394: Chapter 394 [He Touched My Head] The Girlish Thoughts of the Tai Xuan Sect Master

The entrance to Duanlong Ravine was located in a rift valley in the middle section of the Dragon Spine Mountain Range. The rift was about thirty zhang wide, with vertical cliffs on both sides. The bottom was a gravel field covered in Evil Qi, and the remnants of array patterns on the ground were several times denser than the periphery, layered one upon another like some ancient script spread across the earth.

The three of them stopped two li away from the rift valley entrance and found a wind-sheltered rock hollow to rest.

Tomorrow would be the seventh day.

Zhao Tian started a fire using Yin Fire driven by spiritual energy because the Evil Qi of the Dragon Vein Ancient Continent was too heavy for ordinary fire to ignite. The light of the Yin Fire was cyan-green, reflecting on the rock walls and stretching the shadows of the three people very long.

Su Changge sat by the fire, took out the Jade Slip again, and went through the information about the Seal once more.

Zhao Tian was roasting a piece of dry food he had found from somewhere nearby. Looking toward Su Changge, he hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Junior Martial Uncle, we'll arrive tomorrow. Regarding that Seal... are you confident?"

Su Changge put away the Jade Slip and glanced at Zhao Tian.

"Yes."

Zhao Tian accepted the word, nodded, and asked no more.

[No.] Su Changge added silently in his heart.

After Zhao Tian finished eating, he went back outside to keep watch.

The cyan-green firelight in the rock hollow flickered slightly. Ye Qingyao sat on the other side of the fire, holding a cup of tea brewed from leaves she brought with her. The bitter fragrance seemed exceptionally clear and refreshing in the air thick with Evil Qi.

Su Changge refined the plan in his mind once more, then closed his eyes and leaned against the rock wall.

After a while, he opened his eyes because Ye Qingyao was across from him, watching him through the fire.

The two of them looked at each other across the firelight.

Under the cyan-green light, Ye Qingyao's eyes were a shade darker than usual. Her long lashes cast small shadows below her brow bones, and her chin was slightly raised. The firelight flickered across her face, intermittently illuminating the tip of her nose and the curve of her cheekbones.

"Revered Master."

"Mhm."

"This Disciple has a question."

"Speak."

"Why did Revered Master take me as a Disciple?"

As this question was posed, Su Changge felt a momentary hitch in his heart.

[You're asking why I took you?]

[Because when you called me Revered Master back then, I didn't have a chance to object at all! You, a Mahayana Stage Cultivator, called me Revered Master in front of everyone. If I had said I wasn't your Master, how would the people present have looked at me? I had no choice but to accept it!]

He suppressed this truth deep in his heart, remained silent for three breaths on the surface, and then spoke with a neutral tone.

"It was Karmic Affinity."

Ye Qingyao accepted these words and savored them twice in her heart.

Karmic Affinity.

[Revered Master means... the Revered Master-Disciple bond between him and me is arranged by the Heavenly Dao, an inevitability in the operation of the Great Dao. It wasn't something he did intentionally, but rather a destiny determined in the unseen.]

She lowered her head, looking at the tea cup in her hand. The firelight reflected on the surface of the tea, rippling in circles.

"This Disciple... thanks Revered Master."

Su Changge did not respond.

After a moment of silence, Ye Qingyao stood up, walked around the fire, and sat down beside Su Changge.

She sat very close to him, the distance from shoulder to shoulder less than two inches.

Su Changge glanced at her sideways.

She didn't look at him, keeping her head down with both hands on her knees. The cyan-green firelight reflected on her profile, making a stray lock of hair behind her ear appear almost transparent.

Her neck was slender. From her jaw to her collar, her skin was so delicate that the faint veins beneath could be seen, and the curve of her collarbone was partially hidden by her collar. As the light shifted, the skin on the side of her neck took on an almost translucent quality.

Su Changge withdrew his gaze.

Ye Qingyao sat there, quiet for a moment, then spoke softly.

"Regarding tomorrow's matters, this Disciple will follow Revered Master's orders."

Su Changge nodded.

Another few breaths of silence passed.

Ye Qingyao's voice came again, using Sound Transmission, her voice very light.

"Did Revered Master know that in my past life... I also sought a Revered Master, but at that time, I never found one."

Su Changge heard this and mulled it over in his mind.

[She sought a Revered Master in her past life? She was an Empress in her past life. If an Empress wanted to find a teacher but couldn't, it means the person she was looking for wasn't in that era. Then she was reborn in this life and met me, and she thinks I am that person...]

[Wait, is she implying something?]

He didn't think too deeply about it. He reached out and lightly touched the top of her head.

The action was subconscious, like comforting a Junior who had shared their inner thoughts. He touched her briefly and then withdrew his hand.

The moment his hand touched the top of her head, Ye Qingyao's body stiffened.

She remained stiff for about two breaths, then slowly relaxed.

She kept her head down without speaking, her hands clenching on her knees before relaxing again.

The firelight flickered.

Hidden behind that stray lock of hair, the tips of her ears turned red.

Su Changge didn't see it.

He had already leaned back against the rock wall and closed his eyes.

Sitting beside him, Ye Qingyao steadied her breathing and replayed that sensation from just now over and over in her mind.

[He patted my head.]

[Revered Master... he patted my head.]

She was the Sect Master of the Taixuan Sect, a Mahayana Stage Cultivator of the Cangxuan Dao Domain, and in her past life, she was an Empress who ruled over a region. After her Rebirth in this life, she had walked through countless bloodbaths; nothing could make her lose her composure.

But that moment just now...

She raised her hand, her fingertips touching her hair at the spot where his fingers had rested.

When her fingertips landed, there was nothing on her hair—no warmth, no trace—but she knew it was there.

She lowered her hand and sat there, speaking no more.

The firelight flickered for a long time, the cyan-green light alternating between brightness and shadow on the two of them.