After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 6

“Alright, take off your clothes,” the woman said, her tone still remarkably casual, as if discussing what to eat for dinner.

But for the college-aged female in the 21st century, where progress and feudalism coexisted, hearing this was like being struck by lightning. She subconsciously crossed her arms over her chest.

“What are you doing, what are you doing?! I, I sell my art, not my body! Even though I’m a lesbian, and I genuinely like you, I’m not the type to get naked right away!”

As a person who was psychologically mature and once physically mature, she had experienced the feeling of a racing heart, just like many years ago when she woke up in a daze and saw the person standing at the podium, enveloped in the twilight, who made her heart flutter for a long time…

To speak shamelessly, in that one moment on the cloud, she wanted to lean in and kiss her.

But the phantom pain on her wrist, which hadn’t faded for a long time, surged up again, urging her to suppress that thought.

But facing such a magnificent landscape, facing the person whose lips were slightly curved, whose silver hair glowed with gold, who was consistently concerned about her, and was even willing to linger on the cloud for her—

It was a heartbeat that even phantom pain could not suppress.

So, when she was on the cloud, she did not suppress her heart.

But once she landed and her feet were on solid ground, she properly tucked away those small, intimate thoughts. After all, the primary goal now was to survive. The glaring Death that followed her name was still painfully obvious, and the same two words followed Ran Fanyin’s name.

Before solving this problem, she couldn’t consider anything else, because…

“I have to live first.”

She was immersed in her own thoughts and did not notice a fissure appear on Ran Fanyin’s usually calm and natural face. “What is a ‘female homosexual’? Is it another new term from that story script? Judging by the context, does it mean… a mirror-lover?”

Her disciple… is a… mirror-lover?

“Little girl, you might have misunderstood something!”

She resisted the urge to take a step back and suppressed her twitching brow. “I mean, you should take off your clothes to clean yourself. You can’t just go to sleep like that, can you?”

Ning Songwu sighed in relief. “…Master, with you here, I… feel embarrassed.”

Ran Fanyin: Heh… Now that I know you are a mirror-lover, I also…

She rubbed her forehead and retrieved a set of clothes from her storage ring. “You should be sixteen this year? Deal with it yourself. I’ll go out first. You don’t need to worry about the clothes; I have plenty here. I’ll take you to choose some later.”

Ran Fanyin practically fled the purification chamber, not looking back.

It’s hilarious. She was afraid that if she stayed a moment longer, her disciple would mistake her for a “female homosexual” too.

She is not, she is not, she truly is not.

Ran Fanyin: A rapid three-part denial.

“Why is Master running so fast? But, eh heh, the Sect Master and the Sixth Elder seem…”

Ran Fanyin quickly shut the door. The barrier of the purification chamber completely closed, cutting off all transmitting magic power, and also cutting off the rest of the sentence.

The Sect Master and Mianmian… what about them?

Those two, aren’t they just normal Senior Martial Sisters?

Elder Ran’s pupils dilated in shock. It was as if Helan Mianmian was scratching inside her heart, and she suddenly wanted to push the door open and ask again.

But that would expose her ability to hear her disciple’s thoughts, which would remove a lot of fun and also burden the little girl from then on.

The woman sighed faintly. For the sake of future enjoyment and the healthy mental and physical development of her little disciple, she temporarily suppressed this urge to investigate.

She walked toward her room with an increasingly heavy heart. When she entered her own purification chamber, when she sank into the water, and when she lay on the bed gazing at the bright moonlight outside the window, she kept wondering—

Could that woman, Cen Ran, truly have something going on with Mianmian?

Ning Songwu was still unaware that her casual remark about shipping her Masters had caused her beloved Master to suffer half a night of insomnia. She lay on the bed with her outer garment draped over her, adjusting the “subtitles” to check the latest plot developments.

The plot concerning herself and Lin Yuxue had already entered a completely new and unwritten territory. But other plots would likely still occur, such as the New Disciple Competition one year later, the team expedition, and a long sword named Shuang Xue (Twin Snow) that Lin Yuxue retrieved in the secret realm in the book.

She definitely couldn’t avoid the secret realm expedition. If so, why not plot for something? Like this Shuang Xue sword, which was highly compatible with Ice Spiritual Root cultivators.

