Just as Chai Xiaomi was about to agree, she suddenly felt a gust of eerie wind blow in from nowhere.
Looking up, she saw a figure slowly drifting past them.
A cool voice sounded, "You certainly want to learn a lot of things. One moment it's archery, and the next you want to learn something else."
The young man seamlessly folded his bloodstained cuffs a few times, tucking them inward to hide the stains, revealing a stretch of clean, pale wrist. A small corner of a tattoo was faintly visible on his forearm.
As he passed by, his gaze swept over the white cat, seemingly casual.
"What kind of garbage spell takes nine times to teach? I'd say this master is rather mediocre."
Jiang Zhiyu froze in shock.
Instantly, he felt the joy of finding a kindred spirit. The look he gave Wu Li was a mix of gratitude and deep emotion, his eyes almost welling up with tears.
Especially considering that along their journey, he had tried time and again to get closer to Wu Li, only for the other boy to remain aloof and arrogant, his occasional words always laced with sarcasm.
But today, he was actually speaking up for him!
Jiang Zhiyu was thrilled beyond words.
The white cat, however, bristled all over. Its back arched high, and its whiskers trembled with rage.
Was there a single disciple of Jingming Terrace who didn't respectfully call it Master or Martial Uncle? Of all the people in the world who knew its name, who wouldn't address it with the honorific Alchemist Ji?
It had thought that taking in a troublesome disciple like Jiang Zhiyu was already draining enough.
Who would have thought there was such an insolent, disrespectful brat in this world?
"It is clearly because you youngsters are dull-witted!" The white cat angrily crossed its two front paws. Mimicking a human crossing their arms looked rather comical on a cat's body. "I don't believe for a second that if I personally taught you three times, you would be able to learn it!"
"Heh."
Wu Li let out a soft scoff, as if he had just heard a joke. Lowering his eyes, he raised his hands, focusing his mind and gathering his energy for a moment as if recalling something. Then, a very faint smile curved his lips.
He interlaced his ten fingers, his palms lightly cupped together, and began to form the hand seals exactly as the white cat had done earlier.
Under his breath, he repeated the incantation it had chanted.
The young man's fingers were long and beautiful, and his hand seals were as sharp and swift as the wind. As he slowly pulled open that transparent Mirror of True Form, Chai Xiaomi's eyes were practically glued to his elegant, well-defined hands.
While everyone else was stunned that Wu Li had learned Alchemist Ji's Mirror of True Form hand seals just by watching from the sidelines for a brief moment.
Only Chai Xiaomi was staring at those hands in a daze, her mind filled with a single thought: Help, these hands are way too seductive.
Ji Bai froze in place, speechless for a long time.
Could this be the legendary, once-in-a-millennium prodigy of the sect?
Looking across the entire Jingming Terrace, the only other person who could grasp the essence of a spell after seeing it just once was its master, who had long since ascended. There was no one else.
This made things incredibly awkward.
So, was it really because Jiang Zhiyu was too dull-witted? Or was it because Ji Bai was a terrible teacher?
Right now, Wu Li had learned it all on his own without anyone teaching him.
Ji Bai and Jiang Zhiyu began to argue like fire and water. The white cat leaped nimbly and plopped its bottom right onto Jiang Zhiyu's head. Knowing that its disciple was usually vain and cared deeply about his appearance, it deliberately sat on his meticulously combed hair crown, skewing it. Its paws flailed wildly as it scolded him the entire time with a why can't you be more like the neighbor's kid tone.
The Heaven-tier room was located at the corner of the top floor of Huanyin Pavilion, offering an excellent view.
One side faced the street, where the lanterns were as bright as day, while the other side faced the lake, where the moonlight draped over the sparkling ripples.
After Chai Xiaomi and Wu Li returned to their room one after another, they took turns washing up and then went to their respective beds.
Compared to Zhu Yu's small inn, the guest room at Huanyin Pavilion was much more spacious. The furnishings were exquisite, the decor was beautiful, and it was fully equipped with all sorts of furniture.
Wu Li also finally didn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.
