140: Chapter 140 Using Oneself as a Guide to Return to the Source

Jinxi Pond, Starfall Rock.

The bright moon hung in the ink-blue sky, drenching the quiet lake surface in its clear radiance.

The lakeside, bustling during the day, was now empty. Only the rustling of lotus leaves in the breeze and the gentle murmur of the lake water lapping against the shore remained. Half of the massive Starfall Rock was submerged in the cool lake water, while the other half lay bare under the moonlight.

Ling Hao and Lin Xiwei stood side by side atop the rock.

Lin Xiwei wore a long dress of moon-white shark-silk, its hem fluttering gently in the night wind. Through the high slit, her straight, slender, jade-like legs were faintly visible.

Under the moonlight, the winding silver star-track patterns upon them shimmered with a mysterious and alluring light. These flowing rivers of stars were clearly reflected on the mirror-like surface of the lake below, rippling slightly with the waves as if another brilliant starry sky lay sleeping at the bottom of the lake.

Her cold profile appeared even more porcelain-white in the moonlight, but deep within her ink-colored eyes, complex emotions surged, starkly different from her usual self. It was a strange sense of Epiphany, where the Dao and her feelings were intensely intertwined after Qin Zhaoxue had exposed her heart's secrets.

After leaving Changming Hall, Ling Hao had led Lin Xiwei on a leisurely stroll through the Moonshadow Sect. Their figures walking side by side were left upon the pavilions, spirit peaks, and beautiful waters. Finally, they returned to the banks of the Twin Lakes and stood atop the massive Starfall Rock.

“How is it? This is much more interesting than stifling yourself in an Immortal Cave with dry Cultivation, isn't it?”

Lin Xiwei gazed at the shimmering lake under the moonlight and felt the cool breeze on her face, nodding gently. She seemed to understand a bit why her Second Senior Sister always loved pestering Revered Master to travel everywhere.

When the state of mind is broad, another world opens up.

“So, in the future, don't always lock yourself in your small courtyard just to Cultivate. Come out and walk more.”

Ling Hao said warmly.

Lin Xiwei instinctively wanted to argue, 'How can one advance without Cultivating?' but before the words could leave her mouth, the figure of her Second Senior Sister, Qin Zhaoxue, surfaced in her mind.

This... for her, might be an unprecedented path of cultivation?

“Do you remember this place?”

Ling Hao's gaze swept over the rock beneath their feet, which bore countless marks of the Moonshadow Sect's sermons, and continued:

“Our first meeting was here. It was also here that you stepped out from the crowd and publicly begged to take me as your Revered Master...” Ling Hao's voice carried a hint of nostalgia.

Lin Xiwei's breath hitched slightly. Yes, this was the place where she took him as her Revered Master, the starting point of her path in this life. Then tonight... her thoughts surged uncontrollably. Could it be that this would also be the place where she... pursued the Great Dao in another way?

Ling Hao took a step forward, instantly closing the distance between them until they could almost feel the warmth radiating from each other. He reached out his hand, his fingertips not touching her directly but slowly tracing the edge of the slit in her dress, sketching the path of the faintly visible silver star-track patterns on her thigh from a distance.

On the lake's surface, the reflected star-tracks also rippled slightly.

Lin Xiwei's body tensed instantly! Those cold star-track patterns seemed to be ignited by his gaze and breath, becoming burning hot. She instinctively wanted to retreat, but was stopped by Ling Hao's other arm, which had quietly circled around her narrow waist.

“Xiao Wei, tell Revered Master...”

Ling Hao's lips pressed against her cool earlobe, “Tell Revered Master, that night by the Black Lotus Pond when I was teaching you Talismans... your fingertips were trembling. It wasn't fear, it was... a restless mind. What were you thinking then?”

Ling Hao was referring to the time he taught her hand-on-hand, when she had lost her composure because of his proximity.

Lin Xiwei's heart beat like a drum. Memories of her past life, the struggles of this life, the ice heart epiphyllum of the Hundred Flowers Ceremony, Qin Zhaoxue's revelation, the contract in the Changming Hall... all these images surged in her mind. She closed her eyes, her cold mask crumbling inch by inch under her Revered Master's relentless pressure.

“I...” she spoke with difficulty, “I was thinking... Revered Master's palm... is so hot... that breath... made me... unable to focus...” This was the first time she had so bluntly admitted her agitation at that time.

Ling Hao let out a low laugh, the hand around her waist tightening slightly.

“And now?” Ling Hao's lips brushed past her cold ear, sending a strong shiver through Lin Xiwei, “Now that I am so close to you, can your heart... stay calm?”

“No—it can't stay calm—”

“Then Xiao Wei, answer Revered Master one more question.”

“Inside the Changming Hall, when we formed the Dao Companion covenant... what you were thinking in your heart was not just the oath of that contract, was it?”

Ling Hao's gaze was deep as he stared at her.

Lin Xiwei's cheeks were instantly stained with a deeper flush. She hadn't expected her Revered Master to have already seen through her secret anticipation at that moment.

“Revered Master didn't take you all over the Sect just for a stroll.”

“By becoming familiar with the Sect, we will know which places are better for discussing the Dao in the future. As for the place of our first discussion...”

Ling Hao's gaze swept over the Starfall Rock beneath them and the quiet Twin Lakes.

“This place witnessed the beginning of our fate as Revered Master and disciple...” Ling Hao leaned down slightly.

“Xiao Wei, are you willing... to Discuss the Dao with Revered Master here?”

That affectionate gaze seemed as if it would melt her.

Lin Xiwei's ink-colored pupils were already filled with a misty watery light. All her caution, all her coldness, and all her insistence on the heartless nature of the Great Dao were crumbling at this moment, battered by the man before her and the irresistible aura he exuded, like an Incarnation of the Dao itself.

She looked into her Revered Master's deep eyes so close to her own, which reflected her current passionate and dazed appearance.

Lin Xiwei raised a trembling hand and gently placed it on the arm wrapped around her waist.

At the same time, her other delicate hand moved to the sash of her moon-white shark-silk dress. Her cold fingertips hooked the soft silk cord and gave it a gentle tug.

The neckline of the already slit dress slid down slightly, revealing more porcelain-white jade-like skin and her delicate, alluring collarbones.

Under the moonlight, the mysterious silver star-track patterns on her long legs were fully revealed between the fallen hem of the dress, like a galaxy spreading out, inviting exploration.

On the lake's surface, the two reflected star-tracks became even more visible and brilliant, swaying and distorting as if a stone had been thrown into the calm heart of the lake.

Lin Xiwei looked straight into Ling Hao's eyes, her voice broken yet clear:

“Revered Master... your disciple is willing... I wish to seek the Dao...”

“Seeking... to use my body as a medium... to guide the Dao back to its source...”

“Please, Revered Master... resolve... your disciple's doubts...”

Her words were not finished, but the fully revealed passion was more direct than any language!

Ling Hao's breathing suddenly became heavy. He looked at this ice epiphyllum blooming completely for him under the moonlight, looking at the three flowing rivers of brilliant stars upon her body.

“Resolve your doubts?” Ling Hao smiled, “Very well... Revered Master... will personally 'resolve your doubts' for you!”

The twin lotuses in the heart of the lake swayed silently in the night wind. The lake surface reflected the figures of the two on Starfall Rock, the bright moon witnessing it all, and those two brilliant star-tracks on the water's surface shaking violently as if trying to break free from the water's constraints.