We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 494: Xiao Mo, Am I Not Impressive?

Watching Xu Chu's serious and steadfast manner, Tushan Jingci understood clearly in her heart that this young man her companion had chosen was indeed someone worthy of her trust.A quiet sense of relief settled over Tushan Jingci on Bei'er's behalf. She felt considerably lighter, and a measure of reassured warmth showed in her eyes and expression.

After all, if Bei'er was going to make such a great sacrifice, and the person she chose turned out to be unworthy of it, Tushan Jingci truly would not have known what to say.

"If there is ever anything you need help with in the future, send word to me at any time, no matter when. As long as it is within my power, I will not turn you away." Tushan Jingci looked at her closest companion, her words sincere and warm.

"Of course, I will not stand on ceremony with you."

Xu Bei'er stepped forward and gently took Tushan Jingci's hand, holding it between her own palms, and spoke softly.

"But Jingci, you should put in the effort as well. Now that you have someone you care for, you ought to be a little more proactive about it."

The moment the words were out, Xu Bei'er laughed first and raised a hand to tap lightly at her own forehead.

"Listen to me. Jingci, you are so beautiful that any man should be easy enough to win. Only, I do wonder what kind of person could have caught our Jingci's eye. When I come back, you simply must tell me all about it."

"Bei'er, stop it..." Tushan Jingci lowered her eyes, her long lashes blinking, a faint blush on her cheeks as she called out in sweet protest.

"Ha ha, all right, all right. I will stop teasing you." Xu Bei'er laughed and reached out to stroke Tushan Jingci's long hair gently, her gaze soft and full of warmth. "Jingci, I am going now. Take care of yourself and keep well."

"Mm." Tushan Jingci gave a nod, deep reluctance in her eyes, but she still curved the corners of her lips. "Be careful on the road."

Xu Bei'er stepped back and stood shoulder to shoulder with Xu Chu.

Together, the two of them gave Tushan Jingci a formal, respectful bow.

After taking their leave, they turned away hand in hand and walked off together.

Tushan Jingci stood where she was and watched those two retreating figures grow smaller with each step, following them with her gaze until they disappeared into the bamboo grove, unable to look away for a long while.

Another three months passed quietly.

One day, a flying sword arrived from afar and settled steadily into Tushan Jingci's hand. It was a message from Xu Bei'er carried by flying sword.

Tushan Jingci unfolded the letter and read it through carefully, word by word. It told, in unhurried detail, the story of everything that had happened after Xu Bei'er and Xu Chu returned to the Sea Moon Sect.

It turned out that when they arrived, the very first thing they did was go to see Xu Bei'er's father, the Sea Moon Sect's sect master.

To speak the truth, her father was not the kind of man who put stock in wealth or status but being a father, he could not help but weigh every consideration carefully when it came to his daughter's lifelong happiness, wanting her not to suffer for it later.

More than that, Xu Bei'er was the sect master's daughter, and both her appearance and her natural gifts were exceptional. Several of the saintly sons of other sects had expressed some interest in her.

In other words, in the eyes of the sect's elders, Xu Bei'er was an excellent candidate for a political marriage and so the elders of the Sea Moon Sect had naturally been reluctant to let the matter go so easily, and had applied considerable pressure on her father from all sides.

As the leader of a sect, her father could not help but think about the future of the entire sect. However, when he truly saw and felt how unwavering his daughter's heart was, he could not help but waver himself.

Beyond that, in her father's view, this young man called Xu Chu, when looked at closely and carefully, was genuinely no ordinary person. Both his natural gifts and his character were of the finest quality.

For any sect, what mattered most in the end was having worthy people to carry it forward.

Without that, no matter how powerful and flourishing a sect might be today, if its successors proved inadequate, decline was inevitable.

On the other hand, if a person was truly outstanding, even a wandering cultivator could carve out a place in the world and so her father ultimately convinced the elders within the sect and preserved his daughter's engagement to Xu Chu.

The elders on the Sea Moon Sect's side were not entirely without conditions, however. They put forward the requirement that Xu Chu must reach the Nascent Soul realm within two hundred years.

Reaching Nascent Soul within two hundred years was asking rather a great deal of most people, and Xu Chu was no exception but Xu Chu accepted the condition without a moment's hesitation, his gaze steady and certain.

At present, Xu Bei'er and Xu Chu were still at the Sea Moon Sect and had not hurried back.

The main reason was that Xu Bei'er, having come all this way, wanted to spend more time with her father and fulfill a daughter's duty properly.

