When the Seven-Colored Deer stood up, it was much steadier than she had expected. Its four hooves, treading on a faint seven-colored halo, hovered an inch off the ground. The wings on her back spread slightly, and a strange resonance rippled between the two components of the Forest Spirit's Verses. She felt her body automatically find its balance on the deer's back, sitting as securely as if she were in an armchair.
“Let's try taking a lap?” she whispered.
With a gentle leap, the Seven-Colored Deer carried her out of the open courtyard gate.
The evening breeze of the side peak brushed against her face, lifting a corner of her gauze outer coat. The emerald-colored gossamer fluttered in the twilight like mist.
The stone steps, trees, and courtyard walls beneath her retreated rapidly, yet not too fast. The Seven-Colored Deer seemed to be intentionally slowing its pace to let her adjust. With every step of its four hooves, a faint ring of seven-colored light was left in the air, as if a handful of shattered rainbows had been scattered into the twilight.
Riding the Seven-Colored Deer, she circled halfway around the side peak before landing on an empty patch of grass on the back mountain.
The resonance of spiritual energy between her wings and the deer's back made her feel warm all over. The fatigue from being struck by the lightning tribulation a few days ago completely vanished at this moment.
Lin Zhiyue dismounted, patted the Seven-Colored Deer's forehead, and let out a soft chuckle.
Reaching Foundation Establishment in a month, exchanging ten Premium Draw Tickets for a complete Forest Spirit's Verses set, and getting a flying Seven-Colored Deer as a bonus—no matter how she looked at it, this was an incredibly good deal.
She looked up at the last trace of twilight on the horizon, deciding to leave the problem of how to explain to her master where she got a deer for tomorrow.
For now, she would head back to the courtyard.
Vaulting back onto the deer, the Seven-Colored Deer leaped lightly into the air, carrying her toward the side peak. Its hooves left a fading trail of seven-colored light in the twilight.
Half a month later, it was Liu Fengyao's birthday.
Early in the morning, Lin Zhiyue was woken up by a junior sister sent by Liu Fengyao. She was told that the dinner banquet was set in the small flower hall on the east side of the main peak, starting at the hour of Shen, and those attending were all disciples they were close to on a regular basis.
She got up, washed, and picked out a set of casual clothes to wear. She didn't wear the Mist-shrouded Verdure; that set was far too eye-catching. Wearing it to a birthday banquet would make it look like she was there to upstage the host.
She chose a simple green disciple uniform and only wore a pair of Mist-shrouded Verdure earrings as an accessory. Once she was properly dressed, she headed toward the main peak.
The small flower hall wasn't large, but it was decorated cozily.
Warm-colored spiritual lamps hung on the walls, several pots of freshly bloomed spiritual flowers sat on the windowsills, and a long table in the center was piled high with food and spiritual wine. A few early-arriving disciples were currently clamoring around the table to claim their seats.
Today, Liu Fengyao wore a new, light-red dress, with a white jade hairpin tucked into her hair. She was surrounded by everyone like stars crowding around the moon. Seeing Lin Zhiyue enter, she immediately squeezed out of the crowd, grabbed her hand, and pulled her inside.
“Junior Sister, you're here! I'm the host today, so you have to sit next to me!”
Lin Zhiyue was pushed down into the seat on her right. To her left was Liu Fengyao's fellow senior sister, and across from her were several disciples they often ate with.
Once everyone had arrived, the small flower hall became as lively and noisy as a boiling pot of water. Some brought homemade spiritual fruit brew, some used spiritual energy to condense a glowing ice flower as a birthday gift, and someone even performed a sword dance on the spot to liven things up—though, having drunk a bit too much, their sword tip veered off by two inches and almost poked through the curtain, sending everyone into fits of laughter.
After a few rounds of food and drinks, Liu Fengyao began opening her gifts. She had a good reputation, so the gifts she received piled up on nearly half the table—there were beautiful hair accessories, practical medicinal pills, and hand-copied manuals of cultivation techniques.
Another senior brother gifted her a fine defensive dagger. When the box was opened, a spiritual light flashed. Liu Fengyao dramatically clutched her chest and said, “This is way too valuable, I wouldn't dare accept it!” only for the senior brother to pat her head and say, “Just take it, it's your coming-of-age ceremony.”
