"What are you thinking about?" Gu Xing curiously asked.
"That it’s not long now before my friends co out," Yang Qing said with a cheerful smile.
"No wonder I didn’t see Daoist Luo ili and Daoist Su Jinjing with you," comnted Gu Xing.
"They went into seclusion imdiately after we left. Given how much ti has passed since then, it shouldn’t be long before the announcents of their breakthroughs co through," said Yang Qing, his eyes faintly gleaming with anticipation.
"You miss them?"
"I do..."
"When they co out, do pass on my congratulations," said Gu Xing, a strange flicker passing through her eyes as she stared at the sa stars Yang Qing was looking at.
"You can offer them in person, you know," Yang Qing casually comnted. "If you want, that is. That way you can even get to et the rest of my team," he added.
"? Co?" Gu Xing said, pointing toward herself. "Would the Order allow that?" she followed.
"I don’t see why not," Yang Qing said with a faint smile as his gaze shifted from the sky to Gu Xing. "I constantly bring outsiders to my abode," he added in a tone that almost sounded like he was bragging.
"Mmmh, outsiders," said Gu Xing as she smiled strangely. "Won?" she added with a aningful smile, her impromptu quiz heavily impacting Yang Qing as he nearly choked on the wine he was drinking.
Coughing from the choking and trying to regain his calm, a clearly flustered Yang Qing smiled bitterly as he said, "Please stop teasing . You will get into trouble, Fellow Daoist."
Gu Xing humd a smile in response.
After mustering enough courage and fearing that if he didn’t resolve the situation, he might end up becoming a roaming inquisitor just to escape the potential disaster that could arise from Gu Xing’s very dangerous comnts, Yang Qing said, "And to answer your question, it isn’t just won I bring back."
"Oh, is that so? Then who else makes it onto this ’outsider’ list?" said Gu Xing in a teasingly intrigued voice.
Yang Qing, imdiately clasping at the opportunity to defend or salvage his honor and rid himself of the albatross slowly sneaking up on his neck to strangle him at the command of a certain purple-eyed gossip monger, answered,
"Well, I have brought back insects," he said as he eyed Wenling, who flinched at the sudden attention. She had been a little too jumpy since she ca here, and even more so after Gu Xing’s appearance.
"Bir-bees too," Yang Qing quickly added, switching from birds to bees. Gu Xing, despite being in human form, was still a Special Dao lifeform—and technically a bird type one at that, given she was a sacred fla swan. ntioning birds right now, when he was trying to clear his na, felt like handing her more talismans to use against him.
Gu Xing’s aningful smile and the strange glimr in her eyes told him she had seen through his ploy. But, as soone well-practiced in feigning ignorance, Yang Qing pretended not to notice and pressed on with his "list of redemption."
"There’s also a crab, so trees here and there, and a few ownerless or discarded artifacts with sentient spirits..." he went on, listing more—so made up, so true, most in between.
"Fine..." Gu Xing finally said in defeat. "Well, if you’ll have , I would love to be there. I’ve never been to the Order," she added cheerfully.
"Good! It’s settled," Yang Qing said as he toasted her, casting a sidelong glance at ifeng, who was a few steps away, mopping.
"I’ll find a way to have you there, too, ifeng. Surely I can’t have a celebration without my little sister, can I?" Yang Qing softly said with a smile.
"Really?!" ifeng asked excitedly before instantly deflating as her gaze shifted to her main body. "But I can’t cover long distances with my clone. The only way for to be there would be if..." Her voice trailed off as she looked down.
Still speaking softly, she continued, ".... Would be if my main body was moved, and I don’t know if I want to leave the range yet. Master might co back. There’s senior brother too, and who knows, the others who left might return.
If they ca back and found I had left, then..."
"Your main body doesn’t have to be there for you to be present," Yang Qing said gently.
"Then how?" ifeng asked. Though doubtful, her spirits had clearly lifted.
"I don’t know yet," Yang Qing admitted, "but a very powerful senior of mine who once helped did suggest there’s a way. He’s a spiritual tree, and one at the Soul Formation realm to boot. So if he says there’s a way, then surely there is." He confidently added.
"What? No words?" he teased, flashing the silent ifeng a playful smile.
"Thank you," said ifeng, and this ti the tears imdiately started trickling down, which she quickly moved to wipe and conceal when her sixth sense alerted her to the presence of the serenity river skylark.
"Speaking of your master," said Yang Qing, his comnt imdiately diffusing the ’war’ that was about to erupt between ifeng and the skylark, as the forr instantly perked up and swiftly shifted her attention toward him at the ntion of her master.
"I t soone with so relation to her," Yang Qing continued.
"Who?!" ifeng rapidly followed.
"A nine-hearted deer by the na of Fan Ha. She said she’s your ma—"
Before Yang Qing could finish, ifeng had already dived into his body and agitatedly pulled at his hands.
"Fan Ha... Aunt Fan Ha! She’s alive?!" she asked in a rush. "You saw her?! How is she?! Did she ntion ?! Was she with Master?!"
ifeng rapidly fired over a dozen questions.
Maybe it was because she had already asked them all, or perhaps the uninterrupted outburst had sapped her strength, but she finally regained her presence of mind at the end of those questions, only to realize she had been shaking Yang Qing so hard that part of his hair had soaked in the pond’s water from the force.
"Sorry," she said, her face colored by a guilty smile.
"It’s okay. I have been aning to wash my hair in gentle yin water to see how it feels. It’s rather refreshing," Yang Qing joked as his hair resud its normal appearance, all the water absorbed by it like roots in the ground.
"To answer your question: yes, she’s alive, and yes, she did ntion you. But no, she wasn’t with your master. She hasn’t seen or heard from her either since she left," Yang Qing softly said as he moved to pat ifeng, who looked slightly downcast at the latter part of that statent.
He let her sit with that for a mont before he continued.
"She does have a son though. He’s called Fan Cai, and you might get the chance to et him when they move back," Yang Qing followed.
"A son?" ifeng asked, her excitent rising once more.
"Mmh, she has a son," answered Yang Qing as he went on to describe Fan Cai down to the minutiae of details, knowing ifeng would want every scrap of information about him.
"So they will be living here?" she asked excitedly, as her eyes imdiately started envisioning them around. "Do you know when they will co?"
"I don’t," Yang Qing said, shaking his head. "But when they do, I know you will likely be their first stop." He flashed her a faint smile, and ifeng bead at the response.
She followed with a few... well, more than a few— they were over a dozen questions about them. Before Yang Qing knew it, as he addressed every single one of them, the sun was already fully out, and with it, his ti to leave.
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