After some time, Xu Chu would also bring Xu Bei'er to visit his own father. After that, they planned to travel and see the world together for a while, and then return to the Hanshan Academy.

Tushan Jingci read to the end of the letter, and knowing that her companion was well and that things had settled happily, the stone that had been sitting in her heart at last came to rest.

She was genuinely happy for Xu Bei'er, and a soft smile rose involuntarily to the corners of her lips.

Only...

Tushan Jingci set the letter slowly down in her hand and her gaze drifted of its own accord in a particular direction, toward a dense grove of bamboo.

"That foolish Xiao Mo. When on earth is he going to wake up?"

A spring breeze moved past outside the courtyard, and the bamboo leaves rustled with a sound like an answer, as though giving voice to the question she had been carrying inside her for so long.

In the blink of an eye, another new spring had arrived.

The Hanshan Academy's examination for the title of Worthy was also about to begin.

In truth, Tushan Jingci could have sat the examination the previous year but the academy had changed its rules that year, requiring students to have been enrolled for a certain number of years before becoming eligible to apply and it was only this year that Tushan Jingci had just met that requirement.

The examination was presided over by the deputy Dean himself.

There was no consideration of status, no asking about family lineage. Whether a candidate passed or not, regardless of their origins, was determined entirely by the depth of their learning.

The title of Worthy from the Hanshan Academy carried no small weight in the Demon Realm and was held in considerable esteem and so every young lord and young lady studying at the academy had without exception been pressed by their elders at home to earn this title. A mark of distinction from the Hanshan Academy was, in their eyes, as good as gilding oneself in gold.

As a result, even those young men and women who were most accustomed to a comfortable and pampered life and least inclined toward study had no choice but to bury their heads in their books and keep their lamps burning through the night.

Tushan Jingci most of all.

In the three months before the examination, she read by lamplight every night until deep into the hours of darkness.

Yueshi, watching her, could not help wondering whether she was seeing things. Was this truly the same Young Miss who in earlier years would only settle to her books if someone stood over her and reminded her?

One night, well past the second watch hour, Yueshi saw that the light in the Young Miss's room was still burning. She pushed the door open gently and stepped inside, speaking in a soft and coaxing tone. "Young Miss, it is already very late. Let us rest properly for tonight. Reading tomorrow will not be too late."

But Tushan Jingci shook her head, her gaze still on the scroll in her hands. "It will not do. The Worthy examination is not far off now. While there is still time, every bit more I can learn is worth learning."

"But the Worthy examination comes around again," Yueshi said, looking at the Young Miss with gentle concern. "If you do not pass this time, you can sit it again in three years."

"Three years..."

At those words, Tushan Jingci raised her head slightly and smiled, looking out at the dark night beyond the window.

"But I made Xiao Mo a promise. Before he wakes, I would become a Worthy. If I do not pass this time and Xiao Mo happens to come out of seclusion, would I not have broken my word?"

Yueshi: "..."

"All right, Elder Sister Yueshi, go and rest. There is no need to worry about me." Tushan Jingci drew her gaze back and returned it to the page. "Trust me, Elder Sister Yueshi. If I am truly tired, I will go and sleep."

With that, her pale, slender hands continued to hold the Confucian classic, turning through it page by page in the dim warmth of the lamplight, her expression focused and serene.

Watching the Young Miss's stubborn, earnest manner, Yueshi knew that nothing more she said would make any difference.

She only set the pastries she had been carrying down gently on the table, gave the Young Miss a quiet bow, and then slipped out, drawing the door softly closed behind her.

"Coming out of seclusion..."

Yueshi stood in the courtyard and looked toward the bamboo grove shrouded in the night outside, and could not help letting out a quiet sigh.

"To think... it has already been three years."

Before long, the Hanshan Academy's Worthy examination arrived on schedule.

The sky was just beginning to lighten when Tushan Jingci woke that morning.

Yueshi helped her Young Miss wash and dress with careful attention, then accompanied her to the examination grounds.

Among those sitting the examination this time, beyond a number of ordinary students at the Hanshan Academy, there were alone two hundred and thirty young men and women from great clans and noble families.

Three days of examination, tense and long. When the final session ended and Tushan Jingci walked out from the examination hall, her expression carried a trace of tiredness, but there was a quiet sense of release between her brows.

As for the other young men and women from notable families, some wore calm, composed expressions, confident in themselves. Others looked downcast, certain they had failed, already dreading the scolding that awaited them from their elders at home.

Seven days after the examination concluded, the Hanshan Academy announced the results.