By the wall was a chaise lounge, just big enough for one person to lie on. Although it was a bit cramped for his length, he had no intention of asking to swap beds with her; he just silently laid his bedding on it.
Neither of them spoke a word the entire time.
After the candles were extinguished, there was no more sound in the room.
However, the streets outside the window were dazzling. During the new moon season in Qianwu Town, the moonlight was exceptionally clear. It filtered into the room, making the outlines of the objects faintly visible.
Outside the door, the faint cheers of the audience downstairs could be heard, along with the occasional rustling sounds of courtesans and their patrons walking by with playful laughter.
Chai Xiaomi wasn't a person who liked absolute silence. Even when sleeping, she preferred to fall asleep to white noise, like the sound of thunderstorms, flowing water, or cicadas in the forest.
For her, as long as it wasn't a sudden, jarring noise, even human voices coming from afar could serve as a sleep aid, actually making her sleep more peacefully.
But tonight was strange. The more she listened, the more restless she felt.
A scene kept lingering in her mind, refusing to fade.
Inside the archery shop, the moment Wu Li deliberately created for Song Yueyao to touch him kept reminding her over and over that he was truly about to start planting the love gu in Song Yueyao.
Not knowing if the young man on the chaise lounge was also having trouble sleeping due to the noise outside, she saw him suddenly sit up.
Chai Xiaomi squinted in the dim light to peek at him. She saw Wu Li quietly get up and walk lightly to the corner of the room. There sat the piece of wood exchanged for the Crimson Blood Silkworm, which had long been brought into the room by the servants of Huanyin Pavilion.
He bent down, picked up the wood, and walked toward the window.
It looked as though he was about to head out.
Just as Chai Xiaomi thought he was going to leap out the window, he suddenly paused. His body turned slightly, as if glancing in her direction.
She hurriedly closed her eyes and held her breath, pretending to be asleep.
She only heard the young man's lowered voice say softly, "You go keep watch. Make sure she doesn't fall out of bed."
Immediately after, a cold, slimy sensation brushed past her fingertips.
It was undoubtedly that fat snake.
As soon as Wu Li left, she opened her eyes.
She met Hongjiao's round, slit-pupiled eyes dead on.
Hongjiao: "?"
She realized she was practically invincible now; not only could she stare down a snake's eyes, but she could even read the question mark in its gaze.
"That's right, I was pretending to be asleep. If you dare tell him, I'll stew you! Steamed or braised, you choose," Chai Xiaomi threatened.
Hongjiao hastily shook its head, blinked, tilted its head, and went limp on the pillow.
It conceded defeat; this was someone it could not afford to provoke.
Even its master couldn't do anything about her, let alone it?
If her two eyes started pouring water again, its master might actually throw it into a pot.
The moonlight lay clear and shallow on the lake's surface. The rippling reflections refracted through the window, casting dim, watery shadows on the curio cabinet in the room.
The light and shadows swayed gently with the water ripples, brushing past the small sugar figure in the blue and white porcelain vase.
Chai Xiaomi tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so she simply stared at that small sugar figure.
Its hands-on-hips posture seemed to be mocking her: Xiaomi, oh Xiaomi, admit it, you've already started to fall for him...
When she got tired of staring, she rolled her slightly sore eyes and suddenly noticed a man's outer robe hanging on the wooden rack next to the curio cabinet. There was a mottled dark patch on the cuff; it was the exact piece of clothing Wu Li had gotten blood on earlier.
Usually, right after washing up, he would immediately wash his clothes as well. He didn't procrastinate in the slightest and always had to finish everything on hand before he would rest.
Perhaps because he had grown up doing all sorts of chores, he was the classic type of guy who always noticed what needed to be done. Sometimes, while washing his own laundry, he would watch her dawdling and taking her sweet time. Unable to stand it, he would simply snatch her clothes and scrub them alongside his own.
But tonight, heaven knows why he was in such a hurry to carry a piece of wood outside; he hadn't even found the time to wash his clothes.
Chai Xiaomi simply climbed out of bed. She couldn't sleep anyway, so she figured she might as well wash out that bloodstain, as just looking at it would make her uncomfortable.
