Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 163 Gratitude and resentment can be repaid, but what about affection?
Let's analyze human-computer interaction; it works like this:
There is a trigger condition = you can kiss.

No trigger condition = cannot kiss.

Lu Xingzhou clutched his chest and slumped into his wheelchair: "That little vixen drugged me before she left..."

Dugu Qingli: "?"

The little white-haired boy felt a mixture of anger and amusement, and even considered taking out his sword to chop him up.

So he actually pretended to swing his sword to scare him.

As soon as she drew her sword, Lu Xingzhou made a lightning-fast move and grabbed her wrist.

Dugu Qingli was taken aback. Although her sword was just a feint, given her skill level, even a fifth or sixth-rank swordsman might not be able to see the sword's momentum clearly, let alone accurately catch it.

On the day they parted, Lu Xingzhou was only a sixth-rank lower-level cultivator, and in such a short time, he's already a fifth-rank cultivator... Moreover, his eyesight is sharp and his moves are swift. His potential is definitely much stronger than that Qi Tuizhi who bought his way onto the rankings...

The AI ​​was deeply analyzing Lu Xingzhou's strength when a powerful force suddenly surged through her wrist, pulling her towards it.

Dugu Qingli hadn't expected him to become so strong. Caught off guard, he suddenly pulled her onto his lap and hugged her. She pushed against his chest, both angry and anxious: "What are you doing..."

As I spoke, I unconsciously gave his chest a couple more pushes, and the feel of it was different! It had become much more muscular.

What happened to him these days?
Lu Xingzhou said, "I was defending myself. Someone was trying to cut me with a sword."

"Let me go!" Dugu Qingli struggled, "I've already told you we can't have this kind of relationship!"

Lu Xingzhou recalled the white-haired boy's "one, two, three, four" before their last parting, which made everyone laugh so hard that all desire vanished.

"But I miss you, Qingli."

Dugu Qingli paused in her struggle for a moment, then quickly broke free again, standing coldly in front of her: "I can't tell who you're thinking of at all. You're with that vixen from the Hehuan Sect."

Lu Xingzhou didn't speak, but just looked at her with a smile.

The little white-haired boy has a cold expression, which may seem like looking at an iceberg to outsiders, but he finds him particularly cute.

Dugu Qingli couldn't stand his gaze, which seemed to regard her as if he had seen a "pretty flower," so she turned her head away and refused to meet his eyes.

And that makes it even cuter.

"Since you once captured her, why did you release her? And why did you ask her to promise not to target me? Do you think I'm afraid of her?" Dugu Qingli tilted her head and said, "You can ask her to withdraw this request, have her come to me, or I can go to her."

Lu Xingzhou couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Dugu Qingli turned back again, glaring angrily: "What's so funny!"

"Initially, I released Chu Yun because I wanted to get in touch with the Pei family; her identity could be used for my own purposes. But since I released her, I'm not afraid of any future troubles, but I don't want it to cause you any trouble." Lu Xingzhou said softly, "You say I'm thinking of you? Can't you see it in any way?"

Dugu Qingli choked up for a moment: "I'm not afraid either!"

Lu Xingzhou smiled.

"Don't laugh." Dugu Qingli tried her best to maintain a cold and aloof expression: "Everyone else looks at me with suspicion, but why do you always smile when you see me!"

"Okay, okay, I won't laugh."

"You initially wanted to get close to the Pei family, but what about now?"

"Now I feel that there's nothing to do with the Pei family. They are a powerful and influential family with different ideas... We can have personal relationships, but they are not partners for equal cooperation. Or rather, it's not the right time."

"So, how did you and Pei Chuyun develop a personal relationship?"

"I was referring to Pei Yu..." Lu Xingzhou pulled her hand: "Okay, let's not keep bringing up other people. Don't you have anything else to say to me?"

"No. Oh, yes." Dugu Qingli looked down at his hand: "Let go of me."

Lu Xingzhou sighed and let go of his hand.

Seeing him sitting dejectedly in his wheelchair like a pitiful little dog, Dugu Qingli suddenly felt like laughing.

Suddenly I understood why he always smiled when he looked at me.

“We’re just friends, we can’t just lay hands on each other.” Dugu Qingli tried to appear serious: “Last time was just an accident, we’ve made everything clear, you can’t pretend you’ve forgotten.”

Lu Xingzhou asked, "If you don't want to be friends, what are your conditions?"

"Isn't that simple? Just break off all contact. That's exactly what I was thinking too."

Why did you break off our friendship?

"You reek of the vixen, you're disgusting."

"Then we come full circle. Shouldn't the Holy Maiden Tianyao be taking up my time to prevent the Hehuan Demoness from taking advantage of me?"

Dugu Qingli stood there expressionless; her CPU was burning up.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he suddenly erupted in anger: "It's all your fault! I can't break through to the third rank because of you and Shen Tang!"

Lu Xingzhou was momentarily stunned. If Dugu Qingli's cultivation required forgetting these things, then it was one thing for him to blame, but what did it have to do with Shen Tang?

Little did she know that Shen Tang's three soul-searching questions before Dugu Qingli left were far more heart-wrenching than any intimacy between them. If Dugu Qingli occasionally thought of Lu Xingzhou these days, it was invariably accompanied by Shen Tang's three soul-searching questions. "I want to sever all ties with you," the girl said earnestly. After a moment's thought, she swung her sword and cut a small piece of her hem: "Severing all ties, is that how it is?"

Lu Xingzhou reminded him, "That's not a robe, it's dirty and tattered, how dare you cut it off and throw it at me? You might as well cut your hair."

