Why do I have so many masters?

A feeling indescribable surged into Meng Yuexue's heart, as if the very ground beneath her feet had turned into clouds, weightlessly floating without anchoring her. After being dazed for several breaths, the girl hastily stuffed the book she was holding back onto the shelf. Her composure shattered with a crisp snap, drawing several gazes.

But she was no longer capable of focusing her attention, nor could she pause to bow in apology. Her steps were hurried, almost staggering, as she left the Academy for the first time so early in these few days.

That student who had been stealing glances at her caught a glimpse of her profile.

Her face appeared composed, yet it was slightly pale, like the white flags fluttering in the snowy wind on the day of a funeral. Her teeth were biting down on her lower lip, forming a shallow indentation, and blood seeped out, as if she had applied lipstick, strikingly beautiful in a way that was heart-throbbing, causing him to be momentarily lost in a daze.

By then, Meng Yuexue had already dashed out of Wind Character Tower.

The young student took a couple of quick steps but only caught sight of her retreating figure and her hair flying up. He couldn't help but feel a sense of poignant loss.

He had yet to even ask for the lady's name.

As today passed, he felt as if he would never see her again...

The student's eyes closed slightly, his right hand hung down by his side, not lifted, merely trembling faintly. To an ordinary person, these details would be hard to notice, as if it were just a fleeting glance.

Below Wind Character Tower, there were Bagua alignments set up, with desks and cases in the middle, and an old man dressed in blue clothes was sitting upright with meticulous posture, his profound eyes sweeping over the direction where Meng Yuexue had left and only retracting after several breaths.

"You're just going to watch?"
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

An aged voice sounded behind him. Sitting cross-legged behind Ren Changge was a Master dressed in a white cotton scholar's robe, looking utterly without formality. He had not concealed his traces, yet neither the surrounding students nor the instructors from various factions who had come to borrow books had noticed the elderly man's presence.

Ren Changge did not turn around or speak, but a faint voice rose near the Master's ear, saying,

"What else can I do?"

"With the Way always present, to intervene rashly will only cause everything to stray from their natural courses."

The Master did not reply directly, just smiled a little, his gaze sweeping over Ren Changge's shoulder toward the distance. His voice carried an inexplicable emptiness as he said,

"That girl, she has pollen from the 'Other Shore Flower' on her. There must be someone close to her who has been affected by this flower and has managed to hold on till now. You..."

"Don't you want to go see?"

As he spoke these words, the Master's face was still smiling, but his eyes drew back, staring intently at his friend in front of him. The latter's body stiffened for a moment, his back toward the Master, his leaden eyes lost focus, only to regain their unfathomable depths in the blink of an eye. His voice was without hesitation, he calmly stated,

"What could we do even if we went out? He has managed to endure for two years, which speaks to his resolve. Yet, the moment the Other Shore Flower finally takes root in the heart, the force of its impact is such that often one in ten survives..."

"Only the truly steadfast can fulfill their resolve."

"The final test can only be faced by him alone. Others... cannot help."

...............…

Using her Qinggong, Meng Yuexue did not take much time to return to the inn, given her current level of martial arts expertise.

And she did not happen to run into Old Third Li from the Academy's Wind Character Tower, who was on his way to find her.

She stood at the doorway, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest. Just moments ago, she felt the distance to be intolerably long, desperate to return to her senior brother's side. However, upon reaching the threshold, many hesitations rose in her heart. She pursed her lips and slowly lifted her hand to push the wooden door open.

These were hands capable of wielding a longsword and slaying bandits. Yet now they trembled slightly.

With a creak, the door slowly swung open.

Inside, there was a deafening silence.

Meng Yuexue's face was deathly pale. She was, after all, an Eighth Rank Martial Artist, considered a prodigy at her age, having experienced many life-threatening incidents in Jianghu. She had honed her ability to identify locations by sound, capable of detecting the faintest whisper of flying Hidden Weapons within a hundred meters.

But even though she could hear the sound of Hidden Weapons cutting through the air from a hundred meters away, and even though the guest room was no more than a few meters in size, and despite there being only one person inside, she could not hear the person's breathing.

Like a walking corpse, Meng Yuexue didn't know how she managed to enter, how she made it to the bedside. Yet when she came back to her senses, she found herself kneeling next to Chuan Lian, gazing at the once simple yet spirited face of the young man that now looked as lifeless as dead wood, feeling as if her heart was an empty void.

After the loss of Pharmacist Valley,

her last ties to this world had vanished.

People are like kites flying in the sky, they need to be tethered by a line. The line might seem like a restraint or burden, preventing the kite from freely soaring, but without the line, they lose much more—they will plummet to the ground, becoming utterly ruined, covered in dirt and dust, never to fly again.

Her line had been severed.

The girl's eyes, once clear, gradually became void, making the tired bloodshot even more apparent, yet her features remained stunningly beautiful, dispirited as if she were a ghost not belonging in the realm of the living.

A person without a heart becomes a ghost.

Staggering to her feet, Meng Yuexue sat by Chuan Lian, her hand touching his still-warm face, unable to shed any tears.

"You are my junior sister, how could I let you leave alone?"

Two years before, the young man in white had hurt his shoulder, she was crying, and he was laughing.