She didn’t really want it, but if you want to condemn someone, you can always trump up a charge. Lin Yuxue would most likely make an issue of this sword when the time came, so it might as well belong to her. She needed to strike first.

Before falling asleep, Ning Songwu turned over and let out a long sigh.

“Heavens, I’m just a salted fish that can’t be pasted onto the wall. Why are you forcing me to move? Is this my punishment? I must admit, this punishment is truly effective; it really hurts!”

Alas, to survive, I’ll deal with things as they come.

She looked at her own fate. Before, she at least knew how she would die, but now, she didn’t even know that. She had to be vigilant everywhere. This led to yet another sigh.

Finally, she managed to struggle through a sleepless night.

Perhaps because something was weighing on her mind, Ning Songwu woke up as soon as the sun had traveled a short distance the next morning. Following the prompt from the subtitles, she awkwardly put on a set of complicated clothes.

The clothes clearly reflected Ran Fanyin’s taste: a white robe with gold threads sewn into the shoulder lines and neckline, and a gold-edged soft belt around the waist, slightly cinching it. The long robe fell to her ankles.

She looked exactly like Ran Fanyin’s folding fan come to life.

She managed to put on the clothes, but after fussing for a long time, she couldn’t replicate the hairstyle from yesterday. She simply tied her hair into a neat, high ponytail, pairing it with the fitted long robe. She hesitated for a moment, looked at herself in the water mirror in the room, and decided it looked quite good.

“Master probably won’t laugh out loud, right…”

From afar, Ran Fanyin heard her disciple’s nervous inner voice, intensely curious about what the little girl had managed to do to herself that would cause laughter. The clothes she provided were not complicated; they were already relatively simple compared to her own.

“I only ever saw this online before. It’s so much trouble to wear it myself.”

“‘Online’?” Ran Fanyin held her teacup, her eyelids fluttering. “What word is that? My little disciple seems… interesting.”

Overnight, Ning Songwu’s information had been compiled and handed to her. The little disciple’s background was very clean: she was an orphan, grew up at the foot of Shangyun Sect, ate the food of a hundred families, was accepted into the outer sect six years ago, and was quiet and rarely spoke. In the six years in the outer sect, she spent four years doing odd jobs, accidentally started cultivating two years ago, and was now at the Mid Foundation Establishment stage.

There was no sign of the negative effects usually associated with Heavenly Grade. Her cultivation speed was steady and fast. She was a true genius, and once she cultivated a technique truly suited for her, she would surely progress even faster.

“With such talent, how could she be parentless?”

Elder Ran took another sip of warm tea, a theory forming in her mind. She silently set aside her speculation, leaned an ear forward, and listened carefully to her disciple’s inner voice.

After a sigh, the inner voice subsided. The da-da of footsteps sounded, and in moments, the white-robed, high-ponytail maiden appeared at the door, her hands clutching the sides of her robe, looking somewhat uneasy.

Ran Fanyin glanced at her and was stunned for a moment.

“This little girl, she really doesn’t know how to dress, does she?”

She was kind enough to suppress her smile and beckoned. “Come here.”

The little young animal walked over with a slightly flushed face and her neck stiffened.

“Wuwuwuwu, I knew I wore it incorrectly! Master must be disgusted with me…”

“This is really so hard to put on.”

Ran Fanyin mentally amended her previous conclusion. “This little thing, she is clearly quiet, but her mind is so active. So noisy.”

“The clothes are acceptable; they just need a slight adjustment. I’ll style your hair once, and you can learn.”

“…Thank you, Master.” Ning Songwu was a little shy, sitting properly in front of Ran Fanyin, her hands tightly gripping the fabric on her knees.

She hadn’t noticed that the woman’s self-address had already changed to a relatively softer term. Her mind was entirely focused on her nervousness.

“The pretty sister smells so nice. The pretty sister’s hands are so long and skillful.”

I only braided the simplest hairpin. How is that skillful? Elder Ran admitted the compliment went straight to her heart. Her movements became even gentler, treating her disciple completely like a little doll and carefully styling her hair.

A moment later, Elder Ran leaned lazily on her chair, looking at the thin-lipped, upright maiden in front of her. The child looked slightly malnourished, her complexion pale. When standing, she only reached Ran Fanyin’s shoulder. Her skin was a bit rough, and her hair a little dry.

