After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 68

Ran Fanyin nodded slightly, silently focusing on the food on the table. She ate a dish of sweet lotus root with utmost politeness and quietness, the muffled, crunching sound of her chewing echoing slightly, like a… mouse pilfering food in the dark.

The image made Ning Songwu almost burst out laughing. How could Master be like a mouse? She shook her head; the thought was truly strange.

Cang Min looked at Ning Songwu’s struggling-not-to-laugh expression and asked curiously, “What is the little beauty thinking about?”

Ning Songwu glanced at the expressionless Ran Fanyin beside her, who was eating the lotus root, and quickly shook her head. “Nothing, nothing.”

Cang Min said, “Oh,” and after a moment, asked again, “How long will you two be staying here?”

“How long do you want us to stay, Senior?” Ning Songwu asked in return.

“You can stay as long as you like. I’m bored being here alone. I don’t mind if you stay longer to keep me company,” Cang Min smiled with a raised eyebrow. “Ah, and you won’t lose out. I, the esteemed Lord of Kunlun, have many things I can teach you.”

Ran Fanyin looked up at Ning Songwu’s delighted expression, still eating her sweet lotus root without speaking.

“Master…” Ning Songwu turned her head, meeting Ran Fanyin’s gaze.

“A’yin, you’re eating like a mouse,” Cang Min said with distaste, watching Ran Fanyin gnaw on the lotus root.

Ning Songwu couldn’t hold it in this time and let out a laugh. It seems she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Cough…” Ran Fanyin swallowed her food. Seeing this, Ning Songwu took out a handkerchief and handed it to Ran Fanyin.

Ran Fanyin looked up at Ning Songwu blankly, took the handkerchief to wipe her mouth, and then looked at Cang Min. “We can stay for as long as needed. In the past, I’ve stayed here for two or three months before returning. This time should be about the same.”

“That’s excellent. We can catch up on old times, and these two young ones can spar with each other. In two or three months, the little beauty’s injuries should be mostly recovered. Then you can go back to your Beifa and continue your shenanigans,” Cang Min said with a smile, helping herself to some dishes.

After the meal, Ran Fanyin took Ning Songwu’s hand, intending to go into the room to talk, but was unexpectedly intercepted by Cang Min.

“A’yin, I have something to discuss with you. Let’s go inside. Little beauty, go play with my unruly disciple. And, by the way, I’m also counting on you for the afternoon meal,” Cang Min patted Ran Fanyin’s shoulder and smiled at Ning Songwu.

Ning Songwu released Ran Fanyin’s hand. “Alright, have a slow chat.” After speaking, she took one last look at Ran Fanyin and turned to leave.

Cang Min and Ran Fanyin entered the Huaxu Realm and sat down in Ran Fanyin’s room.

Cang Min shivered. “A’yin, it’s not like I’m forbidding you from seeing her. Could you please stop looking so frozen-faced?”

Ran Fanyin massaged her forehead, sitting down without a word.

“Now, let’s talk seriously.” Cang Min put away her jesting expression, her gaze directed at the messy, still-unmade bed. “Are you two… together?”

“Huh?” Ran Fanyin looked at Cang Min in confusion.

“What role does she play in your life now?” Cang Min rephrased the question.

Ran Fanyin lowered her head. After a moment, she softly said, “My disciple.”

“That’s it?” Cang Min scoffed. “Then you absolutely must not let her hear you say that.”

“No…” Ran Fanyin turned her head to look at Cang Min. “I love her.”

“So? She nearly risked her life kneeling outside begging to see you. She almost died, and in the end, she’s still just a ‘disciple’ whom you love?”

“I will marry her someday,” Ran Fanyin said seriously.

“You are so serious about this, A’yin. Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

“Mm.” Ran Fanyin nodded, looking at the scar on the inside of her left wrist.

“It is so hard to have such a person. In this lifetime, perhaps there will only be this one. A’yin, I had the person I held in my heart, but I lost her. We were together for three months—such a short time—but I felt it was longer than all my centuries combined.”

Cang Min paused, then smiled as she wiped a tiny tear from the corner of her eye. She continued, “So, I don’t want to forget her for the rest of my life, but my life is too long, too long. A’yin, cherish every day. You still have nearly four hundred years of life, but she, if she doesn’t succeed in cultivation, will leave you in just a few short decades. I’ve lost before, so I understand.”

“If she doesn’t succeed in cultivation…” Ran Fanyin felt a dull ache in her heart. Her fingers slowly tightened.

“Ning Songwu,” Ran Fanyin, tightly embraced by Ning Songwu, felt an extraordinary sense of security. She closed her eyes, wanting to completely entrust her whole self to her. “My clarity has been given to you. Never betray me.”

“Master, I will never betray you,” Ning Songwu rested her face on Ran Fanyin’s shoulder, rubbing gently.

“Before, I was constantly running away, which caused you a lot of hardship. It was my fault. Please forgive me,” Ran Fanyin’s calm voice drifted into her ear. The tone seemed to be speaking of a matter of indifference, but the content was unprecedented.

