easy!”

“I have a way to make you stay quiet for much longer.”

“Isn’t your Senior Sister just afraid you’ll miss your destined match?”

“How do you know it’s a ‘destined match’? Did you cast a divination?”

Back and forth they went. The person who originally wanted her companion to stay silent was now drawn into the conversation, though her gaze remained fixed on the scene beneath the tree.

To facilitate their observation, they hadn’t stayed backstage. Instead, taking advantage of the deep night, they had once again suppressed their auras and climbed a tree. They had been standing there for over an hour. While they weren’t tired, they were certainly bored.

Otherwise, Lin Xinran wouldn’t have been idle enough to start playing matchmaker.

“Why are you so invested in this?”

“I’m just afraid you’ll miss a romantic opportunity again, just like you did before your last secluded meditation.”

Lin Xinran was referring to something from three hundred years ago. Back then, a female rabbit demon—a Great Demon of the Soul Transformation stage—had taken a liking to Ning Songwu, who was then at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. She came to the sect daily to show her affection, essentially emptying her coffers to please her. Yet, Ning Songwu remained completely unmoved and entered seclusion for two hundred years without hesitation.

Naturally, she missed that “match.”

However, the protagonist of the story had already forgotten. After Lin Xinran finished her sentence, Ning Songwu frowned in thought for a long time before asking, “Who?”

That one word nearly choked Lin Xinran with frustration. She waved her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Since you missed it, it was just a fleeting connection.”

“I can’t be sure if Ran Fanyin is a destined match either.”

“Then I’ll go back and cast a hex for you… Eh?” Lin Xinran leaned in closer. “Do you hope she is?”

Ning Songwu was momentarily stunned by the question. In her mind, Ran Fanyin’s small face with its brilliant smile surfaced. For a moment, she couldn’t bring herself to say no. She simply sighed, “After all, we are not on the same path.”

Lin Xinran wanted to say more, but her divine sense suddenly flickered.

Someone—or some thing—had arrived.

“More than one, but their target is clear,” Ning Songwu whispered. Her hand gripping the tree trunk tightened, and an iron fan appeared in her other hand. “You take the crowded area; I’ll take the sparsely populated one.”

Lin Xinran dropped her playful demeanor and composed herself. After sensing the surroundings, she gave a soft grunt of agreement.

She leaped down from the branch, a white jade flute spinning gracefully in her hand. As she brought it to her lips, the melodious tune remained steady despite her movement.

Under the sound of the flute, a layer of mist covered the filming equipment on-site. The cinematographer hurriedly called for a stop, carefully checking the machinery. In the next instant, a bone-chilling cold swept through. Although it only lingered on him for a breath, it was cold enough to make him huddle up, nearly dropping the equipment in his hands.

He had no time to worry, but fortunately, the equipment was caught by a gentle spiritual force and lowered slowly to the ground.

The set fell into chaos. The director’s team was already soaked through with cold, only feeling relief as the flute music drew nearer.

While the crowded area was being pacified, the sparsely populated area was becoming troublesome.

The sudden halt in filming forced Ran Fanyin to suppress the tears she had spent ages brewing. Her nose turned a shade redder.

In this scene, she was supposed to be crying to the female lead while the male lead would later appear with two cups of milk tea. Filming had stopped right at the moment she needed to cry, leaving her emotions and the atmosphere in tatters.

She calmed herself and forced a smile again, wanting to ask what had happened, when a pair of hands—cold enough to belong to a corpse—suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Fanyin, I’m so cold. Can you hold me?” He Xi’s voice was trembling. When Ran Fanyin looked over, she saw a thin layer of frost appearing on the girl’s pretty face.

Warm-hearted as Ran Fanyin was, she sensed something was wrong. She shook off the grip and took two steps back. But before she could run, her other arm was grabbed by the male lead, who had suddenly rushed over.

“Ran Fanyin, why… why are you still warm?” The male lead looked much more normal than He Xi, though his teeth were chattering. His face held the exact same terror as Ran Fanyin’s.

If there weren’t a similar frost-like color on his face as there was on He Xi’s, his terror might have been more believable. What a pity.

Ran Fanyin struggled with all her might, trying to break free from his iron-like grip.

Ning Songwu, pressing against the tree trunk, counted a few beats under her breath, leaped down, and flashed behind Ran Fanyin. She held the struggling girl and said warmly, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.”

Perhaps because her back hit a warm, soft embrace and she heard Ning Songwu’s voice, Ran Fanyin’s courage suddenly surged. She stopped struggling, closed her eyes, and shouted at the top of her lungs with a heroic tone: “Teacher Ning, why are you here? These two are so weird! Run!! I’ll cover the rear!!”

Ning Songwu was amused, but she gave her enough face not to laugh out loud. She simply held her tighter, soothing the slightly “bristling” little creature.

Electrical light surged in her hand, wrapping around the fan. She lightly tapped the young man’s hand, and a black shadow flickered before being drawn into the fan.

The young man staggered back a few steps and shook his head; his body temperature began to return.

The grip on her arm suddenly vanished. Ran Fanyin’s teeth were still chattering as she asked in a trembling voice, “Te… Teacher Ning, what did you do?”

Even though her own voice was shaking with fear, she had just gathered the courage to tell her to run?

Quite cute.

Ning Songwu raised her hand and rubbed her head. The wind stirred the long hair scattered behind Ran Fanyin’s waist, and the ribbons on her shoulders fluttered.

“It wasn’t me. I just came to see you.”

“Then those two?”

“Close your eyes and listen carefully.”

The melodious sound of the flute drifted over from not far away. While Ran Fanyin’s attention was diverted, Ning Songwu raised her closed fan and pressed down heavily toward He Xi. Opening the iron fan, she captured the black shadow within it, then closed it again and absorbed it into her body.

