blueteamnovel Chapter 76 A Beautiful Figure Under the Moonlight
Chapter 76 A Beautiful Figure Under the Moonlight
The city walls of Wangnan City are as majestic as mountains, and the city gates are bustling with carriages and horses.
Various cultivators and merchants shuttled back and forth, the air filled with the scent of dust and spiritual herbs.
Lu Ming paid the entrance spirit stones and stepped into Wangnan City, which was more prosperous than Beihan City.
Upon entering the city, the vibrant atmosphere of everyday life, mingled with the hustle and bustle and warmth, gave this traveler, who had experienced thirty years of emptiness, a long-lost sense of peace.
Instead of searching for the teleportation array, Lu Ming followed the rich fragrance and found the Drunken Immortal Residence next to the main street.
The five-story restaurant features carved beams and painted rafters, with vermilion pillars framing gilded plaques.
Amidst the bustling noise, the aroma of wine and food wafted out of the window, deeply attracting Lu Ming.
Lu Ming asked for a private seat facing the street and looked out the window at the bustling crowd below.
Lu Ming ordered a table full of delicacies: braised pork hock glistened with amber-colored fat, steamed snow-scaled fish with its white flesh soaked in rich broth, and the aroma was irresistible...
He also ordered a pot of the signature Drunken Immortal Wine, and as the wine was poured, its sweet and refreshing aroma filled the room.
As the steam rises, long-lost human flavors linger on the tongue.
The warmth of the hot soup spread through my body, and the spirit wine was mellow and had a long-lasting aftertaste.
Lu Ming ate very slowly, unlike when he wolfed down his noodles before. He savored each bite, as if he wanted to fill in the void of the past thirty years.
As the wine flowed more freely, the fatigue and bloodshed of the past few days were somewhat washed away, but the rogue cultivator's desperate accusations still pierced his heart.
The complexities of the cultivation world cannot be summarized by the terms "good" and "evil".
Major powers occupy all the spiritual veins and immortal mountains, monopolizing the world's spiritual stone resources.
Unable to attain enlightenment, the wandering cultivators, with no hope of finding it, resorted to extreme measures.
If I am also destined to be an immortal, will I become like those rogue cultivators, resorting to any means to avoid being ordinary?
Lu Ming dared not think any further...
Lu Ming had been naive and inexperienced since childhood, and his limited education meant he had almost no contact with the outside world.
Therefore, he cannot understand many of the principles of this world in a short time; he must experience them gradually to truly grasp them.
Some people in the secular world simply accept the status quo without ever thinking.
Some thoughtful people, worn down by worldly affairs, become helpless and gradually numb, unwilling to delve into the underlying principles.
Or perhaps they are beneficiaries of the system and deliberately avoid thinking about those principles.
But Lu Ming is different. He cultivates with complete clarity, and he lives with complete clarity.
After finishing his drinks and settling the bill, Lu Ming went straight to Bailian Pavilion, the largest shop in the city selling magical artifacts.
The snow in the clouds possesses a natural spiritual quality that cannot be placed in ordinary storage magic treasures; its brilliance is hard to conceal.
Along the way, it had already attracted the secret covetous eyes of many cultivators.
Such public exposure is ultimately more of a curse than a blessing.
When the shopkeeper heard that he was looking for something that could conceal its power and sharpness, he recommended a sword case made of spirit-infused black wood.
The sword case was entirely black, with a warm, smooth feel, and its surface was engraved with fine runes. Although it was not a high-level magic weapon, it was just right to block the spiritual light of Yun Jianxue, which suited Lu Ming's wishes perfectly.
He then headed to the western teleportation plaza. The plaza, paved with white jade, was vast and boundless, with several teleportation gates standing tall, their array patterns shimmering with light.
Lu Ming found the teleportation manager in charge of Tianque City in the Central Region of Shenzhou, but was told that the next batch of teleportations would have to wait until Chenshi (7-9 AM) the next day, and the cost would be a full fifty high-grade spirit stones.
Left with no other choice, Lu Ming paid the spirit stones, received the jade token, and returned to the Drunken Immortal Inn to stay.
After a short rest, it was already late at night.
In the stillness of the night, the moonlight, like a ribbon, spreads across the world.
Unable to sleep, Lu Ming wandered to the backyard of the inn.
Several clumps of green bamboo stand gracefully in the courtyard, their shadows crisscrossing.
In the corner stands an ancient well, its rim covered in moss, reflecting the cold moonlight.
Suddenly, a faint fragrance wafted over. Following the scent, Lu Ming saw a white spiritual flower quietly blooming under the moonlight on a stone platform in the corner of the courtyard.
The flowers were incredibly beautiful, their petals as smooth as ice and jade, their shimmering light like scattered stars falling among the blossoms.
Dewdrops clung to the tips of the petals, crystal clear. In an instant after the flower bloomed, a gentle radiance spread, even dimming the brilliance of the bright moonlight, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.
Lu Ming paused and gazed at her, his eyes softening.
The flowers were so beautiful that they reminded him of Hu Zhen.
Back in the Taoist temple and Qinghe Village, whenever Hu Zhen smiled at him, it was like a spiritual flower blooming for the first time, and the world seemed to be filled only with that bright smile.