“But it doesn’t matter. Her foundation is good. With careful nurturing, she will definitely bloom.”

But…

She glanced at the little girl’s flat chest and sighed softly.

“I don’t know if this part can be nurtured.”

“Master, please don’t sigh like that… although this figure is indeed a bit bland… alas, if I eat properly, I should grow. Even if I don’t, it doesn’t matter. Flat chests look good in a shirt.”

“Oh, is there no such thing as a shirt in this era…”

“I’m doomed.”

Ran Fanyin accurately captured the keyword “this era” in her disciple’s mind. “Speaking of which, I always felt that my disciple’s true age was much older than her appearance. Now it seems there might be some unspeakable secret.”

But she did not delve deeper, simply adding this to the clues she had gathered earlier. Then, she lazily rested her head on her hand and said faintly, “This is my first time teaching a disciple. Let’s try it.”

“It’s okay, Master. My previous advisor often complimented me, saying I was very worry-free, and they only needed to check periodically to make sure I was still alive. I won’t cause you any trouble.”

Elder Ran: Is that a compliment? Is this little disciple perhaps an idiot?

The two stood facing each other for a moment. Ning Songwu stammered, “Master, is today’s training… stance?”

“Mama! The atmosphere is so weird. Master, why don’t you say anything? You make a socially anxious person like me very scared.”

Ran Fanyin lightly coughed. “Of course not. I almost forgot. Come with me.”

Elder Ran: Ahem, my disciple’s inner thoughts are too interesting; I got lost in them.

Considering Ning Songwu still couldn’t fly, and sword flight was too small, the Vermillion Bird, Elder Sister, was still dutifully waiting at the edge of the cliff for the two of them.

Elder Ran grasped the maiden’s wrist, hesitated for a moment, and then changed to gripping the fabric at her shoulder. She rose without wind and leaped onto the Vermillion Bird’s broad back.

“Big Bird, Big Bird, be good! You can do it~” The little girl was still tightly gripping the Vermillion Bird’s feathers, humming an unknown tune in her mind. Perhaps because it was too childish, she chuckled to herself again inwardly.

But her face remained calm as still water.

Ran Fanyin couldn’t help but smile upon hearing this. She had intended to keep her distance from this little disciple who seemed to have a mirror-lover tendency, but after thinking it over, she quietly moved closer.

“My little disciple seems very afraid of heights. I’ll stand closer, so she doesn’t fall off.”

She said softly, “This is the Vermillion Bird. I obtained a Vermillion Bird egg many years ago and accepted it as my divine companion beast after it hatched.”

The young girl’s placid face finally showed a flicker of emotion. She stared intensely at the woman, her inner voice screaming: “Master is so cool! How can she talk about this so lightly?! I remember the book said this was gained after a near-fatal journey deep into the Vermillion Bird’s lair! Master is so calm! So cool, so cool!”

Ran Fanyin’s brow twitched slightly. She suddenly became interested in this book. Excluding a few close friends, no one should have known about that experience. Why would it be written in a story script?

The maiden blinked, seemingly wanting to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, she gave up, muttering inwardly: “I really want to say I want one too! The big Vermillion Bird is so cool. But it’s only the second day of my apprenticeship. Wouldn’t it be too greedy to ask for so much? Forget it, forget it. There’s always tomorrow.”

“This little thing thinks quite a lot.”

Elder Ran lightly coughed twice and said, pretending to be casual, “After you successfully cultivate to the Golden Core stage again, you can first go to Elder Helan’s peak to see if there is any immortal beast that catches your eye. As for natural-born creations like the Vermillion Bird, that depends on fate.” She paused, then continued, “But until you learn to ride the clouds, your Master can lend you this one temporarily.”

The maiden instantly froze in place. After a moment, she stood up, supported by the great bird’s back, and gave a respectful bow.

“Good! Cool Big Bird! As for an immortal beast that catches my eye, yes, there is one! I just don’t know if she’s willing to come with me, heh heh. A red-haired Nine-Tailed Fox! She’s really beautiful.”

“When did my Martial Sister’s peak acquire a red-haired Nine-Tailed Fox?”

A fox has been added recently, though…

Elder Ran’s gaze toward Ning Songwu became even more complex.