Then, it was Lin Zhiyue's turn.
From her sleeve, she took out a palm-sized brocade box. On the cover was a peach blossom branch she had drawn using her spiritual energy—just a few simple strokes, but the lines were clean.
When Liu Fengyao took it and opened it, a slender, silver-white bracelet lay inside. The band was polished smooth and warm, with a ring of intricate spiritual runes engraved on the inner side. Getting close to it, one could feel the bracelet's innate spiritual energy slowly flowing.
Lin Zhiyue spoke up, “This bracelet comes with its own layer of protective spiritual energy. It can block an attack from anyone below the Foundation Establishment Stage in times of danger. Although it's nothing extraordinary, you can wear it for self-defense—” This had cost her two months' worth of saved disciple-allocated spirit stones.
Of course, Liu Fengyao was worth it; after all, she was the first friend Lin Zhiyue had made since coming to this world.
Liu Fengyao had already put the bracelet on. She held up her wrist, tilting it under the spiritual lamp to admire it over and over, then spun around and threw her arms around Lin Zhiyue, bumping her forehead against Lin Zhiyue's shoulder. “How is this not extraordinary?! Do you even hear yourself?! This is the most thoughtful gift I've received today!”
Lin Zhiyue was squeezed so hard she could barely breathe. She tried pushing her away twice but failed, as the surrounding disciples burst into laughter.
Someone teased, “Senior Sister Fengyao, look at you, you can't even close your mouth from smiling so much!” Another chimed in, “Of course! How could the gift from my junior sister be the same as those mundane things you guys gave?” This prompted Liu Fengyao to let go of Lin Zhiyue and turn around to playfully punch the one who had chimed in.
By the time the banquet ended, the sky was completely dark.
Lin Zhiyue helped clear the table and chatted with Liu Fengyao for a few more minutes at the entrance of the flower hall before bidding her farewell and walking back. The night wind carried a hint of late-autumn chill, but the spiritual lamps on both sides of the mountain path cast a warm glow over the stone steps.
She walked slowly down the stone steps, the sweet aroma of the spiritual fruit brew from the banquet still lingering on the tip of her nose, putting her in a good mood.
When she returned to the entrance of her courtyard on the side peak, she paused mid-action as she went to push the door open.
The courtyard door was slightly ajar. There was someone inside.
She pushed open one side of the door and looked in. Moonlight flooded the courtyard, and the shadow of an old pine tree cast a checkered pattern of light and dark ink-like shades across the ground.
By the stone table, a figure in dark green casual robes sat on a stone stool with his back to her. A high ponytail hung down past his shoulder, and a pot of tea sat on the stone table beside his hand, looking as if he had already been waiting for quite some time.
Qi Yan turned his head slightly upon hearing the noise. The moonlight shone on his profile, sharply outlining the structure of his brow bone.
He glanced at her, his tone flat. “You're back?”
Lin Zhiyue was a bit dazed. She walked quickly into the courtyard and stood before him. “Master? Why are you...”
Qi Yan didn't stand up, merely chin-nudging to signal her to sit opposite him. Lin Zhiyue sat down obediently, her mind racing as she calculated whether she had done anything recently to displease her master. Had she stood him up for nearly a month due to her seclusion? But hadn't he said himself to “make up for it after coming out”? She hadn't skipped her sword lessons today either; she had simply taken a leave of absence because it was Liu Fengyao's birthday.
Qi Yan took a sip of tea, placing his cup down with unhurried movements, and then asked a question she completely didn't expect.
“When is your birthday?”
Lin Zhiyue was taken aback.
Since coming to this world, she had spent most of her time busy with quests, practicing swordplay, and dealing with various unexpected situations, never once thinking about this question.
As for the original host's birthday, there was a blurry fragment in her memories—it seemed to be in autumn, sometime in September. Thinking along the lines of that fragment, she suddenly realized that the date was exactly the same as in her past life.
September twenty-fourth.
In her past life, she had also celebrated her birthday on September twenty-fourth. Every year on that day, she would be working overtime in the lab, and her fellow students would buy her a small cake, stick a candle in it, and call it a day after she blew it out.
Rate on N.U.