“Silly child…” Ran Fanyin muffled her voice on Ning Songwu’s shoulder. Finally, there was someone who wanted to rely on her.

Ning Songwu’s voice held a slight sob, but she spoke with intense sincerity. “No matter how many years I live, wherever you are, I will be there. If you are at the end of the world, I will pursue you to the end of the world. If you are in hell, I will follow you into hell. If you no longer want me, I will wait for you where I am until you return.”

“…What if I don’t return?”

Ning Songwu was silent for a moment, then articulated each word with exceptional resolution:

“Then I will wait until I die.”

Ran Fanyin thought only one thing: How lucky am I to have met this person before the end of my five centuries.

Ning Songwu smiled gently, then suddenly released Ran Fanyin, took Ran Fanyin’s hand, brushed up her sleeve slightly, and looked into Ran Fanyin’s eyes. “This scar… are you still trying to hide it from me?”

Ran Fanyin sighed, stroking her left wrist with her right hand. “It’s nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

“You’ve given me many things—the Liu Yu, the Phoenix Feather Sword, and…” Ning Songwu touched her waist and looked down, smiling. Ran Fanyin knew the brocade pouch was there, and her ears couldn’t help but turn red.

“But I have never given you anything. I worry that if we are ever separated someday, you won’t have anything to look at to think of me,” Ning Songwu frowned, her tone somewhat annoyed.

Ran Fanyin stroked Ning Songwu’s head. “There’s no need to cling to external objects. Look, isn’t this scar branded on my hand? …Besides… I believe we won’t be separated. You will always be by my side, won’t you?”

“I will always be by your side, through life and death,” Ning Songwu held Ran Fanyin’s hand, clasping it to her chest like a prayer, and gently kissed it.

“What nonsense are you saying? If you die, how can you be by my side?” Ran Fanyin smiled, pinching Ning Songwu’s earlobe.

“If I die, burn my remains, and carry my ashes with you,” Ning Songwu replied with a smile.

“That’s improper talk. Shut up,” Ran Fanyin pushed Ning Songwu’s forehead and turned to walk out of the Huaxu Realm cave.

Ning Songwu kept close, leaning in toward Ran Fanyin’s ear and whispering, “Master, I was… confused by the fever last night. I didn’t… control my strength, I know. Does it… still hurt?”

Ran Fanyin’s face was completely flushed. After a long silence, she gave an extremely faint nod.

“I’m going to get some medicine and come back. Tonight, I’ll give you… cough… Don’t wander off, so I don’t have to look all over for you when I return,” Ning Songwu held Ran Fanyin’s hand and instructed her softly.

“I won’t wander off. I’ll play Go with Cang Min outside,” Ran Fanyin held Ning Songwu’s hand in return and replied quite seriously.

“That’s good. Then I’ll be going,” Ning Songwu smiled, quickly walking away, leaving a receding figure behind her.

Ran Fanyin watched Ning Songwu disappear from sight, then stood in a daze for a long time before slowly walking back.

Ning Songwu turned a corner and, once out of Ran Fanyin’s sight, quickly covered her nose and relaxed the qi that was controlling the flow. Blood poured out from between her fingers, staining Ning Songwu’s palm.

Ning Songwu coughed, choking on the nosebleed, and tightly covered her nose with a handkerchief. She supposed her body hadn’t fully recovered; the clash of qi had caused her qi and blood to rush upward. It was nothing serious—her nose was naturally fragile and prone to nosebleeds—but if Ran Fanyin saw it, she would certainly worry.

She was already unable to live longer than Ran Fanyin, and she absolutely could not shorten these few decades of life she had left.

Ning Songwu took out a bottle of calming medicine that Bo Xue had given her earlier and popped a few pills into her mouth. After calming herself, the nosebleed finally stopped.

She first went to the Kunlun washroom to thoroughly clean the bloodstains, then went to the Kunlun medical pavilion for medicine. She had taken courses on traditional Chinese medicine at the Hongfei Pavilion and understood pharmacology somewhat. Following her own judgment, she took some internal medicine to reinforce her foundation and some external medicine for swelling. She carefully brewed the internal medicine in the pharmacy’s refining room, put it in a small black jar, and carried it back to the Huaxu Realm.

“…You must have also realized that her eyes are full of affection, but cultivation requires the absence of emotion and desire. She already has desires—for you, and for the joy that love brings. If you had rejected her more thoroughly this time, she might have been able to let go. She could be an ordinary person, and you could be your esteemed Lord. But now that you are together, she will certainly be unable to let go, unable to look lightly upon the worldly joy, which means your fate is inevitably limited to these few decades.”

“So, in the end, I will definitely watch her die,” Ran Fanyin bit her lip, staring intently at Cang Min.

“Yes. …But, will you abandon her immediately because of this? While she isn’t too deeply involved yet, a short sharp pain is better than a long-drawn-out one. Will you leave her?”

Ran Fanyin’s gaze was firm. “I will not abandon her. Even if it is only for these few decades, I want her by my side.”

“…Good, A’yin, that’s right. That’s love. You won’t give up, even knowing the consequences. It seems you truly love her. Then cherish her well, cherish this time. This will be the most beautiful memory of your entire life.”

