Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

33. A Tale of Two Ghosts

Early next morning, Mo Yixuan woke to the sound of soft tapping on his window. Sensing a familiar pulse of qi, the peak lord pointed his finger at the wooden frame. It opened enough for a small paper pinwheel to come sailing in. He caught the origami and unfolded it to reveal a brief scrawl from Ouyang Che:

- When are you coming back

"......" With a scowl, Mo Yixuan promptly tossed the paper off the side of his bed and went back to sleep.

—

At a more reasonable hour, the peak lord woke again to dress and write back a brief reply. He had just sent it sailing away on his origami boat when another knock sounded on his door.

"Enter," Mo Yixuan said, already recognizing the spiritual signature beyond the entrance.

"Good morning, shizun," Nan Wuyue said as he stepped inside. He was dressed in the standard white disciple mourning robes and carried in a tray with some tea and light snacks. As Mo Yixuan had long cultivated past the need to eat, these were just niceties to accompany his morning. "Daoist Su is already visiting his mother and said he'd get the list from his sister. Sir Su is in his study working on reports and will meet us in an hour."

"And you?" Mo Yixuan didn't miss a beat as he took Nan Wuyue's offered teacup. The liquid was a light amber green, the fragrance lofty and elegant. He took a sip and recognized its refreshing, brisk flavor as Iron Goddess oolong, suitable for morning brews.

"I did my usual meditation and exercises," Nan Wuyue replied dutifully. "I should be breaking through the fourth level any day now."

"Any side effects from your injury last night?"

Nan Wuyue shook his head. "I took a healing pill and fully recovered, shizun."

"Let me see." Mo Yixuan reached out a hand and Nan Wuyue quickly offered up his wrist. Basic pulse-taking like this didn't require much medical expertise to master. He confirmed that the qi and blood were flowing smoothly in his disciple's system before withdrawing. "Mm, good."

Nan Wuyue beamed at him, as docile as a lamb. Mo Yixuan pointedly avoided his stare by looking out the open window. The bright summer sunshine streamed in like a sheet of gold that blanketed the wooden floors in warm light. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.

Happy Ghost Festival, Mo Yixuan thought with a bitter smile. What would the ghost of his mother be doing now? With no one left in the family to give her offerings, he only hoped she had drunk Old Lady Meng's soup and reincarnated already.

After a while, he realized Nan Wuyue was still here and looked back, perplexed. Back on Mt. Jingting, his disciple would usually leave the tea and go, so what was he doing still hanging around?

"You can leave," he said to the youth waiting expectantly by his seat.

"Shizun, there were a few cultivation principles I wanted to ask you about," Nan Wuyue said mildly. "Could shizun enlighten me before we set off today?"

Mo Yixuan found it slightly unusual, but there was nothing wrong with answering a disciple's questions so he agreed. "Go on."

Nan Wuyue really did end up asking questions, which Mo Yixuan was better equipped to answer after two months of studying books and texts on Mt. Jingting combined with his own enlightenment in the Dao. Being at a higher cultivation level naturally made him understand principles on a deeper level. Once they were finished, Nan Wuyue bowed and said, "Many thanks again, shizun." He smiled at Mo Yixuan once again, bright and dazzling.