The bright moon hung high, stars like a painting.
A delicate girl with gray hair and green eyes sat cross-legged on a mountain peak, gazing at the continuous mountain ranges that lay like a sleeping turtle and coiled snake under the night sky, beside an ancient pine that had weathered a hundred years of wind and rain yet remained tall and straight.
The evening breeze gently rustled through the leaves, making soft sounds.
The girl sat quietly in meditation, bathed in silver-white moonlight, as if merging with heaven and earth, giving off an ethereal, otherworldly feeling.
Contentedly alone toward the nine heavens, sitting and watching life as but a dream.
If she wore Taoist robes, many would probably mistake the girl for an immortal hermit in the mountains and respectfully keep their distance to avoid disturbing the immortal's cultivation.
However...
There was definitely one person who wouldn't care about such things.
"Yo, Old Antique, so you're here. I've been looking for you forever."
A loud, carefree shout broke the surrounding tranquility.
A girl with features similar to Fu Hua's but with red eyes also climbed the peak, casually leaning against the pine tree.
"Old Antique, you really know how to pick places. From here looking down, you can take in the entire view of Mount Wudang... There were too many tourists during the day to see clearly, but examining it by moonlight at night, it really does have the feeling of a Taoist holy land."
"It's just that the Wudang Taoists' kung fu is ordinary, nothing like what's boasted about in story books."
The girl chattered on, her lively personality completely opposite to Fu Hua's.
"Little Senti, story books exaggerate things to attract attention—they can't be taken seriously."
Fu Hua shook her head somewhat helplessly, saying slowly: "Besides, those who cultivate the Tao pursue tranquility and non-action, dislike conflict, and practice martial arts only for health. Today when you went to request a sparring match was already improper—you mustn't be rude again."
"Agh, Old Antique, you're just too rigid."
Little Senti crossed her arms and turned her head aside.
"If you ask me, those Taoists talk about following one's heart without transgressing rules. My suggesting a sparring match was a bit sudden, but they readily agreed—that's called making friends through martial arts."
"You! That's because the Wudang master is broad-minded and doesn't hold it against you!" Fu Hua said softly.
"Not holding it against me means there's no problem."
Little Senti waved her hand dismissively, carrying an air of carefree wandering spirit.
However, this heroic bearing of a martial artist appearing on a girl who still hadn't lost her childish air only made people think it was somewhat silly and cute.
This was also why, despite Little Senti's somewhat troublesome nature, most people held favorable feelings toward her...
Fu Hua thought to herself, then smiled gently.
"Little Senti, you said earlier you were looking for me. Is there something you need?"
"It's nothing major, I just chatted with Elysia earlier."
Little Senti took out her phone and waved it, complaining rather speechlessly: "Originally Elysia wanted to chat directly with you, but Old Antique, carrying your phone is like not carrying one at all—couldn't reach you no matter what."
"This... my phone probably died."
Fu Hua's expression became awkward.
Although called Old Antique, she wasn't really like an elderly person who couldn't use phones.
It was just that phones were inconvenient to charge while traveling, and she didn't pay much attention to such things, forgetting about it for a moment.
"Sigh, I knew it."
Little Senti sighed and tossed over a power bank.
Fu Hua embarrassedly plugged in her phone to charge, then looked at Little Senti.
"Little Senti, what did you and Elysia chat about?"
"Hehe, I chatted with her about some interesting travel stories and told her about today's sparring match in storytelling style—the plot was absolutely spectacular."
Little Senti said with animated gestures.
Perhaps getting excited, she even performed a segment on the spot for Fu Hua.
Fu Hua didn't interrupt Little Senti, listening quietly with a tranquil smile on her face.
When she became somewhat parched from talking, Little Senti paused and made a summary.
"Anyway, just casual chat about recent happenings. Oh right, Elysia seems to have encountered your classmate, so she wanted to ask you about it."
"My classmate?"
"Yeah, seemed to be called Board Something Duck?"
"It's Bronya..."
Fu Hua thought for a moment before figuring out who Little Senti meant, then became puzzled.
Elysia was a freelance internet professional, while Bronya had been working at Anti-Entropy since graduating from St. Freya. These two shouldn't have any connection.
"Ah right, that's it—Bronya. I heard she opened a game company in Nagazora City, and Haru happened to interview there."
Little Senti slapped her thigh, remembering the whole story.
She didn't notice...
When a certain name was mentioned, ripples appeared in Fu Hua's normally calm green eyes.
"You just said... Haru?"
"Old Antique, your memory can't be that bad. Haru is Elysia's boyfriend—I've met him several times with you at the Golden Courtyard."
Little Senti clicked her tongue, her tone full of emotion.
"That guy's pretty handsome, speaks nicely, and from his footwork should have some martial training—quite to my liking."
"Just didn't expect his romantic skills were also impressive, taking down Elysia so quickly... Maybe in a while we'll be able to attend their wedding!"
Fu Hua's form trembled as she subconsciously asked: "Little Senti, what do you mean by that?"
"Eh, don't you know, Old Antique?"
Little Senti said casually: "Just yesterday, Haru and Elysia got engaged."
Engaged... they got engaged...
Fu Hua suddenly felt an irrepressible sadness surge up in her heart, as if something incredibly precious had been taken away.
She didn't know why she felt this way and could only remain silent, her slender jade hands clenched tightly.
"Old Antique, are you okay? Why aren't you saying anything?"
Little Senti vaguely sensed Fu Hua's emotions were a bit off.
But the night was too dark, and she couldn't see her sister's expression clearly at the moment, so she wasn't very certain of her feeling.
"I'm fine, I'm just a bit surprised they got engaged so quickly."
Fu Hua came back to herself, forcing a smile onto her face.
"What's surprising about that? They're a perfect match who fell for each other—of course things would progress quickly."
Little Senti said matter-of-factly, then yawned: "Alright, I've said what I needed to. It's getting late, I'll go rest first. Old Antique, don't stay here too long either."
"Okay, I understand."
Fu Hua nodded somewhat gloomily.
Little Senti knew this was just her personality and didn't find it strange, leisurely turning to head down the mountain.
After Little Senti left...
Fu Hua sat blankly in place, her gaze confused, as if a void that could never be filled had appeared in her heart.
At this moment, she no longer seemed like a carefree immortal, but rather like a soulless shell who couldn't remember the past and couldn't find her former home.
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