After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 79

Half a month had passed since Cheng Yun-huan  and Ran Fan-yin left the mountain.

It was a beautiful day. It was noon, and the Northern Vengeance Mountain was experiencing a rare, bright sun. The light was dazzling, scattered across the snow like gold, making the scenery look warm and comfortable.

Ping Zi-lai was in a very good mood, so he personally led a group of young disciples to the Library Pavilion to give them some free time. This group of disciples happened to be the newest batch, which included Ning Song-wu and He-lan Mian-mian.

On the way to the Library Pavilion, He-lan Mian-mian saw that Ning Song-wu was only looking at the vast white snow outside, her face devoid of emotion. She ran up to her and tugged on her sleeve: “Ning Song-wu, what are you thinking about? You usually spend all your time in the Grand Flight Pavilion. Today is a rare opportunity to go to the Library Pavilion together. Aren’t you happy?”

Ning Song-wu muttered: “No… I’m thinking… There’s a sword move I always can’t execute correctly.”

He-lan Mian-mian patted her shoulder: “You’re already working so hard, studying during the day and staying up late to do so many things—practicing the sword, reading, drawing… Speaking of drawing, how much have you finished?”

Ning Song-wu patted the cloth bag she carried with her: “I’ve drawn most of it, but there’s never enough time. So, since I’ve finally gotten some free time today, I brought it with me. I’ll continue drawing later at the Library Pavilion.”

“I suddenly wanted to ask, how old is Venerable… exactly?”

“That… I asked. Master said, around one hundred and ten-something years old. When I asked Master for the exact number, she said she couldn’t remember. When you live a long time, you stop keeping track of these things.”

He-lan Mian-mian thoughtfully rubbed her chin: “Truly… But she must remember her birthday, right? Wouldn’t it be great to give her this painting as a gift?”

Ning Song-wu frowned and shook her head: “I asked about that too. Master said she wasn’t sure about her birthday either. She said cultivators don’t care about such things.”

He-lan Mian-mian twitched her mouth: “Venerable is truly… living like a deity…”

As they spoke, the group had arrived at the Library Pavilion. The collection of books at Northern Vengeance was extremely rich. The Library Pavilion had seven stories and was built in the shape of a pagoda. Unlike the other palace buildings, the Library Pavilion was painted black-brown, making it look especially solemn and substantial.

Ping Zi-lai led the young disciples inside and said: “You may browse freely on the first and second floors. Remember to return the books to their original positions after reading. All books are categorized in detail, and you must not disrupt the order. You won’t understand the books on the third and fourth floors, so there’s no need to look at them. The fifth floor and above are the restricted section. You absolutely, absolutely must not go up there. Violators will be expelled from Northern Vengeance Palace. Now, you may disperse.”

“Expelled from Northern Vengeance Palace… That’s so serious. I wonder what kind of books are kept above the fifth floor. I bet they are books about very powerful but very dangerous sword techniques,” He-lan Mian-mian said to Ning Song-wu as they walked.

“Perhaps… I’ll go find a free spot first. You can go read on your own.” Ning Song-wu waved at He-lan Mian-mian, seemingly not interested in the so-called restricted books at all.

“There are resting areas on every floor, with tables, chairs, brushes, and ink. Go draw there. It will be easy for me to find you later.”

Ning Song-wu nodded and left, following the path He-lan Mian-mian had indicated.

Finding the so-called resting area, Ning Song-wu chose a quiet corner, spread out her scroll, contemplated for a moment, and then picked up the brush on the table with her right hand, meticulously outlining the details on the painting.

After only a little while, she heard a clamor approaching from outside. Immediately, Lan Ze came in first with a book in her hand, followed by a group of giggling disciples who were talking non-stop. Lan Ze was originally quite happy, but as soon as she saw Ning Song-wu, she immediately switched to an expression of disdain and scoffed through her nose.

“Little cripple, what strange thing are you doing with that crippled hand of yours?”

Ning Song-wu clenched her teeth, silently endured it, and forced herself to only look at the painting, ignoring Lan Ze’s malicious words.

Lan Ze saw that Ning Song-wu was ignoring her and felt she was wasting her breath. While muttering, “A discarded disciple trying to act noble,” she found a place to sit down. The disciples flattering her also gathered around to sit down, their mouths still moving as they spoke to Lan Ze. The previously quiet resting area immediately became noisy.