Cang Min’s smile was bitter. “This is the fate of eternal life: either eternal solitude or eternal heartbreak.”

Ran Fanyin gently curved the corner of her lips, her gaze directed to the side. After a long time, she softly said, “You are wrong. If, in the end, she truly occupies a vital place in my heart, and she dies, I will surely die as well. There is no such thing as ‘eternal’ life.”

“You, you never were infatuated with anything for over a hundred years, but once you have a commitment, it’s very hard for you to let go,” Cang Min said, smiling helplessly. “You have been living with her for ten years. She already occupies a vital place in your heart. It’s just that she said it first, and you only realized it later.”

“Cang Min, thank you,” Ran Fanyin looked at Cang Min sincerely, a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Love her well,” Cang Min said.

“I understand,” Ran Fanyin nodded, her voice clear.

Cang Min smiled. “Come on, go find your little beauty. I’m going to find my unruly disciple too… Alas, the world only says that disciples easily become attached to their Masters, but Masters understand that they also easily become attached to their disciples. It’s truly like raising a child. You want to tie her to you and give her the best of everything. If it weren’t for that little brat, Bo Xue, my life would have been much more boring all these years.”

Ran Fanyin lowered her head and smiled, noncommittal, and walked toward the outside.

Cang Min followed Ran Fanyin. Just as she stood up, her eyes unintentionally caught sight of the edge of the bed, and her face instantly turned black:

“Ran Fanyin!!!”

Ran Fanyin turned around, confused, looking at Cang Min.

Cang Min was shaking with anger, pointing at a large dent smashed into the red sandalwood bed frame. “What did you two do last night?! What did you do?! My red sandalwood bed! My red, sandalwood, bed that I specially acquired and transported all the way from the Central Plains with great difficulty just a few years ago! I haven’t even slept in it yet! You slept in it for how long, and you’ve already smashed a dent in it?!”

Ran Fanyin suddenly recalled the previous night, when she had lost control in the throes of passion, and her qi had inadvertently leaked out when her hand landed…

Ran Fanyin’s ears instantly turned red. She stammered, “Don’t… don’t be angry. I’ll compensate you…”

“Compensate me?” Cang Min almost shrieked, looking at the bed with a heartbroken expression. “I personally went to the Central Plains and painstakingly transported this all the way to Kunlun! How can you compensate me? You utterly wicked…”

Bo Xue and Ning Songwu, who were chatting outside, heard Cang Min’s almost-breaking voice and rushed in anxiously. Bo Xue, seeing her Master flailing, hurried forward to restrain her. “Master! Let’s talk this out…”

Ning Songwu stood in front of Ran Fanyin, looking frightened by Cang Min’s expression.

Behind Ning Songwu, Ran Fanyin felt a stream of warmth pour into her heart. She suddenly noticed that Ning Songwu was a little shorter than her during the last New Year’s Eve, but now she was the same height, and perhaps even slightly taller.

“Bo Xue! Let go of me! I’ve been tolerating this quiet person for too long! I’m going to fight her today!” Cang Min pretended to be furious, struggling against Bo Xue’s restraint.

Bo Xue sighed and reluctantly loosened her grip slightly. Cang Min felt that Bo Xue truly wasn’t going to stop her, froze, then fiercely transmitted a message through ventriloquism:

“Hug me tightly! If you don’t stop me and I lose face, watch out for your skin!”

Bo Xue flinched in fear and immediately wrapped her arms tightly around Cang Min’s waist, looking utterly determined not to let go, and quickly signaled to Ning Songwu, “Hurry, hurry! Take the Honored Lord out of here.”

Ning Songwu was utterly confused, not knowing what had happened, and could only pull Ran Fanyin and briskly walk away.

Still walking in the cave corridor, Ran Fanyin held Ning Songwu’s hand tightly, stopping her.

Ning Songwu paused. “Master, what’s wrong…”

Ran Fanyin silently shook her head, leaning her back against the cave wall. She looked up at Ning Songwu and softly said:

“Kiss me.”

Ning Songwu was stunned. She looked at Ran Fanyin, who was slightly bowing her head. The dim light in the cave outlined the curve of Ran Fanyin’s profile softly: her forehead was smooth, her nose bridge delicate, and her light-brown eyes, like clear tea, looked at the ground. Her beautiful ear was faintly flushed.

“Master…” Ning Songwu bit her lip and smiled. “How about we kiss in the room tonight?”

Ran Fanyin gave Ning Songwu a faint look. She didn’t answer, just kept looking for a long time, until Ning Songwu felt a little unnerved.

Ran Fanyin suddenly stepped forward. Her cool fingers rested on Ning Songwu’s neck. She leaned in and lightly kissed Ning Songwu’s lips, like a snowflake falling between them, cool and gentle.

Ning Songwu held Ran Fanyin’s waist, smiling softly. Without a word, she returned the gesture by gently nipping Ran Fanyin’s lips, then licked them, and gently pulled Ran Fanyin into her embrace, holding her tightly.