"Do you have a name?"
"Little Qing? That's too old-fashioned..."
"Hmm, when I found you, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. I still remember how beautiful the moon was that night. So, let's call you Qing Yueqiu."
"Come, I'll teach you how to write it."
...
A cold wind blew the tattered clouds across the edge of the sky. As the clouds drifted apart, the once-obscured moonlight shone down upon Qing Yueqiu.
Her three thousand strands of silver hair, bathed in the clear, cold moonlight, shimmered with a dreamlike glow. It framed her otherworldly face, making her resemble a Fairy from a myth, about to ascend to the Moon Star.
HUMMM—
Spiritual Qi gathered on the edge of her sword like a whirlwind, making its cold gleam outshine even the moonlight!
Countless snowflakes drifted and danced with the Sword Qi. The moment Qing Yueqiu's sword fell, the whistling cold wind and the heavily falling snow all fell silent.
"Haaah—"
Her Spiritual Qi nearly depleted, Qing Yueqiu slowly exhaled a puff of white air. As she sheathed her sword, the stilled wind and snow resumed their previous bluster.
Her legs gave out, and Qing Yueqiu's body, like a blade of grass bent by the wind, fell helplessly backward.
Although the snow on the ground was as thick as a blanket and the fall wouldn't hurt, the feeling of being soaked by the icy snowmelt was still very unpleasant.
Qing Yueqiu slowly closed her eyes, bracing for the bone-chilling cold and dampness.
But—the vexing sensation of being enveloped in ice and snow never came.
Instead, she found herself in an unexpectedly warm embrace.
It was the embrace of her Master, something she had dreamed of feeling one more time.
"Yueqiu, you've worked hard... Your sword has already developed a Spiritual Charm. Among those in the Golden Core Stage, when it comes to understanding the sword alone, even your master's wife can't compare to you."
Pei Yuhang looked at his first disciple in his arms, who had transformed from a wet-behind-the-ears little girl into a tall, graceful young woman. There wasn't a single impure thought in his eyes, only admiration and a touch of heartache.
'This girl, her sword practice is far too obsessive,' he thought. 'To push her own talent and body to such an extent.'
Qing Yueqiu's magnificent, ruby-like eyes widened. She stared blankly at Pei Yuhang's face, still dazed, as if she hadn't yet recovered from her master's sudden embrace.
Pei Yuhang thought the girl was delirious from exhausting her Spiritual Qi, so he immediately took out a refreshing, mint-flavored Elixir and put it in her mouth to help his first disciple clear her head.
As Qing Yueqiu saw Pei Yuhang's fingers approach, her mind went completely blank. She parted her crystalline lips and took his fingers into her mouth.
After subconsciously licking the mint-flavored Elixir, the clear, cool sensation shot straight to her taste buds, finally jolting Qing Yueqiu back to her senses.
The girl's pale skin immediately flushed a bashful red, like a sunset cloud, and she hurriedly spat his fingers out.
Seeing her Master's slender fingertips covered in her saliva, Qing Yueqiu let out a cute little "GULP" sound.
"Ma... Master?" she murmured, as if in disbelief.
'I actually... sucked his fingers, right in front of Master!'
'It's over. Will Master think I'm a shameless disciple?'
Qing Yueqiu felt like a smooth, peeled egg, held in Pei Yuhang's arms with no secrets left to hide.
She buried her head in Pei Yuhang's chest, greedily soaking in the same warmth and bliss she'd felt on that cold night in the Capital City, all while awaiting her master's judgment.
'How would a master deal with a disciple who holds taboo feelings for him?'
'He'll probably expel me from the Sect... After all, Master would never do anything to wrong his wife.'
'His wife wouldn't forgive me for this, either...'
The thought that she would never again be able to feel her master's warmth so closely caused the light in Qing Yueqiu's ruby-like eyes to dim. Unwilling to let go, her hands clutched tightly at the front of Pei Yuhang's robes.
"Yueqiu, what's wrong? It was just a mint-flavored Elixir snack. Why is your heart beating so fast?"
"Did that last sword move give you some kind of internal injury?"
Hearing Pei Yuhang's concerned voice from above, Qing Yueqiu realized her master hadn't discovered her contemptible feelings. Her first emotion wasn't secret joy, but... sadness?
'It's because he doesn't see me as a woman. He still sees me as that pitiful child he rescued from the snowy night, so the thought of anything impure never even crosses his mind.'
'No, this is how a normal master-disciple relationship should be, right?'
'As I thought, I'm the only one who's strange.'
Qing Yueqiu gave a bitter smile inwardly, but she composed herself on the surface and said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "It's nothing, Master... I'm just a little dizzy from exhausting my Spiritual Qi."
"Yueqiu, you shouldn't push yourself so hard."
Pei Yuhang brushed the snowflakes from the top of Qing Yueqiu's head and sighed.
He remembered that in his past life, teachers wished they could tie students to their desks and chairs, forcing them to block out all thoughts other than basic bodily functions and study for over twelve hours a day.
He never thought that now that he had become a teacher himself, all he would want was for his disciple to relax a little more.
Qing Yueqiu blinked her long, light-colored eyelashes. Hearing her master's concern, she felt as if all her bitter training over the past few days had paid off.
It was as if having her master's attention on her brought more joy than any increase in her Cultivation.
"I'm fine, Master. This level of exertion is nothing to me. I want to grow stronger quickly so I can share your burdens."
The Xuanyuan Dao Sect allocates resources to each estate based on the Cultivation of the Cultivators within it.
In the past, the Cold Palace Sword Mansion had two Divinity Transformation experts. Now, one has had their Cultivation crippled, and the other has fallen to the Nascent Soul realm.
Even if, out of consideration for old ties, the resources allocated to the Cold Palace Sword Mansion were slightly more than that of a typical Nascent Soul Cultivator, it was still a world of difference compared to their previous share.
For the Cold Palace Sword Mansion, which was already in dire need of Spirit Stones, this was undoubtedly making a bad situation worse.
Qing Yueqiu wanted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage as quickly as possible and take first place in the upcoming Sect grand competition.
If everything went smoothly, she would become a seed disciple specially nurtured by the Xuanyuan Dao Sect and receive a massive share of the Sect's resources.
She wanted to use her strength to show her master that after his wife was gone:
'I, Qing Yueqiu, can also support the Cold Palace Sword Mansion alongside you!'
Hearing this, Pei Yuhang opened his mouth, then closed it. In the end, he simply stroked Qing Yueqiu's head, which was very pleasant to the touch, and said:
"Yueqiu, I appreciate the thought."
He had wanted to say, 'With your master here, you, the disciple, don't need to work so hard.' But on second thought, that seemed too conceited. 'Since this is the path Yueqiu has chosen, I should respect her determination and effort.'