It couldn’t be helped—Lin Xinran would have to be the one to “reveal” her identity. Ning Songwu didn’t want to reveal hers just yet.

The surrounding chill faded a bit more, and the flute music gradually stopped. Ran Fanyin finally dared to open one eye into a slit. After peeking around and seeing that everything was fine, she opened both eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.

“God bless, Buddha bless, Infinite Heaven bless, Primordial Heaven bless, Jade Emperor bless, Mazu bless…”

The little creature muttered with her hands joined, reciting every name she knew from ancient to modern, east to west, large to small, and god to immortal. Only then did she completely relax. Realizing she was still being held in Teacher Ning’s arms, she instantly sprang away.

Ning Songwu remained in the same posture for a moment before awkwardly withdrawing her arms and giving a light cough.

Ran Fanyin felt embarrassed, her face flushing slightly. “I… I’m too cowardly. Sorry, Teacher Ning.”

“No, you did very well. Shall we go back?”

“O… okay.”

Ran Fanyin was still a bit spooked. Although the other two seemed to have returned to normal, she hesitated and chose not to support them. Instead, like a kitten, she stuck closely to Ning Songwu’s arm. Wanting to hold her hand but not daring to, she settled for grabbing the ribbon on the woman’s shoulder.

Ning Songwu stopped walking, raised her hand, and took that still-trembling hand into her palm, giving it a squeeze.

“Don’t say, it’s quite squishy.”

“Teacher Ning!”

The tension was broken by this detour, and the atmosphere lightened instantly. Behind them, the man and woman also regained consciousness, though they had briefly lost their memory of what just happened. They looked at Ning Songwu—who had suddenly appeared at the filming site—with great confusion.

But that was none of their concern.

Ran Fanyin looked down at their joined hands, her eyes flickering. Something in her heart was quietly breaking through the soil.

She was so focused that she didn’t even notice Ning Songwu had stopped. It wasn’t until her hand was tugged that she snapped out of it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Lin Xinran is settling a debt. Let’s not go in yet.”

“Huh? Was the flute just now played by Sister Lin? She…”

Ning Songwu gave a rare, different kind of smile. “I forgot to introduce her properly. She’s a Taoist priest.”

“What?!”

“Pick up your jaw; it’s almost falling to the ground.”

Ning Songwu wore a playful smile, the corners of her mouth lifted high. She seemed to be in a good mood.

At this moment, she no longer looked like the “Banished Immortal” described online. She was clearly a very lovely person of the mortal world, her eyes turned up at the corners.

It made one want to add a touch of red there.

Ran Fanyin thought to herself, suppressing the urge to take a photo of Teacher Ning. If something ever happened to her phone, she would be finished.

This smile was too damaging to Teacher Ning’s public image.

It’s enough that only I can see it.

Yes, only I can see it.

Ran Fanyin carefully hid her newly sprouted secret thoughts and couldn’t resist giving them a little “water.”

“Hey, I’m out. Ning—” Lin Xinran sauntered out, but stopped halfway as a message drifted through her sea of consciousness:

“I haven’t revealed my identity, but you have. Remember to act. All the money this time goes to you.”

Lin-Somebody: Half a curse word formed but she swallowed it back.

Seeing her come out, Ran Fanyin decisively let go of Ning Songwu’s hand and leaned toward her expectantly. “Sister, how much debt did you collect this time? What was that situation? Sister, you’re so amazing!”

She glanced at a certain someone who hadn’t reacted to her hand suddenly being empty. Seeing the smile freeze on that person’s face, she couldn’t help but let her own mouth curl up.

Laughter never disappears; it only transfers to another person.

How should she put it?

Lin Xinran suddenly felt that this “identity reveal” was actually quite good.

She put on airs and took the opportunity to rub Ran Fanyin’s head, satisfying her “mom fan” heart. “There were bad people making trouble, but Sister has already solved it. As for the reward… not much. Later, 90% has to be donated to do some good deeds to balance the ‘killing karma.'”

“Does catching bad people count as killing karma?” The little creature’s eyes were full of a thousand “whys.”

The person standing not far away, with hands behind her back, straightened up as her smile faded slightly.

“Taking any life counts.”

“Oh… that’s a bit unfair. Sister clearly did a good thing.”

Lin Xinran looked at the child, who seemed genuinely sad, and felt quite surprised. “Don’t you have thoughts like ‘your worldview has collapsed’?”

“No. After all, it really happened, and there’s an amazing sister protecting me! Sister, let’s add each other on WeChat!” Ran Fanyin pulled her along for a few quick steps, found her assistant who was calming down in the rest area, retrieved her phone, and held it with both hands, looking at Lin Xinran expectantly.

Lin-Somebody silently looked back at Ning Songwu, who was following not far behind them, then turned back and smiled slightly. “Come, I’ll tell you the number.”

Very good. A certain person’s face was now as cold as an ice block.

“Need my fire to melt your ice?”

Ning Songwu’s expression flickered. She turned and left silently.

Forget it.

She brought it on herself.

[What to do? She’s even more beautiful now…]

[What does ‘lifting a stone only to drop it on one’s own foot’ mean…]

[I regret it. What should I do?]

[Fine, as long as Master likes it.]

[This trip doesn’t need ten days. Beautiful Master is just afraid that if it takes too long, my poor little treasury will be emptied, so she paid before me, right?]

[Fine, Master is a kind-hearted liar.]

[Master is carrying me with one hand while casting seals to open the secret realm barrier—isn’t she tired?]

[Master’s strength is truly immense… I admire her…]

So why is she carrying me like this?