Dugu Qingli didn't understand for a moment why cutting ties was supposed to be done by throwing it on the ground, so why give it to him, and why complain that it was dirty and tattered. But then she thought, since she was wearing his hair on her middle finger, it was as if he had cut his hair, so why not cut a little off for him too? Wouldn't that complete the ritual of severing ties?

So he actually cut off a small tuft of hair and handed it over.

Lu Xingzhou opened a sachet and happily kept the tuft of white hair.

Dugu Qingli's eyes widened.

It was only then that I realized that giving a sachet of hair as a token of love was actually a way of saying yes, and carrying a loved one's hair meant that you would always be together.

The girl trembled with rage: "Lu Xingzhou! You shameless bastard! Give me back my hair!"

"I won't return it. It's so rare to have something to remember you by." Lu Xingzhou kindly reminded him, "That fur you have isn't good quality. Why don't you throw it away? I'll cut off another tuft for you."

"I won't throw it away; I'll use it to curse you later." Dugu Qingli turned and left angrily.

If I stay any longer, all my cultivation over the past two months will be ruined.

I thought everything had cooled down, but I would occasionally think of it... My heart is only for the sword.

But after spending less than an incense stick's time together, all sorts of emotions, like shyness and anger, have surfaced. My sword practice has been wasted, and if I stay any longer, my cultivation might regress!
Dugu Qingli dared not linger any longer and went straight to the Imperial Preceptor's Temple.

Ye Tinglan stood quietly on the star-gazing platform, watching her disciple walk slowly towards her with an upright posture.

Dugu Qingli looked up and a strange feeling arose in her heart that she had never experienced before: Master is so beautiful.

Before, when I saw my master, I only felt his solemnity and awe; I never thought about whether he was good-looking or not. But now, for some reason, my first reaction was that he was beautiful, more beautiful than anyone I had ever seen. That Hehuan demoness is not even worth a hair on my master's head.

To outsiders, Dugu Qingli's demeanor remained as sharp and icy as ever, but Ye Tinglan frowned slightly: "Your heart is unsettled."

Dugu Qingli took a deep breath, quickly clearing her mind of distracting thoughts: "Master once said that my going to protect Shen Tang was also a way for me to gain experience in the world and see more of its ways. But the world is full of complexities and disturbs people's hearts, making it less peaceful than before. Is that a good thing?"

"Only by immersing oneself in worldly affairs can one's mind be disturbed. What have you immersed yourself in?"

Dugu Qingli thought for a moment: "Enmity?"

They've all started lying...

However, this lie was well-told, perfectly matching Ye Tinglan's judgment of her disciple's behavior just now: "Do you have an old grudge against the Pei family girl?"

"Yes. She ambushed me in the martial world." Dugu Qingli seized the opportunity to ask, "If my cultivation is to detach myself from worldly affairs, like the moon reflected in a cold river, then should I also forget grudges and not let them linger in my heart?"

Ye Tinglan said, "It is true that some schools of thought advocate for people to forget their grudges, but our sect does not advocate it."

"What about that?"

"Repay kindness with kindness, avenge wrongs with revenge, act with gusto, and let your mind be clear."

"...Master, are you sure what you're talking about is my cultivation?"

"What I teach is the path of immortal cultivation... If one cannot be free and unrestrained, and act according to one's heart, how can one be an immortal?"

Dugu Qingli was silent for a moment: "But Master has a lot on his mind."

“So even Master can hardly become an immortal.” Ye Tinglan smiled. “But you have a better chance than Master.”

Dugu Qingli pondered deeply, and then gave up pondering.

"Your cultivation is inherently detached from worldly affairs, so you naturally have fewer worldly attachments than others, which is a kind of carefree existence," Ye Tinglan said. "But being detached from worldly affairs and ignorant of human nature is not the same as being ignorant. That is being a stone, not an immortal. Therefore, you must experience it. By protecting Shen Tang, you can see the warmth and coldness of human relationships, you can see brothers killing each other, you can see disciples betraying you... A month's experience is equivalent to ten years. After waking from this great dream, you will know that the complexities of the world are nothing more than this, and then you can leave."

Dugu Qingli nodded.

Ye Tinglan said, "As for experiencing the secular world, one will naturally be tainted by gratitude and resentment... If you have been kind to someone, repay their kindness; if you have a grudge, take revenge. From then on, you will feel light and free from all shackles. This is also a form of cultivation."

Dugu Qingli thought for a moment: "Gratitude, resentment, affection, and hatred—gratitude and hatred can be repaid, but what about affection?"

"Love? How could someone like you be moved by love..." Ye Tinglan shook her head: "Even if you were, it would be slow and cold. After a year or two of seclusion and cultivation, you would forget it completely. It's like the bright moon reflected on a river. It seems like there is a moon on the river, but in reality, nothing is left behind."

Dugu Qingli seemed to be deep in thought: "Does Master mean... that we shouldn't resist?"

There is no need to resist it. Just go with the flow, that is the way.

The most typical difference between Tianyao Holy Land and the likes of the Huo family, or even Gu Zhanting, is that they are truly cultivators, and their mindset and perspective are completely different.

Night listeners find it hard to shirk their responsibilities, thus they waste their time in the mundane world, but Qingli can transcend it.

She has high expectations for her disciples.

Seeing that Dugu Qingli seemed lost in thought, her previously slightly uneasy mood had calmed down, and even a faint aura of a breakthrough in the Dao realm emanated from her. Ye Tinglan was very satisfied with her disciple's comprehension and kindly beckoned, "Why are you standing so far away? Come up and let your master see you. It's been a while since I last saw you. How much taller have you grown?"

Dugu Qingli walked up to the star-gazing platform, and Ye Tinglan smiled as he held his disciple's hand and looked her over.

As soon as he touched it, his expression froze slightly: "Why is there hair wrapped around your finger... Strange, what kind of hair is this?"

(End of this chapter)