The Sound of the Flute

The other women had not spoken, but they were all looking at Lin Xiao with hopeful expressions.

For once, he felt a little embarrassed. He said, “Rest assured, ladies. We’ll definitely send you back to your respective prefectures and counties.”

As he spoke, he took out a Nourishing Essence Pill, dissolved it in water, and divided the mixture into ten cups. He handed nine of them to the young women.

The women who had just been called “ladies” looked at Lin Xiao’s slightly immature face. Having received his promise and the cups of water, which were still faintly warm, they turned their heads shyly and curled their lips into smiles.

Then, as if by unspoken agreement, they raised their cups and sipped the water in tiny mouthfuls, almost wishing they could hide their entire faces behind them.

Nearby, the cultivators who appeared to be meditating and regulating their breathing, but were actually observing the surroundings in secret, could not help but scorn Lin Xiao inwardly when they saw this.

Bah! You’re just a young-looking cultivator. Who knows how old you really are? And you actually call these mortal girls “ladies”? What shameless behavior!

Of course, there was no way they would say such things aloud. They merely condemned him a little in their hearts.

After all, it was Lin Xiao who had appeared and helped them break out of their predicament not long ago.

If he wanted to pretend to be young, then so be it. After cultivating for so long, having a few odd quirks was nothing unusual.

Because of his age, Lin Xiao had grown up calling every older girl and auntie in the village “Sister” or “Auntie.” He had no idea that, in the hearts of this group of fellow Daoists, he had already been labeled as someone who liked pretending to be young.

After reassuring the girls, he carried the last cup of Nourishing Essence Pill-infused water over to Yuan Jinsheng. He glanced at Jiang Sisi, who was treating him.

The Azure Lotus Sect excelled in medicine. After Yuan Jinsheng had been rescued, Jiang Sisi had not said a word before taking the initiative to treat him.

It seemed that she had done this kind of thing often enough while serving in the Allied Army.

Lin Xiao had never learned any professional healing techniques. After watching for a moment, he shifted his gaze to Shen Yingzi, who was standing guard nearby.

He never would have expected Yuan Jingsheng's son to be a mortal with no cultivation at all. Could it be that he had no spiritual root?

As his gaze fell on Shen Yingzi’s extraordinarily delicate and beautiful face, Lin Xiao could not help feeling puzzled.

If Yuan Jinsheng had not repeatedly told him and the Lord of Zhao that he had a son—and there was no reason for him to deceive everyone, since the truth would be exposed as soon as his son was rescued—then Shen Yingzi was indeed male.

Yet there was something strange about him. When Lin Xiao examined him with his spiritual sense, he still felt as though the person before him were a woman.

“Hey, brother, why are you disguising yourself as a woman?” Lin Xiao asked, extending the cup in his hand toward Shen Yingzi.

Shen Yingzi had been completely focused on his father, watching him anxiously. He had not noticed when someone had come to stand beside him. When he suddenly saw a cup appear in front of him, he turned toward Lin Xiao like a startled fawn.

It took him a while to realize that the other person was asking him a question. But he did not know this stranger, and for a moment, he had no idea how to respond.

Then he remembered that it was this very person who had carried his father out earlier. After stammering for a while, he reached out to accept the cup. In a soft voice, he said, “Thank you,” before quietly explaining, “When I was born, my grandmaster said that my yin and yang were unbalanced and that my fate was different from ordinary people’s. I had to be raised as a girl from childhood…”

“I see…” Lin Xiao nodded.

Who would have thought that Fellow Daoist Yuan, despite looking like such a burly, rough man, could raise his son like a daughter—and do it so successfully?

Compared with those nine mortal girls, this brother looked the most like a young woman.

Seeing him nod, Shen Yingzi thought the matter was over. He was just about to turn back and continue watching his father when Lin Xiao spoke again.

“By the way, my name is Lin Xiao. What’s yours?”

Shen Yingzi looked up at Lin Xiao. He saw none of the disgust he had grown accustomed to seeing on the faces of his peers whenever they learned that he was a man raised as a woman.

He nervously pressed his lips together, then said softly, “Thank you, Fellow Daoist Lin, for saving me. I’m—this junior is Shen Yingzi.”

Because he had referred to himself as a girl for so many years, Shen Yingzi still found it difficult to correct himself.

After speaking, he raised the cup and drained the medicinal water in one go.

Since he had nothing else to do at the moment, Lin Xiao simply sat down cross-legged beside him and began chatting with him about this and that.

“Your father’s surname is Yuan, isn’t it? Oh, do you take your mother’s surname?”

Shen Yingzi had not expected him to ask about that. He returned the empty cup and obediently nodded.

“Mm. My mother passed away when she gave birth to me. My father missed her, so he let me take her surname.”

“Do you have no cultivation because you haven’t started practicing yet? Or is it because you have no spiritual root?” Lin Xiao took back the empty cup and put it away.

“My spiritual roots are weak and chaotic—worse than even a Five-Element Spiritual Root. Even if I cultivated, I would probably only be able to reach the Qi Refining stage in my entire life. So my father let me choose whether I wanted to cultivate or not.”

Perhaps because Lin Xiao looked about the same age as him, and because he was one of the few peers who was still willing to associate with him after learning that he had been raised as a girl, Shen Yingzi gradually opened up.

“Since I was little, I’ve seen many elders whose spiritual root aptitude was far better than mine. Yet by the end of their lives, they could do no more than reach Foundation Establishment. For most of them, even the Qi Refining stage was their limit. Then their lives would come to an end. I began to wonder—if someone with an aptitude like mine cultivated, what level could they possibly reach?”

As he spoke, he pursed his lips and smiled faintly.

“I probably wouldn’t even reach the middle stage of Qi Refining. So I told my father that I didn’t want to cultivate. That way, I could have lots and lots of time to do the things I liked.”

Lin Xiao grew interested. “What sort of things do you like to do?”

At the mention of his interests, Shen Yingzi’s face brightened considerably.

He took a small storage pouch from his robes, then pulled out a bamboo flute with a surface as smooth as water, along with a small booklet.

“I love studying all kinds of musical instruments. The flute is my favorite. Look—this is a collection of pieces I composed myself!”

As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Xiao. When he saw that Lin Xiao’s attention was fixed on his music book, a sense of accomplishment welled up inside him. He opened the book and began chattering enthusiastically about the inspiration and artistic conception behind each of his compositions.

Although the music book was clearly quite old, it had been preserved extremely well. Aside from the pages having turned slightly yellow, there was no sign of wear or age.

The contents had also been arranged with great care, and delicate handwriting filled the margins with annotations.

In the distance, the mortal girls watched Lin Xiao and Shen Yingzi sitting together, chatting and laughing. Sitting inside the miniature formation, they exchanged excited glances and communicated silently.

They had only one thought in common:

The handsome young man and the beautiful girl sitting together, talking and laughing, were an absolute feast for the eyes.

Since they were not very close and Lin Xiao was not speaking loudly, they could not hear the conversation between the two. Naturally, they had no idea that the beautiful “girl” they envied so much was actually a man.