Of the two hundred and thirty young men and women from notable clans and families, only ten had passed the Worthy examination in the end and Tushan Jingci's name was among them, clear and unmistakable.

Many people were surprised that Tushan Jingci had passed but in Yueshi's view, it was entirely as expected. She had seen with her own eyes how hard the Young Miss had worked over these three months, keeping her lamp burning night after night.

"My respects to Teacher Xian."

On the day the results were announced, Tushan Jingci came to the familiar bamboo grove.

She walked before Xian Xichun and gave a bow to the teacher sitting on his stone, her bearing graceful and respectful.

The bewitching quality of the fox clan and the gentle refinement of a Confucian scholar seemed to sit together on her as though they had always belonged there.

Xian Xichun's gaze fell on the Worthy jade tablet hanging at Tushan Jingci's slender waist, and a small smile rose to his lips as he gave a satisfied nod. "Very good, very good. Congratulations, Miss Tushan. From today onward, you are a Worthy of the Hanshan Academy of the Demon Realm."

"I only got through by luck." Tushan Jingci smiled lightly and held out the wine jug and food box she had brought to Xian Xichun. "These past days have been a burden on Teacher Xian."

"Not at all. Three years is nothing. I can read anywhere. Having ancient texts to go through every day with no one to disturb me is a perfectly comfortable arrangement."

Xian Xichun accepted the wine and the food that went with it, and said with a cheerful smile, "The only question is when young Brother Xiao is going to wake up. At the rate he has been sitting there, one would almost expect him to sprout grass."

At that, Tushan Jingci could not help but press her lips together in a soft laugh, as though all of spring were reflected in her smile.

"Right then. I will leave Xiao Mo's side to you for a while. I am going to have my drink on the other side, and not disturb you two young ones."

"When Xiao Mo comes out and sees that the playful companion he remembers has become such a graceful and beautiful young woman, I do wonder what sort of stunned expression he will have. Just thinking about it is rather something to look forward to."

Xian Xichun gave his robe a light pat and turned to walk into the bamboo grove, leaving this small corner of the world to the two young people.

Tushan Jingci smiled as she watched Xian Xichun move away, then turned around, pushed open the familiar bamboo gate gently, and walked into the courtyard where Xiao Mo sat.

The sunlight fell at a slant. She stood quietly beside Xiao Mo, her pale pink long dress reaching the tops of her feet, embroidered with a scattering of twining flowers, the sash at her waist drawn to a perfect fit, making clear just how slender that waist was.

Above that, sloping shoulders and a collarbone barely glimpsed, the outer corners of her eyes tilting upward in a subtle way, her eyes carrying a light that was faintly luminous with gathered moisture.

Though the light in the young girl's eyes was cool and clear, they held nothing in them but Xiao Mo.

Her snow-white hair was pinned with a simple silver hairpin, and a few wisps of loose hair drifted behind her ears. When the wind came, they lifted and swept softly across her cheek, that face already pale as snow taking on a barely perceptible flush at their touch.

As she always did, the young girl brought her legs together and sat down slowly before Xiao Mo.

She reached out a hand toward him, a glimpse of wrist as smooth and lustrous as jade showing below her sleeve, and began patting the bamboo leaves from his person one by one.

Her waist, for all its softness, held itself straight and upright. The light filtering through the bamboo grove fell across her in fragments, broke apart, and gathered back together. A spring breeze moved through, carrying with it the faint and clean fragrance that belonged to the young girl alone.

The Tushan Jingci of before had been all playful brightness in her eyes and manner, like a small fox that had never known what sorrow felt like but the young woman sitting here now carried within that innate playfulness and vitality something more, a maturity and stillness that the years had slowly laid down in her.

And it was precisely that well-proportioned maturity that lent her an added quality, a kind of quiet, stirring feminine grace that moved something in the heart without meaning to.

"Xiao Mo, do you know? I passed the examination. I am now a Worthy."

Looking at the young man before her, still motionless, as though he had become part of the world itself, Tushan Jingci curved her lips, their color a pale and natural rose-red, pressed together in a way that carried an unintentional gentle warmth.

"The thing I promised you, I have done it. Well, am I not impressive?"

The young girl's tone carried a note of small, quiet pride, as though she were waiting for him to praise her but as the words faded, the young girl's eyes lowered of their own accord, and a faint melancholy and sense of loss crept quietly into her expression.

She lifted her head, and her gaze traveled past Xiao Mo, past the bamboo fence of the courtyard, to the familiar peach grove in the distance.

"Only, Xiao Mo..."

"Why have this year's peach blossoms still not opened?"