Ling Xiaoxia charged towards “Xueji” with a cold expression.
She searched her heart, asking herself if she still wished to see her Master.
She couldn’t say no without hesitation.
‘I’m so greedy.’
Ling Xiaoxia pounced on “Xueji”, her right hand formed into a claw. Her powerful vital energy was almost on the verge of running wild.
“Hahaha, do you dare to strike?” Facing Ling Xiaoxia’s sharp killing intent head-on, she laughed.
She actively grabbed Ling Xiaoxia’s right arm and pulled it down, saying smugly, “Do you dare to hit me, the one who saved you, raised you, and taught you? Or do you dare to strike this pitiful little thing?”
Ling Xiaoxia’s right arm tensed, not allowing herself to be moved an inch.
Yes, Ling Xiaoxia couldn’t bring herself to do it. Whichever one it was, her present self couldn’t bear to harm either.
“It seems letting you stay outside for a thousand years hasn’t improved your skills, but you have learned to be indecisive,” she said with a look of bitter disappointment, emerging from Ling Xiaoxia’s shadow.
She used Lily’s shadow translocation to change position, easily breaking free from Ling Xiaoxia’s restraint.
“Little cutie, help me hit her.” “Xueji” gently stroked Chaya’s ears and gave the order.
Awoo!
Chaya, as if injected with adrenaline, became excited, her speed far exceeding normal. She kicked Ling Xiaoxia right out of the window.
Ten seconds later, Ling Xiaoxia returned to the room, looking disheveled. “Xueji” was leaning against the windowsill, holding Fenrir Winter in her arms, having waited for some time.
“Let me help my disciple review her lessons.”
Before the words fully faded, the sword in her hand was already sweeping towards Ling Xiaoxia’s neck, showing no mercy whatsoever.
‘It really is Master. She’s the only one who would use such merciless sword techniques for a spar.’
Ling Xiaoxia did not summon her own spirit sword. Instead, she caught the longsword firmly between two fingers in an instant. Then, leveraging her body sideways, she closed the distance and directly disarmed “Xueji”.
Once again, Fenrir Winter was knocked from Xueji’s hand during a fight with someone else.
“Master, she ultimately isn’t you,” Ling Xiaoxia said, not maintaining the pinning posture, and pushed her away. “Even if the appearance is identical, the intellect comparable, and even the memories shared… you are not the same person.”
This push also meant that ambiguous feeling, that illusion of superimposing her Master onto Xueji, was completely severed by her own hand.
Xueji turned her head, coldly scrutinizing Ling Xiaoxia.
“Is she really worth you clinging to like this?”
“And here I went through all the trouble of completing the soul seizure, ready to rekindle our past connection with you~”
“You know? Before the little one’s consciousness vanished, she kept crying and begging me to spare her. Ah, it was truly pitiful.”
Hearing this, Ling Xiaoxia was only slightly surprised. The more she heard, the less she reacted explosively as before.
“Master, please don’t waste time with such provocation.”
“You’re not that kind of person.”
“Xueji” couldn’t help but laugh out loud upon hearing this.
“Then how can you be sure I haven’t changed?”
“If I really did it, what would you do then?”
Ling Xiaoxia looked at her Master like this, her fists unconsciously clenching tightly.
After a moment of silence, Ling Xiaoxia met her gaze and replied, “Kill you, and then wait again.”
She said this with extreme calmness, completely devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
“Xueji” heard this, let out a long sigh, then lightly stepped forward. In two steps, swift as a dragonfly skimming water, she darted into Ling Xiaoxia’s embrace. In that brief moment, Ling Xiaoxia saw a girl’s smile, as warm and comforting as the sun.
This smile was exactly the same as a thousand years ago. A millennium later, after immense changes and even rebirth, this smile remained unchanged.
This smile had given Ling Xiaoxia a second life a thousand years ago, and now, a thousand years later, it offered her, who had been lost, a place to belong.
In this moment, Ling Xiaoxia truly couldn’t tell the difference.
Before Ling Xiaoxia could react, a pair of soft hands gently caressed her cheeks. Then, followed a long-awaited yearning, expressed directly through soft lips.
Ling Xiaoxia was utterly bewildered, her hands suspended in the air, unsure where to place them.