The smile in his memory is deeply etched into his thirty long years of emptiness.
He was so engrossed in watching that he unconsciously softened his breathing.
Suddenly, a slender hand appeared in sight, breaking the stillness of the night.
Lu Ming suddenly came to his senses and saw a graceful figure land gracefully in front of the stone platform. With a light touch, she plucked the Epiphyllum flower and casually tucked it into her hair.
The pale white petals reflected her snow-white skin, adding a touch of stunning beauty, but also shattering the tranquility under the moon.
Lu Ming felt a sudden emptiness in his heart, as if he had lost a precious treasure.
Lu Ming's eyes flashed with anger as he looked at the girl who had suddenly appeared and asked, "This flower was blooming perfectly well, why did you pick it?"
The girl slowly turned around, and the moonlight made her figure even clearer.
She wore a tight-fitting long dress, the hem of which fluttered gently in the night breeze, shimmering and sparkling, as if blending into the moonlight.
The pink embroidered shoes were spotless, and they made no sound as they stepped on the bluestone.
A string of delicate silver bells was tied around her fair wrist.
Her skin was as white as snow, seemingly glowing with a luminous sheen under the moonlight. Her beauty was stunning, and her slightly raised eyebrows exuded a natural air of arrogance and aloofness.
Upon hearing this, she raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly, her voice clear and crisp like a bell, yet carrying a hint of nonchalance: "The ephemeral beauty of the epiphyllum breaks through the gloom of the world, not attached to the mortal realm but only to the soul. Blooming until the very end, it must eventually wither; better to accompany the moon's trace with its fragrance."
The poem flowed effortlessly from her lips. She twirled the epiphyllum flower tucked behind her ear, her tone haughty: "This flower is born with morning dew and dies with evening snow. If you leave it on the branch, it will wither and turn to mud in no more than one night. It is its good fortune that I picked it. What right do you have to point fingers?"
Lu Ming was speechless for a moment. Looking at the epiphyllum flower in her hair, its bright white color was still dazzling, but it had lost the fresh and vibrant spirit rooted in the soil. He felt empty inside.
His gaze unconsciously fell on the girl's face. Her appearance was too stunning. Her eyebrows had a touch of arrogance, and her eyes were clear and cold, yet she also had a touch of liveliness and charm. For a moment, he forgot to look away.
"Hey, is it pretty?" The girl glanced down at him with a hint of disdain in her voice, the silver bell on her wrist swaying gently.
Lu Ming suddenly snapped back to reality, his cheeks flushing uncontrollably, like a boy whose secret had been exposed. He hurriedly looked away and stammered, "So...beautiful."
The girl was about to lash out, but seeing Lu Ming's blushing and embarrassed expression, she couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.
The girl covered her mouth and chuckled softly, her laughter like shattered jade falling onto a plate, yet devoid of warmth: "You men are all the same, humph."
Lu Ming was extremely embarrassed. He had never been so embarrassed before and wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
After a moment of silence, Lu Ming slowly said, "Since you find the young lady beautiful, how can you pretend to be indifferent to worldly desires? However, it is indeed inappropriate for the young lady to pluck the flower from the branch when it is blooming so beautifully."
"Flowers have their own destiny; my picking it is its fate. But you, have you gone mad from all your cultivation, daring to criticize me?"
The girl's tone was somewhat disdainful, but her eyes held a hint of mockery. She circled Lu Ming once, her silver bells jingling: "I saw you staring at the flowers earlier, looking quite dazed."
Lu Ming's cheeks burned even hotter, his heart raced inexplicably, and he was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to do. He could only mumble, "It has nothing to do with you, young lady."
"Hehe, you even blush." The girl laughed even harder, the arrogance in her eyes and brows fading, replaced by a more lively air. "Boring as it may be, you're still more pleasing to the eye than those glib-tongued ones."
Upon hearing this, Lu Ming became even more embarrassed and was at a loss for what to do.
The girl leaned against the railing, rested her chin on her hands, gazed at the bright moon in the sky, and said nothing more.
Seeing this, Lu Ming turned to go back to his room, but after taking only a few steps, a girl's clear voice came from behind him: "Hey, you greenhorn, what's your name?"
"Lu Ming." He didn't dare turn around, afraid of losing his composure again, and continued walking.
"My name is Ning Qingxue." The girl's voice was light and cheerful, and the silver bell on her wrist jingled softly in the wind.
Lu Ming responded and went into the room without looking back, the heat in his ears lingering for a long time.
As soon as he left, a figure in purple robes emerged from the darkness of the bamboo forest, his face veiled, his voice gentle: "What an interesting young man. Within the Nine Provinces, I'm afraid there is no one else at such a young age who has achieved the Great Perfection of Martial Arts Body Tempering."
Ning Qingxue fiddled with the epiphyllum flower in her hair, and pouted: "What's so interesting about it? I think he's just a stupid idiot who's gone mad from cultivating. He's utterly boring."
"Oh?" The woman in purple chuckled. "Who was it that said his blushing was funny?"
Ning Qingxue retorted, "It's just that you're making a fuss over nothing!"
The woman in purple said, as if reminiscing, "Sometimes, the blush of a young boy or girl is more powerful than a thousand words..."