Ji Zhaoxi and Xie Qingyan returned to the manor quite late. Xie Qingyan held her hand with his left hand and carried two decorative lanterns in his right.
Ji Zhaoxi was looking up at him, excitedly chattering about something, while Xie Qingyan's eyes were brimming with a gentle smile.
"I told you to reflect on your actions, and this is how you do it?" A voice full of anger interrupted their conversation.
Master Changsong stood at the doorway, so furious that he was puffing his beard and glaring.
He had thought Xie Qingyan would at least stay in his room to ponder their master-disciple bond and his twenty-odd years of cultivation. Instead, he had actually gone to see the lantern festival with this female ghost!
Zhi Xuan stood silently to the side.
Xie Qingyan nodded at Master Changsong. "Master."
"The lantern festival in the capital is very beautiful. You should go see it sometime."
Master Changsong was beside himself with rage. "I'm afraid your master doesn't have the life left to see it!"
He glared at Ji Zhaoxi, who was beside Xie Qingyan. Ji Zhaoxi was busy looking at a peeping parrot ghost in the tree. Seeing Master Changsong glaring at her, she offered a small smile.
Master Changsong was speechless.
"Just how long are you going to fool around with this yin... this woman?!"
He truly didn't understand. Why was he so dead set on this female ghost? What was so good about her anyway?
Xie Qingyan lowered his eyes. "It's getting late. Master, you should go rest."
Master Changsong stared at their retreating backs in disbelief.
"You wicked disciple! Your master is still standing right here, and you still dare to share a room with her?!"
Zhi Xuan silently grumbled in his heart: They've been sharing a room for ages now. Why would they stop just because Master showed up?
Master is really being unreasonable, trying to break up a happy couple.
It took Master Changsong quite a while to recover from his anger. Suddenly, he spoke.
"It must be that female ghost who seduced Qingyan."
"How is that possible!" Zhi Xuan immediately jumped out, doing his utmost to defend the only two companions in the manor who would listen to his nonsense.
"Miss Ji is so honest, how could she possibly seduce Eldest Senior Brother? Besides, what ghost would be so reckless with their life as to try and seduce him!"
"This disciple thinks it was definitely Eldest Senior Brother who seduced Miss Ji."
Poor Miss Ji didn't even have a human form before and could only wander aimlessly through the mortal realm. As soon as Eldest Senior Brother saw her, he clung to her and forcefully kept her by his side.
This was the version of events in Zhi Xuan's mind.
He looked up, met Master Changsong's hostile gaze, and immediately fell silent.
"Are you out of your mind, taking the side of an outsider? It seems to me you've been bewitched by that female ghost too! Go down and take your punishment!"
Zhi Xuan replied reluctantly, "Yes."
Early the next morning, Xie Qingyan went directly to see Master Changsong.
His Taoist robes, sword, and various magical artifacts were laid out one by one on the table.
"Master, this disciple has thought it through. I have decided to return to secular life."
Master Changsong's chest ached with anger. Hadn't he just said a few words last night? Could Xie Qingyan truly not bear to hear a single bad word about that female ghost?
Zhi Xuan sighed incessantly from the sidelines. "Master, please stop trying to tear them apart. A romance between a human and a ghost is already hard enough as it is."
"Shut up!"
"Oh..."
Master Changsong sighed. "Humans and ghosts, the orthodox and the wicked—they have been opposed since ancient times. Qingyan, if you merely wanted to dabble in the mortal world, I could reluctantly agree. But for you to be with a female ghost, that completely violates human ethics!"
Xie Qingyan listened in silence before speaking, "Master, if humans are inherently orthodox and ghosts are inherently wicked, then how do you explain those humans who harm commoners? And for ghosts who have never harmed anyone, is this not a kind of injustice?"
Zhi Xuan nodded vigorously. Exactly, exactly.
Master Changsong furrowed his brows tightly, suppressing his anger. "Then what about your Dao? The Dao you have sought for twenty years—are you not going to continue pursuing it?"
Xie Qingyan looked earnestly at Master Changsong. "Master, I have already found the Dao in my heart."
She was his Dao.
Master Changsong let out a weary sigh and waved his hand, dismissing him.
In a daze, his mind drifted back to a figure swaying while holding a horse stance in the snow twenty years ago.
When the other young acolytes were slacking off, Xie Qingyan was out in the piercing cold wind, methodically swinging his wooden sword.
He would light a candle and read the scriptures given to him late into the night, every single day. He had carved every rule of the Taoist temple into his bones; for twenty years, he had never made a single mistake.
Even when jealous senior and junior brothers tripped him up behind his back, he strictly abided by the temple's rules and never resorted to violence.
Master Changsong once thought he refrained from fighting back out of fear of those disciples. Later, he realized Xie Qingyan genuinely didn't care. His mind was solely focused on the pursuit of the Dao.
Back then, Xie Qingyan was the most obedient and yet the most heartless disciple in the Taichu Temple. His path to seeking the Dao had never deviated in the slightest. He was born for the Heavenly Dao.
Master Changsong never expected things to end up like this.
The capital was heavily guarded and overflowing with yang energy. Moreover, it was filled with ghost-catching formations, causing Ji Zhaoxi to lose much of her freedom there.
Xie Qingyan had never planned to stay in the capital for long.
He chose a mountain suitable for nourishing her soul—Yunqi Mountain.
Yunqi Mountain was wreathed in mist all year round and abundant in yin energy. It also had a cold pool of pure yin energy, making it the perfect place for her to improve her cultivation.
Not far from the foot of the mountain was a small town with a market and teahouses. If she ever got bored, she could go down the mountain for a stroll.
Xie Qingyan didn't care about the judgment of others, nor did he care whether he could gain Master Changsong's approval. He only wanted to do what he desired.
And so, early one morning, Xie Qingyan and Ji Zhaoxi left the capital.