She stiffly ended the kiss, staring woodenly at the girl in her arms.
Seemingly amused by Ling Xiaoxia’s reaction, Xueji could no longer keep up the act and burst out with a light laugh.
This vibrant, real, adorable person teased Ling Xiaoxia’s heart like a little kitten. The originally gloomy state of her mind was dyed with brighter, more vivid colors before this smile.
‘This must be the rainbow after the rain,’ Ling Xiaoxia sighed inwardly.
“Xiao Ji, what exactly is going on? Tell me quickly. Don’t… don’t tease me anymore.” For a rare occasion, Ling Xiaoxia’s eyes welled with tears, her chest heaved, and her gaze was urgent. She even showed an expression of being wronged from the teasing.
“Serves you right for bullying me! Now you know your mistake, right~” Xueji placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly, like a mischievably charming cat.
“I… I know I was wrong.” Ling Xiaoxia knew the person before her was her most precious treasure. The joy of regaining what was lost made her utterly compliant.
“Then I’ll be magnanimous and tell you. The first half, where I was angry, was real. It’s like another side of me.” Xueji did not hide the secret about herself.
“A mage’s soul is unusually powerful. Repressed emotions inside, affected by this, can erupt in another form. In terms you can understand, it’s similar to an inner demon,” Xueji explained.
“Inner demon? You fell into demonhood just now!” Ling Xiaoxia found it hard to believe; for a cultivator, falling into demonhood wasn’t something one could recover from unscathed.
“So I said it’s just similar. It’s a form of self-protection. You just need to know that I’m not easy to bully.” Xueji seemed to be warning Ling Xiaoxia.
But Ling Xiaoxia remembered what Xia Jin had said about the next stage. After interpreting it, her understanding of this statement was: ‘I need to be mindful of boundaries. As long as I don’t go too far, it should be fine.’
Although the meaning was barely similar, Ling Xiaoxia had gained excessive subjective initiative.
‘Anyway, bottom lines are meant to be constantly broken through, hehe~’
“Wait, then how did my Master appear in the second half?” Ling Xiaoxia instead became more confused.
Hearing this, Xueji was stunned for a moment, then said sheepishly, “I was acting… based on what I saw in the memories before…”
Before she could finish speaking, her short little legs started running. Having anticipated Ling Xiaoxia’s reaction, how could she possibly stay put?
But she hadn’t run more than a few steps before Ling Xiaoxia caught her. Hoisting Xueji over her shoulder like a sack of rice, she headed out the door towards another room.
“What are you doing! I warn you, don’t you dare try anything!” Xueji grew timid, her legs kicking restlessly.
Smack! Ling Xiaoxia gave Xueji a little lesson. After being spanked once, she settled down.
“Xiao Ji, let’s sleep together,” she said, placing Xueji on the bed, her voice full of tenderness.
Xueji fell silent. Then, Xueji agreed.
This time, Ling Xiaoxia merely held Xueji in her embrace, not taking any further steps.
‘Huh? I remember Chaya was here too… where did she go?’
Downstairs, by the washbasin, Chaya was already on her twenty-fifth round of brushing her teeth…
Tonight finally gained the peace it deserved. Nestled in Ling Xiaoxia’s embrace, smelling her fragrance, Xueji quickly fell asleep.
Within the space of consciousness, she saw her past life looking at her with a face full of guilt.
Xueji thought for a moment, then couldn’t resist asking, “Is this… alright like this?”
The ethereal young woman wearing a white ruqun nodded, speaking with a sense of release, “This is for the best for everyone. Let me disappear completely from her world.”
“What should I call you?”
“Yukinori, my original name.”
“Then I’ll call you Sister Nori. You can call me Xiao Ji.”
Hearing this, the young woman in the ruqun gave a gentle smile. “Xiao Ji, Xueji… ‘new life after the snow melts’. It’s a wonderful name.”
Xueji waited for a while, but the other didn’t speak further. The conscious space also gradually grew distant.
“There’s no need to overthink it. Just be yourself.”
The gentle young woman waved goodbye to Xueji.
Xueji opened her eyes. Outside the window was a vibrant morning glow.
A new day had begun.