Ning Song-wu sat alone in the corner. The sunlight didn’t reach there, and it was as if a layer of gray dust had settled on her.

She didn’t get much time, however, before another event interrupted her drawing.

He-lan Mian-mian suddenly came running in from outside with heavy footsteps, her face excited, smiling with mischief. She ran straight to Ning Song-wu, pulled her up without a word, and headed for the exit:

“Come with me. I found an interesting place…”

Ning Song-wu struggled a few times, realizing that He-lan Mian-mian was much stronger than her and she couldn’t break free: “Hey! What’s so urgent? My painting is still…”

“Shush! Keep your voice down. I’ll tell you when we get there. It’s definitely much more interesting than your painting.” He-lan Mian-mian dragged Ning Song-wu along in a quick trot, weaving through the complex bookshelves, up the stairs, and heading straight upstairs.

Ning Song-wu sighed, thinking about her painting still spread out on the table, but she had no choice but to follow He-lan Mian-mian.

To her surprise, He-lan Mian-mian dragged her up to the second floor, then the third floor, and didn’t stop, actually going up to the fourth floor! Ning Song-wu grabbed He-lan Mian-mian’s hand: “What are you doing? We’re almost at the restricted section!”

“I know. That place is on the fourth floor. Besides, there are people guarding the fifth-floor staircase entrance. I just went to check. But, there’s also one on this floor…” Saying this, He-lan Mian-mian suddenly lowered her voice and leaned close to Ning Song-wu’s ear: “I just discovered that the fourth floor also has a small restricted book area, in a very remote place where no one is around. Let’s go take a look.”

“The fourth floor also has… restricted books?” Ning Song-wu was stunned, but then her childish curiosity surged. Since no one is guarding it, it’s probably not a serious restricted book. It should be fine to take a look…

He-lan Mian-mian led the way, taking so many twists and turns that Ning Song-wu forgot the way they came. After walking for a long time, they finally reached a dark area of the library.

There were three large bookshelves there. Looking closely, the side of each shelf was marked with the words “Restricted Books” carved in small standard script. Furthermore, the material and color of these three bookshelves were different from the others. It was obvious at a glance that the books here were definitely out of the ordinary.

“Did you look? What are these books about?” Ning Song-wu was a little nervous. She didn’t dare to step forward, only tugging on He-lan Mian-mian’s sleeve, her voice tight.

“I only glanced at it just now. It’s really strange here. The other bookshelves all have wooden signs clearly marking the book categories, but these three bookshelves have nothing on them, just three full shelves of books, and the spines don’t have titles either. Let’s just grab a couple of books and take a look.” With that, He-lan Mian-mian walked over to the first bookshelf, casually pulled out a thick book, took a deep breath, and opened it to read.

Ning Song-wu intently watched He-lan Mian-mian’s expression. After a while, He-lan Mian-mian let out a light laugh: “Hey, it’s nothing. This one I picked up is about some old history of Northern Vengeance. It looks a little unsavory, so it was listed as a restricted book, probably. Maybe it’s not a big deal, so they put it here. I guess the restricted books placed here shouldn’t be too important.”

Ning Song-wu asked: “Then… if we read the restricted books here, will we be expelled from Northern Vengeance Palace?”

He-lan Mian-mian looked at Ning Song-wu and smiled cunningly: “What did Master Ping Zi-lai say? He only said that going up to the fifth floor would get us expelled from Northern Vengeance Palace. This doesn’t count as violating his request. I’ll grab a few more books to check. You go ahead and look too. No matter what, it’s definitely much more interesting than those proper books.”

Ning Song-wu relaxed a little. She walked cautiously to the third bookshelf. Her eyes scanned the hundreds of books twice. Since she didn’t know what any of them were, she just randomly pulled one out.

The cover was pitch black, with nothing written on it. A quick flip showed it seemed to be a picture book.

Ning Song-wu thought it was a sword manual and quickly gathered her concentration to open the first page and examine it closely.

One look, and the shock nearly made her drop the book!

Ning Song-wu slapped the book shut. She widened her eyes, blinked hard in disbelief, and only calmed down after a moment. She then looked around furtively, making sure no one was around, before opening the book again.

The picture was explicitly a spring/erotic drawing of a man and a woman intertwining with each other. The brushwork was delicate, and the figures were vividly lifelike, even the expressions on their faces were extremely realistic. The scene made Ning Song-wu’s heart pound wildly, and she swallowed hard.

