Chapter 611 - 496: A Familiar Face is Gone, but the Peach Blossoms Still Await the Spring Breeze

Within the bamboo courtyard.

The Dao rhythm surrounding Xiao Mo grew ever thicker and more profound. A faint, ethereal river of that same rhythm coiled around him, spinning and flowing in a seemingly endless cycle.

Fish formed from the Dao rhythm leaped with growing joy within the river, sometimes soaring into the air, sometimes diving back into the flow, brimming with spiritual charm.

Beneath Xiao Mo, an Eight Trigrams Map spontaneously formed.

Meanwhile, directly above his head, white clouds gathered into layered vortexes, one stacked upon the other, as if an unseen hand was stirring the heavens and the earth.

Finally, the river of Dao rhythm that had enveloped Xiao Mo like a chrysalis gradually turned black and white. The two colors intertwined, growing deeper and richer until his figure was completely obscured.

And from within that chrysalis, Xiao Mo’s eyelashes trembled faintly—

Then, he slowly opened his eyes.

The very moment Xiao Mo’s eyes opened, the river of Dao rhythm enveloping him shattered. Ripples of condensed Spiritual Power radiated out in all directions, with the bamboo courtyard as their epicenter.

Wherever the Spiritual Power touched, the essence of spring intensified—flowers of every color bloomed in an instant, carpeting the forest paths and covering the mountain slopes in a riot of color.

On the rear mountain of Shallow Study Peak, buds that had been moments from blooming were urged open by the Spiritual Power. Peach blossoms unfurled, standing gracefully on their branches like young maidens in pink dresses, proudly and brightly covering the entire peak.

A gentle breeze swept by, causing the peach blossoms all over the mountain to sway. They looked like dancers performing a graceful routine, their movements gently stirring the spring scenery.

"The peach blossoms on Shallow Study Peak... they’ve bloomed?"

Yuan Xing stared at the scene in astonishment, barely able to believe her eyes.

And she couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination, but Yuan Xing felt that this year’s peach blossoms were far more beautiful than any she had ever seen before. They were so lovely she couldn’t look away.

In contrast, Tushan Jing Ci, sitting in the mountain pavilion, stared blankly at the sea of peach blossoms, utterly lost in a daze.

"Jing Ci, what’s wrong? Is there something strange about the blossoms?"

Feng Shan noticed her friend’s unusual behavior and asked softly.

She had never seen Jing Ci with such an expression.

Her beautiful eyes reflected the blossoming spring scenery that covered the mountain, but they also held an emotion Feng Shan couldn’t comprehend, one that seemed about to overflow.

"Shanshan, something’s come up. I have to go."

Snapping back to reality, Tushan Jing Ci turned and spoke hastily to her friend.

Her eyes were a mix of anxiety and elation. Her expression was like something out of a storybook—a wife, pining day and night for her husband, who has just heard from the villagers that he is about to return from a long journey, her heart surging with emotions she can’t contain.

"Huh? Jing Ci, what did you say?" Shi Yang, who was sitting nearby, asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Everyone, I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave. Please forgive me."

Tushan Jing Ci was frantic and couldn’t sit still a moment longer. She stood, bowed to the group, and spoke much faster than she usually did.

Before anyone could ask her to stay, she had already turned and run out of the pavilion, her skirt fluttering in the wind as she hurried down the mountain path.

In just a few moments, her graceful figure vanished into the endless peach blossom forest, leaving only the swaying branches to dance gently in the breeze.

"What’s gotten into Jing Ci? Why was she in such a rush?" Chen Jue asked, staring in the direction she had disappeared with a look of confusion.

"No idea," Yuan Xing said, shaking her head, equally bewildered.

"But now that you mention it, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jing Ci look so anxious."

"Still, for Jing Ci to just up and leave like that... It was so hard for all of us to get together. It just feels a little off."

"Maybe Jing Ci simply looks down on us."

"That would make sense. She’s from the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox clan, so her bloodline is noble. And now that she’s become a Female Virtuous Person, it’s only natural she’d look down on common folk like us."

After Tushan Jing Ci left, the group began to gossip amongst themselves.

Some of the women’s voices were laced with unmistakable passive-aggression.

They were already inferior to Tushan Jing Ci in every way—be it bloodline and talent, family background, or figure and appearance, talent and knowledge, they fell short in all aspects. To make matters worse, the men they admired were all infatuated with Jing Ci.

Now that they finally had an opportunity, they naturally had to say a few things to make themselves feel a little better.

"Jing Ci must have had something very important to do to leave in such a hurry." Feng Shan’s brow furrowed slightly upon hearing them badmouth her friend. "What? Does she need to report her every move to you now?"

"That’s right. Jing Ci isn’t the type to be rude," Shi Yang also spoke up, defending Tushan Jing Ci. "Besides, we were the ones who had to drag her here in the first place. Isn’t it perfectly normal for her to leave if something came up?"

"Everyone, everyone, it’s a rare occasion for us to be together. Let’s not talk about this for now."

Seeing the atmosphere in the pavilion grow increasingly tense and the argument on the verge of escalating, a man named Yan Zhengyi quickly stepped in to mediate, hoping to smooth things over before feelings were hurt.

"Right," Lou Huo said with a nod, adopting a joking tone. "Jing Ci might be gone, but she did finish her poem. Why don’t we take a look at it? If it’s no good, we can gossip about it behind her back. She’ll never know, right?"

"Come on, let’s see what kind of poem Jing Ci wrote."

The others quickly chimed in, changing the subject. They were genuinely afraid a perfectly good gathering would be ruined by an argument, which would be completely unnecessary.

"I want to be the first to see it! I’ll read it aloud for all of you."

Yuan Xing smiled and quickly reached for the paper Tushan Jing Ci had just written on, as if afraid someone else would snatch it away from her.

Yuan Xing stood up, cleared her throat, and began to recite in a gentle voice:

"Three years on, in this courtyard today,A face and the peach blossoms blush as one."

As the first two lines were spoken, everyone nodded slightly in approval.

Those two lines alone were refreshing, painting a clear and beautiful scene with a profound, lingering charm.

’But what does she mean by "three years"?’

’Is she talking about how we classmates haven’t seen each other in three years?’

’No, that’s not right...’

’It’s been many years since we all gathered like this. Far more than just three.’

Just as everyone was waiting for the last two lines, they saw Yuan Xing clutching the paper, blinking as she stared at the words, not continuing for a long time.

"Xing’er, what’s wrong? Hurry up and read! If you don’t, I’m going to read it myself," Feng Shan urged, growing impatient when Yuan Xing remained silent.

’What’s with this girl? How can she just stop after two lines?’

Yuan Xing slowly lifted her gaze and looked around at the others. Thinking back on the poems she and the others had just composed, a blush of shame crept onto her face. She felt like an amateur who had tried to show off their skills before a true master.

"Three years on, in this courtyard today,A face and the peach blossoms blush as one."

She recited the first two lines again, paused for a moment, and her voice unconsciously grew much softer.

"That face is gone, I know not to where,But the peach blossoms still await the spring wind."