He could not figure it out. He had asked Si Nanchong about it, but Si Nanchong did not know either, and had instead suggested that Yan Boxuan ask the master himself. This amounted to a dead-end for Yan Boxuan; he was too far down the hierarchy to be able to meet the master in person.
Qing Yao, on the other hand, was constantly visiting him and asking him to tell her what it was like below the mountain.
Yan Boxuan harbored a grudge against her for stripping him naked against his will, but he was eventually persuaded by her sincere curiosity. He set his petty grievances aside and began to regale her with tales of the mortal realm, to which Qing Yao listened with vicarious pleasure. She sat above him on the steps, her clear eyes fixed upon the far distance. Her hair brushed against her shoulder as it swayed in the gentle wind. The expression on her face was one of unspoken longing.
Freeze frame.