No… This is wrong… I shouldn’t look… I shouldn’t look…

No, no one will know if I look now… I haven’t seen these pictures…

Ning Song-wu’s brows were tightly furrowed, and sweat beaded on her forehead from tension, yet her hands kept turning the pages non-stop. Every page of the picture book was filled with various poses of men and women intertwining, even the private parts were clearly drawn. Such a lewd and erotic scene made her mouth water and her mind become a confused mess.

Half the book had been flipped through when, suddenly, a spring/erotic drawing of two women intertwining crashed into Ning Song-wu’s vision! Two equally beautiful bodies were tightly entangled. The two women in the painting were lip-locked, their expressions hazy, seemingly enjoying the intimacy immensely.

Boom! Ning Song-wu’s mind exploded! She didn’t dare to look a second longer. She violently threw the picture book onto the floor and retreated several steps until her back slammed against the wall, panting heavily, looking at the book on the floor as if it were a monster.

He-lan Mian-mian heard the commotion and walked over, asking: “Ning Song-wu, what’s wrong…”

As soon as Ning Song-wu saw He-lan Mian-mian approach, she quickly took two steps forward, picked up the picture book, hastily shoved it back onto the bookshelf, and forced herself to be calm: “Nothing, nothing… Nothing at all…”

He-lan Mian-mian eyed her suspiciously but didn’t ask anything further.

He-lan Mian-mian returned to the first bookshelf and put the book in her hand back: “I looked at a few books. They are all about some secrets of the Jianghu. Also, there are things about Northern Vengeance Palace, the Scattered Flower Valley, and a sect called the Heaven Falcon Sect from many years ago… And… some of the history between Northern Vengeance and the royal family… It turns out there are so many complicated things. It’s far from as simple as it seems on the surface…”

“Mhm… Mhm…” Ning Song-wu answered incoherently, but she hadn’t listened to a single word He-lan Mian-mian said. Her mind was entirely filled with the images from the picture book.

“It seems that the affection between men and women truly harms people in this world. If it weren’t for that… such a large sect as the Heaven Falcon Sect wouldn’t have been unjustly wiped out. What a pity. Hey, Ning Song-wu, speaking of which, do you have someone you like?”

“Ah?” Ning Song-wu raised her head in shock, looking at He-lan Mian-mian with a slight look of astonishment, as if she didn’t know what she was talking about.

He-lan Mian-mian thought Ning Song-wu hadn’t understood her meaning, so she explained: “I mean, is there someone you always keep in your heart, you want to see them, and you would be willing to live with them for the rest of your life?”

Always keeping in her heart, always thinking about, willing to live with for the rest of her life.

Master.

Master…

No… Impossible… That’s different…

“That… that doesn’t count…” Ning Song-wu was slightly flustered, speaking nonsense.

“What doesn’t count? Do you already have someone?” He-lan Mian-mian smiled mischievously. Then, thinking better of it, she said: “Since you said it doesn’t count, do you sometimes want to do something intimate with him? Like, kiss him, or hug him, or something?”

The images from the picture book that made her blush and her heart race appeared again in Ning Song-wu’s mind. She broke out in a cold sweat. She vigorously shook her head, trying to shake those images out.

But a scene suddenly flashed in her mind.

That night, she rashly barged into Ran Fan-yin’s palace. Ran Fan-yin had a look of anger between her brows, apparently having just emerged from a bath. The thin, moon-white muslin robe clung closely to Ran Fan-yin’s still-wet body, outlining her perfect figure. The unclasped collar exposed a large area of her neck and collarbone, with fine water droplets scattered upon it.

If… if that thin robe were removed…

Ning Song-wu pinched her palm hard. She suddenly felt that her thoughts were filthy. Just the emergence of this thought inexplicably sullied her Master’s pure and pristine appearance. She wanted to slap herself.

Ran Fan-yin was her Master! What vile things am I thinking?!

Besides, two women? How was that possible? It completely went against the natural order of the Dao, not to mention that Ran Fan-yin was her Master…

Wait, have I already… started imagining Master as an ideal partner?

He-lan Mian-mian saw that Ning Song-wu had been lost in her own world for a long time. She pouted and walked back to the bookshelf, wanting to pick up another book to look at.

Just then, He-lan Mian-mian heard footsteps and the sound of two men talking, gradually approaching their location. She didn’t have time to think. She pulled Ning Song-wu and ducked into a nearby narrow path, then darted out. After all, she had a guilty conscience for trespassing.