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The girl in the pavilion was not old, maybe even a year or two younger than Pei Lianxue. She was dressed in a white garment that looked like a man's bathrobe. She seemed to have no trousers; her jade-white legs swung slowly, and a few drops of glittering dew hung on her bare toes.
Her hair was even longer than her height, and it was spreading on the ground, untied. Her hair color was very strange, silver and black as if a small part of it had been specially bleached. However, it didn't look like it had been dyed but rather was born that way.
The girl had come here to enjoy the moon and play with some chess pieces, but Pei Lianxue suddenly entered the bamboo forest and began to train intently with the sword without noticing her at all.
Seeing Pei Lianxue so absorbed in her practice, the girl did not want to disturb her.
She looked away, picked up the wine cup in front of her, and took a sip.
As the wine entered her throat, her cherry lips opened slightly, and a mouthful of white mist full of spiritual energy came out of her mouth.
"Hoo--"
A dragonfly that was flying by, encountered this white mist and instantly got drunk, lost its direction, and fell down.
The girl raised her hand slightly, and an invisible force slowly lifted the falling dragonfly and landed it gently on the stone table to become her drinking buddy.
However, the next moment, the girl seemed to have sensed something.
Her yin and yang eyes, like the sun and moon, white on the left and black on the right, narrowed slightly as she glanced at Pei Lianxue again.
Whoosh--
Streams of energy followed in the wake of Pei Lianxue's sword and were shot toward the eight directions with her as the center, and all the bamboos they passed were neatly cut off.
Snap!
Accidentally, the red beam of the pavilion where the girl was sitting was also damaged, the sword's energy making a dent in it.
In the blink of an eye, the girl tilted her head back a little.
Bang...
The next moment, the jade porcelain cup in her hand flew away as if it had been hit by something.
Crash--
The porcelain cup fell to the ground and shattered.
The girl murmured. "In the Qi Refining stage... and the Leaf Shadow Sword Technique has been cultivated to the fifth level?"
Hearing the porcelain cup shattering, Pei Lianxue abruptly stopped her sword routine and turned to look at the girl.
She had failed to notice there was someone else in the bamboo forest.
But now, seeing the girl's appearance, she was stunned, and even her breath stopped involuntarily.
The girl was silent for a moment, then took a small mooncake from the plate on the stone table. "Want some mooncakes?"
A sound like a small bell reached Pei Lianxue's ears carried by the wind.
Pei Lianxue turned her head left and right, looked around her, then asked, "Are you talking to me?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The girl was silent for a long time before slowly nodding.
Then, Pei Lianxue swallowed, feeling a trace of fear in her heart.
She looked up at the sky, and seeing the half-moon, she whispered, "It's not the Mid-Autumn Festival, so why do you eat mooncakes?"
"Who said you can't eat mooncakes unless it's the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
"..."
Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and stared at the girl, feeling that she was too otherworldly.
So otherworldly that she didn't even look like a real person.
And she was even eating mooncakes during the half-moon period...
Right at this moment, the mist in the bamboo forest touched Pei Lianxue's skin, and she felt a chill covering her whole body.
She suddenly remembered the ghost stories her brother had told her before.
In those stories, many ghosts were very beautiful.
And they used their beautiful appearance to attract people.
When they got close enough, they would show their original form, reveal their bloody mouths, and eat the person.
There were bone spirits, spider spirits, and so on...
Pei Lianxue now suspected that this girl was some kind of spirit. She mustered up the courage and quickly released her spiritual sense to probe her.
And after using her spiritual sense to investigate, she was even more certain of her hunch.
Because what she sensed was that there was no one in the pavilion.
"..."
The girl frowned slightly, seeming a little bored, and asked, "Why are you using your spiritual sense to probe me?"
"Are you..." Pei Lianxue gulped, "... a ghost?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
After a long silence, the girl nodded expressionlessly. "Well, my body is buried under your feet, and you stepped on me."
"?!!"
Hearing this, Pei Lianxue jumped in place in fright, quickly moving three or four steps to the side.
The girl continued. "You just stepped on my head, and now you're stepping on my left hand."
"?!!!"
Pei Lianxue hastily took another step aside.
"That's my calf."
"I'm sorry..." Pei Lianxue apologized quickly. It seemed that the girl had been dismembered and buried in several places. So, in order not to step on her anymore, she simply summoned her flying sword from the storage bag, stepped on it, and floated in mid-air.
"I'm not stepping on you now, I really didn't mean to..."
"It's okay." The girl smiled and shook her head, then floated up from the stone bench in the pavilion, beckoning to her. "Not many people come here. Come and sit with me for a while."
"No... no, thank you for your kindness!! I... I have something urgent to do!"
Pei Lianxue shrank her neck, turned around the flying sword into a stream of light, and flew back toward the courtyard with all her might.
Seeing her like this, the girl didn't bother chasing after her, instead, she resumed her seat on the stool. "... How rude."
After that, the girl didn't bother with her anymore, picked one of the twenty or so small mooncakes from the plate on the table, and threw it into her mouth.
After chewing, she raised her eyebrows. "Huh? Egg yolk filling... I definitely only put one."
...
The moon set, and the sun rose.
Today's clouds seemed relatively low, closely enveloping the Heavenly Cloud Peak.
So, now, Pei Lianxue's compound was surrounded by clouds and mist, like a fairyland.
Xiao Yunluo woke up early, thinking of bringing some pastries to Pei Lianxue, and after finishing her sword practice, she would accompany her to visit her brother.
Last night, as she lay in bed, she gave a lot of thought.
The black stone sword that her mother had given her was now lost, and she still didn't dare go and tell her about it.
Normally, she rarely had the opportunity to see her mother. She always felt that she had not met her mother's requirements, and now, if she knew that she had lost the sword, she might not recognize her as her daughter anymore.
Therefore, Xiao Yunluo wanted to make amends for her mistakes.
She wanted to become like Pei Lianxue.
Last night, Pei Lianxue said that the reason why she was so good was because her brother trained her well. Therefore, Xiao Yunluo wanted to contact the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect and ask him if there was any way for her to become like Pei Lianxue.
"Sigh--"
After packing the pastries, Xiao Yunluo came to Feng Yu Die's house and reached out to knock on the courtyard door.
However, as soon as her hand knocked, the door opened.
"Huh? Where's the latch?"
Confused, she walked in, and the first step she took inside deepened her confusion even more.
A horizontal line was neatly drawn at the yard entrance with a white-yellowish powder.
With a frown, Xiao Yunluo squatted down and touched the powder, rubbed it, and after a short hesitation, she simply tasted it.
"Bah-- isn't that salt? What did Lianxue do last night? Why did she spread salt